The Tao of Dark Sages - Chapter 1, Part 2

The Tao of Dark Sages
by Scott Bradley

Why does awareness create something that is unreal and wrong?

Who said it is wrong? Is the wonderful world of nature wrong because it does not exist in its own right? Is this beautiful meadow in which we now sit wrong because it will be covered in snow in a few months?

No, the fundamental self is a gift that awareness gives itself to see and enjoy itself, like a wonderful meal that you prepare for yourself and friends to be enjoyed, digested and forgotten. ‘You’ are this feast. Enjoy it, but do not engage in gluttony. Do not believe that this feast will go on forever or that it has any purpose beyond momentary pleasure. This realization that ‘you’ do not exist as a separate entity does not result in the elimination of self. Not to worry, death will take care of that.

(Laughter)

On the contrary, this realization leads to a much more profound appreciation of self. Do you appreciate any less a flower because it has a fleeting beauty? I hope not. So, too, this self that awareness has given you — enjoy it to the fullest. And the only way to do that is to know it for what it is. Do not identify with it, claim it as your own, grasp it or believe that it has an existence that it does not.

I’m sorry, but I am getting a little confused. Are you saying enlightenment is just enjoying being a self to the fullest?

Yes. And no. Why are you confused?

(Laughter)

Enlightenment is the realization that you don’t exist. The experience of enlightenment has many consequences. One of these is the transformation of this sense of self into a pure, clarified and useful tool. The self in the hands of the unawakened is an opaque and dangerous tool. Witness its immediate creation of an ego-self-identity. Consider all the suffering it inflicts upon itself and others. What the transformation of enlightenment does is to return the sense of self to the hands of awareness.

Awareness experiences itself and the world through the transparent and pliant window of the self. Or if you prefer, awareness sees itself and its manifestations in the unsullied mirror of self. But this can only happen when the self stops admiring itself in this mirror and surrenders it back to awareness. So, ‘yes’, enlightenment facilitates the enjoyment of self. And, ‘no’, this enjoyment of self is only possible because it has realized that it is only a momentary whim of awareness.

If you're interested in reading more from this series by Scott Bradley, go here.