There is no material world from Steven Kaufman's blog

There is no material world,

other than as an idea,

as a form,

that exists only within the mind.

 

The world is not composed

of molecules

and atoms

and quantum stuff,

nor is it composed of energy.

 

These are all just words,

forms,

post-it notes,

that we affix

to what we perceive

and to what we conceive

as the world.

 

And having labeled

our perceptions

and conceptions

of the world

with these forms,

we then fall under the delusion

that we know

what is actually there

where the world appears to be.

 

However, what is actually there

where the world appears to be

is not a form,

but is a Formlessness

in motion

relative to Itself.

 

Formlessness in motion

relative to Itself

becomes Form

and yet what Form is composed of

remains the Formless,

as water remains water

no matter how much it flows and swirls

in motion

relative to itself.

 

And Form in relation to Form

begets form,

begets experience

begets what appears

as the world of form,

as a line arises

where two fingers meet.

 

And we give names

to those experiences,

to those objects,

to those forms,

and then we think we know

what is actually there

where the world of form

appears to be,

when all we have actually done

is obscure what is actually there,

as a reflection obscures a mirror

when the reflection is mistaken

for what is actually there

where it appears to be.

 

Because underlying the world of form,

underlying the experiential objects,

and the names, labels, and post-it notes,

that we have added and affixed

to those experiential forms

are Forms

that are composed of the Formless.

 

The Formless is itself

just a word,

just a form,

just a post-it note,

used to point toward That

which is beyond form

and so beyond naming.

 

Call what is actually there

where form appears to be

whatever you want.

It is not that.

 

That is why there is no material world,

other than as an idea,

an experience,

a form,

that arises within the Formlessness

by which all form is known

and by which all form is created.

 

The material world

is just a story,

a certain arrangement of forms,

that people tell each other

to try and explain

the world of form.

 

Greek mythology

was also a story,

a certain arrangement of forms,

that people told each other

to try and explain

the world of form.

 

And with regard

to what is actually there

where form appears to be,

both stories

are equally fictitious.

 

This too is just a story,

just a particular arrangement of forms.

 

But this story is not being told

to explain the world of form.

This story is being told

to point beyond form

toward the Formlessness

that is actually there

where form only appears to be.

 

The story of the material world

is composed of forms

and points back toward form

as being

what is actually there,

as being

of primary importance.

 

This story of the world

as composed of the Formless

is also composed of forms,

but it points toward something

other than form

as being

what is actually there,

as being

of primary importance.

 

And what this story points toward

as being what is actually there,

as being of primary importance,

is not separable from,

nor other than

the formless Consciousness

by which this story,

this set of forms,

is being known.

 

Consciousness cannot know Itself as form

because it is formless,

because it is a Formlessness,

but Consciousness can know Itself directly

as the Formlessness

by which all forms are known

and within which all forms

come into existence.

 

Lesser forms require Consciousness

in order to exist

but Consciousness does not require any form

in order to Be.

 

Consciousness Is,

forms exist.

 

Consciousness is the Isness,

the formless Beingness,

that through relation to Itself

brings form into existence

within Itself,

and then knows as experience

those forms

that it has created

and so which have arisen

within Itself.

 

And then somewhere along the way

in all this becoming of Form

and creation and knowing of form

the Creator mistakes itself

for its creation,

the Knower mistakes itself

for what it knows,

as the Formless mistakes itself

for form.

 

And in this misidentification

the Formless becomes obscured,

hidden from Itself,

so that all it then knows

is form,

like a mirror

hidden from itself

by a reflection that has arisen

within itself.

 

This is why the stories

the Formless tells Itself

to explain the world to Itself,

while deluded with regard to Itself,

and so while hidden from Itself,

point only toward form

and make no mention

of the Formlessness,

of the formless Consciousness,

in the theoretical absence of which

no form has ever been known.

 

How can a story

include a Character

of which the Author themself

remains oblivious?

 

The material world

is just another story,

just another fiction,

we tell ourselves

and each other,

that must have form

as the lead character

so long as the actual leading Character

remains hidden

behind a curtain of form

which that leading Character

is Themself creating

and then knowing

as their self.

 

And so we are not really

living in a material world,

other than in our own minds,

because what the world

is actually composed of

beneath the surface appearance,

beneath the reflection,

that is the world of form,

is the formless Consciousness

upon which that reflection rests

and by which that reflection is known

as the material world.

 

End of story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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