“Consciousness is not in the body; it is the body that moves within Consciousness, just like everything else.”From Devoción
For a time I lived in the Cayman Islands, in a small apartment near the beach. I liked to meditate at the water’s edge. I must confess that it took me a while to get used to closing my eyes there, sitting on the sand; it made me uneasy that some curious person might come over to look at me. As the days went by I began to trust, and I ended up meditating on the beach as if I were in my own room.
Once, while meditating there, something sublime happened to me. With my eyes closed, it was as if they were open. I opened my eyes to verify what I was experiencing, and it was still there. So I surrendered myself to the feeling.
I began to turn my head from side to side, and I noticed something astonishing: the body’s head was moving, but I was not moving. I was already there, observing. I realized that the observer was my own Consciousness, which held together not only my body but the whole environment. The Observer not only dwelled inside of me, but beyond the limited structure of my physical body.
I got up and walked. The body was walking, but I was not moving. When I returned to my apartment, I still had that feeling of not moving, as if suspended in quietness, aware of every step. The landscape was moving inside me.
Where the body ends
It was then that I understood where my avatar, that vehicle which is the body, ends and where my being begins. Everything was happening inside me. The images, textures and sensations provided by my senses only conveyed information about what I was living. They are an apparent modification of our unchangeable Consciousness.
Seeing yourself trapped inside your body is not the same as seeing the body inside yourself.
Even if you travel from one place to another, and your body travels with you, what you truly are remains and encompasses everything. It is that deep, that simple.
From then on I wanted to dwell in the present. When I drove, I knew my body was moving as fast as the vehicle, but my true essence remained still, containing the space and the matter I was using as transportation. That presence became my best friend.
As far as the stars
A seven-year-old boy used to come to my practice. In one of the sessions he asked me a question about the meaning of life, and I answered him with another question:
“Do you feel alive?”
“Yes,” he answered without hesitation.
“And where does that feeling of life end? On your skin? In your feet? In your hands?”
He shook his head, as if I had asked a stupid question, as if I were someone trying to teach tricks to a younger child. Finally he replied:
“It goes beyond that.”
“How far beyond?”
“Way beyond.” And he reached out his little arms as far as he could. “This far.”
“And how far is that?”
“It’s endless. It reaches the stars and goes beyond them.”
In the midst of his innocence, that boy was perceiving the essence of what we truly are. Our body is contained within us. It is a truth we cannot reason out, because the feeling of life is simply endless.
Try it
I invite you to test this for yourself, now, as you read.
Look around you. Keep your attention on the witness, the one who is really observing everything. Slowly turn your head from side to side as you read these words. The body is moving; you are not moving.
Now look quickly to the left and to the right. In doing so, you will have noticed that the observer is not affected by the movement, whether it is fast or slow. The observer is not getting knocked around inside your eyes. Why? Because it exists before anything physical has manifested.
This consciousness is always there, while you ride up and down in an elevator, and even when you take a trip. Because we have identified with the body, we always think in terms of time and space, and we see ourselves in motion, going from here to there. The truth is that we are not going anywhere.
You are not trapped
Is there any place where your presence is trapped in your body? Or does your presence go beyond the body? How far does it reach?
Let me tell you: your presence has no limits. Your Being is absolute. Everything passes, and your Being is unchanging; it is always awake, because Being always is.
We are not confined. Your body moves, but you, what you really are, do not move. You are absolute, and that is why you do not move; it is only the idea of moving that arises from your consciousness. Energy moves within itself, but you are not separate from that energy: it moves in you, and everything is part of what you are.
This does not make your body any less sacred. The body you inhabit is not an object, but Consciousness in another form. The truth of the whole universe is the spirit itself with a shape, and it is precisely that which sets the scene for living the experience, without leaving the Spirit behind.
As long as we identify with the body, as if it were our very being, we will inherit that ignorance in our minds. You are consciousness, and any other idea of what you are is what makes you feel separate.
Where does your spirit end?
Changing this perspective is not so difficult. Stop seeing yourself as ego and start seeing yourself as spirit. Now tell me: where does your spirit end?
Your answer will be your way of life. This perspective will help you be more loving, more understanding and more helpful to other human beings.
That boy knew it without anyone explaining it to him. Perhaps you knew it once too. Close your eyes for a moment and feel how far the life that you are reaches. Your body is there, within it, moving in you.
From Dr. Zuluan Orion's books: Illumination · Deshojando el Corazón de la Eternidad · El refugio del corazón · Devoción