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Jóse Díez Faixat is an architect, non-violent conscientious objector, ecologist, rural community member. From 1979 he has focused on research into basic reality, of form both as experienced (mystical, non-dualistic) and as theoretical (study of spiritual traditions and the sciences of the New Paradigm). In 1993, he published his hypothesis in the journal of general evolution World Futures (ed. Ervin Laszlo), and later, in 1996, develops this work in the book Between Evolution and Eternity (Editorial Kairos). He later published Being nothing, I am All (Editorial Dilema).

Self-Evidence and its forms

JOSé DíEZ FAIXAT

It happened in 1979. At the beginning of that year, after leaving the “non-violent” community of Mas Roger and spending a few weeks in the “contemplative” community of Mas Blanc, I stayed at my parents' house for a few months and, around the month of June, I went to visit some friends who had restored an old abandoned rectory in the La Magdalena neighborhood—a rural parish in the Asturian council of Villaviciosa—and had formed a small community there “without any pretensions of any kind”. The fact is that I only went to visit… but I stayed to live there. It was a beautiful time, with lots of nature, orchard, companionship, reading, meditation and laughter… lots of laughter! When autumn came, my friends, for reasons of study or work, left, and the one who had come to visit… stayed there as an unexpected hermit. Some of the “hosts” stopped by the old rectory some weekend. This happened in mid-December. It turns out that, precisely, in that December of 1979, exactly in the early hours of Sunday the 16th, the most important moment of my life took place. Something happened that radically changed, in an experiential way, my understanding of reality. I will try to tell you what that “gift” of Life consisted of.

That night, this Beards had slept very well. He woke up very early and, as he was no longer sleepy, still in bed, lying face up, he began to relax starting with his feet… and suddenly… unexpectedly… gratuitously… it happened… the absolute Evidence!... the absolute Clarity!... the absolute Simplicity!... the absolute Certainty that That had always been present!... the infinite Light reflected in a hundred thousand rays in the shell of the universe!... everything was fine!... everything had always been fine!... how had he not seen it before if That had always been fully present?... how did not all people see it on a regular basis?... It only lasted an instant. After a moment, this Beards sat down on the meditation stool to recover That… and… it had vanished!... apparently. The ego wanted to catch the uncatchable and…

When I tried to explain to one of the hosts in the house what had happened, I understood what the word Ineffable meant… I didn't know what to say to him!… I could only stammer that “life is Evidence”. “Evidence of what?” he asked me… and all I could say was… “Evidence-of-the-Evidence!” That is why, when I use the expression Self-Evidence in my writings, it is not an idea… I am referring to the ever-present-Obviousness of which I have absolute Certainty! All the research, experiential and theoretical, that I have developed since then has been nothing but a crude attempt to understand That which is far beyond words… what we, in Truth, are!

At first, I didn't understand anything—how could it be that the entire evolutionary world of forms was, in essence, a simple self-luminous Diaphanousness?—, but, over the years, surprisingly, what at first seemed like a completely absurd experience turned out to be the key to understanding the integral dynamics of the universe. I will now try to outline this global scheme—which arose spontaneously when taking into consideration all the facets of Reality—which, in a very simple way, harmoniously integrates Emptiness and forms, Timelessness and time, infinite Potentiality and the world of finitude. It is possible that this simple scheme can clear up many of the doubts that are usually raised when trying to clarify the subject of "spiritual practice".

Starting from the absolute experience that the ultimate foundation of everything is the simple Evidence-of-the-Evidence, we can affirm that the essence of reality lacks the slightest trace of separation between subject and object, or, in other words, that it has both facets in an undifferentiated form. If this is so, both materialistic realism—which affirms that everything is an object—and spiritualistic idealism—which affirms that everything is a subject—only address half of an absolute reality that is, precisely, the radical non-duality of both aspects. Physicists speak of an infinite potential energy in the original quantum vacuum, and contemplatives speak of an infinite diaphanous consciousness in the final mystical vacuum. What we are proposing here is that these two voids are nothing but the same and unique absolute Emptiness, perceived by physicists objectively and by contemplatives subjectively, but which, in itself, is neither objective nor subjective, but rather the non-duality, identity or indifference of both facets simultaneously. It is not Something. It is not Someone. It is, simply, pure ever present Self-Evidence.

Well, since this non-dual Emptiness completely lacks the slightest separation between subject and object, it cannot perceive itself in any way. Therefore, if it wants to contemplate itself, it has no choice but to apparently split itself into an original objective pole—basically of energy—and a final subjective pole—basically of consciousness—, fully maintaining its empty essence. Between both poles, a very wide spectrum of balances between both polar facets is instantly generated, which runs the gamut from the most basic states—of enormous energy and little consciousness—to the highest—of little energy and enormous consciousness. The different levels of this unified, intertwined, archetypal and potential spectrum of energy-consciousness are, precisely, the “potential levels of stratified stability” that will be actualized, one after the other, throughout the successive steps of the global evolution of the universe and the individual development of all the organisms that compose it… although, in fact, all these temporal processes are nothing more than mere appearances that occur in the only Here—which encompasses all distances—and Now—which encompasses all durations—of this unified bi-one potential field of energy-consciousness.

This entire spectrum of potential energy-consciousness—the universal wave function or unified field of information—actualizes—collapses—at every point-instant of the pixelated manifestation of the space-time universe, moment by moment, beginning at the most basic levels and gradually ascending to the highest. In other words, the infinite and eternal Here-Now of the potential realm projects and identifies itself, moment by moment, in each and every finite and fleeting here-now of the manifested realm, to contemplate itself from that endless multi-perspective, and immediately return to its potential foundation. We can thus speak of an instantaneous and eternal recursive dynamic, through which the entirety of the ever-present archetypal spectrum is gradually actualized in the world of space-time forms, generating, step by step, progressively complex and lucid entities that integrate within themselves an increasing number of levels of the fundamental energy-consciousness spectrum. Everything seems to indicate that, ultimately, the purpose of this cosmic dynamic is none other than to manifest in the world of forms, level by level, the totality of this potential spectrum, to finally integrate, simultaneously, the original pole of energy and the final pole of consciousness, thus revealing its intrinsic non-duality.

There is, therefore, no real universe out there, nor are there true individualities separated anywhere. The only protagonist in this creative dance of universal manifestation is the same and only ever-present Self-Evidence, apparently unfolding as object and subject—as energy and consciousness—and identifying itself, moment after moment, with progressively complex organisms from which it contemplates itself in infinite ways. Everything is a pure play of subject-objective appearances of simple Self-Evidence with itself, from itself, for itself, in itself. Depending on the peculiarities of the organisms with which it identifies itself as a perceiving subject, so will be the characteristics of the objects perceived in its environment. There are “sounds” because there are “ears” (and vice versa). There are “colors” because there are “eyes” (and vice versa). Even the space-time framework in which we locate all events is purely imaginary. “Space” and “time”, far from being absolute objective realities, are merely illusory constructs of our minds to order their memories and expectations from the limited and fleeting present… although, in truth, everything is happening in one and the same full and eternal Here-and-Now that encompasses within itself all supposed “distances” and “durations.”

If the picture we are presenting is basically correct, perhaps it can help us to clarify, to a large extent, the ultimate meaning of the “spiritual search”. Let us see. First of all, we can affirm that the belief of being a separate and autonomous individual is totally illusory, since the true identity of everything and everyone is the same and only ever-present Self-Evidence, interacting with itself in the world of subject-objective appearances. Therefore, any claim by an alleged separate being to achieve enlightenment in the future is completely absurd. There is no such separate being, no such future, and there is nothing to achieve. The essence of everything is already, and has always been, the same and only self-luminous and timeless Emptiness. Therefore, we could even say that any “spiritual practice” carried out by an illusory separate individual to achieve his realization is deeply contradictory, since, far from eliminating the deception of his supposed separate existence—which is what, apparently, hides his true non-dual identity at present—it reinforces, precisely, that erroneous belief.

What a joke! We are claiming that we are already, and have always been, the absolute Self-Evidence, but, in fact, we still feel like separate individuals… what to do then? The evolutionary dynamics that we have just outlined can, at this point, provide us with a clarifying suggestion. We have explained how the invisible, a-temporal and a-spatial Self-Evidence, in order to contemplate itself in some way, apparently unfolds itself as the object-and-subject polarity—through an original pole of energy and a final pole of consciousness—, instantly generating—Here-and-Now—a whole unified and potential spectrum of balances between both facets. We have also seen how this entire spectrum of potential energy-consciousness is actualized—collapses—, instant by instant, in each finite and fleeting here-and-now of the pixelated manifestation of the space-time universe, beginning with the most basic levels of energy and gradually ascending to the highest and most conscious levels.

We might schematize this whole process by saying that at the original instant the consciousness aspect was completely absorbed by the energy aspect, so that the whole journey since then has been nothing but a progressive distancing and disidentification of the subjective aspect from the objective aspect. In short, during the early stages of the development of matter, the consciousness aspect was absorbed by the energy aspect; with the emergence of life, the consciousness aspect leaps back, separates itself from mere matter, perceives it and can thus act upon it; with the emergence of the human mind, the consciousness aspect leaps back inwards, self-consciousness appears, separates itself from mere subconscious life and thus increases its capacity for action upon the natural world; with the emergence of the rational intellect, the consciousness aspect once again jumps back, allowing us to think about thinking and, in this way, our understanding of how things work and, therefore, our ability to intervene in them increases exponentially. This entire process is made possible by the presence, from the very original instant, of pure consciousness—the Witness of which the Hindu tradition speaks—as the final pole. We would like to add here that, surprisingly, this same process of disidentification of consciousness is repeated—both with regard to the stages covered and the temporal pattern in which they unfold—in the individual development of each of the body-mind organisms that emerge as a result of the long evolutionary path.

In many non-dual wisdom traditions—understanding that the seeing eye is not any of the things seen—meditation practices are suggested that basically consist of a permanent attitude of discernment and detachment—of observation and acceptance, of attention and detachment, of vigilance and abandonment—as a means to facilitate the gradual disidentification of the observing subject from any absorption with the objective world of finite forms, whether they be perceptions, sensations, emotions, feelings, thoughts or intuitions. With this simple gesture of “seeing and letting go of all that is seen”, the facet of consciousness goes deeper into itself, step by step, until, finally, it discovers itself as the ultimate Witness, capable of contemplating and embracing the entire spectrum of reality, after having completely transcended any exclusive identification with any level of the manifested world… Look! Doesn't all this remind us of what we just explained about the evolutionary process? It seems that non-dual meditation is nothing but the quintessence of what has been happening permanently throughout the global evolution of the universe and the individual development of each of the resulting organisms! The progressive distancing and disidentification of the subjective aspect from the objective aspect! In other words, in essence, the entire process of global evolution and individual development has been nothing but the “meditation” of the universe and the different organisms that compose it in order to discover their ultimate reality!...

We have previously stated that we are already, and have always been, absolute Self-Evidence, and that therefore there is nothing we can do to attain it—is there anything more unquestionable than the Certainty-of-Being at this very moment?—but that in fact, by locating the center of gravity of our sense of identity at some particular level of the spectrum of relative manifestation, we feel like separate individuals, trapped in a particular form… so what is to be done? According to what we have just set out in the last few paragraphs, the solution to this question would not consist so much in “doing” something particular, but rather, simply in lucidly attuning to the natural flow of evolution and development, through the simple gesture of “seeing and letting flow all that is seen”—in total resonance with the message of the non-dual wisdom traditions—, until the center of gravity of the sense of identity is situated in the position of the final Witness, gateway to the ever-present Self-Evidence, in which the absurd belief of being, or having been at some point, a separate entity is fully dispelled. Everything is always happening on its own, spontaneously, without the intervention of any independent individual alien to the process itself. Therefore, whoever has discovered the primordial plenitude that sustains and constitutes the world, joyfully embraces the creative life that is expressed in everything and in everyone, and remains available and attentive to the unstoppable flow that arises at every moment, amazed and silent before the beauty and intelligence of this eternal dance between emptiness and forms.

Note

Readers interested in learning more about the theoretical research outlined in this article can consult the work Beyond Darwin: The Hidden Rhythm of Evolution, especially the final Addenda—e.g. Addendum 8: The evolutionary dance of Emptiness. If they want to delve deeper into the experiential aspects, they can take a look at the text Non-Dual Evolution: An Integral Worldview, especially its third part.