Caption: Eckhart Tolle (middle) with author

SPECIAL TO SOUL’S CODE: KATIE DAVIS author of Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment — Through spiritual awakening, we realize that virtually nothing is as it seems. Previously, we believed that we were a tiny fraction of individuality that was limited to an, “I am the body,” idea.

In mis-identification with the false “I,” which is the ego or mind-made self, it seemed like we were separate bodies that lived in a world of other separate people and things.

That individuated ego only knows separation, so it can only perceive separation and its lack. This delusion is the source of all suffering, and what we call the misery of the world.

Upon awakening, we realize that the mind is only a mirror. It will reflect whatever is within you.

The difference between wealth and enlightenment

In other words, if you are experiencing lack in your life situation, it is reflecting the lack that exists within the divided mind. No matter how real it may seem, there is no lack and suffering within the world; its source is within you, as ego or the collective ego.

The ego’s reference point is the fraction that is lacking its wholeness. The world of form is only a self-projection; a mirrored opportunity to realize the ego’s mistake in identity.

Perhaps an example serves best. When you wake up in the morning, perhaps you walk into the bathroom and look into the mirror to see that your hair is quite a mess.

You would never pick up your comb and try to comb your hair on the image in the mirror. The mirror can only reflect what is. There is no pragmatic way to fix the mirror image.

It is precisely the same in the life situation. What you hear your mind judge in your life situation or within the world is sourced within you. So at last, we take responsibility for the mirror. This is why it is said so often that the key to world transformation and your life situation is within you. We have been looking for answers in all the wrong places.

You have nothing new to attain

Through self-inquiry, you can discover that the ego never existed in the first place. Your beautiful body (and its given name) is still there in the mirror, with all of its inborn talents and unique expressions; just no longer limited by ego’s lack and suffering. The false “I” dissolves its altered state of consciousness into the pure consciousness that it genuinely is right now.

Pure “I” — or what some call the heart, pure awareness or true self — is the totality that is supremely fulfilled, abundant, perfectly peaceful and the abode of unconditional love. You are that now, but you may not yet be conscious of the fact. What I am saying is that there is nothing new to attain. We have only to become conscious of what authentically already is.

The only apparent difference between the sage and the ego who still believes that their individuality is their true identity is that the mind of the sage is illumined through enlightenment, and therefore absolutely still. The quiet mind provides a still, perfect mirror.

It is able to perfectly reflect the heart and its perfection. Whereas, the divided mind of ego and its compulsive thinking creates waves and ripples upon the surface of being. It is like a circus mirror that reflects an untrue, distorted image.

It reflects the altered state of consciousness that is suffering the pain-gap between the fulfilled heart that it genuinely is, and its perception of lack caused by the idea of being a fragmented individual; “me” vs. “world” vs. “God.”

Becoming free of time and becoming aware of the present moment are helpful first steps and essential to the discovery of the inner body; the pathway to realizing the truth. However for the sake of humanity, it is time to cut to the chase.

The most direct manner to self-realization is self-inquiry.

What I experienced in my awakening

While the initial awakening is extraordinary and powerful, I am inviting you to complete the journey. It is the only enduring resolution for humanity and the world of form.

Initially, this awakening does appear to be an individual affair. In the end, it is realized that there is only the greater awakening. The miracle is that consciousness is no longer losing itself in the world of form.

Through “your” awakening, it is dissolving its altered states. Just as the ego fell apart in its “individual” awakening, we are now witnessing the collective ego as it falls apart and world structures, such as financial institutions, falling away.

I invite you to be a part of the living answer, rather than adding fuel to the negativity of the collective. Fear attracts fear and the delusion grows stronger.

In truth, just as the ego does not exist, the collective ego is also a delusion. It is all a dream of the divided mind. Now, I recognize that the falling apart is required, and I see it as a miracle. Rather than seeing this as destruction, consciousness is in fact birthing the new.

Just as the cocoon of the butterfly must fall away for it to fly to freedom, we are presently witnessing the New Dawn of the world transformation. Realize completely who you really are and remain steadfast as that perfectly divine peace.

Desire and fear are vanishing along with the phantom, named ego, to which they belong. Keep still, while the mirror clears. It is all happening by itself.

Who are you when you are free of virtually every thing? What remains? I say that another name for you is conscious freedom and never-ending joy.

Katie Davis is author of Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment.  Her website has free downloads, e-books, videos, and newsletters about being now, awakening, enlightenment, non-duality, advaita and self-realization. Read Katie’s previous article for Soul’s Code: All love is one love.

GUEST COLUMN: KATIE DAVIS author of Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment — All love is one Love and when we fall in love with one another, it is said that we are experiencing the divine. Rumi, a thirteenth-century Sufi poet, defines love as a mystical moment, when two spiritually-connected individuals meet.

We call it love at first sight.

In this meeting of eyes, Rumi romantically writes, we not only experience the union of two loving souls but also the Love that is the crux of the universe.

Whether ethereal or everyday love, such as mother for child, when this cherished moment appears, we often have the misperception that someone or some other thing caused this rising in Love. In truth, we lose ourselves. This disappearance creates a crevice through which radiant love shines. There is only This Love and it is ever-present.

Love requires no other. Kirtana, a lovely songwriter and guitarist, sings:

Beloved, I have waited throughout all time . . . to welcome you. . . into these arms of mine.

Free of any other, in an effortless, spontaneous instant, Kirtana dissolved, the present moment disappeared, and only beloved remained.

Beloved is the sacred substratum of our existence, which is free of lovers altogether. It does not reside within the confines of “throughout all time.” It is discovered in the twinkling of an eye of no-time. This self-discovery allows unconditional love to emerge into our lives, our relationships and into the world.

As time travelers, we are identified with being a lover who loves someone else. As long as this subject-object relationship remains, true love cannot thrive. We expect and demand this or that to satisfy our self-created sense of lack.

This lack is the ego’s belief in individuality as identity, and its separation. It manifests in this world as the never-ending search for personal love, gratification and acceptance.

The false sense of “me” hopelessly pretends to separate from totality, and then expects someone else to fill the resulting pain gap. It fears the loss of a lover; it feels jealous, competes and needs.

It voices its love for the divine and faithfully expresses deep longing. Yet, it stubbornly insists upon maintaining its sense of separation and of course, the result is suffering. Nonsensically, it then blames someone else for the pain. It is the divided one, who is longing and searching, that sustains our estrangement.

Love is not personal. It cannot be gained through any other. Love cannot be given to you, nor can it be threatened or taken away. It is essentially who you are. When you are seeking a lover, you are actually searching for love. You are overlooking that you are what you are seeking, which is why it cannot be found.

Before you continue this search, my invitation is to discover that you are love’s conscious fulfillment. In this discovery, you then have the opportunity to meet romantic love in wholeness. You are free of the pre-existing condition and pain gap. You no longer need to complete yourself.

If you are already in a problematic relationship — as personal relationships can only be — as true lovers, you can disappear together. Free of “you” and “me,” we intimately rise above the push and pull of personal relationship and preciously rise as the Pure Love that we genuinely are.

In its purity and wholeness, Love is synonymous with self-realization. It is the realized maturity of the human being. Then, romantic love does not need to bloom. When the perfect lover appears, the rose already is there.

Katie Davis is the author of “Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment.” In 1986, she radically and spontaneously awakened without practices or teachers. Since 1999, she has been traveling worldwide to share the message of conscious freedom, cause-less joy and perfect peace that is available for every human being right now through awakening and self-realization.  Dig deeper on her site.

Soul’s Code has sung the praises of female mystics and spiritual teachers since our inception —  meet our inspirations, Pamela Wilson, Byron Katie, Caroline Myss, Katie Davis, Vaishali Love and Karen McPhee

Test your S-factor, as in, the measure of the soul:

1.  According to transpersonal psych studies, women have an edge when it comes to remembering, understanding and relaying their mystical experiences. Why is that?

A.  Women are smarter than men.
B.  Women have better communication between the left and right sides of the brain.
C.  Men have fewer mystical experiences than women.
D.  Men censor themselves more than women, and will not admit to having mystical experiences.

2.  Who believes (or believed) in the “spiritual goodness of poverty?”

A.  Joan of Arc
B.  Marianne Williamson
C.  Mother Teresa
D.  Kim Eng

3.  Who has been known to provide lectures and workshops free of charge?

A.  Byron Katie (pictured at right)
B.  Kim Eng
C.  Caroline Myss
D.  Pamela Wilson

4.  Eckhart Tolle’s work heavily influenced which mystic, who is also his friend?

A.  Vaishali Love
B.  Catherine Ingram
C.  Katie Davis
D.  Marianne Williamson

5.  Who said, “Keep your honor code between you and God,  you don’t break that, no matter who’s not looking. God is.”

A.  Mother Teresa
B.  Caroline Myss
C.  Byron Katie
D.  St. Teresa of Avila

6.  How many people is Hindu spiritual leader Amma reported to have hugged over the past 30 years?

A.  50,000
B.  1 million
C.  21 million
D.  30 million

7.  How much will it cost you to buy a Caroline Myss “Myss hat?”

A.  $15
B.  $20
C.  $30
D. Free with proof of a donation to a charity of your choice.

8.  Who released a child’s book called Tiger-Tiger Is It Time in November 2009?

A.  Kim Eng
B.  Byron Katie
C.  Amma
D.  Karen McPhee

The answers you seek: 1. B, 2. C, 3. A, 4. C, 5. B, 6. D, 7. A, 8. B.