What is is Oneness.

[vervex]

I do believe it is true that all which is required is an awareness of the present moment and of the self. At any time, when someone opens their heart within the present moment, there is nothing left to do, no work to complete. That is enlightenment in my eyes.

However, I don't think that an intellectual understanding of this idea will yield results. Basically everyone I know, whether they understand that unity and peace are found within the moment, struggles and suffers. Many of them struggle and suffer with recurring issues, with new issues cropping up consistently. We carry with us biases, distortions, and beliefs which cause us to meet certain moments with resistance.

And simply realizing that we are suffering and then stating, "I am aware of this moment, I am aware of myself," while sometimes soothing, does not always cause the suffering to cease. Basically everyone who has read the Law of One contains the intellectual understanding that everything is one, that everything is ultimately "okay," nothing is lost and our essence lies within love and eternity. Yet simply reading the Law of One does not put someone in a state of continuous connection with the Creator. We continue to suffer, to experience catalyst and contrast.

Why is this? Why can't we just say, "all is one," and then experience complete unity? Why, if we open our hearts in one moment, are we removed in another? What is there to be done beyond accepting our intellectual understanding of being aware of the present moment?

I know I am not the only one who has, in the midst of intense catalyst, pointed my awareness to the present moment, wielded my acceptance to the suffering I was experiencing, and yet the suffering persisted. The simple appeal to unity was not enough to deliver my awareness to the love within the moment.

The idea that an intellectual understanding that all which is required of us is awareness and acceptance of the moment, and there is no work to do, does not take into account that for many (probably most) 3rd density entities, we hold deep biases and distortions which we must consciously dedicate ourselves to exploring in order to fully come to an acceptance of the moment. This is the work. The potential for unity is always there, and is always available to us. But to tap that potential and have it deliver us to that unity, we must acknowledge our catalyst, accept it, explore it, and work with it. As Ra said, "totally efficient use of catalyst upon your plane is extremely rare." An entity who is truly able to acknowledge and accept each present moment presented to them, despite outer circumstances, is one who is utilizing their catalyst with complete efficiency. No moment is not met with acceptance, no emotional charge would ever be felt, all things are transmuted into unity without effort. But I must agree with Ra, this is extremely rare. Perhaps a lucky few are doing this. For the rest of us, we have work to do before we can get there.

Allow me to propose an idea in response to your statements above: In the midst of a catalyst, in the midst of the human perception of disharmony and disunity we experience at times, we are always one and, therefore, there is no work to do but to accept our current state as it is. If one experiences resistance to a situation and this resistance is felt as sadness, is there something wrong, is there something to change? If one experiences resistance to a situation and that is it felt as a sudden burst of anger, is there something to fix?

I would personally argue that the ideal of a perfect state of unity and peace 24/7 is what drives people to see their emotions and resistances as problems to be fixed. I am one of those people who at times still perceive it that way, until I remind myself of a deeper truth. It is my understanding that our (negative) emotional states are merely a reflection of circumstances we struggle to accept in the moment, in our subjective experience as a human being. We come here to experience those resistances, we seemingly limit ourselves to witness how we will react to those limits. If one chooses to see in the moment that those states of resistance as perfectly acceptable, that they are great opportunities for self-discovery, then the suffering may lessen, for it is only a perception. We've been taught to perceive pain as something to change, something to falsify. What if the pain was only a marker, a guidepost towards a resistance? What if, in the midst of crying, we reached inwards and felt that joy, the gratefulness which is ever present in the face of all emotions and all experiences? Could the sadness become somewhat of a celebration? Could the suffering lessen considerably? I am grateful to be sad - the sadness may not go away as it is an emotional reaction to my attempts to accept a difficult situation, but it may no longer feel painful or unwanted.

I personally do not perceive any of this as work. I do not feel I am working towards a goal. I only seek to be myself, and I already inherently do this in every moment, even in moments of sadness and anger. Once I became conscious of this, all summits and ideals of spiritual attainment fell away. That is what I meant by "there is no work".

I have always seen contradiction in the idea that there is nothing to ascend to. The words "we simply forgot for a moment" implies that we must then remember, and that remembering can then be seen as our ascension. I have heard the concept likened to the scenario of having sunglasses upon your head and forgetting they are there. You can proceed to tear your house apart looking for your sunglasses, only to later realize that they were with you all along. This analogy is used to describe how our "all accepting, all loving, ever-present awareness" has never been gone from us. The enlightenment that we are seeking is already within each moment we are experiencing, and our seeking of enlightenment is futile. But to say the there is no destination, that "all it takes is to realize it was there all along" is still describing a destination, a contrast and duality of awareness. At one point we are unaware of the enlightenment within the moment, and at another point we are aware of it. The destination is the point at which we are aware.

Is it because one forgets that they must remember? Is it not alright to be amnesiac? Is it not what we came here for? The person who remembers their eternal nature hasn't ascended; they've merely looked at themselves and realized what they were all along, not unlike looking at one's reflection in the mirror in the morning after a night's sleep. Did they descend while they were asleep, and did they ascend when they woke up and walked to the mirror? Was their temporary experience of unconsciousness a problem to be fixed, even considering they willingly went to bed the previous night, as they do every night?

We are all enlightened, whether we are aware of it or not. Being aware is a preferable state as it allows us to perceive our world with more self-awareness, however both states are arguably perfect. One who touches this awareness will naturally gravitate towards broadening this awareness as it is most likely their preferred state of navigating the world; there is, once again, no real work to do in my honest opinion.

As you said, Maharshi consistently turned his questions around on the seekers who came to learn from him by asking "Who is asking the question? Ask of yourself, 'Who am I?'" But is this not work? Isn't it an activity to sit with what each moment gives us and ask ourselves "Who am I that is experiencing this? Who am I that is asking myself this?" And then, when Maharshi's students gained this intellectual understanding and grasped the tool he was offering them, why were they not then propelled to the same state as Maharshi himself? What more was there for them to do besides ask, "Who am I?"

I am curious of what state you are referring to. To me, it would seem Maharshi was a man quite at peace with himself who would teach the students of life who came to him the truth about their eternal self. Because he knew this truth, he could navigate reality gracefully perhaps, accepting more easily and openly catalysts which came his way; he most likely knew that ultimately, everything is well and perfect. Yet all men are subject to sadness and physical pain; even Maharshi must have encountered in his life moments more difficult than others to embrace. But when one chooses to see all as desired and satisfactory, even the moments of resistance can be met with peace. We must unlearn that pain equals undesirable suffering if we wish to truly be in alignment with source. The work you talk about is no more than de-conditioning of the mind; it is in fact, un-work.

Relevant note: Keep in mind when looking at the lives of many gurus and "enlightened masters" that you are looking at people who have often left behind their families and friends in order to live isolated from the rest of society. This does not make their experience any less valuable, however the amount of intense catalyst they experience is arguably reduced. It is in this lack of dynamic experiences and catalyst that they were in fact able to dedicate themselves to their practice. Most of us who seek to be in alignment on this forum are doing it from a place of a great societal catalyst. I would argue that we will naturally face more resistances and experience more emotions as a result. This is a blessing in disguise.

I do not agree that someone who feels there is work to do is rejecting the illusion. There is a kind of person who is aware of what each moment of existing within the illusion offers them, what catalyst is being presented to them. These people realize that what they are experiencing within the illusion is a gift to be accepted, and one which can be utilized and used as a tool to bring them closer to the balance which would allow them to truly exist within the presence of each moment. They realize that the reason they may experience the catalyst is because of something within them that is not quite in alignment with their "true self," something that is pulling their awareness away from the unity inherent in each moment. But they also realize that whatever this is within them that causes experiences catalyst within the illusion can then be worked with, played with, explored, loved and accepted, and then maybe perhaps in the next moment, when circumstances are similar, instead of experiencing the catalyst which stole their awareness from unity, their awareness will remain within unity, their hearts will be open to the moment, and the joy of truly accepting the moment is seen as the harvest of the work they have done.

Oh I believe here you misunderstood my words. When I spoke of rejecting the illusion, I was simply referring to some practitioners of spirituality that attempt to ascend to another level of existence - I did not mean to imply all spiritual people think this way.

I agree with most of what you wrote however, minus one part; nothing can "steal" one's awareness from the moment. Awareness is inherently in unity, even if it momentarily believes it is not. It is the belief that it is not in unity which must be addressed here (as the belief that pain must be escaped, changed or overcome). The keyword, as Immanuel keeps repeating all over the forums these days, is belief.