The Power of Forever Now ~ Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

In Self-realization, we realize that we ARE the Now that we also refer to as Self, Pure I, Pure Awareness, Heart, Essence or Absolute Truth; among others.

This is not to be confused with the power of Now that is the appearance of the universe that we call experience. The power includes the forces of nature, the content of the present moment, our bodies, thoughts, emotions, energies, physical sensations such as shakti or others. No matter what form Pure I may take, it never loses the consciousness that is its essential nature.

Even if you perceive a certain power or vision as “other worldly,” since it is experienced, it is none other than the power of Self. The power of Now cannot be separated from the Now any more than “my” power could be separated from “me.” ”My” power is totally dependent on “me.” Without “me,” ”my” power would not be.

The Now is beyond experience and its power is the mind-body that is experience. The mind-body and its experience cannot stand alone. It is totally dependent on the Now, whereas the Now stands free of experience and the appearance of the world. For experience, the mind-body is required and that is also dependent upon the power of Now. The mind is an extraordinary power, but not the Now. “My” body is included within that power. I experience “my body” and therefore it is dependent and cannot stand alone. Everything within the field of experience is the power of Now and inseparable from the Now that I am.

This is not to say that the human being aspect of us should not be embraced. It just is not who we truly are. We ARE the Now within which the body is appearing. When we say “I” that word is pointing to the Now that is Essence. The problematic situation that causes the veil to drop is the misidentification with the body. The mind-body is the power. You are the Now.

For the Self-realized, people, things and circumstances do not appear to be separate and they are appearing from “within.” Although the mental constructs of “inside” and “outside” have been eliminated, the forever Now stands alone and beyond the world and its present moment, although not separate. The Forever Now is eternally permanent, while the impermanent forces of nature are in movement. I am the screen upon which they are appearing and also the consciousness or power that is appearing as form. I am the Totality.

With Self-realization, suffering has been realized as a delusion and therefore has been spontaneously surrendered. The pain gap between the dreaming "I" and the Heart has been extinguished.

When the subject-witness is eliminated, the void of collective suffering is also realized as a delusion and is therefore eliminated. Pure I is free of time, space and therefore separation and its suffering.

I am pure consciousness- being-bliss that is beyond the "I am" that is the foundation of all experience. Now is free of the body idea and the mind’s ever changing phenomena. The body is still sensing and functioning as it does, but it is no longer one's identity. I just can no longer separate the Now that I am from my power; the world.

Pure I is free of the doer of action. This does not mean that the body is not productive. Rather, the belief that there is a doer has been realized as false. I am Pure I during all that is being done. All that is appearing is my power and therefore is the Heart that I am. There just is no doer that is performing the action. One could say that there is pure activity that is intelligent and creative without any identification with the action or its fruits. I am free of imagining that "I am the doer" of anything. It is a false idea to consider the Heart as the doer. There simply is no doer.

Contrarily, the mind-made self that is the ego is time bound and experiences itself as the divided mind. Although an illusion, it experiences bondage. For the ego, it believes that it IS its thoughts and that it is the thinker. Lost in time, it is not conscious of the freedom that is always present.

Since it believes itself to be separate, it experiences only separation. As an illusory subject, it perceives separate objects such as other people, circumstances and things.

Because the ego believes it is separate, a personal reference point that is misidentified as the body, it also imagines that it is separate from the divine. For those who are drawn to enlightenment and curious about the Truth or longing for God, the ego begins an endless search for what is already within. It is an endless search, because the ego cannot realize the Truth. A temporary falsehood cannot meet the permanent Truth. It is itself the veil preventing Self-realization.

Through Self-inquiry and asking this question, "Who am I?" and noticing where the “I” thought arises from, the “dreaming I” is realized to be non-existent. The veil of illusion is removed and only the Self-illuminating Heart, the living Truth, remains.

While we are being Now, the conceptual “I” cannot take flight. That concept requires the mind and its time in order to separate and function. We are purely Now and its present power.

Suffering for the ego is always caused by other people and life circumstance. It therefore attempts to control and manipulate life circumstances in order to make itself relatively happy and avoid its pain. Even in this pseudo power, it is remains helpless as it is tossed about by others and life situations. It is constantly under the push and pull of its emotional state. As the ego, I AM my emotions and always under threat by some other.

Suffering for the self-observer is the body's reaction to what it believes to be its own thoughts. It eventually takes responsibility for its own emotional environment, when it realizes that it is suffering due to its own judgmental thinking. It begins experiencing emotional balance by becoming consciously present to its thoughts and emotions. By observing the thoughts and emotions, it is not as likely to be used by them.

After complete detachment from form, the witnessing consciousness emerges and being-consciousness-bliss comes to the forefront. Nonetheless, all that remains unconscious within the void of the collective continues to emerge as an overlay on the bedrock that is Truth; yet its perfume is plainly evident. This is not enlightenment, but some mistaken it as such.

The subject-witness is a study of formlessness and the witness frees ever more subtle layers of the intellect. Those are two reference points: (1) a formless witness, who objectively is witnessing (2) formlessness (awareness aware of itself). There are not two. Nonetheless, what lies unconscious within the collective surfaces and the collective pain body is freed. It transmutes into the pure consciousness that it genuinely is.

Because the ego state of consciousness is misidentified with the physical body and its limitations, it believes that it is the doer of action and is therefore responsible for the fruits of those actions. The ego believes that it is making individual, mental decisions independently and these decisions will always be based on past experience. Its divided and conditioned intelligence thereby experiences the consequences.

Pure I is beyond this law of cause and effect and thereby free of causality. The Heart is pure intelligence and potentiality that is divinely abundant, all powerful, unconditional love and perfect peace.


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