What Is Reality?
Charlie Hayes

The following is an extract from Charlie's new book, which you can buy from US or UK.

The appearing manifest multiplicity - you and me and world - are in Reality, One Being, Unicity, and there IS nothing but That.... There is only One. This One is an Empty Aware Presence that never ends and never begins. You ARE this Awareness, Presence ... IN and AS which the Universe and all possibilities arise. All that IS appears and disappears in That. All there is is This One. That is the Indescribable Invincible Reality. You are That. - From The Introduction

  Q: I found your site just a few days ago, and every time I go back I see/hear exactly what I need right then. I also like your style. I'm hoping you can help me to see through the story of my life.

To say this indicates that you already see the story AS a story! That’s a great start in my view. Now see that "my" is part OF the story! It is LIFE happening, not "my" life.

The biggest things that anchor my belief in me right now are the physical sensation of tightness in my body that I interpret as fear/anxiety (and that feels like the seat of ME), and the identification of myself as a seeker.

Yes, that is the insecure vulnerable sense of a separate self. It’s inevitably at the core insecure! Why? It suspects it is a fake; an inauthentic identity that has been believed in innocence from around the age of two or three, but is now thanks to “Grace” or whatever you like to call the Energy of Truth that arises from out of nowhere, the belief is crumbling. And that fake feels threatened!

The “seeker” is born of pain and insecurity and dies in the fire of being, the Absolute, which arises as an Energy I call Aliveness. All is happening IN the Absolute Being … that is what is Real and It arrives as Raw Aliveness -- and THAT removes the false, so to say. No one is doing that. It happens as everything happens … all by itself! That said, there are ways to look into all this that appear to be helpful along the way.

Today, for instance, the thought "I'm a bad person" came up, and I saw it arise out of nothing and saw that it was nothing, and it occurred to me that I could be saying I was a piece of cheese and it would have exactly as much validity.

Exactly. ANY word that follows “I AM” IS false. And ultimately it is seen that the “I Am” itself must go (and does … just as naturally as a sunrise.)

This made me laugh and cry and within a minute (I had a brief respite) my mind was asking, "Is this It?" (because laughing/crying often accompany "realization") and then, "Oh no, I screwed it up!" accompanied by that strong physical sensation of anxiety/fear, and then, "what a great story [about me]!" (which I have now told). Ultimately, I got pulled back into believing in me again. That's a pretty typical series of events.

WHO says? Who “got pulled?” Did your Being disappear? Did Awareness and Aliveness become any less Aware and Alive??

Intellectually, I understand the teaching (and that it isn't really a teaching), and that ultimately I have no control whatsoever over whether this so-called waking up will even occur here.

Drop the understanding in favor of direct looking and experiencing what you ARE... simply BEING. And, emphatically it is NOT that “you” have no control. It is ultimately that there IS no “you” or “I” anywhere! But that, when only believed, can cause tremendous suffering in and of itself. This is a point we should talk directly about. Clearing this is a crucial “step.”

Note: I found out the hard way that simply reading a book or two and attending a few “satsangs” will not bring about Self-Knowledge. It seems that in the play of Consciousness, the dream life of a “separate person” apart from a world of a billion billion pieces, there must be direct interaction with a competent teacher who shares from direct understanding of what is real and what is false, and can point you toward Home “one to one.” It's been that way since time began and there have (fortunately) always been those who see correctly and are willing to share. So do find a teacher to work directly with, one you feel comfortable with and can trust.

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