Spirituality is About Moving from Knowing to Being - Non-duality

Spirituality is about moving from a state of knowing to a state of being. The state of being and I am saying that there is a movement, but there isn't much of a movement. The state of being is already taking place regardless of the opinions and what you may think the next milestone should be and what you need to solve, the state of being is already taking place. So really all it is is the recognition that there is being innate to being. So the knowing aspect is very much interlinked and can create a lot of confusion when there is a deep identification with a separate self still.

The Sense of Being

If we are in a social environment and we are talking to different people, each person will have developed a particular image of themselves and they would like to present this image to you. And in the same way you also have this image of the separate self and you'd like to present that to them. So a lot of social interactions are about exchanges of these two images. But despite all of that, there is still the underlying sense of being.

So really, spirituality is about recognising that yes, you may be in the midst of dealing with intense emotions, trauma, overthinking there could be this pull towards trying to solve the problem of spirituality when the whole point of resting and being is the recognition that there is no problem to be solved. So it's a separate self when identified with constant problems, with a constant sense of lack of something that constantly needs to be done.

I wanted to really touch upon this because I read this somewhere a while back where spirituality is the move from knowing to being. So very often you may get on with your life and you may face a turbulent moment of intense emotions, trauma or perhaps thoughts overthinking. And so it's like okay, what do you do here?

What shall I do here when I'm facing this? Because it doesn't seem to be going away. So the sense of doing this is the motivation to do something about this stems from the separate self. Even though there's this whole turbulence taking place and it seems as though there's this problem to be solved, it's fair enough that it feels as though there's a problem that needs to be solved. But ultimately there's still the underlying sense of being.

So if you go to work and you're dealing with work stresses or you are running a business, the same thing could arise in the midst of the work. You may feel as though you are being distracted. You may feel that something comes up and you are distracting yourself away and there's procrastination, there's all these things. But whilst there is distraction, there is still the sense of being. The sense of being can never be distracted. I hope you can really see this, the sense of being can never be distracted. It's the separate self that can be distracted, that can have problems, that can have the sense of lack. It feels extremely real, of course that's thanks to the identification with the separate self, but really there is always the underlying sense of being.

The Sense of Knowing

So there is the knowing that has developed because you may have experienced a spiritual awakening, you have experienced the dissolution of the separate self or the liberation, the freedom or the insight, whatever you'd like to call it. The sense of knowing is always something that has developed in regard to the separate self. So for as long as there's the identification of the separate self, or as long as you think that you are the body and that you are the mind, the recognition of the sense of being that is ever present is tainted. There's an illusory veil as though there is no sense of being. There's just a separate self.

Shedding light on this will bring about a new dimension of clarity in some sense. It's somewhat difficult because with the identification, with the separate stuff, it just feels as though whatever arises is so real. It's all there is and it's the focal point. When you focus on the problems of the separate self, everything else blurs out naturally.

So resting in being, recognising that there is the underlying being regardless of whether you feel distracted or you feel like you should be doing something on the spirit path or you think that you should add an extra 20 minutes to your meditation. The same goes with speaking to people who may have been realised to learn more about, okay, what's the next step, what's the next stage? Or watching videos about the ten reasons why you may be going through a spiritual awakening or whatever it is.

These are very pleasing topics to the sense of separate self. They're very pleasing because it somehow strengthens the identity even further. It's somewhat the idea or the notion that it's the separate self that experiences freedom. It's the separate self that experiences the sense of being. But no, the very reason why there is even the recognition that there is the separate self is because of the ever present sense of being that can never really be interrupted.

So if you go about your day and you could be distracted, even that distraction can be recognised and then it's okay to be distracted and go on with the day and play the part. It's not just about isolating yourself from everything so that you may just rest in being. It's also about integration, recognising the sense of being in all aspects of life and recognising its perfection in all aspects of life, despite the notions that the separate self will bring up in how and why this moment is imperfect.

Even if there are times where the separate self will tell you that this moment is imperfect, that too is to be recognized. Because we are resting as being. We are being. The separate self always wants to look at the next step, always sets itself goals and milestones. And it's always about somewhere else. I want to reach this. I want to feel this. I want to do this. But then, as you rest in being, it's not about anything else. It's just about what there is. Because that's all there is. This is what is all I want is what is. I don't want anything else. Even to say that you want this moment and only this moment. The sense of want is still a notion that comes from the sense of separate self.

The Takeaway

There is really no wanting by definition or by nature. This is all there is. When you think about the future or you are recalling some memories, this happens now. This takes place now. So this is really how spirituality is moving from knowing. Knowing that there are all these spiritual practices and stuff, and knowing what it may have felt like in the past, to going through a spiritual awakening or liberation, to just being right now, which is something that takes place anyway. That's why moving from A to B in this concept doesn't really apply because it's already happening. There's really no distance that needs to be travelled to rest in being.

I really hope that this somehow clarifies things. I really hope it does. Next time you catch yourself being so lost and distracted, okay, it's cool. Continue being lost and distracted, but recognise the underlying being recognised that there is the distraction and so on. There is actually no real doing in that recognition. It's recognised by definition.

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