In noticing and exploring my nature, distance and space is one of the aspects I enjoy looking at. (This human self enjoys it when it’s happening.)
A SENSE OF NO DISTANCE
In one sense, there is no distance. Everything happens here within and as this awake space, within and as what I am.
Said another way, the consciousness I am forms itself into this whole field of experience. It’s not more or less of anything. There is no distance to anything.
At the same time, there is a sense of distance in two distinct ways.
A SENSE OF DISTANCE I: DISIDENTIFICATION
One of the ways there is a sense of distance is disidentification.
I notice this field of experience, including anything related to this human self, and it’s clearly not what I fundamentally am. It all comes and goes. It’s all ephemeral.
This human self lives his own life like anything else. Everything is happening on its own.
A more metaphorical way to say it, which reflects my experience but is not literally true, is that it’s all sliding on the surface of what I am, of this awake space. It’s also clear that what I am forms itself into all of it.
This sense of identification-distance is more in the foreground when attention goes there, and more in the background – and still available – when attention goes somewhere else.
A SENSE OF DISTANCE II: PHYSICAL SPACE
There is also a sense of distance in a conventional sense. If I see something, I can estimate the distance between things. This human self is able to move around in space. And so on.
When I look, I find that this sense of space is created by the mental field. The mental field creates images of space and places images of things in that space. This operates on its own, which is clear when I close my eyes. It also functions as an overlay on my visual field and the other fields (sound, sensations, smell, taste etc.).
I explore this by noticing each sense field at a time, and the most effective way I have found to explore it – thoroughly and in detail – is the Kiloby Inquiries which are based on traditional Buddhist inquiry.
SIMILAR TO TIME
This is similar to a sense of time.
In immediacy, there is no time. Everything is happening in presence, including any ideas of past, future, and present.
Any sense of time is created by the mental field. It creates images of time in general, as a timeline with past, future, and present. It then places images of things that happened in the past, things that’s in the present, and things that may be in the future. A sense of change is created by comparing images of the past, often very recent past, with images of what’s here in the present. Images of the present are really images of the recent past, they are always a little behind. Images of the future are based on elements from my images of the past.
How does disidentification come in here? I find that any images of this human self, of a doer, an observer, and so on, belong to the past. They are about the past. The awakeness I am forms itself into these images, and they are ephemeral as everything other content of experience.
WHO AND WHAT I AM
I have written about this in other articles but thought I would include it briefly here.
In one sense, I am this human self in the world. It’s not wrong. It’s an assumption that works reasonably well. If I take it as what I fundamentally am, it’s inherently stressful and uncomfortable since it’s out of alignment with reality.
In my own first-person experience, I find I fundamentally am what it all happens within and as. A thought may call this consciousness. To me, the world happens within and as the consciousness I am.
This is what mystics throughout time and across traditions and cultures have talked about, using the language that made the most sense to them in their context.
A FEW MORE WORDS ON MY NATURE
It’s not anything far away or special or magical. It’s closer to us than anything. It’s all we have ever known. It’s what we all are to ourselves. Very likely, all “conscious beings” are consciousness to themselves, and the world to them happens within and as the consciousness they are.
It’s also not so difficult to notice with some guidance and structured pointers. The most effective approaches I have found are the Big Mind process, the Headless experiments, and the Kiloby Inquiries. Over time, basic meditation – notice & allow what’s here, and notice it’s already noticed and allowed – will also reveal this.
It doesn’t even require spirituality. We can understand this in a secular way. If I “have” consciousness, then to myself, I inevitably am consciousness. If I am consciousness, the world to me inevitably happens within and as the consciousness I am. It’s all I have ever known. My nature is all I have ever known.
To me, the world will inevitably appear as consciousness since it happens within and as the consciousness I am. If we want to assume that the world – all of existence – IS consciousness, that’s fine. If we do that, we can call it God, Spirit, Brahman, or whatever label this human self resonates with.
The real work is in keeping noticing and learning to live from that noticing. The real work is inviting this human self to reorganize within the oneness I am. That’s a process without any finishing line, at least as long as this human self is around and perhaps beyond that.
If I find myself as capacity for it all – including time, space, and this human self – does that mean that this consciousness I am will continue after the death of this human self? I don’t know. I have what seems like clear memories of the time between lives, and even of past lives. There are a lot of experiences people share that suggest that we continue beyond this life. And yet, I don’t know. I cannot know for certain.
INITIAL NOTES
Oneness and disidentification
The consciousness I am forms itself into what’s here, the whole field of experience, and recognizes itself as all of it, as the awake space that takes all these forms
Also, a kind of distance to everything, including everything related to this human self, disidentification
Clearly not what I fundamentally am, all comes and goes, is ephemeral
Oneness and space
What I am is space for everything, even physical space
More accurate to say capacity
Sense of distance in two ways
Conventional distance
Identification distance