Joseph Campbell – The Awakened Dream

I do not hold any one teaching or group to be “the” truth… for Truth is about Knowing the Whole of Everything.

third-eye-sheilan-sheilan — Third Eye by Sheilan

The non-duality understanding of Oneness has always existed. The Vedic word for Oneness is Advaita and translated means ‘not two’. It is derived from the Upanishads, which are thought to be the final commentaries and interpretations of the ancient, Vedic texts. Vedas means ‘Knowledge’. Many believe the ancient Vedic scriptures have also existed since the beginning of history. These ancient scriptures were written down by sages over a period of time, between 1500 BCE and 500 BCE. It is said, that prior to this time, the teaching of Knowledge was given orally from one person to another.

The word Upanishad means “sitting down near”, implying sitting at the feet of the one with Knowledge and is the basis for the relationship between teacher and student and ‘the spoken word’. ‘The spoken word’ is a way of transmitting and pointing to, that which cannot be spoken. The ultimate lesson of Advaita Knowledge is beyond the realm of conceptual thought and form. This non-thing or void that will always remain wordless is True reality and at a certain stage in our perception, it is seen as the only thing that exists as Real. All else seeming to be separately real is but a Dream! From this ultimate perception, individuals and separation do not exist. The separate self is an illusion, a lie, the Dream. It is the ego in each of us, which believes itself to be separate, with individual power to create and choose. The ego is the Dream self and does not realize itself to be a fictional character of the Dreamer. Self Realization happens when Oneness awakens from the Dream into the knowledge of its True Self. Waking up from the Dream is not something an individual ego can control or make happen faster or even happen at all, because again, in Truth, there are no individuals with individual power.

Advaita thought is an essential pointer to understanding Reality beyond the words and concepts. India may be credited to having the oldest and most doctrines, as well as teachers teaching Advaita concepts, Ramana Maharshi being the most famous, but the essence of this understanding is universal and can be found at the root of all myths and religions of the world. Throughout time, there have been teachers emerging with various degrees of this understanding. Joseph Campbell, in his 1988 ‘Power of Myth’ series, was able to explain this transcendent understanding to a western audience, on national TV. It seems that this was the beginning of our western culture, to collectively, go deeper into the knowledge of this Ultimate Understanding, allowing for more acceptance and diversity among us.

We come out of Oneness to explore Self… we awaken and see our separation is a dream… We return back to One… We are Infinity… we are All that exists.
~ Sheilan