Meditations on Nisargadatta Mahara's 'I AM THAT'
The author says: ''The only true statement is ‘I am’. All else is mere inference''.
The statement I AM implies the identification to the subjective I, as well as the projection of this subjective form - AM-NESS - onto the canvas of an allegedly objective world.
In the process of finding out what is not true, why stop at I AM?
Is there really a world separate from the subject, a world which is the condition to the AM?
Is there really an I remaining when there is no-thing else left?
Is there really an I remaining when the mind is no longer in the way?
I AM may be the realization of a deep search, yet the search may continue deeper.
Truth cannot be a made a statement, for a statement is a form;
and form is a containment, and Truth cannot be contained;
and form can be destroyed, and what can be destroyed cannot be Truth;
and form is fixed, and Truth flows;
therefore a statement isn't the appropriate expression of Truth;
a positive statement is but an arbitrary conclusion to a journey which is otherwise beginningless and endless;
a positive statement reassures the mind that something is found ultimately, something still identifiable, conceivable, graspable and speakable;
a positive statement concedes to ego that in spite of all that which is eradicated as false on the journey to Truth, yet the I bubble is not lost, is not done with; thus ego can feed on this allegedly ultimate statement and claim that 'I have found that I AM';
a positive statement is something to show for, to demonstrate, to write about and to spread like a promise of reaching.
I AM may very well be the last garment the mind may wear before being stripped naked; it may be the last step before the fall to nothing and nowhere;
I AM may be the ultimate statement in the world of forms, but yet not the only True statement;
to unlock the form and fixity of the statement I AM, thus allowing the flow in Truth, on will cease to look at one's I in the mirror, one will drop the AM-ness that the mirror confirms;
one will fall through the other side of the looking glass, where I and AM switch their positions and unlock their statement form; I AM turns into: AM I?
In the process of finding out what is not true, why stop at I AM?
Is there really a world separate from the subject, a world which is the condition to the AM?
Is there really an I remaining when there is no-thing else left?
Is there really an I remaining when the mind is no longer in the way?
I AM may be the realization of a deep search, yet the search may continue deeper.
Truth cannot be a made a statement, for a statement is a form;
and form is a containment, and Truth cannot be contained;
and form can be destroyed, and what can be destroyed cannot be Truth;
and form is fixed, and Truth flows;
therefore a statement isn't the appropriate expression of Truth;
a positive statement is but an arbitrary conclusion to a journey which is otherwise beginningless and endless;
a positive statement reassures the mind that something is found ultimately, something still identifiable, conceivable, graspable and speakable;
a positive statement concedes to ego that in spite of all that which is eradicated as false on the journey to Truth, yet the I bubble is not lost, is not done with; thus ego can feed on this allegedly ultimate statement and claim that 'I have found that I AM';
a positive statement is something to show for, to demonstrate, to write about and to spread like a promise of reaching.
I AM may very well be the last garment the mind may wear before being stripped naked; it may be the last step before the fall to nothing and nowhere;
I AM may be the ultimate statement in the world of forms, but yet not the only True statement;
to unlock the form and fixity of the statement I AM, thus allowing the flow in Truth, on will cease to look at one's I in the mirror, one will drop the AM-ness that the mirror confirms;
one will fall through the other side of the looking glass, where I and AM switch their positions and unlock their statement form; I AM turns into: AM I?
'My Own I' - 1995
Oil on canvas
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and a new and deeper journey begins, a quest beyond promising statements, a drifting in a map-less ocean where even questions dissolve like salt in the water;
rather than a journey, a fall; rather than a fall, a timeless event; rather than an event, a wordless-ness... That uncharted side of the looking glass sends no reflection of the witness, therefore the world is seen not as a reflection, and without the onlooker's I in it; the I doesn't occupy space and the world is experienced without the boundaries of I; the witness dissolves, only witnessing flows; AM I? yields to IS THERE?; IS THERE? yields to IS?; and as IS? yields... Ah! This! |