Katie Davis is a Satsang Spiritual Teacher of Advaita, Non-duality, Self-inquiry, enlightenment, spiritual awakening, the power of being now and presence. Since 1999, she has been traveling to offer satsang in communities worldwide. The Awake by Katie Blog is moderated by Katie Davis, author of "Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment." http://www.AwakebyKatie.blogspot.com
When we shift attention from compulsive thinking into the physical body, we become more aware of how we are feeling emotionally. The emotion that we are currently feeling is always a perfect reflection of our thinking.
The mind is more than our superficial thoughts. It also includes unconscious patterns, mindsets and tendencies. They may never surface in the form of an observable thought, so it may seem difficult or even impossible to bring them into consciousness.
Yet, the body is the perfect tool. If you are willing to feel the body, it never lies. We bring the feeling or emotion into the light of consciousness and simply allow it to be. I am not suggesting that you try to change anything. That is resistance and just another form of violence that will perpetuate more negativity.
Neither do we need to analyze or interpret "why" the feeling is here or "what" the feeling means. The analyzing and interpreting mind is a good tool for many things, yet not the right tool for Self-realization.
When the emotion is allowed, we are no longer controlled by it, just like when we are watching our thoughts, they can no longer use us. We no longer have emotional takeovers. Instead, we are the witnessing presence that allows everything to be as it is.
This witnessing is a harmonizing and unifying factor. In the light of attention, the darkness of negativity cannot prevail.
I am not proposing that you act the emotion out. That is the emotional takeover that will more likely than not cause another emotional reaction; causing more suffering for you and others. Nor am I speaking of repression. Repression is a form of resistance that perpetuates suffering. I am only suggesting that you consciously feel the emotion in the body and allow it to be. Be the space within which it is appearing.
In your willingness to fully feel the body, all that remains unconscious within you will be revealed until all that remains is the simple joy of being ... and that is love.
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As this year drifts by in clock time, I would like to take a moment to express this gratitude.
You have shared so much beauty!
I am grateful for the visionary art, the photos that have reflected not only this love, but also stirred compassion for the seeming reality. You have creatively written poems, notes and blogs and even vigorously debated.
The shared videos have generated love and laughter with such beautiful music that sometimes it seems like the Heart is singing. It is fun getting to know you, through your event invitations, groups and pages.
There is such wonderment in that we have somehow 'connected the dots'; these relative points in consciousness that I call Heart Friends, family and friends. I look at "My Friends' Map" and you are everywhere! :)
Though most I have never physically met directly, I greet you as love during every Maui sunset.
I see you at midnight sparkling as moonbeams over the ocean as the full moon sets over the island of Lanai.
I sense the power of love in the breech of the whales, as they are now arriving to mate and calve their young.
Even the Monarch butterflies are joyfully dancing and whispering the language of love.
May we leave no footprints ~ All Love ~ Katie Davis
Saints Bowing in Mountains by Hafiz
From the Book I Heard God Laughing, Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
Do you know how beautiful you are?
I think not, my dear
For as you talk of God,
I see great parades with wildly colorful bands
Streaming from your mind and heart,
Carrying wonderful and secret messages
To every corner of the world.
I see Saints Bowing in the Mountains
Hundreds of miles away
To the wonder of sounds
That break into light
From your most common words.
Speak to me of your mother, your cousins and your friends.
This video is a meditation on Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi's teachings and the Holy Mountain, Arunachala. Verses are from Ramana's devotional, "Five Hymns to Arunachala" Produced by James Clark
As always, when we use a word such as "witness" or even the words "I am," one can never be certain where those words are actually pointing. Likewise, when someone reads them from their present reference point, they may "think" that the words are pointing to something altogether different.
For instance, the self-observer is generally watching its thoughts, feelings and body. It may even open to a personal "I am" and recognize that it is neither this nor that. Yet, it is still looking from within the dream body ... within the dream of form.
When I speak of the "I am the witness only," the witnessing consciousness, generally speaking a profound and spontaneous detachment occurs. The world of form, including the former reference point "I am the dream body," seems somewhat remote and almost like heat haze.
Having realized that it cannot find itself ANYWHERE within form, it surrenders deeper; the only thing that seems true is the subject-witness. Some are teaching from this reference point.
It is profound since being-consciousness-bliss is dynamically at the forefront, yet the dream body and its life situation have not yet fully transformed. Suffering is still possible for the dream body, but there is no one there to suffer. This is the witness, enlightenment has not yet "happened" and neither has Self-realization.
Detachment is not separation. It actually allows the energetic beauty of oneness which is why I call it the Beauty Trap. One does not have as much incentive to continue the inquiry when everything seems beautiful ... yet the dream body continues suffering ... and no one suffers!
For the witness, generally the personal "I am" of the self-observer has transcended to the impersonal "AM" of the witness.
The witness study is generally one of formlessness, hence that feeling of being "between two worlds." It witnesses a remote dream body and its dream but is more fascinated with witnessing formlessness. Its purpose is to eradicate the collective pain body. In other words, it still has an object of observation.. either "Heart" or "world of form."
The witness is meant to be only a bridge to cross over from form into formlessness. After all, in deep sleep, there is no witness and no objects. So for the witnessing consciousness, the inquiry continues.
Enlightenment is the disappearance of the universe and it is beyond consciousness and unconsciousness. The realization of Non-duality.
Self-realization is the CONSCIOUS recognition that "I AM THAT!" It is the complete integration of formlessness as all form.
YOU are beyond all and without contradiction ALL.
Yet first things first. One can only realize who one is ... and in due time, one will then realize what all else is.
Ramana Mahrshi is one of the most revered sages of modern day India. This beautiful and compassionate video, Abide As The Self, by Inner Directions is well worth the one hour viewing time. Even if you watched this before, you will find that it is well worth reviewing. This free advaita video highlights the essential teachings of Ramana Maharshi.
Here is the free Abide As The Self video description offered by Inner Directions:
Abide As The Self is a transforming video that takes you on an inner journey into the teachings of Ramana Maharshi and the path of Self-knowledge. Comprehensive film footage of Ramana comes alive, with emphasis on the teachings of Self-Inquiry and its practical application. A special collection of rare photographs enhances Ramana's presence and captures the compassion and grace of one of the most respected sages of our time. The inspired narration by Ram Dass provides an overview of Ramana's teachings. Also included are interviews with H.W.L. Poonja, Douglas Harding, Allan W. Anderson, and others.
In Abide As the Self, you will experience how the profound teachings of Ramana Maharshi can be easily applied in our daily life. This is a deeply inspiring video in which the sage Ramana speaks directly to your heart.
"Abide As The Self skillfully interweaves old and new still photographs, excerpts from Ramana's writings, interviews with longtime devotees, narration by Ram Dass, and, not least, rare and precious footage of Ramana from 1935 to 1949. Highly recommended."
Yoga Journal
"The presence of the great Indian sage Ramana Maharshi, his clear approach to Self-Realization, and the teachings of Self-Inquiry are beautifully presented. Interviews and exceptional film footage of Ramana Maharshi make this video an inspiring and transforming experience."
New Renaissance Bookshop
"The video concludes with the encouraging words of Ram Dass, who tells us that Maharshi's message is not Indian but universal: the peace that illuminates the heart and mind is always present. Anyone curious about this aspect of Eastern spirituality will find this informative and interesting video worthwhile and surprisingly accessible to general viewers. Recommended."
Video Librarian
"Bhagavan was always silent, that is everyone's true nature . . . In this quietness the mind will automatically return to its source and there will be a tremendous fountain of peace. All doubts are cleared and one remains quiet, in the heart."
You are here now and the eyes are reading. Are you also aware of the breathing? How delicate the air feels as it moves in and out your nose! Breathing is effortlessly happening all by itself. Just rest here for a moment and be relaxed and yet alert. Take a deep breath ... and just allow the body to relax a bit little more. No need to rush on with reading or all the other things of the day or evening. Is it possible to stop a moment?
Do you note that silent space at the end of each exhale? Are you aware of it? Just listen to it for a moment. When I say listen, perhaps listen with every cell of the body. That silent and still space at the end of each breath is an opening into organic being. There is no doorway to open, it already is. Are you noticing this?
Are you aware of the simplicity of being? Did anyone ever have to teach you this fundamental sense of "I am?" We may at sometime become confused with all of its attachments or extensions, such as I am a mother, I am angry, I am afraid or whatever the case may be. Right now, I am just pointing out that while all the roles, names, circumstances and descriptions change ... the "I am" is consistently the same. Not ... "I am this" ... or "I am that," ... solely "I am."
It may seem to some that these words, "I am," are only mental and therefore they seem flat and superficial. However, I am not pointing to the head. I am asking you to truly sense the aliveness that is existence. How does the body feel, when you are conscious of being? Just allow attention to rest as being. We are not trying to go anywhere or achieve anything. Watching is always enough.
Are you inwardly quiet right now?
Thoughts and emotions are welcome here as well. One could say that they are just Heart Friends passing through. Yet, I am not asking you to follow them. I am asking you to attend only the feeling sense of being that is within the body.
If the thoughts and feelings begin clouding the inner space, no worries. We allow that to be here as well. We are only being present with what is. In case you haven't noticed, thoughts and sensations always move on. They do so on their own accord. Trying to stop or control them is not the way. Just let go.
We are passively watching and relaxed, yet profoundly alert. What the thoughts are saying is not really important. Watch the analyzing and interpreting mind trying to go to work to figure out the thought content, judge and therefore try to change them or define what the thoughts means. So, we are just present with that as well ... and nothing more.
Since we are watching the thoughts, emotions and sensations, we are able to maintain a certain equanimity, so that we do not get carried away with them. Instead of jumping into the river of thought, it is more like just resting on the bank. The thoughts are more like autumn leaves floating on the surface of the river as they flow downstream and soon each one disappears. Then, we are present with that. Instead of attaching to thoughts or identifying with them, we allow them. We detach from them, so that they are free to go.
Are you still aware of organice being right now?
As you click out of this window, are you able to continuously be aware of being as you prepare this evening's meal or drive home from work? This is a simple movement meditation without anything to manipulate or become.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj is a brilliant sage and one of the most revered spiritual teachers of modern day India. Nisargadatta passed form in 1981 at the age of 84. His primary talks are compiled in the book I Am That.
A simple man, Nisargadatta Maharaj, was a householder and shopkeeper in Bombay where he lived with his family and four children. He had not been educated formally, but came to be respected and loved for his insights into the crux of human pain and the extraordinary clarity and power of his direct discourse. Hundreds of diverse seekers traveled the globe and sought him out in his unpretentious home to hear him. To all of them he gave hope that "beyond experience is not the mind, but the self, the light in which everything appears...the awareness in which everything happens.
Awake Joy is a guide to the Heart and is designed to be your companion throughout your journey to Self-discovery. Therefore, it emphasizes significant transitions to encourage the realization of a deeper consciousness, rather than residing in any sense of arrival. If you can decipher from this section your current reference point, you will have at hand the awareness that leads to a deeper surrender that will ultimately happen anyway! The awareness of your current reference point means that you are already beyond it, since you are aware of the point. The direction is always toward that which is aware. A point of reference is a general indicator to move beyond.
As an example of using a reference point, I might ask someone for directions to a certain address. If my search address is nearby, that person might first ask, if I know where the Post Office is. I am not looking for the Post Office, but the reference point is helpful in orienting. Likewise, I am not directing you to the reference points below. They are meant for general orientation. You might first review in more depth certain sections of this book and then proceed by investigating within that area.
The analogy that I am going to apply is a multi-layered chocolate cake. I further expand the nature of the bottom layers in Part I: The Dream and Part II: The Eyewitness. I develop the top layers in Part III: The Pure Being and Part IV: The Heart. Each dimension is parallel to the one above it and all exist simultaneously, while ultimately all being only Heart.
The body reference point is the bottom layer. I am the time based ego and I am identified with the dream of form. I am not aware that I am dreaming and that my world is the mental image that I am projecting. My attention is on you and I am not conscious that this focus is to primarily enhance or protect myself. My identity is my body and I am unconscious of being. This layer is the battlefield of conflict and I am the sufferer. I am also an illusion. As the ego-body, I believe that this is the only dimension and I am not conscious of
the layers above me.
The Eyewitness reference point is the next layer and I am the self-observer. The Eyewitness is a study of me, my form and my interactions with my world; the study of the false. I am still the ego, but I am progressing toward freedom of this state of consciousness. I continue to look out at you, but I am primarily interested in “me” for the broader purpose of self-understanding. I study my personal consciousness as the subject of my world. “I am the body” idea is at the forefront and I predominantly attend my inner objects of thought, physical sensation, mental images and emotions. I am becoming conscious of my personal
suffering and how it perpetuates.
The “I am” reference point is a layer that is beyond “you and me.” I am conscious of my being and I am attending the space around my objects in the world, as well as my inner space beyond my thoughts, mental images, emotions and body. My abode is the inner body, but I am not yet free of form. I enjoy a beautiful feeling of connectivity with all being and appreciate oneness within the world of experience. In unity consciousness, you and I are one and I am at one with all that I experience. I sometimes get lost in time fixation and therefore, I still identify with thoughts, but I can release them when I become aware of it.
Detachment is not a reference point, but it is a marker. It is a thin layer of icing that is applied before adding the next cake layer. Formlessness dynamically disconnects from the body and I am no longer identified with the idea of “me.” I am now consciously awake to the dream of form and the world is unreal. This shift is a universal transition and allows the bliss of Awake Joy to vibrantly emerge. The icing bestows the mystical phenomena that are commonly associated with awakening.
“I am the witness only” reference point is formlessness and I have no form. My being has transitioned to the pure being. I am the primal sense of being-consciousness-bliss and the substratum of form. I have surrendered conflict and I am now the playground of peace. I release subtle layers of the intellect and transmute the illusion of collective suffering. If thoughts are present, I have no sense that they speak in any real way and thus personal suffering is impossible. I am also conscious that the layers below me are unreal. I am not aware that duality persists. In other words, two subtle reference points endure. I am not conscious that I am still a reference point and that I will be eliminated.
“Pure I” has no reference point whatsoever and I am the final layer of our cake. “Pure I” is enlightenment and the fulfillment of non-duality. Not one word that I could say would be true.
The Heart is Self-realization and full embodiment and I am the Totality. The bad news is that we are not going to take this cake and eat it. The good news is that we are going to give it all away by serving it. The chocolate cake is not ready to selflessly serve without the fudge frosting! The frosting is the art of awake living.
The purpose of this chart of reference points is to assist your current perception. Once perceived, it is not calling for mental interpretation. Instead, we release the perception to open to the essential Essence to which they point. Interpretation will lead to analysis and theories, which will conceal and sabotage the purpose of the charting.
Throughout all of these transitions, the Pure Awareness that I am never changes. Whether I seem to take on form or not, in every case, I am the Eternal Now. I no longer differentiate between any of my dimensions and I am fully integrated as the Totality.
Below is a list of a few movies that I have enjoyed that are reflections (some more, some less) of the greater awakening story.
I notice today that most are comedy films and so perhaps this is a reminder that one need not take the daytime dream so seriously and that a sense of humor might indeed become handy during the awakening to the dream process; especially when observing the insanity of the dual mind.
Since I LOVE movies of the Heart, if you have a moment, I would appreciate your additional suggestions! :-)
Just the title of the movie is fine or you are welcome to share a comment why you feel this movie is a good parallel or reflection of the greater awakening or perhaps it is that radiant stillness became more consciously present through the sheer beauty ... as stillness IS ... sometime it writes and speaks in a mystical manner that carries the perfume of the deeper dimension ... that is beyond the superficial story.
Perhaps you have rented them for entertainment and as you watched, you began wondering whether the screenwriter either consciously or intuitively was using the movie it as a metaphor for spiritual awakening or was indicating a shift in consciousness.
Some of the movies, I watched before the awakening (now 23 years ago, so some are quite old!). When I watched them after the awakening, it was so surprising and quite humorous to discover that I had previously missed the truer storyline altogether!
Of course, none is more fascinating and adventuresome than the daytime dream of infinite possibilities that spontaneously plays day in and day out that some refer to as the "ordinary" life. It displays right before us as a mirror and can be free of the "star" of the show!
These are all Wikipedia links. Some trailers are on YouTube.
(Comedy) Even the title reflects the True-Man story. This is probably the best movie I have ever seen that reflects the entire awakening process; from the shift from real to the unreal and finally beyond, the unnoticed intermittent "commercials" point to the dream's unreality, the all powerful "movie director" above the stage setting dropping a stage light almost on Truman's head, the shift to self-observation, witnessing, sailing the sea of samsara (suffering) and finally falling out of his tiny boat of false identity to "walk on water" until Truman bumps into the screen upon which the movie is cast, opens the door and exits the dream to freedom.
(Musical ~ Based on a children's novel published in 1900) Dorothy's dream-state throughout the movie, "don't pay any attention to that little man behind the curtain," the search for the Heart, the mind, courage in the search and the yearning and longing to "go home." The beginning is in black and white and then transforms into full color as they adventure toward "freedom." In the end, Dorothy merely wakes up and discovers that she had only been dreaming.
(Comedy) John Cusack gets spontaneously "sucked" into a vacuum that is the void located behind a secret door in an office (story) that is on a half-sized floor (the small daytime dream) and lands inside the head of John Malcovich. Here he is a witness to John Malcovich's dream reality. Each time, John Cusack is suddenly cast out of the dream, shoots into the air and lands outside beside the freeway; much as those who get a glimpse of the "real" suddenly fall asleep again in the dream and the ego begins a hopeless and almost addictive search to grasp it once again. I enjoyed the representation of oneness or unity consciousness when John Malcovich begins seeing John Malocvich everywhere; the diner, the waiter, even the menu items. Touches on reincarnation.
(Comedy) Commercial exploitation by being asleep in the dream, Albert contacts two existential detectives (Tomlin and Hoffman) to realize what he calls "universal connectivity" that coincides with transcendentalism. The detectives spy on Albert, so he is always being watched (the witness). Albert learns how to disconnect his inner being from the problematic life situation, drama, misery and meaningless; climbing the ladder to pseudo-power to synthesize a non-thinking state of pure being. Albert "attains" enlightenment and the cosmic truth of everything. "We bring our own chains to human existence."
Fighting over the remote that controls the black and white television (daytime dream), Reese and Tobey "disappear" into the television and emerge in another black and white daytime dream reality named Pleasantville that is isolated from the rest of the world. The teens are unable to return to the "old world." A type of sexual revolution in Pleasantville begins as the characters discover sexuality and after their encounters, they emerge as full color beings, rather than as they were previously in black and white. I took this as perhaps a more commercially popular compromise to what might have been truly encountered ... the full color bloom of true love; such as when you get out of your mind and into the body, it seems like the body is sensing for the very first time and everything seems so vibrant and alive. The people in Pleasantville then begin to revel in new creative passions, new freedoms and hidden abilities. As the people transform, so does the world transform, as the entire environment begins to emerge in alive, full color.
Trivia question of the day ... are there others that you might recommend?
I am sharing a photo that I took at a Maui beach a couple evenings ago, so that you might appreciate its beauty and sacredness. This beauty does not need to be understood. In fact, if you bring the mind to a sunset or even to this photo, you are likely to miss its multi-dimensional depth altogether.
The photo may be more appreciated by those who have experienced these golden sunsets, when we can only softly murmur “beautiful …” or simply smile in knowing gratitude. Because a sunset is perceivable by the senses, we describe it as real and perhaps have some sort of mutual understanding.
For someone who is blind and without the gift of eyesight, the affinity is obviously less tenable. Similarly, to speak of the lovely fragrance of a rose would be essentially meaningless to someone who has never smelled one. Just as when I speak of the great silence within, if it has never been encountered, some still take little notice and therefore consensus is as yet a latent possibility.
The Heart of pure beingness is not perceivable to the senses, so the mind and especially the ego would likely label who I am as unreal. Further, it has not been experienced and never will be. Nonetheless, I can be realized.
It seems very popular right now to speak of evolution, yet it seems a distraction to the ultimate task at hand and nothing to do with either enlightenment or Self-realization. While I am not a scientist who could study these matters and this is not to be taken as a theory for or against evolution, I can only say that the ego would love this idea, since it could measure the evolved over the un-evolved.
Can we see that evolution is progression and a future fixation? Are you really going to wait for the evolution of the species that might take eons? “Yes,” replies the ego, “This is very good indeed.”
Are you still holding to the hundredth monkey theory that “everyone else” can do the work and you will simply fall in? The essential truth is already here and now.
Evolution appears and happens to form. Form is a dream, whether within DNA or otherwise. Are you waiting for the evolution of a dream? Do you wait for your nighttime dreams to evolve? No, you wake up.
If you are speaking of the evolution of consciousness, it does not need to be other than it is. Where you are looking from becomes the key to the dissolution of the apparent altered states of consciousness.
Through spiritual awakening, many are discovering that the world perceived by the senses is unreal and no more than a dream. We are then awake to the dream of form. Fewer have realized that the body called “you” is also part of the dream and that “you” are not the dreamer!
Sundance and I are in a new research study group of scientists. Before our meeting them, one had conducted an experiment and accidentally discovered that the result of their experiment varied. Without watching, the result was one way and when watched, the result changed. In other words, the attention of the observer changes the observed. This has dynamically shifted their scientific research from the object observed to the inner science of the subject. Here, the scientist and the spiritualist begin meeting.
The very fact that the object observed is impermanent and changes with attention points to the unreality of the dream of form. It is hardly fixed and never free of change. In other words, the dream is malleable. One does not need to change anything within the dream. It is through attention alone that the objects within the dream change.
This is similar to what we share with those who are awakening. There is a harmonizing and unifying factor between the witness and what we previously defined as the person. That factor is the power of consciousness. Through attention, the person and the life situation effortlessly transform without “doing” anything within the dream. The transformation happens by itself according to who is looking.
The question remains who is the subject? Who is watching? Who are you? If the attention is still from a reference point within an altered state of consciousness, the dream appears accordingly with indications of limitation, separation, causality (time) and suffering.
However, if one is willing to be patient and continue the deeper inquiry with attention turned inward, the mirror of the mind is clarified and it becomes free of all apparent altered states of consciousness. A clear mirror is able to “receive” the “light” and becomes illuminated and therefore capable of reflecting pure consciousness; made possible by the perfection of the Heart.
The question is, is there a subject? In enlightenment, both subject and object disappear and we realize who we are prior to consciousness. So obviously, this is not a conscious experience, since it is beyond the field of attention, and is the realization of Non-duality. When consciousness reappears, it is wise love.
On the other hand, Self-realization is complete integration with form, free of all reference points altogether and still free of duality. As the Heart, I am not a Source from which all else flows. I am That which makes the immense field of pure consciousness possible, within which all limited reference points are contained or superimposed, whether presently perceived to be real or unreal. The Heart is beyond all and without contradiction is All. There is no "all else." Only I am.
Every day, I write all these words to point to the great silence and yet in this reality, words do not really matter much. They just flow through consciousness like a river, while we attend. Words are only symbols and always point to their essence. Still, they carry the scent of the great silence. Are you sensing it?
One could say that true compassion is writing and its prayer is to elevate all suffering. In case you have not heard the good news, perfect peace is available to every human being and not reserved for a fortunate few.
Simplicity, clarity, immeasurable love and utter fearlessness are available through direct Self-realization. Of course these too are only words and until their essence has been directly realized, the enormity of the impact cannot be understood.
Meanwhile, my only purpose is to point to what genuinely is and humbly suggest where to look. It then requires earnestness in noticing, so that the false is encountered, surrendered and the realization is direct.
There are no obstacles to realizing who you already are, just false ideas, and when you bring them into the powerful field of attention, they surrender on their own accord. In surrender, wise love consciously emerges with greater intensity and immensity, until it is realized that love is the only omnipotent power in the universe.
I am also here to help guide and support the art of stabilizing this spiritual realization in consciousness, so that there is no gap between that which has been realized and everyday living. We shift from reaction to compassionate response that honors life with kindness, patience, generosity, selfless service and understanding.
This wild love is active, integrated and functional and incidentally madly uncontrollable.
On Conscious TV in London, England, Renate McNay interviews Katie Davis, author of "Awake Joy" on spiritual awakening, enlightenment, Non-duality, Advaita and Self-realization. Iain McNay is producer of ConsciousTV. (9 minutes)
On Conscious TV in London, England, Renate McNay interviews Katie Davis, author of "Awake Joy" on spiritual awakening, enlightenment, Non-duality, Advaita and Self-realization. Iain McNay is producer of ConsciousTV. (8 minutes)
On Conscious TV in London, England, Renate McNay interviews Katie Davis, author of "Awake Joy" on spiritual awakening, enlightenment, Non-duality, Advaita and Self-realization. Iain McNay is producer of ConsciousTV. (9 minutes)
On Conscious TV in London, England, Renate McNay interviews Katie Davis, author of "Awake Joy" on spiritual awakening, enlightenment, Non-duality, Advaita and Self-realization. Iain McNay is producer of ConsciousTV. (9 minutes)
On Conscious TV in London, England, Renate McNay interviews Katie Davis, author of "Awake Joy" on spiritual awakening, enlightenment, Non-duality, Advaita and Self-realization. Iain McNay is producer of ConsciousTV. (8 minutes)
On Conscious TV in London, England, Renate McNay interviews Katie Davis, author of "Awake Joy" on spiritual awakening, enlightenment, Non-duality, Advaita and Self-realization. Iain McNay is producer of ConsciousTV. (7 minutes)
That which is perceivable is born of pleasure or pain, whereas the Heart and the illumined mind’s pure consciousness display as a wise love and a certain charity for life, while transcending the dual opposites of the pleasure-pain cycle.
The altered state of consciousness (ego) changes along with its perceived conditions and only experiences its own judgment. That judgment is either based on past experience or an imagined future. The reaction varies according to the mind’s desire for pleasure or fear of pain based on its delusion of separation.
The egoic “I” and its body are time and therefore cannot be conscious of the formless and timeless now. Egoic “I” as identity is the obstruction.
Ego can become sort of present with the content of the present moment which is an important first step. Yet the body as identity cannot step out of space and time. You are not in space and time. They are within you.
What is independent of time is beyond the mind, its consciousness and remains uncreated and changeless; pure potentiality.
The consciousness of change points to the fact that you are already changeless; just as the consciousness of thought, emotion, the body, mental images, physical energies, memory, cognition, perception and evermore subtle layers of the intellect imply that you are beyond all of them.
Some say that when the mind dissolves that "nothing" remains and yet nothing also depends on “something.” It is another concept imposed by the divided mind before its dissolution. Nothing is dependent on the memory of something.
Are you losing your mind?
No, all that dies is its idea of separation as identity and therefore the end of suffering.
Pure Beingness is independent from that which is definable and altogether free of existence ... yet identical and the same!
Consciousness also comes and goes, while Pure Awareness alone "shines."
However this word "awareness" is used by many and one can never be certain when it is used, where the word is truly pointing or where "you think" that it is pointing. It always depends upon who is looking. Are we speaking of the physical eye's attention that is the person, or the watcher that is the self-observer, or the field of attention of the witnessing consciousness, or is it beyond all?
I suppose we could speak of who I am as Pure I or the Heart, yet being indescribable, any word falls short.
Simply put, I am beyond all and without contradiction all of the above.
When one's identity is based solely on the person, there is consciousness, the "I am" that is existence and this existence is still witnessed. Witnessing is the subtle fabric of the mind and disappears with all its objects.
The witness is still within duality and hence we have this sense of being “between two worlds” that appears after complete and spontaneous detachment; formlessness that is separate from all form and still unity consciousness.
This separation ceases in Non-duality and the fully integrated life of Self-realization.
Being-consciousness-bliss depends upon “one another,” as well as upon the Supreme Reality.
In the Non-dual reality, all is real whether in movement or motionless, yet it is only the mind that moves creating the illusion.
For the "aspirant," it must be understood that virtually nothing that can be perceived or conceptualized can be who you are.
That which is witnessed is the mind's imagination and you will find that this is based on either the mind’s fear or desire.
The daytime dream is just that … a dream … it has continuity solely due to memory. Just like your nighttime dreams, you can wake up.
Within consciousness, there are infinite universes and when you realize that you are that which makes all possible (including the mind’s consciousness), you may experience any of these real/unreal dimensions, whenever they happen or appear.
They are just as real/unreal as your present daytime dream. Some are denser and others illuminated with more light, such as when only wise love prevails or when they are free of judgment and therefore negativity.
Each operates under different “universal” laws. Once again, by trial and error, these laws reveal themselves.
Could it be possible that we never step into the same river twice?
Are the laws that we have learned and been conditioned to believe for this “dimension” that we call “earth and universe” truly steadfast and “universal” or is it just that we believe in those limitations and mind structure?
Alas! First things first, before the adventures begin!
May I repeat and profoundly stress that as alluring as this might be for the mind and its consciousness, you are never anything that you can perceive!
This requires that you to step out of the tiny boat of personal identity that is the body limitation with its given name for an address. We lose nothing. We shift in identity only.
Nothing you perceive is your own.
First is the great disappearance of the universe. Then, when the consciousness of the illumined mind is pure and the world reappears, nothing is the same.
While extraordinary or dumbfounding, visions are essentially meaningless. You know who is calling you back!
Who are you really is the only essential question.
The invitation is to contemplate this and examine carefully so that this is realized directly.
Nothing of true value can come from the impermanent “outside.”
You are only limited by the perception of yourself and the body is only another object seeming to appear in the ever changing field of consciousness.
I merely make all things possible, including nothing.
The only thing required is to be aware of being and all will be effortlessly revealed.
Apply the Self-inquiry question, “Who am I?” each time the compulsive, altered state of consciousness projects towards its sense objects and refuses to remain as the resting power that is the witness. This is not immediate! Persistence is required.
Self-inquiry is successful!
Where is “I” arising from?
Even here as the witness, you will disappear, so continue the Self-inquiry as the altered states of consciousness dissolve and the mirror of the mind gains perfect clarity and therefore a perfect reflection.
Finally, attend satsang with a “realized teacher.”
I believe the analogy used by many is that a wet log is nearly impossible to light with a single match, yet when you drop it into a roaring fire, it readily ignites. You will notice that for weeks after satsang the intensity seems to increase. One fine day, it will never again diminish. Yet, this too is a misperception.
The sun remains as brilliant on a cloudy day as when the sky is blue.
Satsang is not the entire answer. Awareness of being as an all day-long movement meditation, Self-inquiry and satsang, intensives or longer silent retreats are simple answers.
Further, once all of the wrong ideas are removed, what remains is Truth and the talks offered during satsang assist this right understanding, while silently burning tendencies.
While you cannot know who you are, since you are beyond the mind and its cognition, you can learn all that you are not and once directly encountered and spontaneously surrendered, what remains is who you really are.
However once again, if the one who is pointing is only half way up the mountain, detours and dead ends are likely. Nonetheless, when you are ready, the “appropriate teacher” finds you and conditions appear without seeking, evaluation and choice.
Everywhere you are is perfection.
It all happens by itself.
Deeply contemplate each of these paragraphs over time and when appropriate. The timeless has no issue with time.
I am not asking you to philosophize, agree, disagree or “do” anything. That would be counterproductive. Contemplation is meditation and deep noticing.
What seems to be true right now may in fact be false later. So we crystallize nothing and change nothing.
