A Direct Path

Self-realization is the direct recognition of your essential nature as

omnipresent being.

If you stop and notice that still sense of “I am,” you will find still awareness
which is your essence. You are more of a presence than a person.

There are lots of simple pointers to silent awareness.

Stop and notice the silent awareness which is looking out through your
eyes, sees your thoughts come and go, and is unchanged while everything
which passes in front of it changes.

“What is looking” is not some clever koan; it is what is looking at this very
instant at these words. Notice that and be free.

When you meditate/sit silently, let everything be as it is with an openness to

notice that which notices the changing.

Self-inquiry is a direct approach to Self-realization. Simply asking the

question, Who, or what, am I?, and then being open to the direct experience
of that still, awake, unchanging presence can take you immediately to your
essence. Again, what you are looking for IS LOOKING.

These are not questions or exercises for the mind. They are meant to invoke
the immediate and direct recognition of your eternal nature. If you find you
are thinking about the answers to these simple pointers – STOP. Notice that
silent awareness which sees the mind distracting you from the direct and
immediate experience of stillness, presence, silence, emptiness. Do not get
upset with your mind for taking you off on tangents. Instead, realize that the
recognition, I was off on a thought stream, is a grace. It is only when you
realize you were off on a thought stream that you have the choice to
continue that activity of the mind, or to look again as what is looking. This
attitude of openness and appreciation for the grace you have just received,
which allows you to come back to the perspective as the still, awake
awareness, which sees those thoughts, will speed your growth to the
permanent recognition as your eternal essence.
Once you have recognized the silent presence as your essence, you are truly
blessed. Now, throughout the day, your life becomes your meditation. When
you find you are identifying as thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and the body,
you are graced with the choice to continue with this false identification, or to
step back and live as your true essence. Until you have directly experienced
the boundless silence of pure awareness and recognized this as your
essence, you have no choice. Once you know what you are, you are graced
with the apparent choice to continue identifying with thoughts, etc., or to
relax back into the direct living as Life. Eventually, the old habit of false
identification will fall away as you no longer feed it with your attention.

In all these apparent endeavors, keep it simple. Living as Truth is the

simplest thing you will ever “do.” It is only the mind and habit which make
the search seem complex. Remember the pointers: “Be still” and “What you
are looking for is what is looking.”

A Direct Path  (Part 2)

Part one takes you to the recognition of your essence as infinite, still
awareness. One might expect this is the full recognition of Truth, and in
some ways, it is. In other ways, however, it is half the equation. At one time
you identified as your body, thoughts, emotions, etc., and now see you are
instead more of a nothing than a something. You are boundless presence.

The next step is to take that same open investigation which led to the direct
experience of the silence as your essence and examine the world. Ask the
question, “If I am pure consciousness, what is everything else?”
If you investigate the experience of your essence, you find it has no borders.
It does not end at your body. It is not bound by time or space. Your direct
experience is that this awareness is omnipresent. There is no place you
could say, “No, my presence does not go there.” Notice you are the
substanceless substance pervading everything. This is the very nature of
unity. Do not expect unity to look unified. This knowing is much deeper
than looking, it is on the level of your very Being.

Shankara states it, “The world is illusory. Brahman alone is real. Brahman
is the world.” (Brahman is the unmanifest absolute.)

Awakening is not about adding to our knowledge; it is about recognizing the

timeless essence of Life. It is more about subtracting than adding.
Look at some of the most classic pointers: Stop; Be Still; Notice what is
looking; I am that I am. None of these are calls to intellectual pursuit. They
are not instruction manuals for building an enlightened mind. These are
simple admonitions to live as the eternal presence here right now.

We are all invited to drop the egoic pursuit of enlightenment. Stop. Be Still.
What you are looking for is what is looking. Notice the eternal Truth that we
already are the timeless I AM.

How to Let Go

Listen to the podcast of this page.

The Letting Go technique is simple.  It’s so simple you may dismiss it’s
incredible power.  If you catch yourself doing this, let go.
All you need to let go is an emotion, a negative one.  This feeling is attached
to many thoughts, perhaps a story or a dozen similar experiences.  However
it presents, the overall energy, is negative.

1.  Identify a negative feeling.   

Now quiet your mind and there are many ways to do this.  Here are a few
suggestions that have worked for me.  Thoughts are not helpful in the
letting go process except to alert you into the process.

2.  Clear away all thoughts.

Focus quietly on the feeling.  Breathe into the sensations and allow them to
be.  Here all you do is breathe and accept the feeling inside you.  It doesn’t
matter where you are (home, work, driving, having coffee with a friend) just
go from unconscious breathing to conscious.  The sensations may be very
uncomfortable.  That’s ok.   Just breathe and allow the feelings to be where
they are.  Let go the need to give the feeling a name.
 I like the general word, sensations.  You may notice these sensations begin
somewhere specific in your body and you may discover they are everywhere.
Simply breathe and allow.

3.  Breathe into the sensations and allow them to be.

Your willingness to accept the sensations may intensify them.  This is ok

too.  Keep breathing and allowing.  

Your willingness to let go thinking and accept what’s happening is your

ticket to inner freedom.   Each time you sense a disruption inside, turn
down the volume on the thoughts, breathe into the sensations and allow
them to be.  This is all you need do to let go.  Simple.  

4.  Repeat when necessary.

Perhaps letting go has become a practice for you and you’d like to learn
some advanced techniques.

This blog is based on my personal experience with the collective works of Dr

David R Hawkins.  His last book, Letting Go:  A Pathway to Surrender
(2012) is what motivated me to commit to the process.  The fact that it
works is why you’re reading this.