This is from my friend Isaac, http://www.isaacshapiro.de/ , and it is a very clear articulation of the non-dual reality. I am pleased to share it with you all.
terms of enlightenment, freedom, moksha, nirvana or liberation there is
nothing to achieve, nothing to find, and nothing to desire, long for,
acquire or get. All that is required is to recognise what is (already here), that which you already are, at a deeper level than body/mind (thoughts and sensations), awarenessitself! Let us deal with these tendencies of the mind (to achieve, find, or acquire) in turn:
every sensation, otherwise you would not experience them. If you look
you can easily see that before any particular thought/sensation appears awareness is present, during the particular thought/sensation in question there is awareness of it, and after it has gone awareness is
still present. The mind is perceived as a flow of thoughts, and
likewise the body is perceived as a flow of sensations; beyond these
flows of ephemeral objects is the perceiver, the constant conscious
subject, awareness itself. As
has already been pointed out this is already (and always) present
otherwise we would not be conscious of our own thoughts and sensations.
At a deeper level than this flow of fleeting objects (thoughts and
sensations) we are this constant subject, awareness itself; this is already the case and as such cannot be achieved. All that is required is to realise this!
it cannot be lost, only overlooked, and so all that is required is to
stop overlooking what is already here. Even while you are thinking such
thoughts as “I haven’t got it” or “I’ve lost it” you are aware of these
thoughts, which proves quite categorically that awareness is present! This simple awareness (of
thoughts and sensations) is all that we are talking about here, and the
fact that you are aware of your thoughts and sensations proves that it
is always present. Descartes described it as: ‘this internal awareness of one’s thoughts and existence, which precedes reflective knowledge, and is innate in all men’. Describing it as ‘internal’ is very apt for all objects are ‘external’, whilst the awareness of
them is the ‘internal’ subject. One could say that our bodies/minds,
which we perceive as flows of fleeting objects (thoughts/sensations),
exist on the periphery of our being whist at a deeper ‘level’ we are
the perceiver, awareness itself, which exists at the ‘centre’ of our being. Thus we cannot lose thisawareness, all that is needed is to stop overlooking it!
is impossible to get that which you already are, and thus ‘have’ in
full abundance. All that is required is to recognize this! Enlightenment is identification with thisawareness. To show how identification with this awareness manifests as enlightenment, freedom, moksha, nirvana or liberation, it is necessary to investigate awareness itself:
effortlessly present and effortlessly aware... It requires no effort by
the mind/body and they cannot make it vanish however much effort they
apply.
choicelessly present and choicelessly aware. Once again it requires no
choice of the body/mind and they cannot block it however they try. i.e.
If you have a toothache there is effortless awareness of it and the mind/body cannot choose for this not to be the case. You
may think that this is bad news but that is not the case, can you
imagine if you had to make a choice whether you would like to be aware
for every sensation that the body experiences! In fact be grateful that
there is no effort or choice involved for awareness just to be...such ease and simplicity...which is not surprising for you are this awareness!
dreams, the quality of the sleep, and bodily sensations, in that if a
noise is loud enough or a feeling (of pain or discomfort for instance)
is strong enough it will bring the mind back to the conscious state,
i.e. One will wake up... Once again be grateful that the mind/body is never required to search for this awareness, it is just always there, which of course is not surprising for one is this awareness.
example we all know that to be completely ‘aware’ of what is going on
around us in a busy environment we have to be completely still, just
witnessing the activity.
totally without attributes for all attributes occur in, and are noticed
by, their lack. i.e. Sounds occur in silence, exist in silence, are
noticed by their contrast to silence, and disappear back into silence;
forms occur in space, exist in space, are noticed by their contrast to
space, and disappear back into space, etc. etc.,
totally pure in that it is absolutely unaffected by whatever occurs in
it, in the same way that a cinema screen is totally unaffected by any
movie shown on it, however gross or violent. In fact no ‘thing’ can
taint awareness; for by definition awareness cannot
be affected by any ‘thing’, as all ‘things’ are just ephemeral objects
which appear in, exist in and finally disappear back into awareness, the constant subject.
now we have reached the 'Pure, radiant, still, silent, omnipresent,
omniscient, ocean of effortless, choiceless, attributeless awareness’ (the Absolute without form or attributes) which, at the deepest level, we all are! Give up all striving, seeking and desiring, and just identify with This which, at the centre, you already are… Identification
with This, the constant centre, rather than with periphery, body/mind (
fleeting thought/sensations), gives instant peace, for awareness is always ‘still and silent’ totally unaffected by whatever appears in it.