Dear Rupert,
If our minds aren’t ‘real’ and have no control over what happens in them, how is it that we remember some things but not others?
Wouldn’t we have access to all information in the universe unless this body-mind does have some actual influence that gets in the way (or filters the info so our heads don’t short-circuit)?
Is presence just a big data bank, or does it have a purpose or plan for all this manifestation?
Best wishes,
Julli
Dear Julli,
Julli: If our minds aren’t ‘real’ and have no control over what happens in them, how is it that we remember some things but not others?
Rupert: We do not remember some things and not others. Every apparent memory is simply the current thought or image, created afresh in the moment. The past to which it refers is non-existent and memory is simply the imagined link between them.
In other words, the past that memory seems to refer back to exists only as a current thought or image. Every moment comes with its own brand-new past attached to it. Or we could say that the past is created anew every time it is thought about.
Wouldn’t we have access to all information in the universe unless this body-mind does have some actual influence that gets in the way (or filters the info so our heads don’t short-circuit)?
How do you know that we, that is, consciousness, does not have access to all the information in the universe? Where else could all that information be appearing other than in consciousness?
Where else could all your documents appear other than on your screen? The fact that one document cannot perceive another is inherent in the fact that documents cannot perceive; they are perceived. However, this limitation of documents is not a limitation of the screen.
Likewise, a thought cannot perceive another thought; it is perceived. However, we superimpose this limitation of thought onto consciousness and presume that because thought is limited consciousness must also be. That idea is itself simply a thought. It has no reality or truth to it other than the thought that thinks it.
In fact, in order for anything to appear, there must be a selection. For instance, all colours are contained in the colour white. If a painter were to paint the totality of all appearances on his canvass, he or she would paint white on white. In other words there would be no painting, no appearance. So in order to paint red, the painter must leave out blue, green, yellow, and so on. That is, there must be a selection for anything to appear.
The tool through which presence manifests is called mind. Inherent in mind is this process of selection, because without it there would be no manifestation, no appearance. There would be white on white.
* * *
Is presence just a big data bank, or does it have a purpose or plan for all this manifestation?
‘A big data bank’ is one of an infinite number of ideas or images that presence, out of its freedom, is able to take.
We all know that the ultimate purpose in life is love, peace and happiness. That is why everyone seeks them. Love, peace and happiness are inherent in the knowing of being. In fact, they arethe knowing of being.
Love, peace and happiness are present as the origin and substance of all appearances, so it cannot be said that the purpose of appearances is to acquire them. They are already present! It is only a thought that rises up and imagines that presence is not present, and therefore that love, peace and happiness are not present. With this thought the seamless oneness of presence seems to become two things, an entity and a world.
From that moment onwards, the apparent entity is condemned to searching in the apparent world for that lost love, peace and happiness, and makes of this search a great mission, purpose or plan. It then imagines that this purpose or plan must be inherent in consciousness. It is not. It is in the mind alone. The drama in the film is for the image, not for the TV screen.
So if we think we are a separate entity, the purpose or plan is to find love, peace and happiness. However, as soon as it become clear that we are not a separate entity, it is simultaneously realised that the ultimate achievement of the apparent person’s purpose or plan is already present prior toand duringall appearances as their origin and substance.
This purpose is not achieved as a result of any of the mind’s projects. It is revealed when the mind’s projects are dissolved. In fact, it is the mind’s projects that veil the love, peace and happiness. At the same time, these projects are inevitable as long as we consider ourself to be a person.
Presence knows itself as the love, peace and happiness that are the source and substance of all appearances, whilst for the apparent person, love, peace and happiness are their destiny.
For consciousness there is no purpose or plan. For the apparent person there is a purpose or a plan. In fact, the apparent person doesn’t havea plan; it isa plan. The apparent person isthe search for happiness. Presence is the happiness it is searching for. How could happiness have a plan? It is already that for which all plans are made.
With love,
Rupert
