Awareness   Beingness

All that really matters is that we have our own authentic, direct, immediate and intimate experience of God. It’s not difficult, because God doesn’t withhold Himself. But you have to look for God where he can actually be found. Which is within. Jesus says in Luke 17:21 – “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” The kingdom of God that’s within you is the truth about what you actually are. What it really is that you truly are, is what God is that can actually be experienced.

So with deliberate intention look directly within. Experience what is actually there. Taste what you actually are. Meet what God actually is. See for yourself where God truly is found.

You don’t need teachers’ descriptions. Do you need to have the flavor of watermelon described in order to be able to taste it? Neither do you need to have your oneness with God described in order for you to be able to experience it.

We’ve been conned to believe we only can taste what we’re taught. But that’s not true. The only way to experience what’s real, is to taste it all by yourself on your own. There’s no other way it can happen, and no other way that it will.

The reason you can directly experience what God truly is, is because God truly is within you. He couldn’t be more immediate, intimate, available or closer. Never mind what you’ve been taught about God. Never mind what you’ve been taught about yourself. Watermelon descriptions are useless. What you want to do is intimately meet what you actually are. There’s no other way to experience what God actually is.

This is John Sherman’s “Vichara” - the practice of directly experiencing the reality that you are, your self-evident, unmistakable, certain, permanent, continuous and changeless Being.

All that’s required of us is that we have the intention to directly experience the reality that we are. If we have that intention, everything else takes care of itself.

Let’s go ahead and do it right now, let’s go ahead and intend to directly experience the reality that we are. Here is a list of items we can practice with. Just one item would really be enough, because they’re simply different ways of saying the same thing, but we’ll do the whole list this time. Don’t rush. Allow enough time to directly experience each and every item.

I experience the obvious fact that I am being.

I notice the feeling of simply existing.

I notice my direct immediate experience of being.

I notice the unchanging sense of presence that is always here and about which nothing can be said.

I’m aware of the simplicity of my presence.

I notice the light of awareness that is the invisible reality of what I am.

I feel the existence that I am.

I notice the pure feeling of being.

I experience the certainty of being that is ever-present and that never changes.

I feel what it feels like to be.

I know what it feels like to be certain that I’m here.

I experience the feeling of presence that’s always here, is never absent, is always the same, and never changes.

So you see, it really is quite possible for you to have the conscious, immediate, direct, experience of the reality you actually are. You can see that you can definitely do it. You can taste the watermelon for yourself, on your own.

And once the essential permanent conscious realization of your reality actually occurs, it’s freedom and magnificence is beyond what words can describe, a genuine love affair, rich, deep and subtle beyond anything you could dream of.

If you’ll do this as often as it occurs to you to do so, you’ll be engaging in a practice that will be of immensely greater benefit to you than anything else you can possibly do.

As you continue to do this, over a period of time, ego will dissolve, suffering will stop, intuition will increase, drama will weaken, problems will diminish, miracles will happen, falseness will vanish, and your life will fall into peace, harmony and ease.

But you’ll need to practice this for a while before that’ll become obvious. Until then you’ll not want to abandon your current array of spiritual practices. So continue with everything you’re currently doing – Rajpur, Eckhart Tolle, ACIM, Joel Goldsmith, Deepak Chopra, Ho’oponopono, David Wilcock, Drunvo Melchizadek, Adyashanti, Gangaji, Wicca, Gurdjeiff, Dan Millman, Right Use of Will, Meister Ekhart, Teilhard de Chardin, Emma Curtis Hopkins, Glenda Green, Carlos Casteneda, Anthony De Mello, Rajneesh, Nisargadatta, David Hawkins, Thomas Merton, Ramana Maharshi, Sai Baba, Byron Katie, Donald Walsch, D. T. Suzuki, Vivekananda, Tony Parsons, Susan Montag, Jonathan Harrison, Ramtha, Frank Sanders, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Caroline Myss, Jacob Boehm, Al Ghazali, Sri Aurobindo, Meher Baba, Emanual Swedenborg, LaoTzu, Rollo May, Ramakrishna, Rudolf Steiner, Ram Dass, Abraham Maslow, Edgar Cayce, Kalu Rinpoche, Moses Maimonides, Thane Walker, Thich Nhat Hanh, Lester Levinson, Ramesh Balshekar, Brother Lawrence, Alan Watts, J. Krishnamurti, Ken Wilbur, Marcea Eliade, Rudolf Otto, Richard Bucke, Jed MkKenna, Benjamin Crème, Elbert Hubbard, Muktananda, Mary Baker Eddy, Urantia, Carl Jung, Douglas Harding, Albertus Magnus, Papaji, Yehuda Ashlag, Patanjali, Shankara, Traherne, Morrnah Simeona, Richard Rose, Vernon Howard, John Wheeler, P. D. Ouspenski, Andrew Cohen, Margo Anand, Ravi Shankar, Richard Moss, Sri Chinmoy, Larry Dossey, Matthew Fox, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Andrew Harvey, Jack Cornfield, Robert Thurman, David Spangler, Gary Zukav, Philip Goddard, Madame Blavatsky, Frithjof Schuon, James Twyman, Story Waters, Peter Russell, Brad Blanton, Stephen Wolinski, Michael James, Robert Anton Wilson, Arjuna Ardagh, Rupert Sheldrake, David Deida, Bernadette Roberts, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Paul Brunton, Hubert Benoit, Sri Aurobindo, Babaji, Harry Palmer, Alice Bailey, Trungpa Trogyem, Philip Kapleau, Scott Kiloby, Lahiri Mahasaya, Maitreya, Lawrence Kushner, Shaun McNiff, Patanjali, Jelaluddin Rumi, Satchidananda, Wei Wu Wei, Sri Yukteshwar, (just to name a few).

All that matters is that you add Sherman’s Vichara in addition to anything else that you do. Simply intend to directly experience the reality that you are, as often as it occurs to you to do so.

Within one to three months the Vichara will prove itself through your own direct experience. And then you might decide to give some other things up, if you want. It really doesn’t matter because nothing else that you do will interfere with the Vichara, nor will the Vichara interfere with anything else that you do. So you might as well have your cake and eat it too.

One final thing I’ll mention about the Vichara, is that the more deeply you experience what you’re actually Being, the more you’ll discover that you actually are all Being. As John Sherman recently put it, “The truth is that there is nothing but you. Always, everywhere in all cases your experience of Being is exactly the experience of all is one, of nothing but you. There is only one self. There are no two selves anywhere to be found. There is only you. Really. All you need to understand is that what you’re looking for is yourself. Find yourself. My only prayer is that all being know itself.”

If you’d like to learn more about John Sherman’s Vichara, you can download, free of charge, a substantial number of audio recordings of his teaching, and a smaller number of videos and transcripts from his website at http://www.riverganga.org

And/or check out my 45 minute talk about The Vichara, with an 8 point outline and YouTube Playlist:

http://www.miraclescenter.us/gilberti20.htm
http://www.miraclescenter.us/gilberti20.htm
http://www.miraclescenter.us/gilberti20.htm

Much Love,

Ben

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Vichara_Conversation/