The Thrill of Mere Existence, June 17, 2015

Orley: From a participant in Sedona, Arizona: “I feel as if I am missing something. My perception seems to be so mundane and basic, and I feel as if there is this subtle level of experience that I am not yet tapped into. What is the ultimate possibility for human perception? What does it actually mean to realize God?”

David: It’s to realize the Self. The highest potential of human perception happens when it dissolves, when it goes into its origin and sees; sees That or knows That. That is Truth. That is the experience of Truth, of abiding in Truth, which is not seeing anything. The secondary effect of that is to discern that which changes from That which is stationary, or does not move, in the metaphysical sense. Perception is to the world, but the perceiver is beyond the world; that is, it’s beyond activity. Meditation cultures the ability to merge into the Perceiver, the Subject.

I think you might be looking for a kind of experience that is extraordinary, some kind of eccentric or miraculous happening, beyond what the simple truth Is. That might be the issue you are describing. When you know the Perceiver, the Subject, then you are That. You merge with That. You merge only to remember That. The merger is not some addition on top of existence. It is what is actually happening. Until that merger back into the Source happens, you’re essentially caught up in your imagination.

The imagination can indulge in all kinds of fantasies, even about realization; but those fantasies are something that is happening strictly within individual perception. That’s where individual perception can gain individuality. It’s when it imagines something happening that is not happening universally or all the time. So, it imagines a special scenario or drama inside of, or actually outside of, this universal play of the world.

The play of the world is just the play of perception. But when the Subject is awakened, then it’s the expression of Truth. Until that moment occurs, when that becomes discernible, one is essentially caught up in not really perceiving, actually just fantasizing. Perception is pure. Even perception of the world does not block out the recognition of the Self or the one who perceives. But the imagination can create an alternative reality. But there’s no need to create a more pleasant, blissful experience on top of “what is.”

This is realization: when you are able to actually come to terms with this sort of understanding, and it’s enough. When you’re here with me, you feel something happening that appears to be some miraculous unfolding, which is the Shakti-Radiation, or you feel an exquisite sense of longing or Devotion, or you feel reduced back to the Subject, you merge back into Consciousness.

That’s the endless activity of the teaching work that I perform, that I am. But that whole happening is not something happening outside of what is happening in existence, even in the world, all the time. It just depends on whether you are caught up in some other place, some fantasy world. Then it appears as though this is something extraordinary. It’s only from the point of view of not knowing the Self, that all of what happens around me appears to be miraculous; unless, of course, you come to the conclusion that the whole universe is miraculous. Then you can also say that what is happening in and around me, through me to you, in us, is also miraculous.

But there can’t be the miraculous and the non-miraculous, the super-mundane and the mundane. There’s only one actual, ongoing reality and it exists beyond the categories, beyond the opposites. It’s Self-Existing, you can even say Self-Luminous. It’s Bliss is Self-Activating. It all happens inside of a single reality or location, a location which is not separate from what we perceive to be the changing world. But to understand all this requires continuous observation, self-observation, born in meditation and born of the intention, or in the intention, to realize what is real. So, when you use the word “God,” it’s a red herring. There’s no “God.” God is all part of the wish that there really is something more than all this. But “all this” is everything. “All this” contains the Subject who perceives and also the play of relativity, which happens inside the Subject, not somewhere else.

Orley: A comment from a participant in Maine: “I can feel the Shakti tonight, yet it appears as it’s strongest tonight through viewing you. I guess this goes with what you are speaking about.”

David: What you are describing is darshan. The intensification of perception and the impact, which is that intensification on perception, in perception, by perception, is the message of Truth. It’s the reverberation of Truth. It is the Shakti. It’s just that you might be thinking of the Shakti as a very specialized sort of thing. You’re imagining something special about Shakti. But this is the Shakti in its purity, the impact of Truth on the mind, which causes you to take a second breath. It restructures your own relationship with Being. We can also call this darshan. It’s liberation. It’s the taste of liberation, the byproduct of liberation. It’s the very substance of liberation.

So again, liberation does not happen as an overlay on top of a non-liberated state. It is the Truth. It is the actual play of the present moment, whether perception is going on or not. But here, your perception might become especially astute in what you just described. It could even be a subtle thrill of intensified happiness, the thrill of existence, of mere existence, which again points toward the fact that this is a completely miraculous moment, which might turn into what you call, or what one might call, mundane reality.

But for the awakened there is neither this nor That. There’s neither the mundane nor the super-mundane. There is the clarity of truth in life, in living, in being, and therefore in action: therefore, while perception is occurring. And that’s why you can have a perception, such as what you just described, in the midst of this clarity. It allows for its own noticing. So, the truth of Being does not negate the possibility of recognizing Recognition. It stimulates recognition, but in the same moment recognition will relax and also become ordinary. Namaste.