Daily Diary December 9, 2022 – The Macro and the Micro

Attempting to find a way to convince? talk to? “radical non-dualists” who reject the micro – the ground state awareness/Atman.
It seems objectively absurd to ignore or deny awareness as the ground state.
But they do it. Getting a whiff of flat earthers…

I made a final attempt with the micro/macro idea -and now will drop it. Seems to me that they are coping out with the whole “It just is” line as frankly a lazy way to avoid doing the work needed for the micro.
Like in 3500 years o one else thoguht of the Macro. I would suggest that it was seen early o as a “duh, no kidding, that’s obvious, and then was rejected and the micro – the Atman/Awareness/Consciousness approach was followed instead. I think the macro is useful for possibly collapsing insincere seekers,or for the beginners,  but for those who insist on the the Truth, the micro is the only way to go. There’s a reason it’s hard and Maya has the reputation she does. And maybe why McKenna does not even mention it as do no other sages.

Awareness requires or, at a minimum, implies that there is someone to be aware.”

I can see why you would say that – it implies an infinite regression – which cannot be true. I would say the awareness is self-aware/self-evident and so no infinite regression.

But the word awareness does not work for you. Just like Consciousness does not work for me. Fine.

Personally, I think there is a background of awareness/attention when fingers are typing, but it so subtle that it goes unnoticed. This is what I thought you meant in your comment weeks ago that “it’s always been there. ” I “got” the “message” of “This is what is happening” decades ago.
The difference was becoming aware of awareness – sorry 😉

This is what the Realization showed. “I” am that awareness = I am that – that is what it points to. If you re-read the dedication of I AM That you will see that is what it means.

Ofc “This is all there is and what is happening. ” Agreed.

Yet, the Self turned up the volume of awareness/attention – or the subtle background presence of the Self – to such a degree it could not go unnoticed. The “background field” of awareness/Self shifted to foreground. (apologies for mixed terms here, please bear with me). That is the Realization. It is so subtle that the immersive aspect of perception and thought hides it. Any action taken hides it. One must quiet the mind, ala Ramana’s I/Who Am I, for example to discoverer it. That is so funny, you were using self-inquiry to take me to “the message” (iI think) and I was able to use it to Realize my true nature. The Self/IS is amazing and efficient!

WRT Advaita as a process – There is a reason there is a process to it.

TL;DR: You learn needed things along the way. Even Doogie Houser had to complete Medical School. I know Doogie is not a real person – but then neither are we;-)

Longer version: Taking a shortcut can have repercussions. Gary practiced for 20 years before he reached that and Tony as well and Nisargadatta 3 years and Ramana – they did it through individual efforts and did not the “help” of external substances. I used psychedelics to “see the door and walk through” get a glimpse of what was possible in liberation- but could not “stay” I always came down. Then I did the internal work through study, meditation, contemplation and eventually self-inquiry to get there on my own.

I question the validity and efficacy of substance-generated “realization” “shortcuts” – I would wonder if all the pieces really were in place sufficiently to sustain the “final answer’ – as a teacher, there’s a reason there is a process of learning that takes time: doctor, lawyer, airplane pilot, nuclear physicist – it takes a long time to learn and master these skills. Otherwise there can be dire consequences down the line. Some excited new physics student goes right to nuclear fission class and lets the 1/2 the ball of uranium come into contact with the other half because they just don’t know the repercussion or are careless and poof. (true story, by the way, you can look it up).

This may be why there are no authentic stories of people spontaneously Realizing – or so they say on reddit – so it must be true 😉