This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 38

Consider this: There is no outside presence that hears your prayers. Instead, praying is a conversation with your true nature.

If there is no other than that which I AM, then there is no separation between you and your god. Your true nature is the one who hears your prayers.

You are not a pot on the shelf placed there by the potter. You are the dancing that is the dance. You are the voice you sense with ears that hear from within.

There is nothing outside of you that rewards or punishes. To sit in prayer is to be aware of your true nature. The Apostle Paul said to remain aware always by praying without ceasing.

To pray without ceasing is to be mindful of your true nature moment by moment. Let your true nature be your guide in all situations. Then you will have peace of heart always.

Your true nature lies within, beyond your sense of being. Remember, you are the one. There is no other. What you see and experience as other is false perception. You perceive what cannot be real.

There is great desire for meaning and purpose. You cannot accept life as a random process in an illusion of separation. Much of the world wonders what sense there is to life without a god who gives meaning and purpose to what it creates.

But gods are bred of illusion in a world of illusion which leaves any divine plans to be illusion as well.

Devotion to a god comes with defiance, for this is a world of separation. Both obedience and defiance are conscious decisions on the spectrum scale of worship. In the whole of the all, neither choice is good nor bad.

Choice is human nature. You choose how you see the world. You choose the god you worship. Because all that is created in illusion dies in illusion, gods come and go. Choices can change.

When in prayer, go inward. Sit in the still silence of the room-within. Allow comfort and guidance to come from your true nature. You are the one. There is no other.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 37

To love in the world is to fear loss. Worldly love resides in the mind and heart. It is not real. It comes and goes.

Reality is without fear. The realization of love without fear lies beyond the mind and heart where there is no me or mine.

Love beyond the mind and heart is love without fear. Love without fear is joy. Joy is your true nature. You are love without fear.

To know joy is to die to the world. To die is to move from the world of me/mine to awareness of I AM. This move is a shift in seeing. You no longer see yourself as the me of the body. You view yourself as the whole of the all. When you die to the body you realize that all is consciousness in existence.

Witness your existence but do not accept it as your reality. The body and its personality are transitory. You are eternal.

Think of yourself not as the me of the body but as the whole of the all. You are inclusive in all things. This is your natural state. You love all without fear. You are joy.

As you realize that the me of the body lives and moves and has its being in consciousness, you no longer think I am this. You remember that you are I AM and nothing else.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 36

You live in a world of your own making. Your world is what you think it is. It is built of memory and imagination.

You imagine a future based on past experiences. Your imagination generates desires that produce expectations. You strive to attain a desirable future.

Whatever you envision do not desire it. See it for its own right. Work to fulfill your vision without expectation.

Expectations lead to experiences of pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. These are states of mind determined by attitude.

How you see an experience determines your reaction to it. The me of the body sees with ignorance and fear. Your true nature has eyes that see with wisdom and joy.

Experiences are the waters of the world. They are troubled by your own thoughts. Will you drown in turbulences of fear or be healed in stirrings of joy?

Do not desire joy. Do not aim for joy. Joy is not something for which to strive. Joy is nothing. It has no existence. Do not expect to find joy through effort. Remember joy as your true nature.

You are the expressing of the world. You are consciousness in existence. There is no world without you. Be the joy in the world that you are.

The world reflects you. How you see yourself is the world in which you live. You choose your image. You create the world by your actions.

Act within the whole of the all. If you have any purpose at all, this is it: to remember that you are consciousness in existence.

In truth, you have no purpose. There is nothing to strive for. There is no movement from here to there.

What you seek and find in the world is not real. It leaves you with pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. To find what you seek is illusion. It does not last.

Stop seeking. Do nothing. You will remember the joy that you never lost. Joy is your true nature. Live in joy and have peace of heart always.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 35

You are the part; you are the whole. You are the molecule; you are the water. You are discrete awareness in the sea of awareness that is consciousness. There is no separation except as you imagine it. Your image of separation is false perception. When imagination dies, all returns to the sea.

Where is the river after reaching the ocean? At ocean’s edge it loses form, description, and name while retaining its true nature as water.

Having entered the sea, the river is water without form. It has always been the water. It is eternally water cycling through existence as vapor, rain, and rivers.

The river exists in the landscape. The me of the body exists in spacetime. Each one appears to be real, but perceived reality cannot last. It is transitory. The river and you are illusions in consciousness.

If the river is illusion, then the water is real. The river disappears into the sea while the water remains. When the me of the body returns to particles, your true nature remains as consciousness. You are I AM. You are the eternal water cycling through transitory life.

You are not the me of the body. You are not an object in spacetime. You are not the illusion of separation that is existence.

Return to the room-within. Focus on I AM. Follow its direction. To move toward I AM is to awaken from the dream that you are the river and not the sea.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 34

Live life fully but never forget that you are dreaming. You are consciousness holding the thought of separation as an ever-changing illusion.

Life is transitory. It comes and goes. It is not real. It is an image of separation hovering in consciousness. You are that hovering. You are the energy of existence. You are the world in which you exist.

Your reality is whole, complete, perfect, eternal. You need nothing. You do not lack. You do not change. This is your true nature.

To live fully as your true nature, enter the room-within. Act from within the silence. The silence lacks for nothing. It is consciousness in existence. It comes from nowhere. It goes nowhere. It is the world of I AM that is your true nature. Use your ears that hear. Let the silence be your guide without words.

As the me of the body you perceive separation as real. All around you there is form and purpose. You experience pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. What can be more real than suffering? You discern this from that, here from there. You forge attachments to fulfill your needs. You are chained to your world by the fears you have of losing it all.

See the world for what it is, an illusion of separation. To see is to detach. To detach is to break the links of attachment you have forged.

Detachment brings you to the door of the room-within. Enter when ready. From within you are guided by the silence. Listen without words. Follow its course. Stay on the path faithfully. The brambles along the road will wither before you as you live life fully.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 33

You are the ground of being. You are planted firmly in your own goodness. You grow in the ground of goodness from within.

As you grow, you shape life with your beliefs. Beliefs change with each new thought. Your life changes endlessly.

Thoughts change as you grow in awareness. You are drawn into the light. The light awakens you to your own reality as I AM.

Knowing I AM, you begin to witness the me of the body. You become its observer. You gain eyes that see, ears that hear, and a heart that knows the way. The way is upward into consciousness, where you realize that you are all things. You are that which I AM.

You have gone beyond separation. You think, feel, and act in unity with all. Appearance, description, and name no longer have meaning. What you know is inherent in your true nature as the whole of the all. To go beyond is to reach the totality that is consciousness.

Your search is born of memory that you are not the me of the body. Hidden in you is the desire to know your true nature. You have never left consciousness. You cannot escape consciousness. You can only remember that you are consciousness.

Remembering is neither transition nor journey. You have never been other than that which I AM. There is no other than you. Only in the depths of silence and darkness can you know this truly. The rest is just words.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 32

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj says that when you begin to question the dream, awakening is not far away.

Be ready. Keep your body quiet of fear and desire. Move your awareness inward. Release your inspiration. Inspiration is your true guide. Listen in the silence.

Forget yesterday. Let tomorrow care for itself. Leave your words at the threshold as you enter the room-within. There is nothing in its darkness to grasp or gain with words. True nature speaks to you silently.

Your true nature expresses life. Your body needs life. True nature does not. It is without form. It does not live. It is joy. Joy is your true nature. You are love without fear.

The me of the body expresses fear. It fears meaninglessness, loss, and death. Such fears generate the desire to survive. You seek sustenance, meaning, and fulfillment as the me of the body. Fear in world taints the purity of love. You are left without knowing joy as your true nature.

Love tainted by fear is attachment. You cling to this and that for fulfillment while fearing their loss. You protect yourself from loss at great cost. Attachments weigh heavy on you as you make choices in life.

Your choices affect your life in ways that can seem like destiny. It is not destiny. Beliefs about your life can be changed. A change in thought can alter a belief which alters life’s direction.

Thoughts are affirmations. Affirmations held in mind alter the energy of existence to change how you believe something to be. That change in belief alters how you see the world. You find yourself in a new existence. A repetition of thought uttered in faith paves the way to a new life. This is the beginning of awakening.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 31

Nothing that you think or feel is real. The desires you pursue are falsehoods. To pursue desire is to remain attached to your world of illusion. Your worldly thoughts and feelings leave you in bondage. Reality witnesses your being in the world from within.

You know your existence is real, or do you? Are you certain? If you were certain, would you ask, “Who am I?”. The struggle is to escape uncertainty and to find reality. You strive to find your true nature.

Do not desire to know who you are. Do not seek this and that as answers. Remove yourself from the world of separation. Enter the room-within. Herein lies what you seek. Do nothing and it will reveal itself.

Step inside. Look around. What do you see? Yes, darkness. You are blind to reality. Embrace the darkness. Sit in its still silence. Do not offer judgment. Cast out hope. Witness the moment as it is. You are not the body. You are not your personality. You are nothing. Be nothing in the moment. That nothingness is I AM. You will know it without words. You no longer are I am this. You are simply I AM.

To be I AM is fundamental. It is the ground of all being. Your roots are buried deeply in this ground of goodness. You cannot be removed from its reality. You can only grow into the realization of your true nature.

Your true nature is consciousness expressing existence. You are the expressing that is the me of the body and its world. You were not born. You have no body or parents. You are not destined to die. You are not I am this. You are simply I AM.

I AM is the energy of existence. You are that which I AM. You are the experiencing in consciousness of this and that, here and there. The experience is not separate from the experiencer. They are the same. You are the experiencing that is the experience of existence. You are the dancing that is the experience of dance.

Like the dance and the dancer, the experience and the experiencer cannot be separated. Existence is the illusion of separation. All that you know of existence is your experience as the experiencer. This is the dance that you are dancing.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 30

God personifies the absolute. The absolute is consciousness. Consciousness is the emptiness that is nowhere, an eternal field of infinite possibility. You might worship a god as divine, but do not look upon consciousness as either divine or mundane. It has no qualities. It cannot be described. It is beyond comprehension. All gods, on the other hand, bring the unknown into being as constructs of divinity, whereas consciousness is absolute and without comparison.

The truth of the absolute is simple. Love all as yourself. This message has been handed down in multiple forms throughout the ages. Lao Tzu, the Buddha, Rabbi Hillel, Jesus, the Dalai Lama are among the many who espoused this teaching in their own way. The simplicity of the lesson lies in knowing that you are that which I AM. There is no other.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 29

You are not the me of the body. You are not the image. You are the light reflecting in the mirror. As the image, you cannot be separated from the light.

You are consciousnesses aware of its thought of separation. You are not the illusion in consciousness that casts the me of the body as an object in existence. You are the expressing of that existence.

You are aware of your being as its witness. Your being is a possibility in the eternal field of infinite possibility that is your reality.

Consciousness is absolute. It cannot be described. It has no comparison. Consciousness is experienced. You receive its presence in the moment. You are the center of its being in the world.

Existence is in perpetual movement. It is constantly churning. It projects and dissolves form endlessly. Without movement there is no existence.

Consciousness is the possibility of all things. It does not cause or create anything. Nor does it destroy. It reflects existence in perpetuity.

Nothing can be but consciousness. You perceive this and that, cause and effect, birth and death as illusion of separation. This illusion is your existence.

Existence is what you experience as the me of the body. You know existence. You do not know consciousness. Consciousness is beyond knowledge.

What comes into existence is not created or caused. It already is in consciousness. Nothing can be added to or taken from consciousness. Consciousness does not come in parts and pieces to be assembled. It is whole, complete, perfect by nature.

You have forgotten your true nature. You imagine yourself as a body with a personality in a world of objects in spacetime. You do not need to suffer to wake up from this fantasy. Enter the room-within when ready. To be ready is a choice. You will know the time.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 28

The words you use cannot reach beyond your comprehension. You struggle to say what cannot be said.

You appear in spacetime as an object with awareness. You are an illusion of discrete awareness in the sea of awareness that is reality. You are the witness to your own being.

As the me of the body you are in turmoil struggling for survival, meaning, identity, and fulfillment. You suffer under the weight of ignorance and fear. You live with thoughts and emotions, judgments and hopes. These play out as pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow.

You, as that which I AM, are absolute. You are not relative to anything. You cannot be described and compared. So, stop with the words. Experience your true nature from within. Experience your true nature without discussion.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 27

You cannot know consciousness apart from existence. To know consciousness is to see the whole of the all. There is nothing that is not consciousness.

You see the whole of the all through the eyes of wisdom. Wisdom is the vision that shows the way. Wisdom reveals consciousness throughout the whole of existence. Wisdom gives you eyes that see into the mystery of being.

As the me of the body, you cannot see the whole of the all. The me of the body is blinded by ignorance. Ignorance veils your true nature.

To know your true nature, enter the room-within. Sit in the still silence of wisdom without fear. You are not alone. The light of wisdom glows like an ember. As the ember grows brighter, you begin to see with eyes that see.

The ember glows but is not the source. You are the light. You are consciousness in existence. You are that which I AM. I AM is real and present whether you know it or not. It does not matter whether you see the whole of the all or remain blind. You are eternally pure being in an illusion of ignorance and fear.

The me of the body is nothing. Your reality does not depend on anything in your world of illusion. You are forever whole, complete, and perfect no matter what you perceive otherwise. You are the one. There is no other.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 26

When you see the world, you are looking at an illusion of separation held in consciousness as thought, much like a unicorn held in mind. It is there but not real.

The world is like a dancer dancing a dance. The dancer is consciousness. You are the dancing. The dance is existence. The world appears as separation where there is none. Any image of the dance as separate from the dancing is illusion. The dancer dancing the dance is the whole of the all.

You are the expressing that is the dance. You express the world. You do not create, nor are you created. You do not cause, nor are you caused. You are consciousness imagining separation.

That separation is not real. It is illusion within consciousness. Like the unicorn in your mind, existence is no more created or caused than your imaginary friend.

You and your world cannot be outside of consciousness. You are not a pot on a shelf placed there by the potter. You are energy in motion expressing imagination.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 25

As the me of the body, you depend upon the world, and the world depends upon you. It is not the same without you. You perceive it and give it meaning. You are the form it takes. You exist not in isolation but as an integral part of the whole of the all in spacetime.

You are not helpless. You are the power expressing your world. Accept that you are the one and be the light that leads the way. Accept all that comes your way with a peaceful heart.

You are aware that you exist. Acknowledge your existence. Say, “This is my world, I live here.” But do not accept it as your reality.

Your reality is I AM. You are that which I AM. You are I AM without knowing you are. To not know does not negate your reality. It is just that you have forgotten.

You exist without change to your reality. It is just that a cloud of unknowing has descended upon the me of the body. You have forgotten who you truly are. The me of the body does not comprehend your reality as I AM.

Remember, you are the flowing of the river within. Unfetter its course. Your judgments and hopes are like dams and levees. You struggle to maintain what will eventually fail. So, get out of the way. Stand aside. Be the flowing that is your true nature. Do not shy from your natural course to the sea.

As consciousness you are real. You are whole, complete, perfect, eternal. You have no boundaries. You have no qualities. There is nothing outside of you for comparison. You cannot be described or named as an entity.

As the me of the body you are illusion. You are dependent on the dream of separation in consciousness for your existence. Your existence may be in form or spirit, but it is always illusion.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 24

Misunderstanding yourself to be the me of the body leads to bondage. You become imprisoned in form. To free yourself, do not desire. Do not become lost in worldly expectations.

Do not think of gaining this and that. It is false thinking. You cannot accumulate illusion. It is not real. In the end it is gone. Do not let hopes and dreams hamper your true gifts.

Ready yourself to receive. Enter the room-within. Sitting in the still silence opens the door to I AM. To welcome your true nature is to be free of the illusion of form.

Make no requirement of I AM. Its grace comes by doing nothing. Receive it without restrictions.

You are that which I AM. You are present as consciousness in existence. The gifts you bear are wisdom and joy.

You are the light shining on the hill. Stop hiding under a bushel basket. Cast aside your attachments. Set yourself free to be the grace of I AM.

Your true gain is the gift of knowing who you are.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 23

Attend to your life. Live it fully. Do not attach to its comings and goings. Do not let it bind you with Marley’s chains. Engage life with zest and zeal while you remain inward. From within hold peace of heart in all situations. It is peace of heart that will see you home.

The old is gone. The new is yet to come. Savor the moment. It is the whole of life. Seize the moment to look within. The inward journey leads through thoughts and emotions. You are traveling through a cloud of confusion. Do not become immersed in memories, ideas, and feelings and lose your way. Your true nature sees and knows all of this. It acts as the witness. It does not own what you think and feel like the me of the body does. It observes and awaits your return.

To be the witness is to remember your true nature. There is no separation between the observed and the observer. This is the knowledge you seek when you ask, “Who am I?”. This knowledge frees you from the me of the body and its pleasures and pains, happinesses and sorrows. It is through this door that your true nature is revealed. Enter when you are ready.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 22

If you long for anything, long for the highest good. The highest good is the direct experience of your true nature. Such experience is beyond the me of the body. It starts with releasing the self. It continues as you do nothing on your own. It ends with the loss of desire. The work you do is in giving up desire and expectation. Stay focused on your true nature. Keep I AM in heart and mind always. Life will continue. Events and experiences will occur. You will know it all as transitory illusion. Only I AM endures eternally.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 21

Consciousness is absolute. It gives existence to the thought of separation. You know existence as the universe. You experience it as the me of the body. To exist is to be aware.

Awareness is a hallmark of consciousness. The entirety of existence is in the awareness that is consciousness. You are discrete awareness in this sea of awareness.

As the me of the body you are nothing. Like a unicorn is nothing you do not exist on your own. Without thought in consciousness you are not there. Your perceptions give you reality in its world of illusion. You live as memories in the mind. You and your world take shape from past thoughts and future projections. Your perceptions shape your being in the world.

As a physical expression, you are limited. All your experiences are bound by time. They begin. They end. Yet, you are free. You are free to choose your attitude toward all events. You are aware of your experiences and free to choose what you make of them. You are free to witness your life moment by moment as your true nature.

You have freedom because you are that which I AM. You are consciousness expressing existence. You are the dancing that is the dance.

Knowing who you are sets you free. Hold I AM in mind always. Feel it in your heart. Keep it ever present in the background of your life. This is to follow your true nature.

To follow your true nature is to act effortlessly. The me of the body will tag along. It will be with you until no longer needed. Be joyful in your attitude and leave the body to itself.

To leave the body alone you must live without desire. Do not judge. Do not hope. Hold no expectations. To live without desire is bliss. Pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow fall away leaving your heart at peace always.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 20

The body is a thing. It comes into existence. It goes out of existence. The expressing of that thing is your true nature. You are the expressing that is existence. You are the dancing that is the dance.

As the me of the body you are rooted firmly in the ground of goodness. From this grounding you grow in harmony with your true nature.

As your true nature you are the rooting. You are the growing. You are the energy that is the vine.

As the me of the body you do not comprehend your true nature. You see form and separation where there is only energy. You are that energy. You are the expressing of separation as existence. The world in which the me of the body exists is of your own making.

You have forgotten these things, so you struggle to remember who you are. Until you remember, you are a prisoner of the body. Fortunately, the body is neither continuous nor permanent. It will end.

Free yourself of the body now by remembering that you are the whole of the all. Knowing this, you will see in all the energy that is your true nature. That energy is consciousness in existence. You are that which I AM.

The world in which you live is a dream within consciousness. Your search for who you are is a stirring within that dream. That stirring is you awakening. To awaken, enter the room-within. Find release from pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. From within, you can witness the world and your place in it.

Be the observer. Witness your thoughts and emotions without owning them. Do not follow them here and there willy-nilly. Knowledge lies beyond your thinking and feeling. It is more intuitive than not because your true being is awareness. When you act from awareness you no longer are the observer. You act as consciousness in existence. You act without thought of separation. You feel without attachment. Suffering dies, and you live in joy with peace of heart always.

This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.

Day 19

Consider this:

What is the me of the body? Who are you as a carbon-based form that is dependent on the universe and its laws?

You are a collection of atoms limited by the body and mind. You are mortal and aware of your mortality. You learn, grow, evolve, and re-arrange your environment to suit your desires. You suffer pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. You look to the future as a way out of predicaments. You are aware of the self that you perceive as you.

You see yourself as separate from others and the things around you. You promote yourself as unique in a variety of social, work, and family settings. In the end you are none of these. Your carbon-based form scatters back into the dust of the universe from which it came. Your personality is lost in the memories of others. You as a mass of self-regulating cells are gone forever.

Your existence began with the union of cells and their divisions. It ends as cells stop replicating and microorganisms consume your body. Your death as an organism is inevitable.