Anyone into spirituality has all sorts of spiritual stories floating around in their minds. And most who are not into spirituality have these kinds of stories as well, they may just dismiss them.
For instance, if we are into mysticism or non-duality, we may have stories about the afterlife, karma, what awakening refers to, what awakening would mean for us and our future, the role of masters, the existence of non-physical entities and deities, and so on.
It’s helpful to differentiate mental representations and our immediate noticing.
MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS
For me, all of these stories are mental representations. I cannot find them anywhere else.
Someone created those stories, told them to someone else, and then they reached me.
I may have stories about the source and whether it’s reliable or not. There may be research matching the stories to a certain degree. Some of the stories may even match my own experiences.
And yet, to me, they remain mental representations and stories. I cannot find them outside of that. I cannot find it in my immediate noticing.
DIFFERENTIATING MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS AND IMMEDIATE NOTICING
For all I know, reality may not be anything like what the stories describe.
That’s a sobering realization and an important one.
In life, it helps us stay grounded and it’s a kind of vaccination against going too far into spiritual fantasies.
And more importantly, it’s a part of learning to differentiate mental representations from direct noticing. It’s a part of learning to recognize mental representations for what they are, holding them more lightly, and also differentiate all that from a direct noticing of what’s here – which is our own nature.
The only thing I can notice directly is actually my own nature. Everything else is a noticing plus a story, a mental representation.
WHAT I AM LEFT WITH
Any story about who or what I am is a story. Any story about the content of experience is a story. Any story about reality is a story.
And what I am left with is a direct noticing of my nature and that any and all experience happens within and as what I find myself as.
IT’S ALL I KNOW
When I learn to differentiate the two, I also notice more clearly that all I know is my own nature. Any content of experience happens within and as what I am, within and as my nature. Even the nature of mental representations is my nature.
To me, the nature of everything is my nature, whether I notice or not.
INITIAL NOTES
- spiritual stories
- images in my mind
- reality may not be anything like it
DRAFT
Anyone into spirituality has all sorts of spiritual stories floating around in their minds. And most who are not into spirituality have these kinds of stories as well, including stories about spirituality.
For instance, if we are into mysticism or non-duality, we may have stories about the afterlife, karma, what awakening refers to, what awakening would mean for us and our future, and so on.
Here too, it’s helpful to differentiate mental representations and our immediate noticing.
For me, all of these stories are mental representations. I cannot find them anywhere else.
Someone created those stories, told them to someone else, and then they reached me. And that’s it.
For all I know, reality may not be anything like what the stories describe.
Alternate title: Spiritual stories and mental representations in general, and the importance of differentiating them from what’s here in immediacy
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It’s a noticing of what’s here in the sense fields with an overlay of mental representations which is also part of the sense fields. To me, it’s all made up of my nature. I can find my nature in it all and as it all.
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And even that happens within and as my own nature. All I know is my own nature, whether I notice or not.
….
And when I learn to differentiate the two, I also notice that all I know is my own nature. Any content of experience happens within and as what I am, within and as my nature. Even the nature of mental representations is my nature.
To me, the nature of everything is my nature.
To me, what I am is inescapable.