The Pot Of Gold At The End Of The Rainbow – A Symbol Of Non-Duality
- Brainz Magazine
- Nov 24, 2023
- 4 min read
Written by: Alexis Knight, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
She’s trudging along, on a long, cold, windy, and rainy day in a muddy field going somewhere. Each step takes its toll physically and mentally. Her head is held low, looking miserably at her feet as they squelch through the swampy textures of the wet grass and mud.
On Occasion she lifts her head to receive a glimpse of a sight so staggering it moves her to tears, it is the sight of a pristine, shimmering, and vibrantly colorful rainbow, soaring above and across the horizon in the far distance. This glimpse is a reminder of raw beauty, nature’s mystery, and ‘The Divine’.
When the sight is bestowed upon sore eyes and a weary body, she’s motivated to pace quicker, to move towards the rainbow, to get closer and closer, because if only she got to the end of the rainbow, she would finally discover a huge pot of gold.
The seeker is born
This story is a suitable metaphor for the seeker. In the apparently unique development of the human experience, an individual is born from a very early age, before this there is simply everything, all-encompassing boundless energy, and then, without warning or intention, an energetic contraction takes place, and a world of subject and object is known. From this timeless moment onwards of subject-object reality there is a sense of a ‘Me’ or ‘I am’ inside the body experienced as ‘here’ and an outside objectified reality of a world ‘out there’. As the body grows and develops, the apparent energetic contraction is confirmed repeatedly with relationships, life events, activities, substances, objects, and so on.
After some time or possibly no time at all, this separate self that is apparently within the body ‘seeks’ wholeness again, it’s looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The seeker goes towards anything it can, such as drugs, alcohol, sex, relationships, social media, etc. and this seems to provide some temporary relief of the agitated energy of the seeker, but this soon wears off of course.
The search begins
Some seekers due to a kind of ‘sensitivity’ intuit that the world of objects, substances, and relationships never really provides lasting relief from the agitation and so they may embark on a ‘search’, they may turn to the various religious and/or spiritual traditions because they speak of something called freedom, union, liberation, awakening or even enlightenment. Perhaps this could be the answer to this seemingly unsolvable predicament of separation. Many Priests, Gurus, Teachers, and Therapists will provide lists, practices, rites & rituals as to how to get to the end of the rainbow. But despite whichever route the now desperate seeker has been given, and despite how hard the seeker puts effort into his/her/their practice to make progress, the rainbow only ever seems to move away.
This is the deal
The seeker has within its own illusory story and dream world turned life into a goal, into a path that is always going somewhere, a destination to reach. It has imagined an end-point where everything will be whole again, complete, fulfilled. It is so busy grinding away to get there that it’s continuously perpetuating its agitated momentum which seems to generate a tremendous amount of craving and dissatisfaction.
What Radical Non Duality has to say about this, is that the very sight of the rainbow IS THE GOAL, and so is standing in the muddy field. You as a seeker, as a practitioner, as a professional, or whatever other labels you have applied to your identity are already standing in the jackpot. It is already complete, fulfilled, perfect, and whole. The seeker often responds to this either subliminally or grossly with ‘Is that it? Is this really all there is?’ and the answer is absolutely. This is all there is and isn’t, it is so stunningly ordinary and completely wonderful without any meaning whatsoever, there is no need for it to be this or not this, but for the seeker, the simplicity of this message is so radical and immediate that it cannot possibly grasp or accept it because it’s too busy looking somewhere else.
However, for some bodies, there can be a return to the glimpse of the rainbow, and this is an energetic receptivity that allows that seeking energy to dissolve which soon gives way to the end of the dream of separation, and of subject/object world. It is not something that anyone does, understands, or recognizes, rather it is complete relaxation and ultimately absence of that irritable grasping energy of the ‘Me’. And when it is over, it never actually happened.
For more information on the nature of Radical Non-Duality, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and visit my website for more info!
Alexis Knight, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Alexis communicates Non-Duality. After recognising that all practices to get somewhere with is only perpetuating the search and the searcher, Alexis recognised that this is everything, it is already whole and complete, and the I is no longer sustained in this fullness. This is the message of Non Duality that is shared from here. Public, private and online meetings are accessed on this subject, as are videos and writings.
