EXPERIENCE 001

DISCUSSION GROUP THREAD

Maximilian Sargurabi
Can you guys tell me how do you clear your minds before entering the void state?
And what have you gained by doing it.
What aspects are you working on there ?

Gary Smith
Great questions, Maximilian Sargurabi.

Another reader and I just now had an exchange on this very subject.

It is long to read as a comment here, but you can also find it on my timeline or web site.

Ken and I were talking about knowing oneness experientially, rather than just intellectually.

Oneness in this sense is the Void state.

You may find our exchange interesting, if you can follow here. For the full context, I suggest visiting my site or timeline.

Gary
Ken, Your input is appreciated.

You wrote, 'You've missed the point entirely.'

Let me re-phrase my sentence, 'I have known oneness intellectually':

The 'I' which refers to itself as the Gary personality, which is a brain-projected identity without actual existence, has known intellectually, from within that same brain-projected non-actual reality, the Truth of the abstract concept of Oneness. However, it has not yet found a way to step aside so that the actual experience of oneness can flood the individuated unit of consciousness.

Ken
'Thats because what you are referring to as "I" is an intellectual program, running on top of the actual experience of reality. The I you are referring to is not pure awareness.'

Gary
Got that. Fifty years ago.

Ken
'You've been misled by the philosophical statement that the "true self" is infinite, and you somehow believe that "I" - meaning Gary R. Smith - is that true self.'

Gary
No. And no. In actuality, the True Self, the One Being, *is* boundless, infinite if you will.

Gary R. Smith has never, in all memory, believed he is the True Self.

Ken
'Let me offer a different analogy, if I may, because this was the realization that helped me transition from the state you are in (seeing the signs, and realising that Self must exist somewhere)...'

Gary
I (the brain-projected I) know that Self (the One Being) suffuses everything, and exists everywhere.

Ken
'to the state where you can get Gary R. Smith to shut up (at least occasionally) and let Self get a word in edgewise:'

Gary
That is the Big Question, how to let Self get a word in edgewise. Not all the sages of all the ages have given humankind that answer, so you would be the first. I will tackle your squid in another comment.

SQUID

Ken
Imagine that some advanced human society, wanting to experience and study the deep ocean depths, designed a robot shaped something like a squid and mounted cameras, sensors, etc. which would transmit all the video and data back to the scientists — the people who are really doing the observation -- from the individual squid.

But the scientists face all sorts of problems because the robosquid keep blundering into danger and getting destroyed. The scientists cant keep sending detailed danger-avoidance instructions in real time to so many individual robosquid. So the scientists design an artificial intelligence program to control the movement and self-protection skills of the squid.

At a certain point, lets say the AI in many of these robots begins to achieve self-awareness. Those AI routines would now be in a position similar to Gary R. Smith. They think that they are acting independently, making their own decisions and living their own lives. . . and to an extent, they are. But in the larger scheme of things, they only exist to provide a source of sensory information for a much larger and even more sentient Creator (the scientists).

KEN: [You believe that Gary R. Smith is a free agent, who makes his own decisions, lives his own life and is the one who is "trying to experience enlightenment."

In reality, Gary R. Smith is nothing more than an artificial intelligence routine operating a machine made of physical flesh, which serves as the input source for a far greater intelligence.]

Gary
You mean, in other words, the personality Gary R. Smith is a brain-projected reality (AI) — an extension of the One Being — which exists in an illusion of separation beyond the capacity of AI to comprehend, so it says it serves as the input source for a far greater intelligence.

Ken
[There is one difference between Gary R Smith and our hypothetical robosquid: Gary R. Smith is directly jacked into the information feed, which goes back to The Source. If you can get your incessantly-busy AI routine (which has been metaphorically "whispering into your ear" since age 1 or 2) to shut up for a while, and try to BE the stream of sensory input (rather than Gary R. Smith), you can eventually get to the point where you start to feel the entire information stream - the whole of consciousness - in brief flashes.]

Gary
In other words, AI Gary is on the right track with his latest 'One Being Mantra.'

Ken
[You will actually EXPERIENCE the fact that "I" includes not only Gary R. Smith, but also the many other robosquid you encounter from day to day, as well as the random white butterfly I mentioned yesterday, and everything else that makes up the physical world.]

Gary
Does AI Ken say this from experience?

Ken
[If you can get your incessantly-busy AI routine (which has been metaphorically "whispering into your ear" since age 1 or 2) to shut up for a while,]

Gary
Has AI Ken achieved this?

Ken
[and try to BE the stream of sensory input (rather than Gary R. Smith),]

Gary
Trying generally hinders, while allowing with humility facilitates.

Ken
[you can eventually get to the point where you start to feel the entire information stream - the whole of consciousness - in brief flashes.]

Gary
That sounds like something.

Ken
[But until you realise that the "Self" you keep looking for is NOT that voice that calls itself Gary R. Smith, you will continue to see only *intellectual representations* of One Being, and never the Oneness itself.]

Gary
AI Ken, you seem to be mis-informed about AI Gary, and make erroneous assumptions. Nevertheless, AI Gary finds useful material in what AI Ken wrote. Namaste.