I Am is faceless, formless. The reality of being/awareness.
The face that appears to you is not what you are. It is an appearance like the appearance of the weather.
The thoughts that appear to you do not know you. They are inert objects of perception. Taking your lead from the thoughts that appear to you takes you on an unhappy roller coaster ride.
While I am formless, all forms refer to my reality.
Questions & Answers:
Q: Did you know that Nisargadatta said that the “I am” eventually disappears also?
Reply: Niz used the I am as mind. He used the term consciousness to refer to mind. He use the term I am to refer to mind/consciousness. His language is confusing to a lot of truth lovers who are familiar with Ramana or Advaita.
So, yes, the I am as separate self disappears. But consciousness knowing itself or another way of putting it, knowing yourself as the Self never disappears. Because this knowing is inherent to the Self. It is impersonal.
There is no separate knower.
Q: My take on the “I am” is that it’s a belief/feeling in being “something/someone” whether that something/someone is a separate self, awareness/consciousness or even the “One” that encompasses everything and everyone
Reply: Yes. There is such a thing as a belief/feeling that I am awareness/consciousness.
That is a phase along the path.
Beyond that there is being awareness that is not a belief/feeling.
This is what is referred to in the scriptures as Sat/Chit/Ananda.
Q: “Beyond that there is being awareness that is not a belief/feeling.
This is what is referred to in the scriptures as Sat/Chit/Ananda.” Are you calling that “I am”?
Reply: Sat/Chit/Ananda
Presence(I Am)/Awareness(Knowingness)/Bliss
I Am refers to presence beingness
I Am is one of the aspects of Sat/Chit/Ananda.
The other aspect is knowingness awareness.
Both Sat as well as Chit are absolute. And yes, Sat/Chit/Ananda is beyond belief/feeling.
Q1: How can any of this be taught or learned? Isn’t that just spiritual ego trying to get something it thinks it doesn’t have? Who is actually practicing, meditating or even contemplating this? I Am doesn’t do or need to do anything. No?
Reply: Nothing can be taught when the interest, when the openness is not there. When there is interest, it is a different matter. The teaching is a sort of invitation to look into our belief and feeling structures. It is all there, available for the inquiry. We can contemplate our beliefs and in time, we start to notice the veils. In this noticing, there is a lifting, a shift from ignorance to clarity.
In a way it is our interest that is the teacher.
Spiritual ego is none other than personal ego (with lipstick). That also can be looked into, again, as long as the interest or passion is there.
As per your question: “Who is actually practicing, meditating or even contemplating this? I Am doesn’t do or need to do anything. No?”
On one hand, one could say that there is no one practicing, meditating or contemplating. But we can only say this when there is complete certainty of that. Many folks say: ‘There is no one’ and yet, they still feel as if they are someone. They still feel like a person and experience the personal feelings and negative emotions.
Sages who speak about the illusion of the personal does, speak their living experience and are no longer experiencing the personal self no matter what circumstances or situations are unfolding.
Indeed, I Am (Sat) Awareness (Chit) doesn’t need to do anything. I Am is not in the doing/non-doing dualistic real. I Am is absolute. It refers to one reality.
I Am does not refer to any doer. I Am refers to Presence/Being which is one of the aspects of Sat/Chit/Ananda