Buitenkijf

Our true nature is naked and absolutely unimaginable

JK. The mirror is a wonderful and perhaps often used metaphore, a crystal clear illustration of being-
here, or being-present. Whatever the situation, action or thought, this being-here is uninterruptedly
and effortlessly present, just like the mirror is for the images it reflects. This being-present is there
now, effortlessly, as you are reading this sentence. The possibly joyful discovery could be, that
reading this sentence is absolutely not separate from this being-present. It is the discovery that this
moment we call now is undivided. There is never any separation between this so called instant and
the being-the-mirror that you timelessly are.

V. You have sometimes posed the question: When you do not know whether a cupboard is actually
a cupboard, would it exist at all? And as I explore language, it gradually dawns on me that all my
opinions, everything I think including the so called ego is nothing more than a story that is rooted
in language. The question is, when there is no language language also shapes our consciousness
what is it that remains? I find it remarkable and confronting to become aware of this.

JK. Yes, I would call it a discovery. And that discovery is like a virus that affects the entire system, as
it were.

V. So, I would appreciate it if you could elaborate on that subject. What language does to
consciousness.

JK. Of course it is a fact that labelling of what we call life, is formed by language. Even if you would
use gestures, it is still language that gives meaning to the gesture.

V. Yes, it appears to be the inside out. It seems like things get their meaning through language.
When you teach a child something, it is assumed there is a world and there are phenomena, and we
attach labels to them. But it would appear at least to me it feels more and more that way that
language makes the world. Including the story of my little person.

JK. Yes, nice, that is anyhow clear. As we are seeing now, it is language that creates the world,
duality. This is black and that is white. High, low, deep, etc. Language is a medium that is necessary
to function. Without language, without the concepts that we use, it is impossible to see and
experience a world within which we can survive. And that also applies to, as you say, to the story of
my person. So the deeply rooted identification with the person is based on nothing more than an
idea. But when we regard ourselves as such a concept, or label, we necessarily live with its
limitations. You can imagine that the position of being a somebody, and therefore a concept, creates
a very limited view of our so called existence. The position of being somebody is a label, an idea. You
could say that it is formed by language. We can also call it Maya, the ultimate mistake.
But is it language that causes Maya, or is it something else that brings about suffering or discord?
Can language create duality? That could be the next question.

V. I think that language does that by definition.

JK. Your view point is that language or labelling create a world, a self that is actually not there.

V. Whether they are actually not there, I dont know. I can only indicate that there is something
there after the fact.

JK. Yes, allright, so without language there is actually no world.

V. Not the world that I experience on a daily basis, no.

JK. But then which world is there?

V. Look, I remember moments and I think we all do where you are so immersed in something,
that you can only say afterwards that there was something there. But in the moment itself, there is
no consciousness at all. That is to say, there are no thoughts…

JK. But I asked you: Is there a world? And you said: I dont know, because I am immersed in
something that I cannot speak about afterwards. Hence I asked you: Is there a world without
concepts?

V. Logically, the answer has to be affirmative.

JK. So, that world does exist.

V. Well, you call it the world, which already indicates that there is something there. Let me express
it as succinctly as possible: that there is something there, is beyond dispute.

JK. That there is something there?

V. Yes.

JK. But what is that something based on?

V. No idea.

JK. Some thing is preceded by No thing. Something is always based on, or originates in, a no thing,
nothing in other words. Not the nothing that we normally use to describe a negative or nihilistic
experience, but the nothing that represents our true nature. Something comes from nothing. But it
is only something once it has been called something.

V. That is exactly what Im talking about.

JK. So Im asking you: Where is that world, when it is not labelled? Do you dare to look at that?

V. Gladly, that is ultimately the reason Im here.

JK. So it is no so much about calling the world non existent, as much as discovering that that world
seems to exist as by the grace of the thoughts that arise in us.
When you take off in a plane from Schiphol Airport, you land after a few hours somewhere in, say,
Portugal.The disctance from here to our, relatively close, sun is gigantic. My
beloved is clearly outside me, because I can touch her or him. A diamant is very hard. All of it is shaky evidence for a solid
world outside me. Each phenomenon and every situation that I mention, seem to be there by the
grace of thinking. Of the concepts that we think we are using.
Including the impression that that outside world really is outside of me. Until this is seen, the world

will be permanently projected out there as an objective, independent reality. In this way we keep
projecting duality. So to fathom life, the world or the cosmos is actually to discover that there is
never anything outside of you. This is not the result of any intellectual effort. It is simply seeing that
what is true.

V. What exactly do you mean by seeing?

JK. When I talk about seeing, I mean immediate seeing.

V. You mean becoming aware?

JK. Being aware. Being aware is an immediate seeing. This seeing is not: first this, and then that. It is
timeless. There are no means or media to arrive at this seeing. Immediate seeing is seeing that, what
you are now, has not come about and can therefore not disappear. In this, lets call it space, empty
space, the idea appears of a world and then it disappears again. Hence the world, the cosmos, angels
and the cheapest potatoes in the supermarket, consist of nothing more than concepts. Inevitably,
only concepts. They arise in you and then disappear in your space, empty space.

V. No, intellectually that is no problem.

JK. No, not intellectually… This is seen now. You cover this up continuously with the statement that
this concerns the intellect. Take rest in the fact that this is seen. There is nothing further you have to
do. Leave it as it is. It is not intellectual. It is seen in all clarity. You are this seeing. A seeing in which
the so called world is magically created from nothing other than these coming and going concepts
and notions. When this seeing dawns, can we call it joyful? You could say it is both joyful and
threatening. In the first instance, it is rather ambivalent. Because, when we really take what Im
constantly talking about to heart, when we really take it to heart, that means the bankruptcy of the
person.

V. You are pointing to inner resistance. The resistance against this bankruptcy.

JK. The resistance against this bankruptcy constantly creates the world, that other that you are so
separate from. It creates endless ways to hold on, in your spirituality or life philosophy. In God, sex
political fanaticism. It is constantly recreated by a strong need for safety. But in acknowledging this
naked instant, it is seen that everything you think you experience or have experienced is only based
on ideas.
This insight relaxes the mechanism, or may even lead to defending oneself in fear or intellectual
agitation. Eliminating everything we are familiar with and that we have used to support our identity,
is not something we can obtain by spiritual efforts. It is as it were laid bare, by seeing that no
displine at all can bring us closer to it. Our true nature is naked, bare and absolutely unconceivable.
It is beyond imagination and conceptualisation. Every image or concept apears and disappears in it.
Of course, the fact that these images or concepts are so fleeting, does not mean that there is
something wrong with them. All that arises in us on a daily basis is not inferior to that which it arises
out of. Only when we have apparently forgotten the prerequisite of all that arises, we live in the
dream of being separate.

Buitenkijf, een inmiddels vergeten boekje van mij uit 2010. Uitgegeven bij boekscout.nl Soest ISBN: 978-94-6089-862-4