I am 'Spirit' - Self-Realisation Meditation Part 1

What is this?

Who am I?

'The Many Faces of the One' the unpublished esoteric writings and works of an aging yogi.

 

BEING AWAKE

 

            I am 'Spirit'. I am free. Only God is Real as the ever-present 'I-am'. All is this!

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

 

What follows in this particular Atman-Yoga article is part 1 of the 'I-am pure 'Spirit' Self-realization Meditation' first written, compiled and completed in 2015 after a sustained period of deep meditative contemplation on the real nature, source and essence of reality, experience and identity.

As you may have seen and potentially read I have already added and used selected parts of this 'I-am pure 'Spirit' Self-realization Meditation' exercise in the previous articles on Atman-Yoga, and yet I feel it should be presented here in full as it was originally written, compiled and intended. 

 

Obviously what is presented here to all you aspiring and committed atman-yogis in all these spiritual and contemplative articles and exercises on Atman-Yoga can only be viewed as a tiny literary drop or fragment in a vast and infinite ocean of spiritual insight and transcendental self-expression, wisdom and esoteric communication. What is written and offered here can only really hint and give us a potential mental flavor, idea and taste at what is intuitively and experientially realized and known beyond the confines, illusions, projections and limitations of worldly concepts, constructs, principles, beliefs, opinions, ideas, views, labels and words. For me, this transcendental, permanent and unconditioned stillness, silence, peace, immortality, love, plenitude, bliss and freedom of eternal 'Spirit' is always present in all life, here and now, and always. 

For me, it is the very unborn essence, presence and undying source and origin of life and experience itself, and yet, for the most part, our individualized worldly embodied mind/body experience is somewhat clouded by all that is appearing, changing and disappearing in our temporary earthly embodied lives as the on-going and ever-changing dramas, situations, conditions, experiences and events that we live, act and play out.

 

I can assure you all as a temporary and embodied physical form of humanity my life does not present anything particular unique, special or out of the ordinary. As an embodied self, I am, at present, fully and quietly engaged in conventional and everyday life, and yet my passion and commitment to the truth and identity of pure 'Spirit' and the esoteric nature of reality, experience and identity has remained at the heart of all that I embody, live, act and do, even when life is messy, demanding, hard, complex and challenging. I can assure all who take the time to read and contemplate these unpublished collected esoteric writings and works titled 'The Many Faces of the One', I have very much lived and tested these spiritual insights and conclusions of Atman-Yoga beyond the safe haven and refuge of the meditation cushion and retreat environment and I am eternally grateful for every situation, teaching and teacher that has expectantly or unexpectantly come my way to incite and challenge the authenticity of these contemplative and meditative writings, works and insights on Atman-Yoga. 

I simply attempt to present and offer this spiritual blog as a form of genuine and heart-felt gratitude and reflection to all who have inspired me and supported me to fully awaken from the worldly sleep of ignorance into the perennial truth of reality, experience and identity. For me to simply ignore all that is happening in the world today and not to seek to contribute something worthwhile in response to all this, would certainly be my greatest failing in life and I can assure you as a temporary embodied form of humanity I would be considered and viewed by many to have many so-called worldly failings. And yet I know in truth I am not these things. These things do not define or limit that that I am.

In the perennial philosophy and universal truth of Atman-Yoga, the Deathless Self, pure 'Spirit' is the one and absolute unchanging, untouched, boundless, ever-present and unmoving witness and transcendental principle and source of all that is known, embodied and experienced in life, and yet these compiled and presented words and articles can never really do it complete justice. Like I have already stated, they can only potentially hint at that which is always present and true in our lives, whether we know it intimately and experientially or not. I am not assuming that these articles alone will have the miraculous power and wish fulfilling magic to suddenly send you or anyone into a spiritual and esoteric state of samadhi or nirvana, or pure boundless consciousness. I would never be this foolish or self-assuming. Although I would like to think that compiling and presenting the simplicity of this universal philosophy and perennial truth on Atman-Yoga with the simple repeated line of, 'Only God is Real' it might potentially stir and awaken the self-inquiring esoteric mind to seek to fully wake up from its material and earth bound sleep, and to discover the one absolute, ever-present and unchanging source, state, identity and essence of eternal and unconditional bliss, peace, love, beauty, immortality, well-being, plenitude, wholeness and freedom. It seeks nothing and demands nothing, and yet at the same time it is everything, everywhere and everyone.

It is the 'I-am' of I am and I am That, 'I-am'.

 

I can confidently and knowingly say that this universal truth of pure 'Spirit' is not hindered, threatened, affected, lessened or destroyed by the ever-changing conditions, forms, situations and dramas of conditioned and conceptual life. No matter what appearances might be, pure 'Spirit' is never in bondage, lacking or limited or in any need of liberation. Whether it be in the reclusive mountains or caves of the Himalayas or the hustle and bustle of the suburbs and streets of metropolitan towns and cities this perennial truth of pure 'Spirit' is as it is - unhindered, unmoving, free, untouched, plentiful, realized, perfect, whole and unchanging, and all alone is this. What you will read me call 'emptiness' or reality. It is the 'I-am' of I am.

As it is, pure 'Spirit', abides and transcends the confines and limitations of conditionality, conceptual reality, forms and the mind/body experience. Therefore it is not reliant on certain situations, circumstances, phenomena or events to be present. It is completely self-reliant, self-fulfilling and self-sufficient. Whether we take refuge and solitude in a secluded and reclusive cave or in the thick and everyday demands and challenges of conventional and everyday life, pure 'Spirit' is what it is, and its nature, state, identity and essence remains unchanged, unhindered, unthreatened, ever-present and unmoved by all that is and all that is not. This is the true paradox that spiritual Self-inquiry and Self-realization presents to all humanity in us understanding and knowing the way things really are and recognizing and realizing it is not the things of this world in themselves that are the cause of our unhappiness and suffering, but it is our ignorance of the absolute truth, identity and essence of pure 'Spirit', and that 'Only God is Real' as the ever-present 'I-am'. 

This is the transcendental truth of reality, experience and identity that embodies and holds all things and yet is always free of all things. It seeks nothing and demands nothing, and yet it is everything and therefore it is fulfilled, whole, plentiful and complete in all things. It is free of space, time and form and therefore complete as it is. It need not become and be anything. It need not acquire or have anything. It is complete, whole and fulfilled in and of itself. It is Absolute.

 

I can assure you we cannot permanently rely on that which changes as a reliable form and source of refuge, certainty and self-assurance, and yet in full-awakening to the grace and truth of pure 'Spirit' we can certainly delight in all worldly and unworldly things with freedom, love, plenitude, compassion, peace, gratitude, wonder and wisdom . For me, true self-reliance and self-assurance can only come from abiding in the truth and presence of pure 'Spirit' as the one real source, state, identity and essence of all that is. Nothing needs to happen and yet everything can happen. Nothing needs to change and yet everything can change. Nothing need be done and yet all things can be done. All alone is pure 'Spirit' as it is. It is this spiritual awakening and esoteric truth that reveals to us all that we are already one with all life, for we are life itself in all its brutal beauty, wonder and divine grace. The Deathless Self alone is as the ever-present 'I-am'. This is the light of the true Self.

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

 

Please consider this following statement, as strange and alien as it might sound to you, "you do not need to look for love for you are love itself. You do not need to look for peace, for you are peace itself. You do not need to look for freedom, for you are already free. You do not need to become and be whole, for you are already whole and complete as you are. You do not need to seek immortality for immortality is the one true essence and nature of all that is." Of this I am certain. 

What we seek, we already are. Only God is Real. This is the absolute and unsurpassable truth and message of Atman-Yoga. In fully-awakening we are ask to live and abide as this ever-present truth. Should we abide in and as this truth, peace, love, beauty, immortality, plenitude and freedom will live with us always. Nothing to fear in life or death for 'Only God is Real' as the eternal 'I-am'. Nothing need happen and yet everything can happen. Nothing need change and yet everything can change. Nothing need be done and yet all things can and are done. This is the message of Atman-Yoga. All reality. experience and identity are 'emptiness'.

              

                     I am Spirit - Self-realization Meditation exercise Part 1

    I am Spirit. I am free. 

 

I am not the roles I play. I am not the actions I perform or the experiences I have. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me, touch me or destroy me.

    I am Spirit. I am free.

 

I am free from the roles I play. I am free from the actions I perform, and I am free from the experiences I have. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me, touch me or destroy me. They do not define me.

    I am Spirit. I am free.

I am not the thoughts I think. I am not the feelings and moods I have. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me, touch me or destroy me.

 

I am free from all thoughts. I am free from the feelings and moods I have. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me, touch me or destroy me. They do not define me.

    I am Spirit. I am free. 

I am free from eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. I am free from sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and all objects of mind. I am free from all sensory realms of experience including mind-consciousness. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me, touch me or destroy me. They do not define me.

I am not eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. I am not sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and objects of mind. I am not mind-consciousness. I am not the mental and physical activities of the mind and body. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me, touch me or destroy me. They do not define me.

    I am Spirit. I am free.

I am free from space, time and form. I am free form birth, old age, decay, sickness and death. I am free from all worldly and unworldly phenomena, be they favorable or unfavorable, pleasing or unpleasant, rewarding or disappointing, easy or challenging. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me, touch me or destroy me. They do not define me.

I am not space, time and form. I am not birth, old age, decay, sickness and death. I am not the appearance and disappearance of worldly and unworldly phenomena. I am not the duality of subject and object. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me, touch me or destroy me. They do not define me.

    I am Spirit. I am free.

 

I am free from past, future and present. I am free from all perceptions, constructs, concepts, conditions and circumstances. I am free from the appearance and disappearance of all creation and its ever-changing myriad of forms and phenomena. I am free from the duality of subject and object. I am free from all sensory realms of experience including mind-consciousness. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me, touch me or destroy me.

I am free from all opinions, views, labels and names. I am free from how others see or think of me. I am free from how I see or think of myself. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me, touch me or destroy me. They do not define me.

I am not how others see or think of me. I am not how I see or think of myself. I am not the appearance and disappearance of all creation, and its ever-changing myriad of forms and phenomena. I am not the ever-changing mental and physical activities of the mind and body. I am not the false impression of doer-ship or the duality of subject and object. I am not mind-consciousness. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me, touch me or destroy me. They do not define me.

          I am Spirit. I am free.

Here I shall end part 1 of this 'I am 'Spirit' Self-realization Meditation exercise'. 

Please remember this came about as a genuine consequence and reward of continued and sustained spiritual self-inquiry and contemplation into the true nature of reality, experience and identity, and it cannot replace the importance and need of one's own self-inquiry into the true nature and essence of reality, experience and identity. It is only offered here as a source of spiritual motivation and support to fully waken us from our earthly sleep of ignorance and to be fully awake as pure 'Spirit'. 

Forever in the love, peace, plenitude, freedom, bliss, beauty, wonder, truth and grace of the one true reality and identity, pure 'Spirit', that partakes in all things and yet is free of all things.

To love is to be free of wanting. 

Thank you to all who take the time to read, support and share these spiritual contemplative articles and exercises. May they inspire and excite you to awaken and to be free from all the limiting and painful illusions of conditioned and conceptual reality. May the light of the Self shine bright in us all. I'll meet you all in love me land.

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

 

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is real.'

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021. A truly selfless, kind, beautiful and loving embodied soul, friend and mother. 

The Many Faces of the One

What is this?

Who am I?

The Many Faces of the One - article 14  - the unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.

"I am eternal 'Spirit'. Eternal 'Spirit' is all, and all is eternal 'Spirit'. Nothing to gain. Nothing to lose. Nothing to become. Nothing to be. Nothing to create. Nothing to destroy. Nothing to realize. Nothing to be realized. Nothing need happen, and yet everything can and will happen. Nothing need change and yet everything can and will change. All is free and eternal 'Spirit'. Simply this.

"I fully recognize the true existence of an infinite, divine and perfect intelligence which gives life and order to the universe and all things. This perfect divine intelligence is the one and permanent source of all power and plenitude. This intelligence can help me overcome and remove any and all obstacles. I stand firm in my faith and trust in this perfect intelligence as the answer and fulfilment of every need in all areas and facets of my life. I fully honor and share in the vision and truth of this perfect intelligence and divine order. This divine intelligence is the sole provider and fulfiller of every need. With this intelligence I am fully blessed and fulfilled in all things. I radiate pure 'Spirit' at all times, in all places and in all my thoughts and actions. I am always deeply connected and at one with pure 'Spirit'. OM, shanti, shanti, shanti. 'I-am', peace, peace peace.

       continuing from article 13

PURE INTELLIGENCE

Self-realization is to fully seek and know that which is not acquired therefore it can not be taken away. In spiritual Self-realization it is only our investment in the experience and knowing of the source that is of the most importance, and therefore all other experiences are secondary, transitory and fleeting. For most of us our identity comes from what is formed, changing and temporary. We are fooled or should I say the individualized mind is fooled by what is not real as being real. We have simply forgotten our true identity with the Absolute because our identity is strongly attached to the conditioned and phenomenal world of things and constructs. 

        'I-am'. Life is. Where do I begin and where do I end?

If the mistaken and false feeling of 'I-am-the-doer' or 'I-am-the-body' that is not real and yet the 'I' though of 'I-am' appears to be real to us, and gives the temporary and false impression that 'I' exist in relationship to the conditioned and conceptual sensory realms of experience and experiencing then what really is the true reality, identity or essence of  'me' or 'I'? Is reality and identity really all one reality and identity? Should I not ask myself, where does suffering begin and where does it end? How do 'I' transcend the limits and fears of this conditioned and conceptual world?

For me, the spiritual endeavor of Self-realization is realizing and returning to the recognition and knowing of our identity with the Deathless Self. This being the selfless and impersonal origin and source of all experience. This truth transcends suffering and the end of suffering. It is beyond the confines of good and bad, right and wrong, pure and impure and all dualistic experience. This Self-realization and Spiritual-awakening is the returning and knowing of the true original undying and unchanging Deathless Self, pure 'Spirit'. It is the one true and infinite source, identity and reality of all creation and its myriad of forms, constructs and phenomena. However much we might acquire in life, be it worldly possessions, success, fame, status, money, power, or authority we can still be left dissatisfied and unhappy with all that life is or is not. 

In our humanity, people love, people hate, people build, people destroy, people give, people take away, people lead, people follow, people rise and people fall. This is the ever-changing way of things. Due to the unsatisfactory nature of the dramas and challenges of life we in our humanity seek something that transcends and frees us from the the trappings and miseries of this phenomenal world of things and phenomena. It can pose the question, "why should we exist when existence itself can be an unwelcomed burden of suffering and hardship to so many? Yes, this burden is the illusion of our false identity, and yet we are mostly ignorant of this in the hustle and bustle of our day-to-day lives. So I say again and again, the essential aim of Atman-Yoga is fully realizing and knowing our true identity with the Absolute; that which transcends and is free of the mind/body experience and all their associated mental and physical activities and impressions. It is to take full possession and ownership of that which is beyond the confines and trappings of the mind/body experience. This is the greatest possession, or should I say treasure, we could ever possess and have. The truth and knowing of our true nature, identity and essence. Completely identifying and taking ownership of that which is Pure Being underlying all that is and all that will ever be. Again presenting the question of, 'Who am I?' Who am I that resides in and has experience? What is this?

                                                           THE KNOWING OF SELF

What follows are some of the questions I have faced in the challenge of revealing and recognizing who we truly are: - "Where do I begin and where do I end?" Who or what am I in relationship to experience? Who is it that suffers and seeks the end of suffering? Who is this that can feel so burden and troubled by the what the world is and all its demands? Why is experience not more permanently fulfilling in and off itself? Why is it that existence and existing are so flawed and burdening to the mind/body experience? What is the pursuit and fulfilling of spiritual Self-realization really going to do for us when so much of the world is built on consumerism, self-gratification, self-centeredness and self-importance? What is the true purpose of existing when existence itself can burden so many? It is a harsh awakening that the self-importance placed on sensory objects and our need to have permanent pleasure, reward and gratification in them is really of our own making and therefore flawed. It is not imposed by the things or situations themselves. It is us who expect it. 

Only the Deathless Self is real, and all phenomena that we ordinarily identify with and emotionally invest in as real is mostly unreal. This includes the mind/body experience and their associated mental and physical activities and impressions. Only the one undying and original source is real, and when fully recognized and known as the Deathless Self all other phenomena are seen as a temporary expression of the Real in a myriad, diversity and multitude of forms. So what reality really is, is nothing and everything. It is called the Real because it is unchanging and eternal. It is not limited or confined by space, time and form. This is what is meant by the statement and conclusion that only the Deathless Self is real. What we ordinarily identify with and attach to are only temporary and empty projections and constructs of our true undying essence and identity. When we purposely and intensely investigate things for what they truly are we soon begin to realize the impersonal and empty nature of these temporary appearances that have no independent or intrinsic nature or essence of their own. 

This is the removal of the ignorance of the unmade and unchanging Self as the essence, identity and source of all experience, experiencing and phenomena. It is all the Absolute seen and experienced in a multiple and myriad of changing forms, constructs and phenomena. Worldly phenomena in and off themselves lack the genuine capacity and power to permanently make us feel whole, fulfilled and complete. By their very transient nature we are continuously left dissatisfied and therefore compelled to follow blindly our impulses, urges and cravings to desire and have more to attempt to remove this feeling of dissatisfaction. This is the never-ending dualistic cycle of wanting more and never being completely satisfied. It is what is traditionally and spiritually known as samsara.

                                              ESCAPING THE WHEEL OF SAMSARA

Atman-Yoga suggests to us that we are already whole, fulfilled, worthy and complete despite the worldly appearance of lack, unworthiness, fear and neediness. We are already free and unburdened by all that is. It is only the false identification and attachment to the phenomenal world that burdens the 'soul'. Realizing and knowing the Real from the unreal in an intimate and liberating way fully presents us with the recognition and knowing that only the Absolute, pure 'Spirit', is real and eternal. This is the truth and reality of pure 'Spirit'. The unmade and unchanging Self is the real, and the universe and all its myriad of creations, constructs and phenomena are the unreal. In the Self-realization and Spiritual knowledge of the Absolute the awakened mind realizes its true identity with pure 'Spirit'. Like a wave that becomes one with the ocean having always been one with the ocean. Despite its appearance as a wave it is and always was one with the ocean. It never truly left the ocean. The wave and the ocean are in fact one. The wave is the ocean and the ocean is the wave. Separateness is the illusion, as is the individuality of the wave. So the wave is never really lost as it was always one with the ocean. No longer does the awakened individualized self mistakenly identify itself with the mind/body experience as who and what we are. It recognizes and knows it true identity with the Absolute. The awakened and individualized mind realizes and knows with unshakable certainty the impersonal and unreal nature of the mind/body experience. What is know as non-doer-ship, or ego-lessness. I prefer 'emptiness'. Like the wave that was always the ocean, there is the realization that there is no intrinsic and separate permanent self who does things and gets things done. It is all the playing out of the senses as the mind/body experience. Nothing more. 

The awakened individualized mind knows the one true origin, identity and source of all creation and phenomena as the Absolute. It no longer relates to experience and experiencing in a personal and needy way. It is all the impersonal and selfless act of the one reality. This one reality and identity being the act, the actor and its play. Whether this be in ignorance or knowing of the Absolute. Both the sinner and the saint belong to the real. Both the tyrant and the savior are waves in the ocean of supreme consciousness. This complete and unsurpassable spiritual Self-realization and esoteric awakening is in a fully conscious and unbroken way, whilst continuing to be outwardly active and engaged in the temporary and impersonal activities of the mind/body experience, fully expressed and embodied in all things. It is all the unmade and unchanging Self, and this pure 'Spirit' is you and all that is. It is all creation and its myriad and complexity of changing forms, creations and phenomena. 

For those minds who are not fully established in the knowledge of pure consciousness (awakened consciousness) it might be a genuine momentary glimpse into the truth and essence of the Absolute as being the one true reality and source of all creation and its myriad of forms, creations and phenomena. It is seen as something realized rather than something that I am. This is why despite realizing the transitory and empty nature of all appearances and phenomena as unreal we can still continue to engage with the things and creations of the world as they too are essentially 'Spirit' first. The Awakened Mind transcends the false impression and limited constructs of individuality, doer-ship and separateness. It sees and relates to all phenomena and experience as temporary manifestations of 'Spirit'. Ideas of lack, confrontation and limitation are all seen as part of the illusion. All is seen and know as a temporary expression of the one true essence of 'Spirit'. The formless as forms. Forms as being 'emptiness'. The unchanging as that which changes, and yet, it remains unchanged. No color. No form. No shape. No being. No non-being. No sides. No beginning. No end. No stance. No position. No race. No agenda. No demands. No other. All alone is this. 'I-am' that which alone is, and all alone is 'I-am' that.

       This is the essential and core message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self, alone is.


Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

 

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is real.'

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real' as the eternal 'I-am'. All is this.

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021.

The Many Faces of the One

What is this?

Who am I?

The Many Faces of the One - article 13  - the unpublished esoteric writings & works of an aging yogi.

"I have no beginning, middle or end. No past, future or present. I simply am as 'I-am'. I am completely free of conditioning, constructs and form. I have no causation therefore I am not born, made or created. I have no history or story to speak of and no other. I alone am. I am beyond and free of the concepts and ideas of time, form and space. And yet I am fully one with all things, projections and phenomena. All is experienced and known because of me alone. I am the unborn, ageless and deathless 'I-am'. The one true and ever-present identity and reality of all that is and all that will ever be. I alone am. All awakened embodied souls rejoice and find peace and fulfilment in me alone."

'I-am'. Life is.' Not 'I am' this or 'I am' that. Not 'life is' this or 'life is' that. Simply, 'I-am. Life is.' Nothing more than this. Only this. One Reality. One Truth.

I am Eternity seeing, recognizing, realizing and knowing Eternity.

           continuing from the collected esoteric writings and works of article 12

THE NOT SELF OF SELF

Self-realization asks us to seek the origin and source of experience, reality and identity. This being the experience and knowing of 'I-am'. Life is'. Body and mind are simply constructs of experience rather than the one who is having them. Both body and mind are known with the knowing of self-awareness and mind-consciousness. Thoughts and feelings are known constructs of experience rather than the one who is having them. These too are known with the knowing of self-awareness and mind-consciousness. They are impersonal and sensory objects of our experience. It is said, that in sleep we neither know the body or the mind and yet we still awake from sleep, and once again have the experience of the physical body and the so-called thinking mind. The body and mind are temporary constructs and concepts; objects of experience. Thoughts and feelings are temporary constructs; objects of experience. And so too with emotions, images and moods. These are all impersonal, transitory and empty of permanence and individual ownership.

We also have the self-aware impression and feeling of something identifying with the mind and the body as being who we are. We have the notion and idea of self-hood who knows and has experience. This is all formed in relationship to the having of experience and the ever-changing objective world of phenomena. And yet what is it that forms and identifies with this relationship of subject and object? This relationship of inside and outside? This relationship of 'me' and 'other'? Even consciousness is something we can know as part of experience and experiencing - the knowing of knowing. The knowing of being awake and aware. Would it be correct to say that consciousness is the subject of knowing or that we are pure consciousness? I prefer the word 'presence' or 'Spirit'. For me, consciousness is recognized and known like all other objective phenomena, and has no independent arising apart from that of a dual and conceptual reality. It too is part of experience and the act of experiencing. For me, consciousness is a phenomena and a happening of having and knowing experience, of being self-aware, but it is not the true source of knowing. 

The true source of knowing and experience is not conceptual in that is can be observed and known as an object or construct of experience and experiencing. It simply is. It is that in which all things are known but it remains free of all phenomena and is without form and attributes. It cannot not be known in a conceptual way, as an identified, conceptual and tangible object of knowing, even though we might describe it as such. It is the unchanging, unmoving and indestructible selfless and impersonal 'Presence, that always is despite the coming and going of all phenomena, forms, dramas, conditions and events. It simply is what it is. It is that out of which all things and phenomena appear and it is that into which all things and phenomena disappear. This coming and going of phenomena and experiences does not change, alter, lessen, hinder, improve or affect what it is. It always remains as it is. Simply 'I-am'.

It is the 'I-am' of I am.

THE ONE TRUE SOURCE OF 'I'

The Deathless Self is unburdened, unhindered and unlimited by all that conceptual and conditioned life is or is not. It places no self-importance or neediness on temporary appearances, forms, events, dramas and phenomena, and yet it is present within all things and all things are present within it. Existence or non-existence are of no self-importance and neediness to the Deathless Self. These do not define it, limit it, threaten, hinder, destroy, improve it or effect it. It does not need experience in order to exist. It is whether we have the cognitive and knowing experience of it or not. To the Deathless Self limitation, lack and bondage are illusions of the so-called mind. The same too with suffering and the end of suffering. Only ignorance keeps us imprisoned by the mind. Limitation, lack and bondage are not truths in an absolute sense. These are only relevant and believed in whilst we are wrongly identified with the mind/body experience and the conceptual and conditioned world of space, time and forms. Once ignorance of the truth of reality, experience and identity are overcome the self-importance placed on these things becomes obsolete. The Deathless Self is free of whatever worldly conditions and situations are experienced, played out or known. It does not identify with the things, dramas and phenomena of this world in a personal, permanent and attached way therefore they are not seen to be personal, needed or limiting to its existence. 

The Deathless Self is only identified and attached with its own eternal and enduring existence, and not with the appearance, change and disappearance of space, time and forms. There is no self-importance or identity placed on what worldly conditions, dramas and situations are at any given time. These things are seen as temporary constructs and ever-changing occurrences and therefore empty of any real permanence to fully satisfy us. They are unreliable, unreal and flawed. Only the Deathless Self is reliable, permanent and certain as it is not subject to change, limitation, bondage, creation, destruction or lack. It is life eternal. It is complete, whole, plentiful, fulfilled, free, radiant and perfect as it is. In fact, it is all that is and yet it is always free of all things.

What is this?

Who am I?

REALITY AS IT IS

In this full recognition and knowing of Self-realization we are left to fully live embodied experience from the truth of the Original and undying source of all that is, and yet everything is existing as a temporary projection of its own indestructible essence. In truth, the Deathless Self, does not require or need us to be conscious of it, and yet being conscious of it is what frees the mind from the illusions and trappings of bondage, limitation, lack, creation and death. It extinguishes suffering and the end of suffering. It reveals that which is without beginning, middle and end and causation. So we could say that the Self that is already fully realized knowing the Self, relinquishes all concern and importance for what worldly conditions and situations are, and yet at the same time it rejoices in all that is as temporary and limited forms and constructs of its own divine essence, identity and reality. 

As already stated, the Deathless Self is complete, whole, plentiful and fulfilled as it is regardless of worldly appearances, dramas, conditions and situations. Self-realization is a matter of being established in this truth and seeing everything else as temporary, flawed, limited and fleeting. From this knowing of the Deathless Self all is left as it is, as it is all of its own essence and therefore free of anything that is real. To emotionally invest and attach to what is fleeting, limited and transitory will always disappoint us in the end, even if they do satisfy us for a while. This simply is the way of things. It isn't anyone's fault. It is not because we did something bad or wrong. It is simply the way of things in this life.

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

           This is the message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self alone is.

Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real' as the eternal 'I-am'. All is this.

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021.

The Many Faces of the One

What is this?

Who am I?

The Many Faces of the One - article 12  - the unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.

"I always stand firm in my faith and trust that pure 'Spirit' is the answer and fulfilment of every need and requirement in all areas and facets of my life. I always act on whatever honors 'Spirit' and all that 'Spirit' has created. I am free to be all that 'Spirit' intended and created me to be. I always feel 'Spirit's' presence blessing and surrounding me in all facets and areas of my life. I know that divine guidance is always available to me. With my faith and trust firmly established in pure 'Spirit' I easily and fully accomplish and fulfil all things. 'Spirit' is the one and permanent source and provider of all power. I radiate pure 'Spirit' at all times, in all places and in all my thoughts, deeds and actions. I am always deeply connected and at one with pure 'Spirit'. OM, shanti, shanti, shanti. 'I am', peace, peace peace."

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

       continued from the collected esoteric writings and works of article 11

WHAT IT IS TO BE MYSELF

If we dwell too much on what appears to be hopeless and meaningless it is very easy to become and be immobilized in fear, hopelessness, doubt, confusion and frustration. And yet, life is what it is, and we all share the experience of living it as 'I-am' and 'life is'. We all experience a so-called subject of experience that looks out into the world from a mind/body embodied experience of self-awareness and self-knowing. Whether we find ourselves in favorable or unfavorable circumstances, conditions or situations this we all share in some manner, condition and form. This is the price we have all paid in having the advantage and perhaps disadvantage of being self-aware and having self-awareness. As I see it, it is both a blessing and a curse of our limited, temporary and embodied humanity.

Despite all the multiple of choices and opportunities that we can have and take advantage of in being self-aware, we also have the knowing and uncertainty of not knowing how little or much time we have in living and playing out this fragile embodied mind/body experience and it is the same for us all. We all know with self-awareness that the mind/body experience does not last indefinitely, and all that we desire, like and love will have to be given up and surrendered in the end. Is this a bad thing? No, it simply is how it is. What appears eventually disappears. What has a beginning has an end. What was once new and fresh will become old and tired. This is the nature and cycle of birth, old age, decay, dis-ease and death. This is the consequence of 'becoming' and 'being'.

Yes, we can as a result of self-awareness and mind-consciousness directly examine and investigate the nature and essence of the mind\body experience. We are in the genuine and fortunate position to know what is the permanent source, origin and essence of all experience, creation and phenomena. This is definitely not something we should ever overlook or take for granted. We are in the welcomed and blessed position to wake up from the sleep and suffering of ignorance and to live in the spiritual and transcendental grace, recognition and complete knowing of Self-Realization. We, in our on-going humanity, are in the position to ask ourselves in the self-inquiry and contemplation of 'I-am'. Life is', "who or what is the true knower and experiencer of all that that is known and experienced? What is this knowing and what, if anything, is the original source and essence of this knowing of knowing. What we call the knower - the one who knows.

What is this?

Who am I?

'I-am'. Life is. We are finite and perfect expressions of the infinite essence and source of all life. Temporary and yet eternal. Seemingly imperfect and flawed and yet perfect, complete and whole. Even now, in the knowing of, 'I-am. Life is', I alone am. I am the 'I-am' of I am.

                                                KNOWING THE TRUTH OF REALITY

In the pursuit of spiritual Self-realization returning to the original source of all creation is what is asked of us. Even though this is only the urges and impulses of the mind, we still endeavor to play it out. To exhaust the mind of its held to limited ideas, views, opinions and beliefs of reality, experience and identity, and its need to control the playing out of all the events and dramas of conditioned and conceptual life. It is the removal of all that is false and the full recognition, knowing and acknowledgement that we have been mistaken about who we really are and what reality, experience and identity really are. We have had a mistaken and misinformed idea and notion of what reality and identity are. Due to our temporary humanity we seek to be continuously fulfilled and self-satisfied and free of the misery, burden and struggle that life can potentially inflict on us and others. 

In the spiritual Self-realization and knowing of our true nature and essence we are already perfect, whole, free of suffering, liberated and complete, as we are. and yet due to the conditioning and urges of the mind and its identity with the body, we are mistakenly caught up in the false idea, view and construct of separation and individuality. And yet, "who is it that is caught up? "Who is the one who feels burdened and troubled by life? Spiritual Awakening and Self-realization asks us to put aside and to eventually relinquish and release the mistaken identification and self-importance that is placed on all that is appearing, changing and disappearing in our lives, and to wake up and establish one's true identity with the impersonal, unchanging and deathless source. This source being the origin and essence of all experience, identity and phenomena. This should be approached and actualized as the highest spiritual endeavor in our embodied humanity beyond everything else because everything, and I mean everything, will be enriched, freed and loved in the actualization of this spiritual pursuit. In this actualization of the Deathless Self all is realized as oneself. All is loved, free and at peace in this pure realizing and knowing of pure 'Spirit'. It is the only true and satisfactory way that permanently releases us all from the attachments and burdens of conditioned and conceptual life. Anything else that we might do in order to be free of the things and dramas that burden, worry and trouble us or others will only be temporary states of happiness, peace and satisfaction. If we do not wake up from the sleep of ignorance, we will only be met once again with the feeling and impulse of unhappiness, restlessness, self-doubt and dissatisfaction with what life is, and the way things are in the world. There will always be something to be unhappy and upset about in life and complaining is certainly draining.

PURE BEING

What spiritual Self-realization is asking us to do is to lessen and weaken our self-interest and self-importance in all that is appearing, changing and disappearing in our mind/body experience of the phenomena we call world, including our identity with the mind/body experience, and to seek the true origin and identity of all experience and experiencing. It is a genuine invitation to actualize and directly know the one true and enduring source and essence of all creation, forms and experience. We are asked to discover and find the the one permanent and inexhaustible source and identity of all experience beyond the constructs, ideas, views and concepts of time, form and space, and to fully realize that which is not created, does not change and cannot be destroyed. It has no beginning and therefore no end. It is completely free of birth, old age, decay, sickness, dis-ease, change and death. It is free of suffering and the end of suffering. It is a Truth that is unburdened and fully free of all that is, and all that will ever be. It is a Truth that transcends the constructs, limitations and trappings of time, form and space. It is a Truth that transcends and is free of the confines and conditions the mind/body experience. It is a Truth that is already realized, free, unburdened and deathless. We are asked to discover and realize that which does not rely on the existence or need of time, form and space. It does not come into existence and therefore it always is. It is not something that we need to acquire or find, for it always is. Even now it is.

It is the 'I-am' of I am.

The irony of this spiritual endeavor is that we already are what we seek to become and be. In fact, we don't have to become and be it, for it is what we already are. And yet we assume we are what we think, feel and experience. I experience the body therefore I must be the body. I experience thoughts and feelings, therefore I must be what I think and feel I am. Our identity becomes what we think, see and feel it to be, and yet what we think, see and feel is itself temporary and empty of anything permanent and personal. What we aim to wake up to is ourselves, as our pure unconditioned and unmade essence. There is no becoming and being, as these are the urges, tendencies and conditions of the mind. We don't have to become and be what we already are. What we have to do is give up and surrender what we keep becoming and being, to give up all that is false, the 'I am this' or 'I am that' and then our true essence, identity and nature shines and radiates unhindered, known and free of all that the world is and yet it is one with all things and all things are one with it. In fact, this is what it is always doing. We have simply forgotten. The thought of 'I' is not the Self. And yet the thought of 'I' is not separate from the Self. The waves are not the ocean and yet they are always one with the ocean. The waves and the ocean are one. It is only appearances and our identity with them that create the idea of separation.

                    This is the message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self alone is.

Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real' as the eternal 'I-am'. All is this.

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021. A truly selfless, kind, beautiful and loving embodied soul, friend and mother. 

Post article note 2023: I have included written and compiled spiritual affirmations which were created and came together over the changing years of personal spiritual practice and self-inquiry. They are only included here as an exercise in unraveling the mind and its held to mental habits, views and tendencies. The more the truth of Reality is recognized and established they can simply be discarded. I attach no self-importance to them. I known for a period of so-called time I found them useful. They are only here because they too were part of the works and writings I had put together. Potentially they are all pointers to something which is calling to its true Self. This being Reality as it is.

The Many Faces of the One

What is this?

Who am I?

  The Many Faces of the One: article 11  - the unpublished esoteric writings of an aging yogi.

"I make a conscious daily connection with the love and wisdom of pure 'Spirit'. I am always centred in the love and wisdom of pure 'Spirit'. The love and wisdom of pure 'Spirit' is always establishing harmony and peace in my world. I always allow the blessing and grace of pure 'Spirit's' love and wisdom to support and guide me in every area and facet of my embodied life. I am always fully open and receptive to 'Spirit's' love and wisdom. I live my life in the full recognition and knowing of pure 'Spirit'. I radiate pure 'Spirit' at all times, in all places and in all my thoughts, deeds and actions. I am always deeply connected and at one with pure 'Spirit'. OM, shanti, shanti, shanti. 'I am', peace, peace peace."

"I-am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind."

           continuing from the unpublished esoteric collected writings and works of article 10

 

KNOWING REALITY FOR WHAT IT IS

Despite our sometimes flawed and imperfect existence and all the worldly challenges, demands and changes that come with having a self-aware embodied mind/body experience that finds itself expectantly or unexpectedly in a conceptual and conditioned world of change, conditionality, duality and consequence, we can only really know and have the knowing of experience and experiencing by there being a temporary self-aware embodied so-called subject of experience to recognize and know it, even if it is all unreal and empty of anything permanent.

Yes, it is flawed in that having the experience of an embodied self-aware individualized self brings with it the painful knowledge and truth of its own futility and mental anguish of clinging, grasping and attaching to conceptual and conditioned life and the mind/body experience, with the self-realization and knowing that it too is impersonal, empty, transitory and temporary. In a certain way, individualized self-awareness is itself a double-edged sword in that it can successfully and permanently cut through the illusory lies and false promises of all that conditioned and conceptual life appears to have to offer us in the need for permanent happiness, love, reward, peace, success, recognition, praise and fulfilment, but at the same time this same individualized self-aware embodied self can fill us with unwanted, painful and unpleasant feelings and thoughts of despair, anxiety, doubt, fear, shame, guilt, jealousy, anger, frustration, hate, worry, lust and restlessness. All that messy stuff that comes with our humanity.

Obviously whatever we interpret and see this world to be, it does not have the real capacity to remain available to us indefinitely. Certainly not in a personal and permanent way. It all has to be given up in the end. No matter how much money, status or possessions have been acquired, accumulated and stored up; no matter how much success, fame, wealth, status, authority and investments have been earned and bought to protect and keep our livelihoods and lives safe, important and secure, it will all be lost to us in the end. The body and mind which appears to us to house the self-aware embodied subject of experience and experiencing does not last forever, and so with their disappearance, the self-aware individualized subject of experience vanish too. This is the impermanence and emptiness of it all.

 

This seemingly harsh truth of worldly reality can itself be a burden and disappointment to us. It can potentially make engaging with life in a fully open, positive, fearless, free and honest way extremely hard, challenging, confusing, frustrating and disappointing. It is not really anyone's fault that things and the world are like this. It is simply the way things are. No one is to blame, even if we might look to do this. The only real cause of death is birth. There might be many different circumstances, conditions and situations that lead to death, but it only has one real cause and that is birth. Birth and death are inseparable. One defining the other. No birth, no death. No beginning, no end. No inside. No outside. The self-aware individualized embodied self has a beginning and therefore it too has an end. Plain and simple. Of course this is blatantly clear to us and yet we can still have a hard time completely accepting it. This is why we endeavour to find and know that which transcends it. The Self of self. The truth of all that is illusionary.

What is this?

Who am I?

THE EMPTY SELF

We, as an individualized embodied self-aware self and mental construct, mostly live our lives in a very fragile, uncertain, ever-changing and demanding world where we can be physically or mentally invaded and troubled at any time by unexpected and expected changes, demands, dramas and challenges. The phenomenal world and all its creations and forms potentially and continuously imposing itself on the bodily senses; tempting us with things to desire, crave, want, love, hate or avoid. Never really knowing whether our personal circumstances and situations will favor us or not, and if they do favor us how long they will last. This can be the on-going uncertainty and vulnerability of life that makes us restless, anxious, frustrated, upset, fearful and even depressed. It can be so overwhelming and confusing at times simply because we are presented with so much to potentially please and busy the senses with. Even the things that repulse us. The on-going and ever-changing mental, physical and emotional burden that can come with trying to choose, acquire, have and keep the things we desire to want, acquire and have, and to remain separated and rid of the things we desire and crave not to want, acquire and have. Our frustration and dis-ease can simply be with coming to terms with what conditioned and conceptual life is and the on-going challenges, changes, dramas and demands it presents in our on-going attempt to make our worldly desires and needs of life achievable, sustainable and permanently favorable and pleasing to us. Again, I can assure you, that I am not trying to get down on life and saying that all of life is bad. There is definitely a quiet and palpable beauty and joy to be found in all that life is despite its limitations. I am simply attempting to point us to the origin, essence and source of all experience and experiencing rather than the on-going chasing and having of experiences, as a way to wake us up to the truth of reality, experience and identity. This is the with the intent and motivation for us to recognize and know our true boundless nature and essence. This is the one Reality that is all Reality.

Genuinely our true selfless nature and essence is not really concerned or burdened with these things. Self-importance and self-gratification have their root in the appearance and disappearance of the mind/body experience. The individualized self-aware identification and attachment with the mind/body experience can be the obstacle to us actually recognizing, realizing and knowing essentially who we really are and what reality is, as they create the idea and feeling of 'one' who appears to be in bondage and one who desires liberation. But the very idea that there is a permanent 'I' or 'me' who is in bondage and needs liberation is the real illusion. The true essence, source and nature of all life is completely unburdened, untroubled, unaffected, unchanging, unthreatened and totally free of all that is. Therefore regardless of all appearances, forms, situations, dramas and circumstances it is always free, fulfilled, complete, whole, plentiful, unburdened, ever-present and at peace. 

THE PERENNIAL TRUTH

I am fully aware that it has all been said time and time again by many spiritual masters, mystics and self-help teachers that all living forms seek to be permanently happy and free of misery and dis-ease. It is said that all living forms seek to be free of the burdens and challenges of the mind/body experience, and to find and fully attain permanent joy, happiness, certainty, fulfilment and peace in all that life is. 

It can be very easy to take a look at the world with all its demands, imperfections and challenges to feel a sense of hopelessness and frustration with all that it is. Even when you simply consider the misery and hardship we ourselves as a species have created for others and the planet as a whole through our own on-going desire, need and pursuit of personal power, wealth, security, success, fame, self-gratification, status, recognition and self-importance. And yet these very challenges exist in relationship to there being a mind/body experience. They are all part of our humanity. The hopelessness and frustration with life can simply be a temporary consequence of the human condition itself because it requires and needs so much to make it permanently sustainable, manageable, fulfilling and rewarding. It can be very challenging to realize that at times we have little or no control over how events and situations in our lives play or turn out. With the best will in the world we are sometimes left helpless and hopeless in our attempts to make and keep worldly circumstances and conditions permanently favorable for us and others. The truth is, even if it not always obvious to us, that we continuously manage and live our lives with an uncertainty and vulnerability that is always with us as a result of our own human condition. It is all an impersonal and ever-changing consequence of our own embodied and living humanity.

All this simply because of the way that things are. What it created can be destroyed. What is built can be broken. What is acquired can be taken away. What is gained can be lost. What is born, dies. Even if we do manage to obtain a certain level of success and fulfilment through acquiring various worldly conditions, objects, experiences and situations we have no real certainty in how long it will all last. All our lives, no matter who we are, are always governed by change, impermanence and uncertainty. This is not for us to have the attitude of seeing life as bad, worthless or wrong, and as punishing, shameful, cruel and unfair. It is simply to see things for what they are. With gaining genuine clarity for the way things are, we stop attaching the idea of permanence to that which is impermanent. We stop clinging to that which is always changing and disappearing. We begin to recognize and know how we suffer as a consequence of trying to hold on to all that is impermanent, empty, transient and unreal. We openly and honestly begin to recognize, see and know the 'emptiness' of all things. We clearly see that all things are made out of 'emptiness' and are of 'emptiness'. We genuinely accept that 'emptiness' is the real nature, essence and source of all things and creations. Recognizing and knowing 'emptiness' is what frees us from all that life is. It is all a window into our true enduring and ever-present Self.

The 'I-am' of I am.

CLARITY AND INSIGHT

A selection of spiritual, mystics and self-help teachers, both past and present, would say to you that we are here to establish the truth, insight and knowledge of pure 'Spirit' in order to be free of the temporary mind-made illusions of lack, bondage, limitation, fear and death. In choosing to closely investigate and examine the true nature of reality, experience and identity we soon recognize that finding permanent fulfilment in the stuff of life can only fulfil us temporarily as all things have to eventually return to their source, 'emptiness', from which they came. All that appears, shows up and comes to us in experience and experiencing eventually decays, departs, changes and disappears, and so too with the self-aware individualized embodied self. What we acquire in conceptual and conditioned life can be taken from us and this includes having and experiencing life itself. What we are invited to endeavour to do in the esoteric pursuit and fulfilment of Self-realization and spiritual-awakening is to intimately and directly find and know that selfless, formless and undying Self, which is not acquired, created, made, gained, formed, changing, conditioned, born or found. This is the 'I-am' I speak of. It is freedom itself. It is that which we already are. It is the ever-present and abiding 'I-am' of I am. Its bliss is our natural state. Death cannot threaten it or touch it and so too with all creations. 

We are all invited to establish a direct and intimate experiential Self-realization and ownership of the undying and unchanging source, essence and origin of all creation and forms. For me, this is not something acquired, created, formed, conditioned, constructed, given, attained or found, as it already is. Only our mistaken worldly individualized identity and strong attachment with the mind/body experience as who and what we are obscures and keeps us from this transcendental knowing, knowledge and Truth. I would say to you, to find the real Self of the self we must give up the false self and then it will all become clear. This Self is free of time, space and form. The light and radiance of the Self shines as it always did. This recognition and knowing of 'emptiness' is what fully frees us from the limiting grip of all illusion. Its very nature is freedom.

This transcendental truth of what reality, experience and identity are, that I speak of, is always present, here and now, whether it is recognized, known or not. How we see or know the world doe not alter it, affect it, change it, lessen it, threaten it, hinder it, improve it, impact it, touch it or destroy it. It is always free and boundless, no matter what. This is the ultimate truth of Reality and all is this.

            This is the message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self alone is as the ever-present 'I-am'.

Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real' as the eternal 'I-am'. All is this.

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021. A truly selfless, kind, beautiful and loving embodied soul, friend and mother. 

The Many Faces of the One

What is this?

Who am I?

The Many Faces of the One: article 10 - the unpublished esoteric writings of an ageing yogi.

'All that we really are is untouched, unthreatened, unhindered, unlimited and unaltered by all that is. Nothing can really threaten, penetrate, touch, damage, improve, lessen or destroy it. It is completely without form and not created and therefore unlimited, unconditioned, boundless, formless, indestructible and always liberated. It is totally free of birth, old age, disease, sickness, decay, sorrow, pain, lack, delusion and death. It is without beginning and therefore without end. It is eternal, formless and ever-present. 

What Reality really is, is eternal in essence and nature and this transcendental God-Reality is the one true universal essence, origin, substance and source of all that is experienced in the experiencing and knowing of experience. This is the ever-present and enduring 'I-am' that I speak of. 'I-am' is the true nature and essence of reality, experience and identity. It is our true enduring and immaculate identity.'

"One Intelligence. One Reality. One Mind. One immaculate Self. All one."

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

 

      continuing from the collected unpublished esoteric writings and works of article 9

 

ONE BOUNDLESS UNIVERSAL INTELLIGENCE

So, we, as an impersonal and selfless individualized embodied construct and consequence of our temporary and conditioned humanity, have the mental tendency and mindset to get continually entangled, identified and caught up with all that life is or is not. These are the impersonal and selfless demands, needs, urges, impulses and conditions of acquiring and having a physical and material earthly body and existence. 

We, the individualized so-called embodied self-aware self, as a mind/body experience mistakenly identify with all that shows up in our experience and assume that it somehow confirms who we are and what our life actually is. When really who and what we are is not really affected, changed, threatened, touched, hindered, improved, lessened, limited or altered by all that life is and is not. What can be seen to be affected, changed, touched, threatened, hindered, improved, limited, lessened and altered is the mind and the body, but these are not who or what we really are. They too are impersonal, empty and selfless temporary and conditioned phenomena and constructs that are temporarily acquired, held to, exercised and eventually discarded, including mind-consciousness.

            - Self-Exposure

The conditioned and transient mind/body experience is flawed and unreliable in that it is an imperfect and vulnerable physical and mental conditioned and self-made selfless phenomena governed by change, conditionality and co-dependency. 

The sensory realms of experience and experiencing are continuously vulnerable, opened to and imposed on by sensory objects and the ever-changing worldly situations, dramas, conditions, contradictions and events that can easily upset its equilibrium, existence and status. Our mind-made and socially conditioned and held to preferences to only be in the close and direct company of what pleases us and satisfies us, and to remain separate and distant from anything that upsets or threatens us, is a continuous mental and physical battle and an ever-changing conditioning and impact of the worldly and bodily senses and sense objects. 

Unfortunately the harsh truth is that by their very nature and conditioning it is almost impossible to not experience things or situations that upset or threaten the existence of the mind/body experience, and its desire, preference and attachment to only have experiences that completely satisfy and agree with it. It is very challenging to permanently keep the mind and body separate and distant from any experience or condition that might threaten or end their on-going pursuit and need for continuous satisfaction, pleasure, attention, certainty, assurance, security and reward. This is especially true when strongly attached and identified with the idea and concept of an individualized embodied self and construct.

ONLY THE TRUTH WILL SET US FREE

The Truth presented here reveals to us all that there is no permanence to be found, acquired, made and attained in that which is impermanent and transitory. The ever-changing sensory realms of experience are continuously exposed to the attraction and repulsion of sensory impressions and objects, be they desirable, neutral or undesirable to us. Much of this ever-changing worldly dance of the senses happens on an unconscious level. Most of us are completely unaware that much of our so-called lives are being simply influenced, conditioned, changed and shaped by that which we are attracted to or repulsed by with the addition of personal needs, demands, preferences and conditionings. We rarely stop to think what is it that actually drives us and makes us do the things that we do. 

The individualized mind says, "I don't want this experience or thing so I will do all I can to not have it in my life, or I want this experience or thing so I will do all I can to have it in my life". "I don't want this particular feeling so I will do all I can not to have it in my life". "I want this particular feeling so I will do all I can to have and keep it in my life." Obviously there are innate cravings, urges and desires that purely happen as a result of having a body and mind. These impersonal and selfless bodily impulses and urges fulfil the physical need and requirement for food, warmth, safety, intimacy, survival and shelter. This is a subject and object relationship of sense gratification, impulse and reward, played out with the forces of attraction and repulsion; expansion and contraction. Either we are mostly moving towards something or moving away from something. It is the continuous internal playing out and battle that we have with ourselves, the world and our temporary humanity to have our life the way we would like it and to permanently keep it that way without any event, drama or situation upsetting or changing it or even ending it. Like I have already stated, this is not about us getting down on life, it is simply an invitation to examine and investigate experience, identity and reality for what it is so as to intimately recognize and know that which is already free, complete, plentiful, fulfilled and whole. This being the truth of 'I-am'. Fully recognizing and knowing the 'emptiness' of all reality and identity frees us from the painful grip of things, dramas and appearances. On-going changes and challenges continue but we are not bound, limited or hindered by them.

What is this?

Who am I?

THE HIGHEST KNOWING 

For me, our true impersonal and transcendental essence, source and nature has no real concern for these mental and physical demands, urges and needs of the conceptual and phenomenal world. These worldly things and needs do not alter, change, threaten, touch, hinder. limit or affect the real undying and immaculate essence, nature and source of all experience, reality and phenomena. They are totally secondary to its ever-present existence, Truth and identity. They are impersonal, selfless and fleeting temporary expressions of its pure essence and nature. Reality's true nature and essence is complete, whole, free, perfect, plentiful and fulfilled in and of its own Self. Worldly demands, expectations, needs and desires happen to us as a result of having an individualized mind/body experience. Whether things and phenomena exist or not exist makes no real difference to our true nature, source and essence, even though we might think it does. This is why in the esoteric pursuit of Self-realization and Spiritual-awakening we closely and directly investigate and examine the one who is chasing, having and desiring experience. We inwardly and directly investigate and examine the one who is having and attaching to experience, and the one who is repulsed, worried and threatened by experience. We quietly examine and investigate the mind/body experience and the real source and cause of any and all suffering. Not by looking to control and change what is external to us but by looking deeply within ourselves to the root and core of our own unhappiness, confusion, fear, worry and lack of peace, love and fulfilment.

Of course the individualized mind and body can be affected, altered, touched, threatened and changed by the appearance, change and disappearance of worldly situations, conditions, dramas and events, but in the recognition, knowing and knowledge of Self-realization we, the so-called individualized mind, awaken to abide in the absolute Truth and knowing of the unchanging, untouched and unmoving pure 'Spirit'. Even whilst appearing to remain physically and mentally active, engaged and present in the worldly conditioned and conceptual demands, changes and needs of the worldly mind/body experience. It is not that a separate 'I' abides as the unchanging and unmoving Self. It is simply as it is. If anything, all is awake and abides as the unchanging, unthreatened, untouched, boundless and unmoving Self. All is recognized and known to be the Self that we all are. Of course, there is still the appearance and playing out of the ever-changing and on-going phenomenal and conditioned world and all its myriad and diversity of things, forms, dramas and phenomena, but it is all recognize and seen as pure 'Spirit' - One Intelligence. One Reality. One Mind. One Truth. All is 'I-am'.

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

THE WHOLE WORLD AS 'I-AM'

We can still appear to act and be in a universe where two opposing and inseparable forces contribute to what conceptual and conditioned reality is. Each opposing and inseparable force defining, establishing, and complimenting the other. We simply as individualized self-aware embodied constructs recognize and know things by their opposite. In a way space and form are inseparable. Where there is form there is also space. Where there is space there is also form. Where there is the experience and experiencing of an object there is a subject who has to experience it. Otherwise how would the object even be known to exist? Each recognized and known opposite defines the other and confirms their worldly existence. There is no 'inside' without 'outside'. And no 'outside' without 'inside'. There is no pleasure without pain, and there is no birth without death. They are inseparable and co-dependent. This is the very nature and conditioning of a dual, conditioned and conceptual phenomenal world. This is why we are continually invited and asked to seek and know intimately and directly that which is unborn, unmade and formless. No birth. No death. No becoming or being. 

How could we really know and experience the existence of an universe without a subject to experience it? Would the universe even exists if there was no subject to know it? In a way the experience of the universe and the knowing of it are inseparable otherwise how would it even be known to exist? Who would really know if the universe really existed if there was no one or self to know it? In a way the universe exists because there is a subject that knows it. The object and the subject are inseparable for the universe to be known experientially to exist. Through subject and object we experience the ever-changing phenomenal world of things, forms, constructs and phenomena. Even the phenomenal world can be seen as an object of experience. Yet who is the one seeing? Who is the one knowing?

What is this?

Who am I?

We generally view the phenomenal world as being separate and distinct from ourselves. We see the phenomenal world as something that we are relating to and taking apart in. Our embodied lives are continuously governed, changed, impacted and altered by the universal conditional forces of attraction and repulsion; expansion and contraction. And these same worldly forces are present in the mind/body experience. In fact these worldly forces are essential to their existence. Without these opposing and yet balancing forces nothing would exist in the phenomenal world of experience and experiencing. For me, these very opposing and yet balancing universal forces are the ever-changing sacred selfless dance and playing out of the inexhaustible essence of pure 'Spirit'. For me, as I intimately experience and know it, all is pure 'Spirit'. Plain and simple. The true ever-present Self is untouched and unaltered by the ever-changing vicissitudes of conditioned and conceptual embodied and sensory reality.

I can assure you all I am not here with the agenda to convince you or anyone of anything. I do not assume for you or anyone to blindly believe or adhere to what I am presenting and communicating to you here. I would not be this foolish, demanding or needy. If anything I am simply calling to and playing with my essence of Self. For it is all myself, and it doesn't really need my personalized help. It all is as it is and this too is. It is the Self always serving, celebrating and honouring the Self. Nothing more than this. Self evident and radiant.

If life should require you to wake up to your true self, then you will and it might be that this esoteric blog played a small part in that self evident Self-realization. As this is how you designed it to be so you could wake up from the mode of ignorance. Sometimes it is only after a particular life-changing event that these things become very clear to us, and then all we can really do is silently 'smile' and prostrate at how perfect and simple it all is and was. The so-called ego fully and finally surrenders and embraces life is all its complexity, diversity, dramas, differences and disappointments, and all the time the true Self has remained unaffected, unchanged, ever-present, immaculate and radiant.

One Intelligence. One Reality. One Mind. One Truth.

                 This is the message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self alone is. All is this as 'I-am'.

Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: "I am. Life is. I am one with all life and all life is one with me. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real' as the eternal 'I-am'. All is this.

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021. A truly selfless, kind, beautiful and loving embodied soul, friend and mother. 

Post-article note: Freedom is our true enduring nature. It is not something created, acquired, attained or found. It is as we truly are and have always been. Nothing can limit, remove or destroy it. It is free of all constructs, forms, beliefs, ideas, views, dramas and experiences. It is Reality as it always is. Bondage is the illusion of ignorance. Ignorance and liberation are of the mind. They do not limit, hinder, improve or impact on this enduring freedom. This freedom is our one true and ever-present Reality.

All is this!