Habituated living smothers our capacity to be alive with presence.

In the absence of image- projection- and self-construct, “i” simply “am” a part of what “i” am seeing, sensing, and experiencing directly, intimately, and immediately. I am not colored by conditioning and memory of a running commentary that defines and limits my consciousness to a self-constructed narrative. It is projection upon projection that occludes my presence of being experientially. Who “i” am and where “i” stand is seen not thought. I feel what “i” sense. My thought follows from an “observing self”- a “sensing self”- and an “experiential self”. In this process of seeing and sensing, “i” am exploring and examining with curiosity all that is illuminated by the free attention and open awareness of a mindsight that sees to wonder…

In this place of presence, there is no image to fulfill- no fear to be seen as “i” am. It is here where one rejoices in the presence of oneself- being and experiencing the moment inside and outside as it is… arising and falling in the flow of “suchness”. To truly “see” is to light up one’s experience not for oneself but unto oneself.

Directly in the experience of it all, the running commentary of our self-image loses its fuel to distract our seeing and sensing of the moment. The focus of our “happenings”- the events of our consciousness are no longer centered by “I”, but by “this” or “that” which is directly experienced. Immersed in seeing, we are opened by the seas of our awareness to be present- to be curious and to wonder.

Our home is not our storyline. Although, we often take great comfort and security in the notion that what is truly familiar is both reinforcing and solid. We are drawn to what we “think” we know about the egocentric world of “I”. This “I” resists being free to experience presence, because it needs its point of reference to thrive- within the construct and concept of “self”. Moving beyond the illusion of what is conceptualized about one’s being, there is another Way.

At first, we long to stay connected with our “story self”– it is what we know. We have been habituated into living from a “place” where all the layers sandwich us into submission. It’s where we are constantly stimulated and often gratified by the rationalization that our constructs really are who and what we are. The richness and fullness of this other Way is seeing and sensing without the “story”. Take a moment with your breath- see the trees and sky- listen to the sounds in a place of “silence”. Where we stand in the presence of clear seeing– and of clear sensing gives way to an awareness that momentarily may seem empty yet fills with stimuli outside of the confines of a thinking and conceptualizing mind.

In the presence of being, our “home” is emerging and unfolding with wonderment. We let go of our story as compassion and curiosity fills our hearts and awakens our state of consciousness to trust this unfamiliar yet insightful Way of being. As we continue to wonder, our fear transforms into courage and our resistance into openness to move out deeper into what we have been missing.

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