Discovering that which never goes
by ENZA VITA

Q: Sometimes there is clarity and a knowing of what I am. At other times I lose that clarity and I become completely involved in “me.”

A: Final reality can be defined as that which is eternal, changeless, and enduring. It is always here. Who we really are, awareness, isn’t here one minute and gone the next. It is changeless. It is timeless. Yes, the content of awareness changes, things come and go, and experiences don’t last forever, but the good news is that in essence the content is absolutely not who we are.

Whatever you can possess and then lose is the content of awareness and not awareness itself. And because it is constantly fluctuating and changing, the best thing you can do is to view it as nothing more than an experience and then release it.

Even the incredible bliss of a heightened spiritual experience will not last forever. The bliss is simply more content, but who you are is the presence/awareness that is aware of the bliss. Consequently, when the experience of bliss ends, can it be said that you have lost awareness? No, absolutely not. The experience of bliss may be gone, but the awareness within which it occurred remains.

It is impossible to possess awareness, because you can never be separate from it, and because awareness is not a thing, be that a spiritual state, a thought, or an experience. Awareness, always present in each moment, is not an experience that one “enters into,” whether on a temporary or permanent basis. Awareness is already your natural state. Who you really are never changes and is always present, as opposed to the individual who only makes a temporary appearance within awareness.

There is that within you that is always with you. Find out what it is.

Q: Can a teacher or guru help to realize our true nature, and if so, how do we go about choosing one?

A: The true guru is actually you made manifest, not as you think you are but the real you, presence/awareness itself. Since who you truly are is the totality of being, you are capable of generating many forms, both human and non-human, to bring the focus of the illusory seeker back to itself. “Guru” is really another word for awareness.

In regard to the human teacher, if one day you meet someone in whose company you find you can be yourself, and if you feel clear, peaceful, happy, and your mind becomes calm for no apparent reason, you may like to keep his or her company from time to time.

Jean Klein, a well-known speaker and author on the subject of non-duality, said, “You will know a true teacher because you will feel yourself, in your autonomy, in his or her presence.”

With the true teacher you are free to be yourself rather than bound by rules and agendas. The true teacher doesn’t take the identity and role of the teacher seriously and has no need for his/her students to feel complete.

The greatness of a teacher is not in psychic powers, lineages, or credentials, in the numbers of followers or eloquence or intellect or charisma. Greatness is in the extent to which the vehicle has been taken over by the realization.

In reality there is no difference between you and the guru, as there is no difference between the space in this cup and the space in that cup. The cup cannot limit the all-pervasive space.

Ultimately, there are no teachers or teachings because there aren’t any students. There is only ever unconditional presence—Oneness meeting Itself as That.

Enza Vita is the publisher of InnerSelf newspaper and the founder and director of the MahaShanti Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to spiritual awakening. Enza is also the author of the book Always Already Free and her latest book Instant Presence (Simon & Shuster (Australia). For more information, visit www.enzavita.com or connect with Enza through her Facebook page