God is our Being...

Discovering our true self or true nature means simply recognizing our original goodness, wholeness, sense of well-being and contentment.

We all, as ordinary human beings, have at the core of our being, the very same self-nature as the Buddha or the Christ, or Ramana Maharshi, or any of the saints and sages that we admire and seem to universally recognize as having profoundly awakened to reality.

We have simply covered over this pure, unconditioned consciousness that is already free of greed, hatred and delusion, that is already filled with unconditional love, compassion and joy.

We have, for some strange reason, covered it over with various habits of thinking and acting that we have mistakenly thought would bring us the happiness, peace, love, that has actually always been our true nature, inherent in our very sense of being itself and that we have mistakenly felt we somehow lacked within ourselves.

The spiritual practice of self-investigation or self-abiding, or even what is called "contemplative prayer", is simply intentionally turning toward and looking at and resting in this presence, pure awareness, clear present moment consciousness, that is already content and happy and unconditionally loving, or all-embracing.

We intentionally turn toward and notice this consciousness again and again until it finally dawns on us that it has always been present at the core of our being all along!

We come to recognize that God is our being!..


Francis Bennett