K: Self Realisation & Nonduality

Self-Realisation

Most people are suffering from mistaken identity – taking ourselves to be someone we are not. The goal of psycho-spiritual development is to correct this mistaken identity; not to strengthen or improve our false identity. The self-that-we-think-we-are does not ontologically exist; it is a mental creation or figment of our imagination. The self-that-we-think-we-are cannot awaken – we have to awaken from that false-self in order to realise our true-Self. When this occurs, we realise that we have been our true-Self all along but had simply forgotten.

The Path to Self-Realisation

In early childhood, if something authentic (e.g. an essential quality or our true-Self) is not acknowledged and mirrored back to us by our parents, we presume it is unimportant, so we repress it and develop ego structures that will help us cope without it. Psycho-spiritual development is about reversing that process – removing the blockages, bringing things into the light of awareness and turning repression into expression. Self-realisation only becomes possible when sufficient psychological “undoing” has been completed – when our conditioning has been neutralised and our awareness has been purified (i.e. dis-identified from ego).

There are several stages leading up to Self-realisation, which can help to gauge our progress and guide us on to the next stage of our journey:

• Stage 1 involves consciously noticing our thoughts, emotions and body sensations.
  
• Stage 2 involves realising that these thoughts, emotions and body sensations are not us.
  
• Stage 3 involves realising that we are the awareness that is noticing these things.
  
• Stage 4 involves developing a felt sense that we are this awareness.
  
• Stage 5 involves experientially knowing and feeling that we are pure awareness.
  
• Stage 6 involves experientially knowing and feeling that Awareness (God/Life/Universe) is being us.

During meditation or self-inquiry (super-conscious), we might be able to reach stage 3 or 4, but in our everyday life (waking consciousness) we may only be at stage 1 or 2. This is quite normal, but we can bring these higher states of consciousness into our everyday life through Conscious Living (see Chapter 4) and Living Presence (see Chapter 6). When we reach stage 3 or 4 in our meditation practice we can start practicing spiritual Self-inquiry (see Chapter 6). Prior to that it is more beneficial to practice personal self-inquiry (see Chapter 4).

Nonduality

Self-realisation results in non-dualistic perception – a direct and intimate unity with everything we encounter. But what does it really mean and how does it work?

• Dualistic Perception: The true-Self has forgotten who it really is and believes it is the false-self (a conceptual self-image). So the false-self stands between the true-Self and objective reality (as depicted in Figure 25). The false-self perceives the object, and the true-Self believes it is the false-self perceiving the object, so there is no direct perception. There is separation between the true-Self and the object – hence duality. Note: The false-self doesn’t actually do any perceiving (because it is just a thought-form); it is more like a lens that the image passes through (and often gets distorted by) on its way to being perceived by the true-Self.

• Non-Dualistic Perception: With the false-self no longer present, the true-Self can perceive the object directly (as depicted in Figure 26). There is nothing between the true-Self and the object, so the true-Self can intimately merge with the object to directly perceive it – hence unity or non-duality.

The Mechanics of Self-Realisation

Figure 27 shows the relationships between the authentic personality, the true-Self, the false-self and the ego-personality. The numbered blocks at the bottom of the diagram correspond to the following numbered points:

1. Collectively, the mind, heart and body constitute the authentic personality.
2. The true-Self is the core of the authentic personality (prior to enlightenment).
3. But the true-Self has lost sight of its true nature and believes it is the false-self.
4. The false-self is the core of the ego personality.

Enlightenment

Enlightenment occurs when the Self transcends the personality to centre itself in the soul, at which time the Self instantly and fully realises itself (whether it was partially realised before or not). Enlightenment is full and permanent Self-realisation. It is waking up to a new and higher level of reality which allows us to see things from a completely different perspective. This new perspective is difficult to describe because it transcends (yet includes) the conceptual mind. At enlightenment we realise that pretty much everything we ever believed was true; isn’t. And pretty much everything we ever thought was important; isn’t. Consequently, it can take weeks, months or years to become fully accustomed to this new state of being.

You may be interested in reading these other articles:

• What is Nonduallity And How to Experience It?
• What is Enlightenment and How to Attain it?