Seeing Through the Con Man
Viendo a través del estafador
A student reflects on recognizing that the mind is not the primary reality, and the teacher explores how this recognition produces a natural shift in identity and disidentification from ego.
Seeing Through the Con Man
A student reflects on recognizing that the mind is not the primary reality, and the teacher explores how this recognition produces a natural shift in identity and disidentification from ego.
When I see that mind is just happening, that it's not the source, not permanent, not whatever "real" means, I notice I become more open-minded. I could be wrong about things. That facilitates life so much, because I'm less attached. It's like, "This is what I think now, but who knows how I'll think in another minute." It's really user-friendly. It's just an effect.
Yes, exactly. It's as simple as seeing what is real and what is secondary.
The collapse of identity
That collapsing is a collapsing of identity. The open, infinite presence that we are collapses into believing it is something the mind is doing. And so now it becomes limited. By limited, I mean it's no longer infinite. It's something that is not something else: a mental construct. It's a woman, a man, a human, not a bird.
This narrative then needs to sustain itself, and that's where the difficulties arise. There is a sense that if these beliefs aren't constantly validated, I will end. So the terror is always a fear of death. That's the most basic thing to notice.
Seeing the mind as secondary
When one can see this, and this is what waking up or realization is, the more important aspect is the full seeing of it as reality: that you are not that limited entity. It's a shift in identity. But I was pointing to it from a different perspective, which is: what is more real? Naturally, this is going to produce a shift in identity, because as you see that the mind is not primary, you cannot identify with it. It becomes something far away that comes and goes. Then who am I, if I'm here and the mind is far away?
It might become another object.
Exactly. And then who are you? You can no longer be something that's the mind. That's the disidentification with ego.
Beyond the body ego
Ego has a mental image that is abstract, but it's also a body image. We can still be identified with a body ego, and that's something we can also disidentify from. That's basically the point of all spiritual work. The point of psychological work is to work with the mind so that we can organize the way it functions, making this whole process easier and simpler.
What I also find is that the less agitated my mind is, the easier it is to see.
To see through it, yes. Very helpful.
Some people are naturally less agitated, and I believe that. I also find that when I look at my own process, I can see I was way back there, on a side street for a long time, completely clueless. Then I look back and see I got a little closer, then a little more with this person, then with some new realization, bit by bit. As I look at it, I think we each have our own process, tailor-made for us. It seems I needed to do it slow and steady, as if I needed to hold on to a handlebar. There's something very merciful about the gradual nature of it. Way back, I'd say, "Come on, let's get it together. How come I don't get it?" And now it's more like: take your time.
Yes. Thank you.