15 A Philosophy of Being
Utter Nothingness (Primordial Samadhi)
Before the beginning was a cause and this cause made the decision to be. Previously, there were neither “being” nor “not-being”, only a potential to be.
You assume this precise original state almost daily! If you sleep – dreamless sleep – are you conscious that you exist? On the other hand, do you have the idea that you “not-exist”? No, and there is also “no time”, neither the question of”how long was the time before the beginning?”
Andreas Buttler “Spiritologie”
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“I’m not sick… I just got a very funny feeling. It’s like I didn’t belong here. Like if I was to let myself go, I’d disappear.”
— Twilight Zone, “And When the Sky Was Opened“
These quotes point to a limitless, ineffable “state” which we will term “Primordial Samadhi.”The key things to note are:
- You enter Primorodial Samadhi automatically via deep sleep.
- Primordial Samadhi has no being or beings, matter, energy, space or time. Nothing. Utterly nothing.
- Primordial Samadhi is the ‘base state’ and sole cause underlying all resultant effects such as matter, energy, space, time, people, places and events.
Review Questions
- Give a practical example of Primordial Samadhi.
- Is Primordial Samadhi a state of being? Why or why not?
- Arunachala Ramana, founder of HAM.com once said: “Enlightenment is freedom from being an individusal, not freedom as an individual.” Do you agree or disagree?4
Pure Being
Have you ever woken up and wondered where you were? Or who you were? Even just for an instant? Congratulations! That was a moment of Pure Being. If you have not experienced a state of consciousness other than deep sleep, waking, or dreaming, be assured it has been found by many a sage:
Just on rising up from sleep, and before seeing the objective world, there is a state of awareness which is your pure Self. That must be known.”
— Lucy Cornelssen, “Hunting the I”
The Self is pure consciousness in sleep; it evolves as ‘I’ without the ‘this’ in the transition stage; and manifests as ‘I and this’ in the waking state.
— Lucy Cornelssen, “Hunting the I”
Let’s take a look at some, shall we say, impure states of being:
- I am an American.
- I am male.
- I am a proud mother of two lovely boys.
- I am a liberal.
- I am holistic healer, raw vegan, reiki practitioner.
Did you notice “I am” at the front of all of those sentences? That “I am” is Pure Being.
“Not I am this or I am that. Simply I AM”
Vivian Zelig, AHAM.com
What was “God’s” response when Moses asked him his name? The answer was “I am that I am.”
Are you that I am? Well, kinda. You certainly have flashes of it. But flashes of it are not enough to withstand being nailed to a cross. Flashes of it will not give you the power to turn a cane into a serpent. You need to turn your 1-second experience into a 24-7 nonstop party:
This pure state momentarily intervenes between sleep and waking. If prolonged it is cosmic consciousness. This is the only passage to the realisation of the Self-s