Where are you?

Are you in the world, or is the world in you?

That seems an odd question at first. Of course, you’re in the world, right?

But what are you really? What is your real essence? Are you a body, or do you have a body? Are you made up of thoughts, or do you have thoughts? If you have these things, then who is the ultimate owner of all of it? Who is watching over all that stuff? If you trace back as far as you can, you may conclude that at the very core, being aware counts as your essence. That's really what YOU are— awareness (the verb, rather than the noun).

Ask yourself this question: “where is my awareness?”. Just where is it?

Put awareness on your left leg—feel your left leg. Where is awareness? It’s not your leg—that’s for sure. Awareness of your left leg must be something other than your left leg. Move awareness to your left hand. Where is awareness now? It’s not your left hand—that’s for sure. Awareness is something OTHER THAN anything and everything onto which you put it. Awareness is NOT the sunrise, it’s NOT the sunset, it’s NOT the chair you’re sitting in. It’s NOT anything you’re feeling right now. It’s NOT any sound you’re hearing. It’s NOT anything you can see, smell, or taste, either. It’s the ONE THING that is different from everything else you can be aware of. And even saying “it’s the one thing” is wrong, because awareness is not a thing. Awareness itself cannot be located anywhere—it is only directed from some unknown place towards objects arising in awareness.

Is your experience of awareness like a beam of light you flash on other objects? Where does awareness come from? Are you putting boundaries around it? Do you own awareness?

What happens when you put awareness on your breathing, or you put awareness on your left foot? Awareness is directed there for a moment, and then it moves around. Can you zoom in and zoom out? Awareness seems to be a process.

Awareness is essentially boundless. Sure, there are some things you’re not directly aware of right now—maybe something 100 miles away. However, with the correct sensitivity and focus (like a radio picking up a station 100 miles away, perhaps), that thing can be perceived. You can eventually become aware of it with some effort (even if that effort involves building a radio).

Awareness is actually not in the world, is it? Because it's everything else that's in your awareness-- it’s the world that’s in your experience of awareness.

Aren’t you that awareness?

Simply being aware is the juice. Then awareness gets hijacked with thoughts like "gotta have that particulat car".