The Flip !

Tarun Pradhaan

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When you start progressing on the path of knowledge, you will notice a strange pattern - your old beliefs will be most of the time an exact opposite of new knowledge. This is quite amusing and enlightening. Everything you "knew" gets reversed gradually. I call this - the flip !

As you progress, your views go on flipping and soon the entire picture changes, the foreground becomes the background, and the background jumps forward. This is the figure-ground reversal that you will notice. We will take up some examples to demonstrate this. What's the point? Well, besides fun, it can be a good indicator of your progress. More things you flipped, more you have progressed. What's your score?

Belief: There are many things, and I am one of them, separate and independent of things.
Fact: There is oneness. There is no separation at all. Its an illusion created by the mind.

B: I'm the experiencer, and I'm capable of experience.
F: Experience and experiencer are one and the same, there is just Experiencing.

B: World is separate from my body, and my mind is separate from body. Consciousness is produced somehow from an arrangement of atoms.
F: Body, brain, world and atoms all are mental structures. Mind happens in consciousness and it can be roughly said that consciousness produces everything.

B: Matter is most real, next is mind, and consciousness is well... some nebulous thing that cannot be seen or proven.
F: Consciousness is most real, next is mind, and matter is flimsy illusion, its also mind.

B: Matter is particles, arranged in an empty thing called space, and it changes with a thing called time.
F: There are no particles. Space and time are illusions created in mind to make sense of sensory data. A kind of "data visualization".

B: Reality is purely material. And there are things like energy, forces and fields.
F: Reality is just information. There are only relations.

B: Brain generates mental stuff and also consciousness.
F: Brain is a structure in mind, perceived via senses. Consciousness is the ground of everything including world, body, brain and mind.

B: All there is, is this physical universe, which can see experienced via senses and instruments.
F: Physical universe, this one, is a tiny part of universal Mind. Areas of universal Mind can be accessed directly.

B: Consciousness "resides" in a body.
F: Body is an object, a content in consciousness.

B: Mind is located in brain, and consciousness too.
F: Brain is located in mind, which assigns it a location in space. Mind is non-local. Consciousness is not local, not non-local and is just a witness of all local and non-local phenomena.

B: Books, mass media and people are reliable sources for all knowledge. I trust it when majority of them agree on something.
F: My own experience is my surest source of knowledge. I believe no one blindly. I do take pointers from wise and try to experience what they teach.

B: I'm ignorant, don't know anything. I must get more and more knowledge.
F: I'm omniscient, I already know everything that can be known. Knowledge is covered up by layers upon layers of ignorance.

B: I'm not free. I need to get liberated asap.
F: I'm already free. All I need to do is get rid of that belief.

B: I was born, and I will surely die.
F: I am eternal, timeless and changeless.

B: Others are independent entities, they have their own consciousness separate from my own.
F: Consciousness (Self) is only one. Others are just structures in consciousness, same as I'm. We are all one at the deepest level, separations are illusory.

B: My path is a series of gains. I get more and more as I progress.
F: My path is a subtractive process. I lose more and more.

B: I'm not happy. Suffering come naturally. I need to do efforts to keep myself happy.
F: Happiness is my real nature. Suffering comes out of ignorance, and it takes effort to hold on to the burden of ignorance.

B: Things and people will stay as they are now. I can keep them that way permanently.
F: Nothing stays as it is. Everything is impermanent by nature. I have a minimal control over things.

B: I must change everyone, turn them into angels. I must turn this world into heaven. We can do it together, if only everyone agreed.
F: Its almost impossible to change others and very difficult to change my environment, except the most immediate surroundings. However, it is easy to change myself and improve tremendously.

B: This world is my home and my loved ones will stay with me forever. My life is long and there is so much time to enjoy it.
F: I'm only a visitor. I'm not of the world. People will leave, some will die and I too can die any day. External things and events are not in my hand. I live as if its my last day here. I try to make best of it.

B: My past was a mess, and I see no hope for the future. Let me try to fix my past and set up a solid plan for the entire life.
F: Past is an illusion. So is future. There is change, but there is no time. Its always this eternal now. Again, I do the best I can now.

B: Happiness comes from external stuff like food, mates, shiny stones/metals, money, power and social status.
F: Happiness comes from within. When above needs are no more present. Only minimum is needed to support a healthy body and an healthy Ego.

B: I need more and more relations and friends. Need and dependency on each other is love, we need support and approval of others.
F: I need exactly 0 people. Freedom from dependency and letting go is love. Love is about giving, not taking. We need to support, not ask for support. We don't need anyone's approval, I am me and you are you.

B: Everything is a mess. Nothing is as it should be.
F: Everything is perfect !

B: I need to run around like crazy until all my desires are fulfilled.
F: I need to do bare minimum to survive and have a cozy life. Desires are unlimited, its madness to try to fulfill all of them.

B: I must get more pleasure and avoid pain at all costs.
F: I can remain equanimous and simply witness both pain and pleasure.

B: I must do everything I can before I die.
F: I am not the doer. Actions happen. I let them happen as best as I can.

B: Everyone is equal. I need to show people that I'm one of them. I must conform.
F: Everyone is unique and different. I can be whatever I want to be. I'm free.

B: I must do what others tell me to do. Politicians and leaders dictate what's right and wrong.
F: I can use my brain ! I know what's right and wrong.

B: The whole point of life is - to hoard as much money as I can, to get a partner, reproduce, go on vacations, consume as much as I can, get shiny stuff, show them how great I am, save for old age and die in a hospital screaming and kicking.
F: The point of life is to live. Walk on the path of my own heart. That's all.

I'm sure there are more flips. The above list is not complete obviously. I keep finding them. Most of them happen naturally as you gain experience and knowledge by just being alive. The mind blowing thing is that this can be done in only a few days/months. A seeker is a person who knows this art of intentionally flipping things around.