Presence of Being

Presence of Being

The persistent question for some seekers is, “If ‘I am That’, why do I not sense it, or know it?” You are doubtless objectifying it. As a subject (you), there is an attempt to relate to it as some thing, somehow apart: “I am this thing; it is that thing.” It is vital to recognize that it is not a thing; any thing has a confining limitation as the basis of its particular definition: it is the thing it is, within the boundary of all that it is not. But the referent, here, is posited by all traditions to be boundless, without limitation whatsoever. As such, it must also be without configuration, without form of any kind. Being formless, it is not an object; all objects are forms limited by boundaries. Consequently, it cannot be exclusively seen, touched, heard or apprehended by sensory apparatus, in any way. Nor can it be known as we would know any other element or object or form. All that can be realized is its true ineffable circumstance.

All referent suggestions of its circumstances say: infinite (titling it sometimes as Infinite), eternal (Eternal), and without limitation: unrestrained spatially, unconfined temporally, ever present every where, without being limited as a form anywhere. It is sometimes said to be the background, or the ground of being, in which all forms are present. Your form, as a limited organism, “rests” on this ground as a “human” being. Your being is within, or an element of, Its being. Whenever you acknowledge—are aware of—your being, you are in recognition of Its being. Its “being” is not apart

from being: there is no subject (me) / object (It) relationship here. Therefore, you cannot—as a subject (me)—attempt to sense or know it objectively, as separate from your self. To the extent that you are aware of the presence of the subjectyou, you are aware of the presence of It (as the subject). It is as much your being as the “being” that you think of as your (form of) self. Whatever action “you” take, it is Being activated. In—or as—one limited form over here (you), an action is taken. In, or as, another limited form over there (me), I take another particular action. Every form that is manifest within its field is expressing an aspect of the presence of Being. Your awareness (as subject) is an aspect of Being; what you are aware of (as object) is an aspect of Being. When you are aware of (the form of) an idea, (the form of) a concept, (the form of) a thought, a form of Being is aware of a form of Being. Actions that are consequently taken (or avoided) are a form of Being. Being is the actor, the action and the acted upon, impartial to all manifest occurrences as the formless—and itself inactive—presence or enabling condition. Some organisms that we call individuals are constantly aware of this Presence of being. Some are not. This presence is no more absent in those who are not aware of it, than in those who are aware of it. Whether the inclination to be aware of it has expressed as a circumstance in one organism, while not in another, is of no consequence to the condition of Presence: it is impartially ever-present in every case.

Whether one contemplates these matters, and a qualitative development in awareness occurs, makes no difference in any ultimate sense. All forms that arise will eventually subside, so nothing that is thought, said or done will have any impressive effect on the eternal Being. Therefore, if you don’t sense or know “I am That,” it is not a matter for concern to present awareness. If there is, on the other hand, self-awareness as Being present, the “self” that is aware of it will not experience it as I (subject) am That (object), in any case, but as the disappearance of both subject and object.