Our imagination attaches itself to the objects of awareness, of consciousness. We pay little regard to the light that illuminates the objects of which we are aware. Of course, this stands to reason. Worldly objects are always changing, and we are biologically set up to notice this novelty in our environment.
The light, on the other hand, is always the same—profoundly so. Does this not line up with chapter 56’s This is called profound sameness. In being always constant, we don’t take particular notice of this light, but instead focus on the objects it reveals.
Certainly, this is completely natural. However, our imagination plays an oversize role in this process. Imagination, by associating itself to the objects of awareness, creates our illusion of self, as Buddha pointed out. Voilà… unitary reality divides, resulting in an “I am” versus “that is”. This estrangement from the “One” leaves us overly insecure and viscerally aware of failure, loss, and death. We “know” we are mortal.
To the extent you can self identify with the light that illuminates rather than the objects illuminated, you will “know” immortality. (See You are Immortal!). Or as the good Buddha suggested, “know” a Right State of Peaceful Mind, i.e., a realistic samma Samadhi.
There is a natural price to pay when you align your sense of self to the illumination rather than the myriad objects. You can’t help but lose much of your ability to distinguish (judge) good from bad, beauty from ugly, life from death, happy from sad. Downplaying the importance of the objects of awareness makes life a lot more stable… I call it the boredom of eternity.
But don’t worry. You will still have all your instincts. After all, we are animals and so still feel pain and pleasure, fear and need, and so on. You just won’t mentally dwell on these biological properties as much as before.