The trinity of being

"Satori is a nice place to visit, but you can't live there." - Nowhere Man

The experience of being can be broken into three aspects, known in the western world as the holy trinity.

The witness - Atman / Holy Spirit.
The sufferer - Ego / Christ.
The stage - Ground of being / The Father.



The sufferer: Ego / Illusory self

Creates the illusion of control. Believes itself to be separate and in control of its domain. Fears loss of the control illusion. Worships the Atman, wishes to be the Atman. Atman has no attachment, and knows there is no control or being separate from all else / the stage.

The stage is all. Impassive, and creating the illusion of being. The stage creates the opposition for which the ego can imagine opposition. The Atman allows union of the stage and the ego.

Ego & the Deceiver

The ego has a somewhat universal projection the Abrahamic religions demonize, we know as Satan. Satan is the deceiver, responsible for all wrong doing and evil. Satan is an invisible adversary for which the ego can blame all its failures and maintain its illusion. Alternatively, one can see that Satan IS the ego. In this way, the ego projects its own dark side onto the stage, to play the game of "I must always win".


The Witness: Atman & Truth

The Atman is the experiencer and the knower. However, for the Atman to fully experience it must go into a trance, a state where it forgets the known truth of the ultimate unity of the trinity. In this state, the ego is capable of deceiving the Atman into believing not only that the stage is real, but that it, itself, is the ego, and only the ego. It forgets itself and wholly identifies with the ego.

Awakening of Atman

Experiences in life may arouse the Atman, and give moments of glorious insight into which one sees the entire universe as one unity, of dualities masking unity, and of union of the self and ego with God. Sufficient insights can lead the Atman to wake up to its known truth and identify the ego as a separate, false self.



Jules:

Ego / Illusory self

That is like the realm most people (men in particular, with dominance, success motivation) seem to live. Strive for something shallow while not thinking it through, not understanding the greater purpose. Misguided. Greedy self. Most people caught up in rat race.

Lacking in spirituality.

Ego & the Deceiver

Lust, sin. Yeah blames Satan as a causer of our darker aspects. Like we are good, godly, but cheated and lead astray by outside forces. Except it’s just us failing ourselves, letting our nature take over and making exceptions to morality that suit us. Not taking responsibility for what we control.

Atman and truth

It’s a rare state of being. Reminds me of the moments I had frequently as a kid, when I felt I was a being separate from my body and this world, and meditated to keep that mindfulness and not fall prey to the many misguided motivations in the world. Felt like, getting caught up in a game, then reminding yourself it’s just a game. Allowing the self to step outside of earthly issues, and realize it's fleeting, often unimportant things. As time goes on and we get older, we experience more, and investment in that game of life grows and becomes more part of how we identify ourselves. Harder and harder to separate ourselves from that. Yet so important...

Awakening of Atman

I have had these moments... rare, awakening. Craving them to come back. It’s like prying something that’s glued down. The more you pry, the more you can separate that ego, and keep the Zen...

I’m starting to see now...



Nowhere Man

The witness, the sufferer and the stage are all three essential parts of the piece. A person cannot function without all three. The secret is the Atman waking up to its true nature, rather than being deceived into thinking it is the ego.


I imagine, to children, this is very obvious, before they are conditioned to behave in certain ways and believe certain things. It's very much a self-feeding process. I used to often wonder how differently people could become through different culture. Makes me think of Pocahontas. One person raised in a society in balance with Atman, and another raised in a society obsessed with ego.



Jules:

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. But I do wonder, and assume, people have a natural tendency to leave that and just disconnect from their real self. Isn't religion trying to teach us to be spiritual, take Buddhism for example, but the average person can’t attain it all the time in their lives. It’s a state we reach clarity in sometimes, and then forget again as the troubles of life naturally sweep us up...

Like me, sometimes feeling at one, and then sometimes totally being obsessed with my strange and dysfunctional relationship with my ex-boyfriend...

I think I’m getting better at handling it, and trying to disconnect personally. Like I’m watching a movie. Be more Zen, and not get mad. And try to understand. But sometimes it’s not enough to beat our simian emotional needs. Like that night and you told me about that guy who upset you, when you moved out of your old place.


Nowhere Man:

Well, we are only human. I believe, what matters is whether you act on those things. We all, after all, have our element of irreducible rascality. But, it's good that you notice. It's important to pay attention; it helps keep it all in perspective.