Instant Presence

The author of this illuminating and very direct book is an Italian living in Australia, who publishes the InnerSelf newspaper and website. She understands spiritual enlightenment as an ever present reality available to us, one which we fail to realise since the 'searching for "it" outside myself had separated me from the very thing I was seeking' - in other words the sense of separation inherent in the ego is itself the obstacle to be set aside rather than overcome: 'ego just means the identification with a separate entity. Awareness is what we are. Ego is what we believe we are.' (p. 85 - a brilliant formulation) In a normal state of consciousness, we find ourselves in a dualistic impasse, a trance of separation. We just need to realise that 'you are the awake, boundless, omnipresent consciousness that is right here, right now.' (p. 7) She distinguishes awareness as timeless and eternal, which gives birth to consciousness as the background for the appearance of the body-mind. Being awake is our natural state of being, and it is important to note that 'awakening arises through the mind, not from the mind.' (p. 71)

Striving and orientation towards the future are additional forms of separation, so Enza recommends 'no practice practice': real meditation lies in letting go of control: 'we are just resting in what is happening moment by moment.' (p. 83) Being present in the moment means that living well is also learning to die, every day, every moment. This means simply being as we are, being present with what is already present. It also means paying attention rather than reading books, including this one! One story in the book made me laugh out loud: a king is given a gift of two falcons. He arranges for them to be trained, and while one makes great progress, the other cannot be moved from its branch. Finally, a farmer is brought in, and the next day when asked by the King how he had made the bird fly, he simply replied that he had cut off the branch on which the bird was sitting! So Enza reminds us that we are born to fly, rather than spending our lives sitting on a branch.