Gnowly is a precise set of online courses bringing you to a direct metacognition—an 'Aha!

' moment—
realizing your true nature as unconditioned awareness. Gnowly bypasses all the usual sycophantic paths
like religious and spiritual organizations, gurus and exploitative hierarchy. Thus Gnowly avoids
sociopathic structures, where you must give up much to get the unconditioned happiness that is already
your birthright. Growly asks nothing more or less than to look and listen for yourself. There's no
organization to join, nothing to fear.

---- I wrote this!!

Gnowlege is the direct result of this metacognitive realization. Rather than being an accumulation of so-
called knowledge, Gnowledge is rather an unbinding from constraints like narrow intellectual arguments
and rigid spiritual dogma. Not word-bound intelligence, but intuitive inner Gnowing (gnosis) from the
heart. Just by being there and being aware of awareness, you realize that all is right with you.

I wrote part of this!

------

Sanskrit is a very important source of ancient wisdom and yes, the words Gnow and Gnowledge have
roots in Sanskrit. The Sanskrit word jñāṇa is very important; it becomes jhāna in Pali, ch'an in Han
Chinese, jen in Japanese and 'Zen' in Californese, haha.

In all these cases it means the same thing—except in California, where no one seems to know what it
means, except sitting around a lot. And since that is a very popular pastime in California, the word
became very popular. But I digress.

Jñāṇa is the gateway to everything important and good in spiritual life. It is intuitive wisdom—in other
words, not simply book-learning, words or symbolic knowledge, but actual direct realization of
transcendental Truth.

------

Finally, Matrix Learning gives you the ability to learn and successfully apply Gnowly. That is its real value.
Using Matrix Learning techniques of duplication, understanding, contemplation and metacognition, you
can train yourself to abide in unconditioned awareness. Unconditioned awareness is sometimes called
Enlightenment, Self-realization, Nirvana or Samadhi. It is known to be very blissful—a state of
unconditioned happiness. And this stable, lasting happiness—just this is the actual aim of Gnowly.

Why is Matrix Learning a Paid Course?

Matrix Learning is a prerequisite for the other free introductory Gnowly courses:

Four Types of Consciousness

The World is a Dream

Waking and Dreaming

The Self & the World

etc.

We have found that because of the learning disabilities created by state-mandated forced schooling,
most people can only learn about, but not actually apply the Gnowly teaching. Additional training in self-
education is necessary before one can get the full benefits of Gnowly. Further, research data shows that
people tend not to value or complete free courses.

Register for Matrix Learning to get the full benefits of unconditioned happiness attainable through
Gnowly.

-----

The Importance of Assignments in this Course

This course is not for knowing about the four states of consciousness. This course is intended to leave
you with actual mastery of the four states of consciousness.

Ordinary education—the kind you have likely experienced—is about information. This course is not
ordinary education. It is ontological education, designed to give you the Being of a Master of the four
states of consciousness.

That is, the course is designed to develop actual skills in dealing with consciousness, rather than simply
information about consciousness. How do you develop skills in dealing with consciousness? By exercising
consciousness.
It's like going to the gym and working out. You don't develop strength by reading about weightlifting.
Maybe a little reading is necessary in the beginning; but once you know what to do, you go to the gym
and work out.

So this course is to show you what to do, after which you have to do a lot of it to develop the muscle
called consciousness of consciousness. We call this skill the Gnowledge leading to unconditioned
happiness.

Don't rush through the course. Take your time, read everything several times and most importantly, do
the exercises in the assignments. Here again, don't rush through the exercises. Do them every day; make
them habitual, so that you feel you are missing something, or even cheating yourself if for whatever
reason you don't do them for a day.

Similar to weight training or exercise, your purpose here is to develop strength and endurance in a kind
of inner muscle: consciousness of consciousness or awareness of awareness.

Developing this exact skill is the key to receiving all the benefits of Gnowly, up to and including
unconditioned happiness. And you want that, don't you? Any sane person would.

Our promise is that if you do these exercises carefully and patiently every day, you will acquire the Being
of a Master of consciousness.

So please, go through this course (and all our courses) slowly and patiently, make sure you understand
everything, and do the exercises thoroughly every day. This is the key to successfully realizing the
Gnowledge that leads to unconditioned happiness.

------

Consciousness

Consciousness is THE basic fact of life.

eye

Indeed, without consciousness there is no life, no world. Everything depends upon consciousness; yet,
consciousness itself isn't dependent on anything. This means consciousness is the Absolute.

All forms of life demonstrate the symptoms of consciousness—like awareness, intelligence,

responsiveness and adaptation—to some degree.

Therefore, the Gnowledge of consciousness is basic to understanding ourselves and the world, basic to
happiness. Why is it, then, that nobody seems to know anything about it?

Sure, there are lots of fancy-sounding theories about consciousness. There's only one problem: none of
them are practical or provable. They are just philosophical or religious hand-waving, trying to explain
consciousness away without really saying anything about it.

The Gnowly series of courses is based on the ancient teaching of four states of consciousness. This is the
Gnowly Core Truth.

Anyone can verify and prove this teaching simply by self-observation. This course introduces you to the
Gnowly Work.

First, watch the video:

---

There are four types of consciousness:

Waking
 Dreaming

Deep Sleep

Unconditioned Awareness

Everyone experiences these four types of consciousness every day. In fact, all four are available all the
time. If you look for them, you will find them.

This is the essence of the Gnowly Work: Self-observation in terms of consciousness and related
phenomena. The four states of consciousness are defined according to their objects:

The object of waking consciousness is the world.

The object of dreaming consciousness is thoughts.

Deep sleep consciousness has no objects.

The object of Unconditioned Awareness is itSelf.

------

In waking consciousness, the world is the object. The empirical individual self ('I' or ego) and world
around us seem to be real. One thinks, "I am the body and/or mind," and "I am the knower, doer, owner,
possessor, enjoyer of these objects.”

Cause-and-effect and name-and-form seem to be real; individuality seems to be the default state of
existence. Objects are seen to be separate, and different from their source materials. Space, time,
dimension, distance, motion, light, mass, momentum, vibration, change, becoming, uncertainty and
chance, atoms and subatomic particles, energy, elements, thermodynamics etc. are seen to be real and
fundamental.

On the social level, the family, tribe, nationality, race, organizations, social and political positions, power
and authority, money, possessions, religions, political parties, social and economic policies, financial
instruments, contracts, corporations, social hierarchies etc. are accepted as real.

However, all these apparently real phenomena are illusory fabrications, for two reasons:
 They change; they have a beginning and an end.

They are perceived as different and separate from the perceiver.

This may seem counterintuitive if you have no experience of meditation. These points will be discussed
in detail in this and other Gnowly courses.

-----

In dream consciousness, one forgets the world and individual empirical self experienced in waking
consciousness. The alternate world and self within the dream appear real. One thinks, "I am the
dreamer," but also "I am not the doer." In dreams, one is almost always the effect, not the cause. In
dreams, things usually happen without our conscious choice or will. And many things happen in dreams
that could never happen during waking consciousness.

What is the dream state? Clearly, it is an imaginary world. We seem to have a body, but it is different
from the body in the waking state. This body exists in a world, different from the world in the waking
state. Where is the dream state? It seems to exist internally in the mind, as thoughts. If one observe

------

Consciousness is simply being aware. One may be aware of objects in the world, in the mind, of nothing,
or of awareness itself. These are the four states of consciousness that we will explore in detail in a later
course. Note that they are defined in terms of their objects. The substrate or common factor in all four
states of consciousness is unconditioned awareness, pure consciousness without an object.

One who understands this and has realized it has Gnowledge, which is the key to unconditioned
happiness.

------

Consciousness

Consciousness is THE basic fact of life.

eye
Indeed, without consciousness there is no life, no world. Everything depends upon consciousness; yet,
consciousness itself isn't dependent on anything. This means consciousness is the Absolute.

All forms of life demonstrate the symptoms of consciousness—like awareness, intelligence,

responsiveness and adaptation—to some degree.

Therefore, the Gnowledge of consciousness is basic to understanding ourselves and the world, basic to
happiness. Why is it, then, that nobody seems to know anything about it?

Sure, there are lots of fancy-sounding theories about consciousness. There's only one problem: none of
them are practical or provable. They are just philosophical or religious hand-waving, trying to explain
consciousness away without really saying anything about it.

The Gnowly series of courses is based on the ancient teaching of four states of consciousness. This is the
Gnowly Core Truth.

Anyone can verify and prove this teaching simply by self-observation. This course introduces you to the
Gnowly Work.

First, watch the video:

----

In deep sleep consciousness, one is unaware of the world, the subject (self) and objects. One doesn't
perceive anything, because deep sleep consciousness is never the effect of anything—only cause.

Deep sleep consciousness is sometimes called nothingness or emptiness. Some psychologists call deep
sleep the 'unconscious', 'subconscious' or 'collective unconsciousness'. It is known to have great creative
power.
In deep sleep, the sleeper does not dream or desire anything. All experiences involving duality become
undifferentiated, and one becomes a mass of consciousness, full of nondual knowledge and bliss. Deep
sleep may appear to be ignorance; but to one who realizes it, it is the path to knowledge of dream and
waking consciousness. Why? It provides the pure background or context for dreams and waking
consciousness.

Deep sleep is different from the nothingness experienced in fainting, shock, or under general
anaesthetic. Those artificial states caused by bodily stress are not at all pleasant, but deep sleep is
universally experienced as restful and nourishing.

Deep sleep is so important that experimental subjects who were deprived of it soon developed
exhaustion, extreme dissociation and other unpleasant symptoms. We all know the tired feeling of
waking after insufficient sleep. The reason for this is that deep sleep refreshes the body and mind. It is a
tonic that rejuvenates us.

Deep sleep is free from the misery of individual existence and ego, the disappointment of desires, and
suffering caused by efforts to attain them. It is also free from the distortions of consciousness caused by
the relationship of subject (perceiver) and object (perceived). Although it is blissful, it is not bliss itself—
that will be found in unconditioned awareness.

Deep sleep is experienced during waking consciousness as negative attention; that is, things of which we
are deliberately or otherwise unaware. If we were to remain aware of the vast amount of information
flowing in from all the senses and mind, we would be overwhelmed. Our attention would be diluted by
direction toward too many simultaneous objects. So we put positive attention on the object of
concentration, and negative attention on those we do not want to be aware of by directing deep sleep
toward them.

assign icon

ASSIGNMENT

Observing Deep Sleep ConsciousnessAssignment

----------

In deep sleep there are no objects, even deep sleep itself. Therefore observation of deep sleep is
possible only in retrospect after awakening, by samādhi, or by watching our negative attention.
------------

Unconditioned Awareness

symptoms of Unconditioned awareness

Unconditioned awareness means a state of consciousness where there is no world, no body, no senses
or mind. This is the real Self: unlimited Existence, Awareness and Bliss. The three other types of
consciousness are conditioned by their objects; but in unconditioned Self-awareness, the only object is
the Self—in other words, Self is both subject and object. There are no boundaries, dimensions, qualities,
time, space, action etc.

The real Self is not the individual body or mind; it is unconditioned awareness. Unconditioned
awareness is the real Self because it is never born or created, never changes and never dies or
disappears. That is, the Self is eternal. It is the Self, aware of itSelf. This is experienced as awareness of
awareness. If you are aware that you are aware, you are in unconditioned awareness.

The Self has no boundaries. That means in the state of unconditioned awareness, there is only Self,
nothing else. If there were something other than the Self, there would have to be a boundary or point of
difference between Self and the other.

Similarly, Self has no qualities. Qualities are always defined as pairs of opposites: intelligence versus
ignorance, light/dark, up/down etc. This is duality; but since Self is nondual, it cannot be said to possess
qualities like individuality or ego, being the knower, doer, owner, possessor or enjoyer of objects.

Similarly, in Self there is no world, hence no structures like cause-and-effect, name-and-form, separate
individual objects, space, time, dimension, distance, motion, light, mass, momentum, vibration, change,
becoming, uncertainty or chance, energy, elements, thermodynamics or other physical or mental
properties.
 But Self is not void. Although it may appear void from the point of view of waking consciousness, Self
has imagination. Self imagines the world and the three states of conditioned consciousness: waking,
dreaming and deep sleep. Dualistic states of consciousness are called conditioned because they change
to reflect the qualities of their objects. But Self is not changed by anything. It imagines memory and
experience; it imagines the other states of consciousness and the world.

Thus there is no relation between the Self and the imaginary dualistic world. A relation between the
absolutely existent and the absolutely imaginary is itself nonexistent.

The Self cannot be perceived because of its absence of qualities and because it is always subjective—
always the perceiver, always awareness, never the object of awareness. It is absolutely real, whereas the
other states of consciousness, and the bodies and worlds they reflect, are absolutely imaginary from the
point of view of unconditioned awareness.

The Self is always the subject, the Seer. It is never the object of any kind of consciousness. It knows
itSelf by unconditioned awareness—awareness of awareness. Nor can the Self be known by its actions,
because it is without action. It cannot be described by any attribute, because it has no attributes; nor by
names and symbols, because language is symbolic and dependent on attributes.

Nevertheless, effort to realize the Self is not futile; in fact, it is the greatest achievement and the
greatest good one can attain. For once the Self is realized, there is no more possibility of being deluded
by ignorance, desire and illusion. Just this is the end of all suffering.

What you are NOT

---------

What you are NOT

Most people have no concept of unconditioned awareness, although it is not only the real Self, but also
the root of the other types of consciousness. Since you are the Self—unconditioned awareness—you are
not the body, senses or mind. Nor are you subject to unconsciousness, which is simply a misnomer for
when the Self is not present in the body. Nor are you the knower, doer, owner, possessor, enjoyer, etc. of
objects of the senses.

Then what are you? You are unconditioned awareness: the Self. You are the Self. You can immediately
and directly cognize the Self, because you are the Self. This is called gnosis, or the Gnowledge. You are
not the body or mind, nor are you caused by anything. As unconditioned awareness, you just are.
Consequently, you never cease to be.

Bodies and minds, identities and even conditioned consciousness may come and go, but you remain ever
the same. This Self is the highest reality.

Delusions like 'I am the body' are unreal, due to ignorance of the Gnowledge. The imaginary names and
forms superimposed upon the Self by imagination cannot indicate the existence of the Self. Although the
Self certainly is the substratum of conditioned consciousness, the existence of the world etc. cannot
indicate the Self. There can be no real relation between a real substratum and the unreal names and
forms superimposed upon it, because there can be no real relation between the absolutely unreal and
the absolutely real.

In other words, it is not correct to say, "Because we see the world, the Self must exist;" or, "Because I
have this body, the Self must be real." Unconditioned awareness is not conscious of the internal
subjective world or the external objective world; nor is it a mass of infinite consciousness, nor is it
insentient. None of those categories apply.

The Self is unseen by any sense organ of any creature, including the mind. It is unrelated to anything,
incomprehensible by the mind, uninferable by knowledge, unthinkable, indescribable, of the essential
nature of unconditioned awareness alone; the negation of all phenomena, ineffably peaceful, all-Bliss
and nondual. This is the Self, and realization of the Self is the highest benefit.

How to realize the Self? The Self is the substrate of the three states of conditioned consciousness:
waking, dreaming and sleeping. It is the awareness that is aware of being aware.

You are the Self. Rāmaṇa Mahārṣi said, "You cannot see the Self; you can only be the Self." You have
always been the Self, and you will always be the Self alone. Conditioned consciousness and its objects
are imaginary superimpositions on the Self.
Therefore no additional instrument of knowledge, religion or philosophy, no additional effort is
necessary to realize the Self, since you already are the Self. You just have to observe and recognize the
fact. Once you let go of the false idea that "I am the three states of conditioned consciousness and their
imaginary objects", the false sense of reality will disappear and you will find yourself situated in the Self,
the actual Reality.

In other words, simple knowledge of the distinction between you as the Self, and the imaginary
superimpositions at once reveals the actual nature of the Self, namely pure unconditioned awareness,
within which the imaginary superimpositions appear. This is Self-realization, and it is gnosis, the highest
Gnowledge.