Pointers

What is the presence that is registering these words?


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Reread the above sentence. The answer is there. You needn't go any further than that. Allow it to show you that you've never been bounded, that there is no permanent entity within you at all--only sheer and pristine awareness giving rise to the phenomenal world.


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Self-knowing appears to elude you because, among other things, you are trying to grasp it through your thinking. But can a thought about awareness know awareness? Thoughts and concepts, however lofty, are basicly "dead" appearances. Yet, they are precisely what you are attempting to use to understand who and what you are! So what are you left with? Beingness itself.


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What is the whatness that Does Not Sleep?


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Nonduality is not a religion. Yet, it is at the core of all major religions, from Hinduism and Sufism to Zen Buddhism and Christianity. Nonduality proper is a timeless teaching about our ultimate nature, which is awareness itself. With this recognition comes the discovery of our innate peace and spaciousness. Nondual themes can be found in the "highest" teachings of Dzogchen, Kashmir Shaivism, Advaita Vedanta, and Zen.


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No one belongs to anyone. When certainly personalities resonate, a friendship/romance/sexual relationship may develop because being with that person tends to be a rich and wholesome experience.


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In truly profound and loving relationships, you can intuit presence in one another's gazes, feel it one another's touches, and taste it in one another's kisses.


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Look carefully: You are the spaciousness. That is it! That is what you are!


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Your natural state couldn't be more obvious. Back up, back up! You are overlooking your everyday, self-shining awareness. Your thoughts, body, and consciousness are only appearances in that awareness. Or to re-phrase it in the form of a question: What is it in which your thoughts, body, and even consciousness are appearing at this very moment?


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Don't make the mistake of looking for presence inside of you. It is actually penetrating through and emanating from your so-called body and mind. Similarly, it is the stuff from which your body and mind are comprised. Its sheerness is real, vital, and completely without bounds. You are That, right here and now. Everything is perfectly present. Indeed, there is no place in the universe where Beingness is not. All is awareness. All is You.


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Pointers help you to see what you already are. In addition to being verbal, they can musical (e.g., Mozart's "Agnus Dei" in his celebrated Requiem) and visual, e.g., Zen artists Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768) and the legendary swordsman-samurai Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) both produced bold, elegant, and thought-stopping master-works that should not be missed. Even silence can be a powerful pointer--when it is completely natural, and there is no one attempting to be quiet. Or when one is in the presence of someone who is self-realized. In such a setting, you feel the depth and resonance of the speaker's pauses. Something stirs within you. It is not surface-emotion at all. It's a deep and intuitive knowing that clarity is at hand.