Consciousness-without-an-object

[rebecca702]

Just wondering if anyone here is familiar with the work of the late Franklin Merrell-Wolff. I studied briefly with one of his students, Joel Morwood, in Oregon (author of Naked Through the Gate and director of the Center for Sacred Sciences)...

I'm going to put his little book called Aphorisms on consciousness-without-an-object in here for anyone who might be interested. My question is, after reading these and really letting them soak in, do you understand what he means by "a level of consciousness where thought and music unite"? I'm wondering if he means it like our friend Osho, who says the only reason you like music is that it transports you out of your madness and gives you a taste of meditation... ?

Anyway here it is:

Aphorisms
ON
Consciousness-without-an-object
by Franklin Merrell-Wolff
1937

Foreword
These aphorisms belong to a level of consciousness where thought and music unite. They are seeds which may develope into a comprehensive system of philosophy while, at the same time, they are a substance bringing sustenance to the soul. It is not necessary that the reader should understand them. He should use them as focal points for meditation and permit their meaning to develop in his consciousness as a plant grows from seed. They are symbols first and concepts afterward. As concepts they illumine the way for understanding. As symbols they open the door to the realization of that Reality which cannot be felt or thought.

Aphorisms

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 of awareness which 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 conscious 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 Spacial 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 Spacial 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 Spacial 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 are 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 resistence is the Universe of experience; the agony of crucifixion.

39. Ceaseless creativeness is Nirvana; the Bliss beyond all 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 Liberation.

51. Consciousness-without-an-object may be symbolized by a SPACE which is unaffected by the presence or absence of objects; for which there is neither Time nor Timelessness; neither a world-containing Space nor a Spacial Void; neither tension nor Equilibrium; neither resistence nor creativeness; neither agony or Bliss; neither action nor Rest; and neither restriction or 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.

---

It's these sort of words that lead one into the timeless, it seems. Is this the enlightened definition of "eternity"?

Here is a corresponding quote by nonduality teacher Jean Klein: "When you think of an activity, this activity refers to a non-activity and when you think of a non-activity it refers to an activity. Any attempt to do or to not do, to achieve or to empty your mind, belongs to the mind. So you must come to the absence of non-activity, the absence of the absence. Then you are in the timeless. You will be solicited very often in daily life to be it. Give all your heart and freedom and love to it, to these timeless moments. Ignore the person, ignore the personality..." "The moment you objectify yourself you are contracted. But be careful about taking yourself for nothing! Taking yourself for nothing is also something. So there must be a double absence of nothingness."

I fall into that "taking myself for nothing" thing quite a bit... it's just another flavor on the popsicle of delusion.

Comments?

[David Quinn]

This bloke is just another person lost in duality and chasing a dualistic phantom.

-

[rebecca702]

This bloke is just another person lost in duality and chasing a dualistic phantom.

Huh? I'd like to know why you think that. Seems to me he's pointing out the falsity of duality. He keeps going back and forth between "the universe" and "nirvana" and then saying "but the truth isn't in either one"... to me that sounds pretty non-dual. Or do you mean, by trying to identify himself with this "consciousness-without-an-object" he's actually rejecting the other stuff that he wants to avoid, and is therefore more caught in duality than ever? Doubleplusgood?

I'd really like to know why you say that. Do you think he's brainwashed himself with these mantras in order to avoid reality?

Do you find any value in his writing at all? Did he get off the bus too soon, or what?

[rebecca702]

Hmmmmm... upon further review... maybe he gives himself away when he says "level of consciousness"...

and just to be clear, the bloke you are talking about is Wolff, not Jean Klein, correct? Or both of them?

[sue hindmarsh]

Aphorisms on consciousness-without-an-object

Yeah, a better title would be, "Lullabies for dullards".

Best if Franklin Merrell-Wolff and his words remain dead and buried.

(But hey! "Lullabies for dullards" would make perfect stocking fillers for Xmas!)

[Tomas]

Mikiel, was a former denizen here who was/is hot for these fellows (Center for Sacred Sciences). Mikiel (Michael Mooney) hails out of Salem, Oregon.

[divine focus]

I'm going to put his little book called Aphorisms on consciousness-without-an-object in here for anyone who might be interested. My question is, after reading these and really letting them soak in, do you understand what he means by "a level of consciousness where thought and music unite"?

Thought is visual music. They are united at all levels. Speech (verbal or mental) is chameleonic and can pass for thought. Dissonance results.

[David Quinn]

and just to be clear, the bloke you are talking about is Wolff, not Jean Klein, correct? Or both of them?

Merrell-Wolff, primarily.

This bloke is just another person lost in duality and chasing a dualistic phantom.

Huh? I'd like to know why you think that. Seems to me he's pointing out the falsity of duality.

He may talk about it, but he doesn't understand it. The entire purpose of his aphorisms is to try and awaken the reader into a hidden realm of some kind, and so straight away he is forcing people into a dualistic framework of his own making. He is adding to their delusion, not taking it away.

The sort of words he uses are designed to trigger altered states of consciousness in people, and it is through these states that people come to believe in the credibility of his words. But these altered states are themselves dualistic in nature and have no relationship to the highest wisdom.

He keeps going back and forth between "the universe" and "nirvana" and then saying "but the truth isn't in either one"... to me that sounds pretty non-dual. Or do you mean, by trying to identify himself with this "consciousness-without-an-object" he's actually rejecting the other stuff that he wants to avoid, and is therefore more caught in duality than ever?

Yes. There is a Zen story in which a madman keeps hearing echoing howls in the mountains and frantically searches for their source, not realizing that he is the one who is doing the howling.

I'd really like to know why you say that. Do you think he's brainwashed himself with these mantras in order to avoid reality?

I think he is repeating generic teachings that he doesn't really understand in the belief that he is doing something worthwhile. He sounds like a disciple eager to please his teacher.

Do you find any value in his writing at all? Did he get off the bus too soon, or what?

I don't see any value in his writing, and I don't believe he ever caught the bus in the first place.

-

[DHodges]

First there is a bus, then there is no bus, then there is.

[Dan Rowden]

My local service is very Zen, then.

[rebecca702]

I just had a very good laugh. Thank you all.