That Unfolding

Someone asked me- “How do you act i everyday life after you’ve experienced the awakened state. How do others react to this“?

The seemingly cleaver reader will (like I would) wait for an answer that indicates a dualistic mind at work.
So let me begin with saying: There is no “me” that can choose to act in a certain way. Neither is there a “me” that have had the experience of “the awakened state”.
Mind games aside, here comes the answer:

It’s not that complicated really. If you are conditioned to be an actor playing a specific part in a specific play, you just play along.
The conditioning of this Me-actor  and this play happened, and continues to happen,  without me knowing it.
I did not choose that to happen. I was not aware of becoming an actor and I didn’t know the play was made up by the workings of human mind.
No one is controlling it. There is no author, no director. It just unfolds according to the given conditions.

The Director or Governing Laws of choise (God, Buddha, Brahman, Laws of the Universe, Randomness, Energy, The Divine Power etc) are themselves part of the play. They arise within the human mind.

“They arise within the human mind” should also be added to the list above.
“”They arise within the human mind” should also be added to the list above.”  should also be added to the list above.
And the creating of external forces of creation thus grows ad infinitum.

Adding “And the creating of external forces of creation thus grows ad infinitum” makes the whole thing absurd.
When you realize that whatever your mind comes up with should be added to the list, there is laughter.
The play starts to become playful.

So the play is created within human mind because that is how the mind unfolds, how it works. But human mind is not all there is. Human mind is only part of what unfolds in the totality of ever ongoing creation.
Everything else is “What Is”.

What Is can only be understood by human mind.
But the understanding cannot be complete. Mind can only comprehend what happens on the staged reality created by itself. That is, the minds version of What Is.
Therefore, mind is always dealing with itself, without knowing what it does, without being mindful of itself.

The eye seeing everything but seeing itself.

The answer to the question is simply that I keep acting like before. I know my part and I know the play. It follows the rules of the dualistic mind.
It is about dividing, understanding, predicting, controling and achieving.
We all know the play, don’t we?
The difference now is that I know this is a play. I know my part is based on the basic premises of the play. I know these premises to be an artifact of the human mind. Nothing more, nothing less.
I also know that this knowledge, just like any knowledge the “I” can “have”, is part of the play.
It is in a sense artificial knowledge.

The concequence of this “knowing” is that I can play my part without being caught up in it, as if acting/action was all there is. When circumstances allowes for it, I can take my costume of and watch the play as a spectator. Relaxing in a comfortable seat, amused and amazed.

Just sitting
Just looking
Not acting

Gradually I have come to value this play for what it is. To become a true spectator made me uneasy for a while. I questioned the use of playing along. The acting suddenly seemed like “pretending” to be something I was not. The play seemed unreal.
Thankfully this play-aversion has lost it’s grip. The acting is not for real, nor is it un-real.
It seem like dividing What Is into play vs. reality is just another part of the play.
It seems like – since the human mind is also part of What Is – the undividable, the non-dual, can divide itself while still being whole. 

Not One
Not Two

All of this is of course not true, nor is it not-true.
This is not the way it works, still it works like this.
All of the above has unfolded within the play.
That is all there is.
That unfolding.

How to How

To realize that there is only a vague connection between what you Do and what you Are is a rather disturbing discovery.
The thoughts I have about Myself seems to be nothing but Thoughts about Myself. Oh so obvious, but nevertheless, that’s what my whole life plan is built upon.
The feelings about My Self has rarely been a part of that plan. They were probably shut up ages ago.
The idea regarding Myself starts to look a lot like a comercial break. Made up to sell something to someone. Desperate to be bought.
Learning how the world works has produced an endless agenda of trying to “fit in”. As if I didn’t fit in to begin with. Who said that? Where did that come from?
An early and consistent separation and then years and years of trying to get back in. All the striving for nothing, but to maintain the idea of being separate.
Only to find that the world, the someone supposed to buy what I’m selling, is actually a fiction. Finding out that, honestly, I don’t wanna be bought. So why keep advertising?
There is no buyer so no need for a salesman. They are one as far as reality goes.
If I can stop selling, there’s nothing that can be bought.
If I can let my Self be, then I’ll be in-valuable to the world.
I can be used for nothing. I can do it all.

When that perspective shows up, and when it’s more than just an intellectual understanding, it’s quite sad. How to be creative in that picture? How to adjust when so much of what you Do is based on foggy thought patterns? How could  the same “thinking”  that got me here get me out of here? Yeah, I know how of course. Acceptance, compassion and bravery towards the Self that is finally showing up. Still I wonder how to “how”.

Still I wonder; How to How…

I love my Coca-Cola

I just made a funny mind flip. After the last sip Coke, I was holding the empty bottle in front of me and thought
– This should be cared for…not recycled. It’s a perfectly good bottle. No holes in it and very lightweight. It has a handy screw top and is easy to clean. Actually, it’s much better than one made of glass or clay. Maybe that’s why plastic bottles sell so well, duh?
But wait a sec… if plastic bottles are so useful and handy, why throw them in the samsara of recycling? Don’t get me too wrong. I’m pro recycling in general. In fact I’ve never had one single negative thought on it. Until now that is. You see, the moment I noticed what’s good about the bottle, I decided not to buy a fancy buddha-designed-authentic-tibetan-singing bowl-cup. Not that I’ve had the idea (somewhere someone more biz-minded than me is thinking – hmm that’s an idea), but you get the pic. Buying stuff to create an image or identity we long for. That whole nonsense, and I’ve done a lot, hit me. I looked at the plastic bottle, my bottle, and thought- I will keep you and care for you. Making that seemingly silly promise I suddenly felt good. How strange. But then I rememberd a quote; The dignity of a nation is defined by how well it treats the ones who least deserve it.
Maybe the good feeling was a flash of dignity?
In any case, thanks to this simple, mass produced and cheap coca-cola bottle I have no need for a new one, and after all recycling is good but breaking the cycle is better.