The One Who Knows

WHO ARE YOU... REALLY? If you stop for a moment and pay careful attention, especially when things are going wrong or you are suffering in some way from loss, grief or pain of some sort, you will begin to sense a witnessing consciousness, a wise presence inside of you.

Mostly you tend to get all wrapped up in the suffering itself, but if you can stop identifying with it for a moment you might  be surprised somewhat to realize that there is this knowing presence within you that has always been there observing you in every moment of your life.

Even in the toughest times of illness and loss, in your deepest depressions and grief, underneath your most catastrophic challenges when you feel so confused and fearful, the ‘One Who Knows’ in you remains calm and clear.

It already fully accepts whatever is going on. It sees beyond the immediate situation to something much larger. It knows that whatever change has come, no matter how much of a surprise it is to you, it was going to happen. It knows that whatever is... just ‘is’... whether we accept it or not.

The ‘One Who Knows’ is even often able to see grim humour in the most difficult situations. And it knows long before we do that the end of our suffering begins when we are brave enough to turn and face it.

But how can we find this ‘One Who Knows’ in the midst of our most overwhelming difficulties? Go to the mirror. Look at your face. You will see someone who looks older than you looked several years ago, although inside you don’t feel any older. This is because it is only your body that has aged.

The timeless awareness through which you see your body is the ‘One Who Knows’. Your body is only a temporary vessel for this awareness. It is a physical container for the undying consciousness of the ‘One Who Knows’.

Life is a but a classroom, and all your suffering and pains are important lessons to be learned and conquered. So to understand the reason for your suffering, become consciously aware of the ‘One Who Knows’... for that is ‘Who You Really Are’...

Dan’s Quote: “You are the silent observer beneath the mind’s mental noise.
____________You are the stillness, the love, the joy beneath the pain.”

The idea for this post came from ‘The Lamp In The Darkness’ by Jack Kornfield.

Header picture: The Milky Way above ‘The Gawler Ranges’ 600 km north of Adelaide on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.