What Do I Mean When I Say Presence?

A viewer asked, "What do you mean when you say presence?" What a great question! In this video I go into detail on the topic of presence and what it means at various stages of realization. Initially it's a pointer to remind us that thought can be distracting and pull our attention into a thought stream that is about what's not actually happening. Once we begin to cultivate a practice that clarifies unbound consciousness, then prese3nce takes on another dimension of intimacy and clarity. Then after awakening, things get even more interesting...

[@tim2269]

Your short single topic insights are very helpful.Please continue with them.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Thanks for the feedback, glad it’s helpful.

[@SonyaSunny]

I so agree!! I take in more in small chunks. I do however, look forward to the longer videos after I have my first awakening and can relate more

[@paulinezavitzianos7134]

You keep pushing the boundaries of articulating the ineffable. Wonderful!

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

😊

[@nicoleperrier3840]

Yes these short videos are incredibly useful. Thanks a lot Angelo 🙏

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Glad to hear it :)

[@tchaffan9998]

Very clear on terminology. That's the trickiest part of "spirituality" the fact that the same word points to different concepts until there is no more concepts

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Exactly, good insight

[@lalitavajra6078]

a friend suggested I listen to the Batgap interview with you and Rick Archer, what a joy that is, still not heard it all; and discovering this, your channel a delight like the best music for my heart and soul. Your clarity and care in how you speak, share, reminds me of Shunyu Suzuki ( Zen Mind, Beginner'sMind). Thank you, I look forward to exploring more and practising inquiry. Many thanks, really beautiful music.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Welcome aboard!

[@JakeThisIsIt]

Thanks so much for this video. It clarifies some things for me. 🙏 It seems here that there is the experience of boundless presence you describe, and I wonder how to dissolve the thin film of identity that you mentioned. Thank you!

[@GetMeThere1]

Ah! Click worked this time with my PC. Thanks. And yes, this sort of topic is always welcome for me.

[@nancykirkendall7780]

I like this very much thank you

[@pchabanowich]

💐

[@congahead3813]

That was very good Angelo! I am coming in from the Classical Tantra angle, and there are many pointers that use different language but are still very similar. Also these 15ish min vids are great to grab something to work with. Much better than the shorts and not as big of a commitment to a 2 hour talk or interview. ( which I have watched many)

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ruxandracojocaru876]

Absolutely Perfection .. thank you

[@LDRester]

Shift of identity…. Nice way of talking about it

[@georgeshepherd3381]

Christmas presence!

[@JoelMiller626]

The newest double barrel brought me here. 😁

[@silviagiesbertz4911]

You are using a spooky background and muziek.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

I like to mix it up 😎…

[@SweetMellieSue]

It is a lot of work for me to stay present at all times and not allow myself to get hooked by a thought or memory or feeling/emotion that my ego casts out to me. I try not to get hooked, let it pass, but not always can, still get hooked and allow something to stick. Maybe I am trying too hard. Wish there was a pill or procedure I could take to make it easier...lol, I think they used to call it a lobotomy. I am taking another deep dive into my character defects and right now while writing this I caught my Perfectionism, which I use this to try to control outcomes, is kicking in and telling myself that I am doing this wrong. (a thought, shame, a thought, shame, just another thought). Thank you for helping me to become more awake AND aware.

[@dar_jada]

I have read and listened to Eckhart Tolle's works and lectures. After listening to your videos, I listened again to a few chapters from Tolle's book, A New Earth. There was so much that I was able to take in after watching your videos and reading your book that I had missed until now. It is as though your pointings have opened me up to receiving his insights.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Great to hear it!

[@kirstinstrand6292]

Before I had that shift in a dream, I didn't understand a word Tolle spoke. After the dream, the next day, I understood what he was saying. But somehow, I wasn't awake! Slowly, over months and months my Consciousness changed. We are all on the Spectrum of Consciousness, somewhere. I no longer listen to Tolle, yet he maintains a serious following. This man is someone that is truly helping those that don't flock to "guru's." 🤗

[@TheEvaluna1975]

Love this way of explaining what's still to me a very complex process into small more digestible bits... please keep doing it! Love your tone and the way you modulate your words... it sounds gentle yet firm, calmed but alert, knowledgeable but still humble... 🙏❤❤❤

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Thx for your comments

[@gayathriomanandi]

My heart expanded and tears flowed as you described that luminous eternal, second to none Presence -it is the Quantum Self.🙏💜

[@samgentile9144]

Thank you for taking my Facebook question and turning it into this video

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Welcome :)

[@Mevlinous]

That was…. Profound. Thanks ☺️ it feels like a snake shedding its skin or something.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Great to hear 😊

[@geoffreylevens9045]

This, to me, the best of yours I have heard. Reminds me a bit of when I first found/read "I Am That" discourses of Nisargadatta Maharaj, a sort of free fall, disorienting, tossed off the cliff feeling. Thank you.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

:) You’re Welcome ☺️

[@lisakelley8245]

This is helpful. I am beginning to get it.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Awesome 🦋

[@sergeyatlukhanov2658]

Yeah, please, make more videos on presence!

[@francesb-p2441]

oooohhhh.....somethings happening. Been listening to your videos all day.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Great to hear. Follow us down the rabbit hole 🕳️

[@noonespecial24]

More of these please 🙏

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Coming !

[@MandiSamara]

This was great. Thank you. 😊

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Welcome!

[@SamRoff]

Awesome stuff Angello. Thank you. Keep em coming!

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Thanks for feedback :)

[@annsunderland4673]

Wow! amazing conversation! Sasha has so much to offer, she so eloquently described some experiences Ive had or have that I couldn’t even put words to, so helpful , I’d love the hear more of her! 💯👌❤️🔥

[@Ballsmasher69420]

Angelo what blows my mind is whatever the hell I am I don't exist in my own experience. Sure there's a body, there are eyes I'm looking from, but me isn't visible as any particular thing. You can look into my eyes, but do I sit there? Ah no 😂 I'm that formless awareness.

[@johanmparmpagiannis1645]

A very articulate and good way to explain it, it corresponds with my own experience. In for example the Katha upanishad or in some text by Ramana Maharshi it says that the soul is in the heart(or chest). I’ve experienced this at one time But Never again. After the experience i was going through a kundalini awakening. Have you experienced yourself as a little ball of light in the chest or heard of it? It was the most wonderful experience where i just knew that wow that is ME…a familiar experience in some way, it was the core of myself. Although i should of course say that afterwards i’ve also felt many times that i am everything. I’m not fully awake though, i’ve felt it But i still shift between seeing myself as consciousness and the person. Thanks for a good chanel!

[@mobiustrip1400]

Thank you, very helpful, I've made a great deal of progress since I last watched this video. I must say, the image on your t-shirt is creepy. It's death, not so? I am starting to see that nothing ever existed in the past or ever will exist in the future. Only now exists, so I'm at the ephemeral stage I guess.

[@GumbyTheGreen1]

Do those who have ADHD generally have a harder time finding presence, awakening, and realization? I would think so since their thoughts are so rampant and their mental world pulls them in so easily.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

I don’t think so

[@GumbyTheGreen1]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake That’s really interesting and surprising. I’d love to see an awakening story with someone who has ADHD (if you haven’t already done one). Just dropping that in the suggestion box!

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

@@GumbyTheGreen1 good suggestion

[@joeblakeukeman]

Yes, Angelo, it is helpful, thank you. Whichever context or ‘level’ of presence you are speaking about, the presence when it is felt/experienced/there - when it is present - is unmistakeable. It then seems to be continuing, but it is realised that an image/memory of presence has slipped in and taken its place. The mind would seem to have taken a photo and is now offering that picture to one’s experience.

[@jr6200]

Is presence always synonymous with knowing? But I think you only mentioned knowing once

[@TrineWilhelmineRnnevig]

I love your videos! THANK YOU

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Thanks for watching :)

[@LightandJoyDesigns]

So grateful for your teaching. Thank you

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

You are so welcome

[@mike-t02]

I like listening to you because you are fresh. It seem that once "anything" becomes establish it becomes something else. Dogma may be a way to put it but something less apparent.

[@infinitenothingness]

Profound, deep transmission 🙏 There is _only_ presence ⚫️

[@corteltube]

Very interesting…not sure why…it is very helpful to have some of the terminology explained. I struggled with the term “presence”. What I think or thought it was is now, probably not accurate. These explanations help. Keeps my mind from overthinking or creating a inaccurate concept of it. “Boundaries” is another one I struggle with…I think🧐. I find I need to watch the video more than once. One thing I know about myself…I never catch it the first time around and find the nuances in the 2nd and even 3rd time. This process, for lack of a better word, may take awhile.

[@widipermono229]

🙏🙏🙏

[@rajwantneena]

Hi, yes always helping us,I have to watch your every single videos I can find on you tube,thanks

[@MirkkGoffe]

Now you're gonna have to deal with 5,000 severly confused soccer moms who just read a few pages of The Power of Now and wanted a nice and simple definition of "presence" 😎

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Generally speaking I find women wake up faster than men. Also younger people wake up faster than older people. But I’ve seen all ages, genders, interests and family statuses wake up. Unfiltered reality is an equal opportunity employer 😂

[@MirkkGoffe]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake yeah was just using a caricature of Oprah-fans who were introduced to Tolle that way 😅 geez, poor old men always get the short end of the illusory stick 😭

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

😂

[@JohnAhn-ub5sl]

gross. presence is just pure joy.

[@sarahg3409]

I have such mixed feelings about his videos. Like, I FEEL like he’s speaking truth- but most of the time I have no idea what he is saying. It’s like listening to Jabberwocky.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Trust your FEEL not the thoughts ;) You won't be disappointed in the end. This stuff takes a while to germinate :) Thanks for your comments

[@walkwithme9918]

Love this so much.

[@yasminel-hakim4348]

So good to re-hear this 🙏❤️

[@VeniVizzleVici]

What's with all the jumpcuts? Subtle, but very, very numerous, and there. You don't need to hide anything from us or anyone, man.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

What do you think I'm hiding?

[@alexost8824]

When a short but clear awakening happened to me, I was just looking around my room and the things (and somehow even the space) in it. I was looking at (clearly!) myself, or atleast I couldn't tell a difference between what I was looking at and myself. Even though when it happened it felt very familiar and it was like a big 'OOOH'-moment.. that part freaked me out a little bit I think. But now almost exactly two years later I find myself still concerned with everything about it.. it's like having lost it and wanting it again so badly. There was nothing I did to get into the awakening. It actually felt like dying physically. And I was sure of dying. Then as everything stopped I felt stupid to not have seen it before or noticed it in the first place. How can it be that it doesn't last for some? Was it like that for you in your experience? It was so simple, so obvious, something that I've had known always. Was it an initiation of some sort? I feel like a crazy person talking about this whilst not experiencing it immediately. I'd be glad if you see this and if you can comment briefly on it. Thank you for the work you do. Sincerely love your videos.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

What was realized is still there. A honeymoon period typically follows then the real work begins. This is very typical, nothing has gone awry :)

[@kirstinstrand6292]

I once had such a feeling. I can only say that you experienced your true self during those few moments. That's a good sign...keep working at observing your random thoughts, then try to connect it to something related, occurring at a different time.

[@AriRuuska]

I'm reading your book and have watched couple of videos. Maybe that has been accelerator and I have experience of what you talking about this video. For me it has been relieving and shocking at the same time. Presence in deep is horrifying from separate self point of view, at least it has been so for me. Also I'm a quite confused and even a bit depressed because this new view of presence is something totally unfamiliar for me.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Awesome! This is just the beginning of the beginning things will change, and then change again, and again.... You're on the ride of all rides.

[@RichardBoyer]

Eternity is presence

[@JJJordan2]

It's stunning to watch and listen to these videos while understanding the content as true and confirming much of it thru personal experience. Incredible. I've heard and read the guidance about "being present"; resting; stillness; spaciousness; quiet mind; etc...a million times. But now those pointers are describing a "state" that I have experienced and can "move in to" at will...sort of. The sense of rest...deep down in my heart, where it suddenly feels like vibrational synchronicity with the sights and sounds in my surroundings, is different now. It has a palpable "realness" to it. Extraordinary. Thank you Angelo for being such a wonderful conveyor of this truth.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Beautiful! You’re welcome :)

[@n-xsta]

6:05 7:35

[@cooperthecockapoo3242]

Any thoughts on psilocybin as a one pointed approach? I hear reports of "expanding consciousness" with their use. Curious if you could comment.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

If you are really moved to do so I don’t think it hurts. I will say I’ve known many people who have used a lot of psychedelics but haven’t seen true awakening through that method alone. However it can definitely loosen up some of the ego binding no doubt.

[@cooperthecockapoo3242]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Thanks for the response- it has been on my mind. They aren't easily accessible through my connections, but should the opportunity arise, I think I'd go for it!

[@SuperManorcat]

Two summers ago my wife and I did a series of sessions with psilocybin. We followed the Stanislav Grof approach of wearing eye masks and headphones with ambient music. It was very positive and transformative for both of us. Michael Pollan's book "How to Change your Mind," is a very good example of how to set it up. If you don't have/want a Therapist, connect with a good friend you trust to join you, or just hold the space for you and be around. Medium to heavy depression was pretty much ended for her. For meditators, it can reveal the creative, limitless aspect of mind's expression. And letting go and being playful is very key! It's very fun and can be like child play. Wonderous. Lots of laughter. We both experienced sitting on the edge of planets, as monolithic Aztec Symbols the size of giant buildings flying up and through our light bodies. NO Fear! ;) Deep dimensions of space and activity with beings who relate to you. You can ask questions, like "What's it like to be realized?" or anything you want. They will show you. Fly, go into the ocean. Weirdly, she had the actress/writer of Fleabag (British show on Prime) as a kind of guide, who'd make her try things and gave advice. And my wife is a very stable woman, haha! There is interesting material about the Four Stages of Birth that psychedelic journeys tend to repeat that are interesting that Grof explains very beautifully. I experienced that directly. So, sometimes there's challenging material that comes up, so be open and prepared. It has always turned out very powerful and good, even with the challenging stuff. Oh, and usually at the end is a very powerful, glorious, full theatre experience of I AM/Big Mind. Just so much access to space, it is tear inducing, out of joy. Wonderful. Reach out if you have any other meditator questions or safety concerns. Travel well!

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

@@SuperManorcat thanks for sharing !

[@violinwithRosemary]

Amazing explanation. Thanks so much 😊 🙏

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

My pleasure 😊

[@bryandahlin9030]

❤

[@gracefrazier4775]

Gratitude.

[@korneliaheidegger3116]

💥💥💥

[@SonyaSunny]

Great answer!!

[@maysaraali5772]

Wow!

[@JsThorn]

Angelo, I love how you put it together so well, details here and there to pave the way. Sometimes you define « checkpoints » where for me it was just one vast experience of many steps you pointed, but experienced at once. It makes it easier to understand the tiny « steps » in between that lead to a more inclusive « experience ». I would love it if you could try to put in words 😅 the details of refinement about those later stages… 😅🥺😬

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Check out the oxherding pictures

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

And more to come

[@JsThorn]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake yes I’m already listening to them 🙌

[@nat998]

This really resonated clearly for me. I sometimes lose track and forget "myself" especially when I'm immersed in ambient music and I feel like the listener in me has faded out, and there's pure sound being experienced and the "me" is the vessel by which it can be heard. Once I went camping on the beach for a weekend and got so immersed in the fat night moon against the shoreline, an otherworldly sensation of timelessness began to sink in and I felt a strange nostalgia before a very brief spell where I felt the surrounding rush of waves and night noise as though I was the very thing itself and not the experiencer observing from a perceptual lens. Disorienting and peaceful all at once... A shift in perception and realizing I am not my body nor my thoughts.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

That is non-dual experience. It’s quite something eh? Non-dual realization is the instinctual experience of that interconnectedness as unfiltered raw phenomena ongoing.

[@nat998]

The amazing thing within that moment is that it happened very easily (it caught me by surprise) and then it was gone just as easily :) It was like that momentary awakening feeling in a nightly dream and then as soon as it's there and you notice it, you slide back into the dream but some part of you still has a fragment of a memory. I have many experience with false awakenings with dreams and that is a trip. Anyway falling deep down the rabbit hole and enjoying all your content - going to order your book because I'm curious to read about your experiences - I love the app!

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

@@nat998 the book has far more potent pointing than the videos I think. It took a long time to write and much rewriting to get it right. It’s densely packed :)

[@alfreddifeo9642]

That allowing of speaking ,listening and the sinking in feeling

[@Krasbin]

2:10 The daydreaming and thinking about the future and past, is not happening in the present in one way, but is happening in the present in another way. (What I discuss below is somewhat discussed in the video.) It is not happening in a narrow definition of the present, where your thoughts have to be focused only on that which is in front of you, that which is present. But it is happening in a broader definition of the present. You can only now think about the past and the future (but also about the present of course). There is only now, there is only the present. In the narrow definition, you consider being present a skill to be trained, presence. In the broad definition, you consider being present an inevitable fact of reality that can be discovered, consciousness. I think both definitions are valuable, but we as spiritual explorers should be careful what we mean precisely. Maybe there are already two different terms for what I described. And if not, maybe there should be.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Not sure I get the dichotomy you refer to here. Thinking about the past and future only happens in the immediate right now. ie, can you think about the past FROM the future right now? Of course not the only place you experience a thought is right now. Same as your experience of seeing the sun, you've never seen the sun FROM the past or FROM the future only the one you see right now. And if you imagine the sun that you saw earlier today right now you are only looking at a thought occurring right now, not a thought occurring at some other time. Thought makes that appear different but just like a movie on a screen, when you watch a movie about the past, you are only seeing that movie right now, you aren't literally transported to the past. You are not watching the movie screen FROM the past. It's the kind of thing that if you test your experience empirically again and again it will click. But it doesn't necessarily have to. Through realization it becomes blatantly obvious at some point.

[@Krasbin]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Well, I think we mostly agree. But let me try to explain it in a different way. In the field of consciousness, all sort of experiences arise. The narrow definition of being present, is that the field of consciousness is filled with experiences of the present. The broad definition of being present, is that the field of consciousness can only be in the present, regardless of whether experiences are of the past, present or future.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

@@Krasbin I might at it this way Per the narrow definition “experiences “ I’m assuming you mean thoughts of the present bc you certainly can’t experience past or future literally. I’m this case even the thoughts are not really if the present bc by the time there is a thought, things have already changed. So the thought can never actually be of the present. With that said, your experience of consciousness in this case is only happening right now. In the wide case then there may be more overt thoughts about past and future. Yet your experience of consciousness is only happening right now. So either way all bc experiences only occur in the present. To use the movie analogy I used earlier with your examples. If you are watching a movie about what’s happening right now (essentially impossible but Spaceballs did a funny version of it), you as the movie watcher, the film and the screen are only experienced here right now. In the second case the movie might be showing events from. 1941, yet you, the screen the projector and images are only experienced here right now. I should make a video about this bc it’s a common misunderstanding about presence. Presence isn’t something you do, it’s not a matter of thinking about the present rather than the past or future. It’s seeing exquisitely clearly that presence truly is all there is. With first awakening / kensho this becomes exquisitely clear and self validating. Thanks for your comments.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

I should say however you are right that there are different definitions and experiences of presence and it evolves with realization. In the video I made called what is presence, it sounds like you are describing the distinction between the first two experiences of presence I mention there.

[@Krasbin]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Yes. That's right.

[@randyclere7756]

Thank you…. Potent pointer

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Welcome!

[@oneom8158]

To bring anyone to the point of your conclusion, is already unheard of as far as I'm concern, but to manage to express it without entanglement in the process, is nothing less than miraculous. Bless you Angle o 💙

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

[@claudelebel49]

This morning: All there is is This and the knowing of it.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

:0. Awesome

[@claudelebel49]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Thank you,. Can't say where I am actually but there are moments.

[@birgit8996]

It seems it occur in small steps here. There is nothing and all what is , the real what is,but it shows up only sometimes so. Without thinking,it seems there is nothing to do,to get "deeper". It seems like there is no one , who can do anything! Does the realization deepen by itself? Will it stay constant at some point? There is nothing that asks the question and nothing answers maybe ... curious🙃 All the same ... the one

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

It does deepen on its own. While there may be no sense of a doer, practice, alertness to delusive thoight forms and dualistic impressions can continue. The commitment to dispel all elements of fixation, ignorance and delusion is important.

[@birgit8996]

@Angelo Thank you very much❤ Very helpful what you write (it seems) !!! I will continue to follow your videos, they are awesome! 🌟 I have already read the book, but had to translate everything with Google ,because my English is not so good ... but it worked😊

[@birgit8996]

@Angelo Ignorance and delusion are the views of the mind, right?

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

@@birgit8996 glad it was helpful

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

@@birgit8996 ultimately yes. The tendency to firm views and identify with them, misunderstanding the nature of dependent origination

[@kirstinstrand6292]

On a basic level, to be in Presence, one must be in the Present; not the Past or the Future. Meditation taught me to begin thinking of my past, and to differentiate between the present and future...which is mostly comprised of hopes, wishes, and fantasies. Presence is a state of knowing you are in the Present. Calm, focused, and centered. I usually meditate 20 minutes daily.

[@InnerLuminosity]

💪 thank you me😉

[@WonderinWonderer]

Explanation is clear in all your videos. Thank you

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

You are welcome

[@benkelley84]

This was great!

[@sheikmunjah2241]

Thank you for this

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Welcome

[@flyprincess69]

Have you become aware of ACIM? whats your thought’s?

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Yes I am familiar with it. I’ve met David Hoffmeister and some of the members of their monasteries. I like they way they’ve set things up. They’re good peeps. I’m sure it would he a good place to live/practice. If it resonates with you :)

[@ducatikiller]

Would love love love to hear more about this. Especially more about what is spoken about after 14:05