When it all boils down Vedanta is all about discovering what it means to simply be ourselves. This is all very well to say but WHAT DOES IT MEAN and how can we approach this in the right way. The basis of our experience of the person we are experiencing ourselves to be is normally our psychological reactions and notions. If we are upset we experience ourselves and the reaction to be one and the same. We even describe ourselves to ourselves and others by saying the words “I AM upset”. Normally when we think of ourselves we are looking at a description of ourselves but we are not aware that we are doing this. This is because we take the description TO BE ourselves. Think of calling a woman fat or a guy a loser. The only reason there is a lot of hurt arising because of such statements is because the person who was on the receiving end of this negative evaluation is taking themselves to be this description (this is all it is, a description) and are feeling upset about what they are experiencing themselves to be. “I hate BEING fat” “I hate BEING a loser” So if we are not our psychological reactions what are we? Well first of all because we are only interested in appreciating facts in Vedanta, and not all this romantic spiritual stuff that a lot of people find attractive, we will start with what is already here but that we might not be noticing. Let us pause for a moment and try not to hear or see anything. We can’t can we? AS A CONCIOUS BEING we can’t help but be ourselves which is conscious. Being aware is not something we do it is rather something we ARE. When we are being ourselves in this way we are BEING AWAKE TO THE MOMENT BY BEING OURSELVES. A lovely phrase from Swami Dayananda. Now there is something very interesting here. Ourselves as a conscious being is not the result of our psychological reactions and this conscious being we ARE is intact. Awareness is not a product of our past experiences or the result of present notions. As a conscious being we are aware of what we call damaging emotions but the awareness itself is not damaged. We as persons in our basic form are a conscious being and WHEN WE ARE BEING WHAT WE ARE we are NOT BEING WHAT WE ARE NOT. Being a conscious being shifts the basis of our lives from being psychological and all the problems associated with that, to making the basis of our lives BEING OURSELVES. This is a fresh start. This is where a new beginning for ourselves is possible. There is no other place Our psychological reactions which we are continually BECOMING , not in fact but in terms of experience, arise as a sense of ourselves. I am angry. I am sad. I am lonely. I am a winner. I am a loser. I am afraid etc. In the vision of Vedanta all these self descriptions, and the self experience that goes along with them, are simply different ways of NOT BEING OURSELVES. The thing to note here is that the location of these common human problems is ourselves; not other people or circumstances. The good news is that the location of the solution is also ourselves. When we are simply BEING OURSELVES AS A CONSCIOUS BEING we are not being our psychological reactions. And what we discover is the wonderful fact that when we are being ourselves we find ourselves BEING relatively secure, peaceful and content. It is extremely important to discover and become familiar with ourselves as a simple conscious being because it is only then that we can recognize when we are not being ourselves. Now when we notice we are unhappy we know the direction to take to resolve it. via:Bede Clifford
