I AM THAT BEFORE THOUGHT Before an idea forms,
Before identity becomes its familiar story,
There is a quiet unborn presence,
Intimately here,
Impersonal,
Silently aware.
Take a moment now to be still and silent.
Nothing is required of you,
There is nothing to understand,
Nothing to improve,
Nothing to change.
Now quietly inhale with a long,
Slow,
Deep,
Relaxed breath in.
Pause for a moment,
Then exhale with a long,
Soft,
Relaxed breath.
Now allow the body to settle naturally as breathing finds its own natural rhythm.
Before the next thought appears,
Before one's identity is remembered,
Notice that there is a quiet awareness,
One silently present as a stillness before thought.
This is not a theory or a belief,
But an experienced,
Effortless presence.
Now thoughts will arise around images of a separate self in the world,
And yet before each one appears,
The silent,
Unmoving background of awareness is there,
Present,
Intimately aware,
Quietly knowing,
Free and uncaused.
Nothing needs to be understood here.
Nothing needs to be learnt to recognise what is already whole,
Already present.
A thought arises,
It is already known.
A sensation appears,
And it too is known.
Nothing becomes aware.
This stillness awareness was here before all that appears.
The belief this is me,
Or this is my identity,
This too is seen within the same open field of awareness.
And this wisdom knowing remains unmoved,
Unchanged,
Untouched,
And present,
Behind all activity,
All thinking.
Bring attention now to experience itself,
The movement of breath,
The rhythmical pulse of the heart,
Sounds appearing and dissolving.
All unfold formlessly,
Naturally,
And all are effortlessly known within the open field of silent awareness.
Free of identity,
Knowing remains as awareness.
Before attachment,
Before desire,
Before the thought of a me,
Before personhood,
Before belief,
Before conviction.
Regardless of appearances,
There is simply awareness.
A wholeness of inseparable oneness.
An unmoving presence,
Intimately here,
As the background to all perceiving.
Before interpretation,
Before meaning or labels are formed.
Awareness does not grow,
It does not evolve,
It does not seek,
And it does not desire.
Be here,
Silent,
Without trying to understand.
Be here,
Fully aware,
Or being aware,
As awareness itself.
As this meditation quietly comes to a close,
Notice that nothing new was gained,
Needed to be learnt,
Or understood.
Only the self-recognition of what is timelessly present,
Effortlessly here.
Thoughts will continue,
Life will unfold.
Awareness,
Though,
Remains timelessly here,
Inseparably present.
Now take a long,
Relaxed,
Deep breath.
Pause and release.
And as you do so,
Come back into the body as awareness itself.
Before each story,
Before each activity,
Before name or experience,
There is,
Eternally present,
The one wholeness of being,
Inseparable awareness.
AWARENESS
