Step 1: Who Is Cleaning Up

A weird thing happens as you begin to examine certain thoughts and feelings. You begin to realize that you’re carrying around deep hurts inside of you. (Not yet, however, do you consider the assumptions: “carrying,” “inside of,” and “you.”) They’re like pieces of heavy luggage. That’s an astonishing insight.

But wait–there’s more. You see that there are all these ego-selves, these characters, these voices, each of which is carrying around a specific piece of luggage. That’s super-weird too. One, out of feeling insignificant, is prone to anger. Another, feeling like a loser, is often anxious. A third, wanting to be powerful yet feeling powerless, is gripping onto a sense of control. And so forth.

The third insight is the weirdest: I’m not any of these little characters. It dawns on me that they don’t even exist in their own right for every time I go looking for one it ultimately “disappears.” And where is it while I’m eating breakfast? While I’m in the dream sleep? While in deep sleep? How can it be that I’ve never noticed a break or a skip in my experience even though these I-thoughts have intermittently come and gone? How, then, could I possibly be any of them?

I’m dumbfounded and open.

Step 2: Hearing, Vaguely, That ‘All Is One’

Since it’s clear that you’re not any of the above, who are you? You might stumble upon some teaching or other that vaguely points to Oneness–but what does that signify? In what sense could it be even remotely true? Isn’t it just nonsense or bullshit or cutesy spirituality?

Nonetheless, you find yourself more open, and in this openness there can be faint glimpses of what Advaita Vedanta terms “Awareness” or “Consciousness.” 

It’s enough, at this stage, to simply open in wonderment to a strange yet glorious possibility.

Step 3: Introducing The Witness Teaching

You’re open to the possibility that “everything is Awareness.” After all, the very beginning of Cleaning Up (Step 1) initiates a natural process of inquiry into who you are. Maybe it’s true (Step 2).

But then why is it the case that I don’t know that I’m This? To see what’s at stake, note a provisional definition of bondage or ignorance: “Bondage or ignorance involves conflating the Seer with the seen.”

The Witness teaching, together with the Difference Principle, shows the natural distinction between I and that upon which the I is shining. The Witness teaching states that one is the Witness of all objective experiences. And one arrives at the Witness teaching by applying the Difference Principle: the Knower is different from the known; the Seer is different from the seen; etc.

This can be explored at great length. Consider:

• Is it true that Seer is always different from the seen (the world, the body, and the mind)?
• Is it true that Seer is changeless while the seen–i.e., thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions–is ever-changing?
• Is it true that Seer is one while the seen–i.e., thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions–is many?