The Irony of Presence

True Presence is transcendence in the heart of the world.

To transcend the dualities of the mind and the images of the senses is to become more present, to be "in the world but not of the world."

Presence is "turiya," the fourth state of consciousness, transcending the senses, the dreaming mind, and the dullness of sleep. Presence is boundless Being itself, awalening prior to thought, prior to any image or belief in the intellect.

One cannot try to be present, or "achieve" it, for that is merely a thought of Presence, or a manipulation of one's mood. Presence must be infused in deep meditation; it is the very stuff of silence.

Gradually, with regular meditation, Presence permeates the subtle nervous system, until one quite naturally maintains the silent witness, the boundless power of Presence even in dynamic activity.

Presence is an invisible radiance carried into the busy marketplace of daily life, healing and open other hearts. Yet one who carries this energy of Presence has nothing to "do" with it.

To meditate and awaken the field of transcendental Presence is not a "bypass" of our anger, our grief, our pain. To bypass these wounds is to suppress, not to transcend. Transcendence is completely different from suppression. In fact, the silence of transcendence is so healing and so powerful that release it unwinds and releases repressed grief, anger, and psychic pain, which then manifest in the body as physical sensation.

When this happens, the instruction is not embrace the sensation without resistance, and taste it as energy in the body: not to intellectualize or analyze the experience. In ancient mythic symbolism, this meditative process of releasing repressed trauma is the confrontation with a Wrathful Deity. The Wrathful Deity first appears monstrous and demonic, but when the meditator embraces it, without struggling against it, the demonic form dissolves into an angel of healing.

Who who is skillful in the art of meditation does not suppress ancient grief or anger, even if they appear to be one's demons. For they are shadow forms of oneself, and contain much useful energy. When we kiss the demon, rather than wrestling with it, the energy repressed in its demonic form is freed. It becomes formless sparkling awareness, and the meditator becomes more available, for response-able, for others.

Transcend the mind, with its paralyzing concepts, and dive into the ocean of Presence. Then dance with the dragons of the deep. Kiss your demon's lips. Emerge cleansed and healed, ever more Present to the world.