There is an old saying: "If you don't believe in something, you'll fall for anything."... I used to believe that as well.
Everyone must believe in something, right? If you are spiritual then you must believe in an afterlife. If you are an atheist then you must believe in no afterlife. If you believe in yourself then you must believe in self-confidence. If you believe in another then you must believe they will not let you down.
It's very structured and seems very logical.
However, consider for one moment: no matter what you belief in, that belief will eventually change. Perhaps not the underlining belief, but the settleness of the belief itself. For example, you may belief in God, but your belief in what God is, will likely change over time. You may have believed in a person, a job, a type of vehicle, a church, a faith, an opportunity, a get rich quick program, type of computer, a flavor, a singer, a lifestyle, a way of being, a routine, a expectation, a lover, a relationship, etc... then without notice it changes and you no longer believe in what you thought was unchangeable.
Have you experienced this?
You likely can see how beliefs change. Beliefs change because life changes, people change, you change, experiences change, circumstances change, etc... Beliefs are never constant. Life is always changing and therefore beliefs are always changing.
There seems to be a drive in all body/minds that we want to find a belief that is never-changing, always-constant, and always-present. You desire to find a belief that is persistent and can always be relayed on, but what belief is there that can offer unconditional support? At best people trade one belief for another belief in hopes that the new belief will finally be the one and only belief that will last.
What in life does last? Even this body will expire sometime. Even the body which allows you to have beliefs in the first place. If the body will even fail you, what could you possibly belief in that will be lasting?
This may seem like a catch-22. This may seem hopeless and no way around it. However, there is a solution, but many people are not ready for the solution because it goes against everything they believe.
We have all been told that belief is the most powerful thing in life. "You must believe in something!" We have all heard that the most powerful belief one can have: is the belief in self. If that is true, then why doesn't it work? How come you can belief in yourself but the the moment someone else don't believe in you, then you question yourself? Even if you love yourself, why does not everyone love you? "I love me, why don't you love me too!?"
The solution is obvious but it's the most difficult thing to hear.
What happens if you turn that old saying into: "If you believe in something, then you will fall into disappointment."? In other words, if you believe in something then you are deciding to become dependent on that belief.
The logic behind this is: if you are willing to choose to believe in something, then you are pulling yourself into an identity as who you are. Every-time you identify something as being who you are, you have to defend that belief from others who attack the belief itself. Belief + you = who you are. As an example, let's say you are confident, you believe in yourself. Confidence + you = who you are. Therefore, if someone attacks your confidence, then they are attacking you.
The problem is that we all desire security, sustainability, unbreakable, lasting: happiness. Yet that kind of happiness can only happen when you realize who you really are. Who you really are needs no belief in you. You can realize and be who you really are, only by dropping all beliefs.
Who you really are is untouched by beliefs. Who you really are can see who you are and needs no belief about you. Who you really are is above and beyond any belief. Who you really are knows exactly who you are. When you know, who needs belief?
Beliefs Verse Knowledge
Let's say you know something. You know it without a doubt. It's a strong knowingness. In fact, you know this knowledge as truth. Your conclusion to this knowledge is powerful. Your feelings to this knowledge is unmistakable.
What happens when someone questions the knowledge you know? Do you feel a sense to protect the knowledge you know? Do you desire others to know? What do you feel when someone attacks the knowledge you know? Do you try to convince them? If you know it, then why does it matter if others know or not? If you feel convinced by the knowledge you know, then why is there any conflict?
Do you see the pattern repeating itself again? The same pattern with beliefs? Knowledge + you = who you are. Therefore, if someone attacks your knowledge, then they are attacking you. Knowledge changes because life changes, people change, you change, experiences change, circumstances change, etc... Knowledge is never constant. Life is always changing and therefore knowledge is always changing.
How did you come to know what you know?
Experience? Experiences always change. You can never know anything concrete. Even concrete gets weathered over time, it changes form. Therefore all knowings and knowledge is still an underlining change.
The solution is difficult to hear, because we all must know something. Not-knowing goes against everything we know. We all lived on this Earth for many years, we have to gather some type of knowledge, right? Yet, how can we know anything, without knowing who we are first? Once you know who you really are, do you need that knowledge to add to who you really are? Once it's seen, do you even need to remember it?
Why is knowledge so important? Knowledge seems to be important because without knowledge we feel we couldn't function in this world, but who are we? Who is this you that you refer to? You don't need to remember knowledge to know who you are. However, don't take me word for it, investigate it for yourself. Who is this I? When you say "I", who is that?
Even 1+1=2 is not concrete in my experience. Even the logic of something so knowledgeable and widely accepted as numbers. Now I see that 1+1=1, all I see is oneness everywhere and it has nothing to do with belief, knowledge, remembering, or logic. It was only seen once I dropped everything I thought I knew.
The Challenge
It was once common knowledge that the world was flat. It was once common knowledge that anyone who had intuition was a witch. It was once common knowledge that the sun rotated around the Earth.
Now I challenge you to question the common knowledge of who you are. This is the only way to find happiness, peace, bliss, everlasting constant unshakable freedom. Who you really are is untouched by anything of this world, inside yourself or outside yourself.
That sounds strange huh? Everything of this world 'even inside your own self' is untouched. People say go within yourself and you will find everything within. Within yourself. Where is that? Where is within yourself? Who is this 'yourself'? Is there a within that can be found in this self?
Within
People say 'within' as a pointer, but it's a concept that got over used and now people say it without questioning it. "Oh, within, yes you're right!" Question it: within where? Within this person? Within who you are? Who are you? Who is this you that you're looking for within? Within means nothing without knowing who you are first.
Body
Within with body? Is that who you are? Are you this body? Body + you = who you are? What happens when someone attacks your body? What if someone calls your body a name? "You're fat!"... that can hurt if you identify with your body as who you are. If someone calls your outward body fat, then you begin to feel fat within. What can you find within when you identify without? Now you must change the outward to feel good inward. That must not be who you are if you can be so easily hurt.
Who is looking out those eyes? Most people think they are this little person inside the head that sees out the eyes. Can this person be found? What are the eyes connected to? The eyes are stimulus in response to the brain. Are you the brain? The brain is stimulus in response, there is nobody in the brain. Who is this observing through the eyes? You are obviously aware, but who is aware of all this? Who is there?
Soul
Some people say: "The eyes are the window to the soul." That is another pointer that has been overused. Without knowing who you are, how can you know a soul? You can say you are a soul, but we are right back to the same questioning: who is this soul? How is this soul aware? Where is this awareness coming from? Who is aware of this awareness?
Thoughts
If you are trying to answer these questions, you may have many thoughts running through your awareness. None of those thoughts will have the answers. To answer these questions you don't need imagination. Don't imagine. Don't refer to your past knowledge, your experience, your thoughts, your beliefs, your assumptions. The answer has no logical mental answer. The answer is above and beyond any ideas, concepts, or thoughts.
A Hint
Here is a hint: the answer is quite empty. Even thoughts arise out of this emptiness and disappear into the emptiness in which they came.
Looking for Yourself
You are not seeing out those eyes. There is awareness being aware of vision. There is an awareness and that is obvious, but what is aware of being aware? When I look, I find nobody being aware, yet awareness is happening. Do you sense the same-thing? Is that true in your experience?
What is being aware? I have no idea and that is the mystery of life. Welcome to life, where nobody knows what this is. Literally nobody because there is nobody aware, awareness is just happening.
Experimenting With Awareness
You may feel the body having sensations and you can say you're aware of that, but you are not being aware of that, awareness is just being aware. Awareness being aware of the body. However, can you say that the awareness begins and ends in the body? You are aware of the body in your awareness, correct? You see the body and are aware of it, therefore the body is inside your awareness.
Most people assume that awareness is limited to the body, but how could that be if the body is inside your awareness? People assume that if the body dies, awareness will die, yet if awareness is aware of the body inside awareness then how do you know for sure that awareness is limited to the body?
Expanding Awareness
It's the believe that the body causes awareness that gives rise to the perspective that awareness is limited. That belief alone will limit awareness in your experience and that is a major block as to why awareness is not aware of itself as what it is.
In other words, your belief is stopping you from being aware of who you are. Who you are is this awareness but that awareness can be expanded beyond the body when that belief is dropped. That is not the only belief causing awareness to limit itself from expanding to enlightenment, it's all beliefs. Beliefs limit experience of this awareness.
What is Awareness?
Awareness is unlimited, but it has the ability to limit itself by fixating itself onto an object in its awareness. These objects are everything within awareness: thoughts, emotions, body, ideas, beliefs, concepts, assumptions, etc... The number of objects that awareness can focus on are unlimited because awareness is aware of everything it observes in reality.
What Other People?
If you are following this article, then you can begin to see that there is nobody being aware, awareness is just happening. When you look and find that nothing is there except awareness, then you start to see that nobody or no-people are anywhere.
In other words, if you can see for yourself that you have no idea what or who is aware, awareness is just happening, then you realize that there is nobody (or no-who) being aware in any other body/mind. Awareness is just happening and within other body/minds awareness is just happening.
The conclusion is that at its essence, this awareness is the same awareness. Fully aware in this body/mind and fully aware in any other body/mind orgasm. The only reason this awareness seems different in others, is because they (and/or you) are fixated on different objects within that awareness (thoughts, emotions, body, ideas, beliefs, concepts, assumptions, etc...).
Now, I am only assuming that the other body/minds in my awareness are aware, that can't be known for sure if they are aware, but the conclusion is still the same: there is only one awareness here. One awareness that is being aware within other body/minds or not, it's still one awareness.
The Enlightened Awareness
When one can take an innocent look at life and realize that this is a mystery that can not be solved, then awareness seems to open up into realizing itself as everything within awareness. This is what people call enlightenment. Awareness then begins to stop fixating on objects within awareness and observes everything lightly. The awareness becomes aware of all objects within awareness and is aware that it is all the objects within awareness as well, therefore is sees there is no point to cling onto any part of itself as if it's limited to only that object.
When you say "I am a father (mother).", you realize that might be true, yet it's not fully who you are because who you are is just aware, aware of being a father (mother). When awareness gets fixated on the object/identity of "I am a father (mother)." then it limits itself to being aware of itself as more. Obviously "I am a father (mother)" is not completely true because if you take that away from your awareness, the awareness is still there.
The awareness is always there and it is aware of everything in its awareness, so how can awareness be completely one thing or another? Awareness is just aware. I am that I am.
This is really such a simple and obvious awareness, that even to say anything about it makes it 100% complicated. Even the saying as short and sweet as: "Be present", those two words alone are as direct as you can point to this awareness, but its complex just be saying that because awareness is an non-conceptual understanding and it's always present.
Basically don't be fixated onto the concept "I am _________ (fill in the blank)". Usually thoughts fill in the blank. Thoughts are fine and there is nothing to them, they are just part of awareness. They have no meaning, any more or less than anything else. Yet, when awareness believes the thoughts it's being aware of, then thoughts become fixated as something of value and awareness limits itself.
It's no wonder why there seems to be a drive in all body/minds that we want to find a belief that is never-changing, always-constant, and always-present because the only belief that can be found with such qualities is who we really are. Yet, it's not a belief, it's not even a knowing; it's awareness being aware of itself.
