When looking at causation, we need to ask: What causes things? What is the ultimate cause of everything? By taking a look at the universe we can see that everything is interlinked at such a level that we can’t help but wonder if anything really can happen. We need to understand that it’s up to the universe to make things happen. The entire universe needs to conspire to cause them to happen.

There’s this wonderful saying that I like: “When I pull a blade of grass, the entire universe shakes.” Scientists and philosophers around the world will agree with and validate the fact that things are interconnected. Everything is interlinked even at microscopic level. But all this causality and interlinking occurs in space and time. When it comes to enlightenment, what we’re talking about is that which is before, beyond and transcends space and time. In this realm, this realm beyond description, there is no causality. Everything and the world just is, because it is. There is no cause and everything has no cause.

Often I compare this analogy to water or the vast ocean. The ocean can take various shapes. It can transform itself into ice cubes that are magnificent, beautiful universes shaped out of ice. Or, it can transform into steam, becoming beautiful, wonderful heavens and hells created out of steam. But ultimately, everything that is created comes out of an ocean. It is a vast, infinite ocean that always was and always will be. Our minds, on the other hand, are part of the space-time continuum. Concepts and theories lie because they seek causation but they’re part of a change. That which is permanent, however, does not change. The ocean which we are is, always has been and always will be.

The universe that we live in now isn’t caused; it just is. All there exists is this vast ocean of consciousness that’s ultimately all it can be. We perceive change and differences because of space and time. But the ultimate reality of who or what we are is this vast ocean of awareness, universes, gods, religion, that are all created out of this oneness. It is this non-dual, non-causal, ultimate reality of who we are.

When we relax we let the mind be still. We connect with that ultimate, true self of who we are by quieting the mind. By just being, there is a connection and we awaken to who we are. It is called enlightenment but it is an awakening to our true self. It is waking up to our ocean, our infinite, everlasting state that is beyond concepts and is who we are.

This is where causality ceases and we just be. When we let go of all our concepts – life, death, self, non-self – and we just be, we enter the ultimate reality: that which always is, and always has been. We awaken to enlightenment. When our minds are still, absolutely still, we wake up to who we are and what we find is that we are no more. What we are is infinite. The small “I” exists no more. Again, it’s like the ice cube melting and realizing “Ah! I’m not an ice cube, I’m an ocean. I always have been and I always will be. I’ve never really ultimately been an ice cube. I’m the ultimate, true, infinite self. Wow!”

The problem is that we often get caught into thinking “Ah! I’m an ice cube. The universe is an ice cube. It’s real. It’s tangible.” But guess what? It will melt away. Someday everything will be gone except for that which always has been and always will be. Be that. You and I are that.
When we wake up to this true, infinite self of who we are, then we relax and are at peace. All is well because we realize that we don’t have to fear anything or desire anything. Everything is and we are that.

Be that and stop identifying with every label you give; there is no more “I” in this state. There just is, without causation.

Resource Box:
Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, author, international speaker, and meditation expert who has been counseling individuals, families, nonprofits, and businesses for over twenty years. A contributing writer to Psychology Today, he has authored numerous books and creates a weekly podcast on happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org He also creates a weekly podcast on meditation, http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com and a weekly podcast on spiritual enlightenment, http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com His retreat schedules can be found at http://www.HolisticRetreats.tv You also might find his blog useful at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com If you are interested in having Dr. Puff speak to your organization or company, you can learn more about his speaking services at http://www.SuccessBeyondYourImagination.com

I wrote a poem based on a Zen tradition and it describes aspects of enlightenment:

I wake up,
rain washes the trees,
smells are fresh,
spring is abounding now,
then I wake to the illusion
I’m dreaming.

Enlightenment is about waking up to the reality that life isn’t real. It’s merely an illusion, an extended dream. Our minds create a reality, saying “This is real, everything is real, I am real.” Instead of just witnessing life and being aware of it, we identify with our lives and take them on as an identity.

Enlightenment is like seeing the world through the moon and then all of a sudden, the sun arises and we see the real world through the sun. Everything that we’ve imagined to be real through the glow of the moon pales in comparison to what we see through the sun or through enlightenment.

When enlightenment occurs, our minds become quiet, they become still. In that stillness, we can see and experience what truly is without labels, because the truth is beyond anything the mind can grasp. It is so far beyond anything. We may see shadows, like the moon that casts shadows, but once the sun appears that which is becomes truly illuminated and is far beyond anything that the moon can reveal to us. When our minds become still, we see and experience everything through enlightenment. It is then that we are aware of things. Through this awareness, we learn to just be.

We stop getting involved with the things of the world. It’s like when we’re having a dream and all of a sudden we realize, “Oh! This is a dream!” It’s entertaining but we don’t get caught up in it. I had a dream this morning and about halfway into the dream I realized that I was dreaming. I didn’t stop the dream; I was enjoying it and it was pleasant, but I realized I was dreaming, it wasn’t real, so I just allowed myself to experience it.

Enlightenment works in the same way. We realize that our life and world which we identify as ours are just an illusion. That which is real creates the world, comes before it, has always been and will always be. The world is so much like an extended dream; it seems real but when we wake up we realize “Oh! This is just a very extended dream.” You can enjoy the ups and downs, but you don’t have to identity with them. You can just witness them, experience them, but don’t take them on as yours or as real. They’re illusionary and temporary; they will pass.

The supreme self, who we ultimately are, will never pass, can never go away, always has been, always will be and always is. When we awaken to this truth, we can relax and just enjoy this dream life. We participate in, watch and be aware of it, but we don’t get as engaged in it. Even if engagement happens, we realize that it happens spontaneously just as in our dreams. We can be very engaged in our dreams, but we realize that the dreams are temporary and they will pass. We, the witness to the dream, will not pass because we always have been and always will be. We should try to just be.

However long we may live, we become aware that this experience will pass and it’s only temporary. That which is permanent is who we are. When we identify with that, it’s a lot like our body: our hearts beat, we breathe, our circulatory system works, and sometimes we’re aware of it, but mostly we just let all those functions carry out spontaneously.

Awakening is a very spontaneous way of living. The world exists because we’re dreaming it. We are the dreamer of this reality that seems so real. Identify with the dreamer and stop getting caught up in the illusionary, temporary world. Watch it, spontaneously flow with it and wake up.

This life works in time and space. We, however, are timeless and space-less. As in a dream, nothing happens to us; everything just happens. We witness the dream but we don’t identify with those in the dream. Events and life just happen spontaneously.

Words can’t describe who we are because the mind can’t conceptualize it, but pointers can be used. Things like stillness or complete silence, or the supreme, ultimate reality, are pointers to who we are. There’s only one way of reaching knowledge of who we are, however, and that’s just to be who we are. The emphasis is on just being. When we do this, we wake up to our true selves and we stop identifying with the “I”, “me” and “we.” We identify with everything we see so that everything is an extension of who we are. Nothing would exist if we weren’t, and we realize that.

I believe I have found that spontaneously, love arises in this awareness and awakening. Love spontaneously arises when we wake up. As long as we identify with the beings in the dream, then struggle, pain and suffering can continue. When we realize that everyone and everything is illusionary, they are just empty shells that shall pass, then we wake up to who we are and all is well. Forms, substances, space, time – they’re all just a play of the mind. The reality is, when we wake up, reality is one. It is all there is. Wake up from the dream.

Resource Box:
Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, author, international speaker, and meditation expert who has been counseling individuals, families, nonprofits, and businesses for over twenty years. A contributing writer to Psychology Today, he has authored numerous books and creates a weekly podcast on happiness at www.HappinessPodcast.org He also creates a weekly podcast on meditation, http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com and a weekly podcast on spiritual enlightenment, http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com His retreat schedules can be found at http://www.HolisticRetreats.tv You also might find his blog useful at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com If you are interested in having Dr. Puff speak to your organization or company, you can learn more about his speaking services at http://www.SuccessBeyondYourImagination.com

Life is a dance between two intense emotions: fear and desire. We go back and forth between these two throughout our lives. But what we’re exploring here is what precedes and pervades life before desire and fear.

Who are we, foundationally, before these two emotions that we go back and forth between? Enlightenment is about permanence – who we are at our foundation, who we are that doesn’t change, who we are that remains permanent. The only thing that we can attest to and which stays permanent from the day we’re born until the day we die is awareness. We are aware that sometimes we experience pain and sometimes we experience desire. They change and develop, but that which never changes is our awareness.

We are the awareness of what is happening right here and right now. A universe full of things can be created out of fears and desires. In fact, the whole universe is constantly pulsating between these two emotions. But fears and desires can change; they’re impermanent so we can’t be them. What we can be, however, is the awareness of these two strong impulses that truly shape and create our world.

When we think about our fears and desires, we think they belong to us. We attach ownership to them, as well as volition to them. But, like our hearts, they just beat. Our goal is to just witness them, watch them and live spontaneously.

Let’s explore this in a bit more detail. First, we start with the foundation of who we are ultimately, that which cannot be described but out of which comes the universe full of fears and desires. We don’t choose which part of the universe to live in, we don’t choose our parents, we don’t choose our genetics, we don’t choose the time of history that we’re born in. All these things happen beyond our control. But what we can do spontaneously is witness what is happening. Again, in the same way that our hearts beat throughout the day without us having to be involved in the process, when fears and desires arise we can witness them without taking ownership of them or trying to control them. We realize they’re part of this impermanent life and they’re not part of who we ultimately are.

When there is something to witness, we are the awareness of that. When there’s nothing to witness, then we are that which cannot be described but which we truly are, beyond words, beyond descriptions. Ultimately, that which we are. One of the keys here is to stop identifying with labels we give to ourselves. For instance, “This is my body”, “This is my soul” or “This is my mind.” Yes, there is a body, a person, but don’t identify with it. By doing that, we really limit who we are. In essence, we’re everything that we see and even more than this, we are beyond that out of which everything comes.

I often like to describe us as the ocean. We are the ocean who thinks, for a brief amount of time, that it is only the drop of water in the ocean. Let go of the identity of the drop and become the wholeness of the ocean. We are both, we are neither; we just are. We have always been, we will always be.

Once we let go of the labels, we’ll find that we can just live spontaneously. We will be able to watch our actions, watch other people’s actions and just witness them. Life becomes very spontaneous and in that silent witnessing we find that decisions that are made are good ones. What follows from this is that the actions that are completed are good ones. We won’t identify with our actions but what we’ll discover is this: our actions occur though they are not chosen. These actions are beautiful, loving ones. When we tend to take volition of our actions we may find that our actions appear more negative, more cruel and more selfish. Spontaneous living, however, is loving living, or living in a loving way. Again, this is a label and we always have to be careful of labels because who we are is beyond description. But what we may find by living spontaneously and not taking for ourselves or others, is that life becomes a beautiful existence permeated with love.

I use the example of the heart, but think about how many organs in our body function without us having to be involved in the process? Our breathing, our circulatory system and our immune system are examples of such bodily functions. If we extend this to our behavior, to our choices and actions, it is an incredibly freeing feeling. Ultimately it’s about letting go of desire and fear which can essentially be translated into “no more failures, no more successes.” Thus, “no more fears, no more worries, no more pride, no more envy, and so on.”

Everything becomes free – we are truly free because we let go of volition. We also lose the idea of “I’m in control.” I live in southern California, not far from Disneyland, and if you ever get a chance to visit Disneyland, try the cars that they have there to drive. They’re on a track and when you’re a kid you really think you’re driving them. Then as you get older you realize, “Oh! I’m not driving this car, it’s actually telling me which way to go. I think I’m driving but actually I’m very safe, there’s nothing to worry about and I can just enjoy the ride.” Life is like that: we have to enjoy the ride, let go and just be. When we need to make decisions, spontaneous living can help us make the right ones that will work out for the best.

When we flow with life, we don’t fight it and life tends to work out well. At the deepest level, we’re really not in control. We can just let go and enjoy the ride, trusting that God, the universe, will ultimately take care of things. We just need to enjoy the journey. As relaxation sets in, a peace follows it because we realize that we’re not in control. We can just let go and do what seems right to do at the time.

There exists karma in life. It’s like a rule of life: when our toe strikes a sharp object, we cry out spontaneously in pain and feel a throbbing in our foot. If actions arise spontaneously from us that cause others to suffer, there is going to be a negative reaction or consequence to us, whether in the short or long term. As a result of this, our spontaneous reactions tend to be kinder and more loving. We don’t like pain and we do like pleasure. Since our minds remember the negative consequences of some of our behaviors and the positive consequences of other behaviors, once there isn’t any shame or guilt attached to them we gravitate towards being loving towards each other and ourselves. Karma is thus a teacher helping us to make the right decisions. Those decisions and actions are still spontaneous, but without guilt and shame, it’s much easier to make good and loving decisions.

The ultimate proof of this is going to be you. Try just witnessing your behavior without shame or guilt, because there is no volition, and see if it isn’t easier to make good and loving decisions that have positive karma. I can support this with the example of people who tend to be very cruel and mean. They have horrible lives and they hate themselves. In order to help them break free of that, they have to lose their sense of guilt. They can learn from their behavior, but self-loathing creates the same pattern of behavior over and over again. By losing volition, they lose the guilt and then they can just focus on changing their behavior.

It works, but we tend to believe things better when they happen to us, so try living spontaneously, let go of guilt, shame, fears and desires. Just watch them but stop taking ownership of them. We may find with this freedom that there exists peace, joy and love truly beyond description.

Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com 
He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

Some questions we need to ask ourselves when finding out who we are and how to live in the world in an enlightened way include: “What are the various states of being in which we exist?” and “What ultimately is our true, primordial, foundational state of being?”
As human beings we exist in three states. The first one is wakefulness, the second is dreaming and the third is sleep in which no dreaming occurs. These are the three states of being that we exist in throughout our lives.

Typically, what we do as we live our lives is assume that the world is real and we just perceive it as it is. What we think is that the world is tangible, factual and we just exist in it. But what if we inverted this, and asked, “Could there be a world if we weren’t?” If you really use logic or conceptual thinking, you can see that how we are accustomed to viewing the world involves pointers of truth, but they are not the ultimate truth. Through logical reasoning, however, we can also argue that the world can’t exist unless we are aware of it. If we are aware of the world, we have no way of knowing that it exists. We only know that we are aware of it.

If we see the world from the perspective of “All is because I perceive it”, the world, in and of itself, isn’t real, tangible or something that exists outside of our awareness. The world is because we are aware of it. The only reason why we don’t see it in this way is because our conditioning from a very young age teaches us that this isn’t true; that the world is an objective place and we live in it. But it’s possible to just as easily argue and see things from a different perspective. We can conceptualize the world in a way that it exists but only because we are aware of it.

From this perspective, it is about seeing the world as an extension of our mind. We are able to perceive the world and therefore the world is able to exist. It’s really a childlike approach to living. Children see the world as an extension of themselves. It is only through time and experience that they begin to see the world as separate from themselves and themselves as separate from the world. This view is about going back to the primordial. It includes that very early stage of thinking “Could the world exist if I wasn’t aware of it?” and realizing “The world exists because I am aware of it.” Our minds are challenged to make sense of this because it goes before thinking, when we’re trying to quiet the mind and just be.

This perception can be compared with dreaming. Are our dreams real, in and of themselves? Or do we create the reality in our dreams? Life can be viewed as a very long dream. Our minds right now may be protesting “That’s crazy!” “That’s impossible!” “That cannot be true!” but it can be argued. This is something to dwell on and be with.

If we quiet our minds and be with the concept that everything is because we are aware of it, something may change inside us. Perhaps just for a moment we can let go of our old concepts and see the world as existing with us merely dreaming its existence. Ultimately, the world isn’t real; it is only real because we are dreaming it and conceptualizing it. If we reach this point, perhaps we’ll find something within us change, creating something beautiful and magical. You can try it now for yourself, just for a moment.

During this experiment you might ask “What is real then? Who am I? Who am I at my very deepest, most real self?” Let’s explore this. If we are the dreamer, then there’s the dream, our awareness of the dream and all that this entails. Right now you are reading this article, and are aware of the words and concepts; later, you might have lunch or dinner, or you might go for a walk, read a book or go to work. You will be aware of those activities as they are happening. Since you’ve been born and until you die, you are aware of experiences that occur. Awareness is our primordial state.

Sometimes, though, there is nothing to be aware of. If we are the true ultimate reality of all that is, if we’re dreaming all this and everything is coming from us, sometimes as in the case of a deep sleep, there is nothing to dream. There is a dreamer, but there’s just nothing to dream. At this very absolute primordial state, this is who we are. Awareness arises when we are aware of something but before that, when there is nothing to be aware of, we are that. There are absolutely no words or descriptions we can give to “that” because it’s pre-conceptual. It is before everything.

What might help is to imagine that there is no world. There are no friends, there is no work, there is nothing in the universe for us to be aware of. There is nothing for us to conceptualize, there’s nothing for us to sense, there exists no one for us to interact with, nothing or no one to love or hate. There’s just nothing. Who are we then? Who is that which is before something to be aware of? Be that.

That is who we are, though it is absolutely impossible to describe. It’s a state when our minds become very still and we become very quiet inside. It’s much like a pond, a beautiful pond, when the wind is always blowing and things get tossed into it and waves prevent us from seeing deep within the water. But sometimes the water becomes very still, so perfectly still that we can see deep within. Is it beautiful? I’ll use the word love. It is permeated with love so rich and deep that every fiber of our body can feel it. Be still and feel that love, but remember: even love is a concept that is an inaccurate description, though it’s my favorite one to use because it’s how I experience it.

The best way to explore this and sense it is to make our minds become very still and just be. Then, perhaps, we can gain a glimpse of who we are, who we’ve always been, who we’ll always be, forever and ever. Be that.

Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com 
He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

When we desire something, we first have to work for it. Often we find ourselves spending a large amount of mental energy thinking about it, wishing for it and wanting it to happen. But after working for it, we should let go and just be.

Living in a state of beingness means that we do the actions which lead to our desires and then we let go. For instance, let’s say we’re dating someone who we really desire to have as our permanent partner. At first we date them, we spend time with them, and we tell them that we love them. We might do things that help them to love us back. But when we’re not with them or doing those things to win over their hearts, we just be.

If we are washing the dishes, we’re simply washing the dishes. If we’re studying, we’re just studying. We don’t constantly ponder on questions such as “Can I win over their heart?”, “Will they accept me?” or “Will they be my partner for life?” When they finally say “Yes” or “No”, then we let go and we continue to just be. If our life is to be with them, then we just be with them. If our life is not to be with them, we let go and move forward, and we move on. We just be.

What we tend to do, however, is think about our desires and perseverate on them all day long, worrying that they won’t come true or thinking about what would happen if they did come true. The result is that we miss out on life that is happening around us, all day long. Desires come but work towards fulfilling them and then let go. Just be.

There are two types of desires: those for our personal benefit and those that fulfill our aspiration to improve the world. The latter are ones that are better; they are better for us and the universe conspires to help us fulfill those desires. Desires that lead towards happiness are good desires; desires that lead towards suffering are desires we want to walk away from. But the key to knowing how to treat our desires is being present, being aware, and deeply examining our desires. Are our desires causing us suffering? Are they bringing us joy? Are they leading us towards improving humanity overall? Examine your desires so that you can better determine what to do with them. Then decide: are we letting them go and mostly just being?

This involves a sense of stepping back. It’s about discovering “Who am I?” When we examine our desires, we see that they arise from our conditioning which is part of our experiences here on earth. But, instead of identifying with our desires, understand that freedom and enlightenment arise when we identify with witnessing the desires. Unless we understand ourselves and our desires, we can’t change them. My favorite word in the universe is “awareness.” Unless you are aware of something, you cannot change it. When we step back to the ultimate truth of “Who are we?” and “Who am I?” we are ultimately the witness to our desires. Be that. This path of enlightenment is one of introspection. It involves spending time looking at ourselves, observing our thoughts and no longer identifying with them.
We also need to stop identifying with our desires. We watch them spontaneously arise and they go. But we are not our desires. We are not that which arises from us. We are the witness to the desires and should strive to be that. This isn’t a renouncement of our life; it’s a renouncement of our thoughts. When we realize we are not our thoughts, we renounce them and are able to just be.
In that beingness we find peace and happiness. We discover our true self in being aware of who, or what, we are. We are then ultimately at our true, deepest, most real essence. We are the supreme reality. We are all that is, but everything else is, too. We’re all connected and we are all a manifestation arising from the supreme reality of who we are. The supreme reality is beyond any thoughts, concepts or desires. In the silence, we discover who we are. We learn that we are the ultimate, supreme reality of all that is, ever has been and ever will be. It’s through our constant witnessing of who we are that we discover we’re not thoughts, feelings, space or time. We are beyond and before everything. We are the ultimate reality who has forgotten our true identity and identified with our thoughts.

By diligently watching our thoughts, feelings, desires and fears, we discover that none of these are who we are. They are our false self with whom we mistakenly identify throughout our life. When we intensely examine “Who am I?” what we discover is that we are not those things. We might witness and observe them, but we are not them. They are impermanent and subject to change. They are like ripples on the ocean – they are there but they are only there because the ocean is. They couldn’t be there unless the ocean exists. We are that ocean of supreme reality who has forgotten we are the ocean, and we’re identifying with the small egoic mental images that flash through our brain throughout the day. Only that which is permanent, which has always existed and always will exist, can truly be who we are. When we identify with our true self, then we realize that everything arises out of our true self.

We should strive to be the witness to our thoughts, feelings and desires, and discover who we really are – our true self, the supreme reality. Identify with this and be it. If we negate everything that we aren’t, everything that is impermanent and thus cannot be who we are, we find that what we are left with is ourselves as permanent, everlasting beings. We then discover that we just are.

What are we? We are out of which everything arises. Thoughts, feelings, experiences, all arise out of us. We aren’t them. Rather, we are that out of which everything is created. Everything finds beingness in us. When we locate this true identity, we witness who we are. Our minds become still and we are at peace; we find that all is well and beautiful. As for our desires, although they remain there, they don’t bother us anymore. We just respond to them spontaneously and let them go when it isn’t time to work on them.

Mostly, we just be. We are present with what is, we witness who we are and we get into that quiet state, which is the fluid state of pure beingness.

Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com 
He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

When we think about our lives, the people in our lives, the work we go to, the city we live in, the galaxy we’re a part of and the whole universe, we think of it as so real, tangible, ever present and everlasting. But because we perceive it in our minds and we can only perceive that which our minds can grasp, it’s actually a very small universe. It is also transitory – it doesn’t last. It only lasts and exists when we think about it. If we see it as a dream then we can locate truth.

There’s a song that goes, ‘Life is but a dream.’ Take this to be the truth: that life is just a dream. All that we experience is just a dream on which the dreamer is who we are trying to find. Then our minds go still and we can go back to who is actually dreaming. Our minds are creating that which we perceive as real, but which at its depth is just a dream. It’s exactly the same as dreaming when we’re asleep. When we dream, everything seems real – until we wake up.

Enlightenment is the same. We wake up to the fact that our minds have created a very small world and the truth or background on which everything is based is infinite. It is eternal and it is who we are. This is our true self, our true reality, unlike life that is just a dream.

Our minds have an ability to remember things, so they can create perceptions, anticipations, truths and reality that seem very real to us. But since they are based on memory and impermanence, they can change and are therefore not the ultimate truth.
Anything that is ultimately true is permanent and everlasting. Identify with this and be it. Realize that our memories are faulty; they have gaps and holes in them, just like dreams. Can we remember what we did 27 days ago at 3 o’clock in the afternoon? With all the disjointed memories, our minds create a reality in the same way our dream mind creates a reality, and we think that it is real. It might be longer than the dream but it’s based on the same principles. The mind is creating a dream. Let’s wake up from it.

Sometimes when we’re dreaming we realize that we’re dreaming and we relax so that we can enjoy the dream. We just flow with it. We don’t fight it or believe it; instead, we just realize, “Oh, I’m dreaming” and we flow with the dream’s events. We can do the same thing with our waking dream which our mind has created. Flow with it and understand that it’s a dream, and that we are truly far more infinite, everlasting and permanent than it is. We are on which our minds are temporarily creating our dream world. If we open our eyes and wake up from the dream, we can see what is, and this is what our minds can grasp. We can then just be.

Some might argue this, saying, “Well, if it’s just a dream, why do we care how we treat others? Why aren’t we just cruel and vicious to others?” But remember, in a dream every part of the dream is you. And with that understanding, love arises spontaneously for every character in the dream. Even in our waking dream which we’re experiencing right now, there are rules and consequences to our behavior. What makes the dream so much more enjoyable is caring for everyone because they are a part of us and we know that being kind to others also benefits us, making the dream much more pleasant.

However, we still ultimately realize that life is but a dream. This is the understanding that enables us to wake up. We wake up to who we are, what we are, and then all is well. The background on which the dream is arising goes beyond words and descriptions. When we are that background, all is infinitely well, beautiful and peaceful beyond description. We can experience that by waking up from the dream and just being.

We still do our part to improve the dream and make it better because we care for everyone in the dream, and we also realize they are a part of us. But when we wake up from this dream called life, all is well.
Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com 
He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

As we go through life, sometimes we have beautiful experiences. They are so wonderful that we are filled with a desire to hold onto them for as long as possible. But why we can’t hang onto them and why they go away is because we can only remember them in the mind.

The mind itself is not stable; it isn’t consistent. We can’t hold onto those experiences because the mind often changes. The question to ask ourselves is: “What is consistent? What is stable?” We have to go beyond the mind to find that which is stable and always is. But, how is it possible to move beyond the mind?

The key here is to reach beingness and to move into that place which is present before the mind conceptualizes and critiques things. The mind is constantly providing commentary for things that happen in our lives. But if we are just in the state of pure beingness with what is happening spontaneously; if we are just being with that without giving thought or reason to events, what we’re left with is the “I am” instead of the “I am this” or “I am that.”

Be with the “I am” and see that in beingness so many things happen spontaneously which are beautiful. When we live a life that is free of the egoic mind and commentary, we discover a world that is so beautiful and beyond anything our mind can describe or explain. We should strive to be that. Happiness and sadness will both arise in life, but they come and go. If you can allow yourself to just be with the feelings, experiences, and interactions, life can flow beautifully. To achieve this, you have to be willing to lose the commentary, the likes and dislikes, as well as the judgments we make about experiences.

When you flow with life in the natural state of pure beingness, you’ll find that there are no expectations, no desires, no fears. We just live life as it is, and we find that living becomes a beautiful, spontaneous beingness. For example, imagine if you do the dishes tonight instead of thinking, “I don’t want to do the dishes” or “This is a lot of hard work.” Imagine if you don’t think about something completely different, like whether or not you’ll get the promotion at work or how your relationship with a loved one is going. You’re not thinking any of these things but you’re just focused on washing the dishes. So immersed in the activity, you can watch the soap go around the dish, be with the rinsing process and be with the drying process. At each step, you are fully present. Be with that and you’ll discover that even washing the dishes can be beautiful!

This idea can be used for anything, from driving your car to going to the gym to spending time with loved ones. Whatever you’re doing, just do that. When you do this, life goes well. We are constantly seeking happiness through our minds and thoughts by making sure that our desires are achieved and our fears are pushed away. But if we just flow through life without commentary, without hanging onto anything but just being 100% present with what is, that is a true state of happiness. When we truly just are, that is when we are honestly happy. Spontaneous living is pure, ultimate happiness.

Of course thoughts will arise, but instead of going with them or pushing them away, let’s just observe them. Let’s just witness them and find out how transitory they are, and then get back to just beingness. The mind is restless; it is always trying to search for desires or push away fears. If we observe the mind and realize that we are before the mind, our true self witnesses thoughts but doesn’t identify with them by saying, “I am this” or “I am that.” Thoughts are just the same as the objects we see when we are driving or walking along a street. If we just witness our thoughts in the way we do those objects we see along our way, we can view them as part of the external landscape. We need to realize that we aren’t that landscape; we are in which the landscape occurs. Here our minds can quiet and we can become present. Pure, spontaneous happiness is always there. We just need to still our minds and be with it.

In the present moment everything is beautiful and perfect. But when the mind tries to control it, such as by pushing away what we consider bad and holding onto things it likes, we suffer. The search for pleasure and the desire to push away fear and pain is a vicious cycle in which our minds get trapped. We can never break free of this cycle until we see that the very desire to hold onto things or push them away – that desire or fear – is what’s causing our suffering. When we just flow with life, we stop suffering and allow life to flow well. Just be present, even when painful or pleasurable events occur. Don’t try to fight the painful events because they will pass. They are not as painful unless we let our minds create a story of “I have got to get rid of this, this is awful.” Yes, there exists pain, but our minds create the suffering. Understand that pain is just a pain. It can even be interesting sometimes. But we create the suffering in our minds by saying things like, “I don’t want this. Go away! This isn’t right. This is evil.” What never passes, however, is that which has always been, will always be and is always. Be this permanence instead of holding onto things that happen or struggling to push them away. Enjoy life as it occurs.

We should just be with what is. If we don’t hold onto events and occurrences, we’ll find that life flows well. When we’re not attached to anything, we are free. We’ve always been free. What’s holding us back from experiencing our true self – our free self – is our attachment to pleasure and our pushing away of fear. If we do neither of these actions, we are ultimately our true self which is always free. Any one of us can be happy or peaceful, but there is one important thing that we all have to do to reach what I’m calling ‘our natural state.’ We have to lose all our desires and fears and just be. This is a concept that can seem very frightening, but if we do it, if we even just try it for a minute, an hour or a day, we’ll see how freeing it is to just be and lose our mental clutter.

Although it is challenging at first, by truly living in the present moment without any attachments, desires or fears, we no longer let our minds prevent life’s flow. If we quiet the mind, we ultimately just witness it and realize that it isn’t who we are. Our thoughts are often just conditioned from the past that we are carrying with us. If we let go of them, flow with life and be completely present with what is happening, life can be good.

Try to do an activity with 100% presence, even if it is washing the dishes, washing the car, going for a walk, or taking a shower. When thoughts arise during the activity, realize that you don’t really need them. All you have to do is be present with the activity and you’ll find that during this task you allow life to flow beautifully. You allow peace and happiness that are always there to return to the surface. When we quiet our minds, that state of peace and happiness returns. Over time you’ll find that this state will become your natural state.

Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com 
He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

Everything that is, everything that ever will be, everything that has ever been, can only occur because we are bearing witness to it. Everything exists simply because we are aware of it. Without us, nothing can be. The entire universe unfolds from our true self: our consciousness, which is also known as the ultimate self, or the ocean of awareness. Whatever words we use to describe it will be inadequate, however, since words are limited. They are only able to be a part of our conscious mind, and even our conscious mind arises out of that which we truly are.

Often we think that the universe is and we merely became aware of it. But unless we are aware of the universe, it is impossible for the universe to exist. This can be a little complicated and difficult to wrap one’s head around, but it is because we are conditioned from an early age to assume that what we see is real, instead of understanding that everything is there because we are aware of it.

Are dreams real in and of themselves? Or are they illusions with their only real element being our awareness of them? Try to think back to your childhood. There are some things that seemed so real to us as children but which were forgotten when we became adults. And yet, when those events occurred during our childhood, they seemed real, in much the same way that a dream feels real but is later forgotten unless we become aware of it. We often have a tougher time seeing the universe as requiring our awareness because our experience of it is longer than dreams. The universe also seems more tangible and real. But ultimately, we can’t deny that the universe cannot be unless we are first aware of it. Our awareness, our consciousness or true self, precedes that which is around us.

We exist before that which is created and then everything arises from our beingness. Our universe has a beginning and an end, but because it is changeable and not constant, it can’t ultimately be what is the real self. The real self is that which is just beingness, that which is constant, that which is always there: awareness. Awareness stands alone. There isn’t a person being aware; there’s simply awareness or beingness. Everything else is time-bound and momentary. Thus, it can’t be the true reality of what is.

All that occurs does so in memory. But what exists before, during and after (what always is) is that which is ultimately the true reality, true beingness. The universe unfolds in that awareness and in that beingness. The past and future can only be known now and they only occur in the mind. All there is, is beingness. This can be proven by remembering when we’ve had dreams. Sometimes the dream can feel like it went on for days yet when we awoke from the dream we might have discovered that only a few minutes had passed. Time is therefore relative. A whale experiences time very differently from a firefly. This is another example of how time is in the mind. What is real, that from which everything arises, is now. All that there is, is now. Even past and future arise in the present, in the state of beingness.

Our true self is our natural real self, and everything else arises from it. What it means to say that our true self is our natural self is that it is a state in which we are when all the concepts are extinguished and we can just be with our thoughts. We are in our natural state then, in our true state of beingness. The only way we can reach this state is ‘via negativa’ or ‘neti neti’, which refers to letting go of the knowledge we have gathered and learning to just be.

Anything that truly is the ultimate self of who we are has to be permanent. When we move through the process of asking “What’s permanent?” everything that isn’t constant disappears: the past, the future, concepts and reality. Beingness right here and now is all there is, all that there has ever been and all that there will ever be.

Beingness is all about the present moment. It is our actual true self which we can locate by getting rid of the false self, that is, those concepts that we hold so dear. We might think that these things are real, but they aren’t permanent and therefore not the true ultimate self.

Our real, ultimate self is merely residing in the present moment without thoughts, fears, or desires. It is just being present with what is, whether we’re dreaming, sleeping or wide awake. Even when we are thinking about the past, perseverating on the future or thinking in the here and now, everything is happening now.

The world appears in our consciousness. When we’re asleep there is no world but when we awake it appears. Instead of identifying with the world, however, let’s identify with who is aware of the consciousness in which everything resides or from which everything flows. Identify with your awareness, and recognize that it is right here in the moment.

There are seven billion people on the planet and everyone experiences the world in different ways. We actually see and experience it differently. However, that which experiences the world is the same in all of us. It’s just beingness and awareness. The world can take on many different shapes but the beingness that is aware of the world is our ultimate true self.

When we limit ourselves to this time-bound world, it’s like we’re living in a prison cell where everything seems so real yet confined and limited. Why not break down the walls of our prison and realize that the prison isn’t even real? Outside of it exists a vast universe with which we’re totally, intimately connected. We create everything through our mind and beyond the universe; we connect with everything and everyone. We should break free of the prison and just be. In this beingness the world opens up to us. It’s a truly beautiful, infinitely wonderful experience when we discover who we truly are.

Our minds limit our reality. Our beingness, on the other hand, creates a vast, infinite, true self. True reality that is beyond anything the mind can grasp. Be that.

There’s another way to look at this. In our dreams, everything occurs spontaneously. Similarly, as we are awake, our hair grows, our nails grow, our hearts beat, all spontaneously. They just are. Why not see the mind in the same way? Don’t fight or repress the concepts and occurrences; rather see them as spontaneously arising. Flow with them and realize that we are ultimately beyond them; we are far more than anything our minds can conceive because we are.

If we stay in that beingness, all becomes well because we flow with life. As our hearts beat, our lives beat too. In the same way that we are not concerned about our hearts beating and our lungs breathing, we also won’t worry about our thoughts and they will be able to flow. We can then just flow with life in our true self, that of awareness and beingness.

Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com 
He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

I began meditating almost thirty years ago. I think at first I began just out of curiosity. I had been studying meditation in my academic training and learned how science has shown that meditation is very beneficial to us.

When I started meditating I found it to be a very relaxing, peaceful experience. Over time as I grew and discovered that meditation is really helpful for our spiritual growth, I really dived into it. I now consistently meditate every day, usually once in the morning for about an hour and then in the evening for about half an hour.

How does meditation help us live life to the fullest? The primary purpose of meditation is self-awareness: to really understand who and what we are. In that discovery we find that at our core we truly are the ultimate source of everything.

Most of us live a life of unawareness, where we are not really sure of who or what we are. We go through life thinking, “I’m a doctor”, “I’m a lawyer”, “I’m a kind person”, “I’m married”, “I’m a father” or “I’m a mother.” We place labels on ourselves but they don’t help us locate who we are.

The ultimate truth of what we are cannot change. If it had to change, then how could we be it? That would be like saying, “I live in this house so I am this house.” But then if you move to a new house, you can’t possibly have been the initial house.

But then what are we? Are we truly a doctor? Are we truly a father? Even these things can change. Our children can die or we might end our profession, for instance. If you really think about it, even one’s character can change. For example, after meditating for so many decades now, I’ve become a much calmer and more peaceful person. That person I was before has changed, so does that mean I am the person I was before?

What meditation does is help us look within and discover who we are, what we truly are in a permanent state. When we slow down and look, we discover that which is permanent is very basic. It is like the space in which we live. We put furniture in the space, along with ourselves and many things. But when we remove everything, what is left is a space. Similarly, when we eat we put a lot of different tastes in our mouths and we enjoy them. Sometimes we don’t like them, but what is the taste we have when there is no food in our mouths? What is that experience? Going back to the basis of what we are without all the extra furnishings and tastes is what meditation enables us to do. It helps us discover who we are. When everything is removed, everything that isn’t permanent is taken away and we discover who we are because we start looking inward instead of constantly reacting to outside stimuli.

Many of us are like conditioned puppets. When someone praises us we feel so wonderful inside but when someone criticizes us we feel sad or angry. Who is this person that is feeling sad? Who is this person that is feeling excited? Who is this person on which all these events are occurring? This is what meditation sets out to answer. Its ultimate purpose is to discover who we are. If we don’t know who we are, we are really slaves or puppets to ourselves.

Meditation is about cutting those puppet strings. When you discover that almost everything that you have done is just a conditioned reaction, you stop reacting and rather start living, start just being. Through meditation, those things that are unconscious become conscious. When we discover that we’re not our thoughts, we’re not our conditioning, we’re not who we thought we were, our minds become quiet and we learn to just live. We can just be without all the mind chatter.

It’s a beautiful experience. I can only encourage you to seek out the quiet mind, and learn what it’s like to live in pure awareness, pure silence. We stop identifying with labels and we learn to just be. When we just be, there are no thoughts, there is just pure witnessing, pure awareness. The most wonderful part about it is that it is who we are. It is our real and natural self. Once we get rid of the mental clutter we discover our pure, true self. We’ve always been that, but these illusions of who we think we are prevented us from being who we really are.

An analogy would be to think of water. With water’s various forms, such as steam and ice, you can make a variety of shapes and sculptures. But at the core, those things are still water. In a similar way, we are still going to melt back into the vast ocean which we’ve always been and which we’ll always be. The reason for this is that we truly are permanent. We’re not that which is being created and destroyed. We are that which is eternal: simply awareness and just beingness without mental commentary.

Our thoughts and feelings continue but instead of identifying with them, we just witness them. We observe our thoughts and feelings without judgment or criticism. They just are. We make mistakes, we realize this is just our conditional response. We stop labeling. We allow ourselves to simply watch what we do, what comes out of us and what comes out of other people. We step back and realize that we are, at our core, just the awareness of what is.

When we become able to identify with our true selves, the grip that these thoughts have on us will weaken and no longer strangle us. We will learn to just live life, love life as it is, even with its ups and downs, without identifying with them. If we make a mistake or if others hurt us, we are able to act spontaneously to what is happening. What arises from this is beautiful and loving. Without all the labels, when we truly just be, we become very beautiful and loving.

Even love is just a label, but I believe it is the best label we can use to describe the ocean of awareness. Even though it is only a label, it truly is what manifests when we just be.

On our path to enlightenment, the only thing we need when we meditate is to be earnest in discovering who we are. When we do this, we’re awarded with discovering our truth selves and our false selves disappear. We learn to just be.

Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com 
He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

In this life, the most permanent thing we experience is witnessing awareness. It begins when we are born and it goes away when we die. But beyond this witnessing, beyond the most permanent thing that is part of our life, is that which truly is.

That which we ultimately are cannot be described, yet it is a foundation of everything that is, will be or has ever been. What we experience is witnessing, but the knower and the known arise out of our ultimate true self. It’s similar to when we are asleep. We may not be aware of it, but after we wake up we are aware that we were asleep.

Another example is being in a dark cave. I love caves and can remember once being in a cave when the lights were turned off and everything was completely black, as black and as dark as possible. There was absolutely no light but that didn’t mean that seeing wasn’t occurring or that seeing wasn’t possible.

This is a good analogy for what we are discussing about witnessing because we can see before seeing and hear before hearing. There is something that is before time – it is that which we truly are. It is beyond all concepts and reality, but it is what we are.

When death occurs to a particular body, what appears to have unity and integrity breaks down. It begins to tear apart. What we identify with at birth also fades with the body at death. Though apparent life continues, in order for it to be known, another body, another entity, another consciousness needs to be created. What this ultimately means is that without the knower, there’s nothing that can be known.

The ultimate, that which we are, continues to create everything that exists out of the nothingness. But it is a creation – it is not what we really are at our core. It’s not our true self; it’s rather our false self. We identify with it to the point where we might forget who we are or we forget that we are that from which everything originates. We are the ultimate truth, the ultimate reality, out of which the entire universe is constantly being created.

Sometimes I compare it to a water droplet that feels separate from the vast ocean. We adopt an identity as a water droplet but when we die, though that water droplet still moves on, has always been and will always be, instead of identifying itself with the water droplet, its identity has taken on the vast, infinite ocean. Throughout life we get confused. We identify ourselves with that which is only an illusion, that which is temporary, like the water droplet. Instead we should submerge ourselves into the witness state.

The suffering of life dissipates when we take on the witness state and stop identifying with everything that’s happening. When you do this, you can be unattached and free. When we’re free, we’re also in a position to identify with our ultimate self which is vast like the ocean, infinite, beyond all description, and is that on which everything is created. The key here is to stop identifying with the egoic mind and realize who we really are.

Who are we before we are born? Who will we be after we die?
What is it that is truly permanent? What part of us has always been and will always be? We should strive to be that.

When we identify with what never sleeps, what never is awake, and on which everything is formed, then we are home. We have discovered our true self. Freedom and peace can then settle in.

We unfortunately identify with such a small part of who we are. Again, it’s like the water droplet in the vast ocean thinking, “I’m a water droplet! I’m a water droplet! Wow!” Yet, when we identify with who we really are – the vast ocean – and realize the illusion of our water droplet, we are free. We’ve always been free but we’ve limited ourselves so much that we’ve lost our true selves. What we truly are is still there, though, but we just seem to have forgotten it.

The key to finding it is earnestness. If we truly want to discover who we really are, we must be earnest. This is the most beautiful gift that was given to me. I just never gave up on finding out who or what I am. I kept searching and when I found the truths that I discovered were limited or were the ultimate truth, even though it was difficult at times, I kept going. We have to be honest and keep going. Let us never give up but rather keep moving forward until we discover our ultimate, true selves.

Not being honest is one of the key things that keep people from truly finding awakening, because it can be subtle in its trap. They want to teach and help others, but they haven’t finished helping themselves. It’s a painful, challenging, difficult process. But if we’re truly earnest we will find the truth. The point is never to give up. The ultimate focus needs to be on “I am” beingness. Who am I? If you keep returning to this question everything can be found in the “I am.” All our answers and searching dissipates in the “I am” because we learn how to just be.

Though this may seem challenging at times, it truly is the simplest and easiest way to discover who we are.

Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com 
He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

What causes things to be the universe, us, everything that is? Time and space play a huge role in causation. Physics, Einstein and scientists around the world have concluded that we live in a space-time continuum.

The only way we’re able to conceive of this, however, is in the mind. The universe in which we live is a conceptual one; it can only be envisaged. Without the implementation and cognition of thinking, the universe as we know it wouldn’t exist. Although we might think that everything simply is and we discovered it, we forget that rather we have interpreted it through our mind first. Without our conceptualizing it, there would just be awareness, presentness, but no sense of causation.

Causation is created via the space-time continuum. Without that concept there really is no causation possible. In a sense, everything is connected but the universe in and of itself is infinite in its possibilities. The universe contributes to even the smallest cause. This goes back to how our minds create the sense of the universe’s relationship to causes.

We can look into this a little further. I remember once hearing a story from a scientist who talked about how the asteroid that struck the earth about 65 million years ago, which ended the rein of the dinosaurs, could have been off course, hitting another planet like Jupiter or the sun (where most asteroids and meteorites crash), and that it wouldn’t have hit Earth if it had been off track even the slightest – I mean, such a small percentage it was almost comical. The chance of that one meteorite hitting our Earth was extremely small, yet that’s exactly what happened.

Everything in the universe – everything – is connected by causation. Since everything is tied together, nothing can really happen unless the entire universe conspires to agree to let that happen. There’s a saying I love: “If I pull a blade of grass, the entire universe shakes.” This statement shows how everything in the universe is interconnected and one cause has a ripple effect on all other causes.

It’s kind of funny because people work so hard at making things happen. If only they realized that unless the universe conspires to let that thing happen, nothing in their power can create it to happen. Likewise, if something’s going to happen, there is nothing you can do to stop it.

But that doesn’t render you powerless. When you suspend past and future (the time continuum) what you’re left with is no more cause and effect. This is what you find in the timelessness of now, if you can forget about the past and the future and just be aware of the present. Without time, there can’t be cause and effect, so what happens is that infinite possibilities emerge. Creative spontaneity, not knowing what’s going to happen, being present without any sense of prediction, and “just being” are all things that can occur.

Being present in the here and now becomes infinite in its possibilities, infinite in its beauty. The real universe, the ultimate supreme universe, is beyond our mind’s ability to grasp. Our mind categorizes things into desires, and these desires are split between pleasure and pain. Our mind likes certain things so we pursue them and grasp at them. On the other hand, when painful events occur our mind pushes them away and tries to keep them as far away as possible. But by the mind doing this, we miss out on the true reality of what is. Beingness right here, right now, with no space. Just “is-ness.” Just “beingness.” The constraints and the causation of everything suddenly vanish and we’re left with truly infinite possibilities of what is.

Those constraints the mind has created are limited and full of contradictions. For instance, we want health, yet we overeat. We want love, yet because of our fears we push people away. In beingness, in present awareness, infinite possibilities present themselves without pain and suffering, because we don’t conceptualize or categorize anymore. Those constraints are taken away and we can enter a world truly beyond our imagination.

Everything that we experience has countless factors that have contributed to its potential right now. But before that, beyond that which holds up our entire universe as we know it in our mind, is the supreme or ultimate reality. This is who we truly are. This is our true self. If we identify with our supreme self, then we see that everything the mind creates is created out of ourselves, our supreme and true self. If we realize there really is no cause, we see that there just is.

What happens then is that our minds relax. We suspend desires, fears and attachments. We start living in the here and now. We discover that when we live in the moment, all is well, all is beautiful, and ultimately there are truly no words for it. It just is.

Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

In life we experience two main emotions: one is pleasure, the other is pain. They come and they go; they are a normal part of the human experience. But what happens is that our minds try to maintain the good and push away the bad. It’s a kind of tug-of-war where we say “I want this” and “I don’t want that.” This has the result of causing struggles in our lives.

The mind tries to hold onto pleasurable events and push away or control painful events. It becomes restless and tries to dominate our experiences. What happens is that we suffer because we are hanging onto that which ultimately isn’t real. The mind tries to categorize, separate and divide events; it tries to seek pleasure and drive away pain. This process causes suffering. But what is real at the deepest level is our witnessing of the events (and what is there even before this witnessing occurs). What is real is the beautiful, perfect balance which we call the universe as well as the existence of the that which cannot be described. We are all that – an inexplicable, perfect entity.

Every one of us should see ourselves as the sky: the glorious, infinite sky. When a beautiful, fluffy cloud goes by and we jump into it, we say, “Oh, this is fun! I really like this!” and we want to experience it and stay there instead of letting it pass. When a dark cloud comes by, it is ominous and seems to cover us so that we feel we are the dark cloud. We might stay inside it because of all the pain and suffering. Ultimately, what happens is that we forget that we are not the clouds, but the sky. If we identify with being the infinite sky, when the dark cloud comes along bringing pain we will witness it but not identify with it. We won’t label it, but rather just experience it, and then it will go. The same is true with pleasures. When they come, we should enjoy them and witness them, but realize that they are not who we are. When we attempt to hang onto the pain or pleasure, we bring suffering on ourselves. If we just let them come and go, and flow with life, we can enjoy the beautiful light clouds while they’re there and realize that the dark clouds will pass. If we can witness this, we will return to the memory that we’re the infinite sky and all will be well.

At the deepest level, it’s important to know that we are even beyond witnessing, beyond the sky, beyond anything that can be described. We should try to be that. The sky and the clouds, they all come from us. We need to realize that everything occurs in the present moment, and this very moment is all that exists. The past and future exist but everything is happening in the present moment – right here, right now.

The present moment contains a true reality that the past and future can never possess, because they can only be held in the here and now. The past is always just a memory. When we remember something from the past, it is just that – something remembered. The future, on the other hand, is imagination. It is never real, because you have to imagine it in order for it to be a truth in the here and now. The past isn’t real and the future isn’t real, except for how we experience them in the present time. If we think of memories, they only occur in the present time because they need to be remembered in order to exist. The past and future, therefore, cannot exist except in the here and now. The present moment is all there is. All things and memories are embraced and truly experienced 100% in the present. If we go back to our earliest memories, we can ask ourselves: Has anything changed? The only thing that changes is the event. Our experience or witnessing of the event remains the same.

For example, I remember visiting my grandparents on their farm and there was a huge snowstorm, and then a great snow bank which we played in when I was very young. I remember going to pre-school, beginning to color and draw. It was a wonderful experience. I remember my dad taking me to the backyard where we had a slight hill and riding a bike for the first time down that hill. But the experience, the witnessing of those events is exactly the same as now when I have a home, am married, am raising my own children, working, riding a car or going on vacation. The experience of these events is the same. Even though the events and my interpretations of them have changed, the experience of the events has remained the same.

A way in which to explore this is to glance through photo albums; look through pictures or mementos that jar your memory of the past. While you do this, remember the events but see that who remembers and witnesses the events is always the same. Although events change, there is always a sense of “I am.” Even when we are dreaming, there is an essential, ultimate part of ourselves that witnesses the dream. “I am” remains the same, whether in a dream, a memory or a situation that is happening right here and now.

Allow yourself to experience the pure bliss of everything being complete and whole, right here and right now. You can do this by not trying to fight life or suffering. If you can flow with life, then the suffering will disappear. You will understand that life is perfect and realize that pain and pleasure will pass but what remains the same is the witnessing of them. When pleasure or pain comes, we should not try to hold onto them or be defined by them. If we do, that in itself will cause suffering. Instead, flow with life and realize that all is well. The mind can’t achieve this state, but if you let go and just be, life becomes beautiful. In that state, you will see that even suffering can possess beauty. Flow with life and truly, all will be well.

Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com 
He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

Knowledge is one of the things that prevent us from awakening. Why? We think we know many things and knowing these things keeps us from being awake. To gain awareness we need to unlearn what we know, or think we know. We need to let go of every piece of knowledge and just be. In the East they call it the way ‘neti neti’ which means ‘not this, not that.’ In the West we refer to it as ‘via negativa’ which means a way of nothingness.

We should see our lives as a passing of events without getting attached to anything. We should witness those events as they pass, but not lay claim on them. Rather, we should be a part of them without identifying them. We should experience them without saying, “This is mine” or “This is who I am.” Instead of saying, “This is my event, this is affecting me,” we should simply watch the events that occur throughout life.

We could use the analogy of going to a movie. When you watch the movie you might enjoy it, but you don’t identify with it. You realize that you are simply witnessing the movie. If we try to do the same with what occurs in our own lives this will grant us a more detached perspective, such as that of a witness. In this state you can experience events fully and richly without feeling that they define you.

The mind is always ready to identify events that occur. For example, we might tell ourselves, “Because I was kind to the lady at the store, that means I’m a nice person” or “Because I was rude on the freeway when that person cut me off, it means I’m a rude person.” We become so attached to our opinions, theories and interpretations of reality. This keeps us from achieving “just being.” The truth is, at our core we just are. We aren’t this or that simply because all labels eventually change. Anything that changes can’t be permanent. The only thing that is permanent, however, is you: the fact that you are. Identify with the fact that you are; identify with beingness. If you can do this, you’ll find that labels, both good and bad, dissipate so that you can experience the joy and bliss of being in the present.

What would happen if you let go of your opinions, theories and interpretations of reality and became more like the sky? Thoughts and opinions are merely clouds that come by, but we aren’t defined by them. Rather, we are the sky that bears witness to them. We should strive to return to being like the sky, which we have always been and always will be. We just forgot about our infinity because we were too busy identifying with different events and occurrences in our lives.

By losing the attachment to, and identification with, these events, we also stop suffering. The mind constantly wants to dwell on events, things and people. But instead of falling into this mindset, try to be with yourself, and see yourself as the one who witnesses everything. Explore who you are, without everything else that goes along with it. If you get back to the real root of who you are, you will find that in this state of beingness all the identifications will go away. You’ll be left with the infinite reality of now.

By not labeling, identifying, attaching, judging and desiring, you can break free of the prisons of your thoughts. You will gain pure beingness that contains the essential information of who and what you are, who you have always been and who you will always be. Experiencing this brings bliss and peace beyond any imagination.

You might not be able to stop your thoughts but if you witness them you gain that meditative, pristine view of your true self. You can then walk away from your thoughts so that you don’t allow them to identify with you anymore. We sometimes become obsessed about identifying our body and who we are. For instance, we might say, “I’m a kind person”, “I’m rich” or “I’m beautiful.” But these things are not who you are because they’re transitory and impermanent. They might change from one day to the next. But the only thing for certain is that you are. If you don’t identify with all the changes, what happens is that you truly begin to experience life in its true natural state: the beautiful state of beingness.

One of the best analogies for understanding this is the story of gold. Gold can be made into a variety of forms and shapes. But gold, no matter what shape it takes, is still gold at its origin. It may look like an ornate piece of jewelry or a coin, but at its core it is gold. When its life is over as a piece of jewelry or ornament, it is melted down into its original state and created into a new object. No matter what changes it undergoes, it maintains its gold state. That never changes. It has always been gold and it will always be gold. We, too, are like gold. Even when we were babies, we had no concepts. All we had was pure beingness. As time went on our minds started to cultivate interpretations of reality and started labeling others. With those labels came suffering.

All those identifications of love and hate change, but what doesn’t change is just being. If you stay in that state of just beingness, what you’ll find is that your life will improve significantly because you are moving back to your original, natural state which is beyond any description.

Meditation is a great technique to help one experience that natural state and go with the flow of life, blissfully immersed in it without restricting labels. When you are in the process of enlightenment, you are living your life and flowing with life without thinking. By following your breath, being still and quieting your mind, you learn to witness your thoughts without identifying them and you also give yourself a chance to just be. With a detached perspective, your life can change drastically because it will become quieter, more peaceful and much more enlightened.

Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com 
He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

Ironically, one of the main things that keeps us from awakening to our true nature is knowledge. We think we know things, and knowing these things keeps us from being awake. Our belief that we have true knowledge keeps us caught up in our perceptions, labels, and opinions, making them appear as realities rather than the biased points of view they actually are. If truth is a matter of perspective, can we call it truth? If situations change depending on how we look at them and on who is doing the looking, can we really trust our judgments to be true knowledge?
Getting past the assumption that we have all the answers is the first step in moving toward a higher, more inclusive truth than the one we currently perceive. In the Far East, they call it neti neti. It means not this, not that. In Western cultures, we call it via negativa, which means a way of nothingness. It’s really about unlearning – letting go of all that we think we know and simply being – without bias or opinion.
People who succeed in releasing their assumptions see life as a passing of events and don’t get attached to anything. They witness events as they pass and don’t claim them, don’t identify with them. Try just observing events sometime, being part of them without becoming them. Experience them without saying, “This is mine,” or “This is who I am,” or “This is my event, this is affecting me.” Instead, attempt to just watch the events that occur. With that detached, witnessing perspective, you’ll find that life becomes much more quiet, much more peaceful, and much more enlightened.
In many ways, it’s like going to a movie. We watch the movie, we enjoy the movie, but we don’t become the movie. It doesn’t become our all-encompassing reality. We have fun observing the story, and yet we’re always aware of a larger truth outside the movie theater. What happens in the movie touches us, but the events don’t so overshadow our sense of who we are that we stand up shouting for joy when something good happens, or consider suicide when something bad happens. We know it’s just a story, just a film. We know that while we participate in it emotionally, on a deeper level we’re just a witness to the movie. It can’t reach into our core so deeply that we forget who we are and become the movie.
Try regarding the events that happen in your life the way you would look at a film. Rather than deeply identifying with everything that’s happening, simply witness the events. That doesn’t mean you don’t take action within your life, turning into an irresponsible or passive observer. It does mean, however, that part of you – the witnessing part, the I am awareness – wakes up and becomes conscious in you, right in the midst of your daily activities. When that happens, even your own actions and thoughts don’t absorb you completely – the greater part of you is always watching a story.
The value of this expanded life perspective is that life doesn’t hurt or overshadow us the way it used to do. Things can still sadden or bring us joy. On the other hand, nothing can shake the deep serenity that we have discovered within. It’s rather like wind, whipping up waves on a lake. Part of the lake – the surface part – is involved in all the drama and excitement of the storm, but the deepest part of the lake is forever unmoved. It remains still. Practice becoming conscious of the deepest part of your own nature, and you will find a stillness and peace that endures in the midst of all the turmoils of living.
Observe your thoughts when your mind chatter says things like “This is mine” or “I’m such-and-such.” Take your mind away from such thoughts to an awareness of your simple being. Witness the occurrences in your life, and experience them richly and fully without identifying with them, without becoming them.
Our minds so quickly want to identify with events: “Because I acted nicely toward that lady in the store, I must be a nice person.” Or “Because I was rude on the freeway when that man cut me off, I must be a rude person.” These are the illusions we’ve become trapped in. “I am” – the deepest part of us – is neither nice nor rude. It is beyond such polarities. It simply is – the consciousness at the root of all thoughts, actions, and experiences.
Let yourself just witness your behavior, both the positive and negative. Rather than identifying your actions as you, let them be. Allow yourself to experience life as a flow. Go with life, and release the labels. Instead of hanging onto the judgments, find your way to the bigness, to the is-ness. Do this by practicing neti neti, reminding yourself when you start to identify with something that is not your genuine identity: “I am not this, and I am not that. I just am.”
At your core, you are. You aren’t this and you aren’t that, because those things change. Anything that changes cannot be permanent. So identify with that which is permanent. And the only thing that is permanent is that which you are.
Identify with what you are. Identify with “beingness.” And you’ll find that all the labels – good and bad – fade away and fall off, so that you can experience the bliss of being in the here and now, all the time.
We can all get too attached to our opinions, our theories, and our interpretations of reality. What if you let them go and be like the sky? Opinions and thoughts are like clouds that come by, but the sky is beyond them. It is bigger than them. Instead, the sky is merely the backdrop upon which the action happens.
Think of yourself as the sky that is the backdrop to all the events of your life. But you are not those events. Step back from being the cloud and return to being the infinite sky, which you have always been and always will be, even though you’ve forgotten that. You’ve forgotten because you identify with all the different occurrences in your life. Let that go, and an expansive freedom will dawn, surprising you with joy.
We become attached to events, and that is why we suffer. When we lose the attachment, the suffering goes away, too. The mind constantly wants to dwell on events, things, people. Instead, just be with yourself; be the witness. Explore who you are, rather than constantly being distracted by everything else. Get back to the root of your own being. In that state of I am, all the false identification disappears. What you’ll be left with is the infinite reality of now.

Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and 
creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com 
He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

Before anything can be known, before anything can come into existence, there must be someone who is the background to all that exists. When we wake up in the morning, everything blooms in our awareness. But would it all be there if we weren’t around? Can there be anything without us first being aware of it? The “I am” is present before anything else exists. Thus, you are before everything else can be.

Once we start giving labels to the “I am”, problems arise. Food, clothing, shelter, personality – all of these things exist only because we have identified with them. But before we identified with them, who or what, are we?

We are the background on which everything occurs. Although we identify with the body upon waking, we are not the body. Even before identification with the body and any labels can take form, the “I am” is the first to emerge when we wake up every morning. It is present before everything else can be. Really explore the “I am”, such as by asking “Who am I?” or “What am I?” These are important questions that we want to take time to discover because even before we start using labels for the things around us or identifying with certain things, the “I am” is already in existence.

It is the mind, the ego, that begins to take on labels. Try to stop doing this and allow yourself to be with the “I am.” Quiet the mind. Be still. At first this idea of not taking on an identity or labels can seem quite a daunting task because we’re so used to adopting labels and defining ourselves.

But when we identify with the mind, the body, thoughts, possessions, ideas or political stances, we cause ourselves to suffer. Instead, just identify with the “I am”, the beginning of everything, beingness, the background on which everything else occurs. If you can do this, you’ll being to explore what you are not as well as discover what you are. The sense of “I am” has always been with you and will always be with you. See in that ultimate stillness what beingness is truly like.

You’re not your job. You’re not your name. You’re not your family. Saying you are this person or saying that you identify with a job or person or event is an untruth. It is meaningless. All that you can say is, “I am.” Without you experiencing the world and everything around you, nothing can exist. Discover who is the background of everything; discover who you are. Ultimately, you are the beingness on which the entire universe is created.

We have identified with all the mind chatter and taken on labels which can’t even occur unless you are. Go back to the state of beingness where you can just be. From there you can discover who you are and let go of all your attachments. There is no thought there. In this space, there is just silence that affords you the opportunity to explore the world. Be that silence and discover who, or what, you are.

Enlightenment is something you can have right now, but you have to let go of everything and become completely unattached. Let go of your identity and find yourself discovering who you are, who you’ve always been and who you’ll always be. All you have to do is be still and just be.

Resource Box:

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com 
He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]

The infinite reality of now is what life is really all about. In many ways, we have created a prison around ourselves. The walls are all those limiting ideas of who we are, who others are, and what life is. Practice neti neti: not this, not that. Let go of all the false identifications you have for yourself and everyone around you who limits both you and everyone in your life. We create a prison not only for ourselves but for everyone else, through our limiting attitudes and thoughts. Let’s allow the walls that encase our minds to crumble. It’s time to let the prison doors swing open.

How? We do this by being with what is. When we let go of the labeling, the judging, the attaching, the craving, and the identifying, what’s left is pure I am-ness. In that simple state of being, who and what we are becomes apparent. It is, always has been, and always will be.

When we experience this, it cannot be described in words. We come to a place of bliss and peace beyond imagination. There is only one thing in the entire universe that is for certain, and that is you. That you are. Anytime you add a label to who you are, that label can change. That label will change. Therefore, that label cannot be not the real, eternal you.
Let’s get back to being who we are. By getting rid of all the concepts, we experience life in its pristine, raw form. Let us flow with life without embroiling ourselves in the constant internal mind chatter. If we allow ourselves to observe and to witness our racing thoughts, as if they are clouds in the sky, they dissolve and float away.

In meditation, we practice clearing the mind of thoughts for a brief period of time. In enlightenment – the ultimate goal of meditation – we live our entire life without mind chatter and limiting judgments. We bask in the pure joy of every moment, simply flowing with life.

While witnessing your thoughts, you may find they don’t stop coming. Even just observing them brings us to a meditative, pristine state of awareness, where we can sense our true self and who we really are. The way to get there is to block those repetitive thoughts (mind chatter), and to no longer identify with them.

We get obsessed with identifying with our bodies and personalities. “I’m kind.” “I’m mean.” “They’re rich.” “He’s popular.” “She’s beautiful.” “I’m poor.” But those cannot be who we are, because they are impermanent, transitory labels. The only thing for certain is that we exist. We need to identify with that.
Everything exists because we exist. If we don’t identify with all that changes, we begin to experience life in its truest, most natural state: the beautiful state of pure being. And that is a state of indescribable bliss.

One of the best analogies for the nature of life is gold. Gold can be molded into a variety of forms. No matter what shape it assumes, gold is always gold. That is its essential nature. It may be mixed with alloys and made into an ornate piece of jewelry. It may become a shiny chain or an expensive coin. It may become a ring of promise for two people in love. But fundamentally, the gold contained in the chain, the coin, and the ring is always gold.

When the life of a piece of gold jewelry is over, it is melted down and returns to its original state: gold. Then it is made into a new object, which eventually gets melted down again. This can go on for thousands of years. But every time, it is able to maintain its gold state through all of the changes. Its essence – that which is most important about it – never alters. It will always be – simply, serenely, and gloriously – gold.

What stays the same for us is that we are always consciousness. That is our “gold” state, our essential nature. Consciousness can take on many shapes and forms. Yet it remains consciousness, began as consciousness, and always will be consciousness. See yourself as that: pure “is-ness.”

When you were a baby, you had no opinions, no concepts. All you had was pure beingness — your state as pure gold. As time went on, your mind began to cultivate interpretations of reality and started labeling things, others, and yourself. With those labels came limitation and suffering.

What if you started losing those labels and got back to just being, experiencing life in its pure, raw form? All those labels aren’t reality. They are going to change, including the labels you give yourself. Today you think you’re the greatest and tomorrow you think you’re the worst. But ultimately you are neither outstanding nor horrible: you simply are.

Our likes and dislikes change. What doesn’t change is the beingness. If we stay in that state of simple I am-ness, we find that life gets much better. Why? Because we’ve gone back to our original “pure gold” state.

While this original state of beingness is truly beyond description, anyone can experience it. One of the best ways to do that is to practice regular meditation. Meditation quiets the mind and brings us to a state of serenity. It’s a wonderful way to lose all the chatter in the head and to just be.

Resource Box:
Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a meditation expert, international speaker and creates a podcast and articles that explores the world of Enlightenment available at http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com. He also has a blog at http://www.Meditation-Enlightenment.com. He is the creator of the weekly Meditation For Health Podcast, available at http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com. He has a weekly podcast that explores the world of Happiness at http://www.HappinessPodcast.org. If you would like to contact Dr. Puff, his e-mail address is [email protected]