No Mind's Land: Nirmala - Awake presence

Monday, December 16, 2013

Nirmala - Awake presence

Awareness

Awareness is a fundamental quality of our Being. Awareness is always here in everything and in every experience. We need to be aware in order to experience. If you could turn off your awareness, then the world, your body, your thoughts, and everything else would simply disappear. Since we are constantly having experiences, it must be true that awareness is always here.
And yet, what a mystery this awareness is. Why is it we have this capacity to register and notice what happens? Where does this capacity come from? Does it come from our brain and
nervous system or from something beyond our physical form? Are you aware of anything at all in this moment? What is that awareness like? How do you know you are aware right now? And
what if the source of awareness is also the source of everything else? Because spiritual seekers seek expanded awareness, they often overlook the mystery of the awareness that is already here. Just as a single drop of water is wet, the awareness that is reading
these words has all of the qualities of your true nature as pure awareness. Does the part of you that is already awake need to wake up, or is it already profoundly and mysteriously aware? Just
for a moment, instead of seeking more awareness, find out more about the awareness that is already here.
The awareness that is here in this moment is alive, spacious, discriminating, and full of love.
Everything that really matters is found in this awareness. Love, peace, and joy flow from within us to the experiences we have of the world. Seeking the source of peace or love in the world is
like looking for the source of the water in the puddle that forms under a water faucet. Not only is the source here within us, but it is flowing right now as the simple awareness that is reading these words.

Q: How can I become aware?
A: You can’t become something you already are. I invite you to explore the awareness that is already here. What is it that is reading these words? Are you aware right now of the words on
this page? What is that awareness like? Where does awareness come from in this very moment?
Everything that really matters, including peace, joy, and fulfillment, is found in this everpresent,simple awareness. We tend to overlook awareness because it is so ordinary, and yet awareness is actually a profound mystery. Many mistakenly think that awareness is something they need to seek or become. Awareness is something we can explore and recognize more fully,
but to do that, no seeking or becoming is required. In fact, seeking gets in the way because when we are seeking, we tend to overlook the experience of awareness that is already here.
Awareness is not an object, and it doesn’t come from an object: Awareness is a capacity of empty space or alive Presence, which is not a thing or a person. So when you explore awareness,
you can become “spacey” or disoriented. It is normal to feel spacey when you are exploring space! We aren’t used to directing our attention to emptiness, or the nothingness behind our eyes.
So we may look away and go looking for something else instead. But what happens right now if you simply pay attention to the space behind your eyes? What happens if you pay attention to the
empty silence your thoughts are appearing in? What happens if you pay attention to your aliveness?
There is no right or wrong experience of awareness. There are many different flavors, or qualities, of awareness, or aliveness. You have always been experiencing some quality of your
true nature. Since awareness is what experiences every experience, you have been exploring your capacity for awareness all along, in every experience you have ever had. And yet, there is always more to discover about this capacity to be aware.
The one thing you can be sure of is that your experience of awareness will never be the same way twice. The nature of Presence, or Being, is that it never has the same experience twice. So you will never be done exploring the limitless capacities of your nature as awareness, even though you don’t need to go anywhere or seek anything to find it. Awareness is always showing you a new face, a new disguise, a new possibility. The only question is: Will you acknowledge and savor the unique flavor that awareness has right now?