PRIME POST! ALPHA-OMEGA

I am surely going to get questions about the newly designed home page for Awakening Clarity Now, so I thought I’d take the bull by the horns and answer them before they arrive. The real truth is that I had nothing to do with this change, but I’m the one who’s been left to explain it. There’s also a lot of Prime Something on the table here in this post, stuff I don’t normally talk about, so I welcome those of you who go for the ride. You’re the earnest ones this is for anyway.

This symbol, which is effectively the new “logo” for The Living Method of Awakening, is composed of the Classical Greek letters for Alpha and Omega–the first and last letters of the Classical Greek alphabet in upper case–and a laurel wreath. These letters have historically been used to represent “beginning and ending,” or in more casual usage in Western traditions and literature “from A to Z.” In some translations of the New Testament, Jesus is said to refer to himself as “the Alpha and Omega.” If he said it, then he surely meant the same thing I mean here, but I certainly don’t use it here as a Christian reference.

This teaching uses the symbol to refer to your True Nature; however when I use that phrase here, I may be using it in a way that you do not. In general forums, and in general ways, when I say “True Nature,” it is essentially a synonym for Oneness, the same way that most people use it. And it’s true–you are indeed Oneness–All-That-Is-As-It-Is. That’s as far as I normally go, it’s as far as I need to go, and it’s the end of the line in terms of Self-knowledge that will add anything to your life as a unit through which Conscious Awakening is functioning.

We have all heard that there’s “nothing in awakening for the ego,” and that’s certainly true. But that’s not the same thing as saying there’s nothing in awakening for the apparent hosting unit. Not by a long shot! Awakeness, which experiences Itself through the Fred unit is having a blast. And much of the time that will feel like joy within and for this unit. I know it’s all stories, but don’t let anyone tell you that a bad story is as much fun as a good one. They are equal and empty, but they are not the same.

However, in some discussions, chiefly in Clarity Sessions and very rarely on the open Internet like this, when I use the words “True Nature” I am speaking of That from which Oneness sprang. I will, in surrender to the fact that there is no adequate term, from this point forward, refer to That as either “Noneness,” or “That” interchangeably. This topic is not a common one, and will probably (who knows?) not become a common one here either. So sit up straight and listen close–I will not be answering emails asking for further clarification.

I stay away from this subject on public forums like this one, because it can be confusing to the reader. I don’t want to turn a bunch of awakening beings back into seekers who think they’ve missed something. Regardless of where you are, you haven’t missed a thing.

It can also appear to contradict my own Oneness teachings as well as those of other teachers, but in fact it does not. As ever in nondual spirituality, when the mind is seeking for the either/or answer to something, it’s inevitably discovered that the proper answer is both/and. You can already see how confusing it can be and can sense why I and the not-numerous others who know of it steer away from the subject. But I notice it’s at the top of the topic pile today.

I have never put any of this down on paper before, so I’m reserving the same right that I reserve for every other act that is taken through the Fred unit: the right to change or condemn any and all of it as early as the minute I finish it. I am writing from this present clarity; it’s the best anyone can ever do. It should not, however, be confused with Truth; it’s simply as close as I can get–thus far. Here we go.

Prior to active Consciouness, there exists what we will call latent Consciousness. When latent Consciousness is the only state presenting, It does not know Itself. Nevertheless, It Is. Another way to say this is that prior to Oneness, Noneness Is. It is the Still,  Silent Witness of manifestation, which is not other than It, but which in no way equals It.

Since one of my favorite hobbies is using double negatives when writing or talking about nondual philosophy, I will say that Noneness cannot not exist, yet there is no opposite for it, the way there is at least a mental opposite for manifest/unmanifest, or form/emptiness. We are talking about a state beyond either of those.

When a sentient being spontaneously appears to arise from Noneness, a chemical reaction takes place. No one does it, it just happens. When latent Consciousness comes into contact with a reasonably developed brain, the chemical child of the pairing is active Consciousness. I-Amness begins, although it is Universal I-Amness, and thus without specific identity. (We might call this simply “Amnessing.”)

In a human being, however, the chemical reaction continues to roll out in a very special way. Beginning at about the age of two, when self-awareness begins to dawn on a child, Oneness starts to identify as that single unit! Oneness has made a Faustian trade, giving all of Wholeness for the sake of apparent individuality, and thinks it’s made a hell of a deal. Indeed. (I am not limiting Conscious Awareness to human beings; I simply am not addressing any other beings.)

In unusual cases–too frequent to be called rare and too infrequent to be labelled common–this individual identification starts to unwind. It’s less likely to happen when a unit is experiencing one great arising after another–although it sometimes happens in the case of highly developed, insightful units at the top of their game who, even though they are enjoying the fruits of an extremely  successful unit, manage to notice that they’re still not satisfied, and are not going to get there by adding another 0 to their bank balance or another notch to their bedfellow stick.

There are always a few other types of exceptions, but as is the norm with me, I am chiefly interested in a Big Number teaching–what’s happening with the most people most of the time.

In line with that goal, I note that the common denominator which drives us to the point where we are reduced to reading articles like this one, diving into books that the general population wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole, or watching videos by nondual teachers until we’re haunted by them in our sleep, is suffering.  That’s what brought the Fred unit into the fold, and the odds are good that it’s what brought you here, too. You don’t get a laurel wreath for wanting to avoid suffering.

Strangely, however, some say you get one if you make it through the often-accused-of-being-mythical Gateless Gate. Even more strangely, however, should this blessed event occur, we discover that there is no place to hang the wreath, no one who made it through the Gate, and thus no one to reward. I don’t have a wreath, but the giant bronze bust of Socrates (who looks suspiciously like Plato to me) that I have in my living room has one. Good for him! The only catch is that he had to drink poison to get it, and he only received it a long time after he was dead. I’m out on that program.

So what happens to Conscious Awareness upon the death of an individual unit? One jewel in Indra’s Net gets dark and quiet, as it drops back into a latent state. Trust me, there’s nowhere for Oneness to “go”–not even to Noneness. The channel on the Big Screen changes. Life goes on. And on and on and on…

All is well.

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A

ALPHA
[The first letter of the Classical Greek alphabet (A, α).]
Symbol (upper case)

Ω

OMEGA
[The last letter of the Classical Greek alphabet (Ω, ω).]

LAUREL WREATH

Laurel wreaths have traditionally been given as symbols of triumph, victory, and achievement. In the ancient Western world they were given to emperors, great poets (like the Roman poet, Ovid, who is pictured here), Olympic champions, et al. It is used here more in line its other historical context, as the transition to eternal life–what might erroneously be called “victory” over death.

But we’re not hanging it on any unit’s head! Dead or alive, a unit is, on its own, as empty as a crushed can–and just about that wise, too. That inherent emptiness, however, does not stop units from vying for gold stars, gold wreaths, or any other symbol of acclaim. Such things seem to mean a great deal to the one who isn’t even there. Go figure.

Fredness, at first glance, appears to have come to nondual philosophy via the East–primarily teachings that began or moved through India, China, and Japan. I frankly thought they had a monopoly on it. They don’t, even though some of the Greeks benefited from Indian and Egyptian teachings, and Western philosophy itself was preserved by early Islam during the Dark Ages.

The teachers who have given me the greatest help in coming to whatever level of clarity that’s currently being experienced here are neither exclusively Eastern nor exclusively Western–they’re both, which is perfect. Earliest on there was that confounding character of Jesus, whom I spent a lot of energy criticizing until I started spending it trying to figure out what he said and represented. Then came the ancient Zen masters, who shared a great deal before somehow birthing Eckhart Tolle into my life.  He was the original game changer.

Then came Nisargadatta from the East, and Adyashanti from the West. Ramakrishna the Easterner bowed out, but not before he’d kindly introduced me to Byron Katie the Westerner. Asian Ramana pointed to European Socrates and vice-versa. Emerson’s influenced was birthed by Thoreau, whom I’ve neglected to place in between Jesus and the ancient Zen masters. Pardon me, Henry.

So I am staking a claim here for a non-geographically oriented teaching. When I say “unaligned,” I mean it all across the board. What’s happening here is not standard nondual fare that the spiritual marketplace is already choked with, but remains so alien that the greater Western populace, the silent majority “not in the nondual choir” cannot even approach it, much less fathom it. Nor does it bear much kinship with what’s going on in most areas of the celebrated wisdom traditions.

This post, clearly, is being written for the choir, “my choir,” so to speak, to explain what’s going on here–as if I knew!

Good Lord. I was going to do a short little explanatory post, and I notice this one is 1,900 words with multiple illustrations. Can you say, “Out of control?” Clearly the typing should stop already.

So, in summation, what the new Living Method logo symbolizes (I think that’s how this post started) That which Is before the beginning, That which Is beyond the end. and beyond either. Alpha-Omega. Think of it simply as Home.

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All love,

Fredness
3.18.15