What Is

There are two essential pillars to our understanding of the world and our current situation: presence and experience. Presence allows us to discover our fundamental nature, while experience reveals the nature of the world around us.

Ignoring the presence of these two pillars is akin to neglecting the most crucial aspect of our reality. Furthermore, a misunderstanding of their nature can influence our perception of the world, our relationships with others, and our self-esteem.

Correcting this misunderstanding paves the way for a life of fulfillment and beauty. The intention here is to refocus our attention on these two fundamental truths, to explore presence and experience in depth, in order to rediscover the unsuspected richness they can bring to our daily lives.

The Two Pillars

There is Presence.

There is experience.

These two facts are neither imaginary nor conceptualizations; they are experiences we live here and now. The terms "presence" and "experience" are pointers indicating an actual reality.

Presence

To the question: "Are you present?" Any being capable of understanding would spontaneously answer: "Yes, I am present." Between the question and the answer, attention turns towards what is present, realizes this Presence, and then the conceptual mind produces the response: "Yes, I am present."

At first glance, this mundane presence may seem ordinary and pointless. Yet, this Presence, your presence, is the only stable and constant element of your existence. All the "content" of your experience appears, unfolds, transforms, and inevitably dissolves. However, this presence, your essential being, never changes.

In other words, everything changes, yet we feel a continuity. Everything changes, yet I am still present.

Intimacy

The presence of your being is the source of all that is. Observe your current experience carefully. Before experiencing anything, you must be present. Your presence is the foundation in which experience unfolds. Becoming intimate with this presence is the process of revelation in its entirety. All practices, exercises, and explorations serve to support and refine our sensitivity to it.

Alive and conscious, this presence is not just there; it is aware of itself. Imagine that the sea produces waves and currents. These waves and currents do not really exist. The sea itself is an indivisible and moving entity. Similarly, your presence vibrates, changes, and becomes experience. An experience that you live, and of which your presence is the source and the unique observer.

Experience

Experience unfolds naturally within us. It presents itself effortlessly, dressed in a thousand disguises. It never appears naked but offers three major facets. The first is the experience of an individual perspective, a sensation of being at the center of events while being separate from the world and others. The second is the spatial experience. Sensations and perceptions create an impression of being located in space, delimited by "my body" separate from the world and others. The third is the temporal experience. Thoughts create an impression of being caught between the past and the future. A past, a story, a future, projects, thus creating time.

Three Concepts, One Singular Experience

Water, in its three forms - liquid, solid, gaseous - maintains a constant nature. Similarly, individual perspective, sensations, and thoughts all point to a singular experience, fluid in appearance yet stable in essence. A vibration of presence manifesting in an infinite and boundless field.

Indistinguishable Actuality

Experience is presence in motion. Presence is experience at rest.

Presence and experience converge towards a singular reality here and now: That-Which-Is.

That-Which-Is constitutes the essence of all that exists. The eternity where time appears. The infinity where space unfolds and objects manifest. The singular being expressing itself through all that lives, the essence at the center of every individual.

That-Which-Is is the singular "I" expressing itself through all beings and all objects. That-Which-Is is the singular "Being" present to act and change. "I am" precedes all identification, thought, or quality, constituting the supreme expression of That-Which-Is.

Who Am I?

That-Which-Is exists in all dimensions, objects, and beings simultaneously. This is not a metaphysical theory but a concrete fact. For example, in a dream, you are both the dreamer and ALL the elements of the dream: objects, situations, places, people, etc., AT THE SAME TIME, you have the sensation of being localized in the dream, being the "central character."

When you dream, your mind fragments itself to create this unique experience. It has the ability to divide within itself, to present itself infinitely, but without real separation.

Using the same mechanism, That-Which-Is fragments itself, differentiates, and creates witnesses of its manifestations. Your individual mind constitutes a fragmented perspective of That-Which-Is, observing itself.

Fullness in the Storm

That-Which-Is is the source of Presence and Experience. Living in this recognition is the only way to be at peace. Simply because it is the only immutable "element" in our existence. It is the only "space" where one is in absolute safety. Fear disappears as if it had never existed.

Freed from fear, existence becomes joyful and peaceful. Everyday life is no longer filled with problems to solve or burdens to bear. The very sensation of everyday life disappears to make way for the miracle of the moment, always unfolding anew and fresh.