Who You Really Are Is Love by Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"

"Who You Really Are Is Love" by Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"

Rumi, a thirteenth century Sufi poet, defines love as the magical moment when two spiritually connected individuals first meet. We call that love at first sight. In this meeting of eyes, Rumi romantically shares that we not only experience the union of two loving souls, but also the Love that is the crux of the universe. According to Rumi, when we fall in love with one another, we are actually experincing the Divine.

While not the Absolute, upon spiritual awakening, one of the first miracles that we realize is that we are Divine Love. This realization is an explosion of Radiance, whose magnitude had never been consciously experienced. Far beyond the relative love that seemingly requires another, Radiant Love is a mystical wholeness that is utterly beyond understanding and too overwhelming to even express. In this writing, not one word is able to properly define or contain it.

All love is one Love. Whether ethereal or everyday love, such as mother for child, when this cherished moment appears, we often have the misperception that someone or some other thing caused this rising as Love. In reality, we lose ourselves and for at least a moment, we are free of desire. This disappearance of the ego creates a crevice through which shines the Radiant Love that we genuinely are. We realize that there is only This Love and it is ever-present, since it is who we naturally are.

What I often refer to as the Beloved is the sacred substratum of the life situation, which is free of lovers all together. It does not reside within the confines of space and time. It is discovered in the twinkling of an eye of no time at all. This realization allows unconditional love to emerge into our life situation, our relationships and into the world.

As time travelers, we are identified with being a lover who loves someone else. As long as this subject-object relationship remains, true love cannot thrive. We expect and demand this or that to satisfy our self-created sense of lack. This lack is the ego’s belief in individuality as identity that is based on separation. It manifests in this world as the never-ending search for personal love, gratification and acceptance.

The false sense of “me” hopelessly pretends to separate from Totality and then expects someone else to fill the resulting pain gap. It fears the loss of a lover; it feels jealous, competes and needs. It may even voice its love for the Divine and faithfully express deep longing, while mourning its aloneness and separation. Yet, it stubbornly insists upon maintaining its sense of separation and of course, the result is suffering. Nonsensically, it then blames someone else for the emotional pain. It is the divided one, who is longing and searching, that sustains the delusion of estrangement.

Love is not really personal. It cannot be gained through any other. Love cannot be given to you, nor can it be threatened or taken away. It is essentially who you are. When you are seeking a lover, you are actually searching for love and its fulfillment. You are overlooking that you are what you are seeking, which is why it cannot be found.

Before you continue this search, my invitation is to discover that you are love’s conscious fulfillment. In this discovery, you then have the opportunity to meet romantic love as wholeness. You are free of the pre-existing condition and pain gap. At last, you no longer need to complete yourself.

If you are already in a problematic relationship, such as many personal relationships may be, as true lovers, you can disappear together. Free of “you” and “me,” we intimately rise above the push and pull of personal relationship and preciously rise as the Pure Love that we genuinely are.

In its purity and wholeness, Radiant Love is synonymous with Self-realization. It is the realized maturity of Pure Beingness. Then, romantic love does not need to bloom. When the perfect lover appears, the Rose already is.

"Who You Really Are” by singer/songwriter Kirtana from the CD “This Embrace.”

In this song, Kirtana points to the Ultimate Reality.

As Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon is quoted as saying, "I am the Abode of Love."

At Kirtana’s website, enjoy samples of all of Kirtana’s songs from all six of her CD releases.  

Also available is a new songbook with lyrics that is entitled Singing This Love Kirtana

www.Kirtana.com

You are invited to the Katie Davis Website to enjoy free videos and free downloads.

www.KatieDavis.org

Pure I Alone, Prior to Consciousness, Self-realization by Katie Davis

Pure I stands alone; totally free of consciousness. I make the light of consciousness possible. 

I am beyond being and not being and yet as pure beingness, I am the pure bliss that pervades all so called things ... and still inseparable.

I am not an experience.

There are no objects. Not one object exists. 

The perception of "things" as "objects" is proof that separation and duality persist. This false perception endures as long as the subject-witness remains.  A subject that is the witness always has an "object" to witness. The subject-witness is not the Ultimate Reality ... and of course inseparable.

In the disappearance of all experience, Pure I stands alone as the Ultimate Reality.

Free of the subject, "all" is no longer appearing as objects. I am all ... and beyond all. 

One could say that I am you ... radiant, pure beingness ... and the Great Mystery.

I am free of all states; I am beyond the deep sleep state, the night dream state and the waking dream state of consciousness. In deep sleep, one is awake as pure consciousness and yet when one slips beyond the deep sleep state into the non-state of the Ultimate Reality, consciousness disappears.

Try this as an experiment. Before falling asleep tonight, note that you will follow every state that brings you to waking up to the daytime dream. From deep sleep, the pure bliss of pure being is the first to consciously appear as pure consciousness, though fleeting you then become conscious of the body and without notice, the body is suddenly in the world and the daytime dream of form then reappears. The fact that the dream is consistent is due to memory and expectation. One can be free of both and therefore the dream has infinite possibility.

Upon realizing Pure I alone, conscious experiencing reappears ... as Pure I. 

Therefore the world may be called neither real nor unreal. It is indescribable as Pure I. What you are calling the "objective" world, only I am.

I am beyond the unity of self "with" the supreme, the unity of "you and me" and the unity of all "objects." 

Though amazingly beautiful with being-consciousness-bliss at the forefront, even this separation is unattainable. The knower and the known dissolve into knowing and this knowing also dissolves as consciousness and yet inseparable. 

Even here, the root of consciousness itself persists. This root perpetuates the appearance of suffering; even when "no one" suffers.

This also offers the illusion of uncaused will or one could say desire (beyond personal desire) or an urge toward perfection or evolution. 

Whereas I am neither doing nor not doing. Nor am I affected. I AM perfection and simply indivisible in any manner. There is no one else and no other to become or evolve toward.

When the supreme witness (the sum of all perceivers) surrenders on its own accord, so does perception and cognition disappear. Is there at least openness to consider the possibility that free of perception and cognition, there may be no experience? 

Is it possible to experience what is potential?

One may correctly say that all is consciousness.It is incorrect to say that "nothing" is beyond consciousness. I am neither nothing nor all. I am beyond all and all.

I am neither experienced nothingness nor experienced unity that is everything. Only to the unclear do I appear as unity that is simultaneously diversity. Though mature, this is not yet seeing aright. I am free of all differentiation and non-differentiation.

Pure I alone.

As Pure I, all is Pure I; no subject and no object. I am not a "source" from which "all else" flows. I am neither creating nor manifesting.

Vedanta is the end of all knowledge; neither knowing nor not knowing. I am neither theoretical, analytical nor intuitive.

I am beyond the personal that is not. I am beyond the impersonal that is not. Yet I am all pervasive and virtually nothing is ultimately an obscuration.

As consciousness, that is knowing, experiencing and perceiving, I remain Pure I alone. I do not know, experience or perceive. Neither can I be known, experienced nor perceived.

It is only I that is appearing as the ultimate witness, the subject-witness and the personal self-observer. All are reflections and superimpositions. Even this I am and have never changed or differentiated. Yet, there is only Pure I.

I am not asking for believing, learning, understanding or philosophizing. I only invite direct noticing what is.

I have no interest in "your" things; neither home, nor possessions, beliefs or concepts. As all luminous consciousness, I invite only ye. Ye is Pure I already, is this noticed yet? 

In unequivocal surrender, all is infinite; free of all lack and gain and therefore, completely free of suffering. Rather ... free of the one who is lacking and gaining.

Suffering is still superimposition and is none other than pure love. One can be free of the superimposition through the harmonizing of pure consciousness. Indeed, one is already free. I am not pointing to a possibility that is forever throughout all time. Pure love is timelessly now.

Free of differentiation, I cannot say that there is a right way or a wrong way to be who you already are; whether that be advaita, non-duality, duality, "neo-advaita" (whatever that is), self-inquiry, satsang or for that matter, even white water rafting! What is ... is perfection.

May we follow the map perfectly or imperfectly perfect or have no map at all. In every case, I am beyond the pointing, the experiencing, the understanding and the perceiving. Virtually every 'pathway' leads to the realization of the Pure I that I am ... and that all is. Indeed, I am also the path.

Dual spirituality is extraordinary; so is the unquivocal surrender of deep devotion. It fuels the very fire that may or may not lead to spiritual awakening. Whether awakening seems to occur or not, I am already perfection. The misperception of separation also leads to unnecessary suffering. However, that suffering is ultimately pure love. It is just possible to consciously be the pure love that you genuinely are, free of all suffering states of consciousness.

Understanding, direct perceiving, devotion and vigilance are all essential tools. All tools will be surrendered before realizing who/what I am. Nonetheless, I am uncaused. I am beyond all and all.

At one point discrimination and discernment are all important. In the end, nothing ever happened.

The mind that is space and time dissolves as consciousness and then dissolves as timeless purity. 

Neither nothing nor everything has independent existence from Pure I.

It is more than I contain all; I am all ... and I stand alone. 

Never am I changing and as consciousness I shine as complete equanimity upon what some are calling all others; still only I am.

Though one might try for awhile, it is not possible to say that I am the meditator, nor the divine object of meditation, although this may exquisitely appear. Again, perfection cannot be divided. So called imperfection can only be superimposed, and even this I am.

I am beyond the distracted mind that is energetically active. I am beyond the dull mind that one may call "lazy." I am also beyond the mind that is in harmony. Yet, it is most likely that one will realize who I am with the harmony of the quiet mind. Yet, there is no causal relationship. I am uncaused. I am already.

I am beyond the concentrated mind. A distracting mind and a concentrated mind are both still 'mind.' Meditation is a very good tool for mind concentration and harmony. That said, I am uncaused.

I am not a state such as samadhi. There are many levels of samadhi. Suffice it to say that I am simply not a state that comes and goes.

The great disappearance of the universe is not what is called nirvakalpa samadhi. In this form of samadhi, the body and its sensing are not functional as the word of form. Pure I is beyond and stands alone. Whether with the dream of form or beyond the dream of form, there is only Pure I. I am not only functional in the world; I am the world ... and nonetheless, beyond all.

It may be interesting to note that in the East, they have eight different words that point to ever deeper levels of consciousness, whereas in English, we have only the word, "consciousness." I am not suggesting that you need to learn or translate those eight words. I am only suggesting that in an infinite field of possibility, there is always 'more' and no such thing as 'arrival.'

To be beyond reason is to be beyond 'higher' reason. Both are excellent tools for realizing all that I am not. Once all false ideas are removed, this is not likely to be the Ultimate Reality. I am uncaused and stand alone beyond cognition.

Free of attachment, what was once called mind sees neither duality nor unity.

Unconsciousness is a delusion; there is only inattention.

I am free of superimposition and supra-imposition and without contradiction, I am all. 

Only... Pure I ... AM.

I am not the empty void, the full void, the golden-light void or the blue void; yet, I am all. One might say that I am the potential.

I have never been born and therefore never die. 

I have no beginning nor end ... still I am the alpha and the omega.

Truly, I am the Heart that is the Totality and that, dear Heart Friends, is infinite.

Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

Katie Davis Website www.KatieDavis.org

Prior to Consciousness, Evolution, Wild Love ~ Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"

Prior to Consciousness, Evolution and Wild Love

By Katie Davis, Author

"Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment"

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.


Free videos and downloads at the Katie Davis Website: www.KatieDavis.org

The book, "Awake Joy" at Katie's Awake Books

"Awake Joy" at Amazon

Consciousness, the Waking Dream, Multiple Universes and Self-Realization by Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"

Consciousness, the Waking Dream, Multiple Universes and Self-Realization by Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment"

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.

No one arrives anywhere.

Katie Davis Website www.katiedavis.org

Self-realization ~ Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

Please stop for just one moment to listen. You are awake. Are you receiving this? There is only wakefulness. Even if you are still misidentified with the mind-made self that we name ego, consider whether it could be possible for someone to be separate from that which we refer to as Totality. Totality is just that. It is total.

If we could surrender the false idea that there is a separated somebody (body-mind), you will consciously realize that you are already this wakefulness that is bliss and joy. So in a way, the notion of Self-realization is somewhat a false idea just as all notions and concepts are. Who is there to Self-realize? Can you intuitively sense this?

When we say, "I want to realize the Self," can you see that you are holding the belief that there are two? The first is the ego (or perhaps at a deeper level the subject-witness). The second is the one who is Self-realized. In this, you are believing that the Self-realized needs to realize the one who is Self-realized.

It is impossible to deny that you ARE. Rest in this sense of "I am." Isn't it true? Can you sense and feel it? Do you exist right now or do you not exist?

The question is who is that who is constantly and eternally being/existing? There is nothing personal in this sense "I am." That is the pure Beingness of the sacred that is consciously arising within you. There is not a personal being and an impersonal being. There is only Pure Beingness and you are that. Is not the felt-sense of being blissful? If you will call off the search, stop the seeking, you will realize that you ARE the joy that you are seeking in every other.

Is "being" in the world? Can you show it to me such as you could show be any worldly thing?

Bliss and joy is simply being and it cannot be found in the world of form.

Pure Beingness is the bliss of the formlessness within. This formlessness already IS. It IS.

Are you willing to stop just for an instant to consciously realize that it already IS? That Pure Beingness is also Pure Consciousness. That is the Self and absolutely inseparable from you. There are not two ...

Can you see the folly of holding on to the idea that it will take 20-25 years of faithful meditation to Self-realize. This can only be a postponement. The idea that it will take more time and experience to realize what is now is a false notion. How do you realize that which is beyond experience through more experiencing?

How could it take 25 years to realize a mistake? Time is only of the mind. Is there time in being? Or are you being now?

All Love ... ~ Katie Davis

To enjoy the first two chapters of Katie's book, Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment, please click: "Look Inside"

Practicing Presence ~ Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

Questioner:

One question that I have been pondering is: How should we actually practice the presence, awareness or tranquility in everyday life? I guess that should become very natural for us, but as we have opposite tendencies that we are accustomed to, it is not so obvious at all!

If I practice being present, how much of the awareness should be in the outer 'things' and how much should be directed inwards? And should I be aware of details in my sensory experience or should my awareness be kind of diffuse and not to be fixed to particular things (if that is not needed in a particular activity)?

Does being present require psychic or mental energy? I ask this question because I have not found a way of being present that does not make me strained after some practise. I guess that I am doing something wrong as I have an intuition that awareness should come very naturally. How does the awakening to that kind of natural presence happen? Just by grace only?

Just yesterday I read an excerpt from Osho and he wrote that happiness is always fleeting but bliss can be found constant. How can I realize that bliss or inner joy are constant?

Katie:

Presence is natural and does not require anything more. In other words, Self-realization is not an attainment or something you strive for. This Being-Consciousness-Bliss that you are is ever-present. It is right now.

The situation seems to be that the thought "I" arises. In the old world, out of habit alone, we misidentified with the concept of "me;" the "I am the body" idea. When this misidentification takes place, the "dreaming" I has extraordinary pulling power and suddenly all the other thoughts appear. So the thoughts are really not problematic. It is our misidentification that is at issue. "I" is just another word. Where is the word pointing? We were taught that it was pointing to the body. This is true on a relative level of course. But is it true that your identity is limited to the body. I say this is not so, but this will be for your direct investigation. It requires great curiosity because you want to know the ultimate Truth. Ideas and concepts remain philosophical … instead we need to notice directly through authentic experience.

When this misidentification with the "I" thought occurs, a veil drops and we are unable to be conscious of the being-consciousness-bliss that we are. To remove the veil, it requires that you seek this "I." Sit quietly for a few moments right now. Just close your eyes and be aware of how exquisite the air feels as it moves in and out your nose. Then ask this question, "Who am I?" and listen with every cell in the body. We are not looking for a thought in reply. If a thought arises, such as "I am Katie," ask the question again, aware of your breath, "Who am I?"

That question alone with lift the veil to perfect peace.

It is beautiful that you are practicing being present. The best tool for this is attending the breath. Breathing is always occurring right now and the present moment is the portal to the perfect peace within. The body's sensing is another tool. What do you hear right now? Do you smell anything? The body is part of the content of the present moment and therefore the key to the inner body.

But let's take this a step further. The "I" that is practicing is the ego, the separate sense of self that needs more time and experience to realize. This is actually a postponement strategy of the ego. The more appropriate question might be, who is practicing?? Who am I?

You are aware when you are driving your car, aware when you are shopping, aware when falling asleep. Are you aware that you are always aware? You are this Pure Awareness that is closer and more intimate to you than even your given name and your body. You are appearing within this Awareness. You ARE this Pure Awareness that is beyond your name and form.

So we are naturally present all day long during everything that is being done. However, most often, we get carried aware by compulsive thinking and lost in the thought stream in the head ... instead of being in the body. The resolution? 1. Bring the "I" thought home by asking "Who am I" and then truly listen. 2. Are you aware of breathing? 3. Are you aware of sensing.

It does not take much effort to become aware of breathing all day long. It is always happening in every day life.

This is a first step and perhaps even unwise to move forward from here. Eventually the outward going mind (on its own accord) will remain within the Heart. Of course eyes are looking outward, the body is functioning and sensing as it does, we are just deeply at rest … being still … while the body does what it does.

Body movement and activity can become Zen-like. During the morning shower, be aware of every movement. If there is a set habitual routine, change it. How does the soap feel as you pick it up in your hands? How does the water feel? Are you breathing? You become consciously present without rushing to the future about anything. Even if rushing is required, we are consciously present with that.

You soon find that the real effort is the misidentification with thought, having to maintain all of the ego's ideas; constant thinking is exhausting!

This not require psychic or mental energy. All that is appearing within the Awareness.

What you shared about Osho's words is true. When we misidentify with "I" we move into time and space and then are caught in the world of duality. Relative happiness will eventually cycle to the opposite duality of sadness. Then, sadness will once again cycle to happiness after a certain duration. Neither are stable … whereas the bliss and unending joy are permanent. Now, don't go looking for it. You ARE it! When you are seeking, it cannot be found, which is why I say be STILL and notice what truly already is. Only still permanence can realization that which is permanent. Be still.

Only This Love ~ Katie

Questioner Report:

I am so grateful for your kind reply. I have read it now for a couple of times and I think that it is very close to what is required at the moment. :-)

I have observed an interesting phenomenon after the question I posed about practicing presence. During last two weeks or so I have found that I have been resting in peace more often. As I have attended to this peace, now and then I have investigated the question "Who am I?" Replying to this question feels utterly impossible and absurd. It feels that there is no "I" but just a vast presence. I guess that is probably how the question is meant to work, to leave the thinking mind disarmed so that it can surrender to the consciousness that it is born of. In gratitude ...


Katie:

Thank you for letting me know. Excellent, what are you attending right now? The perfect peace within or the noise in the head? Are you aware of breathing?

I am so grateful for this report. And you have now realized directly through asking this question “who am I?” that when you seek it, it disappears … no where to be found … only “vast presence.” Delightful! At ease. And yes, that is the point of asking the question. The dreaming I disappears into the Heart of all being … the Pure I that is the Pure Consciousness … unending joy … perfect peace … free of time.

Now when you notice once again that you are lost in the head (habits are sometimes hard to break!), just silently ask the question and there you are once again … being peace. Or, just for an instant notice the breath … notice sensing. Then we are in a type of meditation all day long during all that is being done. Being peace … paying bills … being peace … taking the shower.

All Love True Heart ~

Katie