The Authentic Life


Ishvara:

There is the life that you live on the outside, and there is the Authentic Life that you are on the inside. The two are often a duality, with different agendas, and different experiences. One--the Authentic Life--is who you are. The other is the life you wear, like a garment. You clothe yourself with various concepts and ideals, and that is what you present to the world; that is where you meet the world. It is a divisive creation that protects you, helps you to blend in like a chameleon. The problem arises when you identify with the outer life to the exclusion of the Authentic Self that you are.

The outer life is necessary. It is where you interface with the world, where you deal with the consensus. You realize that you could be quite disabled if you didn't have the ability to deal with the world. Many find it difficult, so they seek to escape from the world by denying its existence, believing it is an illusion. There is much illusion about the outside world, and there are many problems with it, so it seems reasonable that one would seek to isolate oneself from that.

The Authentic Self is not separate; it is not really an individual. It is a synergy of intelligence that uses information. You have recourse to the Authentic Self, the actuality of your existence, which includes the things you know, the things you tell yourself. They are very important, but not to be confused with your garment, the persona with which you interface with the world.

This talk is about the Authentic Life, the actual person you are, the person who no one really knows or understands, who is not detectable to the physical senses that are geared to look outside. Just because you can't see the Authentic Self does not limit or negate its existence. The Authentic Self is what exists at birth, but it is also established over years and through many experiences. Yet the moment you are born, you begin to adapt to the world around you. That is where humans pick up many strange ideas, beliefs, and superstitions. So there is a division that you experience, and you spend a lot of time and energy trying to rationalize it, to see it in its place. There is always an element of discomfort, a feeling that something is off, something is not quite as it appears to be. Sometimes that feeling is strong, and at such a moment of possibility, your True Nature could emerge, and you could have a deep realization of connection that brings about an expanded awareness. Those moments are often short-lived, but if you have one short-lived moment of connection or awareness, it is the actual, the truth. The rest is glorified consensus-reality information, experiences that take place in the realm of a separate existence.

For some reason, most humans are afraid of the Authentic Self, don't understand it, are suspicious of it, because it is very powerful, it is absolute; it is knowing. It cannot be deceived or fooled. Something that powerful is often feared. It resides in a realm of mystery. There are so many beliefs, superstitions and concepts in this world; all of them have come from some experience, some interpretation, or some extrapolation of an experience that is totally misunderstood. That is where a philosophy, a belief, a religion, or a system originates. This has been going on for most of humanity's existence. It has become something that is accepted as normal and natural, but actually it is unnatural. It is constantly taking one away from the truth of Life, the truth of existence.

One can wander far away from the truth, from the intelligence that Is. One can get caught in separation, in doubt, in fear and survival, losing sight of the most precious, most real, most absolute aspect of You, that True Nature, that Natural State. There are those who are well-meaning, who seek to help, to serve, but they are often misguided, serving from a place of separation, delusion, belief and concept, doing their best with what they have.

There is a phenomenon in the world that takes place periodically: an awakening, a transformation. The consensus would like to believe that it happens very frequently, that there is an abundance of it, that it is everywhere. But the actuality is that it is very rare, very unique, occurring against all odds, seemingly impossible and unbelievable. "It can't be", the intellect thinks; but it is. As I look at the history of human becoming, I can see that an awakening is a simple process. An individual tunes into something which takes that individual out of the consensus world, out of the beliefs and the conditioning, setting that individual free, severing the connections of the limited, superstitious world from which the individual came. It happens only once in a great while.

These individuals often become deified. The humans around them view them as something divine, something separate, something that has come from somewhere else, sent from above; something that is not of this earth. That is where illusion enters into human existence; that is where the outside gets a foot-hold, because one's experience cannot rationalize that kind of presence. The intellect says, "It must be from somewhere else; it certainly couldn't come from here. How could an individual born of human parents ever achieve such all-knowing, absolute presence? How could human life produce something so exceptional? It is impossible. It must be from the outside. It must be some special gift bestowed upon humanity, a vehicle for salvation." The intellect does not see that it is an expression of the Authentic Life, the intelligence that Is.

Written and transcribed by Terry Grant

I have transcribed and edited the following message from a talk Ishvara gave on May 15, 2005. - TG.

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