What is sleep from a non-dual perspective?

[Eternal]

Interested to know more about sleep from a non-dual perspective as technically no one sleeps. What does a feeling of tiredness indicate, like I am closing my eyes. Shall I just sleep and not worry about it? 

 

Does having more fruits and vegetables give more energy throughout the day? 

 

How much sleep is optimal? does realizing the true nature of oneself naturally make oneself sleep less as there is much less resistance to what is.. 

 

 

[Loop]

Non-Duality is deep sleep well awake. 
You know yourself as nothing, so love can embrace everything. 

Less and less questions arise, you just eat, you just sleep, the Body has more wisdom than 10 000 000 years of studying & knowledge ever could. 

 

[Aphelion]

I'm reading "Full Stop!" by John Wheeler and read this bit recently, which may help with the question.
 

Quote

 

Question: I have been confused about the differentiation between awareness and consciousness. When you say you see the coming and going of consciousness what does that mean? Are you talking about sleep? Or are you saying consciousness is the changing sensations and thoughts? To answer my question, I think you have to define the two, because I always thought awareness and consciousness were the same thing.

 

John: There are different ways of talking about this. So it depends on how you define your terms. In deep sleep, you are not conscious in the normal sense of the word. You were there, but not self-aware. You could say that awareness was there, but not aware of anything other (awareness unaware of itself). It is non-dual. At some moment ‘you’ became conscious of being. You knew ‘I am’, ‘I am present’. That experience was not present in deep sleep. You were, but you did not know you were. That event or occurrence (of knowing ‘I am’) is an appearance, experience or state. All other objective appearances arise in that, or following that. In this style of talking there is a distinction made between consciousness-as-a-state and the prior or original source, which some have termed as non-conceptual awareness or non-dual being. Keep in mind that this is only one way of talking about this. I happen to find it a useful and accurate way of talking about experience. Also keep in mind that even in approaches such as Vedanta, ‘consciousness’ is not the absolute, but only a very refined pointer to it. As it always says in the scriptures, the true self is neither being nor non-being, neither conscious (knowledge) or unconscious (ignorance). All words and pointers turn back.

 

What is being pointed to here can be easily verified by looking at direct experience. Sometimes you are conscious (waking, dreaming), sometimes not (sleep, unconsciousness, under anesthetic, etc.). The experience of being conscious or unconscious is registered by your primordial natural condition which, properly, cannot be termed conscious or unconscious, as it transcends (and includes) both.

 

Some approaches do not look at it in as fine-grained a manner, which is also fine. Some say that consciousness remains constant even in deep sleep. It is a simpler pointer, which is perhaps easier to grasp for some. I happen to find the way I am speaking about consciousness and awareness in this manner more clear and accurate to experience. Past a point, however, you need to look beyond the words. You are not a word!

 

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Aphelion

[James123]

On 12/29/2022 at 8:50 PM, Eternal said:

Interested to know more about sleep from a non-dual perspective as technically no one sleeps. What does a feeling of tiredness indicate, like I am closing my eyes. Shall I just sleep and not worry about it? 

 

Does having more fruits and vegetables give more energy throughout the day? 

 

How much sleep is optimal? does realizing the true nature of oneself naturally make oneself sleep less as there is much less resistance to what is.. 

 

 

Deep sleep=thoughtlessness=before birth= non duality=not these so called sentences. 

[Phil]

On 12/29/2022 at 12:50 PM, Eternal said:

Interested to know more about sleep from a non-dual perspective as technically no one sleeps.

‘No one sleeps’ isn’t quite the same as ‘there is no actual experience of sleep’.

The belief in a duality of awake & asleep revolves around the belief in a separate self or selves (thoughts) which are or could be awake or asleep.

 

Therein there is no nondual perspective of deep sleep. Deep sleep would be ‘the second thing’ (not two).

There is an experience of the hindsight assumption (thought) that you (wakefulness) sleeps, though there is never the actual experience because wakefulness is infinite & nondual. It is infinite wakefulness which is aware of the arising thoughts.

 

Therein there are no degrees, levels, measurements, etc, of infinite wakefulness / awareness, but there is or can be an illusory experience as if there were or is, by believing thought to the tune of believing one is “the ego” or “separate self” (thoughts arising).

 

Just like, exactly the same as believing the thought “unicorn”, completely missing a “unicorn” is never actually experienced. 

 

On 12/29/2022 at 12:50 PM, Eternal said:

What does a feeling of tiredness indicate, like I am closing my eyes. Shall I just sleep and not worry about it? 

“Yep”. 

 

On 12/29/2022 at 12:50 PM, Eternal said:

Does having more fruits and vegetables give more energy throughout the day? 

“Energy” can’t really be created or destroyed. Consider alignment & discord food & energy wise. 

 

On 12/29/2022 at 12:50 PM, Eternal said:

 

How much sleep is optimal? does realizing the true nature of oneself naturally make oneself sleep less as there is much less resistance to what is.. 

Yes, experientially. But actually yes & no and neither. 

[Eternal]

5 minutes ago, Phil said:

‘ ‘there is no actual experience of sleep’.

There is no one to sleep?

6 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

There is an experience of the hindsight assumption (thought) that you (wakefulness) sleeps, though there is never the actual experience because wakefulness is infinite & nondual. It is infinite wakefulness which is aware of the arising thoughts.

 

Makes sense...

 

7 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

 

“Energy” can’t really be created or destroyed. Consider alignment & discord food & energy wise. 

Care to elaborate? I don't understand what is being said. "Consider alignment and discord food & energy wise? 

 

9 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

 

But actually yes & no and neither. 

What do you mean by that? 

[Phil]

3 hours ago, Eternal said:

There is no one to sleep?

Bodies sleep, oneself appears as bodies.

Use this video and just pop in ‘sleep’ instead of ‘will’.

Notice it is only the questioning (thoughts) arising, not any actuality of or direct experience of “will” or “sleep”.

Then allow ‘understanding’ & ‘understander’ to ‘eat itself’ by popping in “understander” & “understanding” as well. 

 

3 hours ago, Eternal said:

Does having more fruits and vegetables give more energy throughout the day? 

“Energy” can’t really be created or destroyed. Consider alignment & discord food & energy wise. 

Care to elaborate? I don't understand what is being said. "Consider alignment and discord food & energy wise? 

Bodies eat, oneself appears as bodies and food.  

The body is like a perfectly aligned & flowing river of energy.

‘Man made’ food is like adding logs to the river.

As ‘daily bread’, ‘understanding’ & ‘understander’ are two logs.  

 

What is energy?

What is understanding?

 

 

 

 

“What is this second thing from the perspective of there isn’t this second thing?”

[Phil]

Something interesting ‘you can do with sleep’. 

 

If you can imagine how you could write down what you wanted to experience in a dream, and then go to bed, fall alseep, and experience it….

…write what’s wanted on the dreamboard today, and when ‘you wake up tomorrow’, let the hindsight thought that you were sleeping and woke up go…

… and notice it’s unfolding.

 

Crazy as it might initially sound it will be unfolding, and even wilder, it’s the noticing that it is which is the variable. 

[Eternal]

On 1/10/2023 at 12:12 AM, Phil said:

Something interesting ‘you can do with sleep’. 

 

If you can imagine how you could write down what you wanted to experience in a dream, and then go to bed, fall alseep, and experience it….

…write what’s wanted on the dreamboard today, and when ‘you wake up tomorrow’, let the hindsight thought that you were sleeping and woke up go…

… and notice it’s unfolding.

 

Crazy as it might initially sound it will be unfolding, and even wilder, it’s the noticing that it is which is the variable. 

 

Thats a good idea!