You Are Not Book.indb - Stephen H. Wolinsky Ph. D.

6 / You Are Not
see “what is” (the elephant) instead, they conclude, select-out
and abstract from “what is” because the veils over their eyes
prevent them from seeing “what is.” However, if we were to
unwrap each veil one by one, eventually, the elephant, (“what
is”) would become clearer and clearer until it was eventually
“seen.” The word “seen” is an interesting word in itself, because
“sages” of the ancient past often were called “seers,” in
that they could “see” (apperceive) the underlying whole (the
elephant); as they no longer were blindfolded by the veils of
consciousness.
In this way, it is the veils of “our” concepts, which are made
of “condensed” consciousness, which must be discarded in
order for “those” who are blind(folded) to see the underlying
unity (elephant).
Why do we use the word consciousness to describe
these veils? Because whether we could call this underlying
SUBSTANCE, the NOTHINGNESS, or the UNDERLYING
SUBSTANCE, the veils, also, are made of THAT same ONE
SUBSTANCE condensed, which for the present we will call
consciousness. In this way, we begin to unwrap the veils
of consciousness, until the unwrapper, and the “seer” too,
is “seen” as THE SAME SUBSTANCE as everything else.
What, then, are these veils [unquestioned] concepts made
of—condensed consciousness? The Yoga Sutras say it this
way:
“Knowledge [concepts] is produced by imposition
of mental limitations on pure consciousness. When all
these limitations are removed, the Yogi passes into the
realm of pure consciousness [THE SUBSTANCE]. It is
not possible to solve any real problem of Life as long as
our consciousness is confined within the realm of the
unreal.” (Taimini, The Science of Yoga, p. 436)
In this, just the “understanding,” YOU ARE NOT—or better
said, prior to the emergence of the “awarer,” ARE YOU?—all
the imagined Veils of Consciousness begin to dissolve.