When one is experiencing Being, as in the state of the Personal Essence, then one is not the self-image. This means one is not engaged at that time in any inner object relation. This feels like a state of aloneness. One is actually alone; one is not engaged in the interminable object relations that are the basis and origin of the self-image. This means that Being is not only the absence of relating to the object or his image, but it is complete independence from all inner past object relations. If one is identified with any part of the ego structure then there is no true aloneness yet. There might be a sense of separateness, but not aloneness. There might be a fear of aloneness, or a movement towards aloneness; and this causes the customary feelings of fear, sadness, longing and loneliness. But when one is finally alone then there is no loneliness, for there is no ego structure to feel alone. Aloneness means that Being is alone. It means one is present without any psychic structure; for psychic structure indicates the presence of internalized past object relations. It is freedom, from ego. It is pure beingness. Hence, aloneness is not a matter of one being separate or physically alone. It means one is existing without ego, without self-image. For if there was self-image then one would be engaged in internalized object relations, and one would not feel alone then. Krishnamurti said one time that ego cannot exist in aloneness. And we see here how true this is, for ego involves internalized object relations.

These last two modes of experiencing Being indicate the importance of the Essential Identity for self-realization. The Essential Identity makes it possible to experience Being as self. This fact is the origin of the term self-realization being used to refer to the complete realization of the potential of the self, the completion of the inner developmental task, the complete fulfillment of the optimizing thrust of Being. Although the full realization of the potential of the soul includes the resolution of many issues and the integration of the totality of Being, the central issue for transformation of the identity itself is narcissism. In that light we can now give a more precise definition of narcissism: Narcissism is not simply alienation from Being, but more specifically it is the loss of the Essential Identity. Given our discussion of the function of the Essential Identity to allow identification with one’s true nature, it is clear that this loss is the central factor in our incapacity to know ourselves as Being, and thus, in our narcissism.

Most likely, the origin of the expression “He has substance” is the actual knowledge of the nature of a human being as a kind of substance that gives depth and significance. When an individual is in touch with his essence, he literally has substance. The expression here is not figurative, although it is usually used figuratively now that most people have forgotten the original meaning, the literal one. We can see here how the expression originated and how the figurative meaning is related to the original meaning. Originally, having substance meant having one's nature, which is a kind of matter. The literal and figurative meanings were the same. This happens frequently in the development of language; we end up with the figurative meaning, devoid of the wisdom of the original expression.

What do we mean here by knowing? Knowing is recognition, apprehension, which implies some kind of concept. On this dimension, the concept is the simplest possible, the bare possibility of concept. The simplest concept is that of being, which experientially appears as presence. The simplest concept is not a mental concept, not an ordinary representational concept. The concept is presence itself, for concept has not differentiated from consciousness. It is a kind of protoconcept, but even simpler and more fundamental. When there is concept and concept is not differentiated from pure consciousness or awareness, we experience such concept as being, which is consciousness coemergent with the concept. The simplest possible concept, in other words, is the experience of nondifferentiated presence. It is not a thought, not a representational concept, but a direct discriminating awareness of presence, inseparable from the presence. This is pure basic knowledge, basic knowledge before any differentiation. We actually see here the origin of basic knowledge, and its objective nature. Basic knowledge is a capacity that exists in its simplest and hence most direct and immediate form in the realization of pure presence. Pure presence is actually basic knowledge before any content, for any content will be a differentiated content.

The sensation of flow actually originates from the fact that our consciousness is continually unfolding, constantly creating its various forms. It is a ceaseless stream of unfolding. We can perceive unfolding on an even more subtle level. We may experience the opening up of all the points of the field as a process of appearing and disappearing. One form mysteriously disappears as another form appears and takes its place. There is no origin of what appears and no destination for what disappears. It is like appearing from thin air and disappearing back into it. There is a stream of these acts of appearing and disappearing, giving us the impression of flow and unfoldment. This perception involves experiencing the consciousness of the soul from the dimension of emptiness, where the forms appear from and disappear into emptiness. And since emptiness is not an object, it is neither a source nor a destination. The forms merely move from nonmanifestation to manifestation.

It is not easy to grasp this whole picture. And it is not easy to be free from this cycle. You must completely understand your situation, everything must be understood and felt, so that you finally see what the whole picture is all about. Then you finally understand what attachment is. But even now that you have heard this, you will continue living your life being in love with attachment, because so much of your attachment is unconscious. This discussion is only an orientation. The very holding onto heaven is the hell. Pain is not separate from pleasure, heaven is not separate from hell. Psychological pain is just the attempt to hold on to the pleasure itself; this is the origin of all emotional pain. Of course the mind doesn’t think this way. The mind thinks that if there is something you like you go after it, and that’s the way to get it. If you have something you like, you hold on to it and that’s the way you keep it, otherwise it will go away. The mind doesn’t know true reality, it is based on ignorance.