Overriding the Evidence of Sense Perception

I have a question about the three recognitions that you talk about in your text. I summarise it. The first is that I am the witness of the experience. Then I am that in which all experience arises. And the third is that we are all one. Perfect. I feel that the first two, I feel them very close to my heart. I feel they are true to my heart. And I am experiencing an expansion and I feel that I am abiding in them more frequently these days. Not only when I am sitting but also when I am interacting with people, for example. But the third one, I find it very difficult to truly understand. I understand it intellectually but I don't really feel it as I feel the other two. First of all, these three recognitions, very briefly, you summarised them very nicely. I'm not going to elaborate them, just in case anyone here is not familiar with these three recognitions. They are all recognitions of the nature of awareness. First of all, awareness is the witness of experience. The analogy that I use for this is like the sun illuminating the earth. The sun is that which illuminates or knows the earth. Consciousness witnesses or knows experience. The second, awareness is not just a witness of experience, it is also the medium, the space within which all experience arises. We use the analogy of space. If experience is the clouds, awareness is the sky. The third, awareness is not just a witness of experience, not just a space in which experience arises, but is the very stuff out of which experience is made. The analogy here is more like the ocean. The waves and the currents are actually made out of the ocean itself. These are three analogies that correspond to the three stages of understanding. I am the witness of experience and the space in which experience appears. I am one with experience. The first two, the reason why it's easier, relatively easy to understand, I am the witness of experience and indeed I am the space in which experience arises, is that neither of these two recognitions contradict the evidence of sense perception. You can still believe that the world out there is made out of matter and understand that you witness it. So the understanding that you are the witness of your experience is not a profound challenge to your worldview. It's just noticing, yes, I witness the world. It's a very gentle introduction to your true nature. It's not shaking your world yet. And it certainly doesn't contradict what your sense is telling you, namely that the world is outside of yourself, made out of something other than yourself. You can still maintain that worldview and understand I am the witness of the world. The second recognition, I am the space in which everything experiences. Again, it's a bit more of a stretch. It involves being open to the possibility that awareness extends beyond the limits of the body and encompasses everything. And indeed it is our experience that our experience of the world appears in awareness. It's a bit more of a challenge, but it doesn't contradict the evidence of sense perception. The world still appears to be outside, but we now understand it's all contained within awareness. But the last recognition that the world is made of awareness, is one with awareness, is an appearance to awareness. That contradicts the evidence of sense perception. That's a real challenge to our worldview. It completely shatters our conventional materialistic view of the world. It's much more difficult. And indeed, even when we have this feeling understanding, sense perception still goes on presenting the world as if it were outside of us. So sense perception doesn't change. Our understanding overrides the apparent evidence of sense perception. But it doesn't change our sense perception. So that's why it's much more, this third possibility is much more radical. And it seems actually to contradict, it does contradict the evidence of sense perception. It's much more difficult. So you have to override, your understanding has to override the evidence of sense perception. Sense perception tells us the world is outside of ourself, separate from ourself, made out of something other than ourself. Your understanding has to override that. When you dream that you are walking through the streets of Paris, from the point of view of the person you seem to be in your dream, you seem to be outside of yourself, separate from yourself, made out of something other than yourself. Then you wake up in the morning and you understand that although it appeared like that, that is not the case. Your understanding overrides the evidence of sense perception in the dream. Well now, your understanding has to override the evidence of sense perception in the waking state. Yeah, and how can I override it if when I try to do it I feel like a big fear that it's pulling me back? That's very good. You feel a big fear because the outside world and the inside self arise and fall together. They're deeply connected. So when your vision of the outside world is shaken, what's really happening is that your vision of your inside self, the self that you believe yourself to be, is being shaken. So although you may think, oh, my vision of the world is being shaken, it's your fundamental identity that's being shaken. The separate self, your separate identity is thinking, if my vision of the world is dismantled, I will die. That's why you feel fear. It's very good that you feel fear. It shows how deeply this understanding is going into you. It's shaking the very core of your identity. That's very good. It's not comfortable, but it's very good. Don't worry about it. Thank you. Stay tuned. Thank you.