True knowledge is the experiential understanding that there is only
ever-present, unlimited Awareness or Knowing. Nothing other than this is
ever known even when it seems that a mind, body and world are known.
This ever-present, unlimited Awareness, which is simply the intimacy of
our own being, is the fundamental nature of the apparently inside self
and its corollary, the apparently outside object, other or world.
All religions are founded upon this understanding. In Christianity
it is expressed as, "I and my Father are one." That is, I, Awareness,
and the ultimate reality of the universe are one and the same reality.
In Buddhism, "Nirvana and Samsara are identical." That is, the
transparent, open, empty light of Awareness which is not made out of any
kind of a thing - nothing - is the substance of all appearances -
everything. Nothing taking the shape of everything. In Hinduism, "Atman
and Param-Atman are one." That is, the individual self, when divested of
superimposed beliefs and feelings of limitation, stands revealed as the
true and only self of eternal, infinite Awareness. And in Sufism,
"Wherever the eye falls, there is the face of God." All that is seen is
God's face and it is God that sees it.
All these phrases are conditioned by the culture in which they
appeared but they all point towards the same unconditional truth - the
reality of all experience.
The realization of this truth dissolves the beliefs in distance,
separation and otherness. The common name we give to this absence of
distance, separation and otherness is love and beauty. It is that for
which everyone longs - not just those of us that are interested in non-duality but all seven billion of us.
In this realization true knowledge and love are revealed to be one
and the same - the experiential realization that the true nature of the
apparently inside self and the apparently outside world are one single
reality made out of the transparent light of Awareness, that is, made
out of the intimacy of our own being.
This revelation of understanding and love strikes at the heart of
the fundamental presumption upon which our world culture is founded, the
presumption of duality - I, the separate inside self, and you or it,
the separate outside object, other or world. All conflicts within
ourselves and between individuals, communities and nations are based
upon this presumption alone and all psychological suffering proceeds
from it.
Any approach to these conflicts that does not go to the heart of the
matter will postpone but not solve the problem of conflict and
suffering. Sooner or later as individuals and as a culture we have to
have the courage, the humility, the honesty and the love to face this
fact.
The highest purpose of all art, philosophy, religion and science is
to reveal this truth in an experiential manner although all these
disciplines have temporarily forgotten this in our culture. However, it
may not be long. As the painter Paul Cezanne said, "A time is coming
when a single carrot, freshly observed, will trigger a revolution".
This is the only true revolution, the revolution in which our view
of reality is turned upside down. Awareness - pure Knowing - is not just
the witness of experience. It is its substance, its very nature.
Everything changes when we begin to live from this point of view. We
realize that what we have always longed for in life was present all
along in the depths of our own being. It is always available, never
truly veiled. To begin with it is often felt as peace in the background
of experience but it cannot be contained and before long it begins to
flow out into the world as joy, freedom, love and creativity.
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