I am Loving Awareness

When talking about awareness, most of us identify with our awareness through the ego, through the mind and senses. But the true self is in the middle of our chest, in our spiritual heart. So, to get from ego to the true self I said “I am loving awareness.” Loving awareness is the soul. I am loving awareness. I am aware of everything, I’m aware of my body and my senses and my mind, I’m aware of all of it, but I notice that I’m loving all of it. I’m loving all of the world. The self that I identify with emanates from the ocean of love. The self that is the ego is the ocean of fear. When I am loving awareness I’m aware of everything outside, but pulling into the heart, the spiritual heart, brings me to loving awareness. I’m aware of my thoughts, but loving awareness is simply witnessing them. And loving awareness is in the moment. I have thoughts about the past and future, and those are not helpful, so I dive deep into the present and the presence and in this present moment we will find loving awareness. Only this moment is real, this moment of loving awareness. The past and the future are all just thoughts.

In this spiritual heart there is peace, there is contentment, and there is compassion. There is also joy and wisdom, all inside of your spiritual heart and mine. So when you say “I want a peaceful world” you don’t look outside, you go inside where peace exists. In Hinduism the spiritual heart is called the “atman,” and it’s the God within.

In Hinduism there is a story about a horse drawn carriage. The horseman who is on top of the carriage represents the ego, and the spiritual heart or the soul is in the carriage. The horses represent your motivation, and anytime the soul decides that the horse is going the wrong way, the soul takes his stick and taps on the window and tells the horseman to go in a different direction. So most of us identify with the horseman, because you are an incarnation that includes the ego. The soul has come from many previous incarnations, it’s been through many births and deaths and it has no fear. The ego is afraid that when this incarnation is ended, it’s all going to end. The soul knows that he or she goes through incarnation after incarnation. Your incarnation includes your parents, your body, your friends, your culture. I am in this body – this body, my personality, are all in time and space, but I am not in time or space. I am infinite. I am loving awareness.

My Guru, Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaji) has affected me by loving me, and therefore I love you. So this is a meditation. You attend with your mind to a point in the heart space in the middle of the chest and you will say “I am loving awareness. I am loving awareness.” You were “I am ego” and now you’re going to become the reality of your true self with a capital “S.” As you sink into this practice you’re going to start thinking about things like “I can do without this, this is crap” and that’s the ego. When Maharaji said to me “I want you to love everybody” I said “I can’t do it” which meant that my ego couldn’t do it, and he just ignored it because he wanted to dance with my soul.

Keep repeating to yourself  “I am loving awareness. I am loving awareness.” Remember to mentally focus your attention in the middle of the chest. You are going to make loving awareness the pivot point of your consciousness. In the future you will know yourself as loving awareness- if somebody asks you your name of course you don’t say “I am loving awareness” but you will say to yourself, while walking down the street or going into the marketplace, “I am loving awareness.” Now take on that identity instead of the identity you had before. You shift your identity to “I am loving awareness.” The awareness is not a thing, it’s no objective thing. You can’t point to awareness- you’re aware of your eyes seeing, you’re aware of your ears hearing, you’re aware of your thoughts as they come out of your mind. So “this will never work” is a thought, and just label it as a thought. Label thoughts. This loving awareness is the witness of your incarnation.

Written by Ram Dass

Ram Dass, one of America’s most beloved spiritual figures, has made his mark on the world by teaching the path of the heart and promoting service in the areas of social consciousness and care for the dying for over forty years. Ram Dass first went to India in 1967 when he was still Dr. Richard Alpert, an eminent Harvard psychologist and psychedelic pioneer with Dr.Timothy Leary.

In India he met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, affectionately known as Maharajji, who gave Ram Dass his name, meaning “servant of God.” Then everything changed – his intense dharmic life began, and he became a pivotal influence on a culture that has reverberated with the words “Be Here Now” from his iconic book, ever since. Ram Dass has been a guiding light for three generations, carrying millions along the journey, helping to free them from their bonds as he has worked his way through his own.

With the publication in 2011 of Be Love Now Ram Dass completes his trilogy that began with Be Here Now in 1970 and continued with Still Here in 2004. He now makes his home in Maui and teaches world wide through his website RamDass.org and also continues the work of Neem Karoli Baba through his Love Serve Remember Foundation.