Presence in all states
States come and go but presence can be found and always is within every state.
This is one of my latest realizations. Not as an intellectual understanding but as a deeply felt knowing.
Mind states come and go all the time. You are excited, then you are angry, then you are horny, cocky and then you turn sad.
When fully present it turns into excitement happening, anger appearing, horniness, cockiness and sadness arriving.
That is a very different flavor to experience, it is experience experiencing itself absent of a you. There is no room for a you apart from experience in full presence. A you apart from that which appears entails separation which only seemingly appears in resistance to what is.
States flux as causes and conditionings constantly changes but YOU - the presence that you are always is.
For there to be presence in every state all of our resistance needs to be let go of. There are states which are more conducive to presence than others.
It is easier to stay present in pleasant states as there is less resistance to them. This is why it’s helpful to meditate as they produce states conducive to presence. Being in these states makes it easier for us to be aware of resistance and let it go.
We will also have glimpses of Beingness when in deep absorption/samadhi or in psychedelic states but they are often short lived as long as there is a lot of contractions in us.
When in full Beingness you are so expanded that conditioning is just automatically seen and let go of, it just melts away. There is no meditation technique required when operating from Beingness, just to be. It’s funny because Beingness is what you are, but Beingness is usually hidden beneath resistance.
As more resistance is dropped we become able to be present in less and less comfortable states until we can be present in every state. Until we are just presence, that it is seen to be all pervading and not bounded by any state.
Then we can truly be at peace. Having no subtle aversion toward one state and a seeking towards another.
Does the body still have preferences? Yes it prefers being fed over hungry, warm over cold but they are all accepted.
Does the mind prefer being energized and fresh compared to under slept or with a hangover? Obviously but one can still be present with what is, having full acceptance of it. When this is the case then one can be deeply content and peaceful even in such states.
It doesn’t matter what activity you are doing or whether you are doing any activity at all. It is all a matter if you can be present during the act. Presence is a sign that you are operating from Beingness - that which you are. Presence is only found in the moment of here and now.
Then there is always contentment free of any constraint. Deep peace in every situation, knowing you are that presence. The texture of presence is found all the time, everywhere.
In presence there is flow. In Beingness the absolute manifests and flows as the relative.