by A H Almaas
A good student is one who recognizes that in every moment, everything that happens—whether we think it is bad or good, painful or pleasurable—is nothing but True Nature teaching, manifesting its truth. The more we recognize this, the more our soul becomes suffused with the juices, the nectars, of fulfillment and satisfaction. The more real it becomes to us, the more our heart becomes full and pregnant with the natural fruition of recognizing the truth. We begin to recognize that we are all children of the moment, which means we are all children of True Nature.
So when we are learning the practice of being where we are, we recognize at some point that we won’t be able to pay attention to where we are if we don’t value the moment. If we don’t recognize that each moment has nutrition, has truth that helps us grow, we won’t be able to let ourselves be where we are.
At the beginning of our practice, we’re seeking the insights, the recognitions, the significant details of particular experiences as if these were what brings value. As we go on, we recognize that all these are coming from the presence of True Nature. Presence is actually what has value, what is value. We discover that the presence of True Nature is self-existing worth, self-existing value. It is its own value, and the source of all value.
As we come to recognize that intrinsic value, we can see that the teaching is appearing through everything—and we not only appreciate the moment, we will make sure never to ignore it or neglect it. We will seize the moment and learn not to waste it, not to distract ourselves. And I don’t mean that we will spend twenty hours a day sitting in meditation or go live in a monastery. I mean that we will be where we are and appreciate being real, recognizing what is really happening and seeing as much truth as possible in the moment.
When we don’t see where we are, we can be in the moment, but we are not seeing it clearly; we are running away from it, we are distracted, we are abandoning ourselves. When we are real, we let ourselves be where we are. And when we recognize where we are—for where we are is the moment as it is appearing clearly—we are allowing ourselves to be suffused by the teaching. And the more we recognize the value of the moment, the more our heart will open, revealing its depth, its fullness, its richness.
At first, our mind tries to explain why we love recognizing the truth, why we value reality and True Nature, why we think it is wonderful, beautiful, supportive, and something that liberates us. But all these are just conceptual stories we tell ourselves. The fact is that True Nature’s value is inherent, beyond the mind, and we are just feeling it. And there is no reason for it. It is, and that is the way it is.
So, as you see, the teaching has that value because it arises from True Nature; it is the message of True Nature. And our learning is not restricted to what comes through a particular logos—although specific, defined channels of teaching do exist and can be helpful. The real teaching of True Nature is every moment.
THE DIFFICULTY OF EXPERIENCING VALUE
I know that it is difficult for us sometimes to let ourselves experience this inherent value in the moment. To value the moment means that it is okay to value ourselves, to recognize ourselves as worth it, as deserving this richness—and we have issues, questions, and beliefs about valuing ourselves. Many of us have painful or difficult histories. Certain experiences, beliefs, and projections make us feel that we are not worth it, we are not good enough, or that we have to do one thing or another to receive or assign to ourselves any value or esteem. That leads to the belief that we have to try, we have to make an effort, we have to suffer a lot and tread a long path before we can arrive at what is valuable, at what the true value and meaning of life is.
But all these are just issues, obscurations, that have nothing to do with the truth. Value is True Nature and True Nature is what we are. Valuing the moment is valuing ourselves, is valuing our nature, is valuing everybody and everything.
To recognize inherent value, to experience it directly, is the same thing as being in the immediacy of the moment. And this is what allows our True Nature to manifest itself in a way that fulfills the heart, that fulfills life. We feel a sense of an inherent value. We understand that we don’t have to accomplish a thing in our life for our life to be worthwhile. Whether or not we have success, invent something, accomplish some difficult feat, create a great piece of art, write a bestseller, or become famous is secondary. None of those things is necessary for us to recognize our sense of value because value is not something that is accomplished; it is already here.
This experience or recognition of a sense of worth, of a sweet fullness and deep fulfillment, doesn’t make sense to the mind. We grew up learning that our sense of esteem, our sense of value, is a result of a cause. We were taught that we have to be “good” or do things in a certain way or learn or accomplish whatever someone else thinks is valuable; otherwise life has no worth.
So although value is an inherent experience in our heart of the recognition of our nature, there are obstacles that keep us from being in touch with it. Some of those come from the injunctions of our childhood, some of them result from positions we have taken or judgments we have made. Regardless of the cause, we end up missing whatever value, whatever nutrition, whatever beauty there is in the moment. And, that is really sad—not bad, just sad. It is sad that we cannot recognize the value inherent in the moment and therefore don’t allow ourselves the enjoyment that reality makes possible each moment.
But when we really recognize ourselves and let ourselves be in the moment, we come into an amazing freedom that brings in a sense of a natural appreciation of just what is. Then we can accomplish and do all kinds of things, not to achieve value, only to express it.
It is the other way around from what we thought, you see? We have the treasures in us, and every moment is a matter of expressing them. And expressing them is a matter of participating with True Nature in revealing itself. We let ourselves be servants, conduits for True Nature to reveal its teaching. So, the more we accept where we are and let ourselves be where we are and the less we fight the moment and recognize it for what it is, then the more effective conduits we are for True Nature to teach us, and teach through us, directly.
So the teaching is happening in every way that experience appears. As you may have noticed, when you are inquiring, you discover at some point the meaning of what you are experiencing. Everything has meaning, and meaning is always there. Nothing is haphazard. Everything has a precise order. That is why I tend to agree with Einstein that reality is not probability, that God doesn’t throw dice. Everything has a precise order, every single little thing has a meaning in the order of things—and all of it is revealing the truth of reality.
INQUIRY AS A REVELATION OF IMPLICIT VALUE
What inquiry does is show us this meaning. We see that everything is interconnected—one fabric of revelation. With that understanding, we are able to recognize what is being revealed. When we get the revelation, we can’t help but feel satisfied and capable of valuing our experience regardless of how painful or difficult it may have been.
We begin our journey of inquiry feeling that we value our experience because we have learned from it; we say that we have grown from it. That is true, but it’s just a way of explaining it. All that our learning means is that we are getting closer to the self-existing value. When we recognize the self-existing value, which is True Nature itself, we recognize that the fact that we have learned, that we have grown, is a side effect, a reflection of the true value and meaning of existence. Yes, the meaning first appears as relative, but at some point we recognize that the meaning is us—all of us.
So it doesn’t matter what is happening in the moment. No moment is better than any other moment. No one’s experience is better than another person’s experience. Your experience in the moment is the way True Nature is teaching. It is not accurate to say, “That guy is at a more advanced place than I am, so I should be like him.” You are comparing yourself and making a judgment that your experience is not as valuable—and so the sense of yo
ur own value is lost. No, your experience is the right teaching at that moment for you, and for the rest of reality, too. Your experience is just as valuable, just as necessary, as the experience of somebody supposedly more advanced on the path or having more sublime experiences.
The more we learn that each moment has its own intrinsic value, the easier it is for us to let ourselves just be in each moment, however it is manifesting. Then we recognize that where we are is where we are supposed to be. Are you sad? Bursting with excitement? Feeling sexual? Having an attack of jealousy? Tired and cranky? Feeling hopeless, inadequate, or afraid? Or are you sitting on top of the world? Well, then, that is what reality is manifesting. Who are we to judge that we shouldn’t be that way? Who are we to say that we should be like some other person?
We may find it useful to recognize where we are in relationship to the whole picture, but that doesn’t change the fact that each place has its own value. Something is being revealed in this moment that isn’t going to be revealed in any other place or time or through any other person, and it is just as necessary as what is happening to someone else or what will be happening to you a minute, a month, or many years from now.
Value is truly nothing other than our heart’s intimate contact with the immediacy of the moment—with each moment, with where we are precisely. In that contact, in that being with and knowing reality as it is, we recognize the unquestionable rightness and preciousness of where we are and what we are.
Nothing touches us more deeply than the implicit value of our own beingness. It is value beyond mind, beyond concepts, beyond ideals and hopes and dreams. This preciousness of simply being here now with awareness and understanding fills our heart with contentment and satisfaction. We realize that where we are, which is what we are, is also the most real and precious nature of life itself.
EXPLORATION SESSION
Discovering How You Value Present Experience
This exercise is an opportunity to explore the way value plays a part in your practice of being where you are.
First, look at why you do not value the moment. What stops you from feeling the preciousness of each moment in your experience and instead makes you prefer some moments, certain experiences, and particular situations and times over others? Becoming more aware of this will help you to see more about how you value your time, your experiences, and yourself in your life.
Second, explore the various ways in which you experience the value in being where you are. How is it worthwhile for you to be present with yourself, to not go away, to feel what is here, to be in the moment? You may not value it all the time, but by now you have certainly touched on the preciousness of being here, being present, being more real. This is a time to articulate that sense of preciousness.
Afterword
WHEN WE CONSIDER OUR life, it is generally from the vantage point of where we are now: we make assessments about where we have come from, what we have accomplished, and where we are going. How far have we progressed? Have we done enough to feel satisfied? What goals still remain to be pursued?
We identify and evaluate the status of our life in relation to our physical environment, our relationship circumstances, our financial status, our goal achievement, and our physical health, among other things. All of these means of establishing where we are in our life locate us in the physical, external world by relating us to elements of our life that we believe control our well-being. Even when we locate ourselves by observing our emotional condition or our mental activity, these elements are usually experienced as reactions to what is going on in our external life.
In other words, we assume that the most significant determinants of where we are in our life are the external factors; it is these that become the measuring stick of our development, our progress, and even our happiness in life. But even more significant is the fact that they become central to how we define who we are.
This book has offered a different orientation to the question of where you are in life—specifically, where you are in the moment. This approach is a spiritual exploration because it focuses on the location of your consciousness rather than your body, your beliefs, your pocketbook, or your significant others. The goal of these teachings has not been to help you evaluate how well you have succeeded or help you decide where to go next. It has been to support you in discovering where you are, so you can simply be where you are. Because it is by being where you are in an easy, relaxed way that you can truly discover who and what you are.
This process of locating yourself is a profoundly personal one, a subtle and sensitive unfolding of inner awareness that does not use obvious external signposts to tell you where you are at any given time. It requires discipline and patience, gentleness and attunement, because the only one who can know where your consciousness is is you. To truly be where you are requires a capacity for listening, a willingness to be open, and a curiosity about your own experience that most likely few people have ever shown toward you.
What this calls for is the development of your ability to truly witness yourself, to be a pure and undistorted mirror for where and how you are appearing in the moment. Ultimately, this means seeing yourself without the aid of anyone else’s perspective, anyone else’s experience, or anyone else’s beliefs and judgments. It means not seeing yourself from the outside or locating yourself by where you are relative to external criteria. It is by seeing yourself from inside, from the center of your own experience, that you can discover your own truth, the untouched True Nature of what you are.
This understanding is the heart of The Unfolding Now and has shaped its primary function: to act as a transitional mirror. The fact is that when we begin the inner journey, the capacity of our awareness to recognize itself is limited, so we need outside mirrors for a while. We do not even know our True Nature exists, much less how to recognize it, or that it is what we truly are. Our awareness is not developed enough to be able to stand on its own and to recognize its nature. So it needs mirroring to see past its own limitations. That is one reason why people join spiritual schools or go on retreats.
The real mirror—which is the self-awareness you are cultivating in learning to mirror yourself—is to see yourself without judgment, without comparison, without self-hatred, without reification, and without conceptualization, but with compassion and courage and kindness and love and presence and awareness and intelligence. The teachings in this book have been offered as support for the process of becoming your own mirror in these different ways. They can help you develop the confidence that you can learn to sit and meditate, to inquire, to recognize yourself where you are, to see your own personal thread and be able to remain with it so that it unfolds and reveals the truth of what you truly are—your True Nature.
This is a practice that requires a sustained meditative, focused exploration apart from the activities of daily life. It takes quiet times of attention and reflection to develop the subtle attunement in our soul to our inner whereabouts. Only after continued regular practice with concentrated attention to our ongoing experience can our contact with presence withstand the constant distractions of our own busyness.
However, if we follow the thread of being aware and present as our practice of learning to be where we are, we might be able to increase the time or the space where we can be ourselves in an open way, extending it beyond the quiet, secluded moments. The more we remember to practice awareness of ourselves, and the stronger the awareness in our presence, the more we are able to stay open and attuned to what is arising in our consciousness even as we live our lives.
Of course, it also means that we need to consider the life we live and how we are living it. What takes us away from just being where we are? What do we value instead of valuing the truth of the moment? Where does our attention go? How much of our resources of time and energy are actually needed for taking care of the necessities of daily life? What do we lose by turning away from where we are now? Exploring these questions becomes a process of integrating presence into the re
st of our life.
So, our practice is a process of settling deeper into the moment and learning more about what takes us away from it. The mirror of our awareness gradually becomes less obscured and more luminous as it reveals to us the preciousness of what we truly are.
The capacity of this teaching to transform your own life can extend out to affect your environment, changing the way that you relate to other people and the world at large. As you come to appreciate and value True Nature and know it for the mysterious and limitless source of life that it is, it impacts and transforms your own manifestation as a person. True Nature can express itself through you more directly, touching others and opening up the richness and possibility of what it means to be human. That is one way that the flame is passed on, that the light is spread. In my experience, this is the most effective way to support a deeper change in the condition of consciousness in our world.
Our aim here is to be the realness that we love, to be as human as possible and to take that out into our life. The more of us who actually learn about reality and our own True Nature, the more others will recognize the preciousness and value of just being. Because, in fact, we are not separate, and True Nature is the nature of everyone. Each individual can come to value True Nature not just in themselves, but in everybody and everything. And when this appreciation is embraced and integrated, it will create expanding ripples moving out from each person.
And all of this can happen as you learn to simply be yourself in an easy, gentle way—at each moment, wherever you are.