To allow ‘desire’ to seek objective experience is to perpetuate pain and suffering. I am looking for something to relieve my feeling of desire. It’s a painful experience. The energy of desire is desperate in its search to be met with love & understanding. It believes there is yet another ‘person, place, or thing’ to meet it,  in order for ‘it’ to achieve happiness & contentment.  When I try to stop it, I see that it gets more and more intense, threatening me with words of pain and suffering if I disagree. But disagreeing or agreeing with desire is a dead end. It says I must submit & agree to becoming its partner in finding what it is looking for, AND, it is I that must help ‘it’ look for it. I am tired. I still see it desiring, and so, I go back being it’s slave once again. I really believe that there is actually something I am missing in this world, and I feel shame because I haven’t yet found it. I begin to compare myself with others. I begin to use deception or seduction with others pretending I am happy, and can make ‘them’ happy; but deep down knowing I don’t really have my heart in participating in these activities with them. I am trying to solve a problem for ‘desire’. A problem to solve. But the real problem is self-deception. I see that what I want is something objective to be excited about, but I eventually realize its a dead end. Nothing that is chased in this world makes desire go away forever. I merged with a belief of myself, seeing there was a problem in the desiring; then took it upon myself to get rid of it. But, if I use desire to get rid of desire, I use my power destructively and I suffer.

I’m shocked that this has been going on for so long.  I’m aware that I became a partner in crime with desire, going out into the world to find the object of desire, (thinking it was my desire) in order to end the suffering. But the very existence of desire, not knowing its true origin, IS the suffering. I, not knowing what I am, become the one reaching outward, seeking outward, looking outward, searching outward, wandering outward, analyzing, figuring, manipulating, validating, getting…..this is the activity of desire run wild. So, not knowing who I am, or what my function is,  go out and find what it is I’m looking for.

Other people tell me, and I eventually tell myself, that maybe what I’m looking for will be in exercise, moving the body, getting busy, volunteering, working at a service job, looking for adventure, working, playing, looking to buy something, sell something, improving myself, looking for conversation, looking to be alone, searching for yet another truth in a teaching or a book, attending spiritual meetings, travelling, going on retreats, dates, looking for attention from a man or friend that I can once-and-for-all connect with on a deeper level, and finally stop the suffering that haunts me: something I want, but do not have. I notice ‘desire’ forcing me to go and get it. But I know that to find something out there is not going to end desire at all, and if it does, it won’t last for long; I will eventually feel disappointment, my heart will break again, and the seeking will come back. Nothing I do, will bring desire to its final end. Attending to promises of happiness & fulfillment will not end the suffering. There are no objects of desire that will bring desire to its final end. And I render myself to yet another surrendering of this. It is desire itself that is the ‘trigger’ that gets my attention.

Desire itself does not know what it wants. It wants me to join with it, be its host, to go out and fulfill its never-ending ache. And so I do that, over and over again, believing that I am going to bring desire to an end. But now, after so many years, I know that outward seeking in order to end desire is pure insanity. It’s not the answer I seek. So, I decided to use desire for the spiritual path. I sought the truth in books, in workshops, retreats, YouTube videos. I still believed the truth was ‘out there’. I joined with spiritual communities to be happy with them. I pretended I was ‘desire-less’ and ‘serving’. I fought desire. I fought resistance. I tried to repress it, suppress it, but, in the end, it only increased my suffering. I ran for refuge in meditating and praying.

I concluded, desire can not be eradicated through being a spiritual person. Desire comes back. It’s feverish, and relentless, and it will not give its host any lasting relief. Looking outward to love, sex, marriage, children, pets, money, food, drink, drugs, gambling, investing, marketing, story-telling, adventures, travel, spiritual endeavors, thrill-seeking activities, is not truly the direction I want to go. So, after some searching as to what I could do with this desire, I began to write about it.

In the past, I catered to ‘desire’, trying to please it in others, so I could have it disappear in me. My one and only purpose for this desire thing, was to have it stop pestering me. I thought if I could meet other people’s desires, I could meet my desire, and we’d all be happy. But desire does not really live in others, it lives in me, and until it’s come to a final end in me, there can be no true lasting happiness. I am unhappy, because I forgot who I truly am, and I didn’t know what the heck to do with desire. But the noise never left for long being controlled by it or trying to control it. It’s like a small child having a temper tantrum. That, if it becomes vociferous and noisy, somebody will come to fill its bottomless-pit needs. No. This must stop. Desire will never ever ever, ever, ever stop by trying to meet ‘it’.  It must come and meet ME.

I am no longer at desire’s beck & call.  I am staying HOME now. This is called the Direct Path.  I am the Origin, the Path, and the Goal. With the Direct Path, I’ve come to see there is another way to see. It’s to inform desire, that ‘we’ve’ been looking in the wrong direction. We must turn around, and go back to where we came from. Only, I will stand as Awareness Itself, and I will be the open, empty knowing Space to welcome desire’s experience of suffering Home. I will invite the very thing I was trying to get rid of, (desire) and I will ‘love’ it, and allow it to grow in brightness & intensity. I will be the open, welcoming space of Awareness to invite the suffering of desire to merge and dissolve into ME. I am no longer going anywhere.  I am no longer going with anyone. I want to know what desire is truly made of. I want to know what desire truly feels like if I allow it up close and become truly intimate with it, without trying to alter or change it in any way. This is the Truth. Now that I have a clear understanding on what is really going on, I can have desire come to Me. I can be truly helpful to desire, and remember I am the One Awareness being aware of being aware. It’s a win-win situation.

I must take My Rightful Place with a direct, firm, but loving hand, and invite ‘desire’ from looking ‘outward’ (to people, places, things, events, concepts, etc) to looking ‘inward’ to Me, Pure Awareness. “I have a new purpose for you, desire”. You will no longer be my boss. I detach Myself from your misguided suggestions, promptings, persuasions, directions, orders, criticisms, suspicions, sarcasms, threats, ultimatums, dictates, viciousness. I quit catering over and over, trying to give you what you think you want. You are an ignorant, innocent child who hasn’t a clue what you want. But, I, Pure Awareness, love you, so I will not abandon you; neither will I continue to join in those insane destructive strategies of yours. I am in charge now. I am taking MY Rightful Stand as Pure Awareness. You can settle down and return to Me.  I need you now, to play the biggest part you’ve ever played. Its the perfect job for you. To go where ‘you’ are going, I need you to get super strong, and super intense. I want you to grow and grow and grow. This is your only function. I will meet you intimately and directly from My Still Placeless Place. I want you to shine your brightest. If it feels like pain, so be it.  I am the Container that contains all. It’s going to be amazing. You are going to come to Me; I will not be chasing you around. Out of all the things I needed desperately in this world, but failed to get right, was knowing what My job was with ‘desire’.  I allowed desire to string Me around.  Its time to reel desire in, in, in, into Myself now, knowing that I am Home.  I am the Still, Silent Infinite Space of Awareness inviting and allowing the energy of desire to merge and dissolve into Me.  I am the Peace & Happiness in which desire had been desiring all along. AMEN.

When the ‘knower’ self has the intuition & desire to take the stand as the KNOWING Itself, the ‘so-called’ content & qualities of  “the self & the other” or “the knower & the known” merge and dissolve into Himself, the Knowing.

When the ‘knower’ self has the intuition & desire to take the stand as the KNOWING Itself, then what ‘was’ known is ‘now’ known as one Knowing; the Knowing knowing Itself.

When the ‘knower’ self stands as the KNOWING Itself, the known ‘names & forms’ of experience is no longer known as something ‘other’ than Knowing.

I, KNOWING, am the one & only One Reality.

Dream state, waking state, heavenly state, hellish state, resistant state, blissful state, enlightened state, lonely state, seeking state, resigned state, shameful state, depressed state: all “states” or “dimensions” are known equally. Turn around and ask yourself the question, “states known are known by who”? Look deeply into what knows the known? “I” am the one that knows; but what am I?

Well, that which knows “known” states, cannot, itself, be a ‘state’.  You cannot be “something” other than the knowing that knows it. You are known unto Yourself. This means that You are the knowing knowing Knowing. You know Yourself alone. This is the Good News. It is the Knowing that knows the known because it is only the one Knowing that Knows Itself. The one Knowing is the only known. Be the knowing and indulge in Its inherent expressions of Peace & Happiness now. Why seek for a “happy” objective experience? Why try to avoid an unbearable objective experience? Both are known anyways. Look to the Knowing of experience, not to its ‘content’. The content of experience will always appear, disappear, and change. Allow the content to melt into one Knowing or else experience will predictably appear as both pleasurable and painful content. This is “known” in the following pattern.

A seeking state changes into a seeking activity which can change into a stressful state. A stressful state (unfulfilled) continues to be stressful until reaching an achievement state. An achievement state is a happy or fulfilled state. A happy state then changes into a restless or agitated state. These states turn into a sad, angry or lonely state. These states turn into a fearful state. A fearful state can change into a depressed state or a resistant shameful state. These states ultimately turns into the original seeking state because the state of depression or unworthiness is just too insufferable right? And the merry-go-round continues round and round. 

Is this what you truly desire… to continue seeking activities and objects in order to achieve a happy state? See that this is happening. Be the awareness of this awareness. Decide to step out of an ignorant identity, and know YourSelf as the “Knowing” ItSelf throughout all seeking states, happy states and sorrowful states; and yes, insufferable states. Stand in Your Truth, as Truth. Be the Knowing and watch the dream-life self; (an objectified experience believed to be a subject) merge & dissolve into You; Pure Infinite, Ever-Present Knowing.

Know that a “mind” is not a “mind” as it is conceived. A “mind” is simply belief, imagination, memory, conception, idea; and these are made of thought. Know that all there is to “thought” is the experience of thinking. Know that all there is to thinking is the knowing of it. All there is to the “it”, is Knowing.

Know that a “state of mind” or “emotion” (whether heavenly or hellish) is not a “state” as it is conceived. A “state” is simply thought & feeling. Know that all there is to “thought & feeling” is the experience of thinking-feeling. Know that all there is to thinking-feeling is the knowing of it. All there is to the “it”, is Knowing.

Know that a “body” is not a “body” as it is conceived. A “body” is simply sensation. Know that all there is to “sensation” is the experience of sensing. Know that all there is to sensing is the knowing of it. All there is to “it”, is Knowing.

Know that a “world” is not a “world” as it is conceived. A “world” is simply perception. All there is to “perception” (or a sight-sound-taste-touch-smell) is the experience of perceiving (or seeing-hearing-tasting-touching-smelling). Know that perceiving is made of the knowing of it. All there is to the “it”, is Knowing.

Know that “mind, state-of-mind, emotion, body or world” are not “its” in their own right, apart from the knowing of them. All they truly are is the experience of thinking-feeling-sensing-perceiving. Know that to know the experience of “thinking-feeling-sensing-perceiving” is to know knowing. Know that all that knowing “is”, is Knowing knowing Itself.

Know that “Knowing” is the single, indivisible, intimate, non-objective Reality that Knows ItSelf, by Itself.

Know “the Knowing” &  be “the Knowing”; not the over-looking of It by mixing Yourself with Its “activity”,  believing yourself to be  something other than Pure Knowing: (its so-called forms, names, qualities, content).

To know YourSelf as the Knowing Element (in experience) as the only Element in Reality is to understand Truth, feel & sense Peace, Happiness & Love; and perceive Beauty as “The Knowing” expressing ItSelf in “Being the Knowing”.

Name one thing that you believe is NOT KNOWN to you?

Try it now. Is there anything that you believe you don’t know?

Most people when asked this question look right away to the ‘world of objects’. What have they not yet accomplished? What have they not yet achieved? What have they not yet learned in all the subjects that are on offer? Where have they fallen short in finding love and happiness? The list is endless. But, looking to objects, activities, substances, states of mind or relationships is not the way to know what you believe you do not know. In REALITY, there is nothing that you do not know, because there is nothing that is separate from the KNOWN.

Do you believe that the value of the known is found in the multiplicity and diversity of its ‘contents’ or in the fact that the KNOWN IS KNOWN. Content can include the most heavenly to the most hellish experience. Content can include the most painful to the most pleasurable experience.  Do you want to continue picking and choosing between the polarized content of experience? Or, do you want to KNOW THE KNOWN FOR ITS OWN SAKE?

Do you want to understand that everything you already KNOW is all that ‘can’ be KNOWN? Do you want to understand that YOU are not missing out on anything right now?

Ok, here we go.

All that we can know, have known, do know, or will ever know is already KNOWN. It’s the missing content that you believe is going to arrive that you still hope for; but that is an illusion. Anything that has a beginning changes, and has an end. The test of Reality is that it cannot change or disappear, and that it can’t be known by something other than itself.

So, the question now arises; who or what is the KNOWN and who or what KNOWS IT?

Its so simple, it is overlooked.

The answer is so clear.  It’s so ordinary. It’s so subtle. It’s so pure and indivisible.

The KNOWN is KNOWN, (not through objective experience) but through the Intimate & Direct Knowing-Understanding that it is “I”; THE KNOWING THAT KNOWS ITSELF. I am the one and only INDIVISIBLE KNOWABLE REALITY. I am the Knowing that is KNOWN. There is no ‘other’ to KNOW. There is no such reality as real things, objects, bodies, worlds, etc apart from it being KNOWN. There is what thought calls, ‘thinking-feeling-sensing-perceiving’, but even these do not have their own separate independent reality apart from the fact that they are KNOWN.  There is only the KNOWING of Myself & that is called KNOWN Experience. It is One. I am THE KNOWING OF MYSELF. I do not change. I do not disappear. I am not known by something other than Myself. KNOWING Myself is the one indivisible, object-less KNOWN reality.

It is I, the Pure KNOWING, that knows Myself and am known by Myself. There is no other known knowable other than Me, Knowing. It’s all that is KNOWN.

Now, the fact that THE KNOWING is the only KNOWN Reality there is, do you still feel attached to knowing a happy state of mind? Are you attached to the content of some loving, exotic blissful state? Are you attached to avoiding the content of some depressing, lonely state? Are you attached to chasing after the content that you like versus the content that you don’t like? Look at this attachment to desire.  It is also KNOWN.  EVERYTHING IS KNOWN. Know the Knowing and attachment to desire will naturally dissolve.

Desiring or resisting any state is NOT the way to know THE HAPPINESS you are looking for. HAPPINESS IS IN KNOWING YOUR TRUE IDENTITY.  THIS IS ALL THAT IS KNOWN. IT IS ONE.

In this Light, NOTHING IS UNKNOWN, regardless of the belief that there are real things that are yet to know ‘about’. That very belief is KNOWN. Look deeply into the content of a desired experience, such as “becoming Enlightened” …the content of that desired idea is a clusters of thoughts, beliefs, opinions, feelings, sensations, a bunch of images and perceptions. These experiences come and go constantly. To go about looking for pleasurable, blissful, exotic experiences is to perpetuate your own suffering. It’s a matter of Identity.  But, every experience, the blissful and the insufferable, are KNOWN, and this KNOWN is not a cluster of ‘things’, but rather an indivisible intimate experience made of  KNOWING Itself. This is the way of Wisdom, Love and Beauty.

You KNOW the essential KNOWING. Without It, You would not know Yourself. Knowing created You Knowing.

Are are still attached to waiting for some non-essential ‘unknown’ content to happen to you.  This is simply a mis-identification of Identity. Know this.

Let’s not be confused about the KNOWN anymore hoping for some ‘state’ to become ‘known’. States are KNOWN. Only Knowing is Present and Knowing of Itself.

How’s that for an ‘enlightened’ perspective?

Where are the questions now?  What is there left to know?

I know Knowing. To know anything besides Pure Knowing is to NOT KNOW MYSELF ALONE. To not know myself alone, is to be lost and suffer in ignorance of Myself. Having attached myself to a ‘thought’ of Myself, I came to believe myself to be a thought of knowing, (a person) separate from other ‘thoughts of knowing’ (people).  But, regardless of the pain and suffering I may have experienced (as a person), I knew the experience of something known. What was that known in reality? I didn’t know Myself in Reality to know what that known ‘IS’ in reality.  I misunderstood it to be ‘offensive & punishable’, so I cut myself off from that specific thought-feeling experience. I repressed it, suppressed it, hid it, pretended it didn’t exist. I condemned it. In doing this, I separated Myself from Myself because of ignorance of Myself. I, Knowing, had attached Myself to a thought, then clung to, yearned for and rejected many certain thoughts about feelings, feelings about perceptions, perceptions about perceptions, thoughts about perceptions & thoughts about sensations & perceptions.  In misidentifying Myself as something other than Myself, I experienced the painful consequences. Ignorance of Knowing Myself as Pure Knowing breeds suffering.

Because I have attached Pure Knowing with ‘believed-in’ objects of experience, I became identified with that experience as having an independent existence apart from Pure Knowing. But Knowing goes with Me where ever I go, and I have been created to know Myself alone. Hence, I am still the Pure Knowing that knows Itself, only I had forgotten. The Knowing created Me Knowing and I know that Knowing right now. I know that I know myself. I need no form or name to know that I know. I am formless and nameless. I need no attachments to know Knowing. I know MySelf Alone. It is the one and only experience that I know. There is no other. I only seem to miss Its Shining Mark when I leave It, identify with a thought of Myself, falling into a belief that Experience is made of something other than Myself.

There IS no objective experience. There’s only ever the knowing of My own Direct Knowing. I am and know knowing whether or not object identification has occurred. All experience is Knowing and known by Me. I am only ever experiencing Knowing. I am My Own Selfless, Objectless Knowing.

The Knowing reflects back to Itself the Knowing who I know MySelf to be, because I know that which Knows. I know Myself. I am known; but I am not known by another known.  I am only Known by Myself. I am known by Myself as Myself. I am MySelf and know MySelf Alone.

I know the knowing of ‘thinking’, but I am not an object of thinking.(I am not, Myself, a thought)

A thought is not really a ‘thought’. It’s only ‘called’ a thought by the Knowing who has attached and identified Itself with thinking and has consequently labelled itself with many different names.

‘A known person’ believes it is one of many separate knowers knowing many separate thoughts, names, forms & things.  But, Knowing is never a separate Knower who thinks apart from other thinking knowers and knowns.  From Knowing’s point of view, the known-believer-feeler-perceiver is Itself a known that is known by Knowing, and most importantly, AS KNOWING.

Knowns cannot know anything because they are knowns; and knowns DO NOT KNOW.

True Identification is when I, Knowing, stand as Pure Knowing and understand and feel that what was ‘believed’ to be many separate knowers and knowns, is truly MySelf Knowing MySelf. Knowing is all there is. Knowing is the Knower & the Known. I am known to Myself alone. I am the only Knowing there is, so I am the only Known there is. Again, the known can never know ‘another’ known because THERE IS NO OTHER KNOWN BUT KNOWING KNOWING ITSELF.

Thoughts can’t know feelings. Thoughts can’t know thoughts. Feelings can’t know perceptions. Thoughts can’t know sensations. Perceptions can’t know feelings. Thoughts cannot know perceptions. I, misidentified as a thought, have labelled my entire illusory reality. There truly are no labels at all. There is simply ‘Knowing-experiencing-Itself’ and not calling it anything. There is no other Knowing but Me, the All-Encompassing Indivisible Knowing.

I know the knowing of thinking, feeling, sensing, seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling,  but I am not myself any of these. I cast away entirely the names and labels of experience (thinking-feeling-sensing-seeing-hearing-tasting-touching-smelling) and simply experience the revelation of Reality’s Knowing Nature.

I am the knowing that knows Myself, and this is known as Myself. Every experience is One Known Experience because there is one Known Knowing Whose ever-present desire is to Know Itself; whether at rest or at play. Knowing is Its own Pure Knowing Experience. I am the Knowing that Knows only the experience of Knowing MySelf.

“The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.” Baha’u’llah

Everything in this statement hinges on the establishment of unity. But how can unity be established if one holds beliefs of separation?

Is mankind going to create Unity for mankind? Where does God fit in? What is God? Is Unity a belief that ‘I’ (separate from ‘you’) must put into action in an ‘objective’ world?

Is Unity an ideology? Is it a conception? Is it a feeling, a sensation, a perception? Is Unity a form of experience? Forms of experience are temporary and change constantly. Anything like that is not the source of peace or security. Unity cannot come and go if it is true unity. Unity must stay constant in the midst of my constant changing thoughts, feelings, sensations & perceptions. Who am I if experiences are always changing.  How can unity be known truly if I do not truly know who I am or what God is. How can I know my own well-being, never mind mankind’s well-being?

In order to know unity, we must first know ourselves and know God.

Unity, in its true essence, must first be defined, felt and understood, and established within one’s own experience. Unity is True Identity.  I must first know what I am and what God is in order to know unity. To know Unity, all questions must be brought to a unified answer. If Reality is one, and Unity is One, and God is One, and Man is One, then it is safe to say that Experience is also one. How can this be known, understood, felt, and perceived?

Let’s first give God a unified name; a name I know & you know. Let’s give to the experience of ourselves & God one formless name: ‘THE KNOWING’.  Now, with this one change, we can bring unity to the multiplicity and diversity of experience. All questions that can be formed from the above wisdom teaching, can have their answer in one unified experience. It is THE KNOWING.

By knowing ourselves and God as THE KNOWING), Unity can be truly experienced, known and established in myself, ourselves and in mankind as a whole.

What is experience? Ever-changing known movements named by thought as  thinking/feeling/sensing/perceiving; but known by THE KNOWING as THE KNOWING.

Who am I? Who is man?  I am THE KNOWING in all experience. In ignorance, I believe I am THE KNOWER separate and different from THE KNOWN. In recognizing what I am, I and THE KNOWING are one.

Who is God? THE KNOWING knowing KNOWING.

What is unity? To know Unity is to know that I, THE KNOWING, am known as THE KNOWING.  Before I knew who I was, I was the finite knower separate from the finite known, but I thought I knew myself. In ignorance, I was the known, and in that place, I could never know God. I now know THE KNOWING in the known, as who I am. Unity seems to not exist when I believe and feel separate from things that I believe are not me; including God (THE KNOWING) & the world (the known). I can never know myself or God this way, because THE KNOWING can only KNOW itself as Itself. So, to try and reconcile the sense of separation by seeking for well-being in objects, activities, states of mind and relationships is to perpetuate separation and suffering. But even in suffering, THE KNOWING is shining bright. THE KNOWING is all there is to the experience of the KNOWER, the KNOWABLE & the KNOWN. Its all ONE REALITY. I stand in THE KNOWING and ‘as’ THE KNOWING. This is understood as Wisdom, felt & sensed as Love and perceived as Beauty. Once Unity is established, Peace & Security naturally follow.

Paraphrasing Jesus:

You shall KNOW the truth; and THE KNOWING of the truth shall set you free.

I am Infinite Ever-Present Knowing.

On behalf of Pure Knowing, my prayer is to be sensitive to the impulse to forget the truth that present ‘thinking-feeling-sensing-perceiving’ is anything other than the Knowing; (regardless of the name, form, content). The desire of My Heart is to meet it with My Knowing, regardless of its seeming intolerable, unbearable messy, sticky, fearful content. I am Knowing Itself and my desire is to know Myself, my own Divine Singleness in present direct experience. The invitation and allowance is here for the current ‘thoughtimagefeelingsensationsightsoundtastetexturesmell’ experience to come as close as possible. I ask it to come closer. I want to understand and love what its truly made of. I am Knowing and my qualities are known as Wisdom, Love & Beauty. I wish to not interfere with the ‘coming out’ presence of the current experience. I wish to gently & slowly feel it, sense it, see it, hear it, smell it, taste it; being aware of the resistance that may want to impose its own resistance upon it. I am the empty open loving space of infinite Knowing. It is safe to know Myself. My wish is to know direct experience thoroughly until I know it as Pure Knowing Itself. It is I, Knowing, that is, alone, being experienced. The current experience of feeling-sensing-perceiving what thought refers to  ‘loneliness, lack, dread, panic, terror, boredom etc’ is known, and it is I, Knowing, that desires to know all knowns as Myself.  Fear is not a distant foreigner to be forgotten, but a Friend to be fully & completely remembered, up close & intimate, in Myself & as Myself; the Knowing.

Know this, Oh great explorer.