TWO LETTERS FROM THE FIELD: A New Student (who is also a wise old hand) Writes In
This arrived a couple of days ago from a new friend of mine, Kenton. We had an initial Awakening Dialogue, but there was already a whole lot of Conscious Awakeness present. There was just one little barrier in the way of a clearer understanding. I helped him see through that, and we’ve been in touch ever since with satsang, meetings, and email.
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Kenton had a very good teacher for a long time who came from from the lineage of very good teacher. You can’t know it until you do, but trust me, that’s absolutely HUGE. From that kind of mix Awakeness rises as automatically as steam from a hot street after a rain shower. That such an opportunity would fall upon someone who was keenly earnest is not an accident, it’s a given. It couldn’t not happen.
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We pick neither our desires or our peccadilloes, and it would seem that everything is totally automated. That’s just not so. Cooperation with the inevitable is absolutely necessary (most of the time) if Awakeness is going to shift from unconsciousness to consciousness through a given unit. We do not surrender, we are surrendered, but to the mind it will feel as if we surrendered, and we must be willing for that surrender to take place over and over again.
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Unless we don’t, of course. But as ever, this teaching holds to the course of the Law of Large Numbers, not of the few exceptions to those laws. My chief interest is in how most people wake up most of the time. And if there’s something in that which can be gained and passed on, all the better. Here is Kenton passing it on.
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Hey Fred,
Just wanted to say a heartfelt thanks for your teaching, which I have been deeply immersing myself in lately. It’s really cleared up a lot of misunderstandings and confusions I’ve harbored (thanks to your incredibly clear presentation), and it’s brought to consciousness an even clearer sense of my fundamental identity as Beingness, which is increasingly evident in everything my senses take in–the experience of unity that I’ve long intimated was where this unfolding was headed. While I’ve long experienced spatious awareness/aliveness/emptiness, it felt disconnected from my sense of self (i.e. an identity as the body/character) and the “outside” world.
Among the several insights that you’re teaching has helped make available is that, just because I continue to experience a clear sense of Kenton-ness, does not mean there necessarily is a primary identification with the character/body, as the mind has long assumed was the case. Seeing this has actually surprised me, allowing me to see that there is more conscious identification with Awareness than it had previously seemed. Put simply, I thought being truly awake meant no sense of Kenton-ness. Now, Kenton-ness is allowed to be there, it’s just not believed or invested with energy. Thus, what is in the foreground is…Thusness. And in that there is a freedom, love and deep sense of okayness. I swear, this is the only game in town.
I could go on and on, but I wanted to share at least this much. I might get inspired to share more in the future.
Amazing how the right presentation of the Truth comes along when there is readiness.
See you on Sunday.
-K
Hey, Kenton! I’m so glad to have you with me. There is no substitute for direct transmission. I plan to print this email, it’s good and honest and clear. And it really helps people see that we can use language without believing it, i.e., “Hi, I’m Fred Davis.” 🙂
That’s deeply touching. Thanks Fred.
If it’s not too demanding of your attention, I also thought it would be of interest to share a short report of what happened during the couple days after our first conversation.
For the rest of the day, I experienced what felt like electrical surges in my brain, a very brief fainting feelings. This body is nooooo stranger to intense energetic movements, but that was new. What was really interesting was what happened after that: a totally automatic avoidance of the conscious experience of the Truth. My mind started racing around like a fly, in an apparent effort to distract itself, so to speak–often with no clear content, just hyperactivity. And all of this other conditioning arose, revolving around being a “good student” and caring what “the teacher” thinks of me, and “am I awake enough?” blah blah blah. Totally automatic, and utterly insane, conditioning, whose origins do not appear that mysterious.
I just wanted to confess all this because I see that it’s really not personal, and that the arising of suffering/uncomfortable conditioning is actually part of the clearing up process, as you put it, rather than a barrier to it–it brings about a deeper readiness of awareness to see itself. If awareness needs to grab that hot skillet of identification again, unconvinced that there is an alternative, then that’s what it needs to do. Until it doesn’t, whenever that is. Not personal.
Anyway, no more hounding your undoubtedly full inbox. Just wanted to share in the spirit of telling the truth, warts and all.
May 21, 2016 @ 5:59 pm
Wonderful post for the “receiving” end of One here too! Being given “permission” to notice Mikeness and doubts is always a relief (until I don’t so much, but not by putting the cart before the horse!). My self-reflecting bubble can get to be like a hall of mirrors, so I’m so grateful for your confession. It reminds me that what’s aware of the bubble and mirror-maze is, well, … Me!