April 19, 2020 Sunday Afternoon, Emerald Isle Retreat
Aaron and Love Speak on the Elements, Citta, and the Akashic Field, with Guided Meditation
(over Zoom; lightly reviewed)
Aaron: My blessings and love to you all. I am Aaron. I hesitated about introducing this today because I want to give you time to move deeply into your vipassana practice. Nevertheless, we have a limited number of days with which to work. So I’m simply going to offer some thoughts about the akashic field and why it’s of interest and use to you, in your world today.
We spoke about this at length at Emerald Isle for three or four years. We began by practicing with the heavier elements of earth, air, fire, and water, sitting there by the ocean. Picture yourself sitting there on a sunny beach. The sand is hot beneath you, and beneath that hot sand, deep down into the earth, is the damp sand. How far does this earth go? Picture the vast ocean in front of you, water. But the earth you are sitting on goes under the ocean bed and up the other side in Europe. One earth—can you feel that? The continuity of earth, earth element. This body is earth element; the beach, the trees.
The vast sea in front of you—water element. The body has a high percentage of water, water element. The broad sky, which contains water and air, the wind. And the sun beating down on you, the fire element. But you can feel the fire element in the sand, the hot sand beneath your body. And you can see and feel the fire element as the waves break and you see the sun glinting off the waves. No element is separate. Each element contains all of the other elements.
The elements are conditioned; they are mundane objects. What is the container for the elements through which they touch the Unconditioned? The fifth, I hesitate to call it an element; though in a sense it is—the fifth element is ether or akasha. Akasha is that substance wherein all of the mundane elements are at play and wherein they connect to the Unconditioned.
Why does this matter? In retreat, one of the intentions may be to have a deeper experience of the Unconditioned. One way to touch on that experience is through meditation on and touching into akasha. It’s not something I can easily define for you, but it’s a very accessible entry place to the Unconditioned.
One way we can access that is to take any element—so we invite you now, either sitting where you are in your living rooms or offices, looking out the window, or in your yards, to see what element might be predominant. The sun is shining in here on Barbara. You can probably see it through these glass block windows, the fire element. But because there is a breeze—and I’m not sure how much you can see this—from Barbara’s desk here looking out there are big evergreens, and a breeze so the branches are blowing slightly. You can see the combination of fire and air element there. If I turn and look at this, just resting, allowing the light and the warmth and the movement, I may begin to rest in the container out of which these are arising, akasha.
Once you learn to access the akasha—and through it, the akashic field—you can begin to see the distortions in the akashic field, especially those around yourself: contracted energy, fear, grasping. Barbara has been working a lot within the akashic field looking at Covid-19, at the virus itself and the ripples that it is making in the akashic field. As soon as you take those ripples of distortion as something to fix, you get caught up in it and in the whole mundane realm—grasping this, pushing that away, contracting. But when you simply hold the whole akashic field with all its wonder, almost a great basket out of which everything is arising and passing away – Barbara sees this as a giant cornucopia, with all the elements arising and passing away pouring over the sides, everything pouring out – instead of relating to that cornucopia with grasping or aversion, one just holds space for it, opening into the vastness of the field and beginning to know, with non-dual awareness, the place of stillness right there with everything bursting in and out of the field.
At the beach retreat, we did a lot of practice sitting on the sand close by the ocean where the waves were breaking. Imagine looking out at the ocean, the vastness of the ocean going out for thousands of miles. Waves arising and passing away, arising and passing away. Breaking at your feet, charging toward you, and then rolling back into the sea; new waves coming. But there is nothing there but water and the movement of the tides and the winds. There is nothing there by the elements.
This is a little bit harder to do sitting there in your living room. As I said, we spent 2 or 3 years on Emerald Isle afternoons, practicing with the elements and coming to know their interplay, and right there with the motion of the elements, the stillness, the spaciousness.
Since we don’t have the ocean in front of us, working with the elements in your own body may be the easiest way to access them. I would invite everybody to bring attention to the breath. Breathing in and breathing out… Breathing in and breathing out… Feel the waves of the breath building up and releasing in you. It’s all dependent on the muscles and the lungs. Bring in air and release it. Feel the tide within your body, coming in and going out. In the same way, bring attention to the solidity of the body; earth element. Try to imagine this body growing from a single cell, developing and taking birth. Then imagine it passing away, disintegrating.
Now, this is a bit hard. I don’t expect you will get it today—a few of you may, but it’s something which you can practice this week. Either with vipassana or with pure awareness practice, sitting with your eyes closed and watching non-body objects arising and passing away, all of the elements arising and passing away… what remains? The elements as the conditioned; that which is aware of the elements, this awareness, what is it? Can you feel the possibility of stillness there, with this awareness? Or with pure awareness meditation, sitting, eyes open. Try this now just looking out your windows. Ahhh…. You see forms, you see sky. If the trees are blowing, you see the effect of wind on the trees. You can’t see the wind but you see the effect of it. And you see the sunlight on the ground, and on the trees, the fire energy. Earth, air, fire, water. What is it? Ahhh….
Let’s do this for a few minutes together. Eyes open and relaxed. Awareness just resting in spaciousness, not trying to see anything special. Ahhh… Everything arising and passing away, when the conditions are present for it to arise, ceasing when the conditions cease, and something new arising. Ahhh…
Don’t try to see anything special; just relax and be present. Ahhh…
Quiet now from me, while you practice this for 2 or 3 minutes…
(practice)
These eyes looking at a tree. The tree arisen from seed. From whence arose the seed?…
The breeze evident in the ways that it shakes the branches. From whence arose the breeze?….
The sun, expression of the fire element—what might the base be for that fire element?…
Everything arising from conditions and passing away.
Buddhism teaches that there is no first condition. And yet, we must all understand that if the Unconditioned exists, that is the first condition. We don’t ask what prompts the Unconditioned to give rise to the conditioned, which would be akin to trying to name a first condition; we simply note that everything in the conditioned realm is arising as expression of the Unconditioned.
I believe on another day Love will talk more about this from its perspective. From me, I am simply a dharma teacher, and so I only want to bring your attention to the accessibility to the Unconditioned right here in your everyday life.
What many of us call the akashic field, is one accessible place, because you do perceive the mundane elements as if they were pouring out of this cornucopia. Now sit yourself down on the edge of the cornucopia and look inside: What is this out of which everything is arising?
The akashic field is one direct expression of the Unconditioned. It is a wonderful way to access a direct experience of the Unconditioned using the mundane elements as entry into the akashic field, and the akashic field as a very tangible expression of the Unconditioned.
Earth, air, fire, water, energy… Go into their source, not trying to go in, just resting and allowing yourself to be drawn in, and rest there. This is Part 1.
Imagine yourself now sitting on that beach, and we would have half an hour of practice and then I would call you all back together. You’re going to need to take this practice out to your windows, or better yet, to your backyard, if you are able. Pure awareness practice, sitting on a chair, looking at the sky, sky gazing. Just present, resting in awareness.
Once there is some stability of that awareness, an ability to rest stably within the akashic field and see everything pouring out of the Unconditioned, we begin to do a non-duality practice of …—I don’t want to say ‘seeing’; some of you will feel it energetically, some may see it, some may hear it, some may even smell it. Beginning to feel the interplay of the distortions and the ever-perfect. You can watch this while meditating, what we did this morning, the shout and contraction. That which is aware of contraction is not contracted. Can you see or even imagine the ripples of distortion, maybe as color or energy, flowing over the ever-perfect spaciousness? This is a wonderful thing to watch mindfully through the day. When you experience contraction from being startled or from body discomfort, from the arising of grasping or aversion, begin to look at the wide-open field and this energy coming up. How do you relate to it? I’m not suggesting it should not come up; of course it will come up. As long as the conditions are present it will arise. How do you relate to it?
You are not trying to control how you relate to it, just to be mindful. And then if you see you are pushing against it or pulling back from it, simply to note that and come back and rest in spaciousness again. And so, you cultivate the ability to rest in spaciousness.
I know tonight Barbara is going to be talking about the 3 kayas, in part, and resting on the sambhogakaya bridge. I will not go into that now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it; many of you are very familiar with it through the Dharma Path class. The ability to rest in awareness, to enter the akashic field and rest there, is part of the stabilizing of resting on that sambhogakaya bridge, wherein you can both touch the bliss and wonder of the Dharmakaya and attend to the mundane, nirmanakaya world. And this is really what all of you say you want, to have the ability to bring love into this heavy density Earth by being a vehicle that connects heaven and hell, so to speak, resting in this heart of love.
All right, it’s 4:30pm. This is enough of a talk for now I’m going to invite your questions. Many of you have worked with this with me before; probably most of you, so this is not new to you. Basically if it were new to you we’d be spending all week talking about what I just introduced. We have various levels of practice here, and I don’t want to leave out anybody, but your small groups will be a better place to discuss the questions. Here, open to questions, though, for this half hour. And let’s see if we can make sure everybody at least understands where I am heading. This is not separate from your vipassana practice; the vipassana practice is a ground for this kind of practice.
As I spoke this morning, watching objects arise and dissolve and resting in the spaciousness when they do dissolve. And then, present with the object again when that becomes predominant. Then, letting go of the object, not hanging onto it. Resting in the spaciousness again. And also aware, who or what is resting in spaciousness? What am I?
I’m going to stay in the body and open this to questions…
Q: What is the answer to “What am I?”
Aaron: You tell me! What are you?
Q: What is the effect of the answer? Does it bring one further into the Unconditioned?
Aaron: As long as intellect tries to answer it, saying, “What am I? I am this body. I am this mind,” you are limiting yourself, and you can never open to the truth of what you are. How does it feel within you when Love says, “You are love.”? Love is as close as we can go to the Unconditioned without fully entering the Unconditioned. What does it mean to be Love? What does it mean to be Awareness? In what ways does knowing yourself as Love, as Presence, as Kindness, take you further from self-identity with the small ego self and the body?
Q: I get confused as to the difference between the elements arising in the akashic field and conditioned objects arising in awareness.
Aaron: That’s a good question. The elements arising in the akashic field… the elements are the base, the ground for the other heavier conditioned objects. When you catch it at an element level and have practiced with it, you’re much less likely to become self-identified with the heavier conditioned objects. Is that sufficient? (No.)
When we see the elements arising in the akashic field, we see that this is simply the self-display of Ground of Being expressing itself at an elemental level as earth, air, fire, water, space, expressing itself.
Then we can invite the awareness to go deeper in: these elements, out of what are they arising? Go right into the field itself, resting in the vastness and the unconditioned nature of the field.
Conditioned objects arising in awareness… Each conditioned object is made up of the elements, so by skipping through to elements arising in the akashic field, we’re leaving out the step wherein those elements have taken a solid form. It’s easier to experience the relationship of elements within the akashic field in the vast emptiness of the akashic field—which in itself, remember, is not yet the Unconditioned. It’s easier to experience that than to experience the mundane objects arising into awareness.
Remember, awareness is citta, is consciousness. That which is aware of the objects arising in the akashic field is citta. The akashic field is an object, but a close-to-supramundane object. Conditioned objects arising into awareness, these are objects and citta must touch these objects. But it is much more a mundane citta that touches these mundane objects. Something much closer to supramundane citta touches the akashic field. So, in effect, you are inviting the opening of the supramundane citta, much as happens with access concentration.
Again, does this clarify it for you, or at least partially? (Yes.)
Q: If we are not to try to perceive the akashic field, but we’re already resting in the manifestations of the Unconditioned that we are able to access now (luminosity, nada, etc.), what is our next step regarding the akashic field?
Aaron: Once you are able to rest stably in nada, in luminosity, the akashic field should become very apparent. This, then, will help support the stability of access concentration. There is nothing to do; just rest there. Does that answer your question?
Q: Partially, but I am still not sure what the purpose of this teaching is; if it will unfold naturally anyway.
Aaron: Q, everything will unfold naturally anyway, but we can help it along by bringing effort and energy in certain directions. Not grasping effort, not grasping energy, just inviting: “I choose to open to this.” Begin to look at the previous boundaries you have set up by wanting to hold onto the ego self. Resting open in the akashic field, the ego self dissolves, and that can be quite uncomfortable for some people. Simply holding the intention to allow the dissolution can be very helpful. It’s really a matter of intention.
John: Aaron, when we experience dissolution, is the dissolution happening into both the akashic field and the Unconditioned?
Aaron: You are asking, when we have an experience of body and ego dissolution, is this happening in both the akashic field and the Unconditioned— It doesn’t work that way. Let me rephrase it.
When there is an experience of body and ego dissolution, there is a shift from mundane to supramundane consciousness. The mundane consciousness is then known simply as a thing, a mundane object, and all that is left is awareness. This awareness is citta. The conditioned realm is object. Citta knows the object as of the conditioned realm. Supramundane citta knows the experience of the Unconditioned. The practice of resting in the akashic field is one helpful way to relax into the intention of the more full awakening of the supramundane citta. From the perspective of supramundane citta there is nothing mundane existent, including the self. This can open the way to the most profound experience of the Unconditioned and the enormous learning that comes from resting in that Unconditioned. Does that answer your question? (Yes.)
Q: Sometimes I feel like naming my experience interferes with going further.
Aaron: Don’t name it; just experience it. No articulation is necessary. There is a direct experience of spaciousness, emptiness of self-identification with any of the aggregates, emptiness of self-identification with the elements. The deeper you go into that, the more fully you simply rest in awareness, and this awareness is the heart of the Unconditioned. The ego self dissolves and falls away. Who is aware? You don’t have to ask that as a question; just rest there. Let it be. You are all so used to trying to put boundaries up—to be this, to be that. I understand it’s terrifying to let go, like jumping out of a spaceship into free flight. But I promise you it is safe.
Q: I do better with just asking questions and letting go of actually finding answers.
Aaron: Perfect! You are not trying to find the answers; you are asking the questions. The asking the question is the invitation to allow the answers that are already within you to come to the surface. You don’t have to go anywhere to get answers—they’re already here.
Q: Can you explain again how to relax into the akashic field, and how that differs from relaxing into pure awareness and experiencing the manifestations of the Unconditioned like energy, nada, luminosity, and spaciousness?
Aaron: It’s simply a matter of where the focus lies. One is not better than the other, just an alternate route. On the one hand you are resting in awareness and experiencing objects. Energy, nada, luminosity—these are expressions of the Unconditioned but they still have a mundane base. On the other hand, you are resting in spaciousness and watching the elements of earth, air, fire, and water, which are also conditioned objects with an unconditioned essence. Here, focus is closer to the Unconditioned end.
Sometimes one is more useful, sometimes the other. If you’re sitting on the beach by the ocean, it’s very useful to watch the elements. And sitting in your backyard, lying on a deck or on your grass, watching the sky, this can be an entryway to a more direct experience of the Unconditioned. Practicing vipassana using one of those—luminosity, nada, spaciousness—as a primary object, you are resting there, watching mundane objects arise and pass away and resting in the spaciousness of that luminosity, or whatever. They’re simply two different gateways to the same thing, and each of you will find one or the other more suitable. Some of you will find both suitable, but one at one time, one at another time. I’m simply trying to give you as many possibilities as I can. But follow the process that seems to work best for you. There is no “better than” here. Does that answer your question?
From my perspective, in part it depends where you’re going to sit and whether you’ll be sitting with eyes open or closed, more vipassana practice or more pure awareness practice. And then offering the intention to move into as deep and clear an experience of the Unconditioned as is possible, and to release any obstacles to that. And then trust that path that opens before you, rather than saying, “No, I don’t want that one, I want this one.” Just be present and see what appears.
Your practice will lead you where you need to go, if you will trust your practice. But for many of you, you are trying to direct the practice too much. “I don’t want it to be this way; I want it to be that way,” in part because part of you still wants control. So you’re not willing to free fall; you want to know where it’s going! Let it go. Be willing to into that free fall and trust the practice. If it feels too unstable and too uncomfortable, then you can stop and say, “I can’t do this yet. I need more support,” and step back from it. There’s no shame in that. But as much as possible, just trust your practice. Hold the intention and then trust where your practice leads you.
Q: So, how does the akashic field and the manifestations of the Unconditioned, such as nada, spaciousness, luminosity, relate to love?
Aaron: I’m going to ask Love to answer this. I’m going to step out, and after Love replies we will close this for now, because we’re past 5pm… For now, Love is going to incorporate. My blessings and love to you. I am Aaron.
Love: I am Love, and I greet you in love and light. You are love. Everything is love. Think, if you will, of a vastness in which there was nothing. Nothing existed. And into that vastness came a creative principle, what you might call God, Goddess, Divine Source, Ground of Being, the Unconditioned1—this vast emptiness out of which everything could arise. But this emptiness was not sterile; rather, it vibrated at a very high vibration—spaciousness, what we call Love.
This Love held the intention to express itself further and further out. To that end, it invited sparks of itself to break off and express out into the universe. So, there was this ground of Unconditioned, and not as synonymous, akashic field. First, the ground of the Unconditioned itself. From the Unconditioned, the beginning. Your Bible puts it in the simple way: “Let there be light,” and there was light. “Let there be earth,” and there was earth. “Let there be water,” and there was water. Please take this as metaphor. Nothing created this, but the Divine Principle of Love said, “I intend to express myself further out. I invite any expression, the sparks of myself, to extend out. And as an elemental ground for those sparks, I invite the possibility of the elements, for this earth plane—earth, air, fire, water, akasha.” First, akasha as the container, and then within the akasha, earth, air, fire, and water.
But the ground for each of these was Love—the earth element grounded in Love; the fire element grounded in Love; water grounded in Love; air grounded in Love. But because there is free will, that ground of Love is accessible and yet every spark of Love has the option to move into contraction and back away from Love and into fear. Love is spacious and vast; fear is contracted.
I am Love, or at least a part of that essence of Love. Please don’t interpret that as me being the entirety of Love, but I am Love. And it was declared, “You have free will. You can pick up and expand on this Love, or you can pull in from it and into the small ego and into the illusion of separation. You may perpetuate that illusion as long as you like, and when you are ready, you may let it go. And then you will truly know yourself as Love.”
I believe from Aaron’s more Buddhist perspective, he would say that when you observe contraction, watch that contraction and note that it has arisen from conditions, is impermanent and not self; and instead of being identified with the contraction, just rest there until it goes; then, as the contraction goes, you come back to more fully expressing Love, until Love is free of all boundaries
For the human, until there is really complete awakening there will always be some subtle contraction, but less and less self-identification with the contraction and more and more ability to simply rest in the fullness of the Love that you are. And this delights me, because I want playmates to be Love with me.
Aaron has warned me not to go beyond 1 hour, as the recording may fail, and we’re at 1 hour and 30 seconds. I pause.
My friends, I am Love. Please join me in knowing that you are Love, and together everything is possible. Don’t make yourself small. Be Love. Join me! Dance with me! Be Love with me! I love you! That is all.
(tape paused)
Barbara: Love’s energy inside my body is so profound. It touches me to the core of my heart. I love Aaron very much, and I love Yeshua when he comes through, but Love is something else! It’s very beautiful.
My love to you all.
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While reviewing, I asked Love, are you saying these “God, Goddess, Divine Source, Ground of Being, the Unconditioned” are synonymous? It seems to me “God, Goddess, etc” are more active and Unconditioned is more the All-Ground in which the active principle plays. Love agreed and gave me some insights I cannot really type clearly so we will ask Love to expand at another time.↩