Luminous Awareness Institute
P.O. Box 4193
Santa Cruz, CA 95063
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“Water” is the boundless dimension of love – the source of compassion. It is the felt experience of interconnectedness and warmth, and the fullness of being. It is the unconditionality of awareness, without judgement, that recognizes the perfection of everything, that recognizes the quintessential preciousness of being. From here, it is easy to embrace everything, and for everything to be just as it is. When we rest in water there is a persistent subtle bliss that pervades the body.
From this natural dimension of our being we emanate warmth and live from compassion. What is the source of love? Our human love is the emanation of the source of love which is everywhere – our human love is the “here-ness” of the infinite. We are interconnected by nature, and all of our human needs for emotional presence, connectedness, and secure bonding, are met by this dimension as it expresses through us. This love is, and it appears through human connection, love, touch, and secure bonding. It is the presence that all of our vulnerable emotions need. This is also the natural sensualness of being, the bliss that arises when awareness experiences the texture and taste of life.
To recognize “Water”, this aspect of reality made of unconditional love and interconnection, we must work through that which veils us from what has always been here and from who we truly are. Water is what is always here, but based on how much obscuration we have to it, we either get a fuller or lesser taste of it. Another way to say this is: ordinary consciousness is just a filtered down version of reality. When I’m in ordinary mind, it’s reality with blinders on – we’re in a distorted view of what is already there. “Subtle” is just a less filtered version, and “awake” perception is a non filtered view of reality. The greater my awake awareness, the more awareness I have to recognize all that is of that, of the frequency of God. And, when we have an obscuration, it’s a holographic projection, meaning, the same obscuration will show up in all areas of our lives. For example, if I have difficulty feeling supported, I will perceive this is the case in my family, friendships, work, etc. If reality isn’t manifesting as an expression of enlightened mind, that’s because of all of the projections I have placed upon reality! And on earth, we are in a massive shared projection.
This metaphor of filtered versus unfiltered view of reality applies to our capacity to perceive all aspects of reality, not just the quality of Water.
In the example of Water, if you’re fully connected with someone, or with some people and not with others, or with a certain kind of love but not full love, you’re getting a certain taste of that totality. We can marinate in Water’s ultimate level (feeling the unobstructed full version) and then we can practice ways to experience it in life to the degree that we are able to be awake to it. In this way, we can practice how much we are living in this recognition, besides just meditating and getting a glimpse of it.