A Case of Mistaken Identity

In many spiritual traditions, the typical human sense of "me" is seen as a case of mistaken identity. And the resolution unfolds through several phases.

First, there is a half-awake awareness, blindly identified with the organism and personality. We see "me" as these sensations, emotions and thoughts. And we are caught up in the rollercoaster ride of conditioned attractions and aversions, triggered by always changing and unpredictable inner and outer situations.

Then, there is an experience of awareness being separate from these processes. There is a sense that "me" is maybe awareness, not the fluid processes of the personality.

As this unfolds, there is a deepening sense of all inner and outer phenomena unfolding within spacious awareness. We are growing into Big Mind. "Me" then becomes this awareness, observing all the phenomena unfolding in a transdual way. All inner and outer phenomena is a fluid seamless whole, beyond polarities.

As the transdual experience unfolds, we come to experience "me" as both luminous and spacious awareness, and the unfolding phenomena. All phenomena is a fluid seamless whole, and awareness and unfolding phenomena is a fluid and seamless whole.

The awareness is still centered on an organism, but the sense of "me" gradually becomes more fluid, porous, transparent, until it falls away.

Eventually, there may be a more fully awake transdual awareness with no center. Expressed through a human organism or not. At this point, there is only Existence.

Inclusiveness

This may seem as a detachment process, and in some ways it is. But it seems more accurate to see it as a process of more inclusiveness. The processes of the organism and personality are still there, as is the unfolding awareness. Nothing is lost, except the experience of "me" as limited to this personality and of the world as fragmented.

The transdual view can be fully lived through this organism and personality, in this society and ecosystem, and in this particular universe. And loosing the sense of precariousness that comes from small mind, we can engage in life more fully - without holding back, allowing resistance to fall away.

This - is the truly exiting adventure in this whole process. The parallel unfolding and deepening of transdual awareness and of living and embodying this awareness. How does it look in my personal relationships? How is it expressed in my relationship to and engagement with the wider society? What does it mean for our social system and our relationship to the rest of the Earth? What does it mean for our relationship to the rest of the universe?

There are no final answers here. It will always change and evolve depending on our current situation and what we learn in the process. It is always changing, always new.

It is a path made by walking.