In Zen we hear a parable: do not mistake the finger pointing at the moon for the moon. Meaning, do not mistake the teachings that lead to awakening, for awakening itself. At some point your eyes must leave their contact with the finger, and move across the void towards the moon. To see the luminous sphere, you must leave the realm of concepts and shift into another space. As such, this work is a bridge, a pointer to help you cross to the other side and once across, leave the bridge and explore the moonlit land that awaits you. Sometimes the finger points and you look, only you still do not experience the lunar event – are you looking for it with an active mind? Is it a new moon, hiding itself?
The first time I caught a glimpse of that elusive moon I was crossing London Fields at sunrise, after a lively house party. This was not my most ‘spiritual’ state, and I would not have planned it this way, but it was the first time I experienced delicious pure being without thought. Leaving the comforting warmth of that party with all its noise and jubilation, I stepped outside where it was cool and quiet. There was a mist hugging the earth in perfect stillness. The sudden shift of atmosphere took my mind along with it. I became totally present for the first time, aware of the world all around me; the world outside my head. I heard each leaf as a roaring ocean in the many Plane Trees that line that park. This was a mini-awakening. I was aware of being aware. For all appearances, I had accidentally slipped into a parallel dimension.
Each time we enter presence we step into an adjacent reality – one in which existed all along yet had been completely unknown to us from the other side, that familiar side of mental noise. Entering presence is heightened when shared with other Beings. Noticing trees, flowers, insects, birds and occasionally other humans, all existing in the present makes the connection to nature much deeper. When my mind isn’t distracting me from it, I’m in their world as my natural self – watching, Being, without any need to control or change what life is naturally doing. I’m alive to it all and so very pleased to be. There is a sweet awesomeness to this plane of existence – a dream like experience when it happens, where the only thought, which arises as an awareness, is, “I’m here.” This follows with a game of concentration, as if swimming amongst fish and holding the breath for as long as possible, seeing how long we can stay in this realm. From the everyday thought-fueled existence this seems like a true miracle – and once we ‘arrive’ it is just peace – the way things are.
Trying to describe this state reminds me of the futility of a perfume advert – no matter how striking or how long it runs for, the celebrity starring film-noir campaign gives me no idea of the fragrance. I will only know that by inhaling the scent for myself.
There’s space to be here, space to notice the richest most minute details of life, details we simply miss in the sleeping world because our mind is full of thought – often stressful, repetitive chatter that pushes us to run this way and that. Here instead, we are mind-full of awareness. This is the vantage point of our soul – the pure, divine, aware consciousness that we really are. This is why it’s called ‘awakening’ because when you suddenly find yourself aware of life in all it’s many glories, you realise you had been sleeping your way through it up until that moment. We had no idea we were dreaming all that time, until we bolt upright to see the world just as it is with no need to alter it or control it in any way. Being alive we witness life being life, and we are overwhelmed with love for it all. We are awake.
We may then realise that Source is All That Is. Logically, All That Is is All That Is – meaning the good, the bad, the ugly – is all Source; the high and the low, the joy and the suffering, the enlightened and the tormented; both finger and moon. The one that knows nothing of Source is still part of All That Is due to the very nature of being All That Is. This means something altogether significant: there is no wrong way to live. All of life is fulfilling its purpose. The smack-me-in-the-face so profoundly obvious purpose of being alive is.…to live! Nothing more, nothing less, and that is a miracle. You, dear soul, are doing your life just the way you are meant to. The fact that you are alive is a sacred pact in action. I felt this knowing while I sat on a train, on an ordinary Thursday afternoon on my way to watch a film in Piccadilly Circus. By the time it was over I had cried the sort of tears that only come after great relief. I left the cinema in a state of the deepest presence I had yet encountered. A joy grew upwards from the very roots of my Being, the foundations of consciousness. I saw life all around me. It was miraculous. It was being done in the most accurately poignant way that it could be done. Every person, fulfilling their destiny just by being here.
Life is Source playing out it’s destiny. Life is Source experiencing All That Is. What a thing to realise. You are doing this right. You can not do this in any other way.
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This text is copyright Brighitta Moser-Clark.
Brighitta is a Reiki Master / Teacher and Channel based in London. She is available for Reiki combined with intuitive guidance from Spirit Guides, Angels, and loved ones for deep and transformative holistic healing sessions. Find out more about Sessions and Courses @ awakening-light-reiki.com