Seeker: Dear Ram, it looks like in my daily meditation practice that the witness and mind are separate from each other. It looks like the thoughts are overlayed on consciousness/witness. But if the witness is only awareness, why is there a duality between the two? How does the mind arise from consciousness?
Ram: There is an apparent duality, not an actual duality. You seem to understand this because you it “looks like” the thoughts are overlayed on consciousness. It does seem that way, but they are not actually overlayed. The mind is just awareness taking the form of thoughts. So the thoughts are just awareness. How far is the wave from the ocean? The wave is not overlayed on the ocean. It is the ocean in a particular from. So there is no duality between the thoughts and the awareness in which they appear. The thoughts are you, but you are not the thoughts.
~ Ram