Dear Ariel,
Ultimately, are we all “one” or are we separated individual consciousnesses? Will we still be feeling the difference and separation between “me” and “you” ?
Thanks,
TSS
Okay, so let’s get into the nitty gritty of awakening for a bit. To be honest, there’s been quite a bit of struggle arising here, wanting desperately to return to the experience of wholeness, of unity, of the lack of lack, of the conscious recognition of what I am. One of the main issues about the human condition is the sense of lack within. We can talk about that void that people try to fill with food, sex, experiences, physical possessions, and so on. On a deep deep level, it feels like something’s missing and people will do whatever it takes to fill that void. From the perception of a separate self, I myself am not sufficient and thus I need something other than me to fill this gaping hole within me… but nothing I get is ever sufficient. If it does feel sufficient, it’s only temporary. Like a drug addict, I always need another fix. I always need more…
Now there’s a really weird experience that can arise after an initial non-abiding awakening. Basically what happens is that you KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that the egoic self is not you, that your thoughts have no reality, and that there is literally no such thing as a separate self, and yet simultaneously for some reason you continue to believe in and experience a separate self. You experience living life as a “me.” It can create a tremendous amount of conflict within, as if something has gone terribly wrong. You believe something and don’t believe something simultaneously. It’s really crazy to really experience both at the same time…
This awakening process seems to include a lot of different experiences and stages and fluctuations, many of which I don’t expect or even plan. One such thing is that I’m losing the desire to debate things with people or even explain what things are like. Its value seems to be quite limited. There’s more value in being the space for awakeness than in trying to do something to help “make it” happen, as if that was even possible.
I used to think that if I could illustrate things well enough to people, it would encourage them to quit seeking the illustrations by satisfying that search, but that desire can’t be satisfied through explanation.
With respect to words, it seems that they are of most value when they help cut through the mind, to help stop its unconscious patterns in its tracks so that Truth can be seen. I don’t mean that thought needs to stop altogether, but there is conditioning of the mind that most of us are completely oblivious to. It is by cutting through our unconscious conditioning that the veil it creates falls away.
When someone sees the Truth, sharing about our mutual experiences is a total blast. We can sit and speak for hours and hours on end, just sharing about our different perspectives of the One and what all has been experienced thus far along the way, and we both seem to grow and expand through this process.
When someone wants to come up and debate or argue about spirituality with me even the slightest, I feel my desire to take part in that discussion completely washing away. It’s like the desire to engage in that energy whatsoever is being flushed out. I can see that in arguing, they’re looking to strengthen their ideas and beliefs about spirituality, not actually see the Truth. It’s a subtle but critical distinction and is the basis for that classic story about “How can your teapcup be filled with something new if it is already full of old ideas?”
When someone asks what awakening is like, in this moment I’d rather simply tell them to listen to the silence than focus upon whatever words I could say. I can’t possibly explain awakening to anyone. Heck, even if I could, it still wouldn’t be sufficient! Silence is far more instructive, despite the appearance of there being “nothing there” in silence. The guru is within and it is always available.
Now I know this isn’t satisfying to the mind. It’s really not. It’s why we’re told to “be still” or “listen to the silence” or “focus on the I Am” and yet we continue asking, seeking, reading, and wanting to know. We want that which satisfies the mind, not that which will actually take us beyond it. I know… it’s a dilemma that so many of us face. It’s almost like the mind comes with some built-in programming that says “What you want is outside of you.” This is very normal. We want what satisfies the mind at first, at least until we get a lot of mental satisfaction and we discover for ourselves that that alone simply is not satisfying.
It seems that this desire for mental satisfaction has to eventually wear itself out, and life is wonderful in helping us come to this space. I remember Adyashanti once making a crack about telling people to run and run towards the Truth, as if what they’re seeking is right around the next corner.
When the seeker exhausts itself and the energy of seeking collapses, what is already HERE is revealed to be the golden nugget.
The Truth is what you are, not something other than you to be found.
The Truth… I didn’t find it and neither will you. 
The other day I had a wonderful conversation with a guy who’d contacted me through my blog. It’ s so funny how frequently this sort of dialog arises so I’d like to share it with you guys here. Our conversation in a nutshell was like this:
Dear Ariel, I have no idea what is happening to me, but all I can say is that now it feels like I’m awake. It literally feels like my whole life has been a dream and all along I had no idea that it was a dream. Now I am awake.
I used to be very materialistic and now none of that seems to matter. Now I want to know the Truth about life. I used to be really into religion but there was so much that felt off about it that it lead to a lot of struggle for me and internal conflict. Now I can look back at the scriptures and see that they’re simply about love. Anyways, there has been this big shift inside me and I’m really confused. What do I do now?
Nothing! There’s nothing that you need to do. Really.
This initial awakening that you experienced happened on its own with your personal involvement, did it not? The rest of the process is like this too. The more you get in the way and try to make it happen, speed it up, get it right, or whatever else, the more you simply just impede the progress. This is about surrendering and allowing, not making something happen. Surrender is the name of the game here.
You see, there is something much deeper at work here than the limited mind/body individual we see on the surface. There’s much more happening behind the scenes. IT is what does the work, not the individual who apparently does stuff in this physical reality. In the same way that the first awakening simply happened without you having to deliberately make it happen, the rest of the process will unfold for you just the same. Your job, if there is one, is simply to sit back and allow it to happen.
You’ve studied religion in the past and been told what to believe. People say things like “I believe in God” or “I believe in a higher power.” This is a statement that would arise from someone who has not yet had the internal realization of what God IS, or more accurately who THEY are. It’s what they think or what they believe, not what they clearly and unequivocally KNOW. This isn’t bad or wrong. Just recognize that it is yet another stage in the path, a valid and often necessary path. Yet what we’re talking about here is not adopting another belief system, or even about being told of another belief system that should or shouldn’t be adopted. What’s being suggested is to continue to allow the inner being that is already at work here to shift the totality of YOU on its own. We all have this capacity for wisdom and knowing within, without having to be told the answers by religions, gurus, or teachers. This inner wisdom is what the world’s great teachers have all come to access. As you have found, when you’re simply told some answers (regardless of whether or not they’re correct), they’re simply not satisfying. Not in the end. Not really.
What you are looking for is within and it is up to you to turn within and find it here. There’s nothing here you have to do. It’s already in progress and all is unfolding beautifully. Simply just relax and allow the process to unfold. Go about your life, do your things, and notice what is arising. Just be in the moment. Everything that needs to happen is happening at just the right time, without you having to do anything at all. Just relax and all the continued awakenings, realizations, understandings, dissolvings, shifts, and so on will happen at their own rate.
It’s quite beautiful to see awakening being discussed by and experienced by big name celebrities now, bringing enlightenment off the mystical mountaintop and right here into our everyday lives. 
So there’s a number of wonderfully amazing spiritual musicians. Here’s a couple that I’ve run across that I’d like to share with you. If you know of some that would be worth checking out, please share with us in the comments!
Endorsed by H. H. the Dalai Lama and Eckhart Tolle, their music is born out of meditation and a celebration of life.
Check out their music on their website, YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon.
HIIH is an amazing group I’ve had the wonderful opportunity of seeing perform live several times. I am a big fan of their music, their energy, and their message! They have performed with Michael Beckwith, Byron Katie, Gangaji, the Dalai Lama’s spiritual advisor, and more.
Check out their music on their website, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, iTunes, and Amazon.
Creating a wonderful collection of pop world music mixed with new age, jazz, & ambient voices and maintaining an active presence on Twitter, Marcome is a divine treat to the ears and the soul.
Check out her music on her website, YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon.
After hearing about Denise from Davidya, I hopped onto her site and found myself enthralled by her voice and spirit as she sings with such beautiful love.
Check out her website where you can listen to and purchase her music.
KD offers some beautifully moving devotional chants that are awesome to sit back and chill in.
Check out his music on his website, YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon.
Mike is a friend of mine who created this hilarious song about spiritual teacher Dr. Hawkins. If you read Hawkins, you gotta check this video out! 
Check out Mike’s music on Myspace, Facebook, CDBaby, and iTunes.
Enya’s got your pretty chill new age vibe goin’ on that makes for great relaxation music.
Check out Enya’s music on her website, YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon.
There’s many many more amazing spiritual musicians out there that have been left out of this list. Who would you recommend we add to this list?
Today I’d like to share with you some of the tweets that I’ve been posting on twitter. It’s a wonderful way to verbalize ideas without having to write up a whole post about it. 
You can follow me at @ArielBravy.
-Notice how it takes zero effort to be, for awareness to be aware.
-I am no-thing pretending to be something. No one is looking out through these eyes. It’s just pure awareness.
-No-thing. It is everywhere. It manifests as everything. I am that.
-Mindless looking. Pure awareness. Awareness witnessing awareness.
-Look. Don’t label things or name them. Just look.
-Mental processing may happen. Watch it. Watch it drop away. Pure awareness.
-Consciousness looks within and returns to the Unmanifest. The world is the Unmanifest made manifest. *I* am All That Is.
-I look at “myself” and see nothing, for there isn’t one. I see nothing and everything, both more and less than I used to.
-No one is seeing, yet seeing happens. No one loves, yet Love Is.
-What always is here appears as it is.
-What is This? God? Consciousness? Nothingness? Freedom? Infinite? Unity? It’s nameless, but all these pointers are valid.
-I am not that, AND I am that. What a beautiful paradox.
-With no self, there is no self-esteem. No one to defend and no one to improve. Just be as you are. Simple. Stunningly radiantly simple.
-Personality can be changed, but improvement is an illusory judgment of mind. Besides, it’s not you!
-Basking nowhere, here and now.
-”There’s only one of us.” There’s not an us here to be one! There’s just the One!
-The need to survive is ego. Your true, eternal, unborn self has no concern regarding death. Thus there’s nothing for it to transcend.
-Your true nature doesn’t give death a second thought.. or even a first.
-Everybody has one thing in common: we are nothing pretending to be something.
-This is kinda fun… I’ve always wanted to play life on God mode!
-The collapse of duality happens in the mind. It’s a mind game. Consciousness is already nondual.
-Nondual tweets. This tweet is just as much you and not-you as is the body you’re using.
-The human body is a space suit, allowing consciousness to “enter” a world of space and time.
-This body/mind keeps oscillating between silence, amazement, and causeless side-splitting laughter.
-Awakening.. What a delightful cosmic joke!
-Nondual is just another pointer to the unnameable isness.
-”To be or not to be.” There is no “not to be.” There is only being eternally. Be.
-I know nothing. I’m very intimate w/ nothing. When & if I need2know something,it just arises into awareness, then it leaves. Like breathing.
-I’m not young enough to know all the answers.
-Grace happens. Shift happens.
Follow me on Twitter @ArielBravy and Facebook at You Are Truly Loved.
I’d also recommend following @zeerakkhan, @Catalyst303, @tomstine, and @AshRuiz to find some more nondual pointers.
Who would you recommend following? Share your suggestions in the comments area.
I thought awakening was all about bliss and joy. It’s much deeper than that. Much richer and fuller than that.
It’s about experiencing Life as it is, being Life, with no separation, and experiencing the totality as beingness itself. It’s quite ordinary, actually.
I can walk through a public crowd as no one, as pure awareness, like a camera going this way and that, exploring and witnessing and loving and appreciating what is seen. The camera is not affected by what is seen, nor is there any judgment as to what is seen. Just pure seeing, and a causeless Love inherently intertwined with that which is seen, arising from nowhere.
Love seems to be the pure energetic relationship that integrates with that which is witnessed.
There can be engagement of the body/mind with that which is witnessed, or not, and it really makes no difference. Pure awareness, witnessing itself, seeing movement and stillness, with no real necessity to do or be anything in particular except be that which I am, which is a given.
Movement and stillness are one. They’re actually the same thing.
