the via negativa (Neti-Neti)
Written by Desmond Olubunmi · Founder of Sunya
Finding the truth by discarding what is false. Rather than searching for consciousness, you eliminate everything that consciousness is not — until only consciousness remains.
The separate self is sustained by identification — the constant, unexamined assumption that “I am this body,” “I am these thoughts,” “I am these feelings.” Neti-Neti — Sanskrit for “not this, not this” — is the systematic dismantling of every false identification.
By discarding all objects, what cannot be discarded becomes self-evident: the awareness that was doing the observing all along. You cannot be what you observe. That which remains when everything observed has been set aside — that is what you are.
Begin by disidentifying with absolutely everything — everything perceived, everything known, every form, every thought, every feeling. Let all of it go. What remains when you hold nothing?
Ask: “Am I this body?” Notice that you observe the body — its sensations, its weight, its breath. The observer is not the observed. You are the seer, beyond form and change.
Ask: “Am I these thoughts?” Notice that thoughts come and go while something remains constant. You watch thoughts arise and fade. You are not the thoughts.
Ask: “Am I these emotions?” Emotions arise and fade, constantly changing. You witness them — but awareness itself does not change. You are not the emotions.
Consider this: you cannot perceive yourself as an object, because you are the one doing the perceiving. If you were to see yourself, who would be looking? The hand that touches everything cannot touch itself. The eyes that see everything cannot turn and see themselves. You, the timeless seer, cannot be made into an object of perception.
This is precisely why disidentification works: by releasing every observed thing, every mental image of “I,” you are left resting in your true nature — not because you found something new, but because you stopped obscuring what was always already there.
Rest in this: what you truly are is none of these observed things. You are the Aware Presence in which all of this appears. Not as a concept, but as the living reality you have just cleared the ground to recognise.
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