Meditation: The Non-Dual Shift
Fred Davis Author and Nonduality Teacher
I'm going to close my eyes; you don’t have to, but I find it might be easier for many of you if you do. Who knows? You are welcome to do it any way you want, but I want to slow down. Slowing down doesn’t usually happen in my life. I'm always running and doing—just a constant cycle of action. It feels as though I'm caught in a whirlwind of doing, and I wonder if there really is a ‘doer’ behind all this. What I want to notice right now, because it’s essential to everything I’ll experience here, is how I know that I am present. How do I know I’m here in this moment? It must be a feeling, wouldn’t it? Without that raw sense of being, what could I possibly know about anything? This raw sense is the canvas for everything else in my world.
WATCH THE FULL MEDITATION HERE
I feel as though I'm here, but can I truly know I have a body without resorting to my mind or inventing stories? When I think about it, I can’t find the ‘I’ that the word refers to. Instead, it connects to a feeling, and with my eyes closed, I’m mostly experiencing a void. How do I know I have a body? Perhaps it’s like Descartes said: "I think, therefore I am." But is it more accurate to say, "I am, therefore I think"? In truth, I cannot definitively tell you what or who I am, as that goes beyond language. I can only describe sensations—my right leg resting over my left leg, for example—but beyond these feelings, I can’t provide proof that I have a body.
There’s the sensation of having a body, but is it reality? Do I know anything with certainty? I sense pressure against my skin—my butt in the chair, for instance—but can I objectively measure that sensation without crafting a story around it? I have a sense of being here, yet that’s not the same as confirming my presence. This morning, I had a feeling that it would rain in the afternoon, but so far, the sky is clear. My sense of the weather has no real backing.
When I consider this place, this ‘here,’ it sometimes feels almost like aromas or flavors, but they don’t prove anything to me. I can weave a narrative around my experiences, but those are just stories. I realize that all of us agree on many things, yet that doesn’t make them true. There's a sense of this reality being relative, but there’s no true relativity. What’s missed in the search for non-duality is that it has already happened; this is the non-dual shift because the expression emerging from me is the same as what I perceive through my senses.
In a room full of seekers, if I asked what they know, many would raise their hands and say, "I know that I am." I’d have to excuse myself, as they seem to grasp much deeper truths than I do. There’s this sense of happenings, but no true doer behind those happenings. I might create the idea of a doer, but am I not constructing stories all the time, even in the absence of time?
I ponder the concept of space and time, and how we invented clocks as a way to measure time. But time and space don’t actually exist—they are just constructs. Without them, can I even be found? If they don’t exist, then neither can I in any individual form. All these memories and experiences relate back to an egoic narrative. Without time and space, there would be no story to tell.
So, in this moment, I recognize that I can't really find my body or myself; in the absence of space, who or what is there to identify? There’s a feeling of ‘I am,’ but perhaps ‘I’ alone is more accurate. Yet again, I feel a sense of life, a sense of existence, but that experience of relativity is why I often overlook the shift. The change has already occurred; I began in non-duality and then started searching for it, which means I imposed limitations on myself and my perception of the limitless.
As I slowly allow myself to come back to the present—5, 4, 3, 2, 1—I open my eyes and recognize that I am here.
WATCH THE FULL MEDITATION HERE
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Notice the body is already free and the one looking for freedom doesn't exist.