Awareness cannot be taught, and when it is present it has no context. All contexts are created by thought and are therefore corruptible by thought. Awareness simply throws light on what is, without any separation whatsoever.
Interpretation
Awareness is innate and beyond intellectual constructs, illuminating reality without distortion.
This quote by Toni Packer emphasizes that true awareness exists independently of the thoughts and contexts we create. It highlights the idea that while our perceptions can be influenced by our thoughts, genuine awareness is clear and unobstructed, providing insight into reality without any judgments or separations imposed by the mind.
In practice
In a meditation class, this quote could inspire participants to focus on being present rather than overthinking.
The emergence and blossoming of understanding, love, and intelligence has nothing to do with any tradition, no matter how ancient or impressive-it has nothing to do with time. It happens on its own when a human being questions, wonders, inquires, listens, and looks without getting stuck in fear, pleasure, and pain. When self-concern is quiet, in abeyance, heaven and earth are open.
Life is a vast, unknowable movement of wholeness with no one separate from it and nothing outside of it.
Looking at the past must only be a means of understanding more clearly what and who they are so that they can more wisely build the future.
There are times you will be given intuition, you just know something, and you can't explain it. Don't override it. Don't talk yourself out of it. That's the Creator giving you inside information.
It is very true, that the way you think creates reality for yourself.
Avoid him who talks sweetly before you but tries to ruin you behind your back, for he is like a pitcher of poison with milk on top.
He who knows he is a fool is not the biggest fool; He who knows he is confused is not in the worst confusion.
Realizing that we've surrendered our self-esteem to others and choosing to be accountable for our own self-worth would mean absorbing the terrifying fact that we're always vulnerable to pain and loss.
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