Simple experiments with our own perceptions, clearly demonstrate that every occurrence and movement (physical or abstract) that we can know, is filtered through our body-mind and received as an impression, in our inner space of awareness.

This inner space of awareness is our experiential reality, we know this as the feeling of being (‘I am’). It is more intimate to us (it is us) than even our own thoughts or body-sensations, which are only perceptions arising in our awareness.

When we close our eyes, we experience our physical body, merely as some sensations, within the inner space of awareness. We then superimpose our concepts on these sensations, clothing them in names and descriptions of body parts, shapes, location and so on. This can be easily verified, immediately and directly. Without any interference from an idea, memory, or a known concept of our physical shape or form, what is the direct experience of our body?

The intimate inner experience of our body, is known to each one of us, as a simple awareness of random localized or diffused sensations. Our body from inside, is experienced as just an emptiness, where awareness of sensations twitch, itch, throb and flow. The mind instantly intervenes, superimposing its known concepts, images and memories on the raw sensations, to interpret them as “this is my left hand, the itch is on my wrist etc.”

The body, of course, has a physical reality in external space, just as all the objects in the material world. We are not denying what the body appears from outside. Our physical-biological-organic body is a vehicle, that we as consciousness, are temporarily travelling in. We interact with everything phenomenal around us, through our physical body, which has a name and a form, and an objective reality.

But here, we are trying to know the non-material, non-phenomenal essence of our inner selves. We are attempting to reconcile our intimate experience of being, (‘I am’) with the truth (what is) of existence. We want to intimately know the reality of our inner feeling of being. Why?

Because, we are always approaching the external world from our inner being. Whatever our reality is, it is absolutely crucial for us to know, understand and align our outward attitudes and behavior with it. We are always in here, as the feeling ‘I am,’ we always know and experience ourselves intimately as our inner selves.

Science cannot help us penetrate our inner subjective depths, because this is an abstract inner dimension where the physical rules of the material world do not extend. Just as we deal with all physiological and anatomical issues of our body, through the tools of medical science, we approach our inner subjective world through the tools of meditation.

Shifting our focus and attention from diverse arising perceptions to the inner space of awareness, is such a simple tool of meditation.

Equivalent to the external physical space, we have this inner space of awareness, where all our thoughts, sensations, emotions and experiences happen. This inner space is always present, behind everything else that goes on. This space of awareness is the emptiness, silence, the stillness underneath the movements of all our perceptions.

This space is the medium in which all the events which we perceive move, this is where they always occur, regardless of what they are! We do not usually notice this space, because we have a habitual tendency to focus on what is in it rather than the space itself.

Just like the space in an empty room, which simply allows any furniture we move around. Temporarily masked by the objects, it may even remain unnoticed, but the space is never irreversibly lost. It is this space which gives way for anything else to be, holding everything, supporting, surrounding, permeating whatever is in it.

So is true for the inner space of awareness. Equivalent to external space in a sense, it is an emptiness that allows, supports, permeates, all our perceptions and experiences, but is not defined by any object within it. This space of awareness knows all that we know, it is our consciousness, our being-knowing presence.

When we remove furniture, a painting from the wall, or some clutter from a room, to vacate some previously blocked space in the house, we come to a newly uncovered empty fresh space, which gives a visual feeling of openness. Then, in a few days, we get used to seeing this new space. Our memories of it previously being blocked, slowly fade away, we stop noticing the freshness, the openness of that free emptiness, which we had first found so visually striking.

It is similar with our inner space of awareness. When not disturbed by anything, we are always in a natural state of contentment and happiness. This calm space of awareness may however, remain unobtrusive.

On some days, our minds are caught in the overwhelming winds of turbulence, disturbing our inner stillness. Eventually, the disruption passes, the calm is restored and we return back from the chaos, to our usual tranquility. The freshly restored peace is noticeable as a feeling of subtle freedom and joy. This is the delicate fragrance of our true nature.

At first, we relish our newly recovered peace, savoring the feeling of relief, reveling in the lack of bother from the recent chaos. Then slowly, we begin to take it for granted, starting to overlook and after a little while, we may not even notice it any more. But underneath everything that occurs, it is always present.

There is an unceasing flow of events in our lives, as life is always in movement. We live in constantly changing rhythms of varying peaks, ranging from peace to turbulence. Our minds are nothing but attention moving fast, jumping quickly from one perception to the next, never completely resting in the still inner space of awareness.

When we meditate, we are simply attempting to shift our focus from the noise of perceptions (thoughts, body-sensations, emotions, sounds etc.), to the silent awareness that perceives them. This is like moving our focus from the scattered furniture in the room, to the space in which those things are present. But in this case, this space is who we are.

A simple shift changes our emphasis, from the many objects to one subject. This brings our habitual mind, which is constantly caught in the rising-falling waves of changing perceptions, to rest at its source. It brings our attention back to its home- the inner space of awareness- in which all our sensations and perceptions play.

This often happens spontaneously when we are relaxed, free of concern, worry or excitement. When our minds are not too agitated, it is easier to bring attention back to the depths of the calm stillness, under the restless surface.

This is meditation.

Our minds are usually easily distracted with any movement, so some effort is needed, to grow more in tune with the stillness of awareness. This gets easier with regular practice. Meditation, is simply changing our focus from the swiftly flying clouds of thoughts and perceptions, to the still space of the inner blue sky of awareness within us.

A meditation practice prepares our body-mind, by helping us to progressively remain more open, as a welcoming alert presence. We eventually find ourselves spontaneously and consciously living as this being-knowing space of awareness. Then, we do not identify ourselves with things that appear in the field of consciousness, rather, we know ourselves as the field of consciousness itself.

Our previously rigid identification with a ‘body-mind’ as self is dropped, when it is clearly seen that they are merely experienced as perceptions, arising in the inner space of awareness. Increasingly, we are convinced that we are the knowing space, the alert presence, in which every perception appears- including our body-mind, while we identify less with the contents appearing in this space.

It seems easy enough to experience that, when there is no interference in the moment from our memories, projected images, concepts, thoughts etc., then, everything that arises in our direct experience, is only a modulation in the inner space of awareness. This centre within, can be clearly seen as the one source and one destination-  where all our myriad perceptions and experiences rise and fall, merging into our oneness.

A fundamental shift in our perspective may spontaneously grow, when we live with the full conviction, that we ourselves are this inner space of awareness. For when we are living as this open knowing awareness, every event freely comes and goes within our experience- without anything sticking to us, bothering, or disturbing us.

Living as the open inner space of awareness, we live in the world, without being of it. We allow, and accept whatever comes and yet, always remain free from all the entanglements of this world. We are just a welcoming space for our lives to unfold!