Awareness, illusion, and form from Steven Kaufman's blog

When the awareness of an illusion

that is not known as an illusion

fills the space of Awareness

there is no room left

for the awareness of Awareness.

 

This is how Awareness

becomes hidden from Itself.

Not because Awareness isn't there,

but only because Awareness mistakes

what only seems to be there

for what is actually there.

 

A reflection that rests on a pool of water

does not hide the water

unless that reflection is mistaken

for what is actually there

where the reflection

only appears to be

and the water

actually is.

 

And forms that arise within Awareness

do not hide Awareness from Itself

unless Awareness mistakes those forms

for what is actually there

where they only appear to be,

and in so doing

also mistakes those forms

for itself.

 

That forms exist is not an illusion.

That what exists is what is actually there

where there is only Is-ness,

where there is only formless Beingness,

is the illusion.

 

Reflections and shadows

are not illusions,

and do not by themselves

obscure what is actually there.

 

Reflections and shadows

only become illusions

and obscure what is actually there

when the Awareness that is aware of them

mistakes them for what is actually there

where they only appear to be.

 

And in the same way

form only becomes an illusion

and obscures What Is Actually There

when the Awareness that is aware of form

when the Awareness that is the Is-ness

that is actually there

mistakes form for what is actually there

where form only appears to be.

 

The world is an illusion.

The world is not an illusion.

Both statements are true.

Both statements are false.

Because the truth or falseness

of either statement

does not lie in what is known

as the world of form,

does not lie in what only exists,

but lies instead

in whether the Is-ness

that is aware of form

that is aware of what exists,

knows those forms

as what is actually there

where they only appear to be,

or knows those forms

as only seeming to be

what is actually there

where they appear to be.

 

The world of form can appear

as either a rope

or as a snake,

as something neutral and harmless

with no life of its own,

as it actually exists,

or as something pleasing or dangerous

with a life of its own,

as it appears to exist

when form is mistaken

for what is actually there

by the Awareness,

by the Is-ness,

by the Life,

that is actually there

where form only appears to be.

 

And so whether forms obscure

the underlying Is-ness from Itself

or reveal the underlying Is-ness to Itself,

as a reflection can hide or reveal

the underlying mirror within which it exists,

has nothing to do with

the existence of form,

but has only to do with

how that existence,

how those forms,

are being known by

and so appear to

the underlying Is-ness,

the underlying Awareness,

that is aware of them,

as either what is actually there,

or as what only appears to be

what is actually there.

 

When an illusion

is not known to be an illusion

then the illusion remains an illusion

and so continues to hide

what is actually there

where it only appears to be.

 

But when an illusion

is known to be an illusion

it is then no longer an illusion

and so no longer hides

what is actually there

where it only appears to be.

 

And so when form is no longer known

as what is actually there

where it only appears to be,

form no longer fills

the space of Awareness

leaving room then

for the awareness of Awareness,

leaving room

for the Is-ness to know Itself

as the Formlessness that is actually there

where the forms it once thought of as itself

still exist and so still appear,

although those forms no longer appear

as what is actually there

since they are now known,

when seen in the context

of the awareness of Awareness,

when seen in the context

of the awareness of formless Beingness,

to have only the appearance,

and not the actuality,

of being.