snowI was asked to comment on the following (We will refer to the person being quoted as ‘George’ to protect his confidentiality):

In order really to observe oneself one must first of all remember oneself” (He again emphasized these words.) “Try to remember yourselves when you observe yourselves and later on tell me the results. Only those results will have any value that are accompanied by self-remembering. Otherwise you yourselves do not exist in your observations. In which case what are all your observations worth?”

These words of George’s made me think a great deal. It seemed to me at once that they were the key to what he had said before about consciousness. But I decided to draw no conclusions whatever, but to try to remember myself while observing myself.

The very first attempts showed me how difficult it was. Attempts at self­-remembering failed to give any results except to show me that in actual fact we never remember ourselves.

“What else do you want?” said George. “This is a very important realization. People who know this” (he emphasized these words) “already know a great deal. The whole trouble is that nobody knows it. If you ask a man whether he can remember himself, he will of course answer that he can. If you tell him that he cannot remember himself, he will either be angry with you, or he will think you an utter fool. The whole of life is based on this, the whole of human existence, the whole of human blindness. If a man really knows that he cannot remember himself, he is already near to the understanding of his being.”

All that George said, all that I myself thought, and especially all that my attempts at self-remembering had shown me, very soon convinced me that I was faced with an entirely new problem which science and philosophy had not, so far, come across.

This is from George can you give a honest opinion for this text. After that i tell why i send you this. I do not follow his teaching and not attend to but i ask for a reason.

`If a man really knows he can remember himself he already knows he is near to the understanding of his being`.

Please comment on this.

 

To which I respond:

A difficulty with such quotes is that the essential point is not addressed.  It is the understanding of that essential point that is critical and makes all the difference.  In the very first sentence, George refers to “remember oneself.”  How he means that is entirely unclear.  But, in the second sentence, he says, “try to remember yourselves.”  That is a big problem.  It is not a matter of trying, any more than a brown-eyed person can try to have blue eyes. Remembering one’s Self is a state of consciousness that is not cultivated through trying.  In fact, it is exactly the opposite. Remembering one’s Self is the result of a natural, effortless evolution, like the blossoming of a bud into a rose.  The strongest catalyst is proper meditation.  Unfortunately, most meditations are not proper.  That is to say they are not natural.  That is to say they involve some trying.

Also in the first sentence, he uses the phrase “observe oneself.”  Again, just as in remembering oneself, what he means by observe one’s self is critical, but not addressed.  To observe one’s self really means to awaken to the Self, i.e., the Transcendental Self.  The Transcendental Self then naturally observes the small self.  I blog and lecture on this a great deal. It is a very commonly, in fact even generally, misunderstood knowledge.  I mean no disrespect, but was asked to comment honestly and have now done so.

Please see: Proper Meditation

Please see: Some Questions and Answers

Please see: What is Enlightenment?

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