Aphorisms

Aphorisms on Consciousness Without an Object¹

1. Consciousness-without-an-object is.
2. Before objects were,
   Consciousness-without-an-object is.
3. Though objects seem to exist,
   Consciousness-without-an-object is.
4. When objects vanish,
   yet remaining through all unaffected,
   Consciousness-without-an-object is.
5. Outside of Consciousness-without-an-object,
   nothing is.
6. Within the bosom of
   Consciousness-without-an-object
   lies the power that projects objects.
7. When objects are projected,
   the power of awareness as subject is presupposed,
   yet Consciousness-without-an-object
   remains unchanged.
8. When consciousness of objects is born, then,
   likewise, consciousness of absence of objects arises.
9. Consciousness of objects is the Universe.
10. Consciousness of absence of objects
    is Nirvana.
11. Within Consciousness-without-an-object
    lie both the Universe and Nirvana,
    yet to Consciousness-without-an-object
    these two are the same.
12. Within Consciousness-without-an-object
    lies the seed of Time.
13. When awareness cognizes Time,
    then knowledge of Timelessness is born.
14. To be aware of Time is to be aware
    of the Universe, and to be aware of the Universe
    is to be aware of Time.
15. To realize Timelessness is to attain Nirvana.
16. But, for Consciousness-without-an-object,
    there is no difference between
    Time and Timelessness.
17. Within Consciousness-without-an-object
    lies the seed of the world-containing Space.
18. When awareness cognizes the
    world-containing Space, then knowledge
    of the Spatial Void is born.
19. To be aware of the world-containing Space
    is to be aware of the Universe of Objects.
20. To realize the Spatial Void
    is to awaken to Nirvanic Consciousness.
21. But, for Consciousness-without-an-object,
    there is no difference between the world-containing
    Space and the Spatial Void.
22. Within Consciousness-without-an-object
    lies the Seed of Law.
23. When consciousness of objects is born,
    the Law is invoked as a Force
    tending ever toward Equilibrium.
24. All objects exist as tensions within
    Consciousness-without-an-object that tend ever
    to flow into their own complements or others.
25. The ultimate effect of the flow of all objects
    into their complements is mutual cancellation
    in complete Equilibrium.
26. Consciousness of the field of tensions
    is the Universe.
27. Consciousness of Equilibrium is Nirvana.
28. But, for Consciousness-without-an-object,
    there is neither tension nor Equilibrium.
29. The state of tensions is the state of ever-becoming.
30. Ever-becoming is endless-dying.
31. So the state of consciousness of objects
    is a state of ever-renewing promises
    that pass into death at the moment of fulfillment.
32. Thus when consciousness is attached to objects,
    the agony of birth and death never ceases.
33. In the state of Equilibrium
    where birth cancels death,
    the deathless Bliss of Nirvana is realized.
34. But Consciousness-without-an-object
    is neither agony nor bliss.
35. Out of the Great Void,
    which is Consciousness-without-an-object,
    the Universe is creatively projected.
36. The Universe as experienced
    is the created negation that ever resists.
37. The creative act is bliss,
    the resistance, unending pain.
38. Endless resistance is the Universe
    of experience, the agony of crucifixion.
39. Ceaseless creativeness is Nirvana,
    the Bliss beyond human conceiving.
40. But, for Consciousness-without-an-object,
    there is neither creativeness nor resistance.
41. Ever-becoming and ever-ceasing-to-be
    is endless action.
42. When ever-becoming cancels
    the ever-ceasing-to-be, then Rest is realized.
43. Ceaseless action is the Universe.
44. Unending Rest is Nirvana.
45. But Consciousness-without-an-object
    is neither action nor Rest.
46. When consciousness is attached to objects,
    it is restricted through the forms imposed
    by the world-containing Space, by Time, and by Law.
47. When consciousness is disengaged from objects,
    Liberation from the forms of the world-containing Space,
    of Time, and of Law is attained.
48. Attachment to objects is
    consciousness bound within the Universe.
49. Liberation from such attachment is
    the State of unlimited Nirvanic Freedom.
50. But Consciousness-without-an-object
    is neither bondage nor Freedom.
51. Consciousness-without-an-object
    may be symbolized by SPACE that is
    unaffected by the presence or absence of objects;
    for which there is neither Time nor Timelessness,
    neither a world-containing Space nor a Spatial Void,
    neither tension nor Equilibrium,
    neither resistance nor creativeness,
    neither agony nor Bliss, neither action nor Rest,
    and neither restriction nor Freedom.
52. As the GREAT SPACE is not to be
    identified with the Universe,
    so neither is It to be identified with any Self.
53. The GREAT SPACE is not God,
    but the comprehender of all Gods,
    as well as of all lesser creatures.
54. The GREAT SPACE, or Consciousness-without-an-object,
    is the Sole Reality upon which all objects
    and all selves depend and derive their existence.
55. The GREAT SPACE comprehends both the
    Path of the Universe and the Path to Nirvana.
56. Beside the GREAT SPACE
    there is none other.

OM TAT SAT