Hello and welcome back to Luminous.
Meditation 6 I am.
Throughout our lives,
We think or feel things like.
.
.
I am 22,
I am 47 or I am 63 years old.
I am single or I am married.
I am a musician.
I am a doctor.
Or I am unemployed.
I am healthy,
O,
I am sick.
I am having a shower-all.
I am listening to music.
I'm sad.
I'm lonely y'all.
I am excited.
I am cold,
I am tired,
Or I am hungry.
Each of these statements begins with the words.
I am.
What is it that we refer to?
When we say simply,
I am.
When we say I am.
We refer to our being or essential self.
The self that remains constant.
Even when we qualify it with an age,
A relationship,
A profession.
A state of health.
An activity or a feeling.
The self or being which we refer to when we say,
I am.
Is always the same.
It is only the subsequent activities and experiences we add to I AM.
That are always changing.
Experiences.
Are always appearing.
Changing.
Disappearing.
But the fact of simply being.
Is always present.
It is because of the unchanging presence of our being.
That we feel a continuity of identity throughout our lives.
That is.
We all feel that I am the same person now.
As I was two minutes ago.
Two days ago.
Or two years ago.
Ask yourself the question.
Do I feel that who I am inside?
Has always been the same.
We all feel.
I am always myself.
Why is this?
After all,
Everything that defines us as a person.
That is,
Our minds and bodies.
Our activities and relationships.
Constantly changes.
I am not always 22.
47 or 63 years old.
But I always am.
I am not always a musician.
A doctor or unemployed.
But I always am.
I am not always sad,
Lonely or excited.
But I always am.
I am not always anything in particular.
But I always am.
Just notice.
That you always are.
That I always am.
Just notice the fact of simply being.
Relax the focus of your attention from your thoughts and feelings.
Let go of your experience of the body.
And the world.
Allow the feeling of simply being.
To emerge from the background of your experience.
Don't do anything.
Just be.
The feeling of simply being is not an extraordinary thing.
Or unfamiliar experience.
In fact,
It is the most ordinary intimate experience there is.
It is even closer to us than our breath.
It is even more familiar to us than our most intimate thoughts and feelings.
Normally.
We are so focused on the content of our experience.
That is,
We are so engrossed in our thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations,
Perceptions,
Activities and relationships.
That we forget or overlook our being.
And thus lose our connection to our essential self.
Relax the focus of your attention.
From anything that you are currently experiencing.
Whether it be a thought about the past.
A concern about the future.
A distressing emotion or a sensation in your body.
Be aware of simply being.
Be aware that.
When we get undressed at night.
We take off all the layers of clothes.
And our naked bodies are revealed.
Imagine your thoughts,
Images,
Feelings,
Sensations and perceptions like so many layers of experience that you,
So to speak,
Put on and take off.
They are added to you.
And then remove.
But none is essential to who you are.
Imagine removing all the layers of your experience.
No thoughts,
No images,
No feelings.
No sensations and no perceptions.
What's left.
Naked being.
However,
It's not necessary to get rid of or change any experience.
Simply cease for the moment being interested in the content of your experience.
And allow yourself to come back to yourself.
To your being.
The simple feeling of being.
Much of the time we are so fascinated by the colorful and demanding content of our experience.
That we lose touch with the fact of simply being that lies in the background.
Meditation is simply the reversal of this process.
We allow the fact of simply being to emerge from behind the layers of our experience.
In everyday life.
Experience obscures being.
In meditation,
Being outshines experience.
If you find yourself lost in the content of experience.
Just say the words,
I am,
Once.
To yourself quietly.
That the words I am.
Take you to the experience I am.
That is.
To your essential self.
Your being.
It's like returning to the quiet of home after a stressful day at work.
We return to the peace of our being.
After losing ourselves in the drama of experience.
Simply allow the content of experience to fade into the background.
While being emerges in the foreground.
Allow the fact of simply being to shine through your experience.
You do not need to change or discipline your experience in any way.
Simply do not allow it to take you away from your being.
In time we find that fewer and fewer experiences.
Have the capacity to take us away from ourself.
We begin to be established.
In our true nature.
