Let’s look again at the basic invitation in Living Realization:
Recognize present awareness. Don’t move to manipulate appearances. See that all appearances are not separate from awareness.
We focused on the first two parts of the invitation in previous chapters. For example, the chapter “Recognizing Present Awareness” points directly to what awareness is and how it is often first recognized to be prior to (or the source of) appearances including thoughts, emotions, sensations, states and experiences. In the chapters on appearances, we often discussed the pointer, “Don’t move to manipulate appearances.” We invited you not to move to manipulate appearances, i.e., witness away, neutralize, overcome, escape, analyze, change, or get rid of appearances. Instead, the invitation is always to allow all appearances to be as they are (except in shadow work).
In this chapter, our focus will be on the last part of the invitation, which is to “see that all appearances are not separate from awareness.” Before we go into detail with regard to pointing to inseparability, let’s discuss what inseparability or non-duality is not. Living Realization uses the words “inseparability” and “non-separation” interchangeably. These words are referring to what has traditionally been called “non-duality.” The following section deals with some of the traps we can encounter in recognizing the non-dual nature of reality.