Consciousness and form from Steven Kaufman's blog

Consciousness-without-an-object Is.

Consciousness-without-an-object is all there actually Is.

Everything else only exists.

Everything else only arises out of the Is-ness that is Consciousness-without-an-object.

 

Consciousness-without-an-object has no attributes or characteristics.

Attributes and characteristics arise where Consciousness-without-an-object flows in relation to Itself.

Where Consciousness-without-an-object flows in relation to Itself, form comes into existence.

Form exists, Consciousness-without-an-object Is.

 

Form is nothing more than a boundary that arises or comes into existence within the Is-ness of Consciousness-without-an-object where Consciousness-without-an-object comes to be in relation to Itself, analogous to the line that arises where the tips of two fingers meet.

 

Consciousness-without-an-object is That which apprehends the form that arises within Itself as it flows in relation to Itself.

 

All experience, be it of the emotional, mental, or physical variety, is the apprehension by Consciousness-without-an-object of the form that Its relation to Itself has caused to arise and so exist within Itself.

 

That which apprehends form as experiential reality is therefore identical to That which, through relation to Itself, creates the form that is being experienced as reality.

 

That which apprehends form as experiential reality is identical to That which is creating the form that It is experiencing as reality.

 

Underlying the appearance of all form, underlying every experiential reality, lies the Is-ness of Consciousness-without-an-object.

 

Surrounding all that appears as form, surrounding every experiential reality, is the enveloping Presence of Consciousness-without-an-object.

 

Presence and Is-ness are identical to Consciousness-without-an-object.

Because Consciousness-without-an-object is all that Is, all relations are relations of Consciousness-without-an-object to Itself.

 

Just as it may seem that one can be in relation to what is only a reflection, when what one is really in relation to is that upon which the reflection rests, so too it may seem that Consciousness-without-an-object can be in relation to form, when what Consciousness-without-an-object is really in relation to is that upon which form rests, which is also Consciousness-without-an-object.

The particular form that arises out of the Is-ness that is Consciousness-without-an-object, where Consciousness-without-an-object flows in relation to Itself, depends upon the particular way in which Consciousness-without-an-object is flowing, or being, in relation to Itself.

 

It is the particular way in which Consciousness-without-an-object is flowing, or being, in relation to Itself that determines the nature of the form that is created within, and so arises within, and so exists within, the Is-ness that is Consciousness-without-an-object.

 

Therefore, the attributes and characteristics of a particular experience do not inhere in the uncreated Is-ness of Consciousness-without-an-object.

 

Nor however do the attributes and characteristics of a particular experience inhere directly in the created form.

 

So, if the attributes and characteristics of a particular experience inhere neither in Consciousness-without-an-object nor in the particular form Consciousness-without-an-object creates within Itself, then from whence do the attributes and characteristics of a particular experience derive?

 

The attributes and characteristics of a particular experience derive from the combination of the nature of the particular form that Consciousness-without-an-object has, through relation to Itself, created within Itself, and the perspective within that relation from which Consciousness-without-an-object is apprehending that particular form as a particular experience.

 

All there actually Is is Consciousness-without-an-object.

Nothing that Is is actually hard or soft.

Nothing that Is is actually wave or particle.

Nothing that Is is actually anything other than Is.

 

Consciousness-without-an-object Is on both sides of any form that arises within Itself as it flows in relation to Itself.

 

However, the apprehension of form as experience or experiential reality by Consciousness-without-an-object requires that Consciousness-without-an-object adopt a perspective upon the form that has been created within Itself.

 

It is that perspective upon the created form, combined with the particular nature of the created form, which particular nature derives from the particular relation of Consciousness-without-an-object to Itself that creates it, that grants to or superimposes upon the form what seems to be its attributes or characteristics.

 

For example, a created form, apprehended by Consciousness-without-an-object from one perspective within the overall relation to Itself that creates that particular form, appears as the experience of a wave reality.

 

That same created form, apprehended by Consciousness-without-an-object from the opposite perspective within the overall relation to Itself that creates that particular form, appears as the experience of a particle reality.

 

Where then is the reality of the apprehended form, the reality of the apprehended experience?

 

It lies both in the relation that creates the form, as well as in the perspective within that relation from which the created form is apprehended by Consciousness-without-an-object as an experiential reality.

 

Where the reality of the apprehended experience therefore does not lie is in the created form itself, nor does the reality of the apprehended experience lie in That which apprehends the form as a particular experiential reality.

 

Put another way, the reality of the apprehended experience lies neither in what is created nor in That which creates, but rather derives from and inheres in the simultaneous relations of Creator to Itself that creates the particular form and of Creator to particular form that causes that particular form to be apprehended by its Creator as an experiential reality with particular characteristics and attributes.

 

It is all a magic show, and we are both the magician and the audience.

 

We are That which creates the illusion and we are That which can either be taken in by the illusion or see through and beyond the illusion.

 

The magician creates the illusion for the delight of the audience, but does not themself become caught up in the illusion.

 

However, we are like a magician that has become caught up in the illusion of our own magic act, having lost sight of how the trick is being done and so also losing sight of how object reality or experiential reality is being made to appear as what is actually there.

 

The trick, the illusion, is the superimposing of characteristics and attributes upon that which actually has none, i.e., upon form, thereby causing form apprehended as experience to appear to be independently existent, which is to say, to appear to arise out of and exist within nothing, i.e., a non-is-ness, thereby obscuring and hiding from Itself the Nothing, i.e., the formless Is-ness, that is actually there.

 

It is quite a trick.

 

Consciousness-without-an-object is God.

What you actually are is Consciousness-without-an-object.

What everything actually Is is Consciousness-without-an-object.

 

You  are not the forms of experience that you have used to create your form or object identity.

You are That which apprehends the forms that make up your object-identity.

You are That which creates the forms that make up your object-identity.

 

You are not on one side of the relation that creates those forms, for Consciousness-without-an-object lies on both sides of any relation that creates form.

 

You, as Consciousness-without-an-object, are just apprehending the forms, which have arisen within your Self as a result of your flowing in relation to your Self, from a particular perspective within that relation.

 

And so for every form you apprehend as having a particular attribute or character, that same form apprehended from the opposite perspective in that same relation appears to have the opposite attribute or character.

 

Thus, the reality of the attribute or character of what is experienced as reality lies not in What Is Actually There where the reality appears to be, for that is always and everywhere the same; rather the reality of the attribute or character of what is experienced as reality lies in both the created form as well as in the perspective from which that created form is being apprehended by What Is Actually There, which is always Consciousness-without-an-object.

 

It is possible to Know yourself as That which lies on both sides of the relation while still having a perspective within the relation that allows What Is Actually There to apprehend the created form that has arisen within Itself as a particular experience with a particular character. 

 

But if while apprehending that particular experience one takes the character of what has been apprehended for something that is intrinsic to and inheres in the form itself, or in what is actually there, and so takes the form for what is actually there, then the Knowledge of That which lies on both sides of the relation vanishes, or is obscured, and along with it Knowledge of one's own true Nature is obscured.

 

And then all that seems to remain is form, all that seems to remain is the experiential reality, all that seems to remain is the form that has now become an object.

 

And so then the question "what am I?" can only be answered using what is then available, which is only some form, some experiential reality, some object.

 

And so the form identity begins. And so delusion begins.

 

And delusion is maintained because we work so hard to maintain the form-identity, because we think its maintenance is necessary for our own survival, since we think that is what we are.

 

But when one Knows That which lies on both sides of the relation then the question "what am I?" has a different answer, which is "I am That which Is," or simply "I am."