Gateway to Grace
You can go through this entire lifetime; in fact you can pass through countless lifetimes, without remembering who you are.
I know. I've done it. And you probably have too.
You see the illusion of the collective consciousness is so powerful, so hypnotic, that most of us accept, without question, that this vision of reality is reality. Most of us spend lifetime after lifetime in the Earth School playing the games the collective consciousness decrees we should play: Relationship games, war games, hunger and poverty games, suffering and lack games, poverty and struggle games, games of adventure and conquest, games of discovery and love, and also for most beings, games of sickness and death. It seems that it's all part of the curriculum of the Earth School. And most of us, in fact the majority, toddle along to Earth School and play these games wholeheartedly. Because we signed up for these things! We signed up for the illusion. We signed up to forget the Nature of Reality, and so we did, indeed, wholeheartedly.
Until one day, you've had enough.
Until one day, your heart tells you there's got to be something more.
Until one day, your weariness at going to the Earth School, lifetime after lifetime, is about to overwhelm you.
Until one day, you're ready to wake up from illusion.
Then the searching begins.
Some search frantically, some search sporadically—but the searching continues. And whether erratic or persistent, it never stops. Because the nagging, the discontent, never again leaves you, as you who have tasted of this weariness well know.
Never.
So you begin to ask yourself—what is Life all about? What is reality? What is real?
Which leads you to the next question: How do you define “the real”?
And you find that you must define “the real” as something substantial, as something that never changes. When you do this, you quickly discover that most of what you are experiencing in your daily life is not “real” because most of it is constantly changing.
In fact, at first you think—everything is constantly changing.
Your thoughts are changing. Your emotions are changing. Your body is changing. The weather is changing. The government is changing. The economic situation is changing. Your relationships are changing. The trees and plants and oceans and skies around you are changing. Your friends are changing. Your work is changing. In fact everything in the world of phenomena around you is changing.
So you ask yourself… is there anything that never changes?
Then as you learn to meditate, you make an earth-shaking discovery.
Yes there is something that never changes!
You discover on that wonderful, glorious, miraculous day—while you are meditating—the one thing that never changes!
You discover that behind all the constantly changing phenomena, behind all the constantly changing thoughts in your mind, behind all the constantly changing emotions you are experiencing, behind all the constantly changing sensations of your physical body… there is a sense of awareness… a consciousness… of all these changes that never changes!
In other words, there is something (or someone) behind the changing phenomena you are experiencing that is always there. There is something (or someone) who is watching, who is aware, who is witnessing all these changes. And this something or someone never changes. It is always there. Always present. In other words, this awareness is always there, regardless of your passing thoughts, regardless of the weather, regardless of your emotional state, regardless of whether you are healthy or sick, young or old, happy or sad, rich or poor. This watcher, this witness, this awareness is just there, regardless. Watching.
We human beings have given this awareness a name: We call it consciousness.
Consciousness is this state of self-awareness. According to Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language: “Consciousness is awareness of one’s own existence. The state of being.”
And so you must ask yourself—who or what is this awareness or consciousness that is behind all the changing phenomena that you are constantly experiencing?
The answer is right there in front of you.
This consciousness, this awareness is you. It must be you. Who else or what else could it be?
This consciousness, this awareness, this witness or watcher who is always there, must be the real you—since this is the only thing about you that never changes.
And so you discover your True Self.
You discover that your true nature is consciousness. And that you are in fact the consciousness—the awareness—that never changes.
Yes, that is what or who you are!
You are consciousness itself. You are the silent seer, the witness. You are the consciousness that is always present.
But what does this mean... that you are consciousness itself? What is this consciousness that you suddenly realize you are? Who or what is this witness, this seer?
This consciousness is the underlying Nature of Reality. This consciousness, which is your True Self, your true identity, is none other than the Source and Substance of all things, the Author of all things, the Author of all the universes and all the dimensions in all their immenseness, glory and wonder. So you discover, though you may not want to say it out loud to the grocer on the corner, that this Author, this marvelous Governor, this incomprehensible consciousness that is the very Source and Substance of the vastness of time and space itself, is who you are.
Now, you soon realize that this discovery, startling as it may seem, difficult as it may be to grasp or comprehend, is absolutely true. And even though your ego with all the persuasive power of its never-ending chatter tries to convince you otherwise, you know, in your heart of hearts, that this discovery really is true. You also begin to realize that the “little you”—or what you perceive as your personality in this world—is but a focal point in the vastness of consciousness itself. Somehow and for some reason, you are a central point or hub in the incomprehensible vastness of the unmanifest that first imagines and then creates and finally delivers this world and all the multitude upon multitudes of worlds in all the immensity of eternity.
Some would say you've discovered your Higher Self. Some would say you've discovered God. Some would say you had a moment of God Realization. Some would say... but whatever some would say, or you would say, whatever feeble words you would use to explain this mind-boggling discovery to yourself, the realization is so profound, so revolutionary, that it totally transforms every aspect of your life.
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I can assure you that once you remember who you are you will never be the same again. Of course, you might still wake up in the morning in the same bed, wear the same clothes, have the same job, be married to the same person, drive the same car, have the same children, shop at the same supermarket, but when you look in the mirror, you will see yourself with new eyes—and your relationship to all the external aspects of your life will be completely and permanently changed. Now and forever.
Because suddenly you know who you are!
And this means you're free!
Truly and utterly free.
And for the first time in this life, you also know—at the most profound level of your being—that you are not a victim, not some puppet on a string on a chaotic stage called Life, but that you are indeed the Author of this play (however strange and wondrous) and the Director as well.
And this new sense of freedom, this new discovery, then so permeates every aspect of your consciousness, every corner of your life, every aspect of your mental, emotional and physical bodies, that yes, one day, and one day very soon, you wake up and find yourself a completely new person.
And the magic tool that got you there is none other than meditation.
From my book Gateway to Grace
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