133 Experiencing What We Are

To a seeker, Ramana said, "Before you ask out 'your life', find out who 'You' are."  Good advice.  In this podcast we place our attention on what we are.  What is always here and remains when everything goes?  We place our attention on Awareness or our "Buddha nature".  It is like a rainbow and is experienced beyond creation as a full nothing and, in creation, as Light, Love, Peace, Happiness, Joy, etc.  We place our attention on Awareness so that we can experience our Selves rather than just understand our Selves.  We talk about why some experience them Selves as Peace while others as Love, or Joy or Happiness or All.  Though not the focus, we talk briefly about how to release what distracts and blocks us and why.  We also note that much more information on releasing and the whole process of awakening is available for free on this platform.  All podcasts stand on their own yet each rests on those before.  Best to start at number 1 and move forward unless you find a title compelling now.

These podcasts are here to support your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. I feel they are most powerful when listened to in sequence from podcast one forward because each is built on the last. Though they, also, all stand on their own. If anything does not resonate, please disregard it and follow your heart. All my podcasts and website are free. Enjoy!

Though I am a psychotherapist, and these podcasts are offered to be spiritually helpful, they are not psychotherapy. If psychotherapy is ever needed, please reach out to a psychotherapist.

www.williamecooper.wordpress.com for more support. You may, especially, enjoy the short contemplations and the resource page which gives you some supportive material.

Transcript

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Hello, this is William Cooper. Welcome to Awakening Together, Relaxing into Happiness. I trust you're doing well today. Let's talk about who you are, who we are. Ramana Maharishi was one of the greatest saints of India. He lived in South India in a little village called Tiruvannamalai. He passed away in the 1950s. Often people would come to him, both to find out about awakening, but often to get answers to specific questions about their lives. Ramana, who should I marry? Ramana, what path should I take in life? Ramana, what should I do? Ramana, what sort of job should I have? And Ramana would look at them very deeply and say, first, before I answer that question, tell me who you are. Because knowing who you truly are is crucial in being able to determine who to marry or what job to take or not take. First, tell me who you are. Well, let's talk about that. Who are you? Who are we? We don't want to live a false life based on what we're not. We want to radiate from our deep center. We want to follow our heart. We want to be and know who we are and flow clearly from our center. After all, the outer reflects the inner. Confusion over who we are will be reflected back as our confusing life, usually very painful as we make so many mistakes and misdirect ourselves. Ramana felt that awakening was so simple. After all, you're right here, right now. Just look at who you are. We're awareness. We're aware of what we're looking at rather than the object that we are looking at. If the object disappeared, we would still be here. We would continue to be awareness. We're awareness. You're awareness. That which is doing the looking rather than the thing you're looking at. We're not the things that could disappear. So we're not our thoughts because they come and go. We're not our emotions because they could disappear for a time. And we would be aware of that. We're not different objects we focus on, such as the trees around us or the clouds or the blue sky or our job or our habits, because any of these things could change or disappear. And we would still be there, very aware of everything going on around us. So we're what is there all the time because we're here all the time. And what is that? That's awareness. We are awareness. From awareness, we create thoughts. We're not the thoughts. We create them. We create emotions. We talked about this very thoroughly in all of the past podcasts, which are available on this platform. If you should ever want to review them, I think right now, let's focus really on awareness, experiencing who we are rather than getting into all the things that we're not. There are really only two things, that which we are and that which we are not. Let's focus on what we are. We're awareness and awareness is that silent part of us that is aware of thoughts, aware of emotions, aware of actions and all else. Take a moment and tune into your awareness. Notice who you are. What can be confusing to us sometimes is we get so involved and distracted by our thoughts, by our emotions, that sometimes we think we are our thoughts or we are our emotions when we're truly not. Awareness is like a light. And if you shine a light on a broken glass, perhaps you're focusing on the broken glass, but you're not the broken glass. You're the light. Awareness, when it focuses on a broken personality or a problem or anger or fear or unfulfillment, often gets involved in these objects and thinks that it is the problem or the anger or the fear. But just like the light isn't the broken glass, we're not the broken personality or the problems. We're just awareness, which is silent and has no problems. It's peaceful. Awareness is like a rainbow. So let's talk a little bit more deeply about awareness and really tune into it because it's so easy to become distracted by the things that we've created, such as our thoughts or our emotions or our personality, which is made of our thoughts and emotions that we have created. Yet we're aware of all of them. They're useful tools, but we are not them any more than we're the car that we drive. We're the driver of the car. Yet that doesn't fully focus on who we are. It's simply what we're not. Who are we? Well, as you sit still and meditation is very good for this, place your attention on your awareness rather than your thoughts for a moment. Be aware of being aware, be aware of the qualities of your awareness. And after some time, as all the mud settles out, all the distractions settled down and you become clearer and clearer, you'll notice that awareness, you have many different qualities. You're like a rainbow. If you follow yourself to your deepest essence, you'll find that you are very silent, very still. In fact, you go back beyond and out of creation. You're infinite. On this level, the great sages have said that you're nothing because you don't exist because you're out of creation. And by definition, everything that's out of creation doesn't exist. Perhaps on one level, you can feel this part of you. Although they say it's nothing, it also feels very full and it can only be known through your intuition. But as you become quiet and still, you can feel that. You can feel that deep part of yourself, very quiet, very still. And that deep part of you, as it comes into creation, takes on different qualities. And you can feel this, you're like a rainbow full of different lights. So you can feel yourself as light as you come into creation, because that's something that does exist. It's light. And on a very deep level in creation, you can feel yourself as light. Can you feel that? Maybe you have to sit still longer, or maybe you begin to feel it right now. You are light. Who are you? You are light. And as that light comes deeper down through your body, perhaps you can feel yourself as deep peace. And as it goes through other aspects of your body, you can feel yourself as joy, wellbeing, love, happiness. You are all these things, just like light can be turned into a rainbow of many colors, clear and white light turns into every possible color. The same as for you, the deep infinite quality of you beyond creation, which some call nothing or emptiness comes down into creation and your every possible color, joy, happiness, peace, wellbeing, and fundamentally light, which is diffracted into all of these clear aspects or qualities of you. Why do some people feel themselves more as peace while others feel themselves more as love or joy or others more as light? Well, it depends on which energy centers are open within you, that this deep emptiness flows down through the prism of your being. And maybe for now your heart is more open. So you feel yourself as love in creation, or perhaps another energy center is open. These energy centers are called chakras. Perhaps another is open and you feel yourself as deep peace or joy or wellbeing. In the end, as all of your energy centers open, you'll feel yourself as all of these things. As you go through your natural spiritual path and you do your work and you clear out different obstacles, you let them go. All of your energy centers, all of your chakras will eventually open. So it's nothing you really have to focus on. It will happen very naturally. For now, it's a good place to start just to know who you are and experience who you are on any level, because you're always here. This empty nothingness is always here. And all of these different qualities of being down in creation, love, peace, wellbeing, light, even sound, a deep sound of OM, of the sound of creation or a high pitch sound. Perhaps you hear that as well. You can experience all of these deep qualities of being one by one or all at once. As you experience them, you also experience all of the objects around you, trees and clouds, but also created objects, ones that you have created or have absorbed, such as problems and thoughts and emotions, your personality and on and on and on. So you don't have to clear out all those things for you to experience yourself. You can feel the peace of yourself while at the same time experiencing the object of pain that perhaps you haven't released yet. So let's not be confused and think we have to dissolve and let go of everything before we can experience ourselves. We can experience ourselves right now because we're here right now. Just makes sense. And it is true. However, when we have so many objects covering us up, so many layers that we have created and haven't let go of, sometimes we become so covered up and blocked by these objects of pain, of hurt, of sadness, of fear, all these emotions and the thoughts that come with them. Sometimes we've become so covered up that we can barely even experience ourselves, or at least that might be our perception, but it's not true because if you just sit still, even in your deepest pain, you'll notice that you're aware of the pain. Otherwise, how would you know that it was there? You're aware that you awareness. So there's awareness and the pain that you're aware of. So you're always here. And what I'm suggesting now is let's put our attention on who we are a little bit more so that we can get used to ourselves and not be hypnotized to believe we're all these things that were not the pain, the problems, the discord were none of those things. We can let them go. How do you let them go? Well, every problem, every discord is a separation. And at the source of it, at the bottom of it, at the deepest depths of it is attention. So you just let any of the stress, let it go. Don't hold onto it. Don't get too involved in it because you freeze it in place. If you become too involved in it, consciousness, your awareness is like water. And when you put your willpower on it, you freeze that water into ice cubes. And those ice cubes can have various shapes. They can be sharp, like a knife. You could have a mold and turn water into the shape of a knife and freeze it. And it would hurt somebody. It could hurt you. Well, it's the same with our consciousness. Often through our interactions with others or our misperceptions, we freeze our free-flowing consciousness, which is love, peace, and wellbeing. We freeze it like water, like life-giving water into shapes that don't help us, into the shape of fear or hurt or anger. And it hurts us. So what to do? Again, if you haven't listened to these podcasts and some of this is quite different, I would start with podcast number one and work your way forward because we talk about a lot on how to release all of this stuff that you are not. However, for now, I would say just let it go. Don't get so involved with it if it's not necessary. Only be involved with it enough to let it go. Think of it as a deep tension and just let it go. Let it flow through your body. These things are often stored up inside of us because when we were small or at a different time in our life, when we couldn't handle it, we pushed them down deep inside of us because we were overwhelmed or it was just too much. And so we repressed these objects. And now we've got thousands of them, perhaps inside. So let's reverse course. Let's let them go so that they're not clogging us up. When you feel pain, just watch it in the light of your awareness. It will melt like an ice cube in the hot sun. It will slowly melt. It will release what it's made of because it's not really an ice cube that won't be releasing cold. It's really an emotion. So it will be releasing that emotion. If it's pain, it will be releasing pain or hurt. It will release hurt or anger. It will release anger. You aren't the anger you're watching. You're just letting it release. It's an old anger. You're not the hurt that you're watching. You're just letting it release. It's an old hurt. So let it go. And more and more, there will be space to feel what you're already feeling, which is the awareness that's aware of all of this, all of this pain or hurt or whatever it is that you're experiencing. As many of you know, I'm a psychotherapist and nothing that I talk about in these podcasts is psychotherapy. However, it can be quite helpful. And I attempt to give you different thoughts or directions that if you find them helpful, you can use them on your spiritual path. One aspect of psychology or psychotherapy is what's called solution focus psychotherapy. And in that psychotherapy, you put your attention on the positive aspects of your life rather than the negative ones. For instance, if you come into the therapist's office, they might say, tell me about your life. And you might say a lot of negative things. This isn't working. That's not working. This hurts, that hurts. And they might ask you further questions. And what is working in your life? Oh, I do like to walk in nature. That feels good. Or I do like this, or I do like that, or I'm in a good relationship and that's working. My wife or my husband really is supporting me during this difficult time and that's working. And then the therapist would have you focused on those positive things rather than the negative things. A saying from solution focus psychotherapy would be water the things that you would like to grow. If you want more positivity in your life, put your attention on positive things. And that's like you're watering a tree and that tree will grow. And because your attention isn't on the negative things, they will have less propensity to grow. They will begin to wither away. Now, all of these things are just rough estimates. None of them are completely true or completely false, but there's some kind of principle there that is helpful. And in your spiritual life, if you put more attention on who you are rather than who you aren't, that can be very profitable. However, you still want to be aware enough of what you're not to be able to let it go. So a very quick way you can know what you aren't and let it go. You don't even have to think about it is if it hurts, if it has tension, if it causes you trouble, if it seems to be a problem, that's not who you are. So you can just let it go. Practice on the simple things. First, somebody says something to you and you don't even know that person. And even though you feel triggered, some old stuff coming up, use that as an opportunity to let that go. Let it go rather than hold it into your body. Later, when you get good at that, you will come across more difficult things. Well, use your new experience and habit of letting go to let those more difficult things go. When you get good at letting go, you can be more of a flow. You can let things come through you and just go rather than clog you up. All the while keeping your attention, just like solution-focused psychotherapy suggests, keep your attention on who you are, peace, love, and well-being. If it has tension in it, you know it's not you because you are peace. So peace doesn't have tension in it. You are happiness. So if it's sadness, you know that's not you. You don't even have to think about it. You can just let it go. Although sometimes thinking about things is essential to help unwind the knot that's holding it in you. So I'm not saying never think about things, but if you don't have to, just let it go. Just let it go. Often you won't be able to let the whole thing go, but you'll be able to let some of it go. And you'll build up the capacity to let more and more go and keep your attention on who you are. Buddha said, take refuge in your Buddha nature. That's who you are. And who are you? Your awareness. And when you place your attention on your awareness, on the awareness that you are, that will start to slowly turn into light. You'll feel light, inner light. You will feel well-being. You will feel happiness. You will feel peace. Even when there's unpeace floating through you as well, even when there are tensions in you as well, because you haven't let them go yet. You will still feel the peace of who you are because you're not being totally distracted by the quote unquote problems that you haven't let go of. And you're putting your attention on you. The positivity that is you. You don't have to try to be positive. You are happiness itself. That's not a trying, it just is an is. You are peace itself. You are. So get used to primarily focusing on who you are. Place your awareness on your awareness. Spend time with yourself. Get to know yourself. And from the center, your very intuition, the universe that flows through you creates, and you'll create more healthy thoughts. More healthy emotions will start to flow through your life. More healthy habits. Your personality will form around a clear center of health and well-being. So place your attention on who you are as you go through the day. In earlier podcasts that I've done, there are many techniques to keep you centered on who you are, such as you might want to listen to my podcast on mantra meditations. Mantras are good to keep you from getting distracted or captured in thoughts and emotions that seem very compelling because you haven't let go of them there. It's a lot of drama and drama often captures our attention. And as we talked about before, the light on the broken glass is not the broken glass. In the same way, you're not the drama that you're aware of. And a mantra keeps you from jumping into that drama. As you let more and more of these dramas go, as they flow through your life, and as you get used to remaining in your center, as you are, your world changes and things look quite different. I like what Rumi, the Sufi poet knew, and what you know, deep inside. He wrote, out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to even talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase, each other, doesn't make any sense. That's you, beyond it all. And then flowing through it all. Be in the world, but not of it. As Jesus said, enjoy everything, but don't hold onto anything. This is William Cooper. Thank you. And I look forward to talking to you next time. Take care.