A Call To Awareness

In this profound talk, Bassam explores the intricate relationship between attention, consciousness, awareness, and the divine, transcending the boundaries of intellect. With patience and insight, he delves into the mechanics of attention in the present moment, fostering a direct connection with presence, the living “I.” Listeners are guided to experience their lucid reality and the true essence of the “I AM.”

Bassam elucidates that when we say, “I’m in my thoughts,” it doesn’t imply that our body is in our thoughts; therefore, the “I” cannot be the body. He explains that attention, being the movement of awareness, is consciousness, and that presence is the light of awareness. Awareness is the all-pervading, unchanging truth of being "I".

Transcript

We are existing in an evolutionary stage where God,

The divine,

Is waking up within the human form and you are part of that movement.

Hi,

I'm Bassem.

Thank you for joining me.

Today's conversation is going to be about the power of presence living in the now.

We'll discuss how to cultivate mindfulness in everyday life,

Allowing us to connect deeply with each moment.

My hope is that we don't just address this conversation intellectually.

These ideas have become watered down.

Presence is a profound truth.

The word should be enough in its truest implication to awaken us,

To throw us deep into that reality.

Orchard said,

It's why we need to return to grounding in present time.

Vicky says,

Yes,

Mindfulness has become a trendy word.

The feeling of being here is more powerful than just words.

Being in my body,

Not getting swept away in thought.

Elizabeth says,

Being right here,

Right now.

Bev says,

Here and now,

With attendance,

Yes.

We think that by absorbing something intellectually that now we have embodied this truth.

So it could be the truth of mindfulness.

It could be the truth of presence.

It could be the truth of abiding in the here and now.

It could be the truth of the power of now as Eckhart Tolle referred to it.

Any of those truths,

Do we embody them or do we simply hear them intellectually and take that to be the full meaning of it before we move on to the next concept?

You know what I mean?

We'll just step into this slowly because it's an opportunity for us to connect at this level and also to share truths in the hope that they may go deep enough to cause a transformation,

To cause change.

What happens to me if I attend to this very second and what does that mean?

Pamela says,

It activates clarity in me.

Faith says,

Being still and paying attention to what is happening inside and out.

Let's all do that right now,

To be still.

Pay attention to what is happening inside and out.

How do we do that?

With what do I attend to what is happening?

Faith says,

Being still,

Paying attention to what is happening.

Seems that attention plays an important role in presence.

Is that what you're also understanding?

Being still and paying attention to what is happening inside and out.

We are looking at the activity,

The movement,

The energy of presence,

Not just the intellectual understanding of it,

But the actual movement.

Paying attention to what is happening.

Without attention,

Can there be presence?

Can you be present without attention?

Deanna says,

No.

Faith says,

I don't think so.

We need to be certain.

Have a look at your experience now,

Faith.

Can you be present to your reality,

To the fact of you,

Without attention?

Is it even possible?

Vicky says,

Yes,

Just feeling.

In that case,

Then how do you know that you are feeling without attention?

Can you know without attention what you are feeling?

Faith says,

No.

Liz says,

No.

Vicky,

Can you know your feeling without attention?

Is that even possible?

I'm trying to propose here that it is impossible to be present without attention.

In fact,

Presence and attention are one and the same.

When I am paying attention,

As it were,

I am present.

When I pay attention to my hand,

I'm present.

Let's all do this right now.

Feeling your right hand,

Sensations,

The vibrations,

The tinglings.

Can you all feel the aliveness of your right hand?

This means that you are present to the sensations and the vibrations of your right hand.

I can feel my right hand.

I can feel the aliveness.

Attentive,

I am present to the sensations and aliveness.

And without attention,

I could not be aware of what is happening in my right hand.

Let's say my attention,

I'm looking at my right hand,

But my attention is preoccupied with some story that happened to me.

Can I feel my right hand when my attention is preoccupied with my thoughts?

I maybe have a little sense,

But if my attention is 100% preoccupied with my thoughts,

I'm not here.

The question is,

If I'm not here,

Where am I?

If I'm not here,

I am in my thoughts.

And what is it that is not here?

What is in my thoughts?

I'm not in my thoughts.

My body is here.

So it can't be my body.

When I say I am absent,

My body is here.

So can't be referring to the body.

What is absent?

Faith says awareness.

Diana says attention.

Exactly.

I must be attention.

I,

That is not here in the body,

That is in my thoughts,

Must be attention,

Must be awareness.

And so when we talk about present,

We're talking about attention.

We're talking about awareness.

If I'm not present,

I'm in my thoughts.

It's not my body that's in my thoughts.

That would be quite funny.

I can think about my body.

So it's not my body that is in my thoughts.

When I say I am not here,

Or I am preoccupied with my thoughts,

Diana says attention.

Faith says awareness.

Tara Lee says consciousness.

The same thing,

Three different words.

The same thing,

Three different words.

Attention is the movement of awareness.

Consciousness is the reality of awareness.

Presence,

It's the light of consciousness.

I am attention.

I am awareness.

I am consciousness.

And I am coupling with my thoughts,

Identifying with my thoughts.

So when I say I am present,

I'm not saying my body is present.

I'm saying I,

Awareness,

Am aware of the body because I'm not in the mind.

I,

Awareness,

I,

Attention,

I,

Presence,

I,

Consciousness,

Am aware of my body.

Let's say you touch your hand and you feel it.

What is aware of the feeling?

Awareness is aware of the body.

The body is not aware of awareness.

Awareness is aware of the experience of the body.

This is important because we're going to build on this understanding of awareness as I.

We mistake ourselves to be the body and we pay lip service to ideas,

To truth,

To spirituality,

To wisdom.

Never get anywhere with it.

Never get anywhere with it.

Wisdom will always point us in the right direction.

Awareness is aware of the senses.

Awareness is aware of the feelings.

Awareness is aware of the breath,

Of your thoughts.

Awareness is aware of your experience,

Of your sensations,

Your perceptions.

Awareness is aware of your knowledge.

All of these come and go,

Don't they?

Your feelings,

They change,

Don't they?

Your thoughts change also,

Have you noticed?

Your sensations also.

The cold comes and goes.

All of these come and go.

Does awareness come and go?

When your thoughts change,

Does awareness change?

Let's say right now you're thinking about what you're going to eat for dinner or breakfast and then one second later you're thinking about what happened to you yesterday.

The thoughts changed,

Right?

The awareness that was aware of the thoughts,

Did that change?

Awareness is unchanging.

You're in a room,

You move furniture,

Does the light change?

Does the space in the room,

It's another way of looking at it also,

Change if you change the furniture?

Your body exists in your awareness.

You could not know about your body if you are not aware.

The problem is you are mistaking awareness with the body.

We have bonded with the body and no longer recognize the truth of our formless,

Thought-free awareness reality.

And yet the body is needed for consciousness in order to know itself.

Bev says,

Mind can vary.

My question to you,

Bev,

Is how do you know it varies?

If you were not aware,

You would not know.

Awareness never changes.

Awareness never varies.

Awareness is always there.

The problem is that you're mistaking awareness,

Which is what you are,

With other things,

With the body.

Awareness of the body,

Awareness of the mind,

And so on and so forth.

Diana says,

The level of awareness changes.

How do you know,

Diana?

Something must be seen,

Oh,

Look,

I'm more aware,

I'm less aware.

When you turn around and look at yourself as awareness,

You realize you are always there.

Awareness is always there.

Bev says,

I can feel it when I'm fully engaged.

What is aware of you feeling fully engaged?

What is aware?

You're talking about the experience.

I'm asking you about awareness.

Fully engaged is an experience,

Not so engaged is an experience.

It feels wonderful as an experience,

Not so wonderful as an experience.

What is aware that is wonderful?

Puneet says,

I am aware of my awareness.

Exactly.

I am an aware reality.

It's not the body that's aware,

I am aware of being aware.

I'm aware of awareness,

Enlightenment,

That's it.

Revelation,

Salvation,

Resolved of my illusion,

Thinking that I am body,

That awareness is the body.

The body is aware.

No,

Awareness is aware.

It is the looking power of the divine,

Using this body,

Using this body,

Looking into this reality through the body.

A human can live his or her whole life without ever recognizing the truth of their reality,

Because they keep thinking they are the body.

God is the seeing.

The only reason why you see is because God is seeing.

God is seeing through you.

God is seeing through me.

And when we talk about presence,

We're talking about presence of the divine,

Aware of being aware.

You are the light of yourself.

You are the light of your body.

You are the light of your life.

Claire says,

Here,

Present and aware.

I am aware of ever-present awareness,

And my mind is not tangled in thinking.

Precisely.

Bea asks,

Is it same as consciousness?

Exactly the same.

Consciousness is aware.

Awareness is conscious.

Consciousness,

Awareness,

Attention,

Presence.

God acting in different human beings,

In the animal kingdom,

In the vegetable kingdom,

In the mineral kingdom.

It's the same awareness.

In the human,

This is how it expresses itself.

And mindfulness is just another word for presence.

The activity of meditation,

Of being here and now.

Teresa says,

I think,

Therefore I am.

I think,

And that begins the process of being a human.

I cease to think,

Therefore I am.

In the absence of mind,

Awareness shines supremely.

I,

Acting through the mind,

Becomes a person.

I turns around and looks at awareness.

It becomes the divine.

So where the I am ends,

The God is begins.

Brooke says,

Gladly received.

Claire says,

A reminder to identify less with thoughts,

Which often cause suffering.

Yes,

Indeed,

Claire.

Thank you for your comment.

Rahim says,

Totally.

That was lovely.

Great to hear.

We are existing an evolutionary stage where God is waking up within the human form,

Calling the soul to awaken.

The body is an instrument by means of which God can experience him herself.

Claire says,

Paradoxical,

As awareness is not the body.

Yes,

Awareness is not the body,

But awareness is also the body.

That adds even more confusion now.

The body is made up of awareness in the same way that a leaf is made up of the light.

The leaf or a tree is not the light,

But the tree is made up of the light,

Of the sun,

And the elements.

We make this distinction in the beginning.

We must make a distinction between the body and consciousness so that we can become acquainted with what we are before we can then recognize ourselves as also the body.

According to our wisdom,

We are liberated from birth and death.

I hope that you have gotten something from this conversation.

I hope that you have been enriched to some degree.

Thank you for joining me.

I wish you well.

Reviews

I LOVED THIS!! Every word confirmed to me what I always knew. The deep knowing that is indisputable. When this sensation comes on I know I have heard TRUTH!! Namaste 🙏🏼