If you really want to be done with the search, don’t read this as an intellectual exercise. Don’t read this as just another step on your way to “finally getting it.”

Instead, right now, look directly at this very moment. Take your time and really look.

Listen to sounds.

See color, shape, and movement.

Sense pressure, texture, and temperature.

Notice that absolutely no effort is required for any of this to happen.

Sensing, seeing, hearing are all happening, right now, effortlessly.

Notice, in this moment – right now – reading is happening. Squiggles are seen on the screen and thoughts take shape.

Notice thought in this moment…picture, word, sound.

The content of some thought refers to activities that have already occurred – the past.

The content of some thought refers to activities that may occur – the future.

Notice that regardless of the content of the thought, the thought itself is arising in this moment – right now.

Notice that there is probably an assumption that ‘I observe the thought…I hear…I see…I sense…’

Notice that these assumptions are also thoughts arising in this moment – right now. They are seen by…?

Notice that any answer given is another thought arising right now and seen by…?

It takes no effort whatsoever to simply see, simply listen, simply sense. If efforting arises, that is simply seen, too. It takes no effort to notice effort.

This is Awareness. This is Beingness. This is Isness. This is It. This is what you are. No effort is needed to see this. No effort is needed to get here. No effort is needed to be.

Attempt to not be aware. What happens? Try to not be here. What happens? Try to not be. What happens?

Let effort be the reminder that no effort is necessary to be what you already are.

Rest.

This pathless path is not one of perfection. As has been written by countless others, there is nothing that you need to do to recognize who/what you really are. Nonetheless, many of us are addicted to the idea of spiritual progress or spiritual perfection. We have been taught to look at everything we do – eating, sleeping, exercising, raising children, cleaning the porch, washing the dishes, making love, maintaining a relationship, dressing, earning money, decorating a house, driving the car, being a ‘seeker’ – through the eyes of achievement.

Achievement suggests that there is something that we must do in order to obtain some desired result in the future. We assume (read here, ‘believe the thought-story’) that there is some ‘secret way’ that will result in some kind of special and life-altering attainment. It is this very movement away from what is towards what we believe should be that creates the (seeming) barrier to our (seeming) ‘attainment’.

The only thing that ever needs to be ‘done’ (and it really isn’t a ‘doing’ so much as an ‘allowing’) is to open the door wider. This means to simply allow whatever is arising in this very experience to be as it is. Is there disappointment? Good. Open the door. Is there fear? Good. Open the door. Is there the story that ‘you’ will never ‘get it’? Good. Open the door. Is there disinterest in all of this seeking? Good. Open the door. Is there pain in the body? Good. Open the door. Is there joy? Good. Open the door. Is there frustration and disagreement in reading this? Good. Open the door. Is there a complete lack of understanding of what is being pointed to here? Good. Open the door. Is there recognition that weeds need to be pulled from the tomatoes? Good. Open the door. Is there boredom? Good. Open the door. Is there a desire to practice? Good. Open the door. Is there a desire to pray? Good. Open the door.

Just keep opening the door wider. Allow and welcome all of the ‘guests’. Especially, open the door to, and welcome, your own beautiful and bumbling humanity – the struggle, the worry, the pain, the upset, the miserable, the magnificent, the fearful, the loving, the transcendent, the daily grind, the conflict, the despair, the hope, the vindictiveness, the greed,the loss, the joy, the contentment. Seeing who You are doesn’t erase this life,this very moment. That is another belief,another idea – open the door wide to it, too.

If Beingness-Awareness is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, then IT is HERE NOW in this very experience! ‘You’ are ‘It’ NOW. No achievement or attainment can bring It to ‘you’ – It is you-ing you! There isn’t a ‘better’ experience to ‘work towards.’ This is it!

Open the door wide! Better yet, take it off its hinges and throw it in the fire. By the way, the belief in a separate ‘I’ is the material from which the door is made and is completely combustible – let it burn.

Right now, in this moment, aren’t ‘you’ being?

Right now, in this moment, look directly and answer this question: does it take any effort to be right now?

Right. Absolutely everything else is a dead-end direction.

There isn’t any more to IT than This.

Rest.

Raj: I can feel or let me say, I know I am ‘aware’ only when I see things around (visible world). Without them I do not even know whether I am ‘present’ or ‘aware’ (like in deep sleep). So is it correct to say: my Awareness = the things around when I am in my wakeful state?

VF: Raj, you write “without [objects] I do not even know whether I am present or aware. So is it correct to say my awareness equals the things around me when I am in a wakeful state?” Who possesses this awareness referred to? What is this “I” that is or is not in a “wakeful state?”

Please look clearly at your question and see the misunderstanding at its core. Seeing that, the question dissolves. So, let me add a little solvent to see if we can hasten the process!

Is there an ‘I’ who is ‘aware’? That is, on direct investigation, can a separate entity be found who is aware? Or, is there just IT/Awareness in and as which ALL objects – physical, mental, emotional, visible, aural, textured, and odorous – appear? There is never a ‘you’ present whether in deep sleep or waking or any other expression of consciousness. There is no separation between objects seemingly arising ‘within’ Awareness and Awareness. They are one and the same.

Everything is an expression of formlessness. Everything is an expression of IT. There is not a reciprocal relationship between objects and Awareness – for this to be so would require separation between the seeming object and a seeming witness. Even this seeming reciprocity is part of IT. THIS/IT is causeless. IT arises immediately-spontaneously-completely-at once!

Raj: The so called end of seeking is: this body-mind exists with all the sensations sort of smeared somewhere in the visible world without my consciously feeling “I-ness” and it feels like an effort to call the “I-ness” into attention?

VF: It is much simpler. The end of seeking is simply the recognition that the seeker is the sought. The end of seeking comes when the fiction of a separate someone who is looking for a special something is seen for what it is – a phantom, a shadow, a vanishing echo, a dream.

Is there seeking right now? Or, is there just looking at squiggles on the screen and thoughts arising? What is seeking other than more thinking, more story about something to be found? Drop it now! Finish this! What is sought will NEVER be uncovered with more thought – only more deeply buried.

Raj: Even in that non-existent “I-ness”, this body is still separate and distinct sitting in this space (India) and Vince is another body sitting in another space (USA).

VF: Interesting story!

Find something that is not IT. Separate something from IT and send it to me. Is there anything not IT, including the story of a separate body here and a separate body sitting there? Raj, I-IT is looking through your eyes right now and you-IT are looking through mine. Where is the separation? Remember, the role of thought is to divide. The ability to divide has its uses, but a thought cannot know IT even though thought is an expression of IT.

Better yet, drop all of this, including my response, and take a walk. Listen to the birds, to the wind, smell the air, look at the open sky, feel the earth beneath your feet. Leave these considerations alone and rest. IT is Raj-ing, Raj. Just rest as IT (there really is no choice anyway) and then see if there are any questions or if there is just relief!

Be well.

Love,

Vince

Raj: I can feel or let me say, I know I am ‘aware’ only when I see things around (visible world). Without them I do not even know whether I am ‘present’ or ‘aware’ (like in deep sleep). So is it correct to say: my Awareness = the things around when I am in my wakeful state?

VF: Raj, you write “without [objects] I do not even know whether I am present or aware. So is it correct to say my awareness equals the things around me when I am in a wakeful state?” Who possesses this awareness referred to? What is this “I” that is or is not in a “wakeful state?”

Please look clearly at your question and see the misunderstanding at its core. Seeing that, the question dissolves. So, let me add a little solvent to see if we can hasten the process!

Is there an ‘I’ who is ‘aware’? That is, on direct investigation, can a separate entity be found who is aware? Or, is there just IT/Awareness in and as which ALL objects – physical, mental, emotional, visible, aural, textured, and odorous – appear? There is never a ‘you’ present whether in deep sleep or waking or any other expression of consciousness. There is no separation between objects seemingly arising ‘within’ Awareness and Awareness. They are one and the same.

Everything is an expression of formlessness. Everything is an expression of IT. There is not a reciprocal relationship between objects and Awareness – for this to be so would require separation between the seeming object and a seeming witness. Even this seeming reciprocity is part of IT. THIS/IT is causeless. IT arises immediately-spontaneously-completely-at once!

Raj: The so called end of seeking is: this body-mind exists with all the sensations sort of smeared somewhere in the visible world without my consciously feeling “I-ness” and it feels like an effort to call the “I-ness” into attention?

VF: It is much simpler. The end of seeking is simply the recognition that the seeker is the sought. The end of seeking comes when the fiction of a separate someone who is looking for a special something is seen for what it is – a phantom, a shadow, a vanishing echo, a dream.

Is there seeking right now? Or, is there just looking at squiggles on the screen and thoughts arising? What is seeking other than more thinking, more story about something to be found? Drop it now! Finish this! What is sought will NEVER be uncovered with more thought – only more deeply buried.

Raj: Even in that non-existent “I-ness”, this body is still separate and distinct sitting in this space (India) and Vince is another body sitting in another space (USA).

VF: Interesting story!

Find something that is not IT. Separate something from IT and send it to me. Is there anything not IT, including the story of a separate body here and a separate body sitting there? Raj, I-IT is looking through your eyes right now and you-IT are looking through mine. Where is the separation? Remember, the role of thought is to divide. The ability to divide has its uses, but a thought cannot know IT even though thought is an expression of IT.

Better yet, drop all of this, including my response, and take a walk. Listen to the birds, to the wind, smell the air, look at the open sky, feel the earth beneath your feet. Leave these considerations alone and rest. IT is Raj-ing, Raj. Just rest as IT (there really is no choice anyway) and then see if there are any questions or if there is just relief!

Be well.

Love,

Vince

The following is a letter from a reader (Tim) that addresses a fundamental misunderstanding. I hope this article helps to clarify it.

Tim: I never wrote to you before – read your blog occasionally.

One thing I’m surprised at though is the fact that you take anxiety meds – I would have expected realizing “the truth” would relieve emotional tension most of the time.

VF: Overall, there is less tension – much less. However, the “realization of truth” is always here and now – it never begins and it never stops and never ends – it is always fresh. There is no longer (this will be awkward, but I think you’ll get my point) the experience of an experiencer in this experience – Whew!

Tim: At the very least, I would say that like a spinning wheel coming to a stop, you will eventually not need it – what are your thoughts on this?

VF: I may or may not need it – no idea. Who is there to care? Don’t get too hung up on some idea of ‘realization’ and what happens or doesn’t happen because NOTHING HAPPENS! The body/life continues along as before AND it is totally different. Realization is seeing that there never was anyone here to ‘become realized.’ There is just this, now, here and no one to see it.

It’s interesting that this idea comes up, about the medication thing, isn’t it? Would you be surprised to know that I take a cholesterol-lowering medication? Would you expect that ‘after realization’ one should come to a point where it is eventually not needed? Notice the artificial division that is created. Thought does this all the time. Recognizing what you are at a fundamental level does not exempt the body from the need for food, water, air, shelter, warmth, etc. Same here – the brain is part of the body – an organ just like the liver or spleen – and it benefits a great deal from the anxiety medication (an antidepressant)… better living through chemistry!

Tim, you know, I think your phrase “spinning wheel” fits what I am trying to say: the experience used to be one of being the spokes and the wheel and feeling very ‘dizzy.’ Now, the spokes and wheel continue to spin, albeit somewhat more slowly most of the time, but it doesn’t matter because now I see that you and I and everyone else who ever took shape on this earth(and the earth, too) is also – and most fundamentally – the space in the middle of the spinning wheel and the space in which the wheel spins. Nonetheless, my ‘wheel’ has always been a bit ‘out of balance’ (just ask my wife) and the medication helps to create a much more pleasant experience.

I hope this is useful and I hope that anyone reading this who is ‘searching’ and struggling with depression or anxiety (or any other physical illness) will get the help they need – ‘you’ are already ‘realized’ anyway – ‘you’ just haven’t ‘realized’ it! There are no extra points for agony.

I am sitting on my porch on a sleepy summer afternoon here in

Springfield. I close my eyes and listen to the house wrens and

cardinals calling to one another. Now and then my dog, Shadow, barks at

a biker or another dog barking in the distance. A truck rumbles by on

the street at the end of the block. I feel warmth and tingling in my

feet, especially the arches. The bumpy wicker chair’s arm presses

against my elbow and the computer heats my lap. Jenna, my neighbor,

walks out of her house while talking on the cell phone, opens her car

door, puts a bag on the seat, closes the door, and returns to her house

still talking. Two flies chase each other around the bird feeders. The

soft breeze moves the branches of the sycamore. A circular saw whines

down the block. Patterns of light and shadow wander over the green wood

of the porch floor. My stomach tenses thinking of some nebulous worry.

The sun shines on a spider’s web between bricks and porch railing,

turning it into crystal. A thought of my cat, Pumpkin, who died Friday,

forms and dissolves. Another thought that my mother will die someday,

too, forms and dissolves. The red arm of the thermometer registers 82.

Bushes waiting to be planted lean against one another at the end of the

drive. The thought ‘I see all of this’ forms and dissolves. Now more

birds. Discomfort in the left elbow.

Is there someone

experiencing this? Look closely in your own experience right now.

Outside of the thought ‘I am —–‘, are you? The thoughts, whether

they shout ‘I am somebody’ or ‘I am nobody’ or anything else, are just

like the wrens – flying back and forth through emptiness.

Allow

your senses to point you home. Come to your senses now. Listen. See.

Feel. Taste. Smell. Pick one sense. Notice everything arising as that

sense. Notice, too, the thoughts that arise simultaneously. The

thoughts just arise – there is no one ‘deciding’ to think them.

Thoughts are simply seen, too, just like the sense objects. Even the

thought ‘I see them’ is itself another thought and, upon direct

looking, is seen to refer to nothing other than this openknowingness .

Everything, absolutely everything, that has ever taken form (including

what we refer to as ‘states’)has arisen within this formless awareness.

What ‘you’ typically refer to as ‘I’ or ‘me’ has also always and only

taken shape within this same formless awareness.

At this very

moment, the reading, the computer, the sounds, the smells, the

thoughts, the sense of ‘I’ – everything – is forming and dissolving

within and as this Great Knowing Formlessness. You ARE this Great

Knowing Formlessness. Relax. Enjoy the birds.

There has never been any emotion, any thought, any sensation, any situation, that has remained the same. Never. Look into your own direct experience right now – this isn’t some grand, esoteric teaching. Whatever you were thinking, feeling, or sensing when you began reading this paragraph has changed by now. That incessant, effervescing flow is happening all the time – bubbling, frothing, flowing and never staying the same. Notice, too, that the awareness – the Seeing – of these phenomena, has NOT changed. Experiences are just like the images appearing on the television screen; they are in constant motion, but the space of the screen doesn’t change.

Regardless of what is happening, we can either be caught in phenomena and attempt to modify or change what is already constantly changing, or we can just rest, relax, and leave everything alone. Awareness is inseparable from thought/emotion/sensation and thought/emotion/sensation is inseparable from Awareness. It is one and the same. Focusing on trying to modify what is constantly modifying leads to more and more entanglement and suffering; no longer efforting reveals space and freedom already complete and whole. Awareness is always present – it IS presence – YOU are presence. Just rest there; and when you doubt that you are doing it right, rest there.

You are OK.

Everything is OK.

Really.

See for yourself.

Rest.

If you are going to read this as theory, as something ‘interesting,’ do yourself a favor and go to another website.

I don’t intend this to be mean or exclusive. What I am saying is that if you are just reading this out of interest, you won’t find it that interesting. If you are reading this as theory, you will be bored with its simplicity. If you are reading this with the idea that ‘someday’ you will ‘get it’ and for now you just want to take in as much information about ‘it’ as you can, give up. If you are reading this and willing to DO what it suggests, keep reading.

Right now, in THIS very moment, notice…

Sounds

Bodily sensations

Sights

Smells

Thoughts

What is KNOWING those things?

WHATEVER just came to mind – What SEES that?

And the flurry of thoughts that just occurred, what KNOWS that?

IT cannot be named.

IT cannot be seen, heard, felt, tasted, smelled or conceptualized.

Rest as that.

A million times identified as sound, sensation, sight, odor, thought…and a million times just rest.

When in doubt, read this again.

There is not KNOWINGNESS and the OBJECT of knowingness.

SEEING and SEEN arise together.

Has there ever been SEEING without AWARENESS of the SEEN?

Has there ever been HEARING without AWARENESS of the HEARD?

Has there ever been THINKING without AWARENESS of the THOUGHT?

Do you see what the seeming multiplicity share?

Awareness is the seeing and the seen.

Awareness is the hearing and the heard.

Awareness is the thinking and the thought.

Not two.