Awake by Katie Blog ~ Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy ~ Enlightenment, Awareness

Questioner:

This emptiness I have been getting to know and surrender into. I feel very vulnerable and beyond ordinary...certainly not knowing or wise....and yet there is this wonderful stillness that caresses my heart... a balm for the wounds that make my body ache unbearably. There is nothing to hold onto any more, only a yielding....no reason of any worth at all...only the mystery...and the breath that keeps on breathing life into this being. Always, the breath...

Enlightenment could not be about peace...for love knows no peace, only the wild fire of passion, the joy, the ecstasy...and the pain and ache and longing. Enlightenment must be about awareness: staying aware and present throughout all of the play and not falling asleep into old patterns and habits and stories that are not of this eternal moment called NOW and its ever-changing rhythms of pleasure and pain, joy and suffering, fullness and emptiness,...and on and on forever in this one eternal moment.

Katie Davis:

Thank you for sharing your beautiful message. This wonderful stillness that you are mentioning IS the Heart of all being ... and it is you. Beautiful ... nothing to hold onto, since you realize the folly of the individual sense of self that is separate; no one there who can hold on. The longing and ache are only remnants of that concept of me. In its disappearance, there is only the divine, unconditional Love that you truly are ... the Pure I.

Just as you say, remain the clear, still Awareness that is ... while all appearances and their ever-changing circumstances come and go. The life circumstances seem to cause our attention to contract and narrow. That narrowing gives the delusion of the conceptual ego-I. Throughout it all, you are the Awareness. Just notice the tendency of attention to suddenly focus on the specific rather than continuing to rest as the expansive Awareness.

An example of narrowing might be similar to when we put blinders on a horse so that it only sees the path directly in front of it. When the narrowing occurs, we are no longer aware of the vast Totality. We suddenly believe that "I" am separate and therefore need to acquire or escape. Just notice when the attention shifts to the specific.

Noticing is all that is required. If we begin working on expansion, that only becomes another narrow focus. So only noticing ... then a relaxation and peace is realized within and we once again realize the Awareness that is the Totality.

The breath will always allow the narrow attention to relax and expand. You are That within which all is appearing. The sense of an individual that is separate dissolves in the amazing broad consciousness that You really are. And YES, you are already That.

Thank you so much for sharing your lovely writing. Please let me know how it goes ... aware of the expansive, aware of the narrow focus (ego) ... it is choiceless that you are the Awareness that is forever now and still. We just overlook it every now and then.

Only This Love ~ Katie Davis

Katie Davis Website www.katiedavis.org

Katie Davis Blog: Awake by Katie Davis www.awakebykatie.blogspot.com

Katie is Home to Maui from Tour and Grateful, Author, Awake Joy

Dear Heart Friends ~

I have just returned to Maui from a two month tour on the mainland U.S. and this gratitude must be expressed. It is genuinely amazing what seems to be appearing ... opening and resting as This!

Thank you to East West and New Renaissance Books in Seattle and Portland and to all of the new and old Heart Friends who joined us. John Conley, author of Letters to My Friends was so helpful as well as the yoga studios, Conscious Choice and New Connextion Magazines that helped us promote the events.

We returned to Boulder on this tour and are so grateful for the gatherings and those, such as Pat Dorsey, Attila and Antje who helped to make it possible. Satsang was rich, fresh and amazing.

Total gratitude to Travis Norris and Kaddi for their hospitality and organization in Ridgway, Telluride and Ouray. This was our first trip to this area of Colorado and it was so beautiful ... IS so beautiful ... and I am grateful for the new Heart Friends.

Thank you to Dr. Mark Waller, author of Awakening, The Paradox of Being Human and The Dance of the Lion and the Union who organized our events in Fullerton, CA. Reverend Annette Drake and Tomoko were signifant in their service to the events and the First Church of Religious Science was an extraordinary venue ... so still ...

Finally, I would like to thank our Heart Friends at the Carlsbad Center for Positive Living and our sponsor, Reverend Debby. The tour of the botanical gardens was extraordinary as well as the reception and hospitality. We met so many new Heart Friends and are grateful for the help and support that the Church of Religious Science offered those who attended.

THANK YOU!!

Only This Love ~

Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy