Separation
- Jun 5
- 2 min read
Separation
[This selection is an excerpt from a longer essay in our friend Sergio Antonio’s new book, A Map to Awakening.]
Everything we do can be performed in a state that the Fourth Way considers 'sleep.' Of the four possible states of consciousness, the first two are called sleep, relative absence of awareness. We spend our entire lives in these two states: in the first state in bed (usually at night), in the second during our working day.
We can work, fall in love, perform very complex functions, make capital decisions—all in sleep. And we do. This problem of spending one’s life concerns us, not others; sleep is entirely our own, no one forces us into it.
It must be understood what this sleep is and that requires that you observe yourself and see it in yourself. We need to have witnessed the arising of an 'I' (any thought, emotion, sensation) in automatic and uncontrolled reaction to a stimulus, which may have been a previous ‘I.’ Without having seen this, it is useless, indeed harmful, to read about these ideas because they will be misunderstood.
In sleep, our sense of identity (identification) is placed in any one or more of the many 'I's' that keep arising. Each 'I' lasts only a few seconds, so the sense of identity is constantly changing, shifting from one part of us to another, creating an inability to consistently pursue a direction or impartially observe what is happening.
We usually realize this only on the occasion of some isolated episode when our 'machine' short circuits: What the hell am I doing? I was putting the car keys in the dirty laundry basket. We do not realize that these incongruous behaviors are not a rare exception, something that happens to us when we are tired or have a severe headache, but the rule. And they are not limited to the moving center, but get into the heart of our emotions, our thoughts, and our decisions.
If you happen to think I am exaggerating, pause for a moment; stop reading after this paragraph. Then, try to recall the I's you happened to have during these first paragraphs. If you can remember, and if you have the courage and ability to observe impartially, you will find that each sentence you read triggered an 'I' and your sense of identity switched places multiple times since you began reading. None of these thoughts, feelings, sensations, or associations were voluntarily evoked, but came of themselves, as happens in a dream. “We are such stuff as dreams are made of.” ─ William Shakespeare
Sergio Antonio’s “A Map to Awakening” is available from Amazon, at this link:
Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses, John William Waterhouse
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