Identity & Not Knowing

There seems to be several processes leading us into an erosion of identity and into a natural not knowing...

One is the process of gradually allowing our identity to expand, become more inclusive, more porous, and then finally fall away.

This can occur through working with projections (whatever I see "out there" is also "in here"), the Big Mind process (becoming familiar with being a wide variety of personal and transpersonal voices), deep ecology activities (taking on the role of past and future generations, and other human beings and species), and the Universe Story (seeing ourselves as not separate from Existence). We see how we can identify ourselves in a wide range of ways. Our identity expands and becomes more inclusive, fluid and rich. Any fixed or limited sense of identity falls away.

Another process is what comes from finding ourselves as pure awareness - formless, unborn. Here, there is no identity apart from being space & awareness, and no knowing in the conventional sense (in terms of believing in abstractions). Here, we see that "I am not the body, not the personality, not this, not that". After familiarizing ourselves with this for a while, and bringing it into everyday life, we may see that this too is believing in the thought "I", and this too erodes and falls away. Now, there is only what is. It is the same content as there would be if believing in the thought "I", but there is no "I" to be found anywhere. There is a natural absence of an identity of any "I".

In the first case, there is an absence of any fixed and limited identity, and a natural transdual view - embracing both ends of any polarity. This transdual view naturally allows for a freedom and a not knowing. We see clearly that for any statement, there are many turnarounds which each are equally valid. There is no one fixed and true view.

In the second case, we know ourselves as that aspect of Existence which is pure awareness, distinct from conventional knowing (beliefs in abstractions). From here, any view is possible and there is similarly a great richness and fluidity in moving freely among a variety of views and recognizing the limited truth in each of them.

Both allows us to find ourselves as this wonderfully natural and receptive not knowing, which allows for intimacy with what is, and in our human lives for a new and deepening intimacy with others as well.

When we know in a conventional sense, through believing in thoughts, we are invariably at odds with Existence.

A thought is always exclusive and limited. Existence is always beyond and including all polarities. So when we believe in a thought and Existence shows up otherwise, we create drama and suffering for ourselves.

When we believe in a thought, we attach to an abstraction to the exclusion of the rest of what is, and we find ourselves out of step with what is.

When we believe in a thought, we shield ourselves from what is, and there is an absence of receptivity to what is.

When we believe in a thought, we have something to defend and justify, which creates the appearance of drama and suffering.

When we believe in a thought, we create a sense of "I" and "other" out of Existence, and from this a sense of separation, drama and suffering.