A. TA

Why do I want to still live life as an individual even though I understand that there is no separate self? Is the desire because I still have the perspective of an individual or is it valid?

This wonderful question was originally asked 6 years ago by Kotapothula Sai Dinesh, and was re-requested this week. It’s a beautiful question because it requires a comprehensive overview of All Of Creation, i.e., The Dream-of-separateness to really attempt an ‘understanding’ of the “why” in the question. I will try to keep it brief and concise 😱😂:

There is only Being. Pure Awareness, One-Without-A-Second. Non-duality.

In Reality, there are no separate selves, no “I” or “we.” Just One, apparently creating a dream of ‘many.’ For no reason.

The mind cannot comprehend Oneness, because it’s already firmly ensconced in the dream-of-separateness, or two-ness. Subject & object.

So we end up using analogies, like your dream last night. In your night dreams, was their really separate selves and objects? Really a second “you,” duplicate friends & relatives, real buildings and cars?

No. They were all just illusions created in one brain.

Similarly, this ‘waking dream’ seems 110% real, but it’s just the Vast & Empty One, dreaming of Two, or two-trillion, ‘selves’ and objects. There’s no mind-comprehensible reason, but since there appear to be 8 billion ‘separate selves’ who all believe they are real ‘individual selves’ with ‘their own’ lives and issues, we can assume that, precisely, is ‘their’ function.

Meaning, even though “you” ‘understand’ all separate selves are illusion, “you” remain compelled to identify with “your” separate self, to feel “your” life is not an illusion, and compelled to desire living it out to its fullest potential.

Isn’t Being’s dream amazing?! Isn’t is amazing that Being is living through this temporary surrogate called “you,” as well as all other beings and worlds? And isn’t it the most wonderful omniscient intelligence that Being knew to make it seem 110% real to “you,” so that “you” would never stop & say, “Well, actually I’m just Being, The One, so this is all illusion and doesn’t matter?”

Hardly any dream-characters have ever perceived that, and fewer still have ever ‘awakened’ from the dream.

Obviously, in Being’s intentional dream-of-separateness, “our” function is not to all be ‘awake’ about the whole illusion, or else most or all of “us” would be aware of our One Beingness, and the game would be over.

That is why “you” and virtually everyone of the 8 billion want to live life as a self-satisfied individual. ‘Knowing’ philosophically or intellectually that there are no separate selves is a fun perspective. Thinking you ’understand’ it is actually part of the dream.

But it has nothing to do with actually being only Being. With a complete and utter death of the ‘self’ and dissolution back into Being. With full ‘awakening’ from the dream. Apparently, Being rarely (extremely rarely) manifests that full no-self collapse in any of it’s disguised ‘human locations’ (except of course at ‘death.’)

And, obviously, since this is Being’s dream and “we” are all following its function perfectly, only Being can appear to ‘cause’ that full collapse. The dream-”you” cannot cause that. No matter what it appears to do or practice. Any more than the dream-you in your night dreams can cause the physical you asleep in bed to wake up ‘enlightened.’

So go ahead. Live “your” life as an individual. To the fullest. 
Every once in a while, contemplate & remember that you are just Being having its dream, God in drag.
Or not.
Or decide to surrender all “your” personal desires and life, become a ‘serious’ seeker-student walking some ‘serious’ path and doing rigorous sadhana or ‘practices’ to try to collapse the false self.
Or not.

Doesn’t matter. You are not the doer. Just Being, dreaming. 🙏