Top 10 Pointers to Realizing Radiant Presence

I’ve read a lot of books about spirituality in my life. Some books are dense, others are very simple. They all tend to have the same disclaimer: It is difficult to describe the indescribable. So the words in these books should not be taken literally by the illusory mind (the core of our problems). Instead, they should be experientially contemplated so there is a realization of your true nature before the genesis of any notion.

I don’t consider my self an enlightened being, certainly not of the fully abiding kind. But I can say that certain words and phrases from spiritual teachers have increased my realization of the indescribable and has improved my happiness. These words have a tendency to induce the realization of the indescribable (our true nature), and with it, an experience of peace, presence, quietness, lightheartedness, and love.

Below, I want to share a top 10 listing of “pointers” to that indescribable, radiant presence. I will probably change these from time to time. Or maybe just tweet other pointers out on my Twitter feed. Remember, they are not to be taken literally by the mind. Use the mind to read them, but contemplate them in your direct experience. I trust they will bring about, at least, a subtle uplifting change in you.

The Top 10

1. Francis of Assisi: "What we are looking for is what is looking."

2. Jiddu Krishnamurti: "The observer is the observed."

3. Eckhart Tolle: "You are not your mind."

4. David R. Hawkins: "The doorway to Divinity is located and available as a direct experience in the exact split second of 'now' which is discernible between two thoughts."

5. Adyashanti: "Our true nature is like a precious jewel: although it may be temporarily buried in mud, it remains completely brilliant and unaffected. We simply have to uncover it."

6. Adyashanti: "Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It's seeing through the facade of pretense."

7. Ramana Maharshi: "The mind is a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts arise because there is the thinker. The thinker is the ego. The ego, if sought, will automatically vanish."

8. Mooji: "You need nothing to be happy – you need something to be sad."

9. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: "The seeker is he who is in search of himself. Give up all questions except one: ‘Who am I?’ After all, the only fact you are sure of is that you are. The ‘I am’ is certain. The ‘I am this’ is not.

10. Mooji: "Simply stay as the detached witness of the spontaneous flow of the mind."

I will state some of my own, influenced by many influential teachers:

• Before any movement of notion, there is an immense peace. Eternal now. Timeless.

• Radiance can be described as a subtle awakening of consciousness and energy in the body, with a knowing that the energy endlessly surrounds the body.

• When experiencing radiance, it’s easy to forget that you didn’t need to do anything to experience it. The truth is you did nothing. What happened is radiant being awakened to itself. It is spontaneous. Ego will fool you and take credit. Remember, ego is just habitual notion and will have you believing you need to practice something to experience more radiance. Adyashanti calls the ego “a psychological process” and as a pointer to Being, it works well. The reality is Awakening will occur when conditions are right, when all resistance to the endless unfolding present moment is surrendered to it. Allow it to engulf all psychologic process.