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

Questioner:

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

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

Katie Davis:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Only This Love ~ Katie Davis

Katie Davis Website www.katiedavis.org

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

Awake Fall Tour 2008 - Katie Davis Satsang and Sundance Burke Satsang

The Awake Fall 2008 Schedule with Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy and Sundance Burke, Author, Free Spirit includes Satsang and Satsang Intensives, Weekend Satsang Retreats and Silent Retreats

Satsang and a Satsang Intensive begins in Seattle, Washington in the Pacific Northwest.

Satsang and a Satsang Intensive will be offered in Portland, Oregon and in Ashland, Oregon, they will be offering Satsang.

If you are interested in inviting Sundance and/or Katie to your area, contact us by the email address available on our Website's Contact page. They are scheduling approximately six months in advance.

Our present itinerary is at Katie Davis, Sundance Burke

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org

Sundance Burke Website: www.sundanceburke.org

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

Free Video on Awakening & Consciousness by Katie Davis - Free Video Library

Another free video with Katie Davis on "Awakening and Consciousness" was released today on the Katie Davis Website.

It is Part II of a six part series with Katie Davis interviewed by Jordan Shafer of CompassionWorks, who is the host and sponsor of our Dallas Satsang and Dallas Satsang Intensives.

Enjoy the entire Free Awakening Video Library with Katie Davis and Sundance Burke with videos on awakening, consciousness, Advaita, Non-duality, enlightenment and Self-realization.

Katie Davis Website Free Videos: www.katiedavis.org/freeawakeningvideos.html

Katie Davis Website: www.KatieDavis.org

Katie Davis Blog: www.AwakebyKatie.blogspot.com

Sundance Burke Website: www.SundanceBurke.org

Falling Apart Part 4 of 4: Katie Davis Blog - Awake by Katie - Author, Awake Joy

This is Part Four of Four of a dialogue series that began December 28 by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy:

Questioner:

I guess a lot of times I just feel helpless. Katie, I just get really stuck. I am taking a dance class and that has helped a lot. Sometimes, I just walk down to the lake or walk in nature and it does give some relief. Other times, I just get paralyzed in this sadness. I just can’t bring myself out of it.

Katie Davis:

What I am sharing with you is that you are helpless ... as the separate false sense of self. Are you willing to relinquish the effort and step out of this limited, conditioned concept of “me?”

Dance classes are wonderful, since they bring you into the present moment, free of thought. It also makes your body a more comfortable place to be. Walking in nature is extraordinary. It also brings you into the present moment and out of mental fixation and in relationship with the dialogue in the head. However, as you say, you slip back into the sadness.

As long as you are operating within the delusion of time, there will continue to be happiness and unhappiness. When you first asked your question, you said that everything is going along well and you think that everything is fine and then it all falls apart. This is the nature of duality. Over time, happiness is replaced by unhappiness, which is replaced by happiness and the cycles continue rising and falling. There is first construction and then destruction over and over again. In other words, the only thing that is separating happiness from unhappiness is time.

I am pointing you back into yourself to discover what has never been broken, what can never be broken. I am pointing you to the sacred love that you are right now, that lies deeper within you than this plane of happy and unhappy circumstantial life; the plane of mental time. The plane of happiness and unhappiness appears to be experienced by this shadow “I.” You are not the shadow. Who are you?

Seeking something outside of yourself, seeking happiness in some other, is impossible and destined to fail. Things, people and circumstances might be able to provide moments of happiness. Nothing outside can provide the permanence of true fulfillment. The outside changes. It has to change. It is the nature of impermanence.

No person or thing can give you joy, even “you.” Joy is uncaused and it arises as the joy of being who you are.

It arises in the joy of being.

Your love can never leave you. It is inside you. If fact, it is who you are. You are this loving now and your true nature is causeless joy and sacred Presence or Peace.

You don’t need to become it? Just be.

You can not find it.

Will you stop, be still and look?

Through surrendering, are you willing to allow this Loving to be?

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org

Falling Apart Part 3 of 4 - Awakening - The Shadow is the Illusion by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy - Katie Davis Blog - Awake by Katie

Part three in a series of 4 (note original question on December 28)



Katie Davis Continues Discussion with Questioner:

It is as though you are standing with your back to the sun and watching your shadow outside on the ground. And, you think the shadow is you! Then you look at everything in the dimness of your own projected shadow of misidentity and separation; then blame the contents within the shadow for the darkness and your suffering.

You would never confuse yourself with you shadow, isn’t this true? You are striving to get rid of the shadow, but don’t want to get rid of what is causing the shadow. This separate sense of self, this perceived false image of a separate individual as identity, is the cause of the shadow.

This conditioned belief in separation is the cause of human suffering. It begins with the first thought "I" and all the other separating thoughts follow. I know that this dreaming "I" seems to be a harmless one letter word “I.”


On the other hand, look how you have glorified a separate, objective word? Can you consider the possibility that the separation that you are suffering is inherent in your idea of being a separate individual, independent entity?

Your thoughts are projecting out into the world. The separate sense of self projects separating thoughts and is only capable of perceiving separation. Naturally ... it suffers. This projection of thought into the world is what I am analogizing as the shadow. As long as you are standing there (with you back to the sun), there is the illusion of a shadow. I am inviting you to turn your back on the shadow and see that the sun is radiantly shining. The sun has always been here, but you are focused on the shadow of suffering caused by the projection of the first thought “I.” Turn you mind inward and discover your radiance.

You have two opportunities. The first, you could turn you back on the shadow and investigate this assumption of me. The second, instead of trying to escape the suffering, walk right into it. Investigate it fully. What is the nature of this vast void of suffering, not just your suffering but the suffering of all humanity.

Is there a possibility to surrender this story of me in 100% willingness? Is it possible to 100% surrender this concept of “I?” 


Not because I say so, but because you are also willing to investigate this concept of "me" and directly experience that there is no one there? 


With 100% willingness to be free, there is ease in awakening. With only 90% willingness, there may be phenomenonally beautiful experiences of awakening. These glimpses may be truly profound. But the 10% that remains in holdback and continues to cause feelings of fragmentation, disorientation and continued senseless, pointless suffering. 


Are you willing to release that 10% to be what it truly already is? This release stops the suffering. Actually, it reveals the illusion of all psychological suffering. You are free. In fact, you are free right now. 


When will you look?

(This conversation with the questioner and Katie Davis is to be continued)

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org

Falling Apart by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy - Part 2 of 4 - Awakening - Katie Davis Blog - Awake by Katie

Part Two of a Series of 4 (For questioner, see first entry on December 28)



Katie Davis:

Sometimes in moments of loss, we turn away from the world, away from everyone and everything, away from people, possessions, and general life circumstances. This turning to be alone is such a gift. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try to change life circumstances, in the end, we still do not feel happy. In grief and loss, no matter how long we attempt to heal the pain, it seems to remain. The blessing is that attention is turned inward.

Self-observation begins and the basic dysfunctions of conditioned thought are exposed and made conscious. The "normal" functioning of conditioned thought is relatively the same for everyone, with of course individual circumstantial differences. 


Through the observation of thought, attachment and identification with them subsides. When we realize that we are not our thoughts, we begin noticing that we are really the pure attention that is observing the thoughts. This is our first step toward liberation, toward the Truth of being that we are right now. Once this primary dysfunction is made conscious, the thoughts may be released; the conditioning is freed.

We begin discerning what is true and what is false. You can observe the subconscious storylines that are driving the conditioning. You have the choice to stop following them. Maybe there are certain thoughts that just do not need to be thought any longer. In this release, there is more space. You notice that you are really the spaciousness within which the conditioned thought stream flows. There is an opening and a relaxation of the mind. With more tranquility, the thought stream starts slowing. In the slowing, there is less emotional reactivity, since we are no longer identified with the thought.

Questioner:



I tried years of therapy and my feelings did improve somewhat.



Katie Davis:

Yes, of course, everything has its place within time. I am sure a greater self-understanding emerged from those meetings and perhaps a new type of programming that supported a more balanced life. Certainly, a compassionate listener helps you to hear your thoughts and feelings.

Because of past conditioning, certain thoughts are linked to certain emotions and by releasing this programming, the linkage is broken or improves somewhat. Your relative happiness improves accordingly. We feel relatively happier. Better programming facilitates emotional balance, however it still is programming and it is still ego's programming. It is like changing the television channel to better programming, but it still is only a program on television. There is nothing real about it. Happiness still comes and goes, sometimes happy and sometimes very sad.

Therapy definitely has it’s place and provides a wonderful support for people in difficult times, allows us to watch our thoughts and how they interact with our emotions. It is just that if you are searching for that which is permanent, that is, a joy that can never leave you, you can not find it within the relative, within the impermanent. Impermanence cannot provide permanence.

Can you see that you are continuing to believe that you are somehow separate and this uninvestigated assumption of individuality as identity has never been directly examined yet. You said that you have been on this path for many years. Perhaps you have studied your thoughts, your feelings, and your form long enough. Improving limited objects does not make them unlimited. The invitation before you right now is to see who the star of this movie really is. In other words, whose thoughts, whose emotions, whose form. Who are you really?

(Part Three of Falling Apart, a Dialogue with a questioner and Katie Davis will continue tomorrow)

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org

Falling Apart by Katie Davis - Part 1 of 4 by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy - Katie Davis Blog: Awake by Katie

Part One of Four in a Dialogue Series with Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy:

Questioner:

I have been on the spiritual path for many years and yet there are circumstances in my life that still cause me to suffer. I feel like I just can't stand it any longer. Just when I think that everything is finally good and going well, another thing happens and I go right back into the suffering. Right now, my life is simply falling apart all around me. I can't believe that this is happening to me right now. My relationship is failing and sometimes I feel that if I were to let myself cry, I would never stop. You speak of joy, but I tell you, Katie, I don't see it. Just when is it going to happen to me? What more can I do?

Katie Davis:

You can realize that you, as you think that you are, can do nothing. I am asking you to stop trying, to stop effort and to be still. Stop trying to hold it all together. Stop trying to hold 'yourself' together. You said that you have tried everything. Have you ever tried nothing at all? I am calling you to a deeper surrender.

We have been living under the false assumption that we are separate individuals as our true identity. We accepted this assumption when we were children and attempted to build a stable life. How is it possible to create a happy life, when it is based on the pain and suffering of separation, based on a lie. Through Grace, and with a certain spiritual maturity, there is enough disillusionment with life circumstances and a weariness arises or perhaps a given life situation slaps us to our knees in tremendous grief and loss. I am asking you to use this loss as an opportunity to go deeper. I am asking you to investigate the reality of this individual that you are calling "you."

Most people in this world are focused on the objects of the world, on object consciousness. They define themselves according to life circumstances and the conditioning that surrounds those life situations, based on past experience. There is a magical belief that somehow some thing or someone outside will be able to finally bring us happiness. As long as one searches outside of oneself, happiness will continue to elude them. It is an impossibility. You are searching for happiness where it can not be found.


Awake by Katie Davis Blog Friends - The dialogue will continue tomorrow


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Can You Just Allow it to Be? by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

Can you just allow it to be as it is? Right now, is it good enough? Truthfully, does anything need changing ... I mean only right now.

Listen to conditioned thought and watch it trying to control and manipulate the situation... constant struggle. Well, what happens if you just give up? Yes, stop. It is plain to see that this moment already is. Is it not true? How could struggling with what already is cause anything more than more suffering. Just allow it to be as it is.

Ok, so you have surrendered, right? Now watch the ego pick it immediately up in some type of victimhood. As soon as you let go to allow the circumstances, it begins telling an internal story of oppression. This is the past that only appears to be alive in you. Can you see that it is only conditioned thought? Well, what if you just allowed that to be as well?

Listen without involvement. Just watch without resistance. Yes, the mind is resisting, but you are not the mind. Can you see that these thoughts are a little crazy? I am not speaking of judging them. Just listen. This is all about the past, the little suffering me, or about the future and its ambition to get somewhere other than where it is. Stop and breathe.

You are not your thoughts. You are not the situation that seems to be causing some type of conflict. You are not these emotions. The emotions are being caused by the problematic thinking, so the body reacts and we call it emotion. Yes, feel it fully. Let the heart crack open and see that only love and peace remain. Welcome the emotions and watch how they perpetuate. Just watch. It is truly amazing, is it not?

The separate sense of self has the idea that it has some type of pseudo power over some other if it could only resist loud enough. Can you see that the dispute is only with yourself? Can you see that true power is to allow it all to be. I am not suggesting that you remain in a situation that is harmful, but in that second, can you see with clarity that it already is? In that clarity arises right action.

It is the quality of your conscious intelligence right now that is the next moment. Can you attend the clarity and attention to keep your inner space open, clear, unprotected and free?

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org

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Life's Movie is Past Drama by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy - Katie Davis Blog - Awake by Katie Davis

When we begin awakening, we realize that we have spent a lifetime dreaming. The world of form appears similar to a movie and we begin realizing that the movie is being projected by the inner dialogue that we are maintaining.

The former tendency was to move into the story of me ... the movie ... and try to fix it within the dream. Upon awakening, we realize that the movie already is and it is virtually useless to try to fix it.

However, we can realize the source of the movie projection is beyond all the mental attitudes, beliefs, concepts and experiences that we have conditioned from the past. The inner tapes keep compulsively running and it goes on and on and on. These internal tapes seem to be creating what you perceive to be your personal reality.

In other words, if you want to become more aware of the unconscious beliefs that are obscuring your true freedom ... just watch the movie. It is constantly revealing to you what is requesting release.

At some time, we also awaken to the fact that the separate sense of self is also part of the daytime dream. Instead of being identified with the dreaming 'I' and its internal dialogue, we detach from that individual self.

In this detachment, dreaming "I" disappears along with all of its problems and conflicts that has been projecting as a personal reality.

There is something deeper here, something ineffable and sacred. Who is aware of this movie named the dream of ordinary life? Who is aware of all the inner tapes (our past conditioning) that keeps repeating in our heads? Who is aware of "Katie?" Who is aware of the body and its functioning?

It is the Pure Awareness that you are and it is the sacred dimension of the Still Heart that is silently waiting to energetically emerge into your life story and into the world.

So we leave the story alone for awhile and even leave "Katie" alone. We surrender "me and my story."

Since we are willing to surrender the idea of "Katie," the one carrying the conditionings, we become aware of awareness. We have watched the movie long enough.

Perhaps we have realized that "Katie" is also part of the movie. Maybe we have realized that the movie projector is the individual sense of self. However, are we aware of the screen upon which this movie is playing?

Self-realization is finally stopping all strategies of escape and all ideas of salvation. Through silent and still watching and resting as still being, we are able to be aware when the conditionings start appearing in the movie. We don't resist them, we simply rest and watch. We consciously realign with the sense of being within and a natural transmutation of all that is false is 'burned' into the unconditional love that you are right now.

We have learned to have one 'eye' outward for daily living and one 'eye' inward as the Still Heart. In this pure attention, we are then able to keep our inner space open, unprotected and free. We become aware when the movie has a negative impact on our inner space. When the energy of contraction (negativity) starts creeping in and invading our inner space, we become aware of it and just let go. We don't start telling ourselves, "there I go again, when will I ever get it, I can see that I am contracted and negative." No, you simply stop.

Be aware of your breathing and relax the body and we regain the peace that is always here whether we are conscious of it or not.We simply stop and then once again maintain the clarity of our inner space through attention.

Release the past. It is not here. When your conditioning appears in the present, this is the past that only appears to live on in you. The truth is that you are free and timelessly here right now. Virtually nothing can touch the joy that you are.

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org

Katie Davis Blog - Awake by Katie Davis
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Resistance and Surrender by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

Resistance seems unique to the human being. Nature provides many examples of yielding to life, rather than resisting. In a tropical storm, palm trees yield to the wind and then regain their graceful sway after the storm passes. A river yields to its gravitational force as it effortlessly descends the mountain to disperse into the Ocean. Winter yields to spring, just as the ocean yields to the tides. Eagles soar in the air and yield to the wind's change of direction. Daytime gracefully surrenders to the intimacy of the night. Thought free, nature meets life as it is and never slips into time. When we no longer oppose the flow of life, we feel the impact of relinquishing resistance. The feeling impact is an opening into the expansiveness of peace. We free Wisdom's work to run through us. This Current will carry us to the Joy of the Ocean, if we would just let go and surrender.

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org

Let It Be - Unconditional Surrender by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

Unequivocal surrender is a surface letting go of a life situation that previously would have annoyed us or hurt us. We begin standing free of our judgment, manipulation of others and control of life circumstances. In this, we remain emotionally balanced, free, and at peace.

Unequivocal surrender is a willingness to allow this precise moment, right now, to be exactly as it is. How could it be otherwise? Sensibly, we unconditionally accept the "nowness" of life ... since it is ... it already is. In the past, we fought with the moment and tried to change it, but no one can change the present moment that already is. This just makes sense, does it not?

Through this tolerance the ego begins losing its pseudo power and reactionary nature. The mind-made self begins losing its grip both on you and on others. We begin resting in the simplicity of timeless presence and find that we begin welcoming life circumstances no matter how they appear.

We rest in silent being with some strange knowing that the Heart is consuming "us." Let wisdom do its work and remain still. That is your only responsibility. Stop and be consciously aware of the open window within you through which unconditional love flows. Be quiet, be still, and that is all.

As the simplicity of being deepens, transcendental surrender draws near and matures into the wisdom of Self-realization. Just as the sun does not know darkness, Self does not know not-Self. Darkness cannot prevail in the light of consciousness. The radiant mind then mirrors the innocence and purity of our true nature. We call that world transformation. Let it be ... just let it all be.

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org

True Forgiveness by Katie Davis - Katie Davis Blog - Awake by Katie Davis

Love does not exist within the mind and its time. Trying to heal the past is a past fixation, so we are not present for the unconditional Love that we are. The mind-made self, the ego, has a lifetime of past experience. Those that are most troublesome seem to be the ones that we meet within our intimate relationships. All of the ego's rules, expectations, intentions, and lack of trust are based on past experience. The ego acquires knowledge from the past and applies the known to present experience.

With each encounter, when others fall short of expectations, it suffers and then closes down even more. After enough negative experiences, the ego may even generalize its experience with a few individuals to an entire class, such as "men." Now, it not only has a few individual enemies in the life experience, it also has an entire imaginary army, somewhere in the future that certainly will create more of the same.

While fixated on the ego and its time, we seem to recreate the very thing that we want to escape. The ego projects into the future, its experience of the past, as present moment experience. Playing by the ego's rules of the game involves a never-ending loss of innocence. Of course, Innocence can never really be touched, since it is absolutely indestructible and perfectly within you right now. We just are not yet conscious of this Field, since the ego is mentally involved in the every day push and pull of the mind and its conditions for living each moment.

True forgiveness has nothing to do with any other. One could say that you are the forgiveness for which the ego strives. When you of free of time, that is, free of the past, free of "me" and therefore free of some "other," truthfully when is forgiveness required? We are simply free in our refuge of timelessness.

Other than perceived events that appear solely as mental images in the head on a chronological dateline, are you free right now? Are you truly available to offer True Compassion for all that appears, regardless of the face that it seems to be wearing? Do we live in constant forgiveness for all that appears? Do people truly accept this moment just as it is?

Let your heart crack open, face fear, and see if it is as the mind thinks.

Katie Davis Blog - Awake by Katie Davis
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Awake by Katie Davis Blog: Emotional Storms by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

When you are identified with the story, you believe that outside circumstances cause your emotions to change. For example, someone does something that you either love or hate, so you feel either happy or angry. This translates that if you are happy, someone can also take it away or if you are angry, someone else should fix it. By surrendering your true power in this manner, you helplessly ride the waves of emotion as they endlessly rise and fall. You remain subject to the merciless push and pull of the emotional aspect of the mind.

At first glance, you begin realizing that your conditioned attitudes about past situations are conditionally linked to certain present emotions through your thinking. Based on past experience, this conditioned linkage is the actual cause of your emotional storms. This is self-inflicted suffering. You cannot learn the joy of being, but you can become aware of how you deny this Truth through self-observation. You can even become aware of the instant that you choose to do so. Meanwhile, deep within, constant joy is without cause or condition. My invitation is to look deeper than the storyteller and its storyline for joy’s discovery.

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org

The Kena Upanishad - Katie Davis Blog - Awake by Katie Davis

This is so beautiful and I'd like to share it with you. It is from the Kena Upanishad (The Talavakara Upanishad). Normally, these teachings are free of eastern jargon, but this scripture I love and it is so clear.

Just relax a moment and rest. Sit back away from the computer screen. Are you aware of your breathing? Can feel how delicate the air feels as it moves in and out your nose? Now relax just a little bit more...just being. The eyes read just fine without the mental consternation. As the eyes move, notice that the one who is aware is absolutely still.

The Kena Upanishad

“Not that which speech illumines, but That whereby speech can illumine, know this alone to be Brahman, the Eternal, and not what people here adore.

“Not that which the mind thinks, but That by whereby the mind can think, know this alone to be Brahman, the Eternal, and not what people here adore.

Not that which the eye sees, but That whereby the eye can see, know this alone to be Brahman, the Eternal, and not what people here adore.

Not that which the ear hears, but That whereby the ear can hear, know this alone to be Brahman, the Eternal, and not what people here adore.

Not that which is indrawn by breath, but That whereby breath is indrawn, know this alone to be Brahman, the Eternal, and not what people here adore.”

I am grateful that you are here today ... Katie

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org

Transcendental Surrender by Katie Davis - Katie Davis Blog - Awake by Katie Davis

The radical opportunity of our times is to recognize that the key to world transformation is an extraordinary power that lies deep within us here and now. The only remaining question is, what are we willing to surrender to allow wisdom's work?

Ramana Maharshi is one of world's most cherished sages of modern day India. He poetically wrote, "By thy grace alone my Heart lotus blossoms, O Arunachula. Then I will be immersed is the vastness of your bliss." Such unequivocal surrender is the flowering of basic goodness and gentle kindness in our lives. It is only when we realize that awake life is beyond "you" and greater than "me" that we begin beckoning transcendental surrender. And yet, this power lies within and it can only reveal itself when you are present.

Katie Davis Website www.katiedavis.org

"I am" Meditation by Katie Davis - Katie Davis Blog - AwakebyKatie Davis

This Sunday, someone askedif there was a practice that I could post that might allow one to be more deeply aware of the sense, "I am." Below is a meditation that might help. However first, it must be seen that the mental idea of a separate sense of self, the conceptual "i" or what I refer to as dreaming "i" is the only apparent obscuration. I say apparent, since when we curiously look within to discover where this thought is arising, it disappears into the still Heart. The true Heart that you are right now. Whenever we assume a practice, we are saying "I am not now" but "I will be in the future." Often, the pratitioner is the problem, so to speak. There is no ego "i" other than in the dual mind's idea of separation. You cannot be an object to your own Self. There are not two.

First and foremost, I suggest that if you are not already familar with Ramana Maharshi's Self Inquiry that you approach this inquiry with curiousity. Who are you? Where is this "i" pointing? You will find that it is not the body. Simply ask "Who am I" and listen intensely with every cell of your body. From where does this thought arise? That is who you really are.

The "I am" Meditation:

Initially, the Heart space is experienced in your chest. Sit in a comfortable chair with your spine erect, your feet on the floor, your eyes closed and your hands resting in your lap. Take a moment to attend the comfort of the body and let go of any tension to relax more deeply. With each breath, gently inhale the air through your nose and follow it into your lower abdomen. Let the abdomen expand. On the exhale, keep your attention in the center of your chest as you just let the air go in a relaxed manner, as the air leaves your mouth. With attention still in your chest, notice the inner silence at the end of each exhale. Breathing is relaxed and normal.

A. With your head straight forward, inhale and exhale ten times in the manner that was explained above.

B. Turn your head to the right over your shoulder to inhale. Then, turn your head to your left shoulder to exhale through your mouth. Still looking over your left shoulder, inhale through your nose and then turn your head over your right shoulder again to exhale. Each time, be aware of the silence at the end of each exhale. Repeat this series ten times.

C. With normal, relaxed breathing and your head straight forward, let the silent word "I" fill your chest as you inhale. As you exhale, sense the silent word "AM" in your Heart as you exhale. In the silence at the end of the exhale, sense the silent being in your chest. Repeat ten times.

D. Without the words "I am," repeat the same exercise ten times. At the end, take five minutes to appreciate the aliveness, the Pure Being, that is flooding your body.

This meditation is also posted in the Friends of the Heart Newsletter on the Katie Davis website.

Aware Consciousness by Katie Davis - Katie Davis Blog - AwakebyKatie

We are not an individual, separate sense of self who is being a mother, a friend, a professional. When we move beyond our name and form, we recognize that the unlimited Love and true fulfillment that we have been searching for is already here within ... unbound, unlimited, totally beyond belief. We are that which we see ... and all that we cannot see, we are the silent space that actually is beyond space and time. When we are consciously being, we become aware of this space consciousness and it allows us a deeper sense of Self. A sense of Self that excludes none and is all.

In fact, we are inseparable, not only from one another, but from this pure consciousness that we are truly are. We are peaceful and we recognize that our actions are arising from this intelligent space. We begin appreciating the art of Awake Living, which is unified and we have no more investment in resisting form and circumstances, since aware consciousness is virtually all there is.

And yes, of course, we then embody this Truth. Life seems to become fully integrate, which it always has been. We simply have not been focused on that which is totally free of content. When we identify with form, with our thoughts, with our emotions, with the primary thought "i," we suffer. That is not to deny anything. We simply are infinitely more.

Katie Davis Website www.katiedavis.org

Know that I am by Katie Davis - Katie Davis Blog - AwakebyKatie

The portal to know that "I am" is through the body. The physical form and its sensing are always now and a part of the present moment, so we can be attentive to our body's sensing or breathing to be more present to "I am" and therefore more free of the ego.

Being is living or we may call it consciousness. Consciousness is formlessness, as well as all form. We cannot deny that we are presently living. We just are not living "our" life, which is the ego's idea that leads to suffering. Dual in nature, dreaming "I" misperceives that it is separate from its non-dual Essence. "I am" is Pure Consciousness Being and it is inseparable from who you are. This Being is appearing as a myriad of forms, as it appears to be born into form and then appears to return to formlessness, all the while being consciousness.

Katie Davis Website www.katiedavis.org

Pure Being is Total Surrender by Katie Davis - Katie Davis Blog - AwakebyKatie

While the ego acquires, Pure Being is total surrender. When we are present to being, which is natural to living, we are sensing more deeply the life that we are. We therefore sense a joyful vitality. Doing still appears within the field of being of course however it is no longer at the forefront at a mental level. We appreciate the backdrop of the sense of "I am" through which all the forms of life appear and disappear. Form is thought, mental images that we may call memory, emotion, awakening energies, visions and powers, and the content of the present moment, including the body.

Thoughts come and go, while emotions rise and fall. Life experiences change and all the while, we are aware of the joyous being that is Life. Pure Being is the only permanent factor in all impermanent experience. When we do not attend the Essence of being, we are pulled into the mental realm and once again identify with form. In this, we suffer. When we consciously rest as being, we are free of form and appreciate the bliss of sacredness.

Katie Davis Website www.katiedavis.org