The Spiritual Ego by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

One of the reasons that I wrote my book, "Awake Joy," was to discourage any sense of arrival in those who are spiritually awakening. There is nowhere to land in this free fall of wonder. The feet never again touch the ground.

When we become conscious that we are not the mind-made self, we become conscious of simply being; that sense of gentle aliveness. Somewhat free of identified compulsive thinking, bliss comes to the forefront and there is a tendency for some to say "this is it." For many, this is the birthing of the spiritual ego.

It has gained great insight and much spiritual knowledge. It will be eventually seen that the ego has secretly entered through the back door, but this time wearing spiritual clothing.

The spiritual ego is a very difficult "nut to crack." Its sophistication and knowledge in this instance has become a road block rather than a benefit. Still, like any other ego, it is still attempting to possess things. In this case, the idea that "it" is awake. Since it is still a reference point, it perceives those who are higher or lower. It continues to maintain a position.

Like any other reference point, there is nothing to be "done" about it. That would only be the spiritual ego becoming a better spiritual ego. No. The invitation is the same. Be still without any sense of arrival. Just as the "traditional ego" awakened to a "new dimension," there will layer upon layer that continues to dissolve. Being still, waiting without waiting, becoming ever more conscious of ALL that is here.

As long as you find that the reference point you are looking from is within the field of experience, more will be burned away. We call it the Fire of Truth for a very good reason. That fire is the extraordinary power of conscious allowing. That Awareness will burn everything into Itself. When no negativity remains, ecstatic Love, Bliss and Peace of the Sacred is consciously permanent.

The "inward" path to Self-realization does include negation. Anything that is impermanent, coming or going, is eliminated. I am not my thoughts, I am not my emotions, I am not my body and its sensing, I am beyond time and space, I am not the ego "I," I am not the self-observer, I am not my mental images whether perceived to be "inside" or "outside" (your body and world), I am not my visions, psychic phenomena or yogic powers. Virtually everything in modification or that you are aware of as experience will eventually be surrendered ... and this surrender happens by itself ... as long as you are willing to remain in attention and "not knowing."

This gives the impression of deepening, but that perception is false. The altered states of consciousness are dissolving to reveal that You are already deepest as pure Awareness. Enlightenment of the divided mind will occur at this point. However, You are not the mind. Anything that you are aware of, you are beyond.

Even here, there must be a willingness to not know. No one here, no where to land. Self-realization brings full embodiment of the Totality through complete integration of the universe. In other words, not one thing is "omitted" ... other than fear and its suffering.

Even that is not truthfully "omitted." We are required to welcome it and ALLOW it while it burns. Even when your "personal" suffering has been investigated, we have the suffering of the collective ego. Once again, there is no escape. Let it arise in all its horror. Find out what it is. Is it true that it is endless? Take "your" Light of Awareness into every dark corner. Just as the night cannot survive the rising sun, darkness cannot prevail in the Light of Awareness. You will realize the delusion that darkness ever existed in the first place.

Forbearance is the last gatekeeper to enlightenment. Forbearance means patience. Suffering is still appearing and "you" are ok with that fact. It is only by complete acceptance and by "knowing" what suffering is that you are released into the perfection of the Unknown.

What does this mean for "you and your world?" Well, the illumined mind is a perfect mirror for the genuine Love of Self that is totally free of desire and fear. The "new" world IS here. It is not really new ... it has forever been. The opportunity is to gaze at its beauty free of all altered states.

Our natural state is not reserved for "enlightened beings." There are no enlightened beings, there is no "higher or lower self," there is no fear, no ego, no spiritual ego. We are one unfathomable Field of complete equanimity. The formless Essence and when integrated, all Form. There is only the Self ... that includes your body and its given name.

The Buddha was once asked to define enlightenment. After a long silence, he said, "the end of suffering."

I am not asking for agreement or disagreement. I am not asking you to "believe" what I am saying. I am not asking you to acquire a new philosophy or determine the relative truth of a new concept. No, that would be no more than another assumption. My invitation is to continue the "journey" to nowhere. Realize the ultimate Truth directly.

Maybe a short analogy would help. You have a glass of ice water. Sooner or later, those ice cubes will melt into water. You have not separated from ice cubes. They merely dissolved. It is the same with altered states of consciousness. Just as an ice cube is made of water, so are the altered states of consciousness (negativity - desire, fear, separation) made of pure consciousness. Sooner or later, they dissolve.

Be still and aware ... allow the dissolution. In this, we live as the pure Freedom of the Heart. Just wait and see.

Katie Davis Website www.KatieDavis.org
Free downloads of chapters, free e-books, videos, book reviews, groups and more.

Maui Satsang with Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy and Sundance Burke, Author, Free Spirit

MAUI SATSANG WITH SUNDANCE AND KATIE: Maui Friends of the Heart

Sunday, March 22, 4:00-6:00 pm

You are welcome to join us in meditation 15 minutes early.

The Maui Deeksha House
619 Kupulau
Maui Meadows, HI

By Donation

Hosts: Angelina, Ajmal, Sharina and Chris

Directions: From the Piilani Hwy, enter Maui Meadows at Mapu St, go left at the stop sign on Kupulau, drive to first curve sign and park on the street. While walking on the street, please honor the wonderful tranquility of the neighborhood. Enter 619 driveway. House is in the back. Please enter The Maui Deeksha House in silence.

You are invited to satsang with Katie Davis, author, Awake Joy and Sundance Burke, author, Free Spirit.

More information, free videos and free downloads at www.KatieDavis.org and www.SundanceBurke.org.

Katie awakened radically and spontaneously in 1986 and Sundance in 1982 with his teachers Satoshi (Osho/Nisargadatta influence) and Shunyata, named the Rare Born Mystic by his friend Ramana Maharshi.

Since 1999, Sundance and Katie have been traveling worldwide wherever invited to sit with those interested in awakening now and realizing Truth.

Their friend, Eckhart Tolle, directly encouraged their newly published books.

Maui Friends of the Heart ~ Satsang with Sundance Burke and Katie Davis

MAUI SATSANG WITH SUNDANCE AND KATIE:

Sunday, March 15, 4:00 pm

You are welcome to join us in meditation 15 minutes early.

The Maui Deeksha House
619 Kupulau
Maui Meadows, HI

Optional Donation

Hosts: Angelina, Ajmal, Sharina and Chris

Directions: From the Piilani Hwy, enter Maui Meadows at Mapu St, go left at the stop sign on Kupulau, drive to first curve sign and park on the street. While walking on the street, please honor the wonderful tranquility of the neighborhood. Enter 619 driveway. House is in the back. Please enter The Maui Deeksha House in silence.

You are invited to satsang with Katie Davis, author, Awake Joy and Sundance Burke, author, Free Spirit.

More information, free videos and free downloads at www.KatieDavis.org and www.SundanceBurke.org.

Katie awakened radically and spontaneously in 1986 and Sundance in 1982 with his teachers Satoshi (Osho/Nisargadatta influence) and Shunyata, named the Rare Born Mystic by his friend Ramana Maharshi.

Since 1999, Sundance and Katie have been traveling worldwide wherever invited to sit with those interested in awakening now and realizing Truth.

Friends of the Heart March Newsletter ~ Katie Davis and Sundance Burke

FRIENDS OF THE HEART MARCH ISSUE NOW AVAILABLE TO ENJOY ~

IN THIS ISSUE:

"Ego's Lack Is Self-Projection"
By Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

"The Big Easy"
By Sundance Burke, Author, Free Spirit

"Free Downloads: Chapters and E-books"

"Sometimes, It Rains Roses"
From the Awake by Katie Davis Blog

"Better Together"
20% Discount on Awake Joy and Free Spirit

Click Katie Davis Website Friends of the Heart March Issue

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.

Sometimes, It Rains Roses ~ Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

February 14, 2009 ~ Valentine's Day in Aloha Time

The Universal Dawn of the Age of Aquarius

Sometimes, It Rains Roses

The day has intimately surrendered to the quietude of the night.

The land of Aloha is sleeping,

As islanders await the fulfillment of a promise;

The New Dawn vowed by Maui, the Sun God.

The scent of red roses permeates the stillness;

Bouquets symbolize this extraordinary Love.

A tropical breeze gently rustles the palms

And as the cheek touches the coolness of pillow,

A knowing smile curves the lips,

In gratitude for this serenity and deep peace.

Body consciousness dissolves,

Ever falling upon itself as pure consciousness.

The body is in dreamless sleep,

When blessed by the Rapture of the Infinite.

A magnificent outpouring of ecstatic Bliss

Eloquently summons a glimmer of body consciousness.

Invoked awake by Love,

The body rests in full attention to embrace its final Lover,

In its "I only have eyes for You" kind of way.

A flicker of a dream in slow motion ...

Pink rose petals begin raining from the Sky.

As they sprinkle upon my pillow and timelessly drift upon my sheets,

Each velvet petal softly kisses the cheek, then neck and shoulders.

Awake in Love's Mystical Garden ...

There is no Love greater than This ...

The lips audibly whisper, "This is so beautiful!"

A Love that demands a new definition for its splendor, tenderness and adoration.

We simply have no words to amply convey the magnitude of this Magnificence:

Perhaps, "A sheltered cocoon of ecstatic Love and euphoric Bliss ... that is the nest of profound Sacredness."

Well, I suppose that is near ... yet not close ... never enough ...

It defies every poet and writer's attempt to express.

Yet, Radiant Love begs, even hopelessly impels, its expression.

Not of this world, it coyly waits for each direct, virginal encounter.

Joyful tears trickle down the cheeks in awe, wonder and silent gratitude.

The lips continue to murmur ...

"So beautiful..."

"So unbelievably beautiful..."

Hushed into a deafening Quietude, Love's passion cradles the Universe;

An ultra conscious embrace ... as the Heart of all being.

A timeless marriage of the Infinite and mega Body Consciousness, without world.

Then, within Love's Garden of Splendor,

Barely audible, as though from some distant dimension,

A worldly siren stirs the physical senses awake

And with the senses, the reappearance of the Universe.

It is mid-morning in Aloha Land.

So they say in a song that has now been sung for forty years,

Today is the Dawn of the Age of Aquarius.

At last, each planet is in its cabalistic and perfect alignment.

On island, it seems like any other day in Paradise,

Even so, we wisely know now that we never step into the same river twice,

No matter how mundane and ordinary the day may seem.

We live the Aloha, while the keikis play in "The Maui Sun."

Nonetheless, the cosmic secret is that you are this Radiant Love,

Eternally Kissed as Bliss,

The very Heart of the Universal Being,

And already realized as The Infinite Way.

KATIE DAVIS is author of Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment. In 1986, she was stunned awake without practices or teachers. Since 1999, she has been sharing the message of the conscious freedom and causeless joy that is offered through spiritual awakening, enlightenment and Self-realization.

To read reviews or to purchase this book, please click Awake Joy.

Katie Davis Website: www.KatieDavis.org

Free downloads, chapters, e-books, videos and monthly Friends of the Heart Newsletters or sign up on Katie's mailing list to receive one message a month on awakening, being now, Non-duality, enlightenment, Self-realization, full embodiment and awake living.

The Mystical Sky by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

Can you sense the Changeless as the white clouds drift across the pale blue sky?

This morning, do you hear the inaudible Silence of the red-breasted cardinal, while its song is outpouring?

Are you aware of the unfathomable Perfection of the brilliant colors of the rainbow?

Is not the Infinity of space truly awe-inspiring as the stars twinkle in the midnight sky?

Do you feel the Harmony within as the sun sets over the Pacific or the Mystery of the full moon over Lanai?

Are you distinguishing the Stillness, when a blue-tipped butterfly suspends in imperceptible space?

Well, close your eyes for a moment. Yes, there are many thoughts and corresponding feelings.

Do you notice that they are all either about or in relationship with “you?”

Have you discovered yet the blissful joy beneath happy and sad, when you stop talking story?

Now, just rest as “I am” and stop at that … nothing more.

Still with eyes closed, back away a little. Are you missing the space around “I,” the sublime sky of being?

Are you able to discern that this sky is still within the field of experience?

Are you any less, if you resonate solely as “AM,” ... this beautiful feeling of connectivity?

Evermore subtly, perhaps still unconscious, does any reference point remain?

Not a personal reference point of course, but any?

Is there anything deeper than even the slightest movement … or stillness … of inner experience?

Who perceives it?

Upon Self-discovery, open your eyes.

Let it all settle in, so to speak.

Can you be in this world, while not being of it?

Is there any difference between That which is "within" and That which is "manifesting" everywhere?

Are you fully integrated and embodied as the non-dual Heart?

As True Sky, are you now experiencing the sky, the cardinal, the starlit night, the rainbow, the sunset and the moon as the purest joy of True You?


Katie Davis www.KatieDavis.org
Free downloads, free chapters of books, free e-books, free Friends of the Heart newsletters on awakening, now, meditation, oneness, Self-inquiry, enlightenment, Non-duality, Advaita and Self-realization, free video library, join Katie's mailing list to receive one message monthly, awakening groups, photo gallery, private consultations, Katie Davis Satsang Schedule and more.

Body Pain and Fatigue: Where is the Awake Joy? ~ Katie Davis

Questioner:

How do you approach these teachings, when facing difficulties with your physical body; to ask who is this "I" or body that is suffering or not feeling well? There is a moment that is just the acceptance of what is and yet how to be joyful when there is not the energy and the physical wellness?

Katie:

The Self-inquiry question ... just one question, "who am I?" lifts the veil of ego and joy is able to shine through. The joy is forever present. Joy is only covered up by “me and my story.” When the false “I” surrenders through Self-inquiry, the ego’s storyline goes along with it.

Relative happiness and its opposite … relative sadness ... merge together. The dualities dissolve and unending joy emerges. It is not something we become. Joy is who you are … totally beyond the body and “me and my story.” We just uncover it like taking blankets off the bed to find crisp, cool white sheets underneath. The body will be fine once we take off all the heavy armor of ego.

False “I” will never become joyful. YOU ARE joy, so no energy is required. Just like the eyeball cannot see itself. Without false “I” … JOY is the revelation.

Perhaps the body is merely asking you to stop, be still, realize the joy you already are.

I feel compassion for the body situation that you are sharing. For some, the body goes through quite a transformation process as well during the awakening. Some have body aches and pains, pretty wild energy shifts that may cause a little dizziness or disorientation. Others have interruptions and difficulty sleeping. Fatigue is really common. Some have anxiety and a sense that something is missing, but they can’t quite put their finger on it. The list goes on. That said, others have no issues at all with the physical. As soon as I say that this will all likely resolve … I am sure the mind will ask “when?!” No answer …

There are many body modalities. Energetically sensing your message, I am going to guess that you have tried just about everything as well as all the testing, diets, supplements, etc. without resolution. I am not a doctor or psychologist. I have supported many through the awakening for many years now.

Just as you say, when the physical is not feeling well, it is a huge distraction. That could in fact be why the mind dreams it all up in the first place! The body is more than a product of our nutrition and the way that we care for it. It is also a product of our thinking. Those negative thoughts (whether spoken or silent) cause our body to contract … we call that contraction negative emotion. So emotions also have an impact on form. The body is also effected by the mental images that it sees (example TV among many others) and our mental imaginations. The body senses it all as real. We also have the collective consciousness (“other” people) and when we begin awakening, if we are sensitive, our body feels the impact of those as well.

The physical also carries the pain of the past … a pain that will also be resolved. As we become more and more present, the form starts becoming somewhat transparent, which makes us aware of stored pain (denseness) which was there, but we were not conscious of it.

Some Pointers:

1. If you require medical attention, do so. If meds are prescribed, surrender to that since it is only short term. We all have our attitudes about meds, but just let it be temporarily (only a suggestion). Or whatever the naturopath suggests or whoever.

2. Do not accept a single diagnosis. Don’t label it. This crystallizes a false concept. “This is what is wrong with me.” Do what they suggest, but don’t believe it.

3. Don’t make a sense of self out of the pain and fatigue. “I am too tired, I can’t, I want, I need.” Etc.

4. Just as we allow the life situation to be as it is, tenderly allow and love the body to be as it is. Resistance is exhausting and pain producing. Is it possible to allow space around the situation? When we resist pain, we contract tightly around it. It is already dense and tight (fear), so allow space around the pain, while allowing it to relax. The power of ALLOWING is huge and is a natural transformer of anything negative into perfect love.

5. Is there an inside to the pain? Can you get underneath it to the free stillness? Really get to know and rest inside it. Breathing … being still and deeper.

6. With your eyes closed right now, may I draw your attention to your breathing? Just relax and feel how delicate the air feels as it moves in and out your nose. Relax a little more … can you let go even more? Still aware of your breathing? With your eyes closed, can you tell where the boundary of the body ends and where the space around the body begins? You can feel the chair you are sitting on, but where the body isn’t touching anything, can you sense the boundary of the body?

Now, still with eyes closed, I would like you to allow the body to expand … bigger than your house … big long inhale and exhale … let it expand larger than the tallest building. Rest in that lightness… total expansion.

7. When you shop for food, let’s go leisurely without any preconceived ideas about the menu. Go without the slightest idea of what the mind wants you to get. Walk through the fruits and vegetables NOT KNOWING … being nobody … see what the hand naturally reaches out for. Honestly look freshly like you have never seen ANY of it before. Let the body pick instead of the mind. Ice cream? A piece of chocolate? Well, you can see that I am not a nutritionist. Without any of the mind’s rules, what does the body reach out for?

8. Yes, tired, but never mind, slowly prepare your food with great love and attention … each movement like Zen. Fresh flower each week, sit down without music or tv … love and chew and chew and chew to taste each tiny bite.

9. Water … lots and lots of water.

10. Include breathing as part of your meal.

The ego does NOT want to let go. That psychological self will hang on with all its mite to the “I am the body” idea. The ego is scared … offer it compassion with a smile … much like a child … it is all ok. It is afraid that it does not exist … the good news is that it does not. If you are AWARE of the body, you cannot be the body. Who is that who is aware?

Don’t get me wrong, without the ego and all its negativity and fear, the body is extraordinary! There is NOTHING wrong with the form. The ‘problem’ is the misidentification with the false “I” and its pain. Who is “I?” “who am I?” “Who is aware of the body?” I am. “Who am I?”

OK, so we see that pain can be a distraction. That pain is holding on and anchoring you to the body limitation in fear of letting go. One day, you will have a good laugh about this, once you release and see what genuinely is!

However, this pain and fatigue can also be your very best teacher. It is with you all day long. You have been trying and making every effort (resistance) to fix it. That is exhausting all on its own. Is there the possibility to say, “I see you are never going to change, body. You are going to be this way the rest of your life. I at last completely accept that.” This is a very big challenge for the ego. Oh, oh, she is going to let go anyway! We sometimes think that if we were to accept it that somehow some supernatural power will make it forever so. Well … it is right now. It IS. There is only THIS moment.

Perhaps it has had your undivided attention too long. Let’s just leave it that way.

Really try this question on right here directly. Could you tell me, does that which is AWARE of the pain have any issue with the pain? Check it out.

You are that Awareness … not the “I” that is the body. Be the Awareness. The body does not require the ego who pretends to control everything. Rest as Awareness, when you get lost in time now and then and misidentify with the false “I” again, ask your Self-inquiry question again and you are back to being Awareness ... the one who has no issue with anything ... who unconditionally loves, accepts and is grateful for ALL THAT IS.

Then, the body is free. Let go or don’t let go … just wait and see …

"When will it let go?" Future fixation of the mind. Only the mind could ask. If I were to answer, I would probably say as soon as “you” don’t care any more.

In closing, another reason that pain is your friend is that when it is severe, it is impossible to be anywhere else than the present moment. “I am grateful that I am consciously being now.”

More pointers:

1. Journal: Nothing about “me and my story.” Find a new place to sit each time. Nature would be great, but it is probably pretty cold in most places now. Write only about the body’s senses and breathing. What do you see? How does seeing feel? How does your nose feel when you breathe. How does that fresh flower that you get each week smell? How do the petals feel? Are you grateful?

2. Journal: Find one place on the body that is pain free. Write about it. How does the cool pillow feel on your cheek? Are you grateful? Any other place pain free?

3. Paint, watercolor, crayons, chalk, pencil sketch. What color? How does the color feel? How smooth does the paint feel as it flows onto paper? Content does not matter. No storytelling.

4. Self-inquiry

5. Stand in the middle of the room, let the body sway, gentle bend, rotate your neck … let the body freely lead without the mind.

This is not a to do list with yet more things to try to fit into the schedule. Be creative … be the Awareness that is lovingly listening to the sweet body.

I hope some of this helps. I am in your Heart and you have all the support one could ask for. Surrender "I" just for this moment.

Katie Davis Website www.KatieDavis.org

Friends of the Heart January-February Newsletter ~ Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy, Sundance Burke, Author, Free Spirit

The Friends of the Heart January-February Newsletter by Katie Davis, author, Awake Joy and Sundance Burke, author, Free Spirit just published at the Katie Davis Website. To enjoy this issue, please click: Friends of the Heart

In This Issue:

"Self-Inquiry is the Direct Approach to Enlightenment" by Katie Davis

"Free Downloads: Chapters of Awake Joy by Katie Davis, chapters of Free Spirit by Sundance Burke, free e-books, essays and dialogues"

"Exactly, Great Question and Clear Seeing" by Sundance Burke

"Katie Davis Published in Star People in Tokyo, Japan"

"Write an Amazon Review"

"Ordinary Enlightenment ~ The Movie"

"Say I Am You" by Rumi

"Numii Net ~ Serving the Awakening Community"

"We Are Moving"

"Donations"

Go to: Friends of the Heart

You Are So Beautiful ... ~ Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

You are so beautiful ... this knowing, glowing, bliss ...

So radiant ... complete ... so full that it is overflowing ...

Asking always for the impossibility of its speaking.

Or kindly requesting for a word to be written that couldn't possibly contain it.

Nonetheless, just underneath the words, the river flows.

Even the mind is attracted to such writing, but will never know why.

Bliss speaks at the depth, whether one is conscious of it or not.

Writing as the mind is always one dimensional and flat. Pick up a book and without reading a word, we can sense who has written on the pages inside.

I swear writing is more like a bliss trick.

It captures the eye and its attention, while bliss is consuming all that remains just underneath.

Then suddenly, without cause, the Lotus bursts into full bloom ...

Katie Davis Website

www.KatieDavis.org

What Is Peace? Excerpt from the Friends of the Heart Facebook Group

Each day, Katie Davis meets with Heart Friends worldwide and other wisdom people in the Friends of the Heart Facebook Group to share and contemplate the awakening, Self-inquiry, enlightenment and Self-realization.

Below are two excerpts from the group's Discussion Board that Heart Friend, Sam White, published on his Profile Notes Tab. On the Discussion Board, these excerpts are in the Topic "What Is Peace?" if you would like to enjoy all 28 posts for this topic.

SAM WHITE:

PEACE by Sam, answered by Katie Davis
Yesterday at 2:39pm

Peace will happen.
It may take a while for it to be Earth-wide. . .

Peace depends on Awareness, no matter HOW it is looked at, . . . . A raised level of Awareness if you like. . . Where taking responsibility for the relationship to Truth happens constantly in every moment with and thru, one’s sense of Self; that can and does happen as a prime foundation-stone to any aspect of Peace.

From where the process of Peace is, right NOW, in the World of Man, stems from a lack of education, or a lack of Awareness, primarily in the individual Awareness, that feeds into and becomes One with the collective Awareness.

In the coming to Awareness that we are not our beliefs held as inherit ancestral story of hate and war passed from generation to generation, we take responsibility for the connection to our own beliefs, and Realise we are a ‘we’, with NO difference between the (so-called) ‘us’ and ‘them’.

The experience that we are ONE PEOPLE, One Awareness, One body, One Entity, . . . we can view thru our sometimes seemingly individual pair of eyes, which IS only part of the collective eye of Awareness that IS the (so-called) One-ness experiencable in this Awareness of Earth’s reality.

Allowing the Awareness of Love dancing at your feet to be Realised we are One Love, . . . is purely allowing knowledge of Awareness to be available and relevant to those with guns pouring blood as death and injury upon the Earth.

How to facilitate the flow of Knowledge to those most in need of this Awareness, that can and would facilitate Peace is not (seemingly) in my power to facilitate.

Maybe Peace is not what this Earth reality is about. . . But only an impulse for some who incarnate here to use as a starting point for evolving Awareness beyond what appears to BE.

To plainly accept war as what it is. . . and to not mix it up with Peace, . . . is to come to Peace itself.

The only gun you hear in Australia is the occasional car back-firing, which is rare. So for me to talk about war is like talking about swimming and never ever seeing water.


KATIE DAVIS:

Katie Davis replied to your post

Hello Sam ~

Thank you for sharing this. You write with great clarity and wisdom. Also amazing about no guns in Australia. Seems it would surely offer more sanity!

Pure Awareness is the whole and complete Absolute Reality that never changes, whereas consciousness is either pure or altered (yet never loses its essential purity). The greater awakening that is occurring on the planet is that the altered state is dissolving.

In the beginning, some take this awakening as personal. The truth of the matter is that consciousness is disidentifying with form. This is an extraordinary time! Form is still appearing of course as its tremendous power, but consciousness is no longer getting lost in its form.

When it is free of its altered states, it is unconditional love and the perfect peace of pure consciousness that is not only "our" transformation, but as the collective, the transformation of the world.

Pure consciousness is not changing ... the altered (false) states are "burning."

Yes ... just as you say ... peace will inevitably happen, unless the divided mind with its ever increasing power of technology does not destroy humanity first.

A historian could chart the time periods when civilizations were eliminated. Were they destroyed because they were threatening the living earth?

Native cultures consider themselves stewards of the earth. Contemporary cultures act as though the earth and its resources belong to them, which is just the opposite. If humanity threatens the earth, will humans be exterminated? :)

But you see, even then we have perfect peace, just no form.

The concept of evolution, I will leave to the scientists. As the altered states dissolve, will that mean changes in the DNA, etc. of the body? I am in two national research studies now designed for the medical community (guinea pig, I guess, just answer questions). One group has as the lead, a scientist that is also awake. There are also physicians encountering their own awakening and trying to get their professional community to listen, so at last perhaps there is true curiosity.

If the scientist is not awake, they are observing from the altered state ... therefore the observation will accordingly be altered.

What effect will That which is truly watching have on Itself??

Would that truly be evolution? Many scientists say so ... no certainty here. From the standpoint of the physician and their testing ... maybe. Or will the realized Total Being just not require the medical community when it is free of its altered states? THAT would surely end the studies quickly! :)

Evolution is something that occurs within form. Isn't it? Well, if we are wearing dark glasses and see the world in a certain way and then take off the dark glasses and see it a different way, would we refer to that as evolution?

So could we say that consciousness is evolving, as many well known speakers/teachers are saying? Is dissolving the altered into what it has forever been considered evolution? Pure consciousness has never changed.

Is the analyzing and interpreting mind a good tool or a distraction and postponement?

All future ...

Being now ... wait and see ...

In the meantime, no matter what the discussion ... whether altered states, living earth, human vs. earth, evolution, scientists, physicians, DNA, the Total Being or whatever, it is "time" to keenly focus on the essential question, who is "I" and Self-realization.

If time runs out, does that mean that it is the end of times such as in the book of Revelations? Or does it just mean the end of time ... NOW.

Questions, doubt, complexity and uncertainty always point to mind. Sometimes fun and fascinating though as play. After all, the possibilities are infinite!

That said, not knowing now is such simplicity.

All Love ~ Kate


In contemplation of the above, just below this post is a video of Akiane, a 10 year old prodigy, artist, poet and author of two bestselling books after she encountered a spiritual transformation at age four. She is considered by some to be an Indigo Child (briefly explained below.)


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Katie Davis Website www.KatieDavis.org


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Akiane, Child Prodigy, Artist, Poet, Bestselling Author of Two Books, "Indigo Child"

At the time of this amazing interview, Akiane was only ten years old. She has been recognized internationally as the only known child binary genius in both realistic painting and poetry. I wanted to share with you her interview, art and poetry. She was selected as one of twenty most accomplished visual artists in the world. She is an inductee into the Kids Hall of Fame and World Council of Gifted and Talented Children.

In addition, Akiane is a best-selling author of two books "Akiane: Her Life, Her Art, Her Poetry" and "My Dream is Bigger than I - Memories of Tomorrow"

Akiane is considered to be an Indigo Child and according to the Indigo Prophecy that shares that children born around 1982 are different and like no other generation on record. Many forums have been organized to help transform how we regard children and how to teach them, while organizing opportunities for these young citizens to share their message with us. Akiane message is that God is Love.

She had a spiritual transformation at age four, speaks fours languages, plays the piano, was born underwater to an atheistic family in poverty and was never trained in painting. Her goal is to share her divine love worldwide.

For more on Akiane and more photos of her paintings, please click Akiane to forward to her website.



Other YouTube videos on other Indigo Children at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQlZv29E4_0

Katie Davis Website www.katiedavis.org

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

The Great Silence ~ Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

The Great Silence is forever present. We have only to notice it. Many say that words obstruct the silence. However, words are much like birds flying through the sky. They have no impact on the backdrop.

As silence, we are much like the sky and appreciate a multitude of objects: the thought "I" and all of its other thoughts, the body, emotions, mental images, senses, energies, the breath, the stars, the moon ... the entire universe of experience. Experience simply flows through like a river without leaving a single footprint on the radiant field of silence.

When we mentally fixate or identify with a word, attention immediately narrows. Suddenly, we are no longer conscious of the silence. It is remarkable that we are an unfathomable sound of silence that vibrates the entire universe and yet we habitually narrow and fixate on one tiny word.

The word is not problematic, but our fixation is an obstruction. The obstruction does not mean that the stillness is no longer here. We just cannot be conscious of its presence and get caught up in form. In the end, silence speaks louder than word.

The invitation is to be true to the vast openness that we genuinely are, while everything temporal dances through. After all, words are only pointers toward that which they represent. When I write the word "rose" perhaps it invokes a corresponding mental image. That image is based on past experience. If you read the word "rose" and you had never seen one, no mental image appears. The appearance or disappearance of the mental image is just as meaningless as whether an image is beautiful or ugly. It has no impact on the radiant silence that you are. Image after image appears and then fades away.

During awakening, some have great uncertainty, when the ego's life situation is falling away. However, every dream fades. The content of this instant is different from the content of the next. Each present moment is new and fresh. In fact, the only thing that is certain is change. While the mind might call it falling apart, the truth of the matter, it is renewal. The pain and suffering comes when we try to hold on and resist the fading. If a butterfly held on to its comfy cocoon, it would never fly free and complete its transformation.

Just as the so called ego falls away, the same is true for the collective ego and all of its systems, structures, beliefs and assumptions. If we look at this from the individual ego's viewpoint of collapse, it strikes fear. Noticing it as silence, it has the infinite potential of total rebirth.

As we become more conscious of the silence that surrounds us, we notice an ever expanding silence within. One fine day, this stillness breaks away from form and even the loudest noise cannot touch or disturb it. We realize that this indestructible, rock-like silence is who we are. It is permanent and free of change.

Experience then becomes mystical in nature. Everything appears as Bliss. Out of blissful silence, a bird chirps, the clock tics, the breath expands and collapses, a slight smell of jasmine in the air ... and then fades away.

As Heart Friends, we are pretty much scattered around the globe as far as bodies go; from California to Finland, from Manitoba to South Africa, from an island in the middle of the Pacific to Australia, and most of everything in between.

However, as Rumi so poetically wrote: "Out beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing, there is a Field. I'll meet you there."

That Sacred Field is the Great Silence and its power is an enormous playground of peace. Each moment that you notice a kiss of stillness, we are whispering the language of Love, without even a heartbeat of separation. In this newly found world, the finite is a pool of infinite, blissful possibility. I'll meet you there.

Katie Davis Website, Author, Awake Joy www.KatieDavis.org

The Totality of this Moment by Katie Davis - Katie Davis Blog: AwakebyKatie

As the Totality, we are the formless NOW ... with the power of consciousness appearing as a universe. This enchanting moment is not appearing in the past as some bygone memory and the future is plainly not here, other than the limited mind might imagine it.

Let's take a complete look at this moment. The mind probably judges and dismisses it as ordinary. But you are not the divided mind, you are the Totality. Both the body and the divided mind can be adorable; but they are presently limited due to false perceptions.

When we begin desiring something future, we begin imagining, perhaps visualizing, affirming and creating, only a limited possibility. It is limited, since it is being imagined by a conditioned doer that believes that it is a separate and limited body. That doer and its desires are all based on past experience. What we desire and dislike are the conditioned outcomes of how we felt during a past situation.

When we begin spiritual awakening, we begin sensing it as a personal awakening. We begin this profound inward journey through the inner body. We see someone who is awake and another who is not. We call this one enlightened, but that one not. At some point, it is realized what has forevermore been realized and awake ... and there is no one here.

There is no doer. This does not mean that we sit doing nothing. It merely means that "you" are not doing it. It is all happening by itself through the unlimited intelligence and the power of consciousness, with such dynamic simplicity.

Some who are reading this might say, "This is not for me. This is just giving up too much!" Well, this is hardly a diminishment. All that is lost is a self that never was ... and we realize the awe of an entire universe to play in.

It is shocking that we could have ever missed this and imagine that through some massive reduction of an infinite and unfathomable true Self, whose power is the appearance of the universe, and believe ourselves to be a tiny finite body that is somehow alienated from Totality (impossible). That is like trying to pour all of the worlds oceans into a tiny espresso cup. Then as this tiny cup and its cupful of attention or knowledge, we are too busy creating, or otherwise distracted, to realize fully and completely what we genuinely are.

For most, the inward journey may have taken several years. Upon Self-realization, a profound integration begins blossoming. Pure "I" is permanent and never again tries to separate. Meanwhile, the power of consciousness is opening and opening to the totality of experience. Since the mirror is now illuminated, it is a perfect, still reflector of unconditional love and peace of the divinity.

So, the invitation is to be completely the Totality of this moment. The unfathomable formlessness ... and planets in space orbiting and spinning, the ebb and flow of the tides, the sun rising, a flower blooming in sunlight, the whales birthing and the beautiful physical body that you once called "yours." Yes, there is destruction in this moment, tiny cells dying, stars colliding ... the dream falling apart as it does each and every night when you go to bed ... and it is simultaneously total renewal.

The living Truth is animating all form and experience. One could say, Life is living. This moment is not only magnificent ... but it is virtually all there is and it is the quality of consciousness this very moment that is the world.

The New Dawn is here ...

Katie Davis Website, Author, Awake Joy www.katiedavis.org

Katie Davis Blog: AwakebyKatie www.awakebykatie.blogspot.com