Your past is fiction. Not metaphorically fiction, not sort-of fiction, but complete, absolute, grade-A bullshit fiction. That childhood trauma defining you? Pure imagination. That college triumph you’re proud of? Mental masturbation happen...
Thank you Thomas, very very helpful. And I am ‘arriving’ at the same conclusions. My awakening oscillates, between the dream state and exiting the dream state. In the dream state, the past, future, childhood traumas, past life traumas all feel very real. Then I can have a pure experience if being and all of the above noise ceases. I am interested in what you would say to what Garrison Botts has asked, for those experiencing traumatic events.
Also what is your view on Samskaras? If we can stay present (not in story land of the ‘I’, ‘me’), then the ‘trauma’ states of flight/fight/ freeze can be experienced as sensations I guess , which means ‘trauma’ is there in the energetic system, just no longer happening to a ‘somebody’.
Glad this resonates with you! That oscillation you describe is perfect—consciousness playing an eternal game of peek-a-boo with itself. One moment you're fully identified as the dream character with all its trauma baggage, the next you're watching the whole circus from the cheap seats.
Samskaras are like cosmic reruns programmed by nobody. The dream character thinks it's collecting these energetic patterns like stamps in a passport, but who exactly is this collector? Look closely and you'll find nothing but empty space wearing a nametag.
As for trauma—what a fascinating magic trick! The body shakes, the heart races, tears fall... but upon investigation, there's no traumatized "one" to be found. It's like finding wet footprints leading across your floor but no swimmer. The nervous system responds to phantom memories of events that never happened to someone who never existed.
Stay with the sensations without the story, and watch how quickly they transform from "my unbearable trauma" into "energy moving through awareness." The electricity feels real enough, but the power company is a mirage.
Ha! Think of it as deliberate theatrical tension, Richard. Many writers offer spiritual lullabies—I prefer alarm bells. Those who've glimpsed non-duality often need something to keep them from slipping back into comfortable dreams. A gentle nudge rarely prevents the cosmic narcolepsy that claims most seekers. If my pen seems angry, it's just playing its role in keeping eyes wide open. Cheers!🎭
As someone who feels burdened by the past, I found this article most helpful! So, in your view, the often talked about "pain body" is an illusion as well? Thanks!
PS I think about people who have had tragic events, like lost a child to a school shooting or a bombing in Gaza, and they carry that pain with them for life. Are they not being fully present if they still experience pain from such an event?
Ok, I'll try to dissect this one with care... The "pain body" implies something acquired and carried—like emotional baggage with frequent flyer miles. But what if the traveler never existed in the first place?
When a parent grieves a child lost to violence, the pain is undeniably present—raw, electric, overwhelming. But this isn't evidence of past tragedy; it's consciousness appearing as sensation right now. The cosmic joke (not very funny until it is) is that no character in this dream was ever born or died. The "parent" who suffers and the "child" who was lost were always just consciousness playing hide-and-seek with itself.
Look directly at your experience: can you find a separate "you" who owns pain? Or do you find sensations floating in awareness like fish in an infinite ocean? The ocean doesn't get wet when fish swim in it.
This isn't spiritual bypass or toxic positivity—it's seeing through the entire dreamstate while still participating in its unfolding. You can play your character with Oscar-worthy commitment while knowing you're simultaneously the actor, director, audience, and the empty screen upon which it all appears.
Pain still arises, but without a phantom self claiming ownership, even Gaza-level grief becomes another expression of the infinite knowing itself. The characters never existed independently; they were always empty vessels for consciousness to pour through.
The most radical compassion isn't offering better dreams to dream characters—it's recognizing that suffering only exists because we mistake ourselves for characters in a cosmic drama that was never filmed in the first place.
The past for some Include imaginary recollections. One childhood trauma that defines me is the assassination of JFK. I can imagine the date this occurred as being October 22nd, 1963. I know differently.
None more fictional than dreams. "For as those that are most asleep think they are most awake, being under the power of dream-visions very vivid and fixed; so those that are most ignorant think that they know most. But blessed are they who rouse themselves from this sleep and derangement and raise their eyes to the light and the truth." Theodotus
Thank you Thomas, very very helpful. And I am ‘arriving’ at the same conclusions. My awakening oscillates, between the dream state and exiting the dream state. In the dream state, the past, future, childhood traumas, past life traumas all feel very real. Then I can have a pure experience if being and all of the above noise ceases. I am interested in what you would say to what Garrison Botts has asked, for those experiencing traumatic events.
Also what is your view on Samskaras? If we can stay present (not in story land of the ‘I’, ‘me’), then the ‘trauma’ states of flight/fight/ freeze can be experienced as sensations I guess , which means ‘trauma’ is there in the energetic system, just no longer happening to a ‘somebody’.
Very keen to hear your view on ‘trauma’ states?
Glad this resonates with you! That oscillation you describe is perfect—consciousness playing an eternal game of peek-a-boo with itself. One moment you're fully identified as the dream character with all its trauma baggage, the next you're watching the whole circus from the cheap seats.
Samskaras are like cosmic reruns programmed by nobody. The dream character thinks it's collecting these energetic patterns like stamps in a passport, but who exactly is this collector? Look closely and you'll find nothing but empty space wearing a nametag.
As for trauma—what a fascinating magic trick! The body shakes, the heart races, tears fall... but upon investigation, there's no traumatized "one" to be found. It's like finding wet footprints leading across your floor but no swimmer. The nervous system responds to phantom memories of events that never happened to someone who never existed.
Stay with the sensations without the story, and watch how quickly they transform from "my unbearable trauma" into "energy moving through awareness." The electricity feels real enough, but the power company is a mirage.
Cheers!🎭
❤️🙏
🙏
One comment: True crime. Magical reality. Thank You! Hardcore.
🙏
Ruthless brilliance!! Favorite line “and you keep feeding it quarters”
It always sounds like you are pissed off or something? Something to do with the unveiling?
Ha! Think of it as deliberate theatrical tension, Richard. Many writers offer spiritual lullabies—I prefer alarm bells. Those who've glimpsed non-duality often need something to keep them from slipping back into comfortable dreams. A gentle nudge rarely prevents the cosmic narcolepsy that claims most seekers. If my pen seems angry, it's just playing its role in keeping eyes wide open. Cheers!🎭
As someone who feels burdened by the past, I found this article most helpful! So, in your view, the often talked about "pain body" is an illusion as well? Thanks!
PS I think about people who have had tragic events, like lost a child to a school shooting or a bombing in Gaza, and they carry that pain with them for life. Are they not being fully present if they still experience pain from such an event?
Ok, I'll try to dissect this one with care... The "pain body" implies something acquired and carried—like emotional baggage with frequent flyer miles. But what if the traveler never existed in the first place?
When a parent grieves a child lost to violence, the pain is undeniably present—raw, electric, overwhelming. But this isn't evidence of past tragedy; it's consciousness appearing as sensation right now. The cosmic joke (not very funny until it is) is that no character in this dream was ever born or died. The "parent" who suffers and the "child" who was lost were always just consciousness playing hide-and-seek with itself.
Look directly at your experience: can you find a separate "you" who owns pain? Or do you find sensations floating in awareness like fish in an infinite ocean? The ocean doesn't get wet when fish swim in it.
This isn't spiritual bypass or toxic positivity—it's seeing through the entire dreamstate while still participating in its unfolding. You can play your character with Oscar-worthy commitment while knowing you're simultaneously the actor, director, audience, and the empty screen upon which it all appears.
Pain still arises, but without a phantom self claiming ownership, even Gaza-level grief becomes another expression of the infinite knowing itself. The characters never existed independently; they were always empty vessels for consciousness to pour through.
The most radical compassion isn't offering better dreams to dream characters—it's recognizing that suffering only exists because we mistake ourselves for characters in a cosmic drama that was never filmed in the first place.
Cheers!🎭
A lot to contemplate here. Thank you so much for your thorough and thoughtful response! I must digest it all.
Wonderful. Thank you for the ruthless clarity.
The past for some Include imaginary recollections. One childhood trauma that defines me is the assassination of JFK. I can imagine the date this occurred as being October 22nd, 1963. I know differently.
None more fictional than dreams. "For as those that are most asleep think they are most awake, being under the power of dream-visions very vivid and fixed; so those that are most ignorant think that they know most. But blessed are they who rouse themselves from this sleep and derangement and raise their eyes to the light and the truth." Theodotus