Lesson 8: Going To the Base

We Naked Awareness-ers are trying to directly realize the pure, naked base so that it is available to us. This base is almost always clouded over with content in the form of visual objects, sounds, emotions, thoughts, meanings and so forth, so directly experiencing the formless base can be pretty tricky. It's not only clouded over, but awareness fully joins the flow of conscious experiences. This identification with the flow of experiences is done innocently and automatically, but so thoroughly that we might know nothing at all about the base which is the mother of all experience.

We all want good life experiences, so there is little attraction to the empty state of the base. There are exceptions, of course, such as when we seek relief during a crisis or, perhaps, when we want access to creativity. Yet living from the base is, in fact, capable of giving us the life we truly desire. That is because we intuitively sense that there is more to life than the temporary experiences we normally get, no matter how fine they might be. This is especially evident when we get older, when death is no longer some distant theoretical thing, but something all too real and imminent. Then we might look for some deeper understanding of who and what we are, and what life is.

What does "deeper" mean? What defines depth of life experience? We use the idea of the base to help us get at this. The base is "below" the transitory experiences of daily life. The base, being nothing but pure awareness, is the point from which we gain insight into all experiences, since it is not an experience but the fundamental faculty that brings all experiences to light. It's the bottom that makes it possible to have all of that which is not the bottom.

Knowing the real nature of the base makes it possible to know all events and meanings for what they really are, because to know the base is to understand what all experience is made of. Access to the base positions us to understand the illusions that occur in our lives. Knowing illusion, we are less inclined to go off the deep end about what happens. The reactivity is quenched by our being rooted in the base and experiencing life from it.

How exactly do you get these benefits? The answer lies in the point at which you make that transition going from the illusion to the base. You are experiencing something and then you detach awareness from it and become aware of awareness itself. At that moment, when you make that shift, you are positioned see the nature of the illusion.

For me, there is sometimes a unique and intense change that occurs right at the point of transitioning to the base. Everything that attaches me to an illusion rises up at that instant as if to convince me that the illusion is reality and I am making some kind of mistake to let it go. You may or may not experience it this way. It could be that you experience a fright, like a demon rearing its ugly head to frighten you back into submission to the illusion. Or, perhaps you might forget how to get to the base, or forget that it can be done at all. Sometimes going to the base is like giving up your very being (called "death of the ego"). At other times, it might seem as if going to the base separates you from others, so you resist. Sometimes feelings are so strong, they dominate your nervous system and you can't seem to extricate yourself. Of course, you may not experience it like any of these. You will probably have your own unique version of being bound to illusion.

To transition to the base, it is best if you are not bound too tightly to your assumptions about reality. You need to be open to something new. If you believe your current experience too deeply, you won't even try to go to the base ("Why should I deny reality?"). If you can open to the possibility that your current experience is mind (in the sense that mind displays images that are just a vapor made of forms and lights), you can at least try.

You really shouldn't try to dissolve your assumptions by covering them with other thoughts, however. That just becomes a mental thing. Remember that the base is not in the mind; it is deeper. Just set out to realize the actual nature of the base itself (the empty, pure, present, knowing potential for sentient experience) and the clinging to the mind dissipates with no effort on your part.

Detach awareness from what it is aware of and be aware of awareness itself.

Of course, if you are sitting peacefully in your garden, the transition from the mind-defined dream reality to the base is easier because there are no compelling, demanding events or meanings holding your attention. When you are at peace and resting, the mind is already pretty quiet and empty, so the base is right there. It is helpful to cultivate a lifestyle that gives you some peaceful moments so you can practice resting in the base.

When you are in a "strongly experienced" situation (upset, crisis, etc.), the path to the base is trickier. You can cultivate having access to the base even at those times. As the Naked Awareness practice increases your ability, you will find it easier and easier to live through these things with some amount of equanimity.

Synopsis:

• You find out how illusion works by going to the base (detaching in the process)
• When you go to the base, you may face a barrier
• It helps to be open to the possibility that there is some illusion in your experience
• If you are peaceful and undistracted, the base is more accessible
• With practice, you will not be so easily tricked by intense experiences

I hope that took you to an interesting place. If it did not, maybe read it one more time, slowly.