Awakening in the Now

8/4/2019 Awakening in the Now

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Awake in the Now

When I was a child I was quite sensitive. I wasn't happy go lucky. I was aworrier. I remember once when I was about 9, I was getting off the bus,coming home from school. It was one of those old double decker buseswith the open back platform like they have in London. The bus had pulledup a bit too far from the kerb and I jumped off. A car had to stop quickly

to not hit me (and the bus). Looking back at it now I think the driver in thecar must have been day dreaming and the driver probably would haveprobably felt that they were totally to blame for the incident. But instead,I mentally took the blame for the situation. I walked home that afternoonthinking that I was going to get in trouble and that the police were goingto come to my door. I worried all of that night, and for the next few days.The pain and the anguish was terrible. And that pretty much symboliseswhat I was like until my twenties. Caught in a trance with my thoughtsand emotions.

Another time in my twenties, when my wife and I were back-packing aroundeurope for a year, we got tired of continuously traveling from one hotel to

another. So when we arrived in Venice we decided to get a little apartmentand live there for 6 weeks. My wife wanted to do italian lessons, so she didthat several days a week. I just wanted to paint. So there I was, doing whatI always wanted to, painting from morning till night, everyday! The perfectlife I was always after!

However, it wasn't that perfect. There I was, without a problem in the world.But what happened was, as I was painting, the thoughts would come up."So and so is this, so and so is that. If only things were this way, if only theworld was that way. Memories, judgements, nonsense thoughts.Bla, bla, bla, bla, bla. On it went, driving me crazy. I kept trying to notgo off with the thoughts, and I wouldnt for a short while, but beforeI knew it Id drift off with the thoughts again.

Instead of feeling relaxed by the end of my day of painting I was all woundup! So there I was in my supposedly perfect existence, tortured.

Those two incidents pretty much symbolise what I have made it my missionto overcome. The trance like state in which you are hopelessly caught in thehappenings of the mind (or the 'Thinking Mechanism' as I have come to callit).

So why is it that you can actually not have a problem in the world yet beliving out an anguished hell?

Why is it that you can find it so difficult to escape whatever the minddecides to blurt out?

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Throughout my twenties and thirties I became increasingly aware of thepower of positive affirmations and visualisations. I started to think, affirm andvisualise things that were positive and it made a difference in my life. Iexperienced a lot of success and got a lot of what I was after. However,

this trance-like hypnosis in the thoughts that I was talking about hadn'treally stopped. I was now just being hypnotised by positive thoughts insteadof negative ones. I was experiencing greater levels of happiness, but


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somehow always knew that I wasn't out of 'jail' yet. The jail cell was justlooking better. I continued the positive visualisations and affirmations forover ten years. But somehow I was still searching for my ultimate truth. Iwas what you would call a 'spiritual seeker' for about 18 years.

I was essentially a really 'good' kid and I never got in trouble much.I assumed that my elders knew more than me. I just took it for

granted that my parents, my teachers, my society, knew what was right.So I took on all of the rules that society and my elders had givenme and lived that out as best I could.

However, it didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. By the time I was 23I essentially had a spiritual break down. I'd taken all of the rules that society hadgiven me and put them into that little mental computer of mine and lived itout, and essentially it didn't work for me. It had lead to a build up ofinternal tension and anguish that eventually led to an internal 'crash' atthe age of 23. For 2 weeks I think I was actually mad. If things had gonethe wrong way maybe I would have ended up one of those people who just walks

the streets just talking to themselves, that's how mad I went. But somehow Imiraculously went the other way. It was like I'd hit the lowest I thoughtyou could go, and just as I was on the metaphorical floor so to speak, atrap door (symbolically speaking) opened up into a whole new world ofpossibilities. I had totally lived out the way my society had said I shouldbe, saw what it led, and was now looking for something that worked for me.It's not that everything society told me was wrong, but some key pieceof knowledge was missing.

It wasn't like I had all of the answers all of a sudden. That wasjust the beginning of my eighteen years of seeking. That was whenI got into the new age techniques of positive affirmations for quitea few years years, followed by getting interested in Hinduism and

repeating the Hare Krishna mantra for up to 2 hours everyday forseven years. And then finding out about Non-duality, Advaita,Zen, Dzogchen, etc.

But please understand, I am not saying that you have to do what I did.Everyone has a different path and I am not saying that you have to havewalked my path to get to what I am talking about. Not at all. That was justmy journey so there's no need to try and copy it.

Anyway, as I said, it was all a journey. A journey which led me back toright here and now. The same Now that I had always been in for my wholelife, but the difference was that now I was AWAKE in it.

I wasn't in a trance anymore. I'd awoken from the hypnotic trance ofidentification with the thoughts and emotions.

Sure, there were times that there was a going back into the trance of being'in' the thoughts... but essentially the spell had been broken. Gone werethe days of being trapped in a mental cage of anguish, pain, worry. Gone toowere the days of living in positive thoughts. Sure they are much moredesirable than the negative thoughts, but if you buy into them, then you arestill in the world of thought. And that world of thought, even though it hasits place and use, is not where true peace is. I'm talking about a simple yetcore paradigm shift. Finally I was sitting in the place that is prior to it all.Finally I was awake in the HERE & NOW.

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So what changed for me? Essentially, there was a realisation that I was notthe thoughts and emotions but I was what was witnessing the thoughtsand emotions. I started to discern the difference between the seeing ofthe thoughts and the actual thoughts. And its this discernment betweenthe seeing and the seen which allowed me to be free from the mental cage.

These days I mainly abide as the seeing of the thoughts and emotions.I realise that my deepest level is actually prior to the thoughts and emotions.And its this realisation which allows me to get some distance from thethoughts and emotions.

Thoughts and emotions still happen, but they are seen as somethingwhich is happening ON me, they are not me.There are times when I still get entranced by ( go off with ) the thoughts,but it happens less and less. Essentially, once you realise that you are whatsprior to the thoughts and emotions then as long as the PRIORITY is to abideas the seeing of those thoughts and emotions then you dont get draggedoff with them. However, if something is really important to me, then when

the thoughts occur I will get dragged off with the thoughts and emotions...because the priority was with them.

So once there has been the realisation that you are the seeing of thethoughts and emotions, the exercise is to keep the priority as abiding asthe seeing and not drifting off with the thoughts (the seen).

People talk about being enlightened. To me enlightenment is not a statethat once it is achieved it's set. It is an ongoing thing, moment by moment.

To be enlightened is simply to be truly awake. To be awake to the thoughtsand emotions and not in a trance with them. That is enlightenment. And atany one moment you are either awake or in a trance, so at any one moment

you are either enlightened or not. It's a moment by moment thing.

Enlightenment has nothing to do with special powers or some other worldlystate. In my opinion anyone who tries to convince you that it involvesspecial powers or some other worldly state is either deluded or a conman.

Enlightenment is simply being present with that which is present. You maythink that isn't very amazing... but how many people can actually STAYPRESENT TO THAT WHICH IS PRESENT for the majority of the time? Very few.The average person is forever drifting off into a trance with their thoughtsand emotions. Staying awake from the thoughts and not falling into a trancewith them is actually a very rare ability in this current state of humanevolution in the early 2000's. Go ahead, try it and you'll see how often youdrift off with the thoughts. You'll soon realise that you dont have muchcontrol of where you mentally are at all. Yet most people are not impressedby someone who has the ability to be present to that which is present.

There isn't anything more amazing than a person who is always presenthere and now. Yet when you first look at them, they look utterly normal.There isn't anything that makes them stand out from anyone else.Because they ARE utterly normal. They are present here and now in life.It's those who are drifting off in trances with their thoughts(even though they are the majority) who are not normal.

I don't care if you are into religion or which religion you are into. I don't

care if you are an atheist. I don't care if you are into whatever spiritualbelief. All I ask is that you be awake to the thoughts and not go into atrance with them. All I ask is that you sit there in the place which witnesses


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all of the thoughts. PRIOR to thoughts. Prior to any thought about anything.

Just remain as the witnessing that is prior to any thought... and thereforeprior to any thought about religion or there being a god or there not beinga god or any belief at all. Don't try to stop the thoughts, let them be. Justremain as the witnessing of the thoughts, moment by moment, without fallinginto a trance with the thoughts and getting carried away by them.

Witness all of the 'internal' happenings (thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations)and all of the 'external' happenings in the world as EXTERNAL happenings.They are ALL external of the Witnessing and they come and go.You are the unchanging witnessing of them all.

When there is a DISCERNMENT made between WITNESSING and what is beingWITNESSED then this is what's known as an initial 'awakening'.

At the moment in most people, because there is no discernment between theseeing and the seen, things can't help but get out of control. The thoughtprocess which should be the 'servant' of the witnessing is taking the role of

the 'master'. And when the servant rules the master you're always going toget problems. But once awakening occurs then through continued abidance inthat awakened state it will be possible to address the balance by giving priorityto witnessing. Things will then fall into their proper place.It's not that the thoughts are to be stopped, it's just that theycan't be allowed to run the show.

Q: I don't understand what you mean by 'witnessing', do you mean it'slike a physical 'seeing'?

A: NO. It is NOT the same as physical 'seeing' or vision from your eyes.It is what is witnessing EVERYTHING, including your physical vision.

It is what SEES (ie: perceives) all your actions, re-actions,thoughts, experiences, bodily senses, emotions.

Q: I'm not sure I understand.

A: Sit there and close your eyes for a moment and allow thoughts to occur.( ... some moments pass)Ok, you can open your eyes. You know how you could 'see'... were 'witnessing'thoughts? Well, THAT is the witnessing. It is the PURE Awareness whichis 'before' the thoughts, emotions, memory, sight, hearing, feeling, etc.It's 'upstream of every thought and experience. It is the ground on whichthe thoughts and all of the experiences appear and then disappear.

Thoughts can only happen one by one in front of witnessing, in the instant.They cannot happen in the 'past' or the 'future', because the 'past' andthe 'future' do not exist. There is only NOW. What you call the 'past' andthe 'future' are only THOUGHTS about the 'past' or the 'future' which arebeing witnessed in the instant, in the NOW. This continual INSTANT or'now point' is where your life happens.

Q: But how is it that things change? In the past I was a little child, nowI am an adult. Time has gone by.

A: Change happened, but it happened in the Now. Everything is inconstant change, it can't not be. Show me anything in the seemingly

physical world that won't sooner or later change. It can't help but change.The body for example is in a constant state of change. However, all ofthat change happens in the Now. This instant you are in the Now, ten


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seconds from Now, you will still be in 'the instant', in the Now. Threeweeks from now at 5pm you will be in the Now. You cannot be inanything else but the Now. So, to answer your question, when you werea child, you experienced that in 'the instant', in the Now. Now that youare an adult you are experiencing that in 'the instant', in the Now.It ALL happens in the Now. Now that you are an adult you can onlybring up a thought (a memory) of your childhood. And that thought

can ONLY be brought up in the Now. EVERYTHING can ONLY happenin the Now. Time itself is only a concept which happens in the Now.

Q: What do you mean time is only a concept? Time passes. If we makean agreement to meet somewhere in two weeks then that meetingwill happen in two weeks, not now.

A: Yes, but at 'the instant' when we meet in two weeks, it will be Now.You can't not be in the Now!

Q: Ok. But is it really useful to understand this?

A: It's INCREDIBLY useful. Thoughts can ONLY happen in 'the instant',one by one, in front of witnessing. Once you are awake, then in'the instant', thought by thought, you can remain as the witnessing ofthe thoughts and not be hypnotised by them. And that will lead toliberation from the thoughts.

Humans are imprisoning themselves in the thoughts and emotions.They are unnecesarily living like BIOLOGICAL robots... 'living' outtheir lives in a trance, a hypnotic state. They THINK that they areawake because they are walking around and are not asleep in bed,but in actual fact they are not TRULY awake.

Stopping the trance is ONLY possible once there has been an

AWAKENING to the fact that you are the WITNESSING of all of theappearances (thoughts, emotions, etc). THEN, if, in the INSTANT,priority is given to ABIDANCE AS THIS WITNESSING ...and NOTthe appearances ...then, and ONLY then, will the trance cease.

Realise that you are NOT your thoughts or feelings, they are JUSTa part of the bodies' apparatus. You are the witnessing which islooking at the thoughts, emotions, bodily senses, etc.

Q: So I guess I just have to 'be here now'?

A: You can never actually be out of the Now, so there is no needto try to get into it. Just dont fall into a trance and drift off withthe thoughts. Abide as the seeing of the thoughts.

What I am talking about is not a belief system. It is MUCH simplerthan that !!! It's prior to any belief, prior to any thought.But because of that there is a paradigm shift which needs tooccur for there to be an awakening.

You can't 'get there' by logical or intellectual means. Some of thesearch may involve the intellect in the initial stages, but for theactual awakening to occur the world of thought must be transcended.That's not to say you try to stop thought, thoughts will continue.But there needs to be a realisation that you are what's prior to

the thoughts, witnessing them.

Q: I just want to be happy. How do I achieve that?


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A: Prior to the thoughts, in the witnessing, everything is actuallyalways fine. To borrow the words of Sailor Bob Adamson(an enlightened teacher), 'What's wrong with RIGHT NOWunless you think about it?'

Q: Well, I guess there's always something that can be improved...

A: Yes, but, right now, THIS INSTANT... what's wrong unlessyou think about it?

Q: I've got a few issues at work.

A: OK. So if those issues actually need something done about them,wait for the appropriate moment and physically do something about it...but RIGHT NOW THIS INSTANT... what's wrong unless you think about it?

Q: Well, right now, this instant, nothing is wrong.

A: Yes, that's right. If you ask yourself that question regularlyyou'll see that 99.5 % of the time there is actually nothing wrong.Most problems are just perceived problems that do not actuallyexist in the now. Reminds me of a Mark Twain quote, "I have beenthrough some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened."

So you say you just want to be happy. Well, a good start is to notbuy into any of the mental rubbish which is a very high percentageof what is projected from the Thinking Mechanism.

Q: But just because I don't think about a problem doesn't meanit doesn't exist.

A: If there is something you need to put right, wait for the rightmoment and do so. But in the meantime don't fester on it andwreck your life.

Q: Mmm, but....

A: It's actually impossible to experience unhappiness unless athought comes up in front of the witnessing which creates unhappiness.The pure witnessing is perfectly peaceful.

I am not saying to ignore situations and hide from them. And I'm not sayingyou can't plan for things, like your retirement for example. Ifsomething needs to be done then do it at the right moment.But always remain awake in the now. Stay present to that which is present.Don't get lost in thoughts that make you experience unnecesary emotionsabout something that is not actually happening.

Q: But you can't stop thinking and experiencing and acting in this world.

A: Yes, of course. Thoughts won't stop and we can't help doing things in life.Thoughts are an essential part of our functioning. They have their role and theycan be very useful, but they are NOT YOU.They are just a tool. And if they are indulged in in an unawake way they canwreck your life.

The important thing is to remain as the witness of the thoughts and feelings,they are a passing parade. Use them for the tool that they are,but stay awake to them. You are what's SEEING them.


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Happiness and unhappiness are both experiences. They are differentsides of the same coin. They happen ON the witnessing. Even peacefulsilent thoughts are just a conceptual experience which happen on thewitnessing. It's not about achieving peaceful thoughts, it's aboutrealising that you are the peace, the witnessing, which is PRIORto even peaceful thoughts.

Don't be so concerned with trying to have happy thoughts.Once you understand that you are not the thinking then you willbe able to abide as the natural peace which is PRIOR TO ANY THOUGHT.

IT'S NOT A MATTER OF STOPPING THE THINKING (or even having'enlightened thoughts!) but knowing that you ARE NOT thethinking which is the important point which SETS 'YOU' FREE.

Don't fight your thoughts, just let them be, whatever they may be.FIGHTING THEM BINDS YOU TO THEM. Know them for what theyare and STOP BEING INTERESTED in them, that is how you can

be free of them.

At first they may seem difficult to overcome, but if you simplyknow them for what they are (dead symbols) and are DISINTERESTEDin them they will get no energy and dissolve.They are only a passing appearance, they are not you.

Q: Thoughts are dead symbols?

A: Yes. They are just symbols for the actual. They are not the actual.

If you were dying of thirst and I offered you either the thought of wateror an actual glass of water, which would you take?

Q: The glass of water of course.

A: Why?

Q: Because the glass of water will quench my thirst, the thought cant.

A: Yes, because the thought is just a symbol right? Its not the actual.So dont ever forget... that whole world of thoughts that you spend allof your time so engrossed in is nothing more than a pile of symbols,they are not the actual. So dont treat them as if they were the actual,because they arent.

Q: Mmmm.

A: Being the SEEING of the appearances is a natural state of uncaused peace.It is not a peace which depends on getting your way. It is a natural peacewhich exists when there is no identification with the thinking. Thinkinghappens, great, just use that for the tool that it is, and it can be veryuseful. Just DON'T identify with it as being YOU.

Q: But how can I go on without the thinking?

A: It's NOT a matter of not thinking. The thinking will still be there.The point is to DISCERN between the Witness and the thinking.

You are the Witness.The thinking is just an 'onboard tool', it is NOT you.


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Q: I saw a great little saying on someone's fridge the other day. It said..."Enjoy this moment, because this moment IS YOUR LIFE"

A: Yes. Your life can ONLY happen in THIS moment. It can't happen in'the future' or 'the past'. THIS MOMENT is where your life happens...so if you want to be happy, be happy THIS INSTANT, becauseTHIS INSTANT is the ONLY moment that you can actually be happy !

Q: To not have schedules in life. Is that what is meant by 'being here now'?

A: No, but plans can still be made. There's nothing wrong withbeing organised or planning for something. Just be awake in the now as you do it.

'Being here now' is about being 'awake' in the Now...moment, by moment,by moment... not being 'lost' in the thoughts.

It's about GIVING PRIORITY to abiding as witnessing, moment by moment,and therefore staying awake.

Q: So it's about priorities?

A: YES. Once the witnessing has been realised it's aboutGIVING PRIORITY to abiding as that witnessing.

When priority is given to abiding as the witnessing as opposedto abiding as the appearances then there will be an awake living.You will not get 'lost' in the thoughts and emotions.

Q: Ok, so I am not my conscious thoughts, but maybe I am mysubconscious thoughts. You know, very often we will live outpatterns which are in our subconscious which we are not even

consciously aware of. Aren't we this deeper subconscious?Isn't it this subconscious which is the real 'captain of the ship'?

A: No. Conscious or subconscious, they are all just thoughts whichhave no independent nature, no life of their own. No matterwhether thoughts are conscious or subconscious they are onlydead appearances which only have a limited life span. You arethe witnessing which is SEEING the thoughts no matter whetherthey be conscious or subconscious.

Q: But I have had experiences where I had subconscious thoughtswhich I was unaware of that were basically running my life! But assoon as I became aware of them then I could change them,and then my life changed.

A: Yes. For example you may have had an experience very earlyon in your childhood, before you can even remember. It mayhave been a traumatic experience. At the time you may haveformed certain attitudes about life because of that experiencewhich you are now not even aware that you are carrying. Andit can be beneficial to uncover these hidden programings. BUT,these subconscious programings that you are carrying are onlythat, programings. They are only recordings in the memory.They may stay with you your whole life or they may not. But theyare JUST recordings, just impressions. They may be hidden, but

that doesn't mean they are the core you. You are the witnessingof it all, no matter whether it's conscious or subconscious.


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Q: So can I see the witnessing?

A: The witnessing is what's DOING the seeing.

Q: So why can't I see it?

A: Just like physical eyes have never seen themselves because they

are DOING the physical seeing, the witnessing cannot see itselfbecause it is what's DOING the internal seeing. It is actually theone and only see-er so it has nothing which can see it.

Q: I'm trying to understand...

A: You can try as much as you want, but no amount of trying tosee it will work because as I said... IT IS WHAT IS DOING THE SEEING.

Q: So do I look for it in the mind or not?

A: THERE IS ACTUALLY NO SUCH THING AS 'MIND'. There is the

witnessing, and there is the Thinking Mechanism which appearson the witnessing.

The concept of the 'mind' is a VERY limiting concept because itfails to distinguish between the seeing and the seen. And it'sthis failure to distinguish between the seeing and the seen whichresults in the hypnotic trance with the seen.

Any attempt to look for the witnessing in the thoughts,the appearances, IS FUTILE. The witnessing is DOING the seeing...and that's where the difficulty arises.

In this world when you try to find something you look for it...

but with the witnessing YOU CAN'T LOOK FOR IT... because itis what IS DOING the looking.

Q: I am thinking I'd like to 'know nothing' ... but I'm an artist ...there is something there! I am a little worried... unless perhaps it'stime to jump into the abyss and I'm avoiding it?

A: There is ABSOLUTELY no reason to not do your art if that'swhat you want to do. When you understand what I am talkingabout you don't have to just sit there and do nothing! In fact,if 'you' choose, you'll be able to create in an unrestricted mannerbecause you won't be getting stuck in trances with the thoughts.You will be able to abide as the source out of which all creativityemanates.

No matter whether you paint or not, are feeling creative or not,are feeling 'spiritual' or not, 'clear' or 'confused', no matter whetherlife is 'up' or 'down', ... they are ALL just 'appearances' which arehappening on the witnessing.

Just because you have realised the deeper self doesn't mean youcan't get married and have a family or lead a conventional life.You don't have to become a guru or a teacher or lead a 'different' life.

There is a Zen saying... 'Before enlightenment, chopping wood

and carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood andcarrying water.' Everything will be the same, yet profoundly different.


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You talk about 'jumping into the abyss'. That shows you are notreally getting what I am saying. The witnessing which I am talkingabout is THE ORDINARY EVERYDAY AWARENESS which you know so well.There is NOTHING NEW to achieve... got it ? NOTHING NEW to achieve.The thing that you have been searching for is THE ORDINARY EVERYDAYAWARENESS, which you know so well, by which you are currentlyTHIS VERY INSTANT perceiving everything.

This 'abyss' you are talking about is a TOTAL mental concoction.Sure, the witnessing is not a 'thing' in the usual sense, but it iswatching a continual 'show' of appearances. What I am talkingabout will not lead to an abyss, it will lead to a natural life inwhich the appearances are still being perceived but you willnot hopelessly be carried away in a trance with them.

You also said you would like to 'know nothing'. It's NOT a matterof making the Thinking Mechanism blank as if it 'knows nothing',it's a matter of ABIDING AS THE WITNESSING. When awakened ones

say they 'know nothing' they mean they are the witnessing which isprior to INTELLECTUAL 'knowing'... prior to knowledgeable thoughts.

Q: So how can I find this witnessing?

A: The witnessing is PRIOR to what it is seeing. You are awareof that building, so the building cannot be IT. You are aware ofthat chair, so the chair cannot be IT. You are aware of your clothes,so your clothes cannot be IT. You are aware of the body, so thebody cannot be IT. You are aware of physical seeing, so physicalseeing cannot be IT. You are aware of hearing, so hearing cannotbe IT. You are aware of the senses, so the senses cannot be IT.You are aware of emotions, so the emotions cannot be IT. You are

aware of imagination, so imagination cannot be IT. You are awareof the intellect, so the intellect cannot be IT. You are aware ofthoughts, so thoughts cannot be IT. ANY'THING' that can beexperienced, is not IT. IT IS what's SEEING it all. IT is the PURE SEEING...naked witnessing that just is.

Q: What do you mean 'just is'?

A: The witnessing is seeing everything just as it is, kind of like avideo camera sees everything just as it is. A video cameradoesn't make judgements or exclude things from what it isseeing, it just sees everything just as it is. The witnessing is thesame, it sees everything just as it is. It is the Thinking Mechanismwhich then makes changes to 'what is'. The thoughts ALTER thepure seeing.

Q: To me even the witnessing seems to be another experience.I'd say 'stillness' is an experience too.

A: You can be witnessing a torrent of thoughts or few thoughtsbut no matter which of the two is occurring... you are the witnessing of them.

Q: OK, so there is witnessing of this pen for example? How arethe witnessing and 'experience' different?

A: Yes, there is the witnessing of the pen but is there just a pen there?It's obviously on the table, which is on the floor, which has carpet on it,and it's all in a room. Your focus zeroed in on that pen, singling it


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out for special attention. But the witnessing is perceiving everythingunaltered, just as it is. That pure, UNALTERED perceiving then hitsthe Thinking Mechanism which FILTERS the huge amount ofinformation and simplifies it to "a pen, on a table, in a room."

But the witnessing picked up a lot more than that. It would have seen allof the details of the pen, its colour, shape, nib ..... it would have cognised

the bookcase, and the books in it, the tv and all its visual details, the fan,the stereo, the lamp, the vase and the plant in it, all the details of thatplant, the cushions, the rug, the power plug and all the wires going into it,the tapes, the remote control, the wall and its colour and texture. It alsowould have perceived the sounds at that instant... the car going pastout in the street, a bird chirping, music coming from somewhere,your breathing, a plane going overhead. That witnessing would havealso been perceiving the taste in the mouth, some internal bodyfeelings as it breathes, toes pushing up against the inside of theshoes, a range of other body sensations like clothes pressingagainst the skin, etc,etc,etc. The witnessing also would havebeen perceiving the cooling effect of the fan on the body. It

would have been perceiving smells at that instant. The smellof cooking, the smell of the leaves on the trees outside, thegrass. The witnessing also would have been perceiving theThinking Mechanism, spitting out its thoughts... "there's apen on the table, nice table, must remember to pay the electricitybill, there's my legs sitting on the seat, it's a nice sunny day today",etc, etc.

Witnessing perceives everything that is in front of it, instant by instant.At THE INSTANT of cognition it is PURE SEEING, ... it is yet to be alteredby the modifications of a Thinking Mechanism. It is PRIOR to theThinking Mechanism. BUT THEN, in an instant this massive amount ofinformation then hits the Thinking Mechanism and it is filtered, altered,

modified and reduced. It is filtered SO quickly that most of it isn'treally registered by the Thinking Mechanism as even occuring. TheThinking Mechanism takes this huge amount of information and thenspits out at imperceptible speed IT'S VERSION of what just occurred..."there's a pen on a table in a room." And that's what you call your'experience'.

The witnessing is PRIOR to, UPSTREAM of the Thinking Mechanism.It is the PURE Seeing... BEFORE it is tampered with by the ThinkingMechanism. IT is the PURE Seeing before ANY thought whatsoever.It is there BEFORE any thought, including so called 'enlightened'thoughts ... it is there BEFORE all thoughts. It contains the thoughts,the thoughts do not contain it. There has NEVER been a thoughtEVER which has not been a mere appearance on the witnessing.So no thought can ever BE the witnessing. I am talking about whatis PRIOR to ANY thought!

The witnessing is not an appearance so it has overlooked itself.The thoughts, emotions, sensory inputs, are an appearance, ...so they SEEM more tangible, so the attention goes onto them andthere is an identification with them. However, they are just passingappearances on the witnessing.

Also, because the witnessing is the ONLY cogniser that exists( ie: IT has nothing which can see IT ) it overlooks itself and the

attention gets focused on the appearances.

And the thing is that these appearances are changing every instant.


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It's quite a rollercoaster ride !!! Lots of thoughts, emotions, bodilysensations. They are all appearing and disappearing on the witnessing.But they are just appearances... they rise, stay for an instant, andthen subside. It's this witnessing which is the constant.

To give you an idea of the closeness between the witnessing andits appearances... the witnessing is like a mirror and the thoughts

are like the images on the mirror. So it probably has never evenoccured to you that there is a distinction, .... that the witnessingeven exists. You just took the witnessing, which is you, for grantedand then identified yourself with one of the first things you SEE.

Q: You said a moment ago that each thought only lasts for a moment...but I can have thoughts which seem to hang around for days!

A: Look at it closely... do they really? A thought can only last forthe moment it is happening. After that there can be a memory of it,... that is ANOTHER thought which is saying the SAME thing mayoccur. But this second thought is a totally new and separate thought.

It SEEMS like the same thought which occurred a moment agobut it isn't, it's a copy of the other one.

Each thought only appears for a short instant and underlying allof the thoughts is the witnessing of them which is always there soEVERY INSTANT IS A FRESH OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME FREE OFMISIDENTIFICATION WITH THOUGHT.

A: You are aware that you exist aren't you?

Q: Of course.

A: Well put the attention on that sense of witnessing/existence,

the pure 'I am', which is PRIOR to any THOUGHTS about existence.

Q: But 'I am' are just words.

A: Yes, the thought 'I am' is just a concept. I am talking aboutthe wordless 'I am'. Thoughts and words are just dead things,they cannot be the actual, so don't get confused. You canthink or say 'food, food, food' as much as you want, but will ittake care of your hunger? Of course not. The word 'food' is justa symbol for the actual. So the same goes with the thought 'I am'.The words can never be IT. So forget about the words. You KNOWthat you exist don't you? You don't have to think about it.It is this wordless KNOWING THAT YOU EXIST which is the wholeissue we are talking about. This is the Knowing that is PRIOR to wordsor thoughts. It is NOT an intellectual knowing, itIS a NON-CONCEPTUAL KNOWING, PRIOR to the thoughts. Youare this non-conceptual KNOWING that you exist... This OrdinaryEveryday Awareness. This witnessing.

Q: But this witnessing, it's so ordinary... boring in fact.

A: Boredom, excitement... happiness, sadness... agitation, peace...they're all just states. Whatever appears will sooner or later disappear.Under it all is unchanging witnessing ... which is the ground for it all...and that is neither boring nor exciting... it just is. You don't need to

try and attain it... because it's here RIGHT NOW.

Q: But that doesn't seem very 'special' at all.


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A: This Ordinary Everyday Awareness may seem like nothing special,something mundane. But, could anything even exist or be witnessedwithout this Ordinary Everyday Awareness ? It's this simple OrdinaryEveryday Awareness, this witnessing, which is the amazing miracle,but, because it's ALWAYS there, it's been overlooked and taken forgranted, ... but it's this Ordinary Everyday Awareness which is the

greatest miracle there is.

It seems almost too simple, I know. And because of that you willprobably keep looking for some time after you understand what I'mtalking about because it is just SO SIMPLE and 'normal' or 'everyday'that you keep thinking that there must be more to it, but there isn't.This 'COMMON EVERYDAY AWARENESS' which you have RIGHT NOWis the witness in all.

Q: Can the mind see the witnessing?

A: Don't forget, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS 'THE MIND'. There is

the witnessing, and there is thinking which appears on the witnessing.THOUGHTS CANNOT COGNISE, they cannot see. THEY HAVE NO AWARENESS.Can the thought 'I see' see?Thoughts are actually dead things,they only SEEM to have life because the witnessing is lending them its life.Thoughts have no independent nature of their own. That means thatwithout the witnessing shining that thought could not exist. However,the witnessing exists without thoughts, it in no way depends on thoughts.The witnessing contains the thinking, the thinking does not contain it.

Q: I'm lost.

A: The witnessing is what's SEEING the thought "I'm lost". And the only

reason you FEEL like you are lost is because you are identifying with theTHOUGHT that you are lost. But you are not the thoughts.

Q: Are there any techniques I can do? Repeat a mantra?

A: A mantra can be of help in breaking the identification with theThinking Mechanism. But if a mantra is repeated know that you arethe witnessing which watches the Thought Mechanism repeat a mantra.So if a mantra is repeated, abide as the SEEING of the mantra.

When a mantra is repeated, emotions can come up. There may be feelingsof calm and peace, or there may be unpleasant emotions. Some old hiddenlimiting mental programmings that have been effecting your life may showthemselves. This is a good thing because once they are seen then they areout in the open and will begin to lose their power over you. But any way,whatever happens just remember that they are ALL JUST APPEARANCES andTHEY ARE NOT YOU. Stay put as the SEEING of the mantra(or any other appearances), because that seeing is you.

Q: Did you ever repeat a mantra?

A: Yes. I repeated a mantra everyday for anywhere from 20 minutes to2 hours each day, for 7 years. It helped put the Thinking Mechanism intoa loop and allowed the realisation that I am not the Thinking Mechanismto happen.

It was what allowed it to go from just an intellectual belief that I am notthe thoughts to a DIRECT, NON-CONCEPTUAL KNOWING that I am not


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the thoughts. So for me, repeating a mantra was very helpful.

Basically, continued repetition of a mantra allowed the realisation tooccur that I was what was looking at (ie: SEEING/WITNESSING) therepetition of the mantra. It allowed the realisation (ie: awakening)to occur that I am not the Thinking Mechanism. And once this hasbeen realised then the whole house of cards starts to fall.

It lead to the Non-conceptual DIRECT KNOWING that I am the Witnessing.Which is VERY DIFFERENT to just THINKING that you are the Witnessing.Non-conceptual KNOWING that you are the Witnessing is 'Awakening'.Whereas just THINKING you are 'already there' and therefore 'awakened'is JUST AN INTELLECTUAL thing and is NOT 'awakening' AT ALL.

It may feel like it and the poor sod may totally believe that theyare 'awakened' but it's just a psuedo-awakening, TOTALLY in the areaof thought and therefore NOT AWAKENING AT ALL.

Q: So it's ok to repeat a mantra?

A: It worked for me. But don't use mantra repetition, or any spiritualpractice, to reinforce the illusion that THIS ordinary everyday awarenesswhich is doing the seeing is not IT. Because this ordinary everydayawareness is IT, so there is actually nothing new to achieve!

THIS is it.

A mantra is just A THOUGHT, repeated. The mantra is an appearanceon the Witnessing. That's why I say abide as the Witnessing of that mantra.

A mantra can be useful because it blocks out conceptual thoughts,which, because they are concepts can get 'sticky' ... i.e they drag

THE ATTENTION to them more easily than a repetitive mantra.I found it easier, particularly in the beginning, to abide as theWitnessing if there was a repetitive mantra playing in front ofit rather than involved conceptual thoughts playing in front it.

Q: But I was reading a spiritual book the other day and this teachersaid that repeating a mantra was unnecesary.

A: Some current day so called teachers have made it politicallyincorrect to repeat a mantra or to take part in any spiritual practices.They argue that practices will keep you away from what you already are.They argue that enlightenment is possible by just believing that'you are already there' so you therefore dont need to do anything.

And it IS true that 'you' ARE already 'there'... but that can't beproperly understood unless there is a DISCERNMENT betweenthe Witnessing and what is being witnessed. And that discernmentthat you are the Witnessing IS NOT an intellectual exercise.

You can't just think that you are already there, because that willnot be enough to keep you out of continually going into a trancewith, being a prisoner of, the thoughts.

Q: But this book I was reading the other day, it was by a verywell known and charismatic (Neo-Advaitist) teacher. He said

that you are already 'there' and that you don't need to do anythingat all. He scoffs at people who say that you need to do anythingto become awakened. What do you say about that?


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A: It's true that the true self you are seeking you already are andthere is nothing new that you need to gain. When awakeningoccurs it will be realised that what you were seeking you alreadyhave and are. BUT ... and I repeat BUT... he has oversimplified thesituation. To say that you don't need to do anything is incorrectand misleading.

You see, yes, you ARE already there and there is nothing that needsto be done.... BUT... if you tell that to a person that is misidentifiedwith his Thinking Mechanism he will then just take this INTELLECTUALinformation, STAY MISIDENTIFIED with the Thinking Mechanism, butBELIEVE that he is Self-realised. This is what I call an intellectualor a PSEUDO-AWAKENING.

A Pseudo-awakening is when THE CONCEPT that you are already 'there'and that you therefore do not need to do anything to become enlightenedis taken on... so you do exactly that... nothing. What you then get isa person which is STILL IDENTIFYING WITH ITS THINKING MECHANISM

taking on THE CONCEPT that it is self-realised. This leads to one ofthe most deluded kinds of humans you can get.

It's no good to just take on A CONCEPT that 'you are alreadythere and that there is nothing that needs to be done toachieve awakening' because THIS IS NOT FREEDOM FROM THOUGHT,IT IS JUST ANOTHER THOUGHT ! And when you settle for theTHOUGHT instead of the actual it is then just a BELIEF SYSTEM.

As Bankei ( a famous Zen master ) said, What we call a thought issomething that has already fallen one or more removes from theLIVING REALITY of the Unborn. If you priests would just live in theUnborn, there wouldnt be anything for me to tell you about it, and

you wouldnt be here listening to me.

And Ill just add a little comment of my own at the end of thatEnlightenment is not as simple as you THINK. its MUCH simplerthan that!

Q: Are attention and the Witnessing the same ?

A: No, they are not the same. The Witnessing is always there SEEINGthe appearances, whereas 'attention' can shift from the Witnessingto the appearances and vice-a versa. But, like the appearances,'attention' could not exist without the Witnessing.

Q: So abidance as the Witnessing is all I need to do?

A: Yes, abidance, mindfulness, that's all that needs to be done.Abidance the Witnessing and 'mindfulness' are the same thing.Mindfulness is resting as the Witnessing which is there always,prior to any thought.

There is nothing to achieve because that pure witnessingis always there. It's just that it can (seemingly) become contaminatedby identifying with the appearances. That's why you need topractice abidance or 'mindfulness'.

And that practice of abidance or 'mindfulness' ( being awaketo mental movements) is both the practice and the end goal.It just becomes the way you live your life.


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There is no higher level of Enlightenment tostrive for than continual abidance (or 'mindfulness').

Once there is continual abidance then there is nothing toimprove on.

Q: But surely the great enlightened masters were at somehigher level?

A: That exact same witnessing which is in any enlightenedperson is flowing in you RIGHT NOW THIS INSTANT.

This plain and simple ordinary everyday awareness which isinvisibly 'shining' in you this instant, seeing every thought,emotion, sensation, etc .... is IT. IT is there when you aredoing the dishes, IT is there when you go to the bathroom.IT is there when you have a happy thought, IT is there whenyou have an unhappy thought. IT is there if you are awakened,

and yes, IT is there if you are not awakened.

But THE DIFFERENCE IS that a truly enlightened person is an expert atstaying continually awakened as the witnessing and not driftingoff with the appearances.

Q: Yes, I keep getting lost in the thoughts. I seem to be able to abideas the Witnessing but then can't seem to keep it up and I just slipback into getting carried off with the thinking. Can a mantrahelp with consolidating abidance?

A: Yes, a mantra is a form of Undistracted Meditation. It can help because,as I said before, it makes it easier to abide as the Witnessing because

it knocks out 'sticky' concepts which grab attention so easily.When you repeat a mantra, abide as the SEEING of the mantra.

Sooner or later, there will be a realisation that the Witnessing andthe thinking that appears on it are actually separate... and that'you' (your core Self) is the Witnessing, that Seeing, and NOT thethoughts that appear on the Witnessing.....this is known as 'awakening'.

But a mantra is just one way to go about it. It isn't the only way,so you don't have to repeat a mantra if you don't want to.

Q: Undistracted Meditation?

A: There is "Undistracted Meditation" and "Undistracted Non-Meditation".Undistracted meditation is like when you repeat a mantra. Youare UNDISTRACTEDLY FOCUSSING on a CONTROLLED mentalimage. This is meditation. This method is good for attainingcontrol of the attention and for aiding an awakening. BUT, itis only a training tool.

HOWEVER, if the PURE SEEING has been recognised and thereis a realisation that you are not the appearances.... THEN'Undistracted Non-Meditation' is just the way you live everyNow moment. There is no need for meditation as I havedescribed it in the previous paragraph.

Undistracted Non-meditation means to abide undistractedlyas the Pure Seeing whilst not identifying with the appearances.


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The appearances are allowed to appear, stay, and then disappear...That is, there is no attempt to control the thoughts...Hence it is called NON-meditation (ie: the thoughts are not controlled).There is no library of information that needs to be remembered tolive this way, its just a moment by moment abidance as Pure Seeing.

Whilst living life in an Undistracted Non-Meditation way there

will be MANY moments when there is a forgetting to abideundistractedly as the Pure Seeing of all passing phenomena...This is natural and will happen thousands of times... So just accept it.When it is noticed that you have been carried off with thethoughts again then that itself is an automatic re-adjustmentback into Undistracted Non-meditation.

Q: So its not wrong to have thoughts, its just that you shouldntget carried away by them?

A: Exactly.

Thoughts are necessary for the normal functioning of a human life.Things like driving a car for example, or even creative tasks, obviouslyneed thoughts to occur. Thoughts are just as much a part of the bodilyfunction as the functioning of the kidneys or the heart.

There is nothing wrong with thoughts, they are just part of the bodily toolkit.Just DON'T get lost in them. Stay put as the witnessing of them.

Q: I keep thinking I'm going to lose it, the Witnessing.

A: What is witnessing the thought that you're 'going to lose it' ?

Q: The Witnessing?

A: Exactly. IT wasn't lost at all was it?

Q: But I lose the focus and get lost in the thoughts.

A: During abidance as the Witnessing there will be times whenthe attention slips away from the Witnessing and you get 'lost'in the thoughts. Simply refocus (without indulgence in guiltthoughts) as the Witnessing of the thoughts and carry on.There's a saying... "short dips... many times"... that is the way !

Q: Short dips, many times?

A: Yes. Don't try to have a long unbroken abidance as the Witnessingand then get upset when it isn't achieved. Go for short periodsat first. As soon as it is noticed that you 'got lost' in the thoughtsagain, simply re-adjust the focus as the Witnessing of them again.Just keep at it... the more short dips you have as the Witnessingthe more there will be a consolidation into a longer more stableawake abidance which does not identify with the appearances.

Q: But how can I do my work, if I am not my thoughts? If I can'tuse my memory. How can I function?

A: As I said, thinking can be a very useful tool which you have access

to, so by all means use it. My point is to not get lost in them.And who said you can't use the memory? I didn't say that. Thememory can be very useful, just don't become a victim of it.


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Your thinking, memory, intellect, etc are a very useful set of tools,but that is all they are, they are not the true you.

Q: I was meditating and I saw a light. So this can't be theWitness you are talking about?

A: No, whatever is experienced cannot be it, because the Witness

is PRIOR to any appearance. So if you saw a light, you are what isSEEING that light. You are the PURE SEEING that is witnessing this instant.

Q: I feel I need to get away from it all, society, and go and meditate.

A: There's no need to leave society. These days you need to workto eat and live. You just need to integrate abidance as theWitnessing into your everyday life. Someone who goes tomeditate in a forest yet still retains their misidentification withthe Thinking Mechanism is achieving nothing. It is totallypossible and natural to be enlightened whilst being a family person.Being 'enlightened' is just being normal. There's nothing wacky about it.

Q: So it doesn't effect your ability to work and make a living?

A: No, of course not! The only thing that changes is that the getting lostin the mental chatter has ended. The mental chatter will carry on to a degree,but you will be continually awake to it. So it doesn't mean you can't goto work or live a regular life. In fact you will probably be much moreeffective at work!

Q: I have been putting quite a lot of time aside for my spiritualpractices. I really love it. But my spiritual life and my normal lifedon't really seem to mix. When I meditate I feel so good.And work... well, work is work.

A: Don't separate them. All of life is an opportunity to be awake in the Now.

Q: But I feel like I have achieved so much from my spiritualpractice. I have dropped so much. Had many beautiful realisations.

A: In the beginning it can be useful to sit and practice. But the aim of the practiceis to have your whole life become the meditation.

Meditation is the moment by moment abidance as the Witnessing ofthe appearances (thoughts, emotions, bodily senses, etc)And this abiding as witnessing can happen no matter whether you are atwork, or a party, or sitting meditating.

Also, it's important to not confuse so called blissful 'spiritual'experiences with the Witnessing.You may be meditating and then have experiences in whichyou feel 'spiritual', blissful. THESE ARE ALL JUST APPEARANCES.They happen on the Witnessing like any other experience does.The Witnessing is the base which makes all experiences possible,no matter whether they are 'spiritual', blissful, totally mundane, or unpleasant.

Often people will have some sort of so called 'spiritual' experience...

And they will believe that that experience is Self-realisation.But it isn't, that's just an experience. This so called 'spiritual'experience will fade, like all experiences ultimately do, and then


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they will get upset, trying to regain that experience that theywrongly assumed was Self-realisation.

People can sometimes even then spend years trying to regainthis 'special' experience and get very frustrated and confusedalong the way. While the Witnessing was there all the time...witnessing the so called 'spiritual' experience, the losing of the

so called 'spiritual' experience, the attempt to regain the socalled 'spiritual' experience, the going to the bathroom, thewalking down the street, the doing of the dishes, the 'clever'thoughts, the 'silly' thoughts, the emotions... EVERYTHING.

Q: But I'd still like to improve myself.

A: Make sure that as you are trying to improve yourself you dontjust reinforce the belief in the false you. Start with the recognitionof the Witnessing. Then it will be realised that this self whichyou are trying to improve is just a pile of programming and not the real you.Then, if you want to change some of the on board programming

do so, but the difference is it will be coming from being groundedin the wordless knowing of your TRUE SELF.

Q: I've read that the aim is to achieve stillness. But my problemis that I can't always achieve this stillness. It doesn't seem to fitin with the way my life is.

A: 'Stillness' is a very misunderstood word. It's not a matter ofstopping the Thinking Mechanism so that stillness can beexperienced. If that were the case then it would be necessaryfor all of us to escape to monasteries or the forest to achievethis stillness, because lets face it, ordinary everyday life isn'tthat still!!! But that is NOT the case.

By 'stillness' what is meant is THE stillness, ...the Witnessing...which perceives BOTH the activity of the Thinking Mechanismand the lack of activity of the Thinking Mechanism. So theThinking Mechanism could be quite active, and therefore notstill, but YOU are 'the Stillness' ... the Witnessing ... whichperceives that mental activity.

Also, this 'Stillness' which I am talking about is not somethingwhich is 'achieved' or acquired. This 'Stillness' is here always,witnessing. You don't get it, you ARE it.

Q: So I don't have to still my thoughts?

A: In the beginning as you are consolidating your abidance asthe Witnessing it can be helpful to quieten the Thinking Mechanism.But once you are established as the Witnessing then what theThinking Mechanism is doing is always just an appearance onthe Witnessing.

Thoughts are ONLY APPEARANCES no matter whether they arenumerous and agitated or few and peaceful. And the same goesfor emotions. They too are JUST APPEARANCES, which stem fromthe thoughts.

Q: Oh, okay, because I have been trying to still my thoughtswhich arise one by one by keeping myself alert, and nipping eachthought in the bud, before that single thought becomes a chain.


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But very often the attention shifts back to the thoughts and Iget caught in them again. I then regain my alertness and repeatthe same process, regaining a state that is conscious that thereare no more thoughts occurring. For example if a thought like'I am likely to get a pay rise' arises in me I ignore it by sayingmentally that I dont want that thought, immediately it dies inthat stage itself. Before this thought would have led to a train

of thoughts like 'how much will the amount be?', 'Will I spendor save it?' , etc, etc. However on the disappearance of this thoughtanother one arises, so I follow the same method, and eliminate it also.Is this method correct ? Because you said that "It is not a matterof stopping the thinking but knowing that you are not the thinkingwhich is the important point which sets 'you' 'free'." However,to know I am not the thinking I have to see my thought. When I tryto see my thought, due to my alertness the thoughts cease to occur.I am only able to eliminate a thought. Is 'seeing thoughts' and'eliminating thoughts' the same or different?

A: Its a matter of staying alert, awake. The thoughts may momentarily

stop or they may continue, but either way STAY AWAKE to themwithout going into a trance and getting taken away by them.

When we were little children and we had unpleasant dreams whichupset us. Our parents let us know that dreams aren't real, andbecause they aren't real there is no reason to be upset or scared bythem. Well, the equivalent lesson for an adult is that thoughts arenot real, they have no life of their own, they are only symbols... sothere is no reason to be overly affected by them either. They arepart of the bodily toolkit so use them, but stay awake from them.

Q: I feel so frustrated. I have tried and tried to find my true self,but I'm stuck. Well and truly stuck. I can't seem to find this real

me, no matter how much I look.

A: The unquestioned assumption that 'you' are the mental chatteris the one thing that hasn't been dropped on this search for thetrue self, and it is this false assumption which is stopping therecognition of the true self from occurring.

You say 'I thought this'... 'I thought that' ... 'I felt this beautifulpeaceful feeling' ... 'I had that spiritual experience'. But what is itthat is saying that it had that spiritual experience?

Q: Me. My thinking?

A: No, it's not 'you' .... it's just the mental chatter ... the ThinkingMechanism. NOT... 'you'.

The unquestioned ASSUMPTION that 'you' are this mental chatteris what is stopping the recognition of the Witnessing from occurring.

There is no think-ER, just think-ING. There is just a very quickthinking 'Thinking Mechanism' which has been assumed to be 'you'.But this Thinking Mechanism is NOT you. You are the witnessing of theThinking Mechanism.

Q: So the Witnessing isn't a physical seeing like I can see that chair?

A: No, the Witnessing that I am talking about is NOT a physical seeing.The Witnessing that I am talking about is THE ORDINARY EVERYDAY


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AWARENESS. It is what is witnessing everything in 'you' right nowTHIS INSTANT. It is perceiving EVERYTHING... the physical seeing,hearing, touch, taste, sensations, thought mechanism, ideas(which are just thoughts), emotions, etc, etc, etc... everything.

Q: If the Witnessing is always here, why can't I find it when Ilook for it?

A: In the world that we live in, we are accustomed to looking ATthings. You look AT a table, AT a car, AT a wall, AT a sandwich,etc. So, when you want to find something that's been lost in thisphysical world, you look for it. You go looking for your keys, foryour car, for your sandwich, etc. And, in this physical world, ifyou look hard enough for it, sooner or later you will find it, andyou will be back to looking AT it.

SO. When it comes to the Witnessing WE FOOLISHLY USE THESAME METHOD. However, because the Witnessing is whatIS DOING the seeing... this same method that is employed to

find things in the physical world CANNOT WORK.

You can look for 'it' till you're black, blue and green in the face,in a jungle, naked, fasting, wearing orange robes, in a monastery,with a shaven head, with a really spiritual sounding name....BUT YOU WILL NOT FIND IT if you use the method of findingthings which is employed in the physical world.

Why? Because the Witnessing is what is DOING the seeing. Youare trying to SEE that which is DOING the seeing... and that can'tbe done. The SEEING CAN'T be seen. It IS the seeing. You can onlyBE the Seeing. You can't see the Seeing. Any thoughts, emotions,visions, god-like voices, etc, etc, etc.... ANY appearances which

come up during a "search" are just appearances on the Seeing.

You can never see the SEEING like you can see your car keys...SO you can never find the SEEING like you can find your car keys.The only way to find this SUPPOSEDLY LOST 'Seeing' is to realisethat it is none other than the Normal Ordinary Everyday Awarenesswhich is shining in 'you' RIGHT NOW, ......witnessing all of theappearancess (nice thoughts, not so nice thoughts, nice emotions,not so nice emotions, fearful visions, heavenly visions ,etc).

Even when there were thoughts (and accompanying emotions)that 'you are lost, and terribly confused'.... what was there SEEINGthose thoughts and emotions? The Witnessing, right? There werethoughts that you'd lost IT, and they were believed, so it veryconvincingly SEEMED that IT had been lost.... but I ask you again...what was there SEEING the thoughts that IT had been lost? 'Seeing',the Witnessing, right? NO MATTER WHAT THE THOUGHT, you can'tlose THAT which is SEEING the thought. So therefore ANY thoughtwhich says 'you've lost IT' ..... IS UNTRUE.

Try this. Just sit there, get comfortable & relax, close your eyes, and just watch....Watch the BODY.Watch the darkness behind the eyelids.Watch the hearing.

Watch the sense of smell.Watch any bodily sensation that comes up.Watch the EMOTIONS.


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Watch the happiness.Watch the sadness.Watch the suffering.Watch the conflict.Watch the fear.Watch the bliss.Watch any emotion that comes up.

Watch the THOUGHTS.Watch the nice thoughts.Watch the not so nice thoughts.Watch the torrent of thoughts.Watch the gaps between the thoughts.Watch the thought that you want no more suffering.Watch the thought that you want enlightenment.Watch the thought that says the voice in the head is you.Watch the thought that says the voice in the head is not you.Watch the thought that says you don't understand.Watch the thought that says you do understand.Watch the thought that says you will fall into an abyss.

Watch the thought that says you won't fall into an abyss.Watch the thought that says you can now wake up.Watch the thought that says you can't wake up.Watch the thought that says you don't get it.Watch the thoughts that you've always been 'this' or 'that'.Watch the mental imaginings.Watch the spiritual thoughts.Watch the unspiritual thoughts.Watch ALL of the....bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,bla ....Watch ANYTHING that appears. ANY bodily sensation, action, re-action,experience, thought, feeling, emotion, vision, imagination, memory, appearance,... JUST WATCH IT, do nothing else.

Watch how ANYTHING that appears, sooner or later, disappears.DON'T fight it, just WATCH it...So what is it that is WATCHING it 'all'?

Q: A 'seeing' I guess.

A: Exactly, a 'seeing'. The Witnessing.

And that Witnessing is your home, IT IS YOU. It is the only UNCHANGINGfactor, everything else is just a movable feast of appearanceswhich come and go.

ABIDE as that Witnessing and act from there. Stay put in theWitnessing. That is the way to live your life.

You can chase whatever you like in life, but it is all just appearances.They will never satisfy for long, because they are not the AWARE REALITY.Stay fixed as the Witnessing, then no matter what you do, it willbe grounded in the alive core of life.

Q: Can the Thinking Mechanism choose to focus attention on theWitnessing rather than on the thoughts and identify with theWitnessing rather than identify with the thoughts as me?

A: The Thinking Mechanism makes choices, that's part of its

job, and one of those choices can be to focus the attentionon the Witnessing. But BOTH that Thinking Mechanism and the'attention' could not exist without the Witnessing. The Witnessing


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IS ALWAYS DOING THE SEEING, no matter whether the attentionis on it or not.

The thing is for the Witnessing to keep attention as itself, abide as itself,because then there is no 'going off' with the thoughts.

Q: Does the Thinking Mechanism become less dense or less of

the ego so that the witnessing that is flowing through it can bemore aware of itself?

A: The Thinking Mechanism can drop false concepts and takeon more 'truthful' concepts which allows the Witnessing(which is ALWAYS here) to be recognised. But don't forget, at theend of the day even the most enlightened thoughts are JUST aprojection on the Witnessing. The Witnessing is PRIOR to theseso called 'enlightened' thoughts. There can be NO ENLIGHTENMENTunless MISIDENTIFICATION with even 'enlightened' thoughts STOPS.

Q: What is the 'ego'?

A: The ego is not a thing, it is just a LACK OF DISCERNMENTwhich leads to a MISIDENTIFICATION with the body and theThinking Mechanism. Once awakening occurs (and settles inpermanently) the 'ego' (misidentification) ceases to exist. Thebody is seen simply as a vehicle for the Witnessing (there canbe no witnessing without something to house it) and theThinking Mechanism is seen simply for what it is... a ThinkingMechanism... an onboard tool.

Q: There's a spiritual teacher, a woman. She has many studentswho idolise her. Some even faint in front of her because theyare overwhelmed they are near her! What's your opinion about that?

A: The only reason she is idolised is because they have forgotten that'they' are just as much the Witnessing as she is, and therefore theythink that the truth is 'out there'... which it isn't.

Some people go to see spiritual teachers. But at the end of the day,in my opinion, if they're a good one, all they can teach you is to standon your own two feet and be awake in the now. It's a very real, normal,practical thing, and doesn't need to come from a spiritual teacher.

Q: What does Self-Realised mean?

A: Self-Realisation is when the true Self is realised. Self-Realisationoccurs when through proper DISCERNMENT the MISIDENTIFICATIONwith the appearances ( thoughts, emotions, actions, re-actions,etc, etc) STOPS. The appearances will still continue, but it's theSTOPPING OF THE MISIDENTIFICATION with them which allowsSelf-Realisation.

Q: Is it possible to be awakened yet still be swayed by theappearances?

A: Yes. Its a moment by moment thing. Because even thoughthere has been a realisation that you are not the appearances,there still may be, at any one moment, more priority being

given to the appearances than the Witnessing. So thereforethe appearances still hold sway.


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An initial awakening is good but it isn't enough. A FIRM abidanceas the Witnessing which does not misidentify at all with theappearances must come about. Abidance as the Witnessingmust be made the TOP PRIORITY, all else comes a distantsecond. This is a very important point because people willbecome awakened... but then once this awakening has occurredthe top priority must be to abide as the Witnessing, otherwise

there will be a continued slipping back into being 'lost' in thethoughts.

Some purists will say that this doesn't matter because nomatter whether you're awake or lost in the appearances you cannever not be the Witnessing. And yes, it's true that the Witnessing isalways here, BUT, to slip back into being lost in the appearancesafter the initial awakening is the same as waking up to the fact that you havea billion dollars in the bank, but then you keep forgetting again.Yes, sure, you've ALWAYS got the billion dollars in the bank butwhat's the use if you keep forgetting?

That's why, after the initial awakening, making 'abidance asthe Witnessing' the top priority, above any external priorities,will allow the life to be lived in an awake way, moment by moment.

By abiding as the Witnessing... the thoughts, emotions, actions,re-actions will continuosly be seen yet not take you away intotheir dream land.

It's an INSTANT BY INSTANT thing.... THAT'S WHERE THECONTROL IS. Stay present INSTANT BY INSTANT and you willalways be present.

But equally, when you slip back into being lost in the thoughts,

it's not a big deal, just resume the abidance as the Witnessing.To go on a guilt trip every time there is a remembering that therehas been a slipping back into getting lost in thought-land willjust keep you stuck in thought-land ... and is the oppositeof abidance as the Witnessing.

So, whenever it is realised that there has been a slipping backinto being lost in the thoughts be happy that it has been notedand just simply re-focus as the pure Witnessing which is priorto ANY appearance. This habit of getting lost in the appearancesis quite engrained and will keep persisting for a while... there willno doubt be thousands of times that there will be a slipping backinto being lost in thought... SO DON'T GO ON A GUILT TRIPEVERYTIME there has been a remembering that there has been aslipping back, otherwise you'll be on a continual guilt trip! ...and that is NOT abiding as Witnessing.

The fact that there has been an initial awakening is wonderfuland the fact that there are continued realisations that there hasbeen a 'slipping back' is also wonderful because it is a continuingopportunity to re-focus as your true self. Just keep at it, and thehabit of getting lost in the thoughts will begin to lose its gripand ultimately go.

Q: So there needs to be a re-adjustment of the priorities?

WITNESSING becomes much more important than the appearances?

A: Yes. Abiding as the Witnessing becomes the top priority.


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Whatever you are doing externally takes second place.Eckhart Tolle goes into all of this with wonderful insight anddetail in his book 'A New Earth'. It's a good book.

Q: So it's all about priorities?

A: Yes. Once awakening has occurred the top priority is to enable

abidance as the Witnessing to flow in whatever you do, ......whatever the outside goal, it is always secondary.

But please DO NOT understand this to mean that you just sitthere and physically do nothing but abide as the Witnessing.It's all about acting in the world, yet keeping ABIDANCE as theWitnessing as the top priority. In this way your whole life is livedconsciously, awake... not trapped in the world of thoughts.

In this way even standing in the queue at the supermarket can beused to further consolidate abidance as the Witnessing andtherefore it goes from being a tedious experience to an action

which is infused with an awake presence, full of life in the presentmoment... fully awake. That's what true success is!

It's a TOTAL FLIP on the way that the average person lives theirlife. But it won't necesarliy mean you change how you physicallylive out your life.... it may, it may not... it will be different inevery case.

As Eckhart Tolle say's..."don't let a mad world tell you that successis anything other than a successful present moment. There is alwaysonly this one step, so give it your fullest attention."

Q: But why is it that I need to stay present if I can, as you said before,

never actually be out of the Now?

A: Yes, it is never not Now. But while it is never not Now you caneither be awake in the Now, present to that which is present, or,lost in the Now, lost in the world of thought.

When you are lost in the thoughts you are a prisoner of the thoughts.When you are lost in the thoughts you act unconsciously and justrobotically act out the thoughts. There is no control.

On the other hand when you are awake in the Now the thoughtsare put in their correct place. They are JUST A MENTAL TOOL,they are NOT the master.

If we UNDISTRACTEDLY abide as the Seeing which is PRIOR to thethoughts... then when the thoughts happen they are seen in anawake way AS THEY HAPPEN. They are NOT being MISidentifiedwith as being 'you'...... and they don't have any poweranymore to drag you into a trance.They just happen... can be used or discarded... they arejust a tool.... and have lost their 'master' status.

Finally the tail does not wag the dog anymore!

Documents

Awakening in the Now