Awareness: The perception, knowledge or understanding of a happening, situation or tangible object. Aware understanding, for our purposes, is a thoughtful, nonjudgmental, tolerant and even sympatric observation of ourselves, the individual or a humanity-based situation, etc. Aware knowledge, when applied to meditation practices, is the ultimate and undeniable knowing of the unquestionable truth of all existence, “We are, this is…” Aware perception is an awareness of people, places, and things through our senses, emotions or notion, which includes an aware state from presence and of our own divinity.
The teacher tells the student, “I am aware that I am attempting to bring to verse that which is beyond word. I am trying to point you to the state of conscious present awareness, that which is beyond description, that which must be felt, experienced and tasted to be known.”
Awareness includes bringing to the conscious mind everything we observe externally as well as what we observe going on in our minds. The simple act of thought or tangible objects, situations, emotions, etc. brings them to a certain level of consciousness. Similar to bringing something out of darkness and into the light. The student and the teacher often find that as their observations move forward in their minds, cognizant of any additional thoughts they add to the observations, things change. That’s one of the things meditation does. When practicing meditation you observe thought (bring thought to your awareness). While doing so, you abide by the rules, aware of any positive or negative responses you add to your observation. Then allow the thought to pass like wind on the sand, conscious of its existence yet unaffected by its effects, consciously aware, yet untouched.
Awareness is included in our meditation practices as part of waking up. For some, it may, in fact, be the key essential part of their journey toward conscious presence. For the purpose of our current studies, we use awareness to separate from much of the conditioning going on in our minds. Often times, the student and the teacher bring their awareness to the fundamental facts of our existence. We are a lifeform evolving on this planet with a multitude of other lifeforms, including those of the past and present, spinning around this ball we call earth, rotating around a star we call the sun flying through a galaxy at high speed, flying through a galaxy that is one of many in a universe beyond human comprehension. We are aware we are a part of this natural unfolding of all that is.
A simple meditation, an awareness presentation, try it here and there, when it comes to your mind, or not. Aware that you have a choice. Take some moments and say in your mind everything that you are aware of as it unfolds in the moment: the sounds, the level of light, the space you are in, the sensations in your body, the thoughts in your mind, etc. Bring your awareness to your reaction to these observations; with practice, you could do this well. With practice, this could assist you in separating yourself from the workings of your mind. As an advanced mediation, you could bring your attention to the silence and the stillness underneath of everything going on around you and even the stillness under the stream of thought.
It’s a new day. Your day. ••
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