January Satsang Gems (from our weekly online Sunday meetings)

• I, Awakeness, am awake to this moment. What does that mean? It means that in the present moment, in the midst of the present arisings, I know I am the continuous, unshakable absolute.
• What is it that cannot accept death: the absolute or the character? What do you actually fear? Is there anything other than you? No. There is only one heart. There is never any more than one heart; nor is there ever any less than one heart. Birth and death are illusions.
• There may be a post-awakening phase of ascribing meaninglessness to everything except the exploration of the absolute. This occurs after we clearly see what we are not. You see you are not a professional, not a spouse, not a thought, not a body. But eventually you recognize that you are all these things, and everything, as well as the absolute. Awakeness is love and the experience of itself is compassion and love.
• In early awakening (the first five years), you are juxtaposed between different worlds – relativity and the absolute – sometimes uncomfortably. As awakening matures, the edges of this perceived contrast soften, allowing for easier interactions. There is less need for confirmation from others (there is only one Awakeness), and the line between conscious Awakeness and unconscious Awakeness becomes less jarring.
• The biggest difference in terms of post-awakening rewiring is a great sense of relaxation. Being a Fred is a huge, full-time job, whereas just being this natural state is effortless. There is only the natural state, but the imagined alternative states are exhausting.
• Perceiving the pointlessness of the dream is not frustrating, it is freeing.
• I recall at one point in my youth walking through a field and picking and eating whatever looked conceivably like a psychedelic mushroom – reckless behavior. But Fred was so desperate to escape the perceived burden of consciousness, to change the internal experience, that he was willing to take just about any risk.
• You can’t live in peace, you can only live as peace. You can’t live in the now, you can only live as the now. You can’t wake up, you can only recognize that you are Awakeness. Everything is looking for that thing it is missing. But there is nothing missing.
• One of my first realizations upon awakening was “Oh, my God, I’m living inside of a lunatic!”
• How to tell the difference between the voice of Awakeness vs. the character? If I’m speaking from the character, it will be in the form of a complaint or perhaps a laudatory pat for the ego. The character is resistance itself. But I am at peace with whatever arises, in the midst of whatever arises.
• Over time, the default position comes to see, think, speak and act from Awakeness. There are still plenty of unskillful patterns that arise over here, but the frequency of such is lessening and when they do appear, they are less troublesome.
• We must develop the willingness to continually claim “I am only Awakeness,” regardless of the character’s claims to the contrary. Whatever you put your attention on will expand in your experience. Place your attention on Awakeness.
• Who is it that is laughing? There is just laughing.

All quotes from Fred Davis.
Thanks to Gordon for collecting,
Kathleen for editing.

Come join us for satsang.  All are welcome!