Self-Remembering

In my definition, self-remembering is the act of directing attention to the source of attention.

An archer must know where the target is before he/she can shoot the arrow. We must know what the self is before it can be remembered. Logically, Self-remembering becomes available only after awakening, not before.

The haphazard “states of presence” that happen before awakening are quickly claimed by the ego. “I was present”, we say. “I remembered myself”, we say. 

When the thought “I am remembering myself” arises the state is already gone. (So to speak, because it is not really gone. What is gone is the “ego vacation” as the ego is now back making imaginary claims about “I” and consciousness).

Upon awakening, those statements lose all meaning. They feel like a lie. And they are. No one remembers the self. Awakening changes the paradigm of self-reference. We are not what we thought we were all along. That is why awakening is called awakening.

The True Self cannot be approached conceptually. It can, as the term suggests, be remembered. The act of remembering appears to begin in the mind. Soon it becomes clear that the remembering originates beyond the mind and never really left its origin. A quiet miracle. The Self playing the game of remembering the Self. The self calling the self to be itself. In Tarot this is depicted by the card “The Judgement”.

The term “remembering”, although far from being literally true is apt as a pointer because it implies that the Self already “is” and that it is already known. Nothing new is being created. Only an adjustment to the angle of perception or flow of attention is needed to put an end to the sense of separation.

If that happens there is no more remembering needed as it becomes irrevocably clear that there is no self to be remembered at all, only Pure Consciousness; and We Are That. Now, always and everywhere.