Category Archives: Self Identity

Reality…In The Shadows?

I was vacuuming my bedroom, pulled out the bed stand and noticed a dark spot on the carpet.  Since I have a new puppy I went about my clean up routine, got the cleaner and rag and started scrubbing.  I did quite a bit of scrubbing and the spot would not come out of the carpet. I looked up to the top of the bed stand and realized that the spot I had been scrubbing was the shadow of an object on the table!  It was the shadow of a fly swatter!  How crazy is that?

I wouldn’t admit to this except that my immediate reaction was laughter and the old tale of the rope being mistaken for a snake went through my mind. But then looking deeper, I wondered how many other situations/objects do I mistake for reality?  For those few moments I was convinced I knew the reality of my purpose ….to clean the spot obviously made by the puppy.  When in reality all I had to do was remove the object producing the shadow and my problem was eliminated.  I wish I could remember that seeking the Truth is just as easy…..

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Filed under Absolute, Direct Experience, Enlightenment, Mind, Nonduality, Reality, Seeker, Self Identity, Self Realization, Shadow, Spirituality, Truth, Uncategorized

Cleaning the Lens…

I’ve only been blogging for a year and not very consistently. Inspiration to write ebbs and flows for me. I just reviewed all of the blogs I’ve done and most relate to my journey down the nonduality path. I just completed the Liberation Unleashed process where the only goal is to help with the realization that there is no personal self….that’s it…nothing else. All other spiritual beliefs and concepts are put away temporarily so that the focus is only on direct experience.

There is only one person outside of the blogosphere who knows of my spiritual journey and that I am involved in the LU process. Not that I want it to be kept secret…exactly the opposite. I am excited to share my insights but I honestly don’t know where to begin the discussion with anyone who has never heard of the no self concept. My knowledge of it has progressed over the years going from one path to the next and the different concepts all linked up together at some point.

I remember when I first became aware of the no self philosophy…it felt uncomfortable. I felt more comfortable keeping the personal self in a separate compartment I called the ego, small self, lower self or a “little me” in the background not to be confused with “my higher self” hanging out somewhere above my head. There seemed to be two parts of me each taking turns being in charge.

Realizing that the little me in the background doesn’t exist and never has existed takes some honest looking. Maybe for some it’s a spiritual awakening happening in a flash but for me it has been a slow process that started two years ago backed up by 25 years of spiritual seeking.

I still don’t know if any awakening happened….I have no expectations of enlightenment….realization is a better word I suppose. Nothing really changes….just a clearer lens to look through.

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Filed under Absolute, Direct Experience, Direct Inquiry, Enlightenment, Nonduality, Pointers, Seeker, Self Identity, Self Realization, Zen

Who Am I…Really?

The most common spiritual inquiry question “Who Am I?” has been a question of mine since I can remember.  Not because of spiritual inquiry but because of wondering what my name really should be.  I was named after my father whose name was Harry Carl so the closest female version of that name was …Harriett Carlyn.  The label was strictly a namesake because no one ever called me by either name.  At some point the “o” was put in the middle name making it the more commonly known name of Carolyn.  After that, my label changed many times throughout my life.  I just counted seven different forms of identity in my wallet all with different names. This display of aliases has created problems for me at times especially in airports.

Maybe that’s what started my spiritual quest of trying to discover who I really am.  I always envied people who were  given a name at birth and have never known any other label.  It seemed they always knew who they were and I was always wondering. So now that I’m on this road to “no-self” I can finally stop wondering who I am…and just be whatever name pops out of my wallet that day.

How many names would each spiritual seeker have if they changed their name with each shift in perception or with each “Aha” moment?  After so many changes the names that identify us would become meaningless…

 

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Filed under Direct Experience, Direct Inquiry, Enlightenment, Nonduality, Seeker, Self Identity, self image