How Do You Know Your Experience?
The perceiver of all experience cannot itself be perceived, yet it is the unshakeable knowing presence - we already are what we seek.
Father what is the difference between Awareness and attention?
So I have an experiment for you - Close your eyes, bring your attention to an image of a tree, also an image of a banana and also make sure that you’re clearly observing the next thought that comes to you. The tree must be very clear, not blurry. The banana must be very clear, not blurry, and also the thought that comes must be completely clear. Who can do that? Nobody can do that. [Chuckles] Nobody can do that because attention in its nature is limited. The minute we start to say, ‘I’m going to really look at an image of imagination clearly or this imagination which we call the external world clearly; then we cannot look at something in front of you and think a thought completely clearly and keep your attention on that. And for most parents, of course we know if we have more than one child, how attention is so limited because when both the children or more than two children are asking for attention we have to tell one to shut up. So we realise that attention, although has a lot of similarities (so I know where the question is coming from) can seem to have a lot of similarities - it is colourless, it is shapeless, but the fact is that, I call it the ‘Phenomenal twin of Awareness’. I call it the phenomenal twin of Awareness. And the only way to gauge that it is phenomenal is to see that it is limited. As opposed to my Awareness, it doesn’t matter how many perceptions are coming and going I never run out of Awareness. I only seem to run out of attention. Awareness doesn’t seem to have any boundary or limitation, but attention seems to have that. So you can experiment a bit with this and it will become clear to you. And then you can ask yourself this question - Who is my attention reporting to? [Silence] Who is my attention reporting to? You can experiment with is question. And finally you can also experiment with this question – What can I find without even having to use my attention, independent of where attention maybe, is there a discovery which is apparent to me? Beautiful, good, good contemplation questions.
Key Teachings
- The perceiver of all experience cannot itself be perceived - it is the background witness that knows without needing concept or perception
- Self-knowledge is unique: it is known unshakeably even when all senses leave, without requiring any attribute or experience
- We already are what we seek - the witness consciousness is already present, like 'the fish is thirsty in the water'
From: How Do You Know Your Experience? - 11th June 2021