Exploring the Depths of Awareness: A Guide to Spiritual Realization
In the journey of spiritual growth, there comes a moment that stands out. It’s when you find yourself utterly exhausted by experiences, no matter their nature. This often happens during times of suffering. When fixing or changing your state seems impossible, you reach a point of being tired of experience itself. At this juncture, a profound transformation can begin.
Bentinho talks about this threshold of experience. It’s like learning to ignore aspects of your experience, not because they don’t exist, but because you choose not to indulge in them. In this state, you remain still, undistracted, and uninvolved, stepping into what can be described as a stable nothingness.
This concept of ‘nothingness’ is multifaceted. There’s the mere idea of nothingness, a thought within the mind leading to a state of mental blankness. Then, there’s the causal body nothingness, experienced when moving beyond the mind, senses, and subtle energies. This is a state of unfamiliarity, lacking form or objects, often perceived as darkness – not negative, but an absence of materiality.
Beyond this, when you inquire beyond consciousness, you touch the threshold of pure being, pure awareness, or God. Turning your back on all forms of consciousness, even the sense of being, initially feels like a nothingness with a strange pull or pressure. It’s like standing in the twilight zone between awareness and absolute reality.
Bentinho explains that traversing this threshold is akin to entering a portal or black hole. You exit all conventional experiences, yet you don’t lose consciousness. It’s not nothing in the literal sense, but an infinite reality, a being beyond being. This experience, difficult to put into words, is like being the mirror of awareness, turned away from the realm of form and illuminating absolute reality to itself.
The teachings of Bentinho remind us of a profound truth: experiencing this absolute reality is beyond conceptualization. It’s a realization that transcends all teachings about emptiness and cannot be reached through deconstruction. It requires a blend of courage, maturity, and spiritual growth.
This understanding brings a unique perspective on life. Once you’ve had a realization of the absolute, playing the relative game of life with zest becomes both a challenge and an opportunity. There’s an appreciation for the illusion of life, understanding its purpose and intelligence as an expression of the absolute.
In summary, this journey of awareness is complex and paradoxical. It’s about understanding and appreciating the relative while recognizing the profound depths of the absolute.
Quote:
“Stepping into awareness is like entering a new dimension of reality, where the familiar becomes unfamiliar, and the known is replaced by an indescribable vastness.” – Bentinho
Reference:
This concept of transcending the material and reaching a state of pure awareness can be paralleled with a biblical quote: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). This verse encourages a state of quietness and stillness, where one can experience a profound connection with the divine.
Ben describes three types of “nothingness” we might encounter:
- Conceptual nothingness: The blank slate of the mind, a thought form born from the desire for emptiness.
- Causal body nothingness: The uncharted territory beyond the subtle body and mind, often experienced as darkness or absence of familiar forms.
- Absolute nothingness: The threshold to pure being, awareness, or God (as Ben uses interchangeably). This is not an absence, but a vast, indescribable reality that feels both familiar and utterly alien.