Look Within:

Those apparently in the know tell us to “Look Within” to find something of great value. Something that is, moreover, more valuable than anything the world can give us. So it is said. How true this is, well, let us investigate and see!

I remember hearing of a famous philosopher, if the story is not apocryphal, who related a little of his experience in this regard, i.e. of “Looking Within”. Apparently, he closed his eyes and 'looked within' in a way that seemed reasonable to him. All he found was darkness and blackness. He didn't find anything of worth. Why was this? What was his fundamental mistake? Quite simply, he didn't know How to “Look Within” in addition to not knowing What to look for!

So let's “Look Within” and not make not make the same mistake as this philosopher.

How to “Look Within” and What to Look for go together but let's treat each individually to make the essential point clear.

The wrong How:

The reason the philosopher failed when “Looking Within” is because he didn't know How to look in the right way. He looked in the wrong direction, so to speak. He was evidently expecting to perceive or experience something in the same way as he experienced everything else. This is why he mentions 'darkness' and 'blackness'. These are, of course, perceptual experiences. They are essentially external and objective. And so, clearly, being external they are obviously not 'Within'. He was trying to “Look Within” but was in actual fact still 'looking without'!

The wrong What:

The philosopher also doubly failed in that he didn't really have the slightest clue What he was looking for! In any scientific investigation the researcher has at least some idea of what may or may not be found. They are very rarely entirely clueless as to the range of possibilities of what the final experimental result will be. If they were entirely clueless, they wouldn't be able to recognise any result outside of the range of imagined possibilities. Now in our philosopher's case here he was expecting something objective. He was expecting the “Within” to be something he could perceive and analyse. But, of course, the “Within” that is referred to by the exhortation to “Look Within” is not something objective or perceivable in the normal manner, as we shall soon see.

The Right How:

As said, the philosopher failed in his “Looking Within” endeavour by essentially looking in the wrong direction. He was, in reality, still 'looking without'. So how do we “Look Within” in the right way? Well, we first understand that “Looking Within” is completely different to any type of objective experience. It is completely different to looking at a green leaf on a tree, for example, where the 'greenness' and 'leaf shape' of the green leaf would be the objective characteristics of that perceptual experience. The right way to “Look Within” is simply to switch the attention to 'That' which is aware of the green leaf in the example just mentioned, or for that matter from anything else experienced whether that be something perceived by the senses or felt or thought by the mind-psychological system. So what we're talking about here is 'Apperception' rather than 'perception'. We're being attentive to the subject or the 'self' rather than any object. We're being attentive to 'self' or, more accurately, to the 'awareness' we are rather than to what we 'awareness' are aware of! It needs to be very clear here, and indeed stressed, that we don't have 'awareness' but that we are 'awareness'. We have a body-mind system but we are the 'awareness' that is aware of it and all its passing perceptions, feelings and thoughts, etc. This is what our actual empirical experience is, assuming we bother to check. So the right way here is Apperception! This is the right way to “Look Within”.

The Right What:

So, as is clear from the above, the right What here is this 'awareness' we are itself. This is what the exhortation to “Look Within” is really all about. It's all about this 'awareness' we are right now that is actually aware of objective things regardless of whether these objective things be of the senses or of the mind. Now something to immediately note about this 'awareness' we are is that in itself it is ever-present and unchanging, completely unlike the objective perceptions of the senses or the mind which are in a state of constant flux and change. If you experientially check this for yourself right now you should find this to be the case.

Broadening our considerations here, it is clear that the possible perceptions of sense or mind that are possible in the Universe are infinite, but the Apperception of the 'awareness' that is aware of anything of sense or mind, no matter how infinite in its possibilities, is one and one only. A remarkable and noteworthy difference! This 'awareness' we are that is aware of a green leaf on a tree, to use the example above, is the same 'awareness' that is aware of the gnarled brown bark of that tree if our perceptual attention shifts in that direction. This is the truth of our actual empirical experience in relation to anything perceived or felt or thought, and is true for everyone or any being throughout the whole Universe, as we shall see. The Apperception of 'awareness' is one in character and substance and, unlike the infinite multitude of perceptual experiences, it stands alone!

Understanding clearly What is Found:

So understanding clearly How and What to look for as we “Look Within”, what do we find? Well, let us investigate for ourselves. We have already found that the Apperception of the 'awareness' we are is sort of special and to be distinguished from anything that we as 'awareness' are aware of, which would be some sort of external perception or mentation. Apperception is also one in character and substance regardless of what context it may happen in. Throughout all time and space when Apperception happens it is always the same, as the 'Looking' direction and 'What' is found is always the same. 'Awareness' is what is found and the Apperception of it is common and the same, when it happens, for all beings that exist, that have existed and that will exist. The Apperceptual experience, so to call it, is always the same, and stands Supreme amidst all possible experience.

Characteristics of Awareness:

We now have to understand and 'see' clearly what this 'awareness' we are is as far as we are humanly able to do so. The best we can do is point to the evidence of its clear characteristics:

[1] Ever-Present:

Awareness (this 'awareness' we are right now) is always the same regardless of what the perceptual content may be. Perceptions, feelings and thoughts are constantly changing, coming-and-going, but the awareness that is aware of all this constant change is always the same awareness. Awareness is the ever-present 'Context' in which all perceptions, feelings and thoughts (content) arise and pass. Awareness, therefore, from the evidence, is Ever-Present and Ever-The-Same and Ever-Unchanging.

[2] Formless:

Awareness, (this 'awareness' we are right now) has no shape or form or boundary as a green leaf, or anything else objective that we are aware of, has shape and form and boundary. Awareness, from the evidence, is without shape or form or boundary and so is therefore Boundless and Formless.

[3] 'Alive':

Awareness (this 'awareness' we are right now) is that which is truly 'Alive' and 'Conscious'. The body and mind-feeling-psychological system are functioning instruments really. They aren't really 'Alive' in the same sense as Awareness is. The body-mind is more akin to the machines and mechanisms of our modern world than they are akin to Awareness. The true 'Life' within us, i.e. the 'Life' and Being and Existence we really are, is Awareness itself.

[4] Timeless:

Awareness (this 'awareness' we are right now), as it is ever-present and unchanging, has therefore a Timeless and Eternal aspect. The body and mind has its beginning and end, it's birth and death, but the changeless 'awareness' we truly are is beyond both these time-bound categories. Awareness, which is that within us that is truly 'Alive', is therefore Deathless and of the Eternal.

[5] Impersonal:

Awareness (this 'awareness' we are right now), as it is common and the same in character and substance for every being that exists, has therefore an Impersonal aspect. Although every being has its own unique body-mind structure and its own unique life experiences, the underlying witnessing 'awareness' that is aware of it all is the same. It is the same One Awareness that is present in all beings and the same One Awareness that is common to us all.

[6] Peace:

Awareness (this 'awareness' we are right now), as it is formless and empty of all activity and motion in itself, is Stillness, Silence and Peace. While all the hustle-and-bustle of our life experiences, the comings-and-goings of the multitude of our thoughts and perceptions continues on, at the back of it all is the Still Point of Silence and Peace. The wheel of samsara, the wheel of phenomena, turns relentlessly on on the 'outside', but the Centre Point of the wheel 'Within' is forever Stillness, Silence and Peace.

[6] Our True Heart:

Awareness (this 'awareness' we are right now), as it is what we truly are beyond the body-mind mechanism, is our real Being and Self. It is our Core and Centre or Heart. It is our true Heart and the true Heart of all that were, that are and that will be.

So let us 'Look Within' and recognise and be our real true and eternal Self. Let us be no more alienated and cut off in our minds eye from our true Source, Being and Heart. Let us find the treasure Within. It waits there unhidden, but the habit of our mind's eye going outwards hides it's Recognition. Let us therefore unblind ourselves to the Jewel that is always on show and earnestly heed the words of the wise that bid us to: 'Look Within'!