Zero to 1: What Can We Know with Certainty?
7 INSIGHTS
I.
Have you ever seriously asked yourself, “What do I know with 100% certainty?”
II.
The world we see and experience, we often fall into the trap of believing it is as it appears, but how do we know it exists outside of consciousness?
Every night you fall asleep, your consciousness dreams up a world and central conflict, and every night you fall for it.
How can you be 100% certain this is NOT a type of dream, hallucination, or simulation?
III.
How can you be 100% certain that the waking state is not just another state created by consciousness?
IV.
You might say, I know I exist with 100% certainty, and quote Descartes, “I think, therefore I am.”
Yet, this too has conflicts.
Thoughts come and go; do you go with them?
In the dead of night, when you are in dreamless sleep, do you cease to be?
V.
But here's what you can know with absolute certainty: An experience is happening, and you’re aware of it.
You cannot doubt this—even the act of doubting proves awareness is present.
VI.
This awareness—this "I am"—is the one thing that doesn't require proof or evidence. It's self-evident. It's the foundation upon which all other knowledge rests.
VII.
So what do you know for certain?
Not the content of experience, but the fact that you are aware of experience. This aware presence is the only certainty you have—and it's all you’ll ever need.
4 Quotes
I.
"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
—Edgar Allan Poe
II.
"The world is like a dream, and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage."
—Buddha
III.
"You are not your thoughts. You are the awareness behind your thoughts."
Eckhart Tolle
IV.
"The witness of all experience and all experience itself are both objects arising in you, the Infinite Unknown."
—Rupert Spira
1 Question
Can awareness be aware of awareness? Can you turn your awareness back on itself?