Waking From “The Dream”

By Atmarati Ishaya

When I learned the Bright Path Ishayas’ techniques, I practiced with great commitment, never missing a day. It was easy to do as I began to enjoy an incredible peace, and wanted more. 

I also discovered that I experienced love for myself, for everyone, for everything. This love simply sprang from me without cause or reason. It was something that existed by the mere fact of being alive. I began to feel happy; joyful without the need for an external reason.

I began to be moved by the beauty of nature around me, which I had previously ignored or taken for granted.

I also realised how much time I spent entertained, distracted, thinking or going over things I wanted to be different from how they really were.

I became more aware of a “dream me” I had been living, that was different from an authentic experience I felt more and more.

A Path Of Discovery And Recognition

Ultimately, I began a path of discovery, recognition, and experiences that allowed me to become aware of what had been limiting me or holding me back –  beliefs that always seemed to confine my world to two columns: good and bad, right and wrong. I observed how I generally judged everything based on a belief system I had learned long ago.

But above all, I recognised that as long as I kept practicing the Ishayas’ Ascension techniques,  a kind of magic began to emerge – something beyond what I could imagine, something I couldn’t name, but that was unchanging, still, and peaceful.

Perhaps one of the discoveries that most marked my experience was realising that I had thoughts – and that sometimes there was even a voice, or voices, that I assumed were myself speaking to myself, with which I often had endless internal conversations about different topics.

They helped me recognise that I thought a lot – too much, I would say. I hadn’t seen it that way before; I hadn’t realised how much energy I spend endlessly  thinking until I truly saw it.

One of the most wonderful days of my life was when I realised how much time I spent believing I was the voice in my head. This voice always seemed to have an opinion about everything. It seemed, at times, to be my best cheerleader and, at other times, my worst judge or executioner. I saw how much I was always being subjected to or directed by these internal conversations or opinions.

I had spent so much of my life listening to the voice and believed that I was a character dictated and, in some way, enslaved or directed by an internal dialogue in which all the sentences revolved around an “I” that always seemed to be the center of everything – for whom everything was personal, against me or in favor of me. 

That character seemed to dictate when I was doing well or not. What’s more, this character was determined to fight to defend my ideas, beliefs, concepts, and expectations.

It was this character who was bothered when someone made a true observation, or who expected praise or rewards – and if I didn’t get them, I would get angry, sometimes even to the point of throwing a tantrum.

Simplicity And Ease Open The Door

Even while maintaining my regular practice of Ascension, I struggled for a while with the simplicity that the experience seemed to offer me. Surely, it couldn’t be possible that it was so easy to be at peace? But that was my experience.

Sometimes I even resisted accepting that I didn’t have to change anything about myself to deserve this incredible experience of freedom that being in the present moment gave me.

There were times when I even had clear experiences that I was consciousness itself – I was everything, light, free, and infinite. There was no self, no character, and nothing needed to be changed, improved, assimilated, or understood to exist, since that consciousness already existed. It simply existed in the present moment, aware of everything.

And of course, out of habit or simply because attention shifted, thoughts would return, and I would begin to think, listen, or converse with that voice again. It happens to anyone, but I still believed I was doing something wrong – that there was something I needed to improve to “achieve” awakening.

Then one day, I recognised that I had been engaged in, and even had a close relationship with, the thoughts, feelings, emotions, beliefs, concepts, and voices that seemed to be happening inside me. And then I just stopped. I let go. I allowed myself to rest in the stillness of the moment.

I surrendered my attention to the presence that exists now – to the infinite field in which everything exists now, to the underlying reality of everything, to free observation, to the source that loves everything just as it is. And there I found myself. There I remembered; I woke up.

Giving Attention Fully To This Moment

I discovered that I could only be awake now, and that what we call “the dream” was what I had been experiencing for so long. The dream seemed to have certain characteristics: there were always thoughts, voices, or content from the past or future. There was always a point of reference, a location, or a place. In other words, the dream always seemed to be happening in a field determined by time and space. 

In comparison, when I was simply present, there was nothing – and everything simply existed in a timeless field. In short, the dream was always happening on a mental plane, and waking life was not. From then on, the choice became infinitely simpler: simply resting now, being aware now.

The most brilliant thing of all was realising that now, by simply being fully aware, there was nothing about me that needed to change. I didn’t need to believe I should deserve or be anything more. I didn’t need to adjust my beliefs or modify my concepts. Simply by fully surrendering my attention to the conscious presence of everything, I was free.

In other words, by surrendering my attention to the awareness of this moment, it was like letting go of everything I thought I could never let go of – and all I had to do was choose to be here and now. The liberation was such that I recognised I had no need to control or force anything in my life to be as some thought, concept, or idea dictated. 

By surrendering to this moment, control ceased. I recognised that by going beyond the mental plane, where I had long been, I experienced something different – something much more wonderful than constantly thinking. 

And how did I do it? I stopped, I paused, I surrendered my attention to this moment instead of following the stream of thought. By fully surrendering my attention to the consciousness that realises everything, I woke up. I stopped dreaming.

Now I live, work, and enjoy. I am simply who I am, in the most wonderful existence I could ever dream of – honored to continue giving more of myself in every area of my life, to achieve goals and objectives, to spend time with my family and friends unconditionally. I am open to all that I am, willing to be aware now, in ease and in recognition that I am much more than I once believed – and that we all are.

Dare To Remember

All that is required is to give our full attention to this moment, to stop now, to surrender ourselves fully now, to dare to go beyond what is known, to what already is and is patiently waiting on the other side of thinking.

Awakening is realising or remembering that you are already what you are seeking. How could you not be that, if it has always been that way from the very beginning, or seen in another way, why would you have to change something in your life to now be what you already are from the very beginning?

You got distracted, you thought you were something other than what you already were. So what? Who cares? Now is when you have the opportunity to see it, to experience it, to remember it. Now is when you have the opportunity to stop dreaming, now is when you have the opportunity to awaken.

And how did I “achieve” all this? Well, I learned the Bright Path Ishayas’ meditation techniques. I practiced as instructed, and maintained a constant and disciplined practice.

The moments of remembering began to happen, and becoming conscious was the natural result. Without realising it at first, I had entered into the most wonderful adventure of my life. Without even knowing it, I had begun to take steps on the path of awakening. And one day, I experienced the ultimate simplicity: I could only be awake  now – there was absolutely no need to struggle with thoughts.

Being awake “from the dream” now is not a process, but everyone has different paths to come to that realisation; it requires different experiences and/or recognitions, but everything, everything, everything is where it needs to be now.

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation),
here is one elementary truth,
the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans.
That the moment one definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one
that would never otherwise have occurred.