The First Step Is The Last Step

As I begin this path of awakening to my true nature, what is a powerful and simple first step that I can take and which I can implement as a practice in my day to day life ?

A first step one can take, that is immediately available this instant, is to establish the fact that pure Awareness is the essential Reality of Self.

Recognise that the presence of Awareness is the only ever-present Reality of your experience. Witness the coming and going of every thought, sensation and perception, and notice that Awareness remains constant and immutable throughout the thoroughgoing flux of phenomena.

The pure experience of simply Being Aware is already present prior to the beginning or appearance of every thought, sensation and perception, and is, therefore, present as the essential nature of 'I'. Before these phenomena appear, during their appearance, and after their disappearance, I-Awareness remain constantly present. Such appearances of phenomena are temporary and superfluous superimpositions upon the essence of 'I', and are therefore not intrinsic to its Reality.

Awareness remains after every thought, sensation, and perception dissolves. Thusly, just by understanding this truth that Awareness remains ever-presently, not these changing phenomena, we understand by implication that Awareness is the essential Reality of 'I'. After everything that can be removed from our Self has been removed, what is essential to our Self remains, that is, the pure experience of Awareness remains.

What we call "I" or "myself" is this ever-present Awareness. Because it is always here, Awareness has a nature and Reality that does not depend on the temporary flux of thoughts, sensations, or perceptions. It is not bound to the mind, body, or world. Whether these phenomena arise or fall away, Awareness remains. It is present during their appearance and just as fully here in their absence, as the ultimate medium in which they arise and subside. This means that Awareness is not limited by anything that appears within it. By nature, it is free; completely and unconditionally. Even as phenomena come and go, this intrinsic freedom is never touched or altered. The pure experience of Awareness is unmoved, unaffected by whatever arises. It is what it is; constant, unchanging, and unshakeably present. The profound revelation at the heart of all the great spiritual traditions is that the essential Reality of 'I' is this unbounded, imperturbable Presence.

There is a practical process we can explore in the midst of daily life, one that gently and consistently reveals the steady presence of Reality in the depths of our Being. It is a contemplative approach that honours the ever-present and unlimited nature of Awareness. When a thought, sensation, or perception arises, we can simply ask ourself, 'Am I aware of this?' The answer is immediate and unmistakable: 'Yes.' This simple yes emerges not from the mind, but from pure Awareness itself; the silent Presence that knows the arising of every phenomenon. In recognising this, we begin to see that Awareness is always prior to the arising of phenomena, always present as the essential medium of Reality. This recognition quietly affirms the primacy of Awareness as our true Self.

Then we may ask ourself, 'Is this presence of Awareness what I truly am? Or am I something confined to the thoughts, sensations, and perceptions that appear and disappear in my experience?' We might enquire, 'Am I the one who is always aware, or am I defined by the fleeting and ever-changing forms that I perceive?' These questions do not seek conceptual answers, rather they open the way for a deeper revelation; an invitation to notice the silent, unchanging Presence that remains while all phenomena subsides.

Now, notice that our Self is the pure experience of Being Aware, pure Awareness itself, and that the thoughts, sensations and perceptions are not essential or intrinsic to our Being, for they come and go. I, this pure presence of Awareness, does not come or go. I remain ever-present to witness all forms of experience appearing and disappearing. 

To abide here, as this pure experience of Being Aware, contemplating its nature, we can cease giving exclusive attention to thoughts, sensations and perceptions, and instead relax our attention into the background of Awareness, simply Being Aware of Being Aware. If our interest is sparked to contemplate further, we can continue our marination in self-enquiry, by asking ourself a series of questions, such as these:

Am I present and aware? 

Is Awareness separate from or at a distance from my Presence?

Are there two presences in Me, Awareness and Me? 

Or is there only one Presence here, Being Aware, that is the one and only Me?

Do I need to journey to the presence of Awareness?

Or am I already at and present as Awareness?

Could I ever really be aware of the absence of Awareness?

Am I ever aware of the absence of myself?

What would be present and aware to witness the seeming absence of myself, the seeming absence of Awareness?

Can the presence of Awareness be completely replaced by a thought, sensation or perception, such that the presence of Awareness utterly vanishes and only the thought, sensation or perception remains? 

An analogy that intimates the answer to this question is of the relationship between the screen and the movie. Can the screen be completely replaced by an object in the movie, such that the screen utterly vanishes and only the object in the movie remains?  

Understand the truth that Awareness is ever-present, and never ceases to be known and experienced, by itself, that is, by you, for you are Awareness. 

Now, ask Awareness, your true Self: am I defined by any thought, sensation or perception?

Am I limited by any thought, sensation or perception?

Experience the truth that the presence of Awareness is ever-present.

Being the only Presence that is always present, Awareness is the only candidate for the ultimate medium in which the entire panorama of phenomena arises and subsides.

Being the ultimate medium in which thoughts, sensations and perceptions appear, Awareness is not defined or limited by any of them. Consider again the analogy of the screen and the movie. The screen is the one medium in which the objects and characters of the movie appear and disappear. We know the screen is not defined or limited by any of the objects or characters in the movie solely due to the fact that prior to the beginning of the movie, no such objects or characters were intrinsically present in the nature of the screen. In the same manor, you, Awareness, know that you are not defined or limited by thoughts, sensations and perceptions, for you are the one medium which precedes the appearance of all phenomena and is that in which all phenomena appear.

This understanding, grounded in your direct experience, may seem so simple and obvious at first glance that it appears insignificant. Yet it is precisely in this simplicity that its supreme significance is revealed. Truly, this understanding is the essence of the step that establishes the truth that you are not limited by any form of experience that appears. The first step, this direct step to the Presence that you are is of ultimate significance. It is a 'step' to that which is no distance from yourself, and is therefore not really a 'step'. It is the falling away of any notion of taking a step or travelling any distance to the essential Reality of your Self. You are already at yourself, the unlimited presence of Awareness.

Just as the screen is never lost in the movie, you are never absent from experience. You are the silent, luminous backdrop upon which all experience appears. No journey is needed. No distance must be crossed. You are already that which you seek.

There is only That.