Spiritual Forum

By Remez Sasson

Nowadays, there is so much talk about Self Realization, enlightenment and freedom. We hear and read about thoughts, the mind, concentration, meditation and inner growth techniques. People search, read, study and wander about to find the answer to their true identity and the reason they are here. Throughout the ages this movement has been going on. How many of all the seekers have found what they are looking for?

All are looking for something and that's the problem. There is someone seeking and looking for someone or something else. It is as if you are searching for your eyeglasses whilst you are wearing them. All you have to do is look at the mirror in order to find them.

The one who is searching is the subject and object. The seeker is the sought. Pay attention to your consciousness and you have found yourself. Feel your Being. It is easy. You do not have to search for anything. What you are seeking is inside you, no, it is you. It is not the body, feelings or thoughts. It is the feeling of Being, of Awareness. An explanation will now be given.

A thought comes to our mind and then another replaces it. It is a very fast process and we are usually not aware of it. When we develop a strong concentration by pursuing a suitable training course, we becomes more conscious of the thoughts and their coming and going. The mind gradually entertains fewer thoughts per minute. Under these conditions we become aware that there is an interval between one thought and the other. It may be just a second or a split second of quietude. There are no thoughts, there is emptiness, but it is also fullness. At this moment we just exist. We are in pure awareness.

We also experience this interval without thoughts upon waking from sleep and also a moment before falling asleep. We are usually dimly conscious of it, as we are not trained to discern it. If you try to pay attention to this moment of consciousness with no thoughts, in time it is possible become more and more aware of this state.

At the time before falling asleep and losing consciousness, thoughts and identity are dropped away, and there is no consciousness of the ego and the environment. The same thing happens immediately upon waking up, before becoming conscious of the identity as body, feelings, thoughts and ego. This is a time of non-identification, when we just exist, not as this or that, but just as Pure Existence.

This consciousness emerges when watching a beautiful sunset, or a beautiful painting for example. At a time when fear or worries drop down, you may experience this feeling again. When you are engrossed in some interesting absorbing activity you lose consciousness of yourself, but later when you think about it, you remember that you were aware of yourself but in a different way.

You say, "I walk", "I talk", "I eat", "I work", "I think", "I feel", etc'. Drop the verb "walk", "talk", "think", "feel" etc, and what remains? Just the "I". You might find it strange just to say "I", with no additions or descriptions. It is possible just to BE, to be the "I", without any attached actions or descriptions. There are those who are living constantly in this state of Pure Awareness. It is not a distant inner state. It is your and everyone's natural
state, and it is the mind that says otherwise.

People are seeking some kind of external self, a higher I, a soul. They are seeking it outside, because they are not looking inside. There is no reason to spend time and energy seeking some illusory "something". All one has to do is remain quiet, calm the mind and experience and feel the quietude within, to feel that one is this quietude. Not that there is "me" and there is "quietude" but that there is just this immense, limitless quietude.

When in deep sleep we are not conscious of something in particular, and there are no thoughts, feelings, worries, or desires. There is nothing, but yet we exist. It seems like a state of nothingness, but it is more a state of "clean awareness". Upon awakening up we remember that we experienced "nothingness" in our sleep. We had an experience, and therefore there was no total unconsciousness. The experience was of "nothing", nothing in particular. We experienced emptiness. Such experiences might give you an idea of what it is to experience the feeling of "Being", without thoughts.

People enjoy deep sleep with no dreams. In this state we exist without the usual ordinary consciousness. Getting consciously and willingly into this state we are talking about, is different from sleep. The quietude, lack of thoughts and emptiness experienced may be the same, but it is full of light, happiness and power.

We can develop the ability to be aware and feel our "sense of Being". When we do not identify with, or get absorbed in our thoughts and ego, we live in pure awareness. These are lucid, real experiences for the people who manage to live in them. The way is open for everyone. All we have to do is to open our eyes and enter the path to pure awareness, which is actually "Self-rediscovery".

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