AWARENESS: inspirations from Baha’u’llah, Abdu’l-Baha, Ken Wilber and Rupert Spira

Earlier today I posted a piece about Deikman’s ‘I = awareness’.

Here are four other teachers on the nature of awareness;

1a) “…..according to the great sages, there is something in us that is “always conscious” that is literally conscious or aware at all times through all states, waking, dreaming, sleeping. And that “ever present awareness is Spirit in us”. That underlying current of constant consciousness (or non-dual awareness) is a direct and unbroken ray of pure Spirit itself. It is our connection with the Goddess, our pipeline straight to God.” — Ken Wilber in One Taste p. 64 – -0-

1b) The one thing that we always are already aware of is….awareness itself. We already have basic awareness in the form of the capacity to witness whatever arises. As an old Zen master used to say, “you hear the birds? You see the sun? Who is not enlightened? None of us can even imagine a state where basic awareness is not because we would still be aware of the imagining. Even in dreams we are aware. Moreover, these traditions maintain, there are not two different types of awareness, enlightened versus ignorant. There is only awareness. And this awareness, exactly & precisely as it is, without correction or modification at all, is itself Spirit, since there is nowhere that Spirit is not. The instructions then are to recognize awareness, recognize the Witness, recognize the Self, & abide as that. Any attempt to get awareness is totally beside the point. “But I still don’t see the Spirit!” “You are aware of your not seeing Spirit, and that awareness is itself Spirit!” You can practice mindfulness, because there is forgetfulness; but you cannot practice awareness, because there is only awareness. Ken Wilber in One Taste: p130

2a) BAHA’I INSPIRATIONS: “Earth & heaven cannot contain Me; what can alone contain Me is the heart of him that believeth in Me, and is faithful to My Cause.” How often hath the human heart, which is the recipient of the light of God and the seat of the revelation of the All-Merciful, erred from Him Who is the Source of that light and the Well Spring of that revelation. …..Those hearts, …. that are aware of His Presence, are close to Him, and are to be regarded as having drawn nigh unto His throne. SOURCE – http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/GWB/gwb-93.html

2b)…..the Essence of God is incomprehensible to the human mind, for the finite understanding cannot be applied to this infinite Mystery. God contains all: He cannot be contained. ….. The whole is greater than its parts. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá – SOURCE – http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/PT/pt-5.html

3) Rupert Spira inspirations: Awareness cannot be found by the mind, in most cases it is deemed missing. And as a result of that, the peace and the happiness that are inherent in it are also considered missing. And hence the imaginary self goes off into the world in search of the missing peace and happiness. And as we all know, it doesn’t live there. Where does it live? In the simple knowing of our own being. It’s knowing of itself, that is, awareness’s awareness of awareness. And it is your innermost experience at all times. It’s not a new experience. It’s not something that has been lost and has to be found. At worst, we could say it has been overlooked, apparently. The screen has been overlooked due to our exclusive fascination with the body, the mind, and the world.
…….. just relax the focus of your attention from the body, mind and the world. You don’t have to get rid of them, just cease being exclusively focused on anything. It’s like withdrawing your attention, it’s like putting the camera slightly out of focus. Your attention flows back to its source which is your self. You just stand as this space of awareness. You just let the body, the mind and the world do whatever they’ve been conditioned to do. Just let them flow by. NB Rupert’s YouTube videos are here – https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rupert+spira+