It’s famously difficult to talk about our nature.
Why?
ALL WE HAVE EVER KNOWN
It’s not because what we are is far away, obscure, unfamiliar to us, or something very special.
After all, it’s what we are. It’s what we all already are most familiar with.
It’s really the only thing we are familiar with. It’s all we have ever known.
So why is it difficult?
THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE
It has to do with the nature of language.
Mental representations are just that, mental representations.
They are maps of the world. They are questions about the world. They are different in nature from what they point to. (Unless they happen to refer to mental representations.) They cannot hold any full, final, or absolute truth. They are always provisional. They are always only useful in a particular situation and context. They can help us orient and function in the world. In their nature, they split while reality is a seamless whole.
WHAT THE RECIPIENT IS CONSCIOUSLY FAMILIAR WITH
It also has to do with what the recipient is consciously familiar with.
If the recipient is familiar with their nature, then the conversation tends to flow naturally and easily. After all, we are both familiar with and talk about the same terrain.
If they are not consciously familiar with it, then no words can really convey it. They don’t have a conscious reference for it. They are not familiar with the terrain. (Although they are, of course, without consciously realizing it.)
IT’S NOT UNIQUE TO TALKING ABOUT OUR NATURE
This is not unique to talking about our nature.
It has to do with language and communication, and applies to everything we talk about.
If you haven’t tasted an apple, then it’s difficult to convey with words how it tastes.
ONE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE
There is also one significant difference between talking about our nature and talking about most other things.
If you haven’t tasted an apple, but are familiar with other fruits, I can use that as a reference. I can convey something by referencing what you already know.
That’s more difficult when it comes to our nature. If you are not consciously familiar with your nature, then what you are familiar with is whatever is within the content of experience, and there isn’t anything there that’s a good or useful reference.
That is one reason why it’s actually more difficult to talk about our nature if the recipient is not already familiar with that particular terrain.
WHAT IS OUR NATURE?
So what is our nature? How would I put it into words?
Depending on the situation, I would maybe say that….
It’s not wrong that I am this human self in the world. It’s an assumption that works reasonably well, although it also comes with some inherent unease and discomfort.
In my own immediate noticing, I find I am something else. I am what this whole field of experience – which includes this human self and the wider world – happens within and as.
I am this awake space that forms itself into all content of experience, including anything related to this human self.
This is nothing special. It’s what I assume you are too.
It’s what I already am very familiar with. It’s what you already are very familiar with. It’s what I already am. It’s what you already am.
The only difference is in noticing it and getting familiar with it in a more conscious way.
NOTICING IT AND TAKING IT SERIOUSLY
Even that isn’t necessarily so difficult, especially with some guided structured noticing – AKA inquiry. I find the Big Mind process, Headless experiments, and detailed sense field explorations (Kiloby Inquiries) very helpful.
Noticing is just the first step.
Sometimes, we notice and don’t pursue it for a variety of reasons. We may think that it’s too simple and obvious so it can’t possibly be “it”. We may not see the value in it. We may not be drawn to continue to explore it.
If we are drawn to continue to explore it, then that opens up another path.
This is a path of continuing to notice, through different situations and states. We are creating a new habit of our nature noticing itself, independent of the changing content of experience.
It’s a path of clarifying and differentiating our nature from all the phenomena it forms itself into.
It’s a path of recognizing all the phenomena our nature forms itself into, and especially that which our personality doesn’t like, as our nature.
It’s a path of exploring how it is for this human self to live and function within that noticing.
It’s a path of this human self and its bodymind transforming within this noticing, and aligning more deeply and thoroughly with oneness recognizing itself.
That’s where the real work is. Noticing can be easy. Continuing to notice independent of the always changing content of experience is where the work is. Exploring how it is to live within that noticing is where the work is. Intentionally joining with the inevitable (and often challenging) transformation of this human self is where the work is.