VISION MOUND
Volume 1, Number 9
MARCH 1978
The Condition of Being Is Not Within
by Bubba Free John
There is no such thing as a being. We are patterns of
functions. “I” is not a being but a pattern of functions
within an extended and ultimately indefinite pattern of
functions. If “I,” the whole body-being, is considered
totally, it may not be absolutely differentiated from the
larger pattern within which it appears, since It cannot
create or sustain itself by any process independent of that
total and ultimately undefined pattern within which it
appears. “I” is a dependent pattern of functions within a
larger, ultimately undefined (in terms of the knowledge
possessed by “I”pattern of functions. “I” is not a being,
but a dependent pattern of functions that may not be
radically differentiated from the greater, ultimately
undefined pattern of functions. Therefore, that dimension of
the whole body-being which we intuit as “being,” or
conscious existence, is not within, behind, or defined by
the dependent functional pattern that is the whole
body-being, or “I.” Being is not function or pattern. It is
not defined or differentiated. It is the prior Condition of
“I,” of all functions, all patterns. It is the Condition of
the ultimately undefined pattern of totality. “Being” is
intuition of the Condition of “I” and of all patterns,
functions, or differentiated and conditional events.
But “being,” which is beyond all differentiation, is not
the condition of the differentiated “I.” “I” is only a
pattern within and continuous with a greater, undefined
pattern. It is not a being. However, that presumption may
arise as a false conclusion on the basis of witnessing
events against the intuition of being and assuming “I” to be
independent of the pattern of totality. In that case, being
is presumed to be the condition of “I” independently. And
the same judgment tends to be made about all other witnessed
(and equally dependentpatterns and events, particularly
those that imply conscious intuition of being and the
capacity to witness patterns as experience. Thus, other “Is”
imply numbers of beings-differentiation of beings. But
differentiation is among patterns of functions, not at the
level or in the dimension of being.
Therefore, our right disposition is not toward the
presumption of the independence of “I” as a being but toward
responsible or cooperative continuity of “I” with the
pattern of totality, so that the Condition of “I” and of the
total pattern may be continuously Realized. That continuity
is established through Communion, or unobstructed
feeling-attention (via all functions, in all relations or
patterns, under all conditionsto Infinity. Such is the true
Way of love, whereas the false Way is that of independent
being, self-possession, acquisition of personal attributes
and extensions (experience, knowledge, various goods, other
beings, etc.).
The Condition of being is not within. It is not me. “I”
is the pattern of functions that is the dependent body-being
in the pattern of totality. The Condition of being is the
Condition of the totality of patterns. It is the Divine
Reality. It is the Self of all. That Self is not within, as
a being, nor without. It is not identical to any pattern in
itself, not even the pattern of totality. It is the intuited
Condition of the totality. It is Infinity. Therefore, to
Commune with Infinity, or being (which is inherently
unqualified), is to submit or sacrifice all patterns,
including the whole body-being (or “I”and all other
patterns, even the pattern of totality, into the unqualified
Condition of Being. Such is Ignorance-Radiance. And the Way
is love, which is intuition of unqualified being
(Ignorance-Radianceand, on that basis, release of all
illusions of independent being presumed on the basis of any
witnessed pattern of functions (including “I,” all others,
all worlds, etc.). That release is submission of attention
to Infinity through unqualified feeling. It is the Way of
Divine Ignorance. It is the Way that passes from the
self-possessed illusion of “I” as a being into the Bliss of
unqualified being, prior to all patterns of functions-prior
to all differentiation.
Such Realization is Divine Happiness. It does not, in
principle, exclude any condition, but all conditions are
ultimately, perfectly, and (paradoxicallyalways already
dissolved or assumed in that undifferentiated Bliss beyond
self, mind, body, and every kind of pattern or world.
The illusory defined “I” (as a beingproceeds by
experience and in accordance with the functional laws
pertaining to every discrete dimension of the pattern of
totality to enlarge itself toward Infinity through
evolutionary accumulations. Once the spell of
self-definition, other-definition, and separation or unlove
is broken, there may be direct release of feeling-attention
from the contractions of independent being into the radical
intuition of unqualified being. Such is the direct Way into
prior being. It is the Way of Divine Ignorance, since it
does not proceed by knowledge of the independent being but
by radical intuition of unqualified prior being. When that
intuitive sacrifice of feeling-attention to Infinity is true
in any moment, there is only Bliss or Radiance, prior to all
differentiation (subjective or objective). Persistence in
this sacrifice Realizes literal Translation of the whole
body-being (“I”into Ignorance-Radiance, or Bliss.