You are the “Alive Knowing,” but never the known

So much of this path is about observing how the mind identifies with experiences automatically. Watch as it creates a link or connection to how whatever you are experiencing relates specifically to a “You.” For example, if a song comes on the radio that played during the first time “You” kissed your sweetheart back in high school, the mind automatically recalls all the past feelings, emotions, and memories that are attached to it. Of course, they are not part of the original song, but put there by mind! And it is assumed/implied that there is a “You” who went thru the original experience and is now reminiscing about it.

But hold on… where, exactly, is this imagined “You” in all of this? Are you the song? The memories? The feelings? The emotions? No, No, and No. You are not any of these. Awakening is the fantastic realization that experiences arise WITHOUT the need for a personal, separate “I” that actually exists! In other words, the “I” we believe ourselves to be is an un-investigated assumption by the mind, not a reality. There is only the naked, miraculous experience of the moment, however it is experienced. The imaginary “I” is a habitual overlay or superimposition by the mind, not an actuality. What you are can never be “known”… it can only, ever, be directly experienced. This is because you are the “alive knowing,” but never the known.

-Michael Jeffreys