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Direct
Realization
Your mind is the thinking process—the process of labeling,
describing, defining, separating, categorizing, and judging.
It's the mental process of dividing the absolute into the
relative. In the absence of your mind, which is the absence of
thought, there are no separate parts to the world—it's one
absolute, undivided whole. Thought does not actually separate
the world into parts, it merely creates the appearance of
separation. Even with the presence of thought, the world remains
one undivided whole.
All experience and knowledge is relative. There is no way to
experience or know the absolute. By definition the absolute is
not divided into subject and object. The absolute is one. All
objects of experience and knowledge are relative to a subject.
The only apparent subject is your mind, the thinking process.
Your knowledge and experience of the world have no absolute
reality or existence apart from your own mind. Your mind is the
only tool you have to experience and know the world. Without
exception, everything you know and experience is a product of
your mind.
Your world is your own mind.
You can realize this quite easily in your own direct experience.
Start with one simple object and then expand the realization to
include everything you experience and know. Continue expanding
this realization until your world, everything you experience and
know, and the entire universe is known to be your own mind.
To start, any simple object will do. Take a look at your chair.
Does your chair describe itself to you? Does it tell you, "I'm a
chair! I have four legs, I'm made of wood, and I'm to be used for
sitting." Or does your mind define, describe, and create an
object called a chair? From your mind's relative point of view
it is a wooden chair for sitting. But to a termite your wooden
chair is a potential home and meal.
The chair you're sitting on has no absolute, independent
existence or reality. In absolute terms it is not a chair—it has
no absolute existence. It has relative existence as a chair
simply because your mind defines, describes and creates it. Do
you see this? Without your mind, the chair does not exist. The
chair is your mind. There is no separation between your
mind and the chair. The chair and your mind are one.
You can expand this realization to include everything and
everyone you know and experience. Everything in the universe is
your own mind. Your mind is the universe. The subject and
the object are one. There is no separation. The universe and
your mind are one absolute, undivided whole. It's all you.
Seeing this clearly, the concepts of non-duality are no longer
merely a philosophy, but your own direct realization.
