Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Pure Mind by Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"

Questioner: What is "pure mind" and what is meant by "killing the mind"?


Katie: When you use the word "mind," where is that word pointing?


Questioner: Thoughts. Does it include feelings? Emotions? I don't know.


Contributor: It includes all, but the point is who's behind the mind? Killing the mind is simply to distance from it just as an observer.


Katie: When I use the word "mind" it points to thoughts and just as you say the mental-emotional aspect of the mind, mental images, physical energies and ever more subtle layers of the intellect. It includes both perception and cognition, understanding and the idea of selfhood, as well as the subject-witness.

Our primary concern is identification with thought and first and foremost, the "I" thought that is the body. This association is an illusion. Nothing wrong with the beautiful body of course, but when we limit ourselves to the body only as identity, we cannot be aware of the greater consciousness that we genuinely are.

The first step then is to observe thought which leads to "detachment" from thought. Instead of riding along on a train of thought, with detachment, thoughts float by like leaves in a river of consciousness, while we remain still. Thoughts are free and so is the one watching.

The mind is stilled, meaning there are not thoughts. Although, enlightenment is more than the blank mind state. We have shifted from the projecting power of mind to the resting power of mind successfully and that is beautiful ... yet not Self-realization.

When they speak of purifying the mind, they are speaking of tendencies or vasanas. The mind is a mirror that is covered with fog, much like the bathroom mirror after taking a shower. To clear the bathroom mirror, we merely open the door. To clear the mirror of the mind, we turn the mind within through Self-inquiry. Turned within, the mirror is cleared by the light of consciousness. It happens by itself.

When there are no more tendencies, we realize that there is no such thing as a separate mind. All is consciousness. So in fact, there is no 'mind' to kill. Anyway, the one that would try to kill the mind is the same mind. It just won't happen!

Even the separate sense of self, the ego-I, is merely an altered state of consciousness. So we hold onto it and focus all attention on the feeling of I-ness. This is the paradox. Even though it appears as a false I, we focus attention upon it.

Not awareness of I, which maintains duality, but rather Being I.

In attention, thought is stilled. It does not become the ego's story of "I am this" and "I am that." The altered states will burn away and the Pure I that you already are shines as the Heart.

Being I ... simply BE STILL ... as you are.

The effort in trying to still the 'mind' is only more agitation. It is the same divided 'mind' that it is trying to still itself. Mind cannot be 'fixed' at the level of the mind. Instead, we focus attention and realize the perfect peace that is beyond the mind ... that already is. In this, what never was dissolves.



Contributor: And purity is equanimity, equanimity to all that goes on mind. It's identification with likes and dislikes which causes the bondage and suffering.


Katie: Just as you say, when we observe thoughts, it does indeed 'distance' the observer, so that thoughts do not use us.

Thoughts are not really problematic. It is the identification where we 'lose' who we are.

I might point out that identification requires time.

So when we are solidly and consciously in the body (part of the content of the present moment), we are no longer lost in the head and less likely to attach to compulsive thinking.

That present moment is appearing within time. It is appearing within the formless NOW that is completely free of time, free of the content of the present moment and indeed already free of thought.

The body is a perfect tool for presence. Attend its breathing and the past and future fade away.

Time = mind = suffering. Remove time from the equation and the identification and suffering disappear.



Contributor: And it's so wonderful to be distanced from the thoughts and actions, a kind of kingly feeling. You know this very well, Katie!


Katie: Indeed, purity is equanimity and innocent stillness.

Free of identification with the ego-I, we are also free of all of its judgments that become likes and dislikes that separate us from the beauty of all experience and the stillness from which it arises ... all is whole and complete ... equanimity.

The tendency is to try to manipulate likes and dislikes. Or some will even work for years on judgment. Instead, what is prior to judgment? When the ego-I thought falls ... all judgments, concepts and beliefs fall along with it.

How could there ever be equanimity and peace with a separated I?

That one believes in separation and therefore only perceives separation.

"ME" against the world, for or against God; separate from everything.

How is it possible to be separate from something called the Totality?

No wonder that tiny thought feels alienated, lonely and fragmented. Separate from love, separate from happiness, separate from every person and thing. No wonder it is sad, fearful and angry!

Yet when we look for it ... it is nowhere to be found ... other than the thought of separation.

Instead of seeking enlightenment, seek the "I."

From whence does it arise?

You will find that it (YOU) are already shining as the Heart that is beyond all and All.

Nonetheless, don't toss that ego "I" out. Focus attention ... Being I.

All the altered states (tendencies/vasanas) burn away ... effortlessly so.

Such simplicity ... Be Still.

Being I.

People speak of how complex Self-realization is.

It is the MIND that is complex and the 'mind' is not.

Each time attention shifts to I am this or that ... and gets lost in the story, just stop.

No big deal. Be still, being I, during all that is being done.

False identification is false bondage and needless suffering.



Contributor: "It is the mind that is complex", "being I is so simple" This sums up your flowing explanation. Well, what you have written is so insightful and it is befitting to be posted on your blog for the benefit of all other friends. Thank you, K!


Katie: Being I is so simple ... So much love and thank you for the suggestion about the blog. There have been many fine and creative ideas offered today.

Some schools refer to the pure mind as nirvana blue or what I call the blue void. This is still an experience. 

Whereas enlightenment is no experience at all ... beyond the experience of no experience. You are prior to consciousness.

Nirvana is the realization of pure consciousness or full emptiness. It is the highest happiness that is transcendental bliss. 

Pure consciousness is the unconditioned 'mind' and its state is perfect lucidity and clarity. Ecstatic bliss is divine love ... deep, cool blue with extraordinary luminosity.

Whereas YOU, dear Heart Friend, are That which makes all possible. 

Not one word that I could say would be true. If you remember enlightenment, it is not enlightenment. No memory! I am beyond cognition, so I remain the Great Mystery. I only BE who I am.

Indeed, I am beyond all and All ... that is Self-realization; realizing who I am as the Totality.



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Saturday, June 5, 2010

You Are Already the Ultimate Reality by Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"


Perhaps you have heard now that Self-realization is a possibility for every human being. Previously, enlightenment was considered to be available only to a gifted few, who were referred to as saints or sages. Today, this is not so and in fact, you have the opportunity right now to be free of the idea of time, separation and therefore free of all psychological suffering.

The only obstruction is a case of mistaken identity. Commonly, people assume that they are the body only, with its given name, since this is what we were conditioned to believe; a finite body born into time that will eventually die and, during this relatively short lifespan, live within the confines and limitations of the physical form with its conditioned attitudes and beliefs that lead to either pleasure or pain.

Perhaps through chance, we finally hear the remarkable good news that we are indeed not the mind-body involved in a psychological process of becoming something more. Indeed, we hear that we are already the Ultimate Reality that is inseparable from unconditional love, causeless joy and perfect peace; a universal intelligence, within which the entire universe is appearing!

Further, we are told that once realized, it will seem so simple and obvious that we will be dismayed that who we really are was ever overlooked. Nonetheless, as unbelievable that this might seem, it is still relatively rare that one will hear this message and become curious enough to realize the truth. This is indeed changing as all things do.

The invitation today is to look to discover the truth, so that all that is false is directly perceived. When that which is false is noticed, it spontaneously falls away to reveal a deeper truth.

With learning rather than looking, we only acquire new beliefs. For example, someone might have taught you what honey tastes like, where to find it and many other interesting facts, but you cannot say with any certainty that you know honey, until you have had the direct experience in the tasting.

Honey however is an objective experience; something other than we are. So when we hear the pointer to seek the source of the ego-I thought, we begin seeking it objectively. Traditionally, this is what the mind naturally does, when it looks for the source of things. It seeks among the separate things themselves. Normally, the mind searches among objects.

Contrary to what the ego thinks, you are not just another object appearing in the world. While ultimately not quite true, YOU are the SOURCE of all objects. So to realize this, the looking must be within you.

Today's message is to merely turn within. Habitually, the mind's attention is turned outward and it experiences only what is in space and time. The mind turned outward is the home of the ego-body, its world and suffering. With the mirror of the mind turned inward, the light of consciousness burns all of the fog off the mirror. When the fog is cleared, it is able to reflect pure light. Then, all is bathed in radiant love's light!

Self-realization calls for turning the mind's attention within. There is an unfathomable and timeless dimension within you, whose portal can only be accessed right now, through the physical body into its inner body that is beyond thought, emotion and form. This dimension is not an object. It is essentially who you infinitely are.

Mind turned outward is space, time and suffering.

Mind turned within is timelessly the Heart of all being.

When we turn within, it is essentially the beginning of a new life.


Katie Davis Website www.KatieDavis.org
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