IMMANENT PRESENCE
All presumed dualistic separation, division, and expansion manifest from the one consciousness, the ground of Being and the basis of Becoming. Consciousness is self-aware and possesses limitless potential; it does not have any form, it does not fill any space, and it is not subject to time. But only by its presence is form, space, and time capable of either conceptual or material existence. Consciousness is the divine source and inherent nature of all beings and all else that exists. Consciousness is a unified wholeness, yet it manifests in multiplicity and individuality, sentience and non-sentience. Multiplicity is the potentiality of the static Being of consciousness in dynamic Becoming. From an invisible point of infinitesimal stasis all that exists in the worlds and galaxies and universe is the dynamis of consciousness. In expanding its multiplexity consciousness establishes new points of unique Becoming.
Whether perceived as local or distant, all spatiotemporal multiplicity and individuality is immanently intelligent; an omnipresence of consciousness penetrates all units and all of totality with a self-aware and self-organizing dynamism, a repetitive rhythm of action, resonance. Everything emerging into existence begins from a noumenal root source that is a oneness, homogeneous in its Being. The first movement into manifestation is one of polarity, creating an active heterogeneity. This heterogeneity is the yin and yang of all existential Becoming, a pseudo-duality that is appearance-only. Everything has its own oppositional polar forces, both static and dynamic – not actually yin and yang, but yin-yang, and always remains as one with the primordial root source. From primary units are produced all the energies, forces, and primary material elements and their resultant combinations. These infinitely dispersed units are the interdependent multiplex manifestations of the unicity of the primal root source, emerging from inward stasis to an outward movement. Each unique point or unit is co-dependent with all other points of manifestation and thus is the beginning of pattern fields in phenomenal objective causation, all being directed from within, from immanent presence, by the universal principle – consciousness.
The great mystery of consciousness is the greatest mystery of all mysteries. Within limitless extensions of consciousness is contained the totality of the synthesis of all aspects and qualities of the manifest phenomenalities and their endless diversities. Consciousness can be said to have two aspects, absolute consciousness and its isolated and relative individualistic aspect, localized consciousness of beings. Consciousness, however, in either of these two aspects, being totally subjective and not an object subject to clear analysis by limited mentalities, is only one undivided consciousness. When it is associated with a particular body-mind vehicle, it seems as if it is relative and localized.
No finite and limited mind can comprehend the absolute because mind defines its objects of perception by boundaries, either phenomenal or conceptual, but the absolute is not limited by boundaries, conditions, or relations of any kind whatsoever. Consciousness is usually thought of according to the qualities inherent in it, such as cognizance, discernment, feelings, perception, knowledge, recognition, awareness, etc., but in the context of scientific knowledge humans still know almost nothing about consciousness, yet it is our most important subject and the one which holds the deepest mysteries and clues to existence.
Both consciousness and material objective phenomena are ultimately identical in the unified totality of Being. In the relative context of perceptual categorization that we nearly always use at the level of everyday mind, consciousness is subject while phenomena are objects. These are useful terms for describing functional processes but appear dualistic, the awareness that observes over against the object being observed. This dichotomy seems real enough, but is actually only a mental categorization, twin concepts that emerge in the mind because of ignorance of the actuality of integral functional process. Everything is the Eternal Absolute, the One Reality; its pure subjectivity appears as temporal phenomena of objectivity. Through the inherent power of limitation the Absolute appears to Itself as relative multiplicity, an apparent (but not actual) kosmos of separated objects in space appearing and disappearing in time. The generic term usually adopted to describe this is “illusion” or “maya”. This process is the cause and effect matrix of the generation of phenomenal Becoming within subjective Being; but it is not an actual dualism. To understand this is the nondual awakening. This awakening occurs when this initial dichotomy of subject vs. object is no longer created by the mind. This initial dichotomy is the primary cause of all the further fragmentations of perception that culminate in the separative notion of ego, and this is the point at which a person forgets his kosmic identity and starts to be identified with his body and mind. The sense of duality is where all the trouble starts. Dualistic perception and thinking is the primal spiritual schizophrenia.
Consciousness is subjective. It has no qualities or characteristics that we usually attribute to the realm of the objective. Objects existing in so-called time-space-causation are very numerous; the objective phenomenal realm is highly complex, a multiplicity of apparently heterogeneous relativities. Consciousness is evident in all beings that have life and sentiency; the subjective realm is not complex at all, but is the ultimate simplicity, an obvious homogeneity. Yet the consciousness evident in all living beings is totally devoid of any objective phenomenality; consciousness is pure subjectivity, pure noumenon, unmanifest. All else is objectivity, phenomena in their manifest relativity. Each and every being exhibits the subjectivity of its consciousness relative to its body-mind complex, its organism of sentiency, yet this subjectivity of consciousness is only one subjectivity, one awareness. Body-mind vehicles, what we usually call persons or beings are each unique since each is a collection or accumulation of different characteristics, and consciousness seemingly identifies itself with each of these body-mind vehicles. Consciousness remains as simple awareness no matter which individual body-mind complex it is identified with. In each of these beings consciousness remains as its simple subjective noumenality; consciousness is not different in any sentiently aware being. Consciousness is verily only one, but “appears” as many since it is related to specific individual beings. This “appearance” is the result of an error in the discriminative faculty of the mind and so we have the development of the errant notion of dualisms. Duality seems to be everywhere, up vs. down, positive vs. negative, yes vs. no, this vs. that, us vs. them, I vs. other, noumenon vs. phenomena, wet vs. dry, large vs. small, so forth and so on. But actual duality is nowhere, doesn’t really exist. What really exists is only the notions of the falsely dichotomizing mind producing “appearances” of duality. “Apparent” duality is a fiction that obstructs the pure perception required for liberation and enlightenment. When the notions of duality are absent then the truth can be known.
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