Practicing the Presence
For centuries, spiritual traditions have emphasized the practice of being in the presence of God. Often, the practices are associated with specific rituals, prayers, or efforts to quiet the mind in order to connect with a transcendent being. In the nondual understanding, the presence of God is not something external to be invoked or a state to be achieved. Rather, it is the very ground of our being, the ever-present reality of awareness in which all experience unfolds. To practice the presence of God, then, is simply to rest knowingly in the experience of being aware. It is to rest as aware presence.
The stance of the silent witness could be described as neutral benevolence. We observe the unfolding inner and outer worlds, and we are happy to engage, but we do so without psychological attachment. In other words we interact with the world from a place of fullness rather than from a place of lack. We recognize temporary expressions within consciousness for what they are as temporary expressions within consciousness. We know that this consciousness, our being, is shared with everyone.
While this may sound passive, it is through this practice that we are granted access to deeper intelligence, for in the stillness we more easily intuit the larger patterns, the subtle promptings, and unspoken needs in others. Unattached, we remain open and available.
This is the presence of God—the fundamental awareness that is the source and substance of all existence. It is through this simple shift in perspective that life becomes worth celebrating.
The world of the senses, once a source of potential entanglement and suffering, becomes a colorful feast to be experienced and enjoyed. We savor the sunrise and the sunset, we smile at remembered dreams, find delight in the preparation and taste of food, and enjoy the warmth of meaningful connections with others. No matter how complicated things around us seem, within our being there is abiding, quiet simplicity. As we become established in out true nature, there is more room for the ease of being. In time, this peace becomes home.
Having taken the inward path, not to escape the world, but to discover our very essence as this boundless awareness, and, having recognized this truth, we turn naturally outward again, aligned with the inherent wholeness of reality. We fully understand that apparent divisions are just appearances, useful fictions pointing to the deeper reality.
Embodying this understanding, our actions in the world are motivated less by egoic desires and the pursuit of personal gain. We are moved to help foster connection, harmony, and meaning to the world according to our gifts, and through the spontaneous unfolding of the unified consciousness through us.
The practice of presence, the simple resting in awareness, becomes a wellspring for authentic action. Life unfolds as divine presence, a hymn to the unity that underpins all that is.