What Are We?

What is most basic to human existence?

The fact of awareness.

Awareness is more fundamental than body, more fundamental than emotion, more fundamental than mind.

Most fundamental is not what we are aware of—but the simple fact that we are always aware.

That constant reality of awareness is what Adi Da calls “Consciousness Itself”.

Not consciousness of anything—such as a bodily sensation, an emotion, or a thought, or a person or thing in our environment—but Consciousness Itself.

In fact, Consciousness Itself is our real identity—we are Consciousness Itself.

Because Consciousness Itself is the reality that pervades all of human existence, Adi Da calls it “the True Water of life”—the deep well of Truth that is the real Source of our living.

To know that we are Consciousness Itself grants sanity, freedom, and happiness to the heart—despite the trials of our mortal existence.

And the reality that we are Consciousness Itself is a message that Adi Da wanted all human beings to receive.

Adi Da’s communication here is his gift to you.

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The Truth of What We Are

Adi Da summarized his gift of Truth in a single sentence.

He wished to give this gift to every human being, so that knowledge of this Truth could be the foundation of every human life.

He even wished that all children could hear this Truth from their youngest days, so that their lives could be guided by it from the beginning.

He says that this Truth is the case “no matter what arises”.

In other words, this is the Truth regardless of what the body is experiencing, regardless of what emotions may be coming up, regardless of what thoughts we may be having, and regardless of what appears to be happening in the world.

And he also says that this Truth is the case even if there are no bodily sensations or emotions or thoughts happening in the moment.

This Truth, he says, is “always already the case”.

To communicate this Truth most fully, he states it in two different forms.

No matter what arises, or does not arise,
you are only Consciousness Itself.

No matter what arises, or does not arise,
there is only Consciousness Itself.

Become A Participant In The Real World

Fundamental experience is not the experience of “things”.

Fundamental experience is the experience of Being Itself, of Consciousness Itself.

The self-aware pleasure of existing is the fundamental gift, the Divine gift, the persistent gift that you are tending to ignore.

Therefore, to live a truly human life is to become a participant in the real world of always already existing Reality.

You Presume You Are The Body

Your problems and your questions only arise because you forget Consciousness.

You presume you are the body—but, in reality, you are only witnessing the body.

You are aware of the body as something in Consciousness.

You do not experience the body itself as a “thing” in and of itself.

You are conscious of the body.

Therefore, Consciousness Itself is first—not the body.

Then there appears to be the body, and you identify with it, and forget Consciousness.

That is how Consciousness Itself becomes the unconscious: You presume to be the body, and you imagine Consciousness is to be found somewhere else.

You Are Not In The Position of The Body

The error in which you live is the error of presuming that the fundamental experience is that of being an individuated body—that that is birth, that is existence, that is the reality in which you exist and everyone exists, and that is what there is to be concerned about, and to participate in, and fulfill, and so forth.

You must understand: That is an error.

That is not the way it is.

You are not in the position of the body.

To presume so is your error.

What is the actual root-experience, or first experience?

What is the context of experience?

It is not the body.

It Is Consciousness—now.

You Are Not The Thinking Mind

It is commonly presumed that the (apparently individual) conscious “self” is doing the thinking.

You presume that you are thinking and that you are the “subject” of that thinking.

You presume you are the source and cause and doer of thinking.

You presume that the contents, questions, and problems of your thinking are “yours”—but this is only a presumption, or a mere idea.

That presumption is not inspected—and, indeed, that presumption is not true.

Right now, you appear to be thinking—but that thinking is not actually being done by you (as you really are).

You are not the thinking mind.

Rather, you are simply the formless and actionless mere witness of whatever is arising.

Your Real Situation

It appears that you are associated with conditions—in the states of waking, dreaming, and sleeping.

However, none of those conditions last—and, therefore, you cannot be any of those conditions.

You are that which appears to be modified in the form of all conditional phenomena—you are Consciousness Itself.

The entire waking state arises within Consciousness Itself.

The entire dreaming state arises within Consciousness Itself.

The entire sleeping state arises within Consciousness Itself.

And, when any condition in any of those three states—or (otherwise) when any one of those states itself—passes, Consciousness Itself remains.

Consciousness Itself never changes.

Consciousness Itself is always already the case.

The “Glasses” of Consciousness

Everything is seen through the “glasses” of Consciousness.

Everything is a mode of Consciousness.

Every perception, every thought, everything altogether that you call “the world”—everything in it, everyone in it, all relations, all functions, all circumstances, all instants of time, all space, all appearances, the entire universe exists only on the basis of Consciousness Itself.

That is it.

Everything appears on Consciousness as on a screen.

Everything simply passes.

But, always, Consciousness is the basis of everything appearing.

Consciousness Is the “substance” in which all passing phenomena are arising and disappearing.

Awareness Itself Never Changes

No matter what happens to the body-mind-“self” while you live, you are always merely aware.

The awareness itself never changes.

Even while you are aware of changes, the awareness itself never changes.

There are not different kinds of awareness—different colors of it or different shapes of it.

Awareness is, simply and only, awareness itself.

No matter what happens in the body-mind-complex,* awareness is merely and simply aware of the process of the body-mind-complex—and awareness itself is never affected by change.

Awareness itself does not go through changes.

Awareness merely and simply observes changes.

Awareness itself is the in-depth mere witness.

If you are not reality-intelligent in the moments of change, then, every time there is a change, you identify with the change.

“I am that change, then,” you think and say.

When the body is suffering, you think and say, “I am suffering.”

When reactive emotion arises, you think and say, “I am angry, I am sorrowful, I am afraid.”

That which—in and as Reality Itself—never changes is, in its superficial daily-ordinary state, constantly presuming itself to be changed, and to be a change.

In this moment, it is painful—in the next moment, it feels good.

The daily-ordinary ego-mind is constantly identifying pure awareness (or the in-depth mere witness) with the changes that are peripheral to it.

If you inspect awareness itself, if you enter into it most profoundly, you will clearly see that awareness itself does not change, but it is (simply and only) the in-depth mere witness of changes.

* The complex of four faculties that make up the human structure and process—body, emotion, mind, and breath.

A Way To Observe
That Consciousness Is Always The Same

If you can locate a memory of something that happened earlier in your life, a memory that is so vivid that you can feel the event again, do that and compare it to your feeling now.

Not the content of now, but the feeling of yourself now, compared to the feeling of yourself then.

It does not make any difference how much development there has been of the persona—in terms of content or years or whatever it may be.

The conscious being feels the same whether it is five years old or twenty years old or seventy years old—however many years old, it is the same.

If you clearly recollect how it was being there, if you clearly sense it again, it is the same as now.

Consciousness is always the same, now and in the past—whether the recent past or the past of long ago.

To Realize This Is Realization Itself

Even now, no matter what arises, you are Consciousness Itself.

Not the ego, not the separate “self”, but Consciousness Itself.

No matter what arises, even now, you are Consciousness Itself.

This is Absolutely True—and it is a way of saying what there is to Realize.

To Realize this is Realization Itself.

Life is Love.  Love is Truth.  Truth is God.  God is Reality. Reality is Light. Light is Love.  Love is Life.

Life has no opposite, no other, is infinite and therefore, unknowable. No belief, no perspective, no idea could possibly be equal to Truth/Reality/Light. Our ideas and beliefs are a part of Life and will never be equal to it, no matter what the Fundamentalists or Scientists say. This may seem depressing and morbid, but it is actually fabulous news because it places all perspectives and philosophies on the same level as finite, limited perspectives.  We will never stop making surprising discoveries about the Universe but this does not mean that the Unknowable will one day be known.  It means that our curiosity will always be fed an overwhelming amount of Wonder and Mystery.  The Question is not, How can I know and therefore gain control of Liife, but What is my relationship with Life?  Am I contracted and collapsed upon my self idea?  Or, Am I in love and trust, surrendered emotionally, to Life?

Einstein said that Wonder and Imagination is senior to Knowledge.  We are living in and AS a Great Wonder, an Infinite Mystery, a Cosmic Punchline that literally cracks you up.  Are you willing to be undone and penetrated and illuminated by the Great Wonder of Existence?  Or, Are you content to cling to your little rowboat and stay near the shore?

In either case, you are embedded in the Infinite Grace and Throbbing Potential of the White Hot Current of Life.  This is your actual Situation.  You were born without a clue and you are living in a Most Surprising Circumstance that is inherently blissful, ecstatic, and Enjoyable.  You have no idea what anything actually IS, you only have a name or an explanation.  However, the name is not identical with the thing named.  “Table” is a word, but what is that thing in your living room, really? How could it possibly exist?  We say God made it or the Big bang exploded it into existence, but that doesn’t solve the Mystery, it only ratchets it back a notch.  The Mystery remains.

Authentic human life is the result of establishing heartfelt Intimacy with this Great Mystery, the Wonder of Existence, the Galactic Person of Love and Truth.

“There is neither one God or many Gods.  There is only God.  All the one and many Gods are idols of That Which is God”  Adi Da

Our self image produces our ideas about God.  Enlightenment is the Prior Condition that exists before the self image is formed.  When you look in a mirror, do you identify with your reflection, or with the Aliveness which is looking at the reflection?  You cannot see your own eyes or bite your own teeth.  You need a mirror to see your eyes, you need a Universe to reflect your Infinite Aliveness. It’s easy to confuse your reflection with your Self.  Spiritual practice is about overcoming this trance, not about metaphysical beliefs, or the attainment of any state. Your natural state cannot be attained, it can only be Recognized. That’s the Point. Recognition is Love and Embrace of What is, even if it’s unknowable. You are inherently and coherently Intimate with That Which Originates all things, at all times, whether you are aware of it or not.  Happiness is the Awareness of Love as the Condition of all conditions.  This is the Original Gospel, Prior Unity with God.  It is not sometime in the future, it is now and always has been.  This is Glorious beyond belief, the Good News, the Treasure the man finds buried in his Field.  Everyone owns this Treasure, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Atheists, Agnostics, everyone.

This creates unbroken coherence and intimacy between us, beyond ideas and apparent differences.  Your big toe is different from your eye too, but that doesn’t make it separate.  You are one Singular Individual and cannot be divided into the sum of your parts. Who you are Precedes and Transcends and Includes all things.