The core aspiration of human life is the realization of causeless peace and happiness. In everything we do, we are seeking peace and happiness. Seeking happiness in the world, body, and mind is unfulfilling, as happiness is non-phenomenal. While we may feel a sense of lack and attempt to fill this gap by seeking experiences, relationships, mind states or situations in the world, body, and mind, this is often done without any real success. Lasting, causeless happiness, peace, and freedom are the heart's only desire.

The Fundamental Error

Seeking happiness and freedom in a limited object, relationship, situation, temporary experience, or in the external world is a mistake. Limited form provides only limited satisfaction or pleasure. Such fulfillment in time and space is impermanent. The mind erroneously perceives happiness as being a result of possessions or worldly events. We look for objects and situations in the world that can help the imagined person recoup its wholeness, imagining its wholeness is out there. The senses guide us outward, leading us to focus on external objects, which are impermanent.

Seeking happiness in the world is called a "pipe dream," and attempting to fix the world to find happiness for the person is a useless task.

Chapter 2: The Root of All Problems - The Illusion of Separation

The Core Illusion

The root problem is the belief and feeling of identification with a limited, separate self, specifically the belief that I/consciousness am a mortal body-mind. Seeking happiness on behalf of an illusory entity leads to an illusory happiness. Pie in the sky. This belief that consciousness is limited and dependent on a body-mind is considered the core of ignorance. It is this identification with a form that needs to be investigated and uprooted.

What Is This "Me"?

This mistaken identity is referred to as the "me-impression," the "I-thought," the "imagined character," the "separate consciousness belief," the "person." The me-impression is a mind impression, a dream impression, a mistaken identification of consciousness. It is a belief and a feeling structure which, as long as it is not debunked, continues to veil our innate happiness.

The Nature of This Belief

It is a hidden thought, an invisible belief that I/consciousness is born, limited and dependent on the body-mind. This belief goes hand in hand with the me-feeling. The feeling that consciousness is phenomenal and limited to a body-mind.

This belief is mind-stuff, a mental fabrication, a narrative which is not investigated and therefore taken for granted upon faith and not upon any valid evidence. Inquiry into the evidence supporting this belief reveals that this belief is a trick of the mind that has no evidence to support it. The belief and feeling of separation is ignorance - the belief that consciousness is phenomenal and limited to a personal body-mind.

Ignorance

This state is called ignorance. It is explicitly defined as "Ignoring the truth. Ignoring true nature. Ignoring the Self and loving the mortal body-mind impression." Ignorance is the belief in an external world and an internal self, and it is the source of our suffering. It is the illusion of separation. Misery and unhappiness are described as the trademark of ignorance.

A Reality Check

The separate self is not real. It is imaginary, a belief and feeling structure. The separate self is imagined, an imagined person, an illusory character, a dream character. The separate self has no reality of its own. It is a dream impression. The belief that there is a separate, independent entity is an illusion, a mirage. There is no separate self. There is no separation anywhere.

Chapter 3: The Consequences of Living the Lie - Understanding Suffering

Suffering

Suffering arises directly from the belief that consciousness is personal and limited. Consciousness identifies itself with a form and limits itself by such an identification. Suffering is the felt manifestation of ignorance. The belief in the reality of the imagined person is what is called suffering. Via this belief, consciousness veils itself from itself. It is important to understand that reality, consciousness, does not suffer. Suffering is a dream impression, a mind impression, a sort of puzzle that consciousness is playing.

Forms of Suffering

Suffering manifests as resistance, as not wanting things to be as they are or as they appear to be. It also manifests as seeking, wanting something else than what appears to be. What we are truly seeking is the end of seeking. Suffering manifests as a variety of negative emotions, somatic sensations, such as worry, personal concern, regret and fear. The I-thought, the personal me-thought (identification as a limited person) is experienced as unhappiness. Suffering is identification with a form which inevitably leads to resistance, and seeking. The impression of separation and that of suffering go hand in hand. It is a package deal.

Most of our angst is the result of believing that I (borderless and universal consciousness) am a phenomenal entity living in time and space, moving from past to future, from birth to death. This identification with a body-mind impression is the cause of our angst as we become infected with the thorn of mortality.

The Sense of Lack

The sense of lack arises with the belief in separation. The belief that consciousness is personal and dependent on the body-mind. The belief that ‘I’ refers to an imaginary separate and limited entity existing in time and space. The sense of lack is unhappy and ignites in us a desire for happiness. We seek happiness externally in various phenomenal situations, relationships, mind states, until we realize the futility of looking for happiness in any phenomenal experience.

The sense of self is not only maintained via the belief in separation, but it inhabits the feeling state, via bodily sensations. That is where the me-identification roots itself as the me-feeling, the sense of personal self. The I-thought-belief is also felt as a bodily sensation, a sort of contraction. The combination of the belief in duality and sense of separation results in the me-feeling. Feelings of separation express themselves as negative emotions which, in ignorance, we rely on, as evidence that, indeed, I am a mortal body-mind, since I feel that way. But feelings are perceived. They are neutral phenomenal appearances and they are not evidence that I, the reality which perceives them, am a mortal entity. Feelings are known but they are not knowing and cannot be relied upon to know anything about I, the reality which perceives them.

Ask yourself, what are feelings? Are they not neutral bodily sensations and thoughts? Are you not the awareness that perceives them? You perceive feelings in a similar manner by which you perceive a bird flying past the window, raindrops on the window pane. It is awareness which perceives and not a fictitious separate entity.

What We Truly Love

What is it we truly love? Is it an object, a situation, an experience as a mortal body-mind? Is it the decaying form that we love or is it the sweetness, the tenderness, beauty, intelligence and truth that we truly love? Imagining that such qualities reside in a form, a situation, a relationship is the cause of our sorrow and disappointment. We confuse our love for freedom, truth, beauty and happiness with pursuit of worldly situations and experiences.

Whenever you imagine love to be love for an object that is separate from yourself, you experience the pain of separation and the agonizing sense of lack. Often, experiencing the sense of lack, we wrongly imagine that we must double our efforts in pursuing worldly experiences. Such belief maintains the quicksand of ignorance. Love is what you are and not what you become or gain.

Finding Fault and Judgment

Finding fault with oneself or with another creates an illusory division in the seamless and borderless open space of being. The mind becomes charged with a sense of separate me and a separate other as well as with the angst of judgment. Finding fault with the other maintains the me-you duality and the inevitable contraction in the body feeling space. This unhappiness moves into our belly, into our chest, into our neck and shoulders, into our throat. Then we struggle to justify ourselves, to defend and rationalize our position in order to avoid the pain and unhappiness that results from our judgments. Like a fish caught in the net, the more it struggles, the more entangled in the net it becomes. Finding fault with another invites a similar response from the seeming other and we find ourselves engaged in a duel, an unhappy situation for everyone.

Psychological vs. Physical Pain

Pain is a bodily sensation meant for our preservation. Suffering is the psychological interpretation of pain and life events as happening to a personal separate, mortal self, which leads to the impression of imminent danger. This identification with a mortal form is gratuitous, an unnecessary add-on. Pain may persist as long as the body does; suffering ends with the dissolution of the belief and sense of separation.

Physical pain is a mechanistic, physiological process that is felt in the body. Falling on one's elbow is a painful experience. The body is wired to respond to pain, to tend to the body as best as possible. Physical pain may persist for as long as the body does.

In contrast, Suffering is not the same as physical pain. Suffering is how the belief in separation feels like, how it appears in the body-mind. Suffering is the trademark of ignorance, rooted in the identification with a limited, separate self, the "me impression" or "I-thought". Suffering is experienced as unhappiness, resistance and seeking. Suffering ends upon the full-blown realization and understanding about the reality and universality of consciousness. The dissolution of the impression of separation, once and for all.

Part II: Investigation and Understanding

Chapter 4: What Is Reality?

By reality, we refer to the changeless aspect of our experience, that which does not come and go, which is not in time and space. According to our experience, while thoughts, sensations and perceptions are constantly changing, the reality which truly perceives them, is changeless. It is an undeniable fact that we are conscious.

It is an undeniable fact that we are aware. We are aware, and we know that we are aware. In other words, we are aware that we are aware. All human beings are aware, although they may not be paying attention to that fact given that they are busy with their mind and perceptions. The non-dual understanding is about being knowingly aware. Awareness being knowingly aware.

Reality refers to whatever it is right now, which IS and truly perceives. That which is and cannot not be: Being/Awareness. Being refers to Presence, Amness, the pure I Am. Presence goes hand in hand with knowing/Awareness. While manifestation is impermanent, reality is eternal (not in time) formless and changeless.

By reality we refer to THAT that does not come and go, that is unchanging throughout time and space. In other words, what is real now, is real tomorrow and has an eternal quality. Looking at your experience, you will notice that while appearances are constantly changing, consciousness, whatever it is that perceives, does not. Consciousness/awareness is the changeless aspect, the reality aspect of your experience, the noumenal aspect.

Notice that whatever you perceive, you perceive through consciousness. You know a tree, a thought, a sensation through consciousness, through Aware Presence. Therefore, we refer to reality as the reality of consciousness and not mind, that which appears and disappears.

Consider that in deep sleep or between two thoughts, thought is absent, but consciousness is not. This seeming gap between thoughts is the ground of being, the screen out of which images arise. The screen permeates thought as well as all phenomena arising, but it is not perceived via the senses. As a metaphor, the eye that perceives is not perceived. The (formless) reality which perceives (form), is not perceived.

This understanding reveals a profound truth about the nature of all experience: All perceptions refer to their formless reality. Whether you perceive a tree, a thought, a sensation in your belly, or a memory - the reality of each perception is not the form itself but the formless consciousness in which it appears. The tree's reality is consciousness, the thought's reality is consciousness, the sensation's reality is consciousness. All phenomena, regardless of their apparent differences, share this same essential reality.

Chapter 5: The Nature of Consciousness

Given the undeniable fact of awareness, we can say that awareness/consciousness IS and that it is undeniably our experience. We know that we are aware as a result of our direct experience of awareness. The next question is: What is this consciousness/awareness? We don't know. In other words, our puny mind does not know and cannot know that which knows it. But what we do know is that there is consciousness. There is 'something' which perceives, which is aware. That is undeniable. It is our direct experience.

We define consciousness as the perceiving aspect of our experience, the awareness aspect, the reality aspect, whatever that may be, which perceives this perception and which knows that it perceives. In summary, consciousness is whatever it is which is and which truly perceives right now.

Consciousness, awareness, is beyond conception, beyond the mind. All conceptions arise within awareness and depend on it. Consciousness knows it is and knows it is conscious. This knowingness is direct and is inherent to the nature of consciousness. The mind, perceptions, both gross and subtle, arises in consciousness, in presence and are known by the aware presence within which they appear. Presence or consciousness cannot be perceived phenomenally, as a form, as an object. But, can you deny that you perceive this very moment? Obviously, something perceives right now, before the arising of any narrative.

Consciousness is empty, but this emptiness is not a void, not an empty emptiness. Rather, it is a full emptiness. The attributes of awareness, creativity, love, freedom, compassion, wisdom and beauty constitute the fullness of consciousness.

Being refers to Presence, Reality, Amness, the pure I Am. Presence/Being goes hand in hand with Awareness/Knowingness. Sat and Chit are two sides of the same coin. Being/Awareness go hand in hand. There is no being without awareness, and no awareness without being.

When we contemplate the question: Am I? Or Am I present? The inevitable immediate and direct answer is absolutely yes. It is presence which knows itself and knows that it is. I know that I am aware. It is an apperception, whereby awareness is directly (effortlessly and noumenally) knowing that it is knowing. No mind is involved in this direct knowingness. Being and awareness are two reflections of the one diamond.

Consciousness refers to one reality, the reality of consciousness. It refers to itself by the fact that there is only one reality, and it refers to itself via its infinite creativity, which has no impact onto it. Within this one reality, within consciousness, there is no lack. Consciousness lacks nothing. This complete absence of lack is happiness. Inherent fulfillment. Our true nature is causeless peace and happiness. The Self is ananda - pure bliss, independent of external causes and conditions. Its nature is Love. Love is the very fabric of reality, oneness, advaita, non-duality. In love and as love, all is one. The non-dual understanding is the understanding about love, the revelation that love is the way, the path and the destination. All is love, which is not an emotion but the very nature of consciousness recognizing itself everywhere as nothing and everything. This understanding is the recognition of causeless peace and unwavering happiness as our essential nature.

Chapter 6: The Phenomenal and Noumenal

The Phenomenal Realm

The phenomenal realm refers to the world of appearances, forms, objects, and events. This includes the mind, body, and the perceived world, consisting of thoughts, sensations, perceptions, and experiences. It is characterized by change, impermanence, time, and space. Appearance and disappearance belong to this realm.

The phenomenal world is often perceived dualistically, involving a sense of separation between a perceiver and perceived objects. From the perspective of truth, the phenomenal realm is described as illusion, a dream, or mind events. It is considered a projection of the mind or simply "mind stuff." Phenomenal events are seen as downstream of consciousness.

In ignorance, the phenomenal world and the belief in a separate self are mistaken for reality.

The Noumenal Realm

The noumenal realm refers to the ultimate reality. It is known by many names, such as the Self, Consciousness, Awareness, God, Truth, Reality, Source, Absolute, Being Awareness, Knowingness, Impersonal Reality, and Everythingness.

This realm is formless, limitless, boundaryless, undefined, and unconceived. It is beyond the mind, time, and space. The noumenal is unchanging, eternal, pristine, and constant. It is effortless and self-knowing.

It is the source and substance of all appearances, yet remains untouched and unstained by them. The noumenal is pure presence, the reality that perceives, and what is ultimately real.

The experience of the noumenal is described as non-phenomenal, a direct knowingness or apperception that bypasses the limited mind and senses. It is the inherent state of peace, happiness, bliss, freedom, beauty, love, wisdom, and intelligence.

The Relationship Between Phenomenal and Noumenal

The phenomenal appears within the noumenal and is made out of it; its substance is the noumenal reality. The noumenal is the reality of the phenomenal. The world, body, and mind are real only to the extent of the reality of consciousness.

They are ultimately one, non-dual. The distinction between the arising/disappearing (phenomenal) and Consciousness (noumenal) is primarily pedagogical, a tool to help dissolve the illusion of separation.

The phenomenal is likened to the images on the screen of awareness, while the noumenal is the screen itself. The images change, but the screen remains.

The Resolution

In wisdom or realization, the noumenal is known as the one and only reality, and the phenomenal is seen as its manifestation or dream, without independent reality. This realization leads to the dissolution of ignorance and suffering. The apparent difference between Awareness and Experience dissolves when we recognize that what we call "experience" is simply the phenomenal appearance of the one noumenal reality. They are not two different things but one reality appearing in two different ways - as the unchanging background (noumenal) and as the changing appearances (phenomenal).

Chapter 7: Who Am I?

This question is at the heart of all spiritual inquiry. Yet the answer emerges not through conceptual thinking but through systematic investigation of our beliefs and assumptions in the light of our direct experience. Our true nature reveals itself to itself in the silent understanding about the reality and universality of consciousness.

The Method of Investigation

Let us begin by using our faculty of reason to investigate our most fundamental beliefs. Simply investigate the belief that you are a man, that you are a body-mind. This investigation makes sense since most of us believe that we are the body-mind. But how certain are we that this body and mind which we perceive? How certain are we? And is this certainty leading us to happiness?

Most, if not all of us, think and feel that we are a separate person, a mortal body-mind. We think and feel that we are this body, that we are contained inside this body, and that others are contained inside their bodies. But when the question is posed, 'what is it that is aware of this body-mind phenomenon?', our attention shifts from the external to the source which is non-phenomenal. Something perceives the body-mind. Something other than the body-mind is aware. The body-mind appears and is perceived. It is not self-aware, it does not perceive.

This shift in attention from the phenomenal towards the noumenal, towards the source of perception is the beginning of true inquiry - the recognition that whatever perceives cannot itself be something perceived. That which perceives the world, does so through the body-mind instrument, through the senses. The senses do not perceive. Thoughts, world perceptions, bodily sensations are known, but they are not knowing. What looks through your eyes is not the eyes themselves, what knows your thoughts is not the thoughts themselves.

Let us start with a blank slate, without any belief, without any preconceived conclusion. After all, in any investigation, it is best to start with a question rather than starting with a conclusion, such as: I am this or that. Where do we start with our investigation of this core question? The non-dual path invites us to start with the contemplation of our direct experience rather than relying on second-hand accounts. As we turn our attention to our experience at this moment, it is obvious that there are perceptions. What is the relationship between the perceiver and the perceived? What defines the perceiver? Is the perceiver defined by that which it perceives? Is it defined phenomenally?

I perceive the body-mind. I take care of the body-mind, thus I am not the body-mind which I perceive. I am the manager of the feelings and bodily sensations which appear to me. In ignorance, we define ourselves via the sensations and thoughts which appear on the screen of awareness. Rather than noticing that we are perceiving a bodily sensation and/or a thought, we say: I am sad, or I feel bad. In ignorance, we identify I/consciousness with a sensation which we perceive.

Contemplation

Consider that you perceive the oak tree. But you are not the oak tree. Whatever you perceive does not know you. You know the perceived, but the perceived does not know you. The oak tree does not know you. You are the knowingness which refers to an oak tree, which manifests as a perception labeled as an oak tree.

This investigation reveals something crucial about the nature of thought itself. You perceive the body-mind, which you take care of and manage like you manage your car. You perceive the body-mind via thought, perception and sensation. But mainly you perceive the body via bodily sensations, such as hunger, tiredness or a toothache. You are the knowingness of the body-mind, the knowingness of perceptions, thoughts and sensations. You are the perceiving aspect. You perceive an oak tree, but you are not the oak tree. Further, while you know the oak tree as a perception, the oak tree does not know you. Whatever you perceive does not know you. While you are the knowingness of that which you perceive, that which is perceived does not know you. There is a directionality between the knower and that which is known. Knowingness does not belong to that which is known. This understanding brings us face to face with consciousness, awareness, the reality which perceives.

In our exploration of truth, we are habitually guided by perceptions, and we overlook the reality of consciousness. We allow ourselves to be guided by the mind, by thoughts and perceptions. Rather than relying on the changeless aspect which is consciousness, we rely on the shifting mind. We rely on the manifest rather than on the unmanifest. We overlook the constant; we overlook the source. And thus, the contemplation of consciousness and the fundamental understanding about reality escapes us. Instead, we live in the past, the ancestral mind, the tribal mind and our actions are repetitive, repeating the past. Aggression, tribalism, coveting and the sense of separation take on different forms, but remain the same in essence.

There is a crucial understanding which is required for our evolution from disharmony and disorder towards harmony and order. The distinction between that which is perceived, and the perceiving aspect, is essential. A thought does not perceive. A thought is not knowing. The perceiver is knowing. Thought is known. Given that thought is not knowing, the perceived thought which says: I am a man, I am born, I am good, I am bad, etc. is not to be trusted. Thought cannot know the knower, and is therefore totally unreliable as a source of information or knowledge about the knower. Only the knower can reveal its own identity. Whatever thought says about you, about awareness/consciousness, is not to be trusted. What is it that can be trusted to reveal reality, truth?

In contrast to thought's limitations, there is a knowingness that bypasses thought. The knowingness of the reality and universality of consciousness. Awareness knows it is and knows that it is aware, independent of thought. In other words, awareness is a direct experience rather than the product of thought. It is its own evidence. We know there is awareness by the very fact that we are aware. This knowingness is direct and does not rely on thought. This knowingness, awareness knowing itself, is expressed as: I AM and I Know that I AM. Being/Awareness; Sat/Chit. Two sides of the same coin. The investigation of our experience of consciousness reveals that reality is aware. In other words, being and awareness are indivisible.

Traditionally, awareness refers to itself as the formless Self, the absolute ‘I’ which stands without any phenomenal qualifications as it belongs to the noumenal, non-phenomenal realm of reality, the unmanifest aspect. On the other hand, that which appears, that which is perceived belongs to the realm of manifestation, the impression of time and space, that which we refer to as mind.

The non-dual contemplation reveals that reality is one. Although the perceiver and the perceived appear to belong to different dimensions, their reality is one. Like the wave and ocean seem to belong to different dimensions, their reality, water, is the same reality. You can note that there is zero distance between the 'I' that is aware and awareness itself. Zero distance between the perceiver and perception. Thus, the notion of duality does not have any legs to stand on. This is a crucial understanding and yet, it is not the full realization until it is fully integrated and lives itself in our experience, in our body and mind.

The Recognition

The recognition is the source unveiling itself, from itself, to itself. The source, recognizing itself as the one and only reality, upon the dropping of the veils of identification. In ignorance, we know what we are. We believe that we are a person living in time and space, living in a physical world. This preset conclusion, which does not leave any room for discovery and exploration of the mystery of being, is inherited from generation to another and is not questioned. What initiates the breakdown of this belief is a glimpse beyond the mind, a glimpse into reality, God unveiling itself, be it for a brief moment. It is via this initial glimpse, no matter how the mind interprets it, that God’s invitation is delivered and the path to the source is ignited.

Ask yourself: In your experience right now, what is it that is aware? This question is not meant for you to dig for an answer in your old archives, going into your mind and digging for a satisfactory answer.

The mind is old and infected with the past and a variety of patterns which maintain the belief in separation. The 'I' which perceives is conditioned by the past. Conditioned by habits aimed for survival and procreation of the organism. It is via the past that we perceive. We perceive via the filter of survival and procreation. These filters, which are past patterns of perceiving, thinking and behaving constitute the ‘me.’ The hunter-gatherer, the survivalist, the manipulator, the seeker, the fighter... various patterns which are instrumental for the survival of the body-mind organism. Given the human body-mind is tribal, communal, being accepted by the herd is an essential aspect of our survival. Manipulating the herd in order to be recognized, to be accepted, to be honored is a skill which we acquire early on. That is how a personal image and identity comes into play. The brighter the image is, the more charismatic and successful the image is, the more likely it is for the survivalist to be recognized by the tribe, the more likely they will be honored which increases the likelihood of survival. That is one aspect of the survivalist game.

But it is via keeping the question about our true nature alive, fresh and remaining not-knowing that we are available and open to the revelation.

What is at this moment, in this very instant that perceives, that is aware? That which perceives is not perceived. Reality is not phenomenal. The direct inquiry in this question goes beyond the mind. What remains is the purity of I am, and I know that I am. The answer that emerges from direct looking, not thinking, is simply: I am, and I know that I am. Sat/Chit. Being/Awareness.

Chapter 8: Non-Duality and the Intimacy of Perception

Non-duality refers to one reality. Formless and non-phenomenal, manifesting as world- body-mind, from itself, to itself and as itself. Within its creativity, this one reality plays the game of ignorance and awakening by identifying and disidentifying with a phenomenal form, most commonly a personal and separate body-mind entity. The non-dual understanding reveals the nature of the game by dissolving the unhappy belief and sense of separation and revealing that our essential nature is and has always been this formless oneness, this formless and borderless aware presence, this one and only reality.

However, most of us live under a fundamental misunderstanding, given that we attribute reality to forms, to mind, to that which is perceived, and we overlook the reality which perceives and which is not perceivable by the senses. Relying on the senses to realize happiness is bound to fail. The sense of separation is very prevalent in our society... ignorance is the most popular religion today. This sense of separation is maintained via the feeling state, via bodily sensations. That is where the me-identification roots itself, in the body. That is where we get entangled, in the feelings. Feelings of separation become our evidence that duality is real. We are convinced that the belief that we are physical mortal entities is true, since we feel that way. The non-dual reasoning clarifies that feelings are perceived and that whatever is perceived cannot be relied upon to know anything about the reality which perceives it. You perceive a tree, or a thought, but neither the tree nor the thought knows anything about you, the perceiver.

Thus, feelings cannot be considered as evidence for the belief and sense of separation. Feelings are a perceived form. The non-dual contemplation invites you to ask yourself: what are feelings? Are they not bodily sensations and thoughts? Are you not the awareness that perceives them? Like you perceive a bird flying past the window, like you perceive raindrops on the window pane. Awareness is not defined by that which it perceives. It stands on its own and is its own self-evidence.

The Nature of Perception

To understand your true nature, you must turn your attention towards your direct experience and not towards the mind. While the mind is in time, conditioned and repetitive, direct experience is fresh and is not in time. There is a directness, an honesty in direct experience, which we do not find in the realm of the mind which refers to experience relying on time, relying on the past and the future. The past and the future are not directly experienced. It is our direct experience which can reveal its true nature.

As you turn your attention towards your direct experience, you come upon the realm of perception. The perceptual field, which we refer to as mind. We perceive mentation, such as thoughts, mental images and concepts. We also perceive a world of form, via the senses, and finally we perceive bodily sensations. What we do not perceive phenomenally is the perceiving aspect, without which there would be no perception. The invisible aspect. The reality aspect. That which perceives, which we colloquially refer to as the perceiver. Francis Lucille defines consciousness as the reality which truly perceives.

Thus, we could say that in our direct experience there is the manifest or the phenomenal and the unmanifest or the noumenal.

Perception is Non-Dual

The main thing to understand about perception is that it is non-dual. The perceiver and the perceived are one in the impression of perception. This understanding takes you to the realization of no objects, and no separate perceiver, but it comes with the danger of getting stuck in emptiness. Given that experience is non-dual, how could there be objects? How could there be a separate perceiver? In order to avoid getting stuck in emptiness, it is important to contemplate that although there are no objects and no separate perceiver, perception is undeniable, awareness is undeniable.

Which leads us to the question about what is it that is aware, and what is the subject of this undeniable awareness?

We have already determined that it is awareness that is aware. In other words, by its very nature, awareness is effortlessly aware. It is aware of form, and it is self-aware. Given there are no external forms, given non-duality, one wonders, what are these non-dual forms? What are these forms which are not a form? Could it be that awareness is both effortlessly self-aware and creative? Could it be that it creates the realm of perception out of itself, within itself, from itself, and to itself? Like the ocean creates infinite waves, currents, and whirlpools out of itself and to itself?

Aspects of Perception

There are two aspects to perception: the mind aspect and the reality aspect. But they are not two.

The reality aspect is direct experience. Experience experiencing itself. The ocean waving from itself and to itself. The understanding about direct experience reveals that all is one, all is consciousness, and that, in fact, there is no reality outside the reality of consciousness. In other words, direct experience is consciousness across the board. Arriving at this understanding is the experience of peace.

The mind aspect is the other side of the coin of experience. It is the realm of time and concepts. The realm of physics, design, and structure. The realm of the senses, of categorization, labeling, and naming. This is where we find memory and mental conception, where the future is created. This is where a body is created alongside the need for survival and procreation. A world appears by design to provide the arena for the play to unfold. It is in this realm, the realm of mind, that the me-virus finds its home. The sense of separation looms and roams in this realm. In Christianity, it is referred to as falling out of God’s grace. In non-duality, it is simply the other side of the coin of oneness, consciousness.

There is nothing at stake for anyone, as, in truth, there is only Oneness.

This leads us to examine the nature of perception itself.

The Nature of Perception

All objects (chairs, bodies, flowers, thoughts, etc.) appear as perceptions in awareness. You don't perceive the object. You perceive the perception. Who is the you that perceives? Obviously, given that objects are perceived, they do not perceive. What remains in our experience is the reality of awareness. Awareness is the only remaining candidate for the reality which perceives. In fact, the definition of awareness is the ‘reality that perceives.’ While in ignorance we believe that it is the form that perceives, while in ignorance we believe that it is the body-mind which perceives, in wisdom, it is understood that it is always awareness which does the perceiving. Awareness is revealed to be the ‘you’ that perceives.

What remains is the understanding that awareness takes on the form of perception.

Zero Distance

In the non-dual inquiry, we are invited to contemplate in our direct experience 'Zero-Distance.' What is the distance between perception and awareness? Experience it now. Is there a distance between you, the reality that perceives, and your perception?
No. There is zero distance.

What is, in your direct experience, the distance between the 'I' that is aware and awareness itself? What is the distance between the perceiving aspect (the reality which perceives) and perception itself?

Zero distance means complete intimacy, non-duality, no separation, not two. There is no external reality which stands apart from awareness. The reality of that which is perceived is awareness/consciousness. Awareness and perceptions are one. (Perceptions include visuals, sounds, thoughts, feelings, sensations, worldly appearances, etc.). That which is perceived, and the perceiver—awareness—are one and the same.

The contemplation of 'zero distance' takes us a step closer to the experiential understanding of non-duality. In the non-dual understanding, the I that is aware is awareness itself. I/awareness am aware. I/awareness perceive. It is I/awareness which is the changeless aspect and the reality of all perceptions. The world is I, and I am the world. The reality of all waves is water, the invisible essence. The recognition is a sort of merging of the 'it' with the 'I.'.

The Intimacy of Experience

This understanding transforms how we relate to our experience. We are experiencing our experience and not an external world out there. Take a look right now. Are you not sensing your sensation? You are sensing your sensation, smelling your smell, perceiving your perception, tasting your taste. Perception is not external to you, the perceiver of experience. We are always experiencing ourselves and not an external object out there. There is intimacy in experiencing, whereby the experiencer and the experience meet as one. In fact, they are one. This is a core understanding in non-duality. Experience, perception, and sensation are intimate with the reality which perceives. To illustrate this intimacy of perception, imagine there is a smell out there in the distance. For example, consider the smell of a rose. To smell the rose, there has to be a meeting, a sort of merging between the rose and the smelling. The two have to meet, and in this meeting, they become one in the experience of smelling. Right? In smelling the rose, there is no distance between smelling and the rose. There is complete intimacy. There is oneness of the rose and smelling. Given that you are the one smelling, you and the smelling are one. One could say that you are smelling yourself as a rose. You are experiencing yourself as a rose. You are experiencing your rose-experience. You are never actually experiencing an object out there. Distance is an add-on which is not part of your experience.

Chapter 9: Experience, Time, and Impersonality

Building on the non-dual understanding of perception, we now investigate the deeper implications of experience.

Pure Experience

Pure experience refers to direct apperception. Perception, which precedes the mind, which precedes conceptualization, which precedes memory and any narrative. Pure experience is neither information nor meaning. It always refers to itself, to the source, to consciousness. The meaning of pure experience is Sat-Chit-Ananda, which is its source and its reality. The source is always pointing to itself. In pure experience, there is no experiencer, and there is no experience. Only love and Ananda. Only formless universal awareness, only reality, only Sat/Chit/Ananda.

Notice how the biocomputer is designed (via the senses) to receive information, sound bites, and bits and bytes, which are converted and integrated to create form and meaning. The biocomputer is an instrument in the hands of universal beingness via which phenomena are perceived. It is via this same process that concepts are created to facilitate a better integration in the phenomenal realm. On the other hand, understanding refers to the grand design of consciousness before the mind engages. While reality is not in time, non-dual and without objects, void of separation, the mind introduces time, memory, concepts, and narratives. Mind narratives are necessary for the survival of the human bio-computer and do not necessarily refer to ignorance. Ignorance is a different matter.

[The video below features a discussion about Satchitananda-nama-rupa]

The Survivalist Game: One Aspect of Our Experience

I perceive. The 'I' which perceives is conditioned by the past. Conditioned by habits aimed at survival and procreation of the organism. It is via the past that we perceive. We perceive via the filter of survival and procreation. These filters, which are past patterns of perceiving, thinking, and behaving, constitute the ‘me.’ The hunter-gatherer, the survivalist, the manipulator, the seeker, the fighter... various patterns which are instrumental for the survival of the body-mind organism. Given the human body-mind is tribal and communal, being accepted by the herd is an essential aspect of our survival. Manipulating the herd to be recognized, to be accepted, to be honored is a skill which we acquire early on. That is how a personal image and identity come into play. The brighter the image is, the more charismatic and successful the image is, the more likely it is for the survivalist to be recognized by the tribe, the more likely they will be honored, which increases the likelihood of survival. That is one aspect of the survivalist game.

Time and Timelessness

This brings us to the contemplation of the concept of time. What is the reality of time, given that our direct experience is complete intimacy? Non-dual reality points to the timeless aspect of experience, the eternal aspect of experience. Keep in mind that eternity refers to no-time, or the timeless.

How Do We Experience Time?

We all know that we experience time. Yesterday’s events, early childhood. We experience time via memory, images, and thought which appear to us. They appear within awareness/consciousness. We remember yesterday’s breakfast by perceiving images. The bowl of cereal with oatmeal and bananas. Memory, meaning thoughts and images appears in the now, in this eternal, timeless moment, in the reality of awareness. What is significant to understand is that we do not experience an actual past. We do not truly experience yesterday or tomorrow. How could we, given we are in the now and never actually leave it?
Given we do not truly experience time, therefore time is an inference, a convenient concept, a sort of shorthand.

We also know time through perception and sensation. We perceive an aging body or a decaying unrefrigerated lemon. We perceive sensations in the body, various aches of the body which arise over time. When we experience aches in the body, we infer time. But we do not experience time. We experience an ache in the body, a bodily sensation. In this case, time is an inference. A convenient concept.

In a way, the experience of time, which is inferred, is innocent. It is a convenient tool. What spoils the party is believing that I exist in time. Believing that I am born and slowly progressing in time towards death. It is upon this belief that we experience the thorn of mortality and various worries and concerns about our existence.

In pure experience, there is no time. Only awareness/consciousness. Given that we never experience a reality called time, one wonders what is our relationship with time.

The Absence of Time: Love, Truth, Freedom, and Beauty

The question we are invited to contemplate is what is our experience in the absence of time?

Experientially, what is it to be free from the impression of time, both in the mind and in the body? What is perception in the absence of the past and the future, in the absence of mind?

No time does not imply an extremely short time. It implies timelessness, eternity. Eternity cannot be grasped by the mind, cannot be comprehended conceptually. The eternity of now.

Is there such an experience as the eternity of now? And if so, what is it?

Can the absence of time be experienced via thought? Thought is an event in time; it unfolds in time with a beginning and an ending.

Is the experience of the absence of time a sensation? Sensations unfold in time. They require mind and thought, which is in time. They are also interpreted in time via thought and concept.
The absence of time implies the collapse of the mind and the absence of thought, both of which are in time. It is the collapse of perception, since conventional perceiving unfolds in time and in thought.

David Bohm used the term ‘apperception’ regarding perceptions that are not in time. Apperceptions would be perceptions that are not in time. One could say an intuitive sort of perception. This can also be understood as awareness awaring itself both in form and formlessly. While perceiving implies duality, a perceiver and a perceived, apperception does not distract awareness from its direct self-knowingness, like a wave does not distract the ocean, beyond duality.
In this collapse of duality, the ground of being, the reality of consciousness/awareness, remains undisturbed, unaffected, and unmoved, knowing itself across the board. This knowingness is both in the presence and the absence of manifestation. This knowingness is unshakable, eternal, and unconditional.

Summarizing the Experience of the Collapse of Time

Given that no time implies no mind, no-duality, one could say that it is the experience of a completely quiet mind. A mind that is free from thinking, not entangled in beliefs. It is the non-dual experience. The collapse of the separate experiencer. The revelation of the complete intimacy of experiencer/experienced. In the absence of time, form returns to its formless source.

The non-dual experience is that of wholeness, oneness, love, beauty, and freedom from separation, as well as the celebration of creativity. Forms and objects that require perception, conception, and thought are absent in the eternity of now. Experience collapses in Ananda, the bliss of the Self, the one and only reality.
This collapse of experience is the revelation that there is no separate experiencer and no separate objects to be experienced. In this collapse, love, truth, freedom, and beauty are revealed. The experience of causeless peace.
This leads us to the understanding of the impersonal nature of things.

The Impersonal Nature of Experience

In its purest form, in the absence of superimposition, experience is universal and impersonal, non-dual, void of a separate experiencer, and void of separate objects to be perceived. In the non-dual understanding, experience refers to the universe universing, guided by God’s infinite will and freedom and not by the will of a separate doer. Here, the term God refers to the one reality and not to a conventional God that lives in the sky.

All thoughts and actions are impersonal, appearing effortlessly within consciousness/awareness. They are cosmic events, cosmic winds of sorts. Personal ownership is a false add-on. It is an unnecessary superimposition. Whenever you contemplate your experience looking for a personal doer, a personal creator, or a personal will, you will only find such an entity as a belief, as a thought, or as a feeling. Reality, Brahman, God, the Absolute, is one and only. It is complete freedom. Impersonal and universal. The creator of all creations. The one and only creator/perceiver of its creation simultaneously. In the absence of ignorance, experience is imbued with a sense of awe, peace, beauty, and harmony.

The Significance of Our Phenomenal Experience

From an absolute perspective, phenomenal experience has no significance. Ultimately, what is the significance of playing cards or playing chess? Let us examine the components of our phenomenal experience more closely.
We experience phenomena, both subtle and gross, that we can classify under three headings: thoughts (mentation), sensations (mostly bodily sensations), and worldly perceptions.

We could say that experience, i.e., thoughts, sensations, and perceptions, are events that appear in consciousness/awareness, which we refer to as "I," "I" being another way to refer to consciousness/awareness. I perceive experience at zero distance.

The contemplation of zero distance takes you directly to Oneness, to the Source, to Wholeness.

Summarizing the Nature of Impersonal Experience

In a nutshell, all experience is impersonal. The personal element is an add-on, a superimposition. Awakening to this understanding means the dissolution out of the mental and emotional system of the belief and feeling of being a personal doer.

Thoughts, sensations, and perceptions, in other words the mind, do not arise out of a personal doer nor out of a personal will. If they did, we could control every thought, every sensation, and every perception, and, of course, we would never choose an unhappy thought. We would be in complete control of our mind, which is not the case.

What we can control is how we meet our mind and how we relate to the world and body-mind as they appear to us from moment to moment.

Contemplating the content of our experience searching for the personal doer leads us to the understanding that everything we perceive is sourced impersonally. There is no personal doer to be found.

Thoughts, sensations, and perceptions are impersonal. We could say that they are universal, cosmic events, sourced in the one and only reality, the reality of consciousness, which is the changeless aspect of our experience.

The Neutrality of Perceptions

Perceptions are colorations on the screen of awareness. Shapes, sounds, thoughts, sensations are events appearing out of the field of awareness, like waves arising out of the vast field of water. One could give a personality and a character to every wave; that would be fun to do. One could imagine that every wave has a personal power to create itself. That would make a good kids book. With illustrations, it’s even better. But the fact is that waves are simply a manifestation, a movement of the vastness of water. They are not endowed with any personal character outside the character we choose to give them out of our own sense of play or out of our deep ignorance of the state of things.

Notice that perceptions, of and by themselves, are neutral. They are appearances which appear and disappear effortlessly. Outside the significance we give them, they have no significance of their own.

Oftentimes, thought, sensation, and perception deliver a practical message. The sensation of hunger leads us to feeding the body. Perceiving the start of rain leads us to close the windows. Perceiving the thought today is Monday leads us to get ready to go to work. Practical information having to do with food, shelter, and clothing can be delivered this way. Certain universal messages are celebratory. They arise out of an impersonal enthusiasm. For example, it's a hot day; let’s go swimming. Or, although it may be a challenging thing to do, I would love to learn to play the piano. It feels exciting.

Others thoughts are contemplatory and have to do with love of truth. The interest in the exploration of the significance of life and reality is an example of contemplatory thinking. The desire to explore and understand this human experience is inspired from beyond the mind. Such thoughts are impersonal and have a deep resonance.

What we need to understand is that in all cases, thoughts, sensations, and perceptions, like all appearances, are neutral and impersonal, whether they are practical, celebratory, creative, or contemplatory.

In religious language, it is said that all thoughts, all sensations, and all perceptions belong to God and not to God’s creation, not to mankind.

A Particular Type of Perception:

Although at some level, all perceptions are equal, at another level not all perceptions are equal. We should be careful not to put all our eggs in the basket of the neutrality of perceptions.
Although we could say that all events are neutral, some events are more neutral than others. Some events trigger negative emotions and negative thinking, leading to inner and outer turmoil. Stubbing your toe is more neutral than experiencing a deep-seated fear of abandonment or loss.

Certain experiences trigger ancient patterns of reactivity and negative emotions, which cannot be easily disregarded and require our attention and healing.
The process of inquiry into the emotional body and the nervous system is essential for our stabilization in truth. The embodiment of our understanding about consciousness must incorporate healing our various patterns of reactivity and the destructive ways in which we respond to our emotions. A new way to meet our experience both externally and internally is part of the process of awakening and healing. That brings closure to the spiritual journey.

This is a very crucial aspect of the path which many teachings and teachers overlook.

The Virus: Personalization and Personification of Experience

Experience in its pure form, is impersonal. It is the universe which is universing, creating experience from itself, to itself. We are part of what the universe is universing. We are being universed. And part of our being universed, is the virus of identification which leads to the unhappy sense of separation. What negatively impacts our experience is the belief that I am the body mind which is born and destined to die. The belief that I am a form which exists in time and space.
In its purity, our phenomenal experience is composed of thoughts, perceptions and sensations. Yet, due to the virus of identification and separation, we experience disturbing feelings, and negative emotions, such as the sense of lack, fear of death and not being good enough.

Although perceptions and sensations, per se, are neutral, that is not the case when it comes to feelings and emotions. Understanding feelings and emotions that appear in the mind and body is crucial. In the body, feelings and negative emotions appear as disturbing sensations and contractions. In the mind, they appear as haunting thoughts which trigger the emotive body.

Whenever the me-belief is on board, thoughts have a tendency to be disturbing. The me-feeling personalizes neutral sensations, as a result of which, they are experienced as personal and at times painful contractions. This triggers the mind into disturbing thoughts leading to a downward spiral descent into confusion, looping deeper into the abyss of aloneness, powerlessness and despair.
Negative feelings appear hand in hand with resistance and seeking. On one hand, we are seeking love and on the other hand, we are believing and feeling unloved.
What resides behind resistance and seeking is a hidden belief that there is an imminent danger to my existence. My existence as a person, as a separate entity. In spite of the fact that this sense of danger is based on the false identification with the body, the danger feels very real. To feel unloved is unbearable for the child who experiences himself alone and abandoned. In various ways, we all suffer to various degrees from being an unloved child, powerless and unmet. Being overlooked or traumatized without repair. Behind our ongoing patterns of resistance and seeking, there is the old wound of the powerless child.
When it comes to emotions, it is sufficient to understand that they are feelings on steroids. A cascade of sensations and thoughts that are playing themselves out beyond any control. A sort of mini tsunami. What lies behind emotions is the deeply rooted belief and feeling of separation.

The root cause of feelings and negative emotions is the virus of separation, the unseen personal identification, the belief that I am a phenomenal and material entity limited to the body and mind. Various patterns of protection are in place ready to arise in defense of the sense of personal self whenever a threat is perceived.

It is important to realize that this entity we are trying to protect is the party pooper. It is an old ancestral imaginary structure which has become more and more powerful over the eons. It is deeply rooted in our DNA, in our communal body mind and is in need of healing.

As a result of this condition, thought habitually refers to I as some separate and mortal entity. The body resonates with this belief and confirms this belief via soma and feelings.

The world is perceived as external and internally we feel isolated and alone.
We experience ourselves as a body mind entity, as a man or woman separate from other people and separate from the world which appears to surround us.

Beyond Awakening: Integration and Healing the Remaining Patterns of Ignorance

The understanding about the virus of separation is a crucial understanding, but it is not sufficient. Eons of conditioning have conditioned the human organism, the body-mind, into patterns of reactivity based on the belief in separation. These old patterns have ancestral and genetic roots, the echo of which under certain circumstances, may continue to manifest in our life.

The body-mind needs to be healed and purged from these deeply rooted patterns.
Life will present us situations which bring to the surface our old patterns of reactivity, avoidance, blame, guilt, shame. This is an opportunity to see the spiritual ego and to meet our experience as it appears without bypassing it.
Aligning our life in accordance with our deep understanding about truth, love and freedom is experiential and may call us to see how, in spite of our understanding, we continue to react and respond to various life situations based on old patterns rooted in childhood.

Relationships are great opportunities available to us in order to look and explore these residual patterns of separation. Being in touch with the body and listening openly to what the body is expressing is an entry point into this exploration of the unseen residual patterns of separation.

What is the point of awakening to our true nature while we continue to entertain negative thoughts and emotions in our daily life? It is where the rubber meets the road, meaning in our daily life that we can verify the depth of our awakening.

The Metaphor of the Gap. The non-thought.

Many sages have shared that awakening is akin to being simultaneously in deep sleep and yet fully awake. Living in the gap which is not an event in time and space. This gap is a helpful metaphor inviting us to notice that there is a reality beyond that which we perceive, beyond appearance. The noumenal aspect of our experience.

In order for us to experience different events such as two different thoughts, a certain non-thought space is needed between them. In the absence of this non-thought gap between thoughts A and B, we would only experience one continual thought, you may refer to it as thought AB, as one thought. But our experience clearly points to two different thoughts, to many different thoughts and thus, many gaps between thoughts or between perceptions.

This gap is not nothing because if it was nothing, then events A and events B will be one event rather than two events. One could say that the gap is not a phenomenal event nor is it nothing. We are aware of the gap. In fact we are talking about it right now. Although it is not experienced as an object, nonetheless it is part of our experience. We do not disappear between two thoughts. We are aware of the thought when it appears and we are aware that we are aware in the absence of thought.

Again, keep in mind that we do not disappear between events A and event B. We are still here. We claim that we are not aware of the gap when we expect the gap to be a phenomenal event, which it is not. The mind registers perceptions, such as thoughts A and B but does not register the gap between them.

David Bohm made a distinction between the terms perception and apperception. He stated that while we perceive events, we apperceive the gap.

There is awareness of form, such as awareness of thought A and B and there is formless awareness, or awareness of the gap. Awareness is ongoing in the presence or absence of events. We are this uninterrupted and undisturbed awareness.

Our ongoing experience is that of the gap, pure awareness. Awareness which is formless takes on the form of an event such as a thought, a perception or a sensation.

Thoughts Appear Within the Gap

As we hinted in the previous paragraph, the gap is not nothing, it is an aware space void of object, void of perception or thought. The gap is awareness being itself, aware that it is aware and not registered in the mind as a phenomenal experience.

The body-mind appears and disappears in awareness, meaning it appears and disappears from you and to you. It appears as an ever-changing sensation, thought, and perception. The gap is another term for awareness which is aware in the presence of form as well as in the absence of form.

Once more, consider the following: There are gaps between thought A and thought B. Without this gap, thought A and thought B would be one thought. Similarly, there is a gap between sensation A and sensation B. If there was no gap, sensation A and sensation B would be one sensation. The same applies to perceptions. This gap is not nothing. It is the screen between images, between thoughts, between perceptions. The screen is not nothing. It is an aware screen which does not lose its self-awareness in the absence of images. The images come and go and change, but the screen is constant.

This gap actually is not only between thoughts A and B, but it permeates thoughts A and B. Thoughts A and B are thoroughly permeated with knowingness, with awareness, which is the constant, the reality of form. What would thoughts A and B be without awareness? There is no part of your perception that is not permeated with the awareness that knows it. Awareness is that which is and cannot not be.
Contemplate what is your relationship to this awareness?
What is it to be simultaneously in deep sleep and awake?

Part III: The Revelation and Its Fruits

Chapter 10: What should be my Practice?

For some people, a certain form of practice is needed and sought. Each person who is looking for a practice must find the practice that suits them.

The general rule is to follow the path that fills your heart with joy. The path that brings clarity to your mind and joy to your heart. That will lead you to the appropriate practice for you.

Your deep desire and love for truth fuels your path and will guide you to your practice which may change over time.

Falling in love with the divine opens the heart and guides you forward. It is a gift from Grace.

Who Practices?

Who is the practitioner is a good question to contemplate.
Teachers often invite this question: Who are you? Who is practicing? What do you believe yourself to be? What is it you are seeking and what is the true nature of the seeker?

These questions are not meant to discourage or denigrate practice. They are an invitation to take a look at what assumptions you are making about who you are. Maybe you are considering yourself to be a spiritual person, whatever that means to you. Or you may be considering yourself to be somebody who needs improvement? This is worthy of contemplation.

Such questions are an invitation to explore the assumptions we make about ourselves, about our reality. Any assumptions that we make about ourselves is to a certain extent false. After all, assumptions about who and what we are, are rooted in the mind, in the past and do not address our current reality. The mind is conditioned and flimsy.

When we address the question: who practices? without going to the mind for an answer, the question remains suspended in awareness. That is the correct approach to this question. It is an invitation for an answer that does not come from the mind. We hold this question openly with interest without referring to the mind of the past and without going to the archives of our mind.

The Direction of Attention and Duality

The direction of attention is crucial. We are invited to direct our attention inwardly. Rather than being overly interested in your person and the world, turn your attention to the source, turn your attention to awareness. Loving awareness. Remaining interested in awareness and not in the manifestation, not in the images on the screen. Your interest leads you. If you are overly interested in the personality, you remain stuck in the personality. If you are overly interested in your ego, you maintain the ego. If you are overly interested in the world, you remain preoccupied with world events.

In this very moment, notice the impersonal openness, awareness in which all appearances arise. This awareness is effortless and not personal. Notice awareness. Direct your attention to awareness. The more you invite yourself to be aware of awareness, the more evident awareness will become for you. That is an important first step in the focus of your attention.

Being aware of awareness, being aware that I am aware. Being aware that I am aware is different from 'I am aware of this tree or of this thought'. In being aware of awareness, there is no object. There is no duality. Impersonal awareness is not dual. When we do not take a closer look, perceiving an object seems to be dualistic. But perceiving a tree, or being aware of perceiving a tree is not really dualistic. Take a close look and ask yourself if the observer is separate from that which is observed? Are you separate from your perception? Where is your perception? Is it three inches away from you?

You may find that perceiving a tree does not have a separate observer in it. Awareness is observing at zero-distance. Impersonal awareness and the tree are one.

That is why it is said that awareness takes on the form of a tree, like water takes on the form of ice or a wave. This is quite different from awareness perceiving a tree. The tree is in fact, not separate from awareness. There is no tree outside of awareness. One could say that awareness is tree-ing.

Resting in Being and as Being

Resting in Being is resting in the source, resting in your True Nature. The invitation is to rest in and as presence/awareness. This invitation is to relax the doing tendency and to become effortless, resting in not-doing, inviting the body mind to rest. This will allow us to notice awareness and to notice ‘I am’ or presence. This presence which can be referred to as the 'I am' is not a personal 'I am', not the traditional me-belief, me-feeling or me-identity.
In resting as Being/Awareness, you are invited to being aware that you are and that you are aware. This is an effortless noticing which is the result of the complete relaxation of the mind.

We have a tendency towards activity and achievement. This is more of a non-doing, a sort of relaxation, the abandonment of the habit of personal doership. When it comes to the non-dual understanding, the less we do, the better it is.
You do not choose the weather. You do not choose your thoughts and as a result, you do not choose the decisions and actions which follow thought.
The metaphor is to remain open and transparent like the wide open sky, concern-free. The wide open sky is not concerned about the appearance or disappearance of clouds. It remains as it is, borderless, open as clouds appear taking on a variety of forms. Similarly, we allow feelings and sensations to arise and dissolve without resistance, avoidance, personal intention, or wanting to change them. We are available. We are complete availability, recognizing all appearances as images or guests passing through the field of awareness, passing through the sky. We are like a changeless mirror, images change, but the mirror does not. Awareness is untouched by appearances.

Rumi’s The Guest House:

This being human is a guest house
Every morning a new arrival
A joy, a depression, a meanness
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows
Who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture
Still, treat each guest honorably
He may be clearing you out
For some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice
Meet them at the door laughing
And invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes
Because each has been sent
As a guide from beyond

Living the Understanding

One of the crucial aspects of the path is the living of the understanding. What is the use of realizing that reality is non-dual while you continue to live out of the old paradigm of duality?

You know yourself to be this borderless awareness. You know directly that these words appear to you. You, as borderless awareness. How do we live according to this understanding? Life does not present itself according to our wishes or expectations. Oftentimes, it appears chaotic and quite jarring. How do we meet it?
We can remind ourselves that we are this invisible presence by going directly to our experience as this invisible formless awareness which is perceiving this moment. This is not hearsay. It is a direct experience.

You invite yourself to live according to your understanding that you are not the body-mind and that there is one reality. The reality of awareness, which is you.
Whenever the I-thought arises, we pause and notice the belief and its falsehood.
Over time, we cease believing the I-thought and we cease relying on the feeling of being a separate self as our guide. Our doubt mass is awakened. We recognize that the personal self is a dream character, a set of beliefs as well as a set of bodily sensations. We start to perceive others as our very self, as the same consciousness manifesting as a different form. Our actions arise from intelligence, love, compassion, harmony, and general welfare, not from personal desire. We do our best in life, tackling daily tasks without adding the belief that I am a mortal body-mind and without being overly concerned about personal outcomes and negative emotions.

This inquiry becomes direct and authentic when we contemplate our direct experience, without relying on the mind or on hearsay until we reach certainty. The certainty that it is not possible to know what I am relying on the mind. The certainty about the reality of awareness/consciousness as the one and only reality. In other words, we need to reach the certainty that awareness/consciousness is real and that it is universal. This is exactly what Francis Lucille speaks about repetitively. As a result of this direct understanding, we are established in unshakable and causeless peace and happiness.

Whenever thought says: I am Joe, I am Bill or Mary, I am sad, I am happy, I am great, I am bad, I am tall, I am old - all of it is seen as relatively true but absolutely untrue.

Thought is known and does not know you. Thought is not knowing. You know thought as you are the knowingness of the thought. There is no other candidate for knowingness besides you. Knowingness belongs to 'I' and not to what is known.
Thoughts are like the weather. They are impersonal arisings. They arise randomly and are not subject to a personal will. Why should they bother you? Does the weather bother you? The weather may bother the body, especially when the body is aged and the weather is horrid, hot or cold. But it does not bother you. Can you explore that aspect of yourself which is not bothered by thought?

Ignorance is dispelled through contemplation and understanding which should be part of our life. We live the understanding by remaining open and available for the contemplation of life's events, whether they are internal or external. This leads us to understanding. Seeing through the illusion and the falsehood of resistance and the illusion of the me-impression. We see through the futility of psychological resistance and seeking.

Ignorance is dispelled by noticing that whenever you are living according to dualistic thinking that says: I am Steve, I am this or that... You are down the roller coaster ride.

You need to go back to the contemplation: Am I defined by thoughts and feelings? After all, thoughts and feelings do not know me, it is I that knows thoughts and feelings...
What am I truly?

We return to the real 'I' (Aware Presence) and not to the alleged I that is defined by thoughts and feelings. Visiting our understanding with passion and interest in truth, establishes it.

You cannot avoid being infected by wisdom when you contemplate truth. And you cannot avoid being infected by the negative emotions when you do not contemplate the truth and you rely on thoughts and feelings to lead you. The integration of understanding requires patience and dedication. Do your best to recollect and contemplate the unborn.

If you accept an intellectual understanding that 'there is no one' and 'nothing to do' you will be celebrating prematurely and you will end up in the turmoil of the mind. Only the establishment of causeless peace and happiness is the true celebration.

More on Grace and Practice

Suffering arises from the belief in separation and the search for happiness in the external world or body mind. It is a matter of mistaken identity. A spiritual teacher is a friend who can offer guidance and shortcuts to lead you out of this false identity. But it is via grace that the awakening takes place. And it is via grace that a teacher shows up in your life. Love for truth is a gift from Grace. It arises out of a glimpse into the absolute, a glimpse into truth which is an act of grace and not a personal act. The realization of the Self is bestowed via grace which leads the seeker to seek a teacher and explore the dharma. The ultimate objective is to get established in unshakable and causeless peace and happiness, which is the end of suffering and the revelation of freedom. Freedom from ignorance is the revelation of your true nature as universal consciousness and not as a conditioned being. This realization is tantamount to consciousness knowing itself, a direct knowingness that bypasses the mind. The teacher is the embodiment of this understanding. One could say that the teacher is the living understanding of truth.

The "practice" is a persistent turning of attention from the perceived world and the sense of a separate self to the knowingness of awareness itself, allowing illusion to dissolve, guided by your deep love for truth. Reality which was mistakenly attributed to the realm of form is sought at its source. Attention turns onto itself. It would be akin to shining a flashlight onto itself. The invitation is to relax into what already IS, rather than exerting effort to become something you are not or to attain something in a distant future. We are taught that we are a person with personal cuteness and certain drawbacks. As a result of our youth, innocence and frailty, we buy into these narratives. We identify with a separate sense of I which seems to provide us the only safety we know. This identity is hammered into us and is mirrored to us throughout our culture. We become members of the same tribe. The me-tribe. The separate-entity tribe. We belong. And yet, it seems that there is more to our life than this conditioned identity. We remain unhappy.

The exploration of our Self as universal divinity and not a separate entity is a crucial contemplation. Alongside this essential inquiry into the reality of our experience, into our reality, we should not neglect that there is a somatic dimension to our experience. An emotional field, a feeling field, a sensory field that easily triggers negative emotions and destructive behaviors. This emotional field is deeply hidden within the body-mind system and only surfaces in certain situations. In spite of our understanding about the reality of consciousness, we may find ourselves stirred up and spinning in a field of emotions which are manifesting in our body-mind, unable to relate from a place of peace and embodiment. Oftentimes, we resort to ‘all is consciousness’ and ‘this suffering is illusory’, which is true. But this does not relieve the angst. There is more to explore and in a slightly different direction. The negative emotions which are triggered by life are God’s gift leading us to clean up the remaining debris lodged in our skeletal being. We welcome them. We explore them. We move towards them and we investigate the remaining unseen assumptions and beliefs in separation.

Chapter 11: What Realization Is and Its Natural Expression

Realization is a re-cognition, a transformative understanding which liberates you from the unhappy illusion of separation. It is the liberation which matters. The journey toward truth culminates in this divine recognition, awakening to the reality of consciousness, awakening to truth. It is a divine gift that God offers her children. A divine play.
This human journey is a return home, an awakening to truth, an awakening to our true nature. In this return, the realization is that there is no one that is realized and no one that is not realized. The mind cannot comprehend this realization but is transformed by it. In this realization, the virus of separation, the illusion of duality is removed and collapses. The reality and universality of consciousness is revealed. Consciousness, the one and only reality, is and knows it is, independent of mind. The nature of consciousness is causeless peace, love, freedom and beauty. Realization is the end of the belief and feeling of separation. The alignment of mind and body with the source. Everything collapses in nothingness and nothingness is revealed to be the reality of everything.

How to speak about being nothing and everything? How to speak about being no-one and everyone? The linear mind operates in contrasts, in opposites, in conceptual nuances. How could it speak about that which is beyond opposites, beyond distinction? We cannot speak of the bright sun. We can only speak of that upon which it shines, its shadow.

True awakening is unmistakable in its completeness as it is the end of all beliefs and feelings of separation. It is the goal of the seeker, and it is in the death of the seeker that this goal is realized.

Although identification with the limited body-mind is no longer on board, life goes on in the same manner and yet it is drastically different. The transformation is both radical and subtle. From the outside, life seems to be the same. The engagement of the body-mind before and after awakening seems to be the same, except that we may notice that the sage is rarely truly disturbed and seems to be overall happy. There is a profound inner transformation which is the absence of the old personal background and identification with the body mind. Certain circumstances may occur whereby there may be a certain reactivity, but the identification which maintains the disturbance is no longer on board. It has been replaced with a freedom from identification and a deep sense of well being. The perfume of presence and harmonious living is appealing. From the inside, order is restored as the me-mechanism is no longer engaged. The sense of lack is absent. The deep stillness of being is unshakable. The fruits of this realization are inwardly unmistakable.

Remember that the goal of Advaita is causeless and unwavering peace and happiness, which is our true nature. Until that is reached, you are still on the path. The revelation of the Self is grandiose. There is no higher revelation. Although this revelation is not a mind experience, it is far from being nothing. In fact, it is the revelation of the no-thing that is everything. This revelation brings forth the natural qualities of being which are causeless peace, freedom, beauty, joy, love, wisdom and happiness. These qualities are revealed with the total annihilation of ignorance. The Self is Ananda. The Self loves celebration and IS celebration. Celebrating itSelf. Its infinity, its grandeur, its splendor.

Love emerges as both the path and the destination. In love and as love, there is no separation. The many are one. In love, we merge into our essence, we dissolve in the love, we are absorbed in our true nature, we find that we are the love that we seek. Love is the way, the path, the destination. All is love. The absence of the separate self allows love to flow naturally, to reveal itself and to express itself. It is in our absence as a separate self, it is in the absence of separation that love is celebrated. In love, there is no judgment, there is no personal will or personal desire as the mind drops into the heart. The belief and feeling of separation is absent. The light of Being shines effortlessly.

Deepening and Awakening are Endless

After initial recognition as this effortless awareness, the journey continues to deepen and purify. The revelation of the magnificence, eternity and infinity of consciousness continues to unfold as the body-mind is purged from the mental residues that inhabit it. The purging at the body feeling level is of utmost importance. The celebration of divine consciousness includes dealing with the residues of ignorance. Old habits and patterns of reactivity which are deeply embedded in our body-mind. In time, these reactions diminish and no longer stir the boat. They lose their significance and impact. It is at that point that the Self revels in itSelf and no longer projects mind shadows. It may be an ongoing process with less and less significance. The world reveals beauty, the body reveals love and the mind wisdom, happiness and equanimity.

Chapter 12: The Sage and the Teaching

Who is the Teacher?

The essence of authentic teaching transcends the sense of a personal doer or teacher. The teacher is the impersonal Self. The Self is the answer and it is not a person with personal knowledge. The teacher is a medium of sorts, a messenger on behalf of God. The teacher’s answers are tailored to the capacity and maturity of the student. It is a mind-to-mind teaching whereby the teacher connects with the students at their level and infects them with a bit of God’s wisdom. The teacher's pointing is below the radar. Not through the words, but through the silent perfume which is between the words and within the words.
The dharma is 'embodied' in-as the teacher. Being in the presence of a teacher is a teaching. It is not a transfer of knowledge. Rather it is a sort of infection. Getting infested by truth.
A teacher answers questions with the intent to awaken the student allowing a peek into reality, a peek outside the dream via understanding and grace. There is also the invitation to experientially understand the meaning by stepping into the gap. By stepping into no-time and no-mind. This stepping out, so to speak, is the source turning its attention from itself to itself. Turning attention to the source of attention, to presence. That is the non-verbal response to all questions. That is the import of the teacher.

What is a Sage?

Understanding the nature of sage-hood clarifies the ultimate destination of this path. In the absolute sense, the term sage refers to consciousness. Consciousness knowing itself, being itself knowingly. It is consciousness which plays the game of veiling itself from itself. One could say that the sage is knowingly playing the game of hide and seek with itself. The paradox of apparent personhood must be understood clearly. In the relative realm, it seems as if the sage is a person. In the phenomenal realm, there are bodies and various forms. But the reality of the phenomenal realm is not phenomenal. The sage embodies this understanding.
A thought does not perceive. Reality is noumenal and one. Therefore, to refer to a sage as a person, albeit an enlightened person, is false. There are no persons in fact. The sage is the embodiment of non-personhood.
Although the teaching seems to function through apparent forms, such as the form of the sage, the presence of the sage takes you to the source, which is beyond form. People relate to each other in mind and via mind. They relate in the realm of form. A person appears to them in the waking dream, and they are drawn to that person. The way they look, the way they walk and talk and above all, they are drawn to the message which they share. They are drawn to the messenger and to the message. The form of the sage, the voice and demeanor is the bait which draws the student to the sage. In time, the message and the presence of the sage deepen the student’s relationship with the teaching. The understanding about truth ripens, and they recognize the one and only sage, which is impersonal, universal consciousness. Their very self. The one and only self. The sage ceases to be another and becomes a good friend.

Questions and Answers about the Sage

[The following questions were posed to Magdi, who answered them, but prefaced them with:]
Having shared that there is only one sage, which is universal consciousness, in the relative realm, we could say the following:

How does a Sage see and move in the phenomenal realm?

The sage does not see or move in the phenomenal realm, the phenomenal realm is perceived and moves within the sage.

To him, are objects seen as objects or consciousness (oneself)?

Although the sage does not perceive objects, in a relative sense objects are seen as consciousness, the manifestations of the unmanifest. The play of consciousness.

To the Sage, are people seen as people or oneself?

The other is perceived as oneself. The sage does not perceive another. He perceives the other as the same reality and never talks to another. For the sage, the appearance of form does not create a person nor does it induce forgetfulness. The sage is always addressing consciousness and not another.

Does he experience Ups and Downs in life like others do?

Yes, for the sage there are phenomenal ups and downs, but not psychological ones. There are challenges and various situations which may be disagreeable. But these situations do not have a psychological personal aspect to them. Life continues but without psychological suffering.

Does he experience Pain or Pleasure?

Concerning pain and pleasure, all sages experience pain and pleasure. Falling on your elbow is painful and eating chocolate ice cream is pleasurable.

Does a Sage have desires? Goals? Likes/Dislikes?

Concerning desires, the sage does not have personal desires. The desires of the sage are impersonal and are sourced in truth, love and freedom. This applies to goals as well. Some sages like spicy food and others less spicy. But that is not desire. It is the body’s preference.

The Waking dream is seen as such, by the Sage, but how about sleeping dreams? How about deep sleep? Are these different for the Sage?

All experiences are recognized as equal manifestations of consciousness. Night dreams and waking dreams do not affect the sage. They are perceived equally. All perceptions refer to their formless reality.

How about sleep at the end of the day?

What about it? It is consciousness that takes on the form of a body. A sage's body gets tired and the sage puts the body to sleep after a long day. A sage is not identified with the body.

How can the Sage practically help one who is stuck in the phenomenal realm to see through the illusion?

The sage's recognition is complete and constant. The sage helps by his/her silent presence, which is the shining light of pure consciousness, as well as through sharing the non-dual path and understanding. Rubbing elbows with the sage is transformative and helps us learn to live as consciousness.

In seeking an end to suffering, we are attracted to the Sage. Does the Sage feel helpless when he sees us NOT realizing who we are?

The sage's recognition is complete and constant. The sage knows everyone as the Self. What is there to realize? Ignorance is simply a game that God is playing. The Sage has no personal agenda.

How about Fear. When identified with the body, consciousness appears to fear not just physical danger but equally if not more, psychological danger. Does the Sage fear anything?

Given the body starts to die upon birth, when you are identified with the body, it does lead to psychological fear. But for a sage, the absence of identification means the absence of such fear. Having said that the Sage fears a lion but does not know psychological fear which is the result of ignorance and false identification.

We spend a lot of time trapped in mental loops of endless self-referential chatter. One could be peeling an orange, and eating it, but totally unaware. And when engrossed in work/task/sport, we lose sight of ourselves, but there is a subtle doership narrative underneath, I guess. How is it for the Sage in both these cases?

Mental loops are a sort of escape from presence and an attempt at filling the emptiness which is due to ignorance. These mental loops give rise to a fictitious sense of time, which the sage is no longer subject to. The sense of personal doership goes hand in hand with the belief in separation. Such a narrative is no longer active upon the establishment in/as your true nature. The main issue with mental loops is the sense of personal self, the me-structure which lurks in the background.

Chapter 13: Conclusion

Always Already Here

The ultimate recognition is that nothing needs to be achieved because you are already THAT, this aware presence, the reality of consciousness. You are this aware presence that hears these words. Without consciousness, there would not be any perceptions, any worlds or minds. There would be no knowingness. This understanding liberates you from the illusion of personal doership. Your business is not to take care of the circulation of your blood. Nor is it your business to take care of the weather. You can let that be taken care of by whatever creates it. The creator is actually you. But not you, the person. Not what you believe yourself to be. There is a universal YOU. A universal Self. The truth is always immediately available. In the stillness of your contemplation, when your belief systems are not on board, the eternity and infinity of consciousness are right there, full blast, yet veiled by your uninvestigated beliefs. The veils do not diminish the brightness of the sun. They create the impression of a local shadow, which is mind. Rest in the understanding that consciousness is unencumbered by anything and that you are that. Explore this understanding. Appearances are the play and display of consciousness from itself and to itself. Consciousness does not trip on any of them, it is not disturbed by its creation.

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