What is a person? Person comes from the word "persona"—meaning "mask". But it also indicates a social role being played, an interaction with the world.
We see this every day—this persona changes according to who or what we are dealing with. This persona is like an actor, a character in a play, acting out according to the situation. When we say "I" or "ME", we're talking about this character. This is the true meaning of ego.
And we can change this mask—we present a different mask all the time, a different personality, temperament, even different facial expressions and body language. Isn't this truly a mask? Isn't this truly the meaning of the person?
Hasn't this been true always? Hasn't this person you've taken yourself to be changed constantly over the years? Hasn't this person changed from a child to a teenager to an adult? Hasn't it played several roles in relationships, in careers?
Do you sometimes feel as if you are simply a character in a play? This person has a name, an appearance, a style, preferences, habits... and these are all relative—they depend on the circumstance, the mood, the very environment this person finds itself in.
And doesn't this persona need to feel secure, need to feel needed, loved, wanted? Does this persona sometimes feel insecure, unsure of itself? Isn't this feeling of insecurity based on the fact that this very persona is always changing. Maybe if this person were perfect, life would be great. But what does perfect mean? Isn't it also relative? So if this was achieved, how long until life is once again imperfect?
This shaky foundation, upon which your sense of self and identity is based, is false—is not really what you are in essence. Throughout life, as this person, as this life has changed, there has been an unshakable foundation, an untouched Peace, an unconditional Love seeing it all happen. But this foundation is missed in preference for the movement, the activity, the interesting (and sometimes dramatic) happenings of the life story, of this character, this persona. This primary seeing/knowing awareness watches this person having a bad day, a good day, feeling insecure, feeling peaceful, feeling whatever.
The impermanent cannot be what you are, cannot be reality. Reality is the permanent in which the impermanent arises, the emptiness in which the form arises, the silence in which sounds arise, the nameless in which names arise, the no-thing in which all things arise. The attachment and pursuit of the impermanent always leads to suffering, for that which is held will always change, always leave, always be lost.
But the foundation is solid, unchanging—it is the very basis for all that is known, even the persona. Simply notice this silent witnessing which has always been the case, always been present. Notice that the person is only a changing image, a facade which is dependent on the circumstance, an idea which appears and is immediately known in this witnessing.
The mask doesn't need to be dropped—it only needs to be seen for what it is—a concept.
And maybe it will be seen that God is wearing the mask.
Writing by: Randall Friend
Art: Paste Magazine
One to One
If I Am Eliminated, What Remains?
Q: Before one can realize one’s true nature, need not one be a person? Does not the ego have its value?
A: The person is of little use. It is deeply involved in its own affairs and is completely ignorant of its true being. Unless the witnessing consciousness begins to play on the person, and the person becomes the object of observation rather than the subject, realization is not feasible. It is the witness that makes realization possible.
Q: There comes a point in a person’s life when it becomes the witness?
A: Oh, no. The person by itself will not become the witness. It is like expecting a cold candle to start burning in the course of time. The person can stay in the darkness of ignorance forever, unless the flame of awareness touches it.
Q: Is there no such thing as self-preparation? We hear so much about yoga sadhana.
A: It is not the person that is doing the sadhana. The person is in unrest to the very end. It is the witness that works on the person, on the totality of its illusions—past, present and future.
Q: The person goes, and only the witness remains?
A: Who remains to say, "I am the witness." When there is no "I am," where is the witness? In the timeless state there is no self to take refuge in.
Q: What about the witness? Is it real or unreal?
A: It is both. The last remnant of illusion, the first touch of the real. To say, "I am only the witness," is false and true—false because of the "I am," true because of the witness. It is better to say, "There is witnessing." The moment you say, "I am," the entire universe comes into being along with its creator.
Q: But the person does not want to be eliminated!
A: The person is merely the result of a misunderstanding. In reality there is no such thing. Feelings, thoughts and actions race before the witness in endless succession leaving traces in the brain and creating the illusion of continuity. A reflection of the witness in the mind creates the sense of "I" and the person acquires an apparently independent existence. In reality there is no person, only the witness identifying himself with the "I" and the "mine." The teacher tells the witness: you are not this, there is nothing of yours in this except the little point of "I am," which is the bridge between the witness and his dream. "I am this, I am that" is dream, while pure "I am" has the stamp of reality on it.
Q: If I am eliminated, what will remain?
A: No thing will remain—All will remain. The sense of identity will remain, but no longer identified with a particular person. Being-Awareness-Love will shine in its full splendor. Liberation is never for the person, it is always from the person.
~
Dialogue: Nisargadatta Maharaj from I AM THAT
Art: Unknown source
Beautiful Words
This is the time of union,
the time of eternal beauty.
It is the time of luck and kindness;
it is the ocean of purity.
The wave of bestowal has come.
The roar of the sea is here.
The morning of happiness has dawned.
No, it is the light of God.
Whose face is pictured here?
Who is this shah or prince?
Who is this ancient intelligence?
They are all masks...
and the only remedy is
this boiling ecstasy of the soul.
A fountain of refreshment
is in the head and the eyes—
not this bodily head
but another pure spiritual one.
Many a pure head has been spilled
in the dust. Know the one from the other!
Our original head is hidden,
while this other is visible.
Beyond this world is a world
that has no boundaries.
Put your water-skin away, brother,
and draw some wine from our cask!
The clay jug of perception
has such a narrow spout.
The sun appeared from the direction of Tabriz,
and I said, "This light is at once joined
with all things, and yet apart from everything."—Rumi
From: Love is a Stranger: Selected Lyric Poetry by Rumi and Kabir
—Translated by Kabir Helmiski
—Art by Daniela Lombard
Sights & Sounds
"What is this Sense of Individuality and Separation?"
H.W.L. Poonja
5:29 min
Funny One
A scientist approaches God, and says to Him, "Look, God, we don't need you anymore. Nowadays, we can do all sorts of things that were once considered miraculous. We can transplant organs giving new life to a dying man, we can cure almost any disease, and we can even clone animals. It won't be long, and we'll be able to clone humans, too. So, I'm sorry, but you are simply outdated."
God listens patiently to the scientist and says, "I can see that you believe you don't need me, and I understand. However, I love you, and I don't want to see you make a big mistake, so why don't we make sure? I say we should have a man-making contest just to be sure.
The scientist replies, "I'll take that challenge!"
So, God says, "Okay, let's do it the way I did it in the old days with Adam and Eve."
The scientists says, "No problem," and reaches down to scoop up a handful of dirt.
"Whoa, hold on a minute," God says. "You get your OWN dirt!"
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