Pain is the partner of pleasure. Bliss has no opposite. In bliss, pain and pleasure are one.
The quiet peace, and happiness that is the nature of experience is the inherently loving nature of ourselves as this reality. A natural arising of wholeness - quiet, dynamic, intimate, with a touch of buzz. This is the bliss of being.
Reality in its essence is love—a full inclusion and all-embracing love that permeates every aspect of existence.
Sat-chit-ananda
being, consciousness, bliss
"your duty is to be, and not to be this or that. I Am that I Am sums up the whole truth; the method is in 'be still'"
Ramana Maharshi
Inherent Intelligence: The Fine-Tuned Awareness of Experience
What makes this reality so loving of itself (self-love) is its inbuilt, inherent intelligence, ability to know itself deeply, and dynamic movement towards its own expression of itself - this which appears as 'the world'. Experience is like a star - fractalling forth in celebration, imploding and absorbing back into itself simultaneously.
This intelligence is not something separate from us - but the very nature of what we are as consciousness. Finely tuned to know experience deeply and effortlessly - every moment of our lives is an expression of this intelligence, gently guiding us to witness and engage with whatever arises.
This intelligence is not just cognitive or rational in an interpretive sense. Far more potent and directly expressing as this here now before knowledge or assumption, this is an all-encompassing awareness that understands experience at the deepest level. It knows how to meet each moment with exactly what is needed, without effort or struggle, there is no separation from the experience itself. Experience is its own heart.
For our human experience, this is incredibly good news. It points to the recognition that our very nature is the effortless apparatus to witness our deepest pains, our most challenging experiences, and our moments of joy and peace with equanimity and grace. Searching for this intelligence or trying to manufacture it through effort or willpower is unnecessary. It is already here, as the core of our being, always present and ready to embrace whatever life presents. In being ourself we are naturally being this intelligence, and in following, through feeling, our sense of quiet bliss and happiness, we effortlessly follow the flow of love and change that is the very nature of experience itself.
Embracing Pain and Difficulty with Effortless Awareness
Often when we face pain or difficulty, we may feel overwhelmed, believing that we need to find some special state of consciousness, develop some extraordinary skill, or find some radical solution to handle these experiences or apparent life situations. The good news is that we don’t need to make anything happen other than what is. The intelligence that is our true nature is perfectly equipped as boundless capacity to witness, hold, and unfold even the most intense and challenging emotions and situations. Whatsmore, when we cease to, through simple noticing, pitch one experience off against the next, we recognise the equanimity of all experience - the deep intimacy and bliss of being that pervades our entire experiential field, as the self.
This loving awareness doesn't resist pain or try to push it away. Instead, this meets pain as the open heart, allowing it to be fully felt and understood and touched by its own love. When love looks, it only every finds more of itself - which is the nature of its embrace. In this space of effortless awareness, pain is not something to be feared or avoided - it is simply another experience arising in consciousness, another aspect of the play of life.
When we recognise that our very nature is this intelligent, loving awareness, we no longer need to fear our difficult experiences. We see that we are not separate from the intelligence that knows these experiences. This recognition transforms our relationship with pain and difficulty as we align through the felt sense with the greatest and most loving witness. Rather than being something to escape, they become opportunities to deepen our engagement with life and to discover the boundless capacity of our own being. We are invited into the depth of all experiencing, rather than living life skipping along the surface in a seeking pendulation through pleasure, pain, and back again.
Being as the Source of Effortless Knowing
The key to realizing this intelligence and love lies in simply being. We don't need to go anywhere or do anything special to access this knowing, nor do we need to actively try to shift states or create new beliefs. What is needed is already present, already functioning perfectly, as the very nature of the moment.
In simply being—being presence, being openness, being aware of awareness itself - that is, placing attention in awareness—we tap into the effortless nature of consciousness. We realise that we are not separate from the intelligence that knows and understands all experience. We are that intelligence, that loving awareness, that activity of Ananda.
This realization brings a profound sense of peace and ease. We stop trying to control or manipulate our experiences, and instead, we allow ourselves to be as we are. In this space of allowing, we discover that everything we need to navigate life’s challenges is already within us. We find that the love and intelligence of reality is always guiding us, always supporting us, in every moment.
The Liberation of Knowing Your True Nature
As we come to understand and embody the loving nature of reality we find that life becomes less of a struggle and more of a dance. We no longer need to resist or avoid our experiences, because we recognize that the intelligence within us is perfectly tuned to know and engage with whatever arises.
This is the great liberation of knowing our true nature. We don’t need to search for happiness and bliss somewhere outside of ourselves, nor do we need to create it through effort. Ananda, this blissful awareness, is already present, effortlessly knowing and loving every experience. Ananda, the bliss of being, is the intelligence of creation and that which is always here as the natural force and source of healing.
In recognising this, we are free—free to live fully, to embrace all of life, and to engage deeply with reality, knowing that we are always held in the loving embrace of awareness. As we Touchstone peace, love outpours.
This is the green light to live.
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