Wholeness

Whol eness But there is more to it. The discovery of the place of absolute peace and perfect stillness is only half of the picture. Because Life, you see, which is what we are, is made up of two parts. One is inactive and the other is active. They are both part of and an expression of the very same thing. We cannot have one without the other when we are speaking about Life, which is once again, what we all are. So the wholeness of Life is made up of two parts, one inactive and the other active, one fullness and volition, and the other stillness which is nothingness. That means on the surface there is endless activity and differentiation. And at the center there is perfect stillness, there is nothing. Do you understand what I am saying? This is constant, this is always. We can understand then that a condition of igno- rance, of fundamental ignorance, is a condition where the individual is only aware of one half of the picture. So looking at it in this very absolute way, to be igno- rant means that we are only aware of movement, we are only aware of volition. To be ignorant means that we are unaware of literally half of who and what we are. And we can see that if we are only aware of half of who and what we actually are, there cannot be any experience of wholeness. Therefore there cannot be any real integrity. In an ignorant condition we are almost continuously lost in volition, in activity, in action, and because of that we are not going to be root- ed anywhere. There will be nothing that is holding us down in a very positive sense. Due to this fundamental ignorance, we find ourselves almost continuously tor- mented by this gnawing sense that something is terribly wrong. You see, we are out of touch with a half of the whole, which is stillness and inactivity. That is why we suffer. That's also why we are so confused. It is impossi- ble to have any perspective, any real perspective that expresses true depth, without both halves of who and what we really are being recognized, being realized, being known. Is that clear? So through the discovery of the other half of who we are, through the discovery of stillness and inactivity, there is the experience of finding oneself, of coming home. This is when we recognize who we have always been. This is when the individual says, "I've always known this, but somehow I forgot." And in this experi- ence there is always joy and great happiness, but most importantly the discovery of wholeness. It is through the discovery of wholeness that we find ourselves. This is when the individual proclaims, "I've found myself. I've found my true self. I've come home." It is important to remember that the profound implications of what it means to be a fully human being must be embraced by the individual who has discovered or rediscovered who and what they really are. Resting in stillness will solve a lot of problems for the individ- ual because in profound stillness no problems exist. But stillness alone doesn't address the whole picture because what we are speaking about here is life, human life, which means being a human being. A human being who acts and reacts, who is incarnated in a body that moves in the world of time and space. As long as one is a human being, then the active and volitional part of life needs to be embraced fully. That's the whole point. You see, simply remaining absorbed in the stillness of being does not, in and of itself, solve the problem of what it means to be a human being. Indeed, the task at hand is to become a fully human being. A human being who knows who they are. A human being who is able to embrace and manifest fully the wholeness of what it means to be alive. That means both volition and stillness. Through letting things be as they are, we have moved from a condition of confusion and difference to no con- fusion and no difference. That has been the return. But that's only half of the picture. To become whole once again, we now have to embrace the other half of who we are, which is action and volition, which is the world of time, multiplicity, self and other, mind and body. So the question is, in the discovery of this noth- ingness that has no beginning and no end, where it is impossible to distinguish between self and other, sub- ject and object, where there is no time, where there is no space, and where nothing ever existed, how is it that we can move into the world of time and space, self and other, and in no way lose touch with who and what we really are? How to move from the unbroken knowing of stillness, where there is no form and there is no movement, no thought and no time, to the world of time, thought and movement, without in any way los- ing touch with the truly absolute nature of what we have discovered, which is no limitation. That is what absolute means. How to return once again to the world of time and thought, the world of the body, the world of distinctions, without in any way losing touch with this absolute dimension of life. How to not in any way lose touch with the knowledge of no limitation.