Absolute Certainty is the Light of Reality

Reality and absolute certainty are not two distinct experiences. They are one and the same. To indicate the Presence of Reality is to indicate that which cannot be doubted, falsified, or escaped, that substantial immanency which remains irrefutably known throughout the flux of all temporary phenomena, such as thoughts (the mind), sensations (the body) and perceptions (the kosmos).

As such, the essential Presence of Reality, and its absolute certainty, is not a phenomenon; is not limited to the mind, body or kosmos at large. Rather, it is that which is present prior to the appearance of all phenomena and that which remains when all phenomena have disappeared. It is that Presence which remains immutably omnipresent.

This understanding reveals a simple yet profound principle: the source of absolute certainty must not be sought in temporary phenomena, but in that deeper Reality which is always present, in the one constant that neither arrives nor leaves, the substratum that endures through every birth and dissolution of thought, sensation and perception; that endures through every modulation of the mind, body and kosmos at large.

In recognising that absolute certainty can only be found in what is ever-present, we recognise that there is only one true candidate: the constant Presence of Consciousness in which all phenomena arise and subside.

Consciousness itself is the only changeless Reality untouched by the play of appearances.

Simply conveyed; the only absolute certainty is the one Presence to which we refer when we say 'I-Consciousness am'. Indeed that very utterance arises from this same Presence that the utterance 'Reality is' arises from.

These two affirmations of absolute certainty arise from the same omnipresent Substance. They are the experiential-mark of one, indivisible Presence.

To let this Oneness hit home deeply, in the Substance of our bones, we can experientially contemplate whether there is a substantial distinction between the absolute certainty that 'Reality is' and 'Consciousness is'. In doing so we verify whether we are referring to two separate realities or to one indivisible Presence of Reality.

Do these statements refer to the same Presence or different presences?

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They refer to the very same Presence; Reality being conscious of itself.

That experience of being Reality, conscious of itself, is absolute certainty.

Let that in for a moment...

...and for another moment...

Reality does not need to prove itself; Consciousness does not need to prove itself; it is its own non-objective evidence. To recognise Reality, Consciousness, is to recognise absolute certainty itself, the Presence that requires no confirmation outside its own timeless immediacy.

In this recognition, we see that certainty is not an idea or a conclusion, rather it is the essential attribute of what is changelessly Real, the Presence of Consciousness itself.

If certainty is to be found as to the nature of Consciousness, it cannot be found in that which changes or departs. For only what is unchanging and ever-present can serve as the ultimate evidence of our real nature.

The Reality of Consciousness is always what it is, Consciously Being, the foundation of our entire experience. In comparison, those forms which shift with time are relative, bound to alteration, and therefore unable to provide an absolute foundation. Only Consciousness is really always present to be the stable foundation of all experience.

Just as a movie is not fundamental to the screen upon which it plays, so too every phenomenon - every thought, sensation, perception - is not fundamental to the Reality of Consciousness upon which it appears. The movie is impermanent, an illusion of images flowing within the screen. As we perceive the impermanence of the images during our viewing of the movie, we recognise with certainty that we are not really seeing a landscape of trees and fields, rather we are seeing only the screen. The apparent trees and fields are not what the actuality of our experience is. The actuality or fact of the matter is the screen.

In the same way, the Reality of experience is Consciousness. That is all we are ever really Conscious of. The apparent forms of experience arise, flow and subside within the one 'screen' of Consciousness, and are therefore, made of Consciousness. As we understand the transience of all phenomena, we understand directly, experientially, that all we are ever Conscious of, underneath the flow of phenomena, is the Reality of Consciousness; that out of which they are made.

To take the metaphor further, we can see that the screen gives the movie its possibility of existence, and yet remains unlimited throughout the play of images across its surface. Similarly, the Reality of Consciousness remains unlimited whilst the play of thoughts, sensations and perceptions temporarily flow within it. As such, no form ever defines or limits the Consciousness in which it arises.

Moreover, in the same way that the movie character never apprehends, limits or interacts with the screen, the forms of experience never apprehend, limit or interact with Consciousness itself. The movie characters do not have access to the screen, they only have access to the other characters and objects within the movie. Likewise, thoughts, sensations and perceptions do not have the ability to interact with Consciousness on their terms. Their forms can only interact with other forms. They cannot interact with the Presence in which they exist. They cannot touch that out of which they are all made. The movie character cannot touch the screen, for the screen never shows up as an object within the movie.

A limited form cannot interact with the unlimited Presence of Consciousness out of which it is made, and thusly no form of thought, sensation or perception can ever tell us about the nature of Consciousness.

Only Consciousness can be directly certain of its Presence and the nature of its Presence. It needs no intermediary agent or transient commentator to know itself, nor is a depiction of likeness rendered by its conceptual or perceptual creations ever capable of accurately, truly representing what it is. The infinite cannot appear as something finite. The screen cannot appear within the movie.

Consciousness' certainty of itself is absolute and unlimited.

What remains in Consciousness' pure certainity of its Presence, when all temporary phenomena have been removed?

The pure Consciousness of Consciousness, by itself.

Simply rest here as this Consciousness of Consciousness, and ask yourself, what is ever-presently certain in this Presence I am?

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I, Consciousness, am.

That is an absolute certainty, and a totally full Knowing; an infinite Knowing, in fact, for it is a Knowing of infinity itself.

The one Consciousness Knowing itself, alone, all-one.