Back
Dogs and Cats Live in
Reality
Charles:
It feels like a lack of control, like I'd be out of control.
I guess that's what I see.
Stephen: There's no
separate entity who's in control. If we want to
conceptualize it we can say there's one mysterious source
creating everything. So, what am I?
Well, if we define ourselves in terms of space and time and
ask, what's real about me? How do we define reality in terms
of space and time? How do I define myself in terms of space
and time? We can say, what's real is what's here and
now—space and time—here and now. That's what's real, here
and now is real. Otherwise it's imagination. Past and future
are imagination. Here and now is real.
We're defining reality in terms of space and time, and how
does that relate to me? What am I in terms of space and
time—what's real about me? Here and now I am consciousness.
There's this consciousness here and now that I am.
If we're defining what's real in terms of space and time,
and in terms of me, what I am—it's here and now I am
consciousness. That's what's real. Everything else is not
real or imaginary.
Cats and dogs, as far as I can tell, don't have to deal with
imagination. They're here and now. They don't have the
capacity for thought. I'm projecting onto them, I don't
know, but it seems clear. In the human experience thinking
has developed. Oak trees don't think—they don't have a
brain. Human beings think, but not until their brain has
developed. And then the potential for psychological
suffering and spiritual seeking begins when the brain has
developed and can think. And think the thought 'me', and 'I'
am separate from you, and I am separate from the rest of
creation. The thought 'I exist as a separate entity' is the
birth of the potential for psychological suffering and
spiritual seeking, and seeking knowledge for 'me'. But it's
just a thought and it's not real.
Anything outside of here and now, and I am consciousness is
not real, it's imagination. You don't have to be a rocket
scientist, you can see this in your own experience. Right
here and now is real. Is tomorrow or yesterday real? Only as
images. Only as concepts. So, what are you? What's real
about you?—consciousness. The rest of you is an imaginary
story playing in your head who needs to attain knowledge,
who needs to be free of psychological suffering and attain
enlightenment.
The whole process of psychological suffering and spiritual
seeking is based in imagination. It's not based in reality.
It happens here and now in consciousness as an imaginary
story—what's wrong with me? I shouldn't be like this. I need
to attain knowledge. I need to be free of psychological
suffering.
When is reality? It's right here, right now. So, what's real
about you? Consciousness—I am. Not I was. Not I will be. I
am consciousness here and now—this is real. This is the only
reality. Everything else is imaginary. As soon as this 'I
thought' and image and the whole story of 'me' arises, we're
off into imagination. In the imaginary story this 'me' can
suffer, it can attain freedom from suffering, and it can
attain knowledge—the whole story is imagination.
If you stay with what's real—I am here and now—what do you
know right now? What knowledge can you gain right here and
now? What psychological suffering or freedom from
psychological suffering can happen right here, right now?
Without going into imagination and thinking, is there any
suffering? Is there any knowledge that needs to be attained
in reality? Reality is here and now. It's not tomorrow or
yesterday. Today is yesterday's tomorrow, but it's always
now. You can look off into the future and you may suffer or
you may attain knowledge. When will it help you? Not in
reality—right here, right now. It's a new here and
now—always a new one.
There's no suffering until you think 'I am suffering,' or 'I
need to attain knowledge.' You're into thought. If there's a
story playing in your head, a story with an image of Charles
or Alan, then you can have an image of a suffering person,
something's wrong with me, or you can have an enlightened
self-image—now I've attained the highest knowledge and I'm
free of suffering! Neither image is true. There's no
suffering and there's no enlightenment. You can't attain
anything—anything real.
Alan: Is it possible to know the mysterious source at
all, or is it impossible to know it?
Stephen: How can you know anything unless you go into
the past stories and images, and project them into the
future?
Alan: In the present moment, yes, it's probably not
possible to do it. But in the imagination...well, it seems
that imagination cannot have any truth in it.
Stephen: Is there any knowledge at all?
Alan: There is a real difference between a child or
an animal, compared to the one who knows this stuff.
Stephen: I would say that what remains the same in
the child, the animal, the adult who goes through suffering
and spiritual seeking, and the one who knows this is
consciousness.
The human brain develops the capacity for thinking and
building up what appears to be knowledge. Suffering and
spiritual seeking happen, and you want to be free of it.
It's an uncomfortable sense. That is the ego, the sense of
being a separate entity, which is the thinking process,
that's all it is.
We go through this seeking and trying to attain knowledge,
trying to be free of psychological suffering and attain
enlightenment. It gets to a certain point when it burns
itself out. You recognize there's nothing to get. I can't
get anything. I can't get away from anything that's
happening. I can't attain anything. There's no 'me' who can
attain anything. There's nothing I can attain. So the whole
process of seeking knowledge and seeking enlightenment is
thrown away. It's a joke!
So, what's left? The consciousness, the reality that's here
and now. It's always been here and now—as a baby there was
consciousness. The consciousness was there during the
seeking process, and the consciousness is there after. So
what happened was a story came in of 'me', something's wrong
with me, I need to attain knowledge, I need to attain
enlightenment, I need to be free of psychological suffering.
How do I do it? Trying for years and years—it's seen there's
no way out.
And there never was a real problem, it was only imaginary.
All psychological suffering is imaginary, and enlightenment
is imaginary. What's real? I am consciousness here now.
That's it! There's no where to go. There's no psychological
suffering. There's no enlightenment. There's nothing. Now
you live like a dog or a cat.
However, in the human experience we still have the capacity
for thought and we can use the intellect for constructive
purposes—to build cars and computers, but we're no longer
using the intellect to try to attain the unattainable. We're
not trying to attain enlightenment or universal knowledge.
It's seen the intellect can't do that. The brain, the mind,
the intellect has a relative, limited capacity. It can only
manipulate the relative world—to make computers and cars,
for science and medicine. But it's limited so you throw it
away.
What's left? What's real? I am, consciousness is, here and
now—that's it.
Where is suffering here and now? There's no suffering. You
have to go into imagination. Where is enlightenment? You
have to go into imagination. Where is freedom from
suffering? You have to go into imagination. So, everything
we're doing is to try to get to reality, what's here and
now. But everything we're doing goes away from reality
because we're using the mind—thinking. There's no way out of
reality
