Self-consciousness

The first thing is to be sure of what self-consciousness means, which is consciousness of myself or the perception of being. The meaning of self-consciousness is that it is a return of ones attention "inside" or realizing ones own existence, remaining the person that I am but without the individual qualities. The simplest and most powerful exercise to acquire self-conscience is to realize I am alive. If you practice this it leads necessarily to the understanding that I am consciousness and nothing else. The certainty of our own existence remains with us from the first memories that we have of ourselves in infancy. That certainty is always there and we dont have any doubt about it. However, because it is so clear and obvious we dont pay any attention to it. At the same time we imagine that self-consciousness must be a very remote state and therefore a thing to be acquired. Anyone who has self-consciousness, knows that he IS apart from everything that exists in the world. The experience of our own existence, leaving aside any theory acquired artificially through reading or education, is a direct experience, without any intervention of the mind. In other words, it is a matter of the same consciousnessit is reached by experience and not by thinking about it. To put it simply, become aware that you are alive. I LIVE!!! Then stay there. The direct Selfexperience is assured without investigations, without elimination or denials. The awareness of your own existence is experienced as I AM. This is not open to question and any doubt that appears is due to the resistance that comes from ignorance. The Being that you are is always there. You dont need to enquire if it is real or not. Focus on the experience of self-existence and return to the fact that YOU are the only one in yourself that IS. Everything else will follow. This exercise must be practiced constantly, of course according to what is possible for each person. One has to put all ones eggs in one basketwhatever one is doingwalking, eating, working returning to the experience of being alive must be constant. In this way it strengthens the sense of the presence of I that is necessary as a basis for realization. The elimination of the ignorance that prevents one from realizing that one is already realized comes through understanding that I am neither the body nor the personal circumstances that surround me.

Do not fall into the error of missing what you already are and leave in the background the direct experience of Being. You have done this all your life and this tendency is there since childhood. BEING is your everlasting condition and you cannot deny this evidence. It is just that you have never taken the trouble to realize that you are alive, that in you there is that existence which is Being. When the experience that I AM comes to one for the first time without expecting it, it comes as a LIVING CONSCIOUSNESS, and absorption is a natural consequence of re-living the experience. This absorption is to realize that I AM ALIVE. The mind can do nothing, the thought departs and the light of consciousness remains, this space without thoughts. CONSCIOUSNESS free from thoughts is the Light of the Consciousness where the next stage of life develops. Who or what realizes his own existence? The only one who knows that he is alive in you is yourself and it is you who realize. Remain there and do not leave even though your mind presents a whole set of apparently intelligent concepts to you because these are never real. This I is youthe doubtful one, the darkened one, the one who is searching is searching for himself. This is consciousness, the point from which the next stage begins. Your mistake is to believe your own sleep, that there is a seeker, an intelligent and special being, when, in reality, you are only a point of living and autoexisting consciousness. When you are there, being yourself as I, thought does not appear because the mind is turned on itself, on its own center. It is not important if you are real or not. What is important is to merge into yourself. This is something that many people who deny the existence of Self cannot do because they still have not existed in a real way. You are the point between Reality and unreality. Through you Maya develops and through you Maya becomes extinct. You will live through it further on. Real being is an existence, I Am. Your mind and its effects on you are an illusion, but you need to merge into yourself, being absorbed with so much force that it produces a short circuit in the illusion of Maya. With a little practice, you will realize that the perception of yourself as an individual is a mental gesture and that the self-existing being is not located in the head, but rather is experienced in the center of the breast. When this experience happens, you will know that you are no longer under the influence of the mind, and have come out. Existence is to Be and being alone is lived. You are the only one who can do thisthe same you who is reading and investigating, trying to understand what you read. In fact, all of this is about you only, but you need to understand what you read. This practicethe realization that you are alivecuts through the confusion. It is a simple way to demonstrate that you already are what you are seeking. The taste of being has

always been there. You have experienced it since you were a child. It will be there when you are old, always the same, and without change. Learn how to be absorbed without losing sight of yourself, without letting the mind express itself and without being caught in impressions. At first, you will need to pay attention closely, but as time goes on, less attention is needed. You have to look at yourself, but finally this looking is not important; it is a passing phase. Soon you will realize that you do not need to pay attention all the time to be there. Being is independent and does not need this practice to exist. When this moment comes, you will know that the picture has changed. Now everything that you understand is left behind. What you understand is knowledge that has no value. Your path will come to an end when you cross over the wall of knowledge and ignorance. When this moment comes, there will not be anybody there. The Absolute will be revealed by itself but there will not be an I to enjoy it. Then: Centering the mind in "I am," in the feeling of being, the sense that "I am this and that one", dissolves and what remains is "I am only the Witness." That also submerges in "I am complete". Then everything becomes One, and One is not separate from me. Leave the idea of a separate "I" and the question of "who experiences?" will not arise. This method is universal. There is no other way of dissolving the ego and I Am. Centering the attention on the Witness, the Witness then dissolves in the Absolute. There is no other mystery than this. The attention must be turned on itself. The result is dissolution.