As spiritual seekers we are seeking because there is a sense of something lacking in the body/mind experience. It is this sense of lack that gives rise to the seeking that takes place, the action of seeking is not in any way personal. In this there is no actual seeker as such but simply the action of seeking arising due to the sense of something lacking. There is a non-recognition of what is present and this that is overlooked is then looked for as if it is elsewhere. What is present is the no-thing-ness that is the source of all things but because its very nature is absent of description when looked for it is sought as something and therefore cannot be recognized for what it is. No-thing when sought as a something is overlooked although it is ever-present.
There was a time for each and every one of us when this action was not arising because there was no sense of lack. The reason that there was no sense of lack was because there was the resting in Oneness. As a very young child this was true for each of us and until such time that the idea established itself in the mind that there was a doer of the actions done through the body this Oneness was known directly.
The seeking began the moment this sense of Oneness was lost. It was lost the moment that the mind managed to locate an imaginary being within the body who was responsible for what the body did and for the arising thoughts that appear as the mind. Prior to the formulation of this concept there was no idea that someone was present as the doer of what took place.
The establishing of this imaginary one within the mind was the moment of separation within what is essentially One unbroken consciousness. This imagined being is no more than just that, imagination.
When Oneness itself has lost sight of itself it begins to create identification with what is present and as the body/mind is present under all the circumstances of the human experience it is then quite natural that the body/mind is identified with and claimed to be what one is. The one that is doing the identifying is the impersonal, consciousness itself. Once realization takes place and the attention rests in the seeing of Oneness the seeking comes to an end.
There are many suggestions as to how to bring about this realization that is actually our natural state but all are destined to fail as they assume from the very beginning that there is something to get to and someone to do the getting, hence they reinforce the very thing that they claim to remove, the sense of a personal ‘me’. For as long as ‘me’ is present trying to remove itself to reach this ever-present Oneness, which cannot be seen because of the ‘me’ concept being identified with, so too will it continue to be present and so too will the action of seeking continue to arise.
The recognition that what is being sought is ever-present and not in a future moment undermines the idea of a goal in the future or a path to get to it. The attention then begins to spend more and more time simply being present to what is instead of projecting into an imaginary other moment in an imaginary future. In this way energy that has previously been projected begins to spend more time at rest in the present and when all energy ceases to feed the idea of a future or past then all that remains is the ever-present presence which is then seen to be what was being sought all along.
There is absolutely nothing that can be done to bring about any of this and yet it comes about if or when the action of consciousness arises in this particular way. Ceasing to seek with deliberation is also futile as this too has intention behind it and so cannot bring about the recognition of presence which is causeless and unintentional. Once however it is seen clearly that all seeking is simply an action of a consciousness that has identified with itself as something and is overlooking itself as the ever present no-thing, therefore not recognizing itself directly as no-thing, then the dis-identification with being a seeker begins to wind down and the idea of there being a doer dissolves.
What is being sought is not a thing, it is not an experience of any sort but the One that sees the appearance and disappearance of all and any experiences within itself. This One is ever-present outside of the play of time observing the comings and goings in time. This is what has been sought and it is this that One is. This One alone manifests as all form and experiences all.
This One cannot be found by seeking as the very identification with the action assumes that there is something to be sought and found and that there is someone to do the seeking, it is this that prevents the seeing of it. What remains when all energy projected in seeking ends is this that is no-thing, which is prior to the appearance of energy.
This no-thing is the base of all and the sought answer, it alone is capable of recognizing itself directly, it requires no medium or effort of any kind.
Love needs no object. Love is that which knows no sense of duality, no sense of otherness. When Love is true of us then all is seen to be One and within this recognition seeking comes to rest.
Avasa