Have you ever heard the expression, “You’ve got a lot of light in your eyes?”
You are the light that’s shining out through the eyes, not the experiencer of what’s coming in from the eyes.
Nisargadatta Maharaj
The eyes are the windows to the soul.
When you see someone who’s literally beaming with joy, excitement, or presence, that’s their natural state shining through without being heavily filtered through the mind.
Have you seen people lost in thought, confusion, or worry? What do their faces look like? Their foreheads are often crinkled and their brows are furrowed. The look in their eyes is very distant, almost as if they’re not even there. This is what happens when the mind takes over the focus of one’s awareness.
It’s no coincidence that light is a big part of spirituality. For example, the light at the end of the tunnel, the halos of golden light at the crown chakras of enLIGHTened beings, and even the feeling of physical lightness as you let go of resistance and stuck energy through surrender.
When awareness is particularly strong, this body literally feels like a lighthouse. It’s like the body walks around while the eyes beam light out as its scans around the scenery. The eyes rest on nothing in particular. (The ego likes to separate and focus on individual things.) Peripheral vision expands and light is shined upon all without any added thought or mentation. It’s like a lighthouse who shines its light unconditionally without judging who deserves its light or not.
Light has no opposite. It’s just a matter of degree. Have you noticed people with a lot of light in their eyes?
How do they look? How do you feel in response to them? What do you think contributes to the light in their eyes?
We’re going to do two quick exercises. Instead of me telling you what the answers are, I’m going to encourage you to experience your own Truth for yourself.
In Eckhart Tolle’s book, The Power of Now, he discusses the importance of Presence, of being fully in this moment.
Being fully in this moment is a very powerful experience because it sidesteps the ego itself. Now, there’s a subtle trick that can happen as the ego tries to sneak in the back door. It will try to “do” Presence. It will try to take credit for being the individual who is Present. It will say that “I” am being Present.
Let’s look at the ego-based way of being Present and compare it to the experience of the non-ego way of being Present. The differences may be subtle, but they are very important.
Doing Presence
Pay attention to your breath as it goes in and out of the body. Notice what your 5 senses are detecting. Take note of the room you’re in. Consciously be totally in this moment and feel your world. If the mind starts blabbering away, bring your attention back to the sensations of the body and feel this moment.
This will probably feel very good, especially after doing it for a little while.
Now, as you are being present, notice if you feel like an individual being. Can you detect the boundaries between your body and the room? Does it feel like you are being conscious of other objects and sensations in the room?
Just honestly note your experience in doing the activity called Presence.
Allowing Presence to Be Present
Now we’re going to put in even less effort. Instead of trying to do Presence, I want you to just stop doing altogether. Just completely stop.
Notice the sense of Presence that is sitting underneath the action. Is it already there? Allow the Presence to be without trying to do anything with it or magnify it in any way.
Allow the sense of awareness to be aware on its own.
Allow this experience to be for a little while.
Then take note of if you feel a sense of localization. Do you feel any boundaries between your body and the area surrounding your body? There is no right or wrong answer. Just trust your feelings.
Compare and Contrast
How does the sense of being compare to the first exercise in which you were actively doing Presence?
If you’re having trouble remembering, feel free to bounce back and forth between the two exercises. Repeat as necessary.
Find out if each exercise feels more like there’s a separate self doing something or if there’s just infinite beingness being.
Your own experiences will be your most powerful teacher. Find out how the differences feel between deliberately doing Presence and allowing Presence to be.
Let me know. I’m very curious as to your experiences.
Our true nature is not one of a sense of identity, an egoic “me,” but rather pure awareness itself.
Now, to just look at something and observe without interacting with it or without even thinking about it, that sounds pretty benign doesn’t it? It sounds very passive, as if the simple awareness of what is would have no effect upon what is.
Ah, it turns out that awareness of what is is much more powerful than we realize.
We can see that our material world, in its true unmanifest/unobserved nature, exists as an infinite set of possibilities, right here, right now. From a statistical standpoint, some of the possibilities are more likely than others and this is reflected as showing up more densely on the projected screen. In “real life” we could say that it’s more likely that you’ll roll out of bed and brush your teeth than it is that you’ll roll out of bed and sing an opera. They’re both still valid possibilities nonetheless. Until there is awareness present to actually witness potentiality, no manifestation can occur.
We are all the observers of our world and it is literally the observation of the world that determines what manifests from potentiality into actuality. On a quantum level, if there was no one around to witness our world, the world as we know it wouldn’t exist except as a collection of possibilities.
If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it still make a sound?
Awareness of potential creates manifest reality.
What you focus on expands.
Where attention goes, energy flows.
You are literally creating your reality all around you simply by looking at it.
When many various individuals throughout history, many of which had never heard of one another, speak of the exact same non-physical transcendental Reality, there’s got to be some truth to it. Here’s a list that compares quotes from the Enlightened who all say that there is no doer.
Just like the heart and lungs, the mind is going and going all by itself. The problem is that we identify that automatic random thinking as being “me”, when it’s not. Since you can watch the mind and its thinkingness, you are not the mind. This means that only Awareness (that is aware of the mind) is Reality, and the ego/mind is an illusion, and there is no individual “I”. The only real “I” is the Totality of All Existence as formless Unmanifested Infinite Awareness that is aware of Itself.
Translation: There is no doer.
“I am nothing. He is all. I do nothing of my own. He does it. I am God’s pencil. A tiny bit of pencil with which He writes what He likes. God writes through us, and however imperfect instruments we may be, He writes beautifully.”
- Mother Teresa
Translation: There is no doer.
“Paradoxical though it may sound: There is a path to walk on, there is walking being done, but there is no traveler. There are deeds being done, but there is no doer.”
- Buddha
Translation: There is no doer.
“When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.”
- St. John 8:28
Translation: There is no doer.
“All processes are out of my control. When one sees this with understanding, then one is disillusioned with the things of suffering. This is the Path of Purification.”
- The Dhammapada verse 279
Translation: There is no doer.
“The man who abides in the will of God wills nothing else than what God is, and what He wills.”
- Meister Eckhart
Translation: There is no doer.
“Whatever you may be, you are being ‘lived’. You are not traveling, as you think: you are being ‘traveled.’”
- Wei Wu Wei
Translation: There is no doer.
“All Actions are performed by the gunas of prakriti. Deluded by his identification with the ego, a person thinks, ‘I am the doer.’ But the illumined man or woman understands the domain of the gunas and is not attached. Such people know that the gunas interact with each other; they do not claim to be the doer.”
- Krishna, Bhagavad Gita, 3:27,28
Translation: There is no doer.
Everything is happening spontaneously, all by itself, as an automatic consequence of what one is. Or to put it even more simply, EVERYTHING is karma.
Translation: There is no doer.
“Going on the path of inner experience, I attained the true knowledge, destroying the I-am-the-doer sense at its root. Afterwards, the ever-functioning mind was dead.”
- Arunagirinatha
Translation: There is no doer.
“From the standpoint of the Self ‘practicing advaita’ (nonduality) is an oxymoron since in that state there is no longer an entity who can make choices about what should or should not be done. In that state action arises spontaneously from the Self, unmediated by the I-am-the-doer idea.”
- David Godman, Translator of Ramana Maharshi’s works
Translation: There is no doer.
However, if you or I were to say right now that “there is no doer”, that would be the ego/mind talking because we’re still identified with the mind and it’s thinkingness. Only the Enlightened who have permanently dissolved all mental activity can say that there is no doer, just as the ego can’t say the ego is an illusion. That’s simply the ego playing it’s clever games to keep consciousness identified with it. The Enlightened have no use for words except to explain things to those who still think words are important. Words only serve a purpose until it’s realized that they don’t serve a purpose. They are useful for the sake of explaining to “others” that they are useless. When they happen spontaneously by themselves, in the moment, for the sake of “others”, in the form of writing or speaking, they serve a purpose. Words are only symbols and representations that cannot fully describe anything. The word chocolate is not chocolate. The Truth is beyond all words, and it’s meant to be experienced, not merely talked about. But you don’t really “experience” it because there is no “this” experiencing “that” when there is only One. You are that One.
“The ultimate Truth is beyond words. Doctrines are words. They’re not the Way. The Way is wordless. Words are Illusions.”
- Bodhidharma
——————————
Jarett Sabirsh temporarily ceased all thought and experienced samadhi, a profound realization of one’s true nature as Awareness. As a result of experiencing Truth/Love, he helps “others” dissolve the barriers that stand in the way of experiencing It for themselves. He is dedicated to truth/love in all of its relative forms, and it’s absolute non-form. http://www.thetruthsoflife.com
We’ve all heard the famous instruction to “look within.” it comes in many forms.
“The Kingdom of God is within you.”
“All Truth is within.”
What on earth does that mean? Where is in? How do we look at it? How do we find it? Our eyes can only look outside of us. How are we supposed to look within?
Awareness Watching Awareness
When one begins to ask themselves, “What am I?’ the question will ultimately lead to the dissolution of the very person asking the question. The “I” that I’m seeking does not exist. The only aspect of “you” that is always there no matter what is the non-personal awareness. You are awareness.
Now awareness can be focused on what’s part of the illusion including thoughts, ideas, other people, my own body, the world, and so on. When we watch our thoughts, we can use our awareness (what’s real) to simply watch the thoughts (what’s unreal) pass by without identifying with them.
Alternatively, we can point the awareness (what’s real) directly at itself. Let’s try this now.
Notice the aspect of you that is aware of these words, the location you’re in, that’s aware of what’s being seen, heard, and felt. Notice that there is something that is aware of these sensations.
Next, actually become aware of the fact that you are aware.
By doing this, by being awareness watching awareness, you are now TRULY looking at your Self. By doing this, you are not going through the mind or engaging in any ego illusion. The illusion is being pierced straight through. When one loses focus on the awareness itself, the awareness is now focused back on the illusion and has lost touch with Reality.
Spirituality and Self-Realization Is That Simple
There’s so many distractions along the path of Self-realization. All enlightenment comes down to is realization your true nature. Things like crystals, manifestation, chanting, brain wave altering, channeling, and all other sorts of practices may certainly help you experience phenomena, but they will not give you the realization of the Self.
Realizing your true nature involves seeing through the illusions and keeping your attention focused solely and squarely on the Self, the awareness.
By doing this, the mind will begin to grow quieter and quieter as it progressively unravels. It will still kick and scream from time to time and continue to flare up occasionally, but when it does, simply surrender away the juice the mind gets from those experiences and it will lose its grip over you. By seeing yourself as awareness, this will progressively weaken and ultimately dissolve all identification with thoughts and with the mind.
You will then start to have “spiritual experiences” whereby you have glimpses of your true nature, and these experiences will be more real than anything of this world. These experiences will increase in frequency and duration until they become your permanent state.
Your capacity for awareness is an innate aspect of your true Self.
A baby fetus is aware of its surroundings, even if it doesn’t have the capacity to mentally language its experience. Awareness is prior to all thought, yet people tend to believe that thoughts are who they are, as if they couldn’t exist without thought.
The ego is reborn every morning. If you’ve noticed, when you first wake up, the very first experience is simply conscious awareness. As the ego slowly returns and identifications reappear, one next starts to realize ‘where’ they are, but they don’t know what day it is. The sense of space returns, followed by the sense of time. A person’s name and identity then return as well into their conscious experience.
In that very first moment when you just wake up, notice you still exist without an ego, a sense of “me.” It is possible to exist sans ego, but we’re generally not used to functioning in such a way.
Let’s talk a little bit more about this.
A useful exercise is to pretend that you have no memory.
By setting aside memory (it’s not you anyways, it’s simply stored experiences and programming), Self-inquiry is much easier. In this moment, without a memory, who are you?
This leads to the discovery that there is no ‘who’ there, only awareness of this moment.
The Self actually has no memory whatsoever. Every moment is experienced as a magnificent and glorious awe-inspiring wonder of the grandeur of life, like the very first time you stepped up to the edge of a massive canyon or gazed upon a fiery sunset. It leaves one utterly speechless. It’s like a newborn child who looks around the world in amazement. This is the perspective of the Self. Read More …
Have you ever had that experience where you’re watching a movie or TV and suddenly you get snapped out of it, back to reality? Instead of being totally absorbed by the film, you now see the screen in front of you, your surroundings, and even the portion of the screen where the movie isn’t playing.
Before you saw nothing but the screen.
What happened? Did you go anywhere or did only your awareness shift?
Could you maintain total presence in your body and physical reality while simultaneously being totally absorbed by the movie?
No way. In a sense, you have to “fall asleep” in physical reality and totally enter another dream-like reality. The emotions you get from the movie, the sounds and sights, they all feel very real… yet when you snap out of it, you realize it was all just a flicker of images and not much more.
In fact, if you remain present while watching the film, you find you can’t get lost in the film. It loses its sense of reality and you are conscious of the fact that it’s simply a movie in front of you and not real life.
Yet interestingly, when you “wake up” out of the movie life, you find that there is a life which is even MORE real. Nothing real was actually lost by awakening. You begin to see the movie for what it actually is: simply images on a screen.
What we call “real life” in physical reality is EXACTLY the same way. Our ability to feel that it is real and get sucked in with all its sights and sounds and emotions allows us to fully experience the reality. As long as we’re asleep and absorbed in this reality, we get to “juice” all the drama and emotions, illusions that are only part of a dream.
Enlightenment is an awakening, just like snapping out of the movie. Nothing real is lost and you don’t actually go anywhere. You realize you’ve always been here the whole time. Your awareness has simply shifted from the “dream world” (separation consciousness of physical life) to the “real world” (unity consciousness of spiritual life).
Nothing real is lost and everything is gained.
Life beyond the illusion.
What is it like when you awaken and see this physical life as just a dream?
None of our fears or worries have any reality. They’re all just mental images on the movie screen.
Everything physical is made up of pure energy. What we see in physical form is simply a temporary manifestation of the perfection of creation appearing in the form of a person, thought, plant, or idea.
Everything is cradled in unconditional love. Like the light of the sun, it shines to all equally. What makes the difference is not who is special and is being given more sunlight, but rather who is willing to receive the light and be open to it warming their presence. One can block the sunlight and choose to not receive it, but it will continue to shine just the same.
Time is seen as an illusion. Reality is timeless. What we call “time” is simply a shifting of awareness from one frame of the film to the next, yet every frame of the film already exists in this moment.
Sometimes we are able to “peek” at a future section of the film and then come back to the part of the movie that’s playing now and somehow we just know what is to come if we continue playing this same film. This is called intuition, psychic abilities, or clairvoyance. It’s nothing more than recognizing that the whole movie and all potential endings to the movie exist now. If we continue playing this same movie, we can figure out what is most likely to come by simply looking ahead at the “future” which exists right now. It all literally exists right now.
All of this and more… just from “snapping out” of the movie of life. This snapping out comes from quieting the mind, abiding in the present moment, and recognizing your true nature as the awareness that is watching the film instead of the character in the film.
Past and future are illusions, nothing more than pieces of the film that you’re not currently bringing your awareness to.
Bring your awareness to this moment. This present moment. It is only Now that you can experience life. Totally experience Life as it unfolds right in this very moment, not your mental beliefs and distorted interpretations of what’s happening.
Become fully aware of Now and the more you remain in this state, the more you remain awakened from the mind-made mental reality we believe is real life.
Snap out of the movie. Ultimate reality is WAYYYYY better than the movie.
The famous enlightened master Ramana Maharshi teaches the pathway to enlightenment through self-inquiry and constantly asking the question, “Who am I?” Just ask yourself, “Who am I? Who sees when I see? Who hears when I hear? Who knows that I am aware? Who am I?”
Is your name, its letters and sounds, you?
Or is it just a label? It’s not you. If you changed your name, would you still be you?
Are you your body?
If your body changes, if you lose a limb, you would still be you.
Is your mind you?
If yours thoughts change or your beliefs alter or the mind you have goes quiet in meditation, you’d still be here. The thought processes are not you. Who is it that’s noticing the thoughts?
The “I am” that I am is the same beingness that existed when you were five years old. Various qualities and characteristics about you may have changed since, certainly, but the very core of the fact that you exist hasn’t changed. Read More …
You Are Truly Loved features content designed to guide people towards enlightenment, unconditional love, and living a life of joy through Self-realization and proper application of the Law of Attraction.
They’re both still valid possibilities nonetheless. Until there is awareness present to actually witness potentiality, no manifestation can occur.
We are all the observers of our world and it is literally the observation of the world that determines what manifests from potentiality into actuality. On a quantum level, if there was no one around to witness our world, the world as we know it wouldn’t exist except as a collection of possibilities.
Your capacity for awareness is an innate aspect of your true Self.
Have you ever had that experience where you’re watching a movie or TV and suddenly you get snapped out of it, back to reality? Instead of being totally absorbed by the film, you now see the screen in front of you, your surroundings, and even the portion of the screen where the movie isn’t playing.
