3.  THE ILLUSIONS AND THE UNKNOWN WHOLE

Let us suppose that you grasp the idea that there are Natural Illusions and Stained Illusions.

Let us further suppose that you understand that the Illusion of Existence is generated by the presence in the mind of these illusions. These Illusions have an appearance that is strong and suggests reality and allows the separation into apparently real and separate phenomena that can either be balanced by the understanding of the Truth of their Non-Existence or accepted with folly.

This non-existence must then be a "whole" without any separation into parts and there can be no normal consciousness of it, only a belief that it is so.

We must ask then how this unknown whole is somehow transformed into Illusions. We can say that Illusions are transformed through the activity of the senses. If you can accept that explanation, then that is fine. It is, after all, correct. But for those who want to understand a little better we offer a more complete explanation.

If you are satisfied with what has been presented then what follows is of little importance.

                            THE UNDIFFERENTIATED UNKNOWABLE WHOLE

Imagine the whole as an undifferentiated mass, that is to say that no elements can be distinguished as having a separate existence.

That mass is impermanent, that is to say constantly changing with regard to its internal structure. The illusion that is the "I" is within that mass and undifferentiated within it. In other words, the apparent creature that we are, all other living creatures and all other inanimate phenomena, are within that undifferentiated mass.

The only thing that we may intuit with our cognitive concepts, in order to understand better, is that, as well as being in constant change, there are interactions of neutrality, attraction and repulsion.

     RECEIVING THE INFORMATION OF THE APPARENT OUTSIDE WORLD

Imagine now that we hold a mirror up to that undifferentiated unknown mass. What will the mirror receive?

That depends upon the quality and capacity of the mirror to reflect.

We then must accept the fact that what is reflected is not the same as what is "out there".

Now let us suppose that there are sensors on the back of the mirror that pick up what is on the mirror face.

What is captured will depend upon the quality and capacity of those receptors and their type.

We then must accept the fact that what the receptors pick up is different than what is on the mirror surface and different than what is "out there."

Now that mirror is just like your reception system. What is "out there" is unknown and there are two transformations so that finally you 

get a distorted, still undifferentiared image of the original outside events.

Because no differentiation is possible, that unknowable distorted image has no direct use for you. In fact, since we are talking about visual events, at the moment we can describe that undifferentiated mass, as it appears, as a mass of undifferentiated light.

That undifferentiated light is what is perceived by a newborn child and eventually provides through the first hand-eye coordination the first illusions that are useful in its world.

That undifferentiated light is part of the Awakening Experience.

Now, remembering that this is a model which generates a simplified picture of the natural system, let us go back for a moment to that point where you understood that you are actually a part of the undifferentiated mass.

We said that there is constant change, attraction, repulsion and neutrality among the undifferentiated elements.

                                          NATURE'S GIFT OF LIFE

Now let us in this model enter the magic formula of elements that developed LIFE. That life at first probably exploded for a moment and then disappeared, gradually stabilizing over immeasurable time with the capacity to reproduce itself. Then arose also through evolution over time a very important phenomenon which became its NATURAL FUNCTION.

   LIFE had its prime function TO SURVIVE as LIFE, but not as a direct clone.

          So diversity in those undifferentiated life forms was generated.

Correct approach and avoidance was essential for optimal survival. So a greater capacity for information-gathering regarding approach and avoidance was essential. Nature provided through natural evolution.

That essential information was generated by an evolved capacity to extract from the undifferentiated mass particular information which permitted greater survival potential through early detection of the approach, neutrality, rejection processes and the ability to optimize these interactions.

                                              HERE AND NOW

Leaving our rather simplistic model of events which occurred over millions of years, we see that we now in our evolved state still have the potential to extract Illusions from the Undifferentiated.

At first we extracted by the Clear Comprehension from the undifferentiated mass FORMS as EXPERIENCES.

Very much later, just 14,000 years ago more or less, we evolved verbal experiences which were attached to these Form Experiences, which we

now call Naming of the Experiences, that made storage in an extensive evolved MEMORY rapid and efficient.

                        Adam and Eve ate the apple. 

                   They were no longer ignorant nor innocent.

                                   It is not that the sinned.

         It is that they had discovered the tool to generate DUALITY.

So now we generate forms from the undifferentiated and give or have names for these forms when they are recognized as having been seen before.

This is quite correct and it is a natural function of the system to generate this extraction whenever it is necessary by this important process which we term Clear Comprehension.

Without this Clear Comprehension which extracts FORM ILLUSIONS on the basis of natural necessity we would have no knowledge of the world of which we are a part.

                              THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS

The mind of Dualty generated "Me and Not-me" that was consided REAL and SEPARATE, and then the natural system of correct and natural responses to the natural entry of valid and useful information was slowly set aside.

It is the daughters of Mara, within you now, with the gradual evolution of CONCEPTUALIZATION and LANGUAGE STRUCTURE, that allowed an

extensive and debilitating "need to know" what is "out there" in order to capture all Visceral experiences, Augment the range of objects available for desire, and know where the abrasive elements are, so as to generate an efficient Aversion of them.

The subconscious Identities that are the Daughters want everything then to be known. As a result, Clear Comprehension is activated at their behest, so all possible previously known elements are extracted and then marked with names.

The natural system operates correctly and there are correct and calm responses with large periods in repose. 

But the information extracted by Identity is enormous, causing agitation in the mind, especially when all the positive and negative associations are elicited in useless streams of thought.

You can see then that it was possible to extract, from that mass that is undifferentiated and unknown, by the process of Clear Comprehension either Natural Illusions which are beneficial for survival or the Stained Illusions of Identity.

The good news is that this Clear Comprehension, because it is a very important process, can be held in harmony and balance by contemplation which reveals the inner language of Non-Cognitive Experiences which are transformed and carried as one part of the liberating Presence, along with the other experiences revealed by other contemplations of Vacuity, Oneness, Impermanence, and the Life Force.