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Knowing

You are here, before, during and after all appearances as the ground of knowing that knows all of the changing form and data. Your essential nature knows itself and all that appears in, to and as itself.

Almost all seekers look to the experience as the thing they are seeking. For example, a wonderful mystical experience can be far different and more extraordinary than normal everyday experiences. And when they happen, they can be quite exhilarating and compelling. We can feel that the experience is akin to enlightenment or something like that.

But, as with every experience, it appears, stays a while and then vanishes, leaving no trace. Once returning to ordinary consciousness, we may be left with a sense of lacking something or of disappointment. We then long for that experience to come again and last forever, but it never does.

With unpleasant experiences, we have the opposite desire—that it leaves and never comes again. And we may fear or shun possible future unpleasant experiences.

But what is here before, during and after all of those experiences? You, as knowing, which doesn’t come and go and knows all experiences. Coming to know this aspect of yourself is what I call a shift of knowing. A shift from being “lost” in appearances, to the relief of knowing yourself as essentially untouched by any experience.

All appearances, pleasant, unpleasant, ordinary or extraordinary are equal in that they appear, stay a while and then vanish, leaving only you, untouched, always here and ever the same.


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