Who Are You?
Posted: Tuesday, September 15, 2009
by e
Dhammabucha Rocksprings Meditation
Before you answer too quickly with names, titles, party or religious affiliations, physical attributes, gender and job titles, go a little deeper and see who you really are. You can begin by describing yourself in a different manner than you usually do.
But before you begin to describe yourself as to what type of person you generally are; happy, depressed, energetic, lazy, etc., go even deeper. Can you describe yourself, from a fundamental point of view, without mentioning any of the above? No gender, no titles, no names, no personality quirks or emotional tendencies?
But what we truly are can't be subject to these transitory and changing circumstances. Otherwise, we can never be something substantial, only a psycho-physical entity changing constantly depending upon our situations, and living temporarily on a very precarious planet subject to all kinds of dangers.
Who we are, fundamentally, must go deeper than all of that, because if it doesn't, then we will all end shortly. Since we are elements of the earth (we eat the dead plants and dead animals of the earth and in turn become those earth elements ourselves), then we must return to the earth as well when our time is done. Therefore who we are must be something other than this body and brain of ours. If not, then we are basically nothing but "Dust in the Wind" (Rock band "Kansas," 1977) in a great big, lonely universe.
Could it be that what we are, fundamentally, is something other than what is apparent? In other words, perhaps what we truly are is only represented temporarily in the form in which we find ourselves at the present moment. Maybe what we truly are only uses different forms and circumstances to express its state of consciousness.
The pre-existing soul: (Wikipedia):"The idea that certain things pre-exist in...heaven has a long history in the Biblical and early Jewish traditions. Knowledge of this history is essential for an understanding of the idea of pre-existence in the New Testament" [1].
- - - In John 8:23 Jesus says:‘You are from the realms below; I am from the realms above. You are from this world; I am not from this world.'" (Jesus did come from the spirit realm. But, as Jesus said, other men did not.) - - - Paul says in Ephesians 1:4 that "he hath chosen us in him before the foundations of this world. Jeremiah 1:5 reads that, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee."
In historical Christian theology, Jesus pre-existed as the Word who was created all things in heaven, or earth, visible and invisible, and also was born as the Son of God. (John 1:1-14; Colossians 1:15-16). [3]) [4]) [5]) While some Christians insist that humanity did not pre-exist, there is a long Biblical tradition that they did. [6]
In Buddhism and Eastern thought, this past and future phenomena is expressed as karma and rebirth. In other words, we will carry certain tendencies along with us when we die (karma), and these inclinations will then be expressed in a new form that is best suited to carry out these tendencies (rebirth). We are pretty much reborn into the state of consciousness that we died in, and which we deserve!
So who are we? There is a good chance that principally we might just be a state of consciousness with its accompanying tendencies. If this is the case, then whatever we do or become in this lifetime will be pretty much predicated on the state of consciousness the last time around, and this creates an endless cycle of death and rebirth - unless changes are made.
Unless changes are made, we will act in accordance to this underlying state of consciousness no matter what we do in life. This state of consciousness is called the "Lifetime continuum consciousness" in Buddhism. It is the generator of our thoughts and urges.
So, if we try to make superficial changes in our lives without understanding all of this, we end up wondering why we can't change! It's because our underlying tendencies are so strong, supported by perhaps thousands of past lives, that change is almost impossible without a drastic transition that will affect the underlying consciousness, or Life Continuum Consciousness.
Unfortunately, effecting changes in this underlying consciousness cannot be accomplished from conscious effort; it can only be accomplished by indirect action, i.e. working on the underlying tendencies rather than changing the surface realities.
For example, going on a diet works on the surface of the reality of greed for food. Soon, however, the diet is forgotten and the weight returns, unless the tendency for greed itself is acknowledged by a direct insight. Then the food no longer becomes the central focus.
Three main tendencies affect the underlying consciousness: Greed, hatred and delusion. If you can determine which of these is key to your behavior, then you may be able to observe the greed, hatred, or delusion in your life, which would be the first of three steps; (1. observation, 2. acceptance (that you are greedy!) and eventually 3. insight into the fundamental cause of your greed).
The symptoms of hatred include strong opinions and insisting that things go your way. The symptoms of delusion are a denial of what you are really feeling, along with a misunderstanding of the realities of existence in a physical universe. We believe that our life will never change, that our life is not stressful but full of constant happiness, and that our body and mind will continue after death more or less in the same form.
However, existence in this universe, all existence, is constantly in flux, always changing. And existence is stressful because many times we don't want things to change i.e. getting older. And the final delusion is believing that we are what's obvious - this body and mind that we mistakenly believe to be ours.
So, how do we go about changing this fundamental consciousness that has caused us to be reborn into physical existence so many times, so that we can go beyond the physical, prone as it is to old age, disease and death?
What is involved is somehow getting in contact with that Life Continuum consciousness, which cannot be contacted through conscious endeavors. A catch 22 if there ever was One!
Here's a hint: Instead of trying to figure all of this out in your head, just meditate! When the mind is calm and thought is absent, the Life Continuum Consciousness can be sub-consciously touched, and only one touch can change lifetimes of habit patterns that have complicated and stressed out our lives.
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