Open Aware Presence

Perhaps what we most deeply want is simply to be awake in this moment, not in some spectacular way, but very simply—hearing the birds or the traffic sounds, enjoying a cup of coffee, feeling the breathing, delighting in the visual world, feeling whatever is felt, not needing anything more or less—free from the illusion of separation, solidity and encapsulation.

Truly, we are like waves in the ocean—ever-changing, inseparable movements of a seamless indivisible whole. We are both ocean and wave. This one bottomless moment (this open aware presence) is ever-changing in appearance while never departing from the ever-present immediacy of here and now.

Thought poses as "me" and claims to be the thinker-chooser-doer, but no such entity can actually be found. Our thoughts, behaviors and apparent choices arise as movements of the whole. When we take it all personally and believe that we are small and separate, feelings of deficiency, anxiety, guilt, blame, confusion and dissatisfaction inevitably follow.

Is there any way out of painful conditioned patterns? Awareness and attention are the transformative powers that can illuminate and dissolve habitual suffering and confusion and open us to the vast spaciousness and unconditional love that we are. This all-inclusive aware presence is at once closer than close, most intimate, and at the same time, limitless and boundless. It is the common factor in every different experience.

What is offered here invites firsthand exploration and direct discovery, not belief or dogma. There is no finish-line, no method, no future goal, only this ever-fresh aliveness. We habitually search for certainty and something to grasp, but in holding on to nothing at all, there is immense freedom.