PERCEPTION REQUIRES THE ABSOLUTE

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Pravin Kumar
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Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 2:08 pm
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PERCEPTION REQUIRES THE ABSOLUTE

Post by Pravin Kumar » Sat Feb 09, 2019 3:58 am

Perception Requires The Absolute

For us to perceive anything requires three factors (other than that which is perceived) to be present:

Awareness – So that we are aware of the perception. This is self-evident in that to be aware of anything requires that awareness is present.

Radiance – That which ‘illuminates’ the object of perception. Which makes it stand out from its background. For instance we cannot see anything in total darkness (the background) but as soon as a light is shone upon it (the radiance) it is apparent. For other senses this is not physical light but it’s still a property that enables the sensation to be noticed within its background.

Nothingness – To which all objects are compared by the mind, or the background in which they are situated. For instance sounds are heard in comparison to the ambient sound in which they occur and must be greater than this background sound to be heard. The more this ambience is reduced the more apparent becomes the sound in question until it is most noticeable with a background of silence. Or a form which is seen relative to the space (nothingness) that surrounds it. It may be visible when the background is not empty space, say at the edge of a wood or floating in a lake, but it will be at its most visible when it ‘comes out into the open’ and is surrounded by empty space. This is true of all sensations which become most apparent when compared to a background of nothingness.

This Radiant Aware Nothingness is Consciousness at Rest, aware of all movements (things) occurring in it. It is radiant, for there to be awareness of anything it must be ‘illuminated’ (see above), it is aware by definition and is nothingness as it is at rest and all ‘things’ are forms of cosmic energy and thus in motion. This is The Absolute Reality for it is eternal and unchanging whereas manifestation is fleeting and ever changing. So for perception of any thing to occur the presence of The Absolute Reality is needed!

It is interesting to note that self-inquiry, in my experience, reveals this also for when the question ‘who am I?’ is asked with a still mind (that is not identified with, caught up in, thoughts and sensations) there is nothing to be found. However, there is awareness of the question and the radiance by which the question is seen, that which makes it stand out from the background nothingness. So the inquiry reveals this Radiant Aware Nothingness …

When the discoveries of the mystics on the ‘negative path’ of many religions and spiritual paths are compared they also reveal this Radiant Aware Nothingness, as indeed does deep concentration in meditation when the object meditated upon drops away revealing This. According to The Tibetan Book of the Dead this is the first thing one encounters after death: ‘The nature of everything is open, empty and naked like the sky, luminous emptiness without centre or circumference; the pure naked Rigpa (Pure Awareness) dawns’. This is backed up by a recent NDE when the experiencer encountered:

'An unspeakable Vastness that was not light, nor was it darkness. It was not a something and there was nothing present in this nothingness that was empty of anything at all except boundary-less pristine Awareness. Naked Infinite Awareness inseparable from the absolute living nothingness being experienced.' (From Suffering and Death in ‘Fundamental Questions’)

Bearing all of this in mind I would posit that this Radiant Aware Nothingness, that is at the heart of (and necessary for) every single perception that we have is The Tao, Allah, Brahman, Jehovah, Rigpa, The Absolute, God - revealed to the mystics on the many paths they ‘trod’!

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Perception and Awakening

There are three basic principles, easy to see,
For perception of any thing there to be,
Radiance by which we can ‘see’ it’s there,
Nothingness, to which we can it compare,
And Awareness, so of it we are aware.

If this we, in this moment, see,
Then awake we will come to be,
Radiant Aware Nothingness is Consciousness at rest,
In which movements are cosmic energy - the manifest.

So all that we hear, feel, smell, taste or see,
Are cosmic energy, vibrations that must be
Motions in resting Consciousness,
Also known as Pure Awareness.

Thus by investigating perception we can see,
The ‘ground’ where all things must come to be,
From which all comes and to which all goes,
‘Til resting back into pure sweet repose.

So thought and sensation must be
But fleeting objects which we see,
By that which we are – Radiant Aware Nothingness
The vital, innermost constant, perceiving presence.

When we ask ‘Who am I?’,
We discover, by and by,
Absolutely Nothing there,
Radiant, Pristine, ever Aware.

This Radiant, Aware, Nothingness,
That’s still resting Consciousness,
Is The Tao, Allah, Brahman, Jehovah, Rigpa, God,
Revealed to the mystics on the many paths they trod.
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COLIN DRAKE
For detailed palm reading and spiritual guidance Consult at: pravinjsoni97@hotmail.com

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