Erich: So, for example — and this is where it has taken me. Look at something that is in your actual field of vision right now. Actually look at something.

I can see this iPod. I can see my watch. I can see the tape-recorder. I can see the schmacker. I can see the bell.

Anything that you can see is a form.

A form has a border and a boundary around it.

And what we have been saying the last number of months, years, is that forms — anything with a border or a boundary, like bubbles, or clouds, or schmackers — are floating in formlessness.

A cloud floats in the sky. A cloud has a border and a boundary, but the sky doesn't. The sky is a pretty good analogy for formlessness. There is no border or boundary around the sky, and yet it is really there.

So, forms float in formlessness.

When I first started hearing about formlessness, my reaction was, "Well, if it's not a form, it's not really there!" And yet, it's because formlessness is there that forms can be there.

Formlessness, you could say, embraces all forms. Formlessness is the context in which all forms are happening.

Forms, as it turns out, are ideas in Mind.

Now, the idea here is that the formless "sky" — in which schmackers float, in which bubbles float, in which clouds float, the formless sky in which Manifest Creation is happening, the SKY in which the sky is happening! — is MIND or Consciousness.

Consciousness is the "sky" of Mind, in which everything you are aware of is happening.

This is relevant, as it turns out.

The analogy that comes to my mind, and I say this a lot, is that when people thought the earth was flat, they made certain assessments about what they thought was happening. When people realized, "Actually, the earth is round," nothing fundamental changed, but their whole assessment changed.

The point that's intriguing me, and this is where it comes down to "stay with your actual Now experience," is this:

You can observe forms.

Forms have borders and boundaries.

But, YOU as the observer are not a form,

and yet you are really there.

This is equivalent to thinking the earth is flat and then realizing it is actually round. But, what it is, is shifting from thinking you are "a body being aware" to the awareness that you are "the Aware One who is aware of bodies." Nothing really changes, except everything gets turned inside out.

You are not a body being aware, fundamentally. You are that which is aware of your body.

And YOU — that which is aware — looks like something, and that is what your body is, the visibility and tangibility of YOU.

You are the Formless Aware One who is aware of forms. You can experience it right now. You look down and see your body. You are likely to think, "I'm a body being aware." But, if you stay with your actual experience a little more closely you will realize, "No, actually, I am the Aware One that is aware of the body."

The Aware One that I am is like the sky. The sky is not a form, but it is really there. You are not a form. You are that which is aware of forms. And yet there is a form right there, right here, which identifies this specific lookout point, just like there is the infinity of manifest creation, which are an infinite number of lookout points for the Omnipresence. But, you are not a body being aware. You are the Aware One being aware, and you look like something.

It's as though you are the consciousness of the sky, looking out at all the weather formations within the context of the sky, from this specific cloud formation. And so is everyone else!

It's the shift from thinking you are a form in a physical universe, which happens to be conscious, to the realization that you are the conscious space in which it is all happening. And therefore (and this may seem like a big jump) you are bigger than everything. And, therefore, you are not actually a victim to bacteria, or disease, or physical stuff, unless you decree that you are.

If you think you are a body in the middle of a vast universe, you will think of yourself as small. But, if you stay with your actual Now experience, you will recognize that you are the conscious Space — the boundless Awareness — in which everything you are aware of is happening. You are big.

This is hard to talk about. It's slippery. But, even right now, you can see walls, you can see the ceiling, and you think you are in a room. But, really, the room is in your awareness.

Is that sort of close? Do you get that?

You are not in a room. The room is in your awareness.

OK.

So, thank you for just hanging out with this.

Let it soak in over the days, over the months. I have been playing with this idea for years now and I'm still like, "What?"

It doesn't make the walls go away. It doesn't make your body go away. But, it shifts your sense of identity.

You are not a body being aware. You are Mind, which is aware of bodies and forms and worlds.

It's turning the world inside out.

It's seeing the same old thing and beginning to understand it in a radically new way.

If you think that you are a body being aware, it will feel like you are a little dot in the middle of Infinity, vulnerable. And yes, it seems like that, until you stay with your actual Now experience, more and more and more and more. Eventually, you start to get it. "Oh wow, I am not a body being aware. I am that which is aware of the body. I am Conscious-ness, like the sky."

You are really there, but fundamentally you are not a form. You are that which is aware of forms. The Awareness that you are is that in which forms are happening.

I wouldn't be saying this unless I thought it was awesome. I know I'm not saying it as well as I could. But, it's so worth trying to hang out with.

You are aware. Live with that more. You are aware. You are aware. You are a conscious being. You are aware of forms. But, the awareness that you are is not a form.

Therefore, fundamentally you are Formless Conscious Being.

Therefore, fundamentally you are not vulnerable.

Therefore, fundamentally you can relax. The more you relax, the healthier your form will start being. The safer you'll feel. The more you will live in the world without being aggressive or defensive. The more Peace will begin to prevail.

This is close. This is so close.

You are aware. You are conscious. But Consciousness does not have a shape. Mind does not have a shape. It is that which is aware of shapes. It is that in which the shapes exist.

YOU are not a shape being conscious. You are Consciousness, which is infinitely expressed. But, you are not just the specific expression. You are the Infinite Consciousness, which is specifically identified.

So, in this cool interesting way, you are specific and infinite at the same time, which is what God is. God is the Infinite in infinite individuation. God is The One appearing as The Many.

So, again, Formlessness erupts as infinite individuations, just like the sky erupts as infinite weather formations. But, the infinite individuations are happening within Formless Consciousness.

Again, this is hard to get at first, and second, and third. But, simply stay with the facts. "I am aware. I am conscious. I'm not doing conscious. I am conscious, but it is not because of anything I'm doing."

You are not doing conscious.

Consciousness is being you.

And Consciousness is formless, without a border or boundary.

Formless is the hard word. But, Formlessness is the place or context in which the experience of forms is happening. It is that which is aware of forms. And that is what you and I are.

Again, I'm sorry. I wish I could say this better.

With Love and Pranams,
From Erich

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