The Truth of Impersonality

The Truth of Impersonality is called The Truth of Impersonality . This'^ tenet states that every aspect of our personal experience is a completely impersonal affair The teaching of impersonality reveals the ultimately impersonal nature of all human experience and can enable any human being who wants to be free more than anything else to gain a rare degree of objectivity in relationship to the ever-confusing arena of personal experience. Because it is in the subjective or personal domam of our experience that we so easily become lost and confused, if we want to be free it,- is essential that we find a way to understand our personal^ experience from a perspective that is inherently objective. '-^ What enables a human being to experience for him- or herself the liberating clarity of objectivity in relationship to all that is personal is the direct perception of the ultimately imper- sonal nature of all human experience. Now I think it can be said that unless we sincerely want to be free, it's going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to The Truth of Impersonality even begin to become aware of the impersonal nature of our own experience. The Truth of Impersonality states that the human experience could never be uniquely yours, mine or anyone else's. And impersonal points to the fact that ulti^ biatelv all human experience is one, and the true nature of that experience is not personal. Everyone experiences fear at one time or another. When you experience fear, when I experience fear, when anyone experiences fear, what is felt is exactly the same. If you were to enter my body when I was experiencing fear, or if I were to enter your body when you were experiencing fear, or indeed, if we were to enter anyone's body when there was the presence of fear, we would discover that there is no difference whatsoeyer in the feeling experience itsejl_There may be some difference in the degree of intensity with which the feeling is experienced, but the presence of fear, the feeling of fear itself, is one and the same. The wholepoint is that there is only one experience of fear In the same way, when we experience sexual feelings, the feeling experience of lust is exactly the same for each and every one of us. Again, there may be different degrees of intensity, but the fun- damental feeling of that experience is one and the same for all The arena of spiritual experience is no different. A yearning for transcendence, a longing for Liberation, is a manifestation of an impersonal evolutionary impulse . Many people experi- ence the movement of this impulse at different times in their Embracing Heaven & Earth lives. The awakening of the desire for transcendence within the individual is an expression of the evolutionary impulse within the race as a whole. The movement of this impulse is not unique, in the sense that when one individual experiences that longing, it's not, at the level of feeling, different from the experience of another who also feels the movement of that impulse. Once again, there may be profound differences in the intensity of that movement, but the feeling experience itself is exactly the same. As I said in the previous chapters, there is an enormous amount of momentum that has been generated through a blind and compulsive drive to see oneself as being separate. This ''^^. —.— - — drive is what ego is. The most significant component of this compulsion is the need tosee our own personal feeling expe- rience as somehow different, special and unique. Through the ongoing experiential recognition of the impersonal nature of all feeling experience, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe that our own experience could really be as unique or different as we had imagined it to be. In fact, it is in that recog- nition that the very mechanism o^fe^cai^^^ is. Simply put, the need to^ersqnalize itself is e^o. And the de- imiction of ego occurs when the need tn pprson a]i:ff falls awa^ It is no easy task to come to the end of a personal rela- tionship to our own experience. In fact, it's simply too much for most of us to bear. The impUcations are far too radical. To move from a very personaJL^elationship withj)ur own The Truth of Impersonahty experience to one that is deeply impersonal requiresan enormous leap. In order to actually accomplish this very challenging task, we have to be willing to die to the way things have been. This is the only way that we can finally step out of the illusion of the personal, the illusion of being a unique individual. But we live in a world where we are so invested in the idea of being unique that it_^a heroic task to even begin to consider what it could mean to give that up. • Only when we dare to allow ourselves to directly perceive J the impersonal nature of every aspect of our own personal

experieiice can anything truly , rh^ngp Why? Because then we v^ll have seen through the biggest illusion there is. It is the presence or absence of ego that defines our rela- tionship to our experience. For example, we could have a profound spiritual experience and yet because of the compul- sive need to personalize, our perception of what occurred would be distorted. The habit of personalization distorts our perception of almost everything that we experience because of the egos unending need to see itself in a particular wa)^ But a mind that is_enlightened experiences perception that is undistorted because it is empty of that which is personal. Clear perception, perception that is free from the distort- ing influence of personalization, cannot_reyeal itself as long^ as we are invested in seeing ourselves as being unique. Only the individual who sincerely wants to be free will know the enormity of renunciation that is required for the mind to Embracing Heaven & Earth become liberated from the pull of ego. In order to directly experience that extraordinary quality of mind, all attachment to the personal must burn away in the renunciate fire that is the passion for Liberation. That fire has to burn until there is no longer any compulsion to locate oneself through this habit of personalizing that which was never personal. Sustained contemplation of the impersonal nature of all personal experience requires tremendous strength of character and an unbridled passion for Liberation. Without that passion, the intensity of interest that is required to see through the illu- sion of the personal will not be sustained. Very few succeed in liberating themselves from the overwhelming temptation that the illusion of the personal creates. To be victorious, one has to have enough strength to stand alone in nr\pk n\xm PYppriP]-)rp without needing to personalize it. Indeed, to succeed in liber-y ating ourselves from ignorance and delusion, we have to get t( that point where we're able to directly perceive the impersonal' nature of every aspect of our own personal experience. Many mistakenly assume that a perspective that is imper- sonal is inherently cold and devoid of human qualities. But nothing could be further from the truth. Impersonal does not mean inhuman . Impersonal means free from the inherent dis- tortion that is always created by that which is personal. Once again, the habitual movement to personalize is ego, and its fundamental motive is to see itself as being separate at all times, in all places, through all circumstances. This movement The Truth of Impersonality of separation is inherently destructive because it is always antithetical to the conscious realization of our true Self. The courageous willingness to unconditionally renounce :his very personal relationship to our own experience is ^at enables the true Self to freely manifest itself as our- selves. It is imperative to recognize the fact that the true Sejf, ^uld never he personal or unique, And the degree to which /we are able to renounce the need to see our own experience as being personal or unique will be the same degree to which the true Self will become manifest. When the true Self is able to freely express itself, only then will the depth of our humanity reveal itself in all its fullness and glory. In that individual who has freed him- or herself from the distortion of the personal, that impersonal depth can be instantly recognized as flawless spontaneity, overwhelming compassion and fearless clarity. Cultivating the presence of mind necessary to recognize the ultimately impersonal nature of all human experience requires a deep and sustained practice of introspection, contemplation and meditation. That attainment enables one who is sincere to eradicate all obstacles to clear perception. The task is a solitary one. One can only do this for oneself. And only if we want to be free more than anything else will we have the integrity of interest necessary to liberate ourselves from the deadly illusion that attachment to that which is personal always creates. "^0 Embracing Heaven & Earth