Recognising Awareness: The Essence Of Meditation

Welcome to this journey to recognizing awareness and ultimately the heart space of silence within.

This track is ideally a follow on from my Here for Peace track and a precursor to the Who Am I?

Spiritual inquiry track.

Yet by nature of the subject they can all stand in their own right as they are naturally intertwined.

Such is the nature of awareness.

The tracks on here all emerge from the silence awareness within and that is naturally encoded within the recording.

That same silence awareness is within you and so as you listen simply be open to that and a natural resonance and entrainment will occur effortlessly.

Let's begin with a fundamentally important insight about meditation and self-realization.

The essence of meditation and self-realization is awareness.

That is it.

Nothing more and nothing less.

This also means awareness is the doorway,

The key and the actual realization of one's true nature as infinite awareness or infinite silence which are one and the same.

Self-realization in the end turns out to be profoundly simple.

It is only our conditioned minds that both complicate it and avoid it.

It's all okay though since no matter where you are on your journey right now this awareness is always here eternally and everywhere.

It's just that it's mostly not recognized and embraced and this can be true whether you are new to meditation or even as I have found a quite experienced meditator.

I've seen many people have wow,

Aha and light bulb moments over the years.

Such is the nature of awareness that it can be like that expression we have in English.

You can't see the wood for the trees.

In other words it's so blindingly obvious it's really easy to miss and we can right away forgive ourselves for that.

There's no rights,

Wrongs or race here.

Just your path unfolding in its own way now.

We'll do a couple of exercises that involve some inquiry questions that you simply allow to be asked inside.

It's going to be helpful if you close your eyes from this point on to aid focus.

Simply,

Silently and without any judgment of what's here,

Close your eyes and just observe and notice whatever is present.

That is all for now.

To our inquiry there'll initially be three simple options and we'll deepen the inquiry further after those.

We'll pause between each inquiry to allow space for anything to emerge and insight will also be shared.

Just let all be and there's no need to try to analyze anything.

Silently silently observing now.

Breath,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

Any emotions or physical sensations and just let them be here without any judgment.

Just resting,

Watching and witnessing.

Let's begin to explore.

Do you think awareness is here for you now?

Just be with this for a few moments.

Or do you think awareness is sometimes here for you and sometimes not?

Just rest with this one for a few moments also.

Finally,

Are you not sure if awareness is here for you now?

Again,

Just rest with this for a few moments.

Now here,

Some great news in two parts.

Whichever you went with,

You were right.

Here's the really vital piece.

You were right since whichever one it was,

You were aware of that.

What that means is that awareness was aware of each option and what was being selected.

Awareness noticed all of that and importantly will eventually see it was neutral about the options.

It was simply aware.

This also means awareness is always here and the options are all created from the mind's limited ideas and beliefs about awareness.

Awareness is not of the mind.

Let me say that again.

Awareness is not of the mind.

The meanderings of the mind occur in the field of or in front of awareness.

Awareness is before and beyond the mind.

And the whole meditative self-realization journey is about realizing you are it.

It's that simple in the end.

Yet because of years of conditioning,

We have come to associate with the thoughts and beliefs and the body mind experiences rather than that which is aware of them all.

Let's just reflect here a few moments to be with this.

It is truly fundamental.

Actually life transforming when we truly get it or more accurately realize it.

Awareness is always here watching neutrally.

You are it.

Awareness,

Stillness,

Silence,

Infinite silence,

All synonymous and you are those.

Aware of all that is unfolding and being experienced now.

Aware that one is aware.

Now we can deepen this inquiry further with a guided experience using a practical example.

Continuing with your eyes closed and simply silently noticing whatever is here.

Feelings,

Emotions,

Thoughts,

Sensations,

Breath.

Just like you are watching a movie from the inside.

All without any judgment.

Just accepting them all neutrally,

Silently,

Resting.

Now let's take an emotion.

Perhaps there is one here now.

Yet it matters not if there is or there isn't.

Notice that emotions arise in life just like a wave arises from the ocean.

Eventually,

Even if it's after some time,

An emotion passes,

Fades,

Disappears.

It may have been intense,

Changing in its nature from one emotion to another.

It may have risen,

Faded a little,

Risen again and been felt physically along with its impact in different parts of the body.

Yet still in the end,

Even if it's a long period of time,

It fades.

There was a time before this emotion and a time after it.

It or a similar one may come back at a later date.

A key question.

What was it that saw this emotion arise in the first place?

What was it that noticed all the changes we listed above?

What was it that noticed it had faded and disappeared?

That noticed the whole process?

It was awareness.

It was there throughout the whole journey.

However uncomfortable and challenging it might have been,

For sure,

We've all experienced that challenge in one degree or another.

We were all aware of it and could speak about it if we were ready to do so.

We can do that because awareness was watching all the time,

Aware of everything happening.

Another key question.

Is that or was that awareness affected in any way by all the changing details of the emotional roller coaster?

Or was it simply neutrally aware?

Just be with this quietly now for a few moments.

You will eventually come to see that it was simply,

Neutrally,

Non-judgmentally aware.

Even if that may not be totally clear just yet,

Just be okay with that.

For even if it may not be clear,

Who is the one that is aware of the experience of lack of clarity?

Awareness is.

In the same way,

Which one are you?

The emotion or the awareness of it?

Which one are you?

The thoughts and the beliefs or the one that is aware of them?

Just be open to the possibility and realization that you are,

In fact,

And always have been the unchanging awareness.

Always.

Nothing you had to do about this.

You were always it and always will be.

Allow some space to be with that silently,

Effortlessly,

Open,

Trusting,

Watching,

Observing,

Noticing,

Witnessing,

Aware,

Simply,

Silently aware.

Here,

Now,

Being with that.

How is that feeling?

Who is aware of that?

You are aware.

So simple,

So powerful and profound.

This is the essence of meditation and self-realization.

And in that journey,

The power to bring about the dissolution of the emotional or pain body with that same awareness or infinite silence.

All the power you need is within.

All of it.

Always.

That which you have been seeking,

You have always been and always will be.

It's only about deepening that experientially from here,

Now.

This dawning recognition as you embrace it is a game changer for your meditation,

Practice,

Life and self-realization.

It really is this simple.

No need to believe me.

That's why it's called a realization.

It will eventually be realized unequivocally.

How beautiful is that?

How simple.

Rest in and as this awareness now for a while and we'll bring a practice to a close after that.

In a few moments,

The singing bowl will sound.

Just gently aware of your body,

The chair you're sat on or whatever you may be lay on.

Aware of the space,

The room,

The presence,

Stillness,

The moment that is right for you.

Just gently opening your eyes and knowing from within that awareness is here always.

Is your very essence and can be recognized and accessed at any time.

Simply aware here.

If you haven't already done so,

It will be helpful to follow up on this guidance with the Who Am I?

Meditation and Spiritual Guidance track to further deepen and open you to this awareness.

These tracks also work hand in hand with the Here For Peace track.

You will find it beneficial to use these a number of times to become fully familiar with them.

They are also scene setters for the freely available playlists,

Self Realization Replay Program,

The Infinite Silence Meditation tracks 1 to 7,

Dissolving Emotions,

Beliefs,

Blocks and Trauma playlist.

And you are invited to join the Nothing Special with Philip Wade group.

Remembering now,

You are simply always aware.

Namaste and many blessings.