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 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.

Katie Davis Website: www.KatieDavis.org

(free videos, free downloads, join the mailing list for free monthly Friends of the Heart Newsletters with more free articles on spiritual awakening, Self-inquiry, advaita, nonduality and Self-realization) 

Chocolate Cake ~ An Excerpt of "Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment" by Katie Davis

 Chocolate Cake ~ An Excerpt of "Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightment" by Katie Davis

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.

"Awake Joy" by Katie Davis is available at Katie's website at Awake Books

"Awake Joy" is also available at most bookstore and at Amazon

www.KatieDavis.org ~ Free Advaita Videos

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

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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

Does a Moonbeam Have Free Will? by Katie Davis, Author of "Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment"

In spiritual circles, when the interpreting mind of the ego begins to debate, the question sometimes arises whether the human being has free will or if in fact, humans are governed by determinism.

Today, I would like to share with you why both concepts are simply nonsensical and share with you why neither apply. The question only entertains the interest of the separate sense of self that still believes in the limitation of "I am the body" idea that thinks that it is traveling within space and time. Whereas in truth, there is no such differentiation and separation. There is no separated "some-body" to which free will or determinism could apply. The true Self that you genuinely are is completely beyond both space and time.

Perhaps an analogy serves best:

In the photo directly above this blog post, the full moon is setting over the ocean. As the moon nears the horizon, it begins sparkling separate moonbeams across the water. To wonder whether one of those moonbeams has free will or not ... so that it can wander off by itself to some other waters ... just is not a true possibility.

Likewise, to then jump to the conclusion that since the moonbeam does not have free will that it is then governed by determinism and can only move according to its separate, individual destiny would also be a delusion.

Discussion of separate, independent moonbeams would be in total ignorance of the presence of the full moon. The moonbeams only appear to be individuated, but they clearly are not. In fact, their appearances are solely due to the full moon and absolutely inseparable from it. Their existence depends upon it.

In other words, the moonbeams are only reflections upon the water and have no true independent reality. If the ripples on the water were absolutely still, we would in fact have a perfect reflection of a single, full moon ... yet, we would not call the full reflection the real full moon. Only the moon itself is real.

With movement of the rippling water, the reflection becomes diversified and we have dozens of sparkling lights. Whether a single reflection or diversified reflections, both are unreal and refer only to the true full moon.

It is exactly the same with your true identity ... the full moon being the true Self, the water being consciousness, the reflection being either the illuminated, still mind of the apparent realized sage or the sparkling diversified moonbeams that represent the divided mind and its apparent individuality.

The mind is only a mirror. Everything that appears in the mirror is only a reflection that we call the world of form and experience. The divided mind of ego is one of those reflections and it has the false idea that it is separate, independent and it maintains the delusion of space and time with its universal laws. This is in ignorance of Self (full moon).

On the "inward" journey of awakening, we dismiss the reflection (form and experience) as "I am not that;" an important and true realization. However, upon Self-realization with its integration and full embodiment of the Totality, the reflection is realized as the tremendous power of true Self. Self and its power are virtually inseparable; there is only the Self.

With the mind turned outward before the awakening, we have the egoic mind wearing its dark sunglasses of perception due to its original idea of separation. Therefore, it suffers and perceives a suffering world. The suffering is not in the world. The ego is perceiving in the mirror its own pain gap between the magnificent, infinite Heart that it genuinely is and the figment of imagination of being only a fraction of the Totality. Since the ego only knows separation, it can only perceive separation. Its mantra is "me" vs. "you" vs. "God."

Through awakening, when the mind is turned inward through Self-inquiry, the divided mind dissolves into the Divine Self and is illuminated. In this illumination, it provides a perfect still mirror ... a perfect reflection of Self that is the apparent, Self-realized sage.

Whether apparent sage or the ego "I" thought of individuality ... it is only a reflection of true Self (in our analogy, the true and real full moon). There is no sage (perfect reflection) or individual (diversified reflection) that is anything more than a reflection. Yet in this realization, what a profound, infinite and all powerful discovery! You are the unfathomable, omniscient, omnipresent Self!

The purpose of this writing is to cut to the chase ... to point to every reader, here and now, to their full potentiality ... not years from now, but virtually this instant.

There are many universal reference points, through which every human being will pass to Self-realization. Your job is to look directly within to determine which reference point you are currently looking from.

When you become aware of the reference point, I can clearly demonstrate that you are already beyond it and then you need to look again where I am pointing. Knowledge has no value whatsoever, unless you are willing to look directly within you to determine fact and realize the Truth.

When you are permanently free of the delusion of ALL reference points (truthfully, you are already), that is Self-realization ... followed by integration, full embodiment of the Totality and finally awake living, where you may be asked to help "pass the flame," so to speak.

With full embodiment of the Totality:

There is ONLY SELF.

Divine Self (formless perfection) and Divine Self-Power (appearance of the universe)

So the Self has no other to "will" upon ...

The Self has no other to "determine" upon ...

The Self is not a "doer" unto others ...

There is only Divine Self and its reflective power.

As the delusion of the time and space traveler, "you" will live that shadow dream and "you" are subject to the law of cause and effect, the law of karma, the law of impermanence ... and it is all a dream of the divided mind without any true reality.

Unconditional Love allows that dream for eons. I am just here to sound an alarm ... it is time to wake up and be who you are. There is no bondage ... you are Freedom itself.

The individual self is nothing more than a delusional bubble on the surface of the ocean, crying for water, trying to mindfully figure itself out with the wrong tool. Let the bubble burst ... it inevitably will anyway ... all bubbles do. You are the Ocean no matter what you pretend to be.

At this point, the ego may complain and persist, "No, that is too much to lose!"

Really?

I can only reply, that in the end, not one thing is lost, other than fear and its suffering separation. The beautiful body with its given name is still here with all of its beautiful in born talents and unique expressions, just no longer plagued with desires, lack and limitation.

"My body" is now the appearance of the entire Universe ... OM, the rotating planets, the life forces, the tides, infinite creativity, abundance, unconditional and euphoric love, the joy of being, ecstatic bliss, true intelligence, and among those appearances (reflections), the body named Katie.

This is the true and immediate opportunity of the New Dawn that is already here. If you have been on the path for 25 years, I urge its completion. If you are beginning to awaken, the 25 years are no longer required and perhaps never were. I could say that this urgency is a call for the salvation of humanity and yet to the novice this could instill a fear that will prove counter productive.

When you notice the world's structures falling apart such as they are now in today's world situation, please face the unreality of the fear. Be the unwavering, underlying Truth, instead of adding power to the delusion of the collective negativity.

If the cocoon of the butterfly never fell away, it could never fly to freedom. What appears to be destruction is simultaneously the miracle of birthing.

The falling away has within it the full, unlimited potentiality, whether presently perceived as the "individual ego" with the personal story falling apart or perceived as the "collective ego" such as financial world institutions or other collective structures. Today's true invitation is to be the immediate and living answer.

It will be realized in the end that there is no individual or collective ego. While in the beginning, it may seem like "your" awakening, there is only the greater awakening.

The profound miracle is that Pure Consciousness itself is no longer getting lost in form. It is "burning" and permanently dissolving its altered states of consciousness. As it clears, so does the reflection. We see what genuinely is and always has been.

Don't get me wrong, you are welcome to continue the mindful debate of free will vs. determinism for your "moonbeam" nature or otherwise play with the adolescent idea of creating the desires of what you think is your personal reality. Meanwhile, the question is, will humanity make it? There are no guarantees. Even this is realized as not problematic, since there is no such thing as loss as Pure Consciousness.

You also have the immediate opportunity to realize that you are in fact the true "full moon" ... the very Heart of the Universal Being; the Self-illuminating and Self-effulgent Light whose Self-power is every Reflection.


KATIE DAVIS awakened radically and spontaneously in 1986 and since 1999 has been sharing the message of conscious freedom and causeless joy. She is author of "Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment."

KATIE DAVIS WEBSITE www.KatieDavis.org
Free downloads, chapters, e-books, videos and monthly Friends of the Heart newsletters with articles on awakening, being Now, Self-inquiry, oneness, Non-duality, Advaita and Self-realization. Katie's book, "Awake Joy," is available on her website at Awake Books and most bookstores or online stores.

Only This Love by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

All love is one Love and when we fall in love with one another, it is said that we are experiencing the Divine. Rumi, a thirteenth century Sufi poet, defines love as a mystical moment, when two spiritually connected individuals meet. We call it love at first sight. In this meeting of eyes, Rumi romantically writes, we not only experience the union of two loving souls, but also the Love that is the crux of the universe.

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 in Love. In truth, we lose ourselves. This disappearance creates a crevice through which radiant love shines. There is only This Love and it is ever-present.

Love requires no other. Kirtana, a lovely songwriter and guitarist, sings, “Beloved, I have waited throughout all time…to welcome you…into these arms of mine.” Free of any other, in an effortless, spontaneous instant, Kirtana dissolved, the present moment disappeared, and only Beloved remained.

Beloved is the sacred substratum of our existence, which is free of lovers all together. It does not reside within the confines of “throughout all time.” It is discovered in the twinkling of an eye of no time. This Self-discovery allows unconditional love to emerge into our lives, 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 and its 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 voices its love for the Divine and faithfully expresses deep longing. 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 pain. It is the divided one, who is longing and searching, that sustains our estrangement.

Love is not 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. 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 in wholeness. You are free of the pre-existing condition and pain gap. You no longer need to complete yourself.

If you are already in a problematic relationship, such as personal relationships can only 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, Love is synonymous with Self-realization. It is the realized maturity of the human Being. Then, romantic love does not need to bloom. When the perfect lover appears, the Rose already is.


KATIE DAVIS is author of Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment. In 1986, she radically and spontaneously awakened. Since 1999, she has been sharing her message of enlightened love, perfect peace and causeless joy that is presently available for every human being and that the key to world transformation is already present within us.

Katie Davis Website www.KatieDavis.org

Untie the Knot by Self-Inquiry ~ Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

Katie Davis Website: www.KatieDavis.org

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Untie the Knot by Self-Inquiry by Katie Davis

The dreaming "I" is the ego and it is only a thought. Its only function is to tie a knot between pure consciousness and the physical body. When you peer out into the world of form from the reference point of the "I," the Self-illuminating Light of Consciousness is "behind" you and therefore, you cannot be conscious of it.

You are misidentified with the dreaming "I." You are the Pure I which is pure consciousness. There are not two. The only resolution is to turn the mind inward to the vast inner space within you. What lies beyond the thoughts? Become curious about the space that is the gap between your thoughts. Instead of interpreting or analyzing the thoughts, just notice the tiny gap between them. That gap is the opening to the formlessness within you.

The situation is that we have been living a lifetime in misidentification with this dreaming "I" as it attaches to worldly things. In other words, looking from that personal reference point, it then projects outward into the world of form and further attaches to its desires and fears. Follow that outward projecting thought back the way that it came. Trace the thought back home to the Pure "I."

If you will apply Self-inquiry by asking this most essential question, "Who am I?", you will notice that the mind turns inward toward the silence and inner body spaciousness that is perfect peace. The dreaming "I" is more like a phantom that disappears when you seek it.

This misidentification with the "I" thought and its outward projection is a very persistent habit; one that has been practiced throughout one's life. However all habits can be broken and the appropriate tool is Self-inquiry ... the question, "Who am I?" When you ask this question, listen with every cell in your body. Where is this dreaming "I" thought arising from?

The ego itself is an altered state of consciousness and has within it the essential pure consciousness. By asking the question through Self-inquiry, it draws the altered state back into the Heart, where the concept of "I" dissolves irreversibly into the pure consciousness that it genuinely is right now.

Self-inquiry unties the knot and the misidentification with the "I" thought and all of its projecting outward are finally finished.

When we are dealing with practices, it is the ego's false idea of becoming. Ego's idea of "becoming" is resistance to what is. Resistance will only tie the knot tighter. It must be seen that the one who is becoming is none other than the mind-made self and it is the mind that is practicing. The mind cannot removed itself, no matter how many years of practicing, the "I" thought will remain.

Isn't Self-inquiry a practice?

No, it is not. It removes the idea of the practitioner (the ego) that needs more time and experience to become what it already is as its essence. It cannot take more time to realize timelessness. It does not take more experience to realize that which is prior to experience.

Self-inquiry preceded the lovely teachings of Ramana Maharshi, one of the most cherished sages of modern day India. Ramana consistently suggested Self-inquiry as the Direct Approach to enlightenment for those who were unable to receive the teachings in radiant silence alone.

Some may overlook Self-inquiry due to its sheer simplicity. After all, the mind cherishes its complexity as it attempts to analyze and interpret enlightenment. The mind is an extraordinary, beautiful power, yet it is the wrong tool for Self-realization. If you will be persistent with Self-inquiry ... you will consciously realize the Pure Heart that is eternally being.

Self-inquiry is presented Katie's book, Awake Joy, in Appendix II at the end of the book in "Practices and Meditations."

To get this book or read reviews, please click:

AWAKE JOY

Dissolving the Collective Pain Body ~ Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

Our conditioning determines our likes and dislikes. For the mind-made self, someone does something that the ego does not like and it judges it from a past perspective. That judgment is based on past experience and the conditioning from that experience. The ego resists what already is and reacts. That resistance and reaction cause suffering for you and others.

Self-observation begins when we start watching our thoughts and how they relate to our emotional environment. Content has to do with what someone said and what we dislike. Structure deals with how the ego and its thoughts interrelate with our emotion, regardless of the content or story about what is happening.

Through self-observation, we can notice that when the ego attaches to negative thoughts, the body reacts in contraction as though those thoughts were true. That contraction is what we call negative emotion. Our emotions do not change because of what is happening in the life situation. They change because of our problematic thinking.

When we watch thought, this structure becomes evident and we see more clearly how the ego mechanism is functioning within us. That is, we become conscious of what was previously functioning unconsciously. In self-observation, we can also watch our emotions and become aware of how the mind is more than willing to perpetuate the negativity as it moves deeper into unconsciousness.

If we resist the negative emotion, it perpetuates it in the same manner that when we try to control our thinking, it actually becomes stronger. Once you are caught in a deep emotion, the only option is to consciously suffer. If you are consciously watching, you are transmuting not only your present pain but also the pain of the past. The pain of the past formed your dislike and it reactivates in the present as reaction.

Sometimes, we may be confused when all of a sudden we find ourselves totally angry or deeply saddened. If the depth of the negativity is out of proportion with what is happening on the surface in the life situation, you are beginning to sense and feel the collective pain body.

What is collective pain? Well, if you could accumulate all of humanity's suffering into one "body" of negativity (unconsciousness), that is the collective pain body.

When this pain arises within you, if you resist it, you are accumulating more pain. Instead of resisting, invite it in and experience it fully. I am not asking you to get involved, analyze or interpret it. I am only asking you to consciously be with it. If it goes deeply enough, it is as though you become the negative emotion. The emotion consumes you.

I realize that it is uncomfortable, but there is no other way out. Through your willingness to watch and allow that collective pain, it is transmuted into pure consciousness.

Always ask, is there anything deeper? Discover what is at its depth. The pain does have an end. You will directly realize that suffering is a delusion. It does not help to just mentally say, "Well, this suffering is a delusion" and go on suffering from time to time. It requires that you directly realize the delusion.

In the core of the pain, you will realize the pure consciousness that you genuinely are. When all of the unconsciousness is transmuted, what remains is perfect peace.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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