Pointers to the formless: a world in motion

How aware are we? To be ourself is to be fully aware. We are awareness. We are not an it or a thing or a body or a mind or thought or emotions or a brain or even the “I” of “I am.” We are the “amness” or existence or beingness that manifests as awareness in and through and with and as this form. We aren’t a story or a person or an idea or a concept or anything that can be observed. We are the first person singular present moment experienced reality. We are the pure subject, formless, colorless and objectless. We are the spaciousness in which all arises, the emptiness from which all manifests and the no thingness from which all things emerge. We are completely clear, completely transparent, completely absent of anything that can be observed. We are the potential in and from which all takes place. We are the timeless essence of permanence. We are the presence, the self, the eternal one that is aware of awareness. There is only one like this and it (without an it) is self-evident. We overlook it (without an it) in every facet of an illusory identity with form.

So to be ourself we aren’t observing ourself as an object because there is nothing here to observe. We are aware of the awareness we are. We are conscious of the consciousness we are. We are overwhelmed by the presence of the self that can’t be seen. We are a single eye without an eyeball. We are looking without something to look through. We are hearing without ears and touching without fingers and tasting without a tongue. We are feeling without attachment to emotion. We are sensing without sensors. We aren’t a mind that thinks but the observing of thoughts.

So how aware are we? The more aware, the more we are our true self. This means we go deeper and fuller within awareness to be more aware…or…we are more aware to reveal the deeper and fuller nature of what is ever-present. This includes being aware of every facet of the illusory identity with form.

I was reading Douglas Edwards’ book “The Face Game” and intrigued about a phenomena he described. He said when we are awake and fully aware of what we are, we see the world differently. We see ourself as stillness observing a world in motion.  We take a walk and as awareness we are still. The scene is changing but as the first person singular present moment subject, we aren’t moving. I can’t say I’ve had that experience. As we are waking up we learn quickly that what is just is. So having or not having an experience is just part of what is. Still, pondering this interesting description of a surreal experience, I wanted to “see” what I might not be aware of. It always boils down to being aware. When we are so accustomed to identifying with form, we overlook what is evident as the awareness we are. We miss the obvious.

As a form, taking a walk, we sense and believe we are the form (body/mind/person) moving through a still or fixed world. We pass by the roses of the rose garden to smell the fragrance that was there before we arrived. We believe we are traveling through the countryside. But as awareness, is that what is observed? If we just look without conditioning, what is self-evident?  It’s never difficult to see if we are willing to look and let go of any attachment with what we “know” to be true.  How about a metaphor of sorts?

You take a trip in your car. As you travel through the countryside, especially as a passenger, you have a sense of a stationary world within the car and an external world passing by the car. It is easy to shift perspective back and forth. At one moment you are moving in the car through a motionless world and in another moment you are sitting still as the world passes by. Even the motion of the car can be observed in two ways. The car is responding to the motionless world or the car is just moving as the world passes by. We’ve all had this experience especially as a child in the back looking up at the window with no view out the windshield.

As awareness aware of awareness, we begin to see the stillness we are as the world passes by. If we are deeply or fully aware we are aware of every sensation, even the ones that we have identified with for so long. Yes the head may move and the muscles, inner ear and more tell the mind the head is moving but we aren’t the mind. We are awareness aware of the mind, the thoughts and even these normally overlooked stimulus (muscles contracting) which have been our identity as a body. Now as awareness we are aware of it all. We see the body moves in awareness. The mind moves in awareness. The inner ear changes in awareness. The muscles flex within awareness. The world is moving and awareness is the stillness in which the movement is observed…even the body.

Being yourself is being the beingness you are, aware of every thing whether it is an object, thought, feeling emotion, bodily function and more. Being aware as awareness as your true self means you are even aware of all those body indicators you’ve identified with as your body identity. Becoming aware of more than just what the sensor senses like the condition of the sensor, frees us from identifying solely with the sensor. The world becomes motion. Our true self is stillness. In this state we are being ourself as awareness. We are aware of the world going by, intrigued by every detail but still and calm. You are the child in the car all over again with no fear as you watch the scene pass by.