Lost Consciousness cont'd

Manuel wrote, "All this talk about self and suffering, why do you people bother? If you think you can cure suffereing through enlightenment, identifying yourself with a Higher Self, becoming the universe and what not, come over here and I'll bang your head against the wall 10 times! After bleeding for a few minutes, let's see if you still think you're not the body."

I like his message, it's evocative and to-the-point. What is the purpose of saying I am not the body or the mind when I actually am. All I have to do is feel pain and bleed to find out that, yes this is me. This body and mind are truly me. My body is hurting and bleeding, I feel pain. I can't escape the fact that this is who I am.

Is it a fact that I am this body and this thinking mind? It's difficult not to think so. All I have to do is experience pain, look in the mirror, see my body getting older, remember all of the things I have done in my life. All I have to do is think about what I want for the future; where I want to go, how much money I'll need, what I'll do when I'm too old to take care of myself and what the future holds for my family and friends. Is this definite proof that I am this thing - this body and these thoughts?

But maybe it's a fact I am not this body and this mind. Maybe the body and mind I call me is not me but mine, like my house and my car. I live in my house and drive my car just like I live in my body and listen to my mind. I take care of my house and car but I don't think they are who or what I am, so why do I think I am my body and my mind? If I 'think' I am my body/mind I probably am. If I know I am not, I am not.

If I consider myself my name, my body, my mind, my past, my desires, my values, feelings and emotions I become identified with self. I have this and I have that. I have "my" house, "my" car, "my" mind, "my" spouse. If something goes "wrong" and I can't keep things as I want them, I suffer.

But If I consider myself beyond the body/mind mechanism I am not indentified with the self. The self is an illusion with all its desires and possessions. My consciousness is the Higher Self. I still feel pain, have desires and thoughts but I am not identified with them. When consciousness is the Higher Self it realizes that all things are the same, all things are energy within a universe of energy like water droplets in an ocean.

For those who are stuck in the small self, it is impossible to understand the Higher Self. They must experience it to understand it. They can read about it, but until they experience the higher consciousness, they will continue to deny that it even exists. Such is the way of the closed mind. There is nothing anyone can do for them. They have to discover it for themselves.