Franklin Merrell-Wolff’s Aphorisms on Consciousness-without-an-object
1. Consciousness-without-an-object is.
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2. Before objects were, Consciousness-without-an-object is.
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3. Though objects seem to exist, Consciousness-without-an-object is.
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4. When objects vanish, yet remaining through all unaffected, Consciousness-without-an-object is.
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5. Outside of Consciousness-without-an-object nothing is.
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6. Within the bosom of Consciousness-without-an-object lies the power of awareness that projects objects.
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7. When objects are projected, the power of awareness as subject is presupposed, yet Consciousness-without-an-object remains unchanged.
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8. When consciousness of objects is born, then, likewise, consciousness of absence of objects arises.
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9. Consciousness of objects is the Universe.
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10. Consciousness of absence of objects is Nirvana.
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11. Within Consciousness-without-an-object lie both the Universe and Nirvana, yet to Consciousness-without-an-object these two are the same.
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12. Within Consciousness-without-an-object lies the seed of Time.
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13. When awareness cognizes Time then knowledge of Timelessness is born.
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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.
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15. To realize Timelessness is to attain Nirvana.
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16. But for Consciousness-without-an-object there is no difference between Time and Timelessness.
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17. Within Consciousness-without-an-object lies the seed of the world-containing Space.
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18. When awareness cognizes the world-containing Space then knowledge of the Spatial Void is born.
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19. To be aware of the world-containing Space is to be aware of the Universe of Objects.
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20. To realize the Spatial Void is to awaken to Nirvanic Consciousness.
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21. But for Consciousness-without-an-object there is no difference between the world-containing Space and the Spatial Void.
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22. Within Consciousness-without-an-object lies the Seed of Law.
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23. When consciousness of objects is born the Law is invoked as a Force tending ever toward Equilibrium.
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24. All objects exist as tensions within Consciousness-without-an-object that tend ever to flow into their own complements or others.
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25. The ultimate effect of the flow of all objects into their complements is mutual cancellation in complete Equilibrium.
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26. Consciousness of the field of tensions is the Universe.
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27. Consciousness of Equilibrium is Nirvana.
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28. But for Consciousness-without-an-object there is neither tension nor Equilibrium.
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29. The state of tensions is the state of ever-becoming.
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30. Ever-becoming is endless-dying.
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31. So the state of consciousness of objects is a state of ever-renewing promises that pass into death at the moment of fulfillment.
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32. Thus when consciousness is attached to objects the agony of birth and death never ceases.
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33. In the state of Equilibrium where birth cancels death the deathless Bliss of Nirvana is realized.
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34. But Consciousness-without-an-object is neither agony nor bliss.
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35. Out of the Great Void, which is Consciousness-without-an-object, the Universe is creatively projected.
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36. The Universe as experienced is the created negation that ever resists.
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37. The creative act is bliss, the resistance, unending pain.
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38. Endless resistance is the Universe of experience, the agony of crucifixion.
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39. Ceaseless creativeness is Nirvana, the Bliss beyond human conceiving.
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40. But for Consciousness-without-an-object there is neither creativeness nor resistance.
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41. Ever-becoming and ever-ceasing-to-be are endless action.
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42. When ever-becoming cancels the ever-ceasing-to-be then Rest is realized.
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43. Ceaseless action is the Universe.
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44. Unending Rest is Nirvana.
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45. But Consciousness-without-an-object is neither Action nor Rest.
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46. When consciousness is attached to objects it is restricted through the forms imposed by the world-containing Space, by Time, and by Law.
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47. When consciousness is disengaged from objects, Liberation from the forms of the world-containing Space, of Time, and of Law is attained.
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48. Attachment to objects is consciousness bound within the Universe.
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49. Liberation from such attachment is the State of unlimited Nirvanic Freedom.
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50. But Consciousness-without-an-object is neither bondage nor freedom.
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51. Consciousness-without-an-object may be symbolized by a SPACE that is unaffected by the presence or absence of objects, for which there is neither Time nor Timelessness, neither a world-containing Space nor a Spatial Void, neither Tension nor Equilibrium, neither Resistance nor Creativeness, neither Agony nor Bliss, neither Action nor Rest, and neither Restriction nor Freedom.
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52. As the GREAT SPACE is not to be identified with the Universe, so neither is It to be identified with any Self.
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53. The GREAT SPACE is not God, but the comprehender of all Gods, as well as of all lesser creatures.
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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.
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55. The GREAT SPACE comprehends both the Path of the Universe and the Path of Nirvana.
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56. Beside the GREAT SPACE there is none other.
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OM TAT SAT
