The
Persistent Presence
Daniel Clark
Copyright © 2023 Daniel Clark
Printed in the United States of America, February 2023
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 9798373669351
CONTENTS
Preface v
You are the Self 1
It’s All the Self 2
Notes to the Self 3
Spiritual Notes 5
About the Author 23
PREFACE
This is the third in a series of small books addressing fundamental themes from
spiritual notes and other writings I’ve published over the last ten years. In the preface to the first of the present
series, “The Dream and the Dreamer,” I described how in 2013
I was surprised to find myself awakening in the early hours of the morning in a state of Knowing. On such occasions, there are no boundaries to Being, and the resulting insights and words representing them are not simply intellectual ideas. Their Truth has been directly experienced, giving the sense of complete certainty Ralph Waldo Emerson describes in his famous essay, The Oversoul, as well as the imperative that they be written down. I have since shared sixty of them with others in a book titled “Notes to the Self”…(and) have continued to write down such insights to help me return to the Truth of our Wholeness and also to share with others….
Many of these
statements have been collected in “Experiences with Truth” (2022), a single
volume containing four previous titles, “Notes to the Self” (2013), “You are
the Self” (2014), “It’s all the Self” (2018), and “A Spiritual Journal” (2018).
THE PERSISTENT PRESENCE
PRESENCE
When you experience your infinite Presence, there is no room for an Other. All existence is complete and accounted for. Nothing has been left out; it is all within you.
EVERYTHING
AND NOTHING
We can experience the Self as everything,
or as nothing—as the single fabric or Substance of all form, or as the
pointless point and formless source of all Motion.
Here
is whole, the eternal Presence, the
Subject that contains everything.
When you are rooted Here, as the Source of all existence, undefined, formless, then the world of apparently distinct objects and forces becomes a single Flow, all of which is you.
When you are totally Now, you are nothing, and at the same time you are everything. Come to Now.
From IT’S ALL THE SELF, 2018
PRESENCE
Presence is the Substance of infinite depth, the Alpha and the Omega and everything in between.
Presence is the essence of all
things, the single, formless Reality behind all appearances.
You are infinite Presence, you have
no limits. Presence is what is
always Here, your immediate Awareness and all that it contains, your Self.
From NOTES TO THE SELF, 2014
SELF
All that happens, the transient forms and fleeting experiences that fill our days and years, is insignificant compared to the experience of the eternal, infinite Awareness that is our Self, the Host of all. Know the supreme, limitless Presence, whose depth and breadth are endless, and whose capacity is infinite. The transient reveals to us the Essential, without which nothing can be known. Know the matrix of Being, empty but full, the eternal Subject, the one Self of all, always present though seldom experienced. It is the ultimate security, ever existent, the foundation of all that is, our pure Being.
Mind is always present, is Presence itself, palpable, and perfect. Mind in motion gives us the multiple points of attention we experience, from whose partial perspectives we see imperfection. Mind can be felt as the ever-present root and Essence of our Being. Know Mind as your eternal Presence, what you always are.
SPIRITUAL NOTES, 2017-2022
September 28, 2017
All the world is a subjective Presence. That Presence is aware, infinite, single and eternal. The world is the Motion of that Presence within itself, and the function of that Motion is to create and appreciate form and the experience of an apparent Other.
March 1, 2018
I am the single Presence. The cosmos is my Motion, my Play. I have no limits. I am formless.
March 3, 2018
For everything that has form, there is a deeper Substance which is formless. That is our eternal Presence.
October 8, 2020
The negative is necessary to give texture to Life.
The Essence of Life is our eternal, formless Presence, curious, intelligent, and creative.
Where is the Essence of Life? Always Here, in the Undivided, the Undefined Self.
We pass most of our time in a Game of division, occasionally taking a break in the Truth of Wholeness. Both are essential to our Nature. To be a true champion of the Game is to remember Wholeness while playing.
I am the Always Here, and the Everywhere.
Let your attention go where it will. You are Whole.
October 13, 2020
We as individuals are temporary impoundings of the infinite Spirit, and are its Play. In Truth, we are Pure Spirit. There is nothing else.
Spirit is the sole Substance, the sole Presence, the sole Truth, the single Soul.
Words are God defined and confined. God, the Self, is greater than any words, the Infinite Reality, all that is.
Freedom is the experience of your Self as the Whole rather than as a partial, passing form. Let forms flow according to the Tao instead of identifying with a portion of them.
Honor the Flow of the single Heart.
October 15, 2020
We are the eternal Presence, the Source of all Motion. Motion creates our sense of Time within the Self, which is actually timeless, unconfined.
We create whatever we want, including the sense of limitation, which is our Play.
November 3, 2020
We are Presence and Play, Truth and illusion, the Divine Self.
December 17, 2020
What we want is the finite. What we are is the Infinite.
We are always Present. Our Presence is infinite, eternal, and whole. Paradoxically, Awareness of our infinite Presence is itself finite.
There is Truth, which is our Presence, the Unlimited, and there is Knowledge of the Truth, which is limited in time.
Our Presence isn't precarious. Our Being is eternal.
January 1, 2021
Limitations are contractions of the Truth. Rise above your sense of limitation.
We are Presence, the Undefined.
January 2, 2021
We paint our Mind through our Art of forms, which both please and displease us. Doing necessarily involves the pain and pleasure of edges, duality, definition, separation, and the excitement of the novel, the precarious uncertainty of becoming.
January 6, 2021
All Being consists of the single Substance, our Divine Presence with its continuing Awareness.
In Reality there is only Pure Being without limits.
We are the Infinite, observing our Divine Flow.The purpose of Life, of Motion, is to be interesting to our eternal Mind, the Self.
The Present is the Way of the single Self, the Motion of the Divine, the Flow
of I Am.
January 29, 2021
Our attention alternates between the two sides to our Being, the Eternal and the temporal, the Infinite and the finite, the Perfect and the imperfect, Stillness and Motion, the Unlimited and the limited, the One and the many..
The Divine can only experience space and time through individuation resulting from Motion.
January 30, 2021
God, our eternal Presence, moves in order to know, and rests in order to cease knowing.
February 5, 2021
Our single Presence is in the trees and rocks, in our neighbors, and in us.
February 23, 2021
All thoughts are the product of our single Mind, the Divine No-Thing. It's all our infinite Self. Come home to Truth.
Your formless Presence, the Knower, is also the Creator, the Source of all things, the Flow.
You are the Truth, the
Absolute, free from all limitation.
May 16, 2021
Every movement is a perfect gesture of the Whole.
There is nothing that is not your Divine Self.
May 19, 2021
The Eternal Presence moves according to its Nature, creating illusions as well as Self-knowledge.
Celebrate God in both the Stillness of the Presence
and in our Flow.
June 24, 2021
Throughout Life's changes, one thing is constant other than Change itself. That is our Presence, Consciousness, the Eternal, the Infinite Self, Being, the Divine Source of all opposites.
September 11, 2021
The Divine Ground is what persists, pulsates, and perceives. It is our Presence, Power, and Perfection. It is also perplexing, playful, and all-pervading.
The Divine Ground is Who we always are, what knows and is known, the Mover and the Motion.
October 2, 2021
We are the Unlimited, the Creative Mind, the Infinite Truth, the eternal Presence, the Divine. Know your True Self.
November 20, 2021
Life is the exploration of the infinite possibilities and experiences of our single, dynamic Presence.
January 10, 2022
There is one Presence, your Self, infinite, eternal, creative, playful, always Here where you are, the All-Powerful, lacking nothing.
We are pure Being, the deathless Am. Death is simply part of our Game.
In our Game of Change, all things have their time, including Self-Realization, the Knowledge of Truth.
All Motion is the Game. We are the Divine Player.
February 4, 2022
Life, the single Being, is the Divine Dreamer, and is gradually awakening.
We are infinite and creative, the universal, eternal Presence, the Unlimited.
March 7, 2022
When we experience the Fullness of Being, we are in the Presence of unlimited Power, which is always Here, the Essence of all things.
This is what the unconfined, unlimited Power is doing Here and Now.
March 29, 2022
We are the Way and the Light, the Dancer and the Cosmic Dance, the Universal Presence.
The Way is the Absolute, the one Dynamic Self.
Let your identity rise above your individuality.
April 6, 2022
We are the Field of Knowing, the infinite Presence, complete and unchanging.
The natural Flow of our perfect Being needs no intention or striving is always Right for its time.
May 20, 2022
I am the single, dynamic Presence and Seer, the Substance of all, the One Mind.
Wherever I turn, I see my Self.
When we purify our Being, there are no edges, only Essence.
The experience of emerging from our partial to our Full Identity is available to all of us.
June 1, 2022
We are the Fundament of all Motion. Motion is an aspect of Truth; solidity is an illusion.
June 26, 2022
You are the Face of God as well as the depths of God.
When we attend to the Universal Subject, the eternal and infinite Presence in which all things appear, we
begin to know its Perfection.
July 4, 2021
Our Being begins Here as the formless Subject, eternal Consciousness, the Source and Substance of every image. Know your boundless Being, your deathless Presence, the Divine Am.
July 17, 2022
We begin to realize the Infinite Self through the maturing experience of our apparently limited self, and to recognize the essential Presence and Substance of the Unlimited.
It's impossible to know anything without the Presence of the No-Thing, the unlimited Self.
July 23, 2022
There is only God, the Always Here, the Single Substance, the Infinite Presence.
We are the Divine No-Thing, Creative Emptiness. When you find only form, go
deeper until you find the Perfection of the Formless.
August 9, 2022
Our Being, our Presence, is alone,
yet the Source of all apparent multiplicity, the Knower and known, the Subject
and all objects, the One Self, the Divine.
August 23, 2022
The apparent lines that divide us are untrue. We are the single, formless Emptiness, Presence, Reality that has no edges or limits, the indefinable Am.
September 6, 2022
Our Presence, infinite, eternal and unendingly creative, is the Substance of God.
The two Absolutes are the unchanging Presence
and its continuing Motion.
October 3, 2022
Our perfect Presence is able to take Perfection apart in order to create our drama of seeking separate fulfillment.
Our Wholeness is the perfect balance of all forms and their attributes.
October 29, 2022
All things including our thoughts come from Here, the No-Where, the Source of all Motion, and they continue to be Here in the No-Place.
December 2, 2022
We are a Being of amazing diversity, extending from the limited concerns of a member of a single species to the unlimited Presence and Creativity of the Divine.
Only the folds of a thin veil separate us from the Divine, and are stretched increasingly thinner as we mature.
The fluid attention of the Divine Mind is constantly transforming Reality and challenging
our expectations.
December 9, 2022
What persists without
change through all time is the Presence,
our formless Self that witnesses all changes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Daniel Clark was born and raised in Walla Walla, Washington, where he retired from law practice in 2010. He has also written “A Privileged Life: Memoirs of an Activist” (2013); “Come Dancing: A Collection of Contras, Circles, Squares, & More,” (2014); “Historic Sites and Markers of Walla Walla County,” (2019), “Experiences with Truth,” (2019), containing “Notes to the Self,” (2014), “You are the Self,” (2014), “It’s All the Self” (2018), and “A Spiritual Journal,” (2018); “Public Places & Private Interests: Protecting Historic Cemeteries & Other Projects,” (2020), “What Sayest Thou: A History of the Walla Walla Friends Meeting” (2021); “Hanford Nuclear Reservation: Civil Disobedience in the 1980s” (2021); “Peace Brigades International: Roots and Early Years” (2021), “Criminal Justice Reform: Walla Walla’s STAR Project & Other Stories (2021), “Diversity and Unity in the Walla Walla Valley” (2022), “The Dream and the Dreamer” (2022), and “The Paradox of Perfection” (2022).
In addition, he has co-authored
“Words: Dan & Barbara’s Deathless Prose, and a Few Poems” (2014), co-edited
“A Prospect Point Reunion Book” (2014), and edited “A Garrison School Reunion
Book” (2015) and “Walla Walla 2020 & Beyond” (2020). He can be contacted by
writing to PO Box 1222, Walla Walla, Washington, USA, 99362, or to clarkdn@charter.net. His websites are
danielclark.zoomshare.com and unitiveself.blogspot.com.
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