Independent of Perceptions, There Is a Deeper Knowing
Awareness is independent of perception - it is the deeper knowing that confirms itself without needing any perception, object or quality, and remains unchanged regardless of what perceptions appear in the waking state.
Hello father.
Hello my love.
Nice to see you. What I wanted to share and check with you a bit because you also say that ‘in the waking state we cannot not have a perception.’
Yes.
And, but you point us to Awareness is independent of this perception. For example, what is independent of thinking is easier for me to recognize. But what is independent of perception in the waking state it’s a bit difficult.
Yes, yes, we can…let’s go through this together because this is my favorite question. So in the sleep state, there is no trouble because there is no perception, there is nothing to identify with and yet it is fully apparent. When you wake you will be able to report ‘Oh, I woke up at this time.’ It is only this waking state which causes this trouble whether you call it ‘waking or this dream state.’ The realm of perceptions when it appears, that’s where the seeming trouble seems to start. Isn’t it? Now, just to continue with that experiment that we were doing earlier [Hand raised in the air] this hand that you perceive is a perception, isn’t it?
Yeah.
How are you perceiving this hand?
Through my sight, through my…
Good, good through sight. Now, how are you aware of sight?
Sight somehow reports to me.
Yes, and that… Yes, very good. So that ‘you’ to which it reports can that be an object of perception, can that be an object of sight?
No some…no, no it’s…
It's okay we can go very slowly, this is very important. So sometimes what might happen is that when we look it may feel like ‘Oh, there is a dark empty space which is aware of perception like sight.’ But is not that, even the dark empty space is perceived and you are aware even of that.
Yeah, yeah…
You are able to confirm that ‘I are aware of even of that without perceiving that’ Without perceiving that, that Awareness, you are able to confirm it. That is what I mean by ‘independent of perception’ because realm of perceptions doesn’t go away, it is still there because it is the waking state but independent of what perception may be, what the mode of perception may be, that Awareness which is aware of sight, sound, taste, smell, all of these types of perceptions, that Awareness remains unchanged because it has no quality, it has no attribute and yet we can confirm this. It is not just conceptual knowledge; we can confirm this with our own insight. But that insight doesn’t need a perception. It is clearer now, what I mean by ‘independent of perception?’
Yeah, yeah, thank you.
It doesn’t mean that perceptions must go away. It only means that perceptions can be there but independent of perceptions there is a deeper knowing or deeper insight.
Yeah, yeah…thank you.
I am glad you ask this because all this can become very confusing.
Key Teachings
- The Awareness that knows perception cannot itself be an object of perception - it is the subject to which all perceptions are reported
- Even when all perceptions cease (in deep sleep), Awareness remains knowable as the background of knowing without needing any perception to confirm it
- This Awareness has no qualities, attributes or form - it remains unchanged regardless of what perceptions (sight, sound, thought) appear
From: What Is This Knowing That Is Not a Thought or a Perception? - 1st Aug 2019