Experience is the
Reflection of Knowledge & Belief
TAKE
YOUR STAND in this present moment of awareness. Be aware of what is
happening—and let it be. In your own direct experience, right now, you
realize yourself as this aware space—relaxed and at ease. This is a
direct realization. Your essential nature is pure intelligence—now you
know yourself in your own direct experience.
It is common in
spiritual circles for people to become aware of the fact that they are
aware. You may have experienced this yourself. It can be quite a
revelation to realize yourself as this presence of awareness—peaceful,
relaxed and at ease. You may have experienced a deep sense of connection,
unity and harmony. "Everything is perfect as it is! I have no problems!
I do not need anything. I am complete—here and now!"
This realization is
not uncommon—becoming aware of being aware. In many cases people will
interpret the recognition of awareness as an experience.
There may have been
three or four days of peace and well-being. A natural relaxation
response happens in the mind and body. Maybe it lasted for a few
minutes, a few hours, a few days—or weeks and months for some people.
The experience ended and you were back in the mind. And you felt, "I
lost it! I had it for a while and now it is gone!"
This is why it is
critical to understand the nature of knowledge and experience. You
transcend what you have understood! You must understand your own mind.
The mind must understand itself. You must thoroughly understand the
nature of knowledge and experience! Is this clear! If you do not
understand your own mind you will be stuck in the illusory world of
mind! Stuck in the dream world of knowledge and belief. Stuck in the
dream of experience—longing for one experience, and running away from
another!
To be absolutely free
you must have complete Self-Knowledge. You must have a complete
understanding of yourself. You must realize your absolute nature of
awareness—timeless, changeless and formless. And you must understand
your relative nature of mind—in time, always changing, and in form. You
are the absolute and you are the relative.
There is nothing apart
from you! Everything is yourself!
Without fully
understanding your own mind, without fully understanding the nature of
knowledge and belief you will continue to fear and desire experience.
Your experience is the reflection of your knowledge and belief!
If you do not
understand your own mind then every time an uncomfortable experience
arises you will try to run away from it: "Okay, how did I get away from
this last time? Did I meditate? Did I focus or concentrate? Did I pray
to God? Was I aware of being aware? What did I do? What do I do now?"
Do you realize you are
trying to run away from your own experience? Your own mind is trying to
run away from itself!
Now do you realize the
importance of understanding the nature of experience, knowledge and
belief—for yourself?
You
can read about the nutritional value of peanuts on the back of the
container, but you experience the nutritional value by eating the
peanuts. If you do not eat the peanuts you will not experience the
benefit. You can read about the thirst quenching power of water, but
your thirst is quenched by drinking the water. If you do not drink the
water your thirst will not be quenched. It is helpful to know about the
beneficial value of food and water, but you experience the benefits by
eating and drinking.
This present moment of
aware presence is pure intelligence and our anchor to reality. Now we
let the mind and body relax and let everything be as it is.
Now we are all aware.
We can be aware of everything that is happening. As you become aware of
what is happening now, you may notice that you are experiencing a
movement of your own mind. And it becomes more obvious that all
experience is a movement of your own mind.
As you begin to
question the reality of your experience, you realize in this present
moment, here and now, it is impossible to experience a problem. In this
present moment all is well. I will talk about my own direct experience
and I hope you apply what you are reading to yourself—so this is of
tremendous benefit to you.
I can drink the water
and eat the peanuts, and I will experience the benefit. When you drink
the water and eat the peanuts, you experience the benefit. Apply what
you are reading here to yourself and see if it is true. It is up to you.
It may become more
obvious to you that all experience is the movement of your own mind.
You can begin to
observe the thought-stories and the emotional-stories playing in your
mind and their affect on the body. You can begin to question the truth
of your experience. You can question the truth of what you believe you know.
You question the reality of the thought-stories and emotional-stories.
You question the fundamental truth of your experience. Is this really
happening? What is happening now? Is this real?
This present moment of
aware presence is the fundamental truth of my reality. What is this
movement of mind and emotion? Is it real? What is the truth of my
experience? As you continue questioning, it becomes more obvious that
what you believed and experienced as suffering in the past was a
movement of mind. Now you realize: "There is no such thing as suffering.
It does not exist! It was a projection of my own mind!" And the whole
story of suffering revolved around an imaginary self-image that I
believed myself to be. This imaginary self-image has no existence apart
from the thought-story!
Now you realize that
thought-stories and emotional-stories had become very compelling and
seductive especially when they affected the body. In reference to some
thoughts it is easy to say: "Well, that is just a silly thought." But
when emotions and physical sensations of the body are involved,
thought-stories become more compelling and seductive. And you say:
"Well, the other stories are not true, but this is no story—this is
real! I can feel it in my stomach and chest. My whole body feels it, so
it must be true!" And you begin to question those stories. You begin to
question all your experiences. You question everything you believe you
know and experience. And you ask: "Is this true?"
Now
you realize that your experience is a reflection of your knowledge and
belief. You experience what you believe you know. This applies to all
experience—this is comprehensive and all inclusive. There are no
exceptions. Discover this for yourself. It is up to you. When you
discover this for yourself you experience the benefits. If you do not
drink the water and eat the peanuts you will not benefit.
So you question your
own experience and ask: "What do I know with absolute certainty? What is
real? What is true?" You question the experiences that were most
problematic to you. It is up to you. Question what troubles you most.
This is very practical. Whatever your issue is you can question and ask:
"What is real about this experience? What do I believe? What do I know?"
You question your experience and you question what you believe you know.
What do I know and what do I experience?
You can only
experience what you believe you know. You experience what you believe is
real and true. This is the nature of experience. If you believe Santa
Claus is real, as I did at six years old—I experienced Santa Claus.
"There is Santa Claus. You cannot tell me there is no such thing as
Santa Claus; I am experiencing him—I know he is real!"
Whatever you are
experiencing here now is a reflection of what you believe you know.
Now you question your
knowledge. By questioning your knowledge you change your experience. You
ask: "Is Santa Claus real?" You ask your older brother or sister, your
older friends, and you say to your parents: "I need to know the truth.
Is Santa Claus real?" And they say: "You know what, Santa Claus is a
myth. There is no Santa Claus." And you say: "I knew it!" Now you are
free of that myth. You no longer believe in Santa Claus so you cannot
experience Santa Claus as you did in the past.
Now when you see Santa
Claus you still experience him—but you know he is not real. You do not
have to ban Santa Claus from your home. Santa Claus is welcome.
"Come and go as you please, Santa. But let me pull your beard!"
By questioning what
you believe you know and questioning your experience you may realize
your innate freedom beyond belief. You may realize there is no such
thing as suffering; no such thing as seeking; no such thing as
awakening; no such thing as enlightenment. There is no independent 'me'.
There is no independent ego apart from the play of mind.
And of course the
central character in the play of mind is you! The play is all about you.
You do not care about anyone else. Admit it. You are obsessed with
yourself. This is the nature of the human experience. We are completely
caught up in our self image—who we believe we are and what we take
ourselves to be. So we question: "What is the reality of who I am? What
is the reality of my knowledge and experience? What do I know? What do I
experience?"
Now we are grounded in
this present moment of reality. This is our anchor to the truth. We take
our stand in this present moment of pure intelligence. This aware
presence is watching the show, witnessing the movement of mind. There is
awareness here now. We are all aware now. And through this awareness is
a movement of mind. This play of mind can be questioned.
Now we are firmly
grounded in this fundamental truth. This is the truth of who I am—this
present moment of aware presence. This witnessing presence is the truth
of who I am. And it becomes more obvious that everything else is a
movement of mind. All knowledge and experience is a movement of mind.
This is all inclusive. There are no exceptions. Everything you know and
experience is a movement of mind. Your experience is a reflection of
what you believe is real and true. When the thought-stories are believed
to be real and true they are experienced as real and true. You cannot
lie to yourself. You cannot trick yourself.
If you believe in
Santa Claus you will experience him as real and true. If you do not
believe in Santa Claus you cannot experience him as real and true. You
cannot fool yourself. You experience what you believe. When you question
your beliefs and you no longer believe in Santa Claus, you cannot
experience Santa Claus as real any more. You cannot do it.
If you believe you are
a separate ego, you will experience yourself as a separate ego. If you
do not believe you are a separate ego, you cannot experience yourself as
a separate ego. You experience what you believe you know.
Who is suffering? Who
is seeking? Who wants to be enlightened? Who am I?
Being grounded in this
present moment of pure intelligence it becomes more obvious that each
moment of experience is a movement of mind. By questioning the reality
of what we believe we know, there is a natural change in experience.
You can no longer
believe in self-centered thought-stories. You can no longer believe in
the existence of a separate ego—no matter how deep you feel it! Your
whole body may feel contracted—stomach churning, neck muscles tense,
cheeks flush—but you can no longer believe in the emotional-stories. You
can no longer believe in the existence of a separate ego—past, present
or future. You cannot believe in the reality of mental or emotional
states.
Do you realize how
deep this goes? In any given moment you have no way to know what your
mental, emotional or physical state is apart from your conditioning and
beliefs. You have no other way to know. Mentally, emotionally and
physically you are experiencing what you believe you know is real and
true.
At any given point in
time I have no way of knowing what my mental, emotional or physical
state is apart from my conditioning. I have no other way to know. I
realize my experience is the reflection of the conditioning by my
parents, family, friends, teachers, culture and society. They defined,
described, programmed and conditioned every aspect of how I experience
myself—and I believed them. So this is how I experience myself and the
world!
I experience what I
believe I know to be real and true. I have no other way to experience.
All experience is a reflection of knowledge and belief. When I question
what I believe I know about who I am—the self-center falls apart. It is
obvious I have no way to know who I am. I have no way to know what my
mental, emotional or physical states are at any given point in time. I
have no way to know anything at all. All knowledge is conditioning.
Salvatore: If
you experience a happy thought arise how do you reconcile that with not
knowing what your mental or emotional states are?
Stephen: There
is no such thing as a happy thought apart from my knowledge and belief
in a happy thought. This is comprehensive and all inclusive. There is no
such thing as a happy thought—unless I believe I know there is a happy
thought which is different from a sad thought.
Salvatore: Does
this have to do with labels?
Stephen:
Experience is the reflection of knowledge and belief! Experience is a
function of mind. The mind is the process of labeling, defining,
describing, categorizing and judging—all programmed and conditioned.
There is no other way to experience. My parents, family, friends,
teachers, culture and society told me what a happy thought is—otherwise,
how would I know it?
Salvatore:
'Happy' is just a name perhaps?
Stephen: Prior
to the mind, prior to cognition, prior to knowledge and belief—there is
no experience! There is no knowledge or experience prior to the mind. Do
you see how deep this goes? This is comprehensive and all inclusive. A
patient under anesthesia has no knowledge or experience of the surgeon's
incision because the cognitive faculty is asleep. You could cut off your
leg with a chain saw—prior to cognition there is no experience! There
are no exceptions to this. Right now your digestive system is turning
food into flesh. This miraculous process is a function of pure
intelligence and is happening prior to cognition so you cannot
experience it.
Now you realize that
all experience—even a simple happy thought—is a reflection of knowledge
and belief. Nothing exists apart from the movement of mind. Belief and
knowledge are at the root of all experience. The experience of a happy
thought is the reflection of knowledge and belief in a happy thought.
Prior to knowledge and belief there is no such thing as a happy thought
or a sad thought. Pure intelligence, your own natural state of
perfection, is prior to good and evil; prior to the mind; prior to
cognition!
This realization cuts
to the root of all suffering. It is impossible to suffer unless my mind
believes in suffering and someone who can suffer. There is no happiness
or sadness until my mind believes it knows happiness and sadness.
Experience is the reflection of knowledge and belief. You experience
what you believe you know is real and true. This applies to every moment
of experience—even now!
Prior to knowledge and
belief there is no separate person. You experience yourself as a person
in a body because your mind was programmed and conditioned to believe
you are a person in a body. Prior to the conditioned mind there is no
experience of being a separate person in a separate body. When the
knowledge and belief of being a separate person is questioned and found
to be false, you can no longer believe in the experience of being a
separate person.
Now you shine as this
aware presence—this pure intelligence—here and now!
From this new
perspective you realize there is no way to know what is happening—all
knowledge is conditioned. Now, you are beyond the mind, absolutely free
of all knowledge and belief! Santa Claus is free to come into your home
and you are no longer fooled. You have seen through the false belief in
Santa Claus at the root of your experience.
Happy and sad thoughts
are free to come through. You know there is no happy or sad thought
apart from belief. You realize the experience of mental, emotional and
physical states are a reflection of knowledge and belief. Now you are
beyond knowledge and belief—absolutely free.
Prior to the mind
there is pure intelligence. Prior to knowledge and belief there is pure
consciousness. It is pure perception without the knowledge of
experience.
The fundamental truth
of what I am—this pure intelligence here and now—cannot be known or
experienced. I am prior to the mind. I am prior to labeling, defining
categorizing and judging. I am prior to cognition; prior to experience;
prior to knowledge and belief.
This natural
perfection that we are right now is nameless, timeless, and formless. It
cannot be pointed to. Which way would you point? It cannot suffer. What
is aware of suffering? It cannot be happy. What is aware of happiness?
What is aware right now?
This aware presence
that we are has no way to experience apart from knowledge and belief. So
you ask: "Is there any such thing as happiness or sadness apart from my
programming and conditioning?" As a two-year-old child you have no way
to know happiness from sadness. You do not know, and you do not care!
There is no one to care! You are pure consciousness—pure intelligence!
Salvatore: That
sounds conceptual. What is your experience?
Stephen: All
experience, including mine, is the reflection of the knowledge I was
conditioned to believe. I have questioned my knowledge and beliefs, and
realized that all my knowledge is false—and yet experience continues to
happen. Now I realize that my world of experience is a projection of my
own conditioned mind, and there is no world apart from my own mind. The
world is my mind. I experience the world as both real and illusory. The
experience of my world is like a lucid dream—real and unreal.
Santa Claus is welcome
to come into my world. I know Santa Claus is not real, and yet I still
experience Santa Claus and I can pull his beard. The metaphor of Santa
Claus applies to all experience.
Everything is
happening naturally and spontaneously. Happy thoughts flow through. Sad
thoughts flow through. I know they have no reality apart from my belief.
I do not need to change sad thoughts into happy thoughts. I do not
believe in happiness or sadness—they are not real! All mental, emotional
and physical states are a reflection of knowledge and belief. I know
nothing. I believe nothing. Therefore mental, emotional and physical
states have no reality in my world of experience.
Salvatore: So
happy and sad thoughts flow through and you are aware of them. You just
do not give them any meaning.
Stephen: Listen
up! There is no such thing as happiness or sadness! And there is no one
who gives anything any meaning!
Salvatore:
Okay, okay.
Nadia: You
never get identified?
Stephen: There
is no such thing as identification! There is no one who gets identified!
Experience is the reflection of knowledge and belief. This applies to
all experience!
Nadia: It
appears to me that I experience identification.
Stephen: Yes,
it appears so. You can question your experience. I know there is no such
thing as identification. Identification is a movement of mind.
Identification is not real. Experience is the reflection of knowledge
and belief. This is comprehensive and all inclusive. What do you
believe? What do you know?
If you experience
separation and identification, then there is belief in separation and
identification—because experience is the reflection of knowledge and
belief. I do not believe in separation and identification, therefore I
cannot experience it as real. Nor can I experience Santa Claus as real!
Nadia: You have
no knowledge or beliefs like that anymore?
Stephen:
Experience is an impersonal process. All of my experiences are the
reflection of my knowledge and beliefs. My experience and your
experience are a reflection of the same process. There is no way to
experience anything apart from this process. I experience everything—I
believe nothing. My experience is like a lucid dream. Reality and
illusion are the same.
Nadia: Ahh.
Stephen: You
are aware of your experience, and your experience is a reflection of
your knowledge and belief—all a process of mind.
There is tremendous
power in coming back to this present moment of reality—our anchor to the
truth. This is pure intelligence. There is awareness here now—this you
know with absolute certainty. This present moment of aware presence
is the truth of what I am. I am this. This is the truth because it
cannot be denied. It is not a product of mind. There is awareness here
now. Come back to this fundamental truth that you are.
There is pure
intelligence here now—that I am. From this truth you watch your
experience. Pure intelligence is what you are. And you begin to watch
what is happening. If you are interested in enlightenment, watch the
process of mind and you will notice something. This presence of
awareness is here now—simply present and aware. You are grounded in this
fundamental truth, now become fully aware of your experience.
When you experience
identification and separation, question it: "What is identification?
What is separation?" Being grounded in this truth it becomes obvious
that identification and separation are a movement of mind. Discover for
yourself—what is identified as what? What is separate from what?
You may discover
separation and identification are a movement of mind. Separation and
identification never happened. You realize this in your own experience.
You can no longer believe in the idea of separation. You can no longer
believe in the idea of identification. Those ideas are no longer real
for you. You questioned the ideas of separation and identification and
found them to be erroneous beliefs.
You realize all
knowledge and experience is a movement of mind. My knowledge and
experience is a product of my conditioning. And there was a lot of
spiritual conditioning—ideas about identification, separation, ego,
suffering, seeking and enlightenment—all conditioned beliefs!
Now we take our stand
in this present moment and we are grounded in reality—this pure
intelligence here and now. This is the fundamental truth that I know
with absolute certainty. There is awareness here now. This is the truth
of what I am.
And you realize there
is no such thing as identification. There is no such thing as suffering.
There is no me, no you, no us, no them—apart from the movement of mind.
There is no Santa Claus! When the mind believes it knows Santa Claus is
real, it experiences Santa Claus as real!
To experience
identification, you must believe in identification. You cannot
experience something you do not believe in. How do you cut the root of
belief? By questioning: "Is this real? Is this true? How do I know this
is real? How do I know this is true?" The ideas you have about yourself
begin to fall. They cannot stand up to a simple investigation. And what
becomes more obvious is the fundamental truth the spiritual traditions
are pointing to—this present moment of natural perfection is the truth
of what I am—and nothing else!
Now I am present and
aware, here and now. This is the truth of what I am. Everything else is
illusion. Everything else is Santa Claus. My experience is my reality
and my illusion. Illusion and reality are the same—a movement of mind.
There is no difference between reality and illusion. When Santa Claus
walks into the room, I experience what I believe about him. When I
believe he is real—it is not illusion! "Santa Claus is right here! This
is my reality!"
There is no objective
reality out there somewhere. Experience is subjective. There is no
reality or illusion apart from the process of mind. Your experience is a
reflection of what you believe you know—and there is no other
experience!
This applies to all
experience—whether you experience laughing or crying; floating
out-of-the-body or in the body; communicating with the dead or a friend;
traveling through the astral planes or in your car; sitting in a theater
or on the toilet—experience is the reflection of knowledge and belief.
What do you know? What do you believe?
There is no need to
run away from or long after experience! There is no need to ban Santa
Claus from your home, or force him to stay. Santa Claus is not real! Let
him be!
Santa Claus represents
all experience. Happiness and sadness—every moment of experience—even
now! Santa Claus is welcome because you know he has no reality apart
from your belief.
In the past the habit
was to run away from the sad experience and grasp onto the happy
experience. Now you realize the importance of understanding that
experience is the reflection of knowledge and belief—all experience!
There is no sadness or happiness apart from your knowledge and belief.
There are no mental or emotional states apart from your knowledge and
belief.
Mental and emotional states are not real to me. Mental and
emotional states have no existence apart from my belief! I do not
believe in happiness or sadness! My experience is a reflection of the
knowledge that I was conditioned and programmed to believe. I realize I
was programmed by idiots, morons and mental defectives—my parents,
family, friends, teachers, culture and society!
When Santa Claus
appears I know he is both real and unreal. Real because I am
experiencing him in the moment—I cannot deny an experience is happening!
Unreal because I know that my experience is a reflection of my knowledge
and beliefs that were programmed by idiots, morons and mental
defectives!
My experience is both
real and illusory.
There is no objective
reality out there. Whatever your mind believes is real and true is
experienced as real and true! This is the importance of understanding
the nature of experience, knowledge and belief. This is the importance
of understanding the nature of your own mind because your mind is your
experience and knowledge. Your mind is your world of experience.
Until you understand
the nature of knowledge and belief—your own mind—you will continue to
run away from unpleasant experiences, and grasp onto the pleasant. But
when you understand your mind is running away from its own self-created
states, you realize there is no need to run, there is no need to hide—it
is all your own mind!
Beyond the mind is
absolute peace independent of experience. Now you know all experience is
a movement of your own mind!
Hector:
Everything?
Stephen: Find
out for yourself! Can you find any experience apart from knowledge and
belief? I already ate the peanuts and drank the water—if I may be so
bold. I know for myself. I am not interested in theories. Discover the
nature of experience for yourself. It is possible to be completely free
of suffering, seeking, and enlightenment. They do not exist! All
experience is a movement of mind.
Moment to moment,
thoughts, emotions and sensations have no meaning, value or purpose
apart from my belief and knowledge. My world of experience is my own
mind!
Do you realize this is
absolute freedom? Knowing the reality of myself as this present moment
of pure intelligence, what can bother me apart from my own mind?
My mind has
deconstructed itself. I have no way to know anything absolutely. All
knowledge is relative. I have no way to know what happiness or sadness
is apart from my programming, and I do not have faith in my programmers!
Now I am simply
present and aware. The programming continues to function, but it does
not matter anymore. Nothing needs to change. Everything is seen and
known as an experience—the reflection of knowledge and belief. There is
a natural flow of experience. Moment to moment as each experience arises
you know: "This is my own mind—the world of experience is myself!"
Now you realize that
nothing exists apart from yourself. I am everything that exists. Do you
realize this now? My absolute nature is this aware presence—timeless,
changeless and formless. My relative nature is mind—the natural and
spontaneous flow of mental, emotional and physical states. Everything is
myself. This is comprehensive and all inclusive. There are no
exceptions. The universe is myself. What do I need to change? I am all
that is! I am happiness and I am sadness. I am everything. It is all me.
Hector: So
there is no preference.
Stephen:
Preferences are your own mind. The experience of a preference is the
reflection of knowledge and belief—this is good, that is bad.
Preferences are happening naturally and spontaneously by no one and to
no one. Preferences are your programming. You will experience
preferences. All experience is a reflection of knowledge and belief.
There is no need to change your experience. Experience is a mirror of
what you believe is real and true.
Hector: Even if
I have an experience of no-self? I cannot find any independent self and
everything seems to be the same—is that just another experience based on
my programming?
Stephen: Find
out for yourself. This is the value of drinking the water and eating the
peanuts yourself. Otherwise it is a theory. Investigate your own
experience.
Realizing that every
moment of your experience — even now — is a reflection of your own knowledge
and belief is a powerful realization. Your world of experience is your
own mind!
Take your stand in
this present moment of awareness. Be aware of what is happening—and let
it be. This present moment of natural perfection is your anchor to the
truth. I am pure intelligence! This is absolute freedom beyond all
experience. This is the benefit of Self-Knowledge—absolute peace
independent of knowledge and experience. Now you know yourself directly!
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Thank
you - J.L. & A.K.G. & B.G.
