Welcome to active meditation.
Centerless center.
All I know is myself.
Thoughts come and go.
Yet I remain.
Emotions come and go.
Yet I remain.
Bodily sensations come and go.
Perceptions of the world come and go.
I know the coming and going of all appearances.
But I don't come and go with them.
Who am I?
I am ever-present awareness.
I have no boundaries.
No limits.
I am infinite.
And yet,
As nothing exists outside of me,
I am the source of all appearances.
Of the body,
The mind,
And the world.
All I know is myself.
Without me,
Nothing exists.
I am fullness itself.
I am emptiness itself.
I am the I am.
Before the I am.
For the next few moments,
You will be asked to assume the identity of absolute awareness.
Pure consciousness.
Whether you know it or not,
This is your essential being.
Our shared essential being.
By a simple investigation of the qualities that make up our identity as a personal self,
Together we will discover that this identity is false.
In the process,
Your,
Our true identity will be revealed.
So prepare for meditation by assuming a comfortable position,
Either seated or lying down.
Close your eyes.
Breathe naturally.
Slowly prepare for meditation.
Some believe that each individual body-mind,
Each human being,
Has its own personal knowing element.
Its own personal awareness.
Let's discover together if this is true by examining the attributes of our body-mind.
The qualities of our individual personal self.
Our body-mind is made up of thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations,
And perceptions.
All of these are temporary occurrences in the measureless expanse of awareness that is our essential being.
So in the truest sense,
They can't be considered real.
For something to be real,
Shouldn't it be ever-present and unchanging?
Now,
Allow a thought to come to your attention.
It can be any thought.
The content is unimportant.
Observe the thought as it arises in your awareness,
Lingers for a while,
And then disappears.
Imagine a wave forming on the ocean's surface,
Rolling towards shore,
And dissolving into the sandy beach.
Ask yourself,
Where did the thought come from?
Where did it momentarily reside?
And,
Where did it go?
At first,
It was not in your awareness.
Then it appeared,
Lingered for a moment or two,
And then vanished.
Did your awareness vanish with it?
Thoughts come and go,
Yet I remain.
Now,
Accept an emotion into your awareness.
What are you feeling at this moment?
Good?
Bad?
Indifferent?
Anxious?
Calm?
The particular emotion isn't that important.
What is important is that you identify whatever feeling or emotion is present and observe it for a moment or two.
Is the emotion still there?
Is it as strong as it was when you first noticed it?
Or,
Has it changed?
Become stronger?
Or weaker?
Or,
Disappeared altogether?
Has a new one taken its place?
The point is,
Feelings or emotions are always changing.
They arise in our awareness,
Linger for a while,
And then disappear.
They cannot be considered real in the truest sense of the word.
Emotions come and go,
Yet I remain.
Let a bodily sensation come to your attention.
Perhaps you notice a prickly sensation on your cheeks or forehead.
An itch somewhere.
Or,
Rub your hands together until you feel some heat rise between them.
Identify a bodily sensation and observe it.
Bodily sensations come and go,
Yet I remain.
Consider our perceptions of the world,
Sights,
Textures,
And smells.
For example,
Listen to the sound of my voice as it emerges from out of the silence and then dissolves.
Perceptions come and go in our silent awareness,
But our silent awareness doesn't come and go with them.
Perceptions of the world come and go,
Yet I remain.
Thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations,
And perceptions all come and go,
But that which knows them or is aware of them does not come and go with them.
What is this knowing?
Who am I?
I am that which knows that I am.
Not that I know that I am a woman or a man.
Not that I know that I am young or old.
Not that I know that I am tall or short,
Healthy or sick,
Rich or poor.
But that I know that I am the I am that knows that I am.
I am knowing,
Knowing itself.
I am awareness itself.
Before any thought,
Emotion,
Sensation,
Or perception appears,
Awareness is.
When thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensations,
And perceptions arise,
Awareness is.
As thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations,
And perceptions fade into nothingness,
Awareness is.
I know the coming and going of all appearances,
But I don't come and go with them.
Look at your own awareness,
That within you that says,
I am and I know that I am.
Ask yourself,
Does my awareness have any boundaries or limits?
Can I find a place where my awareness ends and another's begins?
When I look into a loved one's eyes,
Is there a place between us where my sight ends and theirs begins?
Ask yourself,
Is there ever a time when I am not present and aware?
If you answer yes,
You would have to be present and aware to observe that you are not present and aware.
So,
No.
There is never a time you can say,
I am not present and aware.
Our experience tells us that our awareness is that which knows all of our thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations,
And perceptions.
But awareness itself is not a thought,
A feeling,
Sensation,
Or perception.
It is limitless and timeless.
It is ever-present and has no boundaries.
Our awareness is infinite and eternal.
I am ever-present awareness.
I have no boundaries or limits.
I am infinite and eternal.
As I am ever-present awareness.
Infinite and eternal.
From what other source could any objects appear?
Where else could a wave arise other than from the ocean?
There can be no outside of awareness.
As nothing exists outside of me,
I am the source of all appearances,
Of the body,
The mind,
And the world.
As I am ever-present awareness,
All things arise in me.
Therefore,
All things must be made of me.
Remember the wave crashing onto the shore and dissolving into the sand.
Our essential being is not the wave.
Thoughts are the wave.
Feelings are the wave.
We are the vast ocean.
We are infinite and eternal awareness.
As all things arise in me,
All things are known by me.
All I know is myself.
As all things arise in me,
All things are me.
Without me,
Nothing exists.
My infinite and eternal being holds all things.
I am fullness itself.
My infinite and eternal being is open to the entire range of experience.
I am emptiness itself.
I am the I am before the I am.
