Question: First, let me say that I have no idea what is going on with reality, the world, or the minds in the world--including mine. I have been a "seeker" for longer than I care to remember; I have gotten nowhere. I have a vague intellectual understanding of some of the concepts of Advaita, and I do mean vague! I "know" (?) (vaguely, intellectually) that objects are concepts only, including myself. (Why can't I Really Know that?)
A couple of questions that have always bothered me are "Why is there anything at all?" and, noting that there is something, "Why isn't there everything?" How is it that the illusory things that we all seem to see, are the same for everyone? Why is there not an infinity of objects, including objects that no one actually sees in our consensus reality, e.g., green rabbits, soft rocks, a third sex, a different kind of water, more than 92 natural elements, etc.? How did we arrive at the world that we "create"--and its agreed-upon objects--by perceiving it? If the Self that we all "are" is what sees, thereby creating what "we" see, why does It see what It does in fact see? It seems so limited, when I want It to be infinite.
It seems that the Self/World has somehow pulled Itself up by Its bootstraps! If I am somehow a/the creator of my little world, who created me? and why? Is my anguish at not knowing just the way it is (tough!) because "everyone" perceives it that way?
No doubt this seems like gibberish to you; it does to me, too. I hope you can shed some light on my ignorance.
Although I sense that this is not so as nothing happens. Awareness as Marianne plays at having a problem with this nothing happens.... what does awareness as Leo say? Nothing?
Answer: As a long time seeker you most likely have heard this before; ?The seeker is the sought.? You are looking from a finite seeker?s perspective for an infinite experience. What if it turns out to be the exact opposite? What if the character is the Infinite having an finite experience? What if your true identity is the Infinite Identity expressing AS the ?finite I? having experiences?
When we look for what all experiences have in common, we will find that they all are finite; every single one has a beginning and an ending. Without such limits there would be no experience at all. It is the limitation of a cup or tea pot that makes the experience of drinking tea possible. Or try to picture limitless organisms living for ever. You will find it impossible to imagine. The limits of a body are necessary for there to be an organism, as well as birth and dying, which are the necessary borders wherein the experience of a living body appears. In other words; limitation is an essential ingredient in the game of existence.
Let?s say that there were soft rocks, green rabbits and telepathic gold fish? Would they somehow be more amazing then what is right now? If such phenomena would be part of our daily experience, we could again dismiss them as commonplace, limited expressions and ask for yet more variations on the theme of creation.
This reminds me of Alan Watts quoting G. K. Chesterton in his ?Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are.?
?It is one thing to be amazed at a gorgon or a griffin, creatures which do not exist; but it is quite another and much higher thing to be amazed at a rhinoceros or a giraffe, creatures which do exist and look as if they don?t.?
The knowing you long for is itself the Knowing Mystery that cannot be known. It is what you ARE and that?s why ?you? can?t really know that. It is THAT which does the experiencing; more accurately (but still inadequately) it IS the inexperience-able experiencing.
Since this manifest universe is the expression of the One, it is not surprising that ?we? all more or less see the same reality. I say more or less, because from each perspective the view is mysteriously both unique and universal. When you think you are created and that you are the body/mind then this limitation on True Identity is an illusion. Seen from the other side, the body/mind and the appearance of personhood is but a playful expression of the Uncreated One.
And yes, this One Presence seems to have pulled itself up by its own bootstraps from the abyss of absolute no-thing-ness. It is the First Uncaused Cause. When the obvious wonder of this is recognized, the not knowing is no longer an anguish but an exquisite amazement. Count yourself lucky to recognize your ?not knowing? and see the mystery of this.
Now, does it really matter whether IT appears as soft or hard rocks, as green or white rabbits or a consensus reality? It does not, for the forms it takes are irrelevant compared to the Presence of this Self Existing Uncreated Mystery of Being.
PS
The Q & A?s in news letter 14, 16 and 19 may have relevance to your questions.

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In the deep-sleep state and whenever any desire is accomplished, I alone shine as the undisturbed peace and happiness. I am the inmost principle which is Sat-Chit-Ananda (beingness-intelligence-joy) itself. I am That which transcends all.
Just before and just after every thought and feeling, I shine in My own glory by Myself. It is in Me that thoughts and feelings rise and set. I am their changeless Witness.
I am the light of Consciousness in all thoughts and perceptions and the Light of Love in in all feelings. I have no birth and death, nor grief and delusion. I transcend bondage and liberation.
The world which rises in and grows by thought is also thought itself. Thought is nothing but Consciousness and Consciousness is My Being. Therefore the whole world is Consciousness which is Myself. I am perfect and indivisible.
I have no mine-ness, attachment or egoism. I am eternal, non-doer. all purity, self-dependent and self-luminous. Attributeless, changeless and unconditioned. I am the abode of Love, stainless, the one without a second and ever peaceful.

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Simply This
Simply this is what you are -
The twinkle of an eye or star.
However nothingness appears -
As smelly socks or pointy ears
Or raindrops dripping in the night -
It's all a perfect play of light.

Thought puts up a strong defence
For logic and for common sense,
Claiming there's a 'you' and 'me',
Each with its own identity.
But what you are is what you're seeing
Springing out of pure non-being.

In dreamless sleep I disappear -
My nature is completely clear
And Something sighs with soft delight
As I lay down my head each night.
It has no 'I', it has no mind,
It is the thing 'I' cannot find.

That Something doesn't know a 'me'
For One-ness is completely free
Of form or name or mere description,
Being neither fact nor fiction.
And yet I am that nameless thing:
I am the song of Everything.

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Changeless I am, free of form, enveloping all,
Omnipresent, untouched by sensory organs I am
Unfathomable, beyond the realm of freedom -
I am the embodiment of knowledge and bliss -
Indeed I am, none but He, none but He!

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Acharya Sri Shankara
Painting by: Jane Bloodgood-Abrams Title:Omnipresence
Visit her at: http://www.janebloodgoodabrams.com/


Walking on water
Three monks decided to practice meditation together. They sat by the side of a lake and closed their eyes in concentration. Then suddenly, the first one stood up and said, "I forgot my mat." He stepped onto the water walked across the lake to their hut on the other side.
When he returned, the second monk stood up and said, "I forgot to turn of the stove." He too walked calmly across the water and returned the same way. The third monk watched the first two carefully in what he decided must be the test of his own abilities. "Is your learning so superior to mine? I too can match any feat you two can perform," he declared loudly and rushed to the water's edge to walk across it. When he tried to step on the water, he immediately disappeared under the surface.
Undeterred, the monk climbed out of the water and tried once more with the same result. Again and again he tried while the other two monks watched his efforts.
After a while, the second monk turned to the first and said, "Do you think we should tell him where the stones are?"

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