In my last post I explored the sheath of Joy.  At this level of awareness seeking ceases.  We come to realize that the Joy that we spend so much energy on trying to attain is closer to us than any possession or achievement could ever be.   Thank god this Bliss of living is not an attainment, it cannot be bought or sold, given or taken away.  It is part of the fabric of what we are, although often forgotten.  As we become still the body of Joy is revealed; remembered.  The Joy that we long for is present and contentment arises.  If only for a moment.  In the lucidity of this contentment there is spaciousness, the mind rests in this Joy and it's relentless hobby of rejecting or grasping experiences pauses. 

When stillness reigns there is nothing left to do, be, or have - and we rest.  From this place of deep rest, this deep Savasana,  something emerges.  Something gets sifted out of this stillness.  The bright light of what is awake in us becomes more and more obvious - we become aware of our own awareness.  We come to recognize that all other levels of our being have been experienced, witnessed by something.  Contemporary philosopher, Ken Wilber puts it this way:  "You are not your thoughts, for you are aware of them.  You are not your feelings for you are aware of them.  You are not any objects that you can see , for you are aware of them too....What is it in you that is always awake?"  Who are you?  What is this you that you call yourself?  What is it that is aware of all of the levels of your being?  This is not the little I that is attached to a personal identity; you know, the part that loves ice cream and romantic comedies, for those procivlities can be witnessed by something much closer.   In yoga or meditation we are often asked to watch our thoughts, to gain some distance from them, some perspective.  This is a wonderful practice, but it doesn't end there.  What happens when we watch the watcher?   This creates a profound paradox in our being that the small mind cannot grasp and words cannot describe fully.  The spontaneous shift to becoming aware of awareness collapses our cognitive assumptions about reality.  This is a cataclysmic disruption of how we have traditionally assumed the world to be - we become both the observer and the observed.  We no longer exist in the realm of either/or; black vs white, instead, we are both.  Our inherent wholeness becomes obvious and the struggle back and forth between good and evil, darkness and light ceases.  Tensions relax and we become the Everything that we have always been..... 

Have you journeyed into the question "Who Am I?"?  Please let Falling Open be a forum for sharing your journey with others so that we may know our Selves together...

Join me in my next post as we explore the final 'non-sheath" of Pure Being.  I will conclude this series with a post on the implications of working with the koshas as a teacher or practitioner.