The Presence I want to speak of is that of being fully conscious and aware in the present moment. It includes deep listening and learning beyond our habitual patterns, preconceptions and past ways of thinking. It requires letting go of old identities, belief systems and the need to control outcomes. Here we continually make choices to consciously serve the evolution of life. We ‘let go’ of what we think we know to ‘let come‘ what we are yet to know. This opens the possibility of bringing forth the larger field of what is emerging in the dynamic whole of Being.

How often have you had the sense that there’s a much larger field of awareness than the one you’re experiencing? What are some of Life’s mysteries that have attracted your attention? How often do you drift away from what you’re doing to experience this field even if it’s only for a moment? How often have you been judged and chastised for doing so? How did that stop you, shut down your inquisitive creative genius and suspend your desire to grow beyond the confines of acceptability? How often do you suspend the voice of judgement, relax, release and realign with the presence of this field of possibilities? What does this say to you about you?

Presence can be ‘analytic knowing’: dualistic, separate, machine like, isolating, objectified knowing. Presence can also be ‘primary knowing’: wholistic, interconnected, unconditioned, open, undetermined, non-dualistic and spontaneous. Both reflect who we are, how we’re belonging and what we’re becoming. Analytic knowing works well for mechanistic production  of an individualized nature while primary knowing works well for creative relational production of a collective and collaborate nature. Each has it’s own benefits yet our most common engagement is analytic without much awareness and understanding of our primary knowing.

When desirous of finding interconnected wholes and innate value rather than conditioned objectified usefulness we must move to primary knowing. This requires a suspension of analysis and structure to engage our intuition and creativity. It requires relaxing, releasing and realigning with Inner Being; re-Sourcing and expanding into a much higher, deeper and broader field of awareness. Here we discover our essence and the world to be aspects of the same underlying field of Being connecting us with the known and unknown, seen and unseen.

Sitting in conversation, being in community gatherings, interacting in any setting, we can be present in an analytic or primary knowing way. In leadership one can ignore the larger field of Being, treat others as objects, production machines, automatons. One can also tap into the  unified field to experience others as oneself. Here there is cooperation, respect, value and co-production within a totally different energy field. Here there is mutuality, interconnectivity, companioning and a true field of all possibilities and potentialities for all. In both engagements there is presence. One creates a constricted presence  while the other an expansive presence.

When we quiet our minds, trust the essence of the unified field, the Source, we open to the infinite while experiencing the finite; we discover a living Presence within and without. We know ourselves to be part of a greater whole where all is connected and co-creating. Without having to do anything beyond being, our presence radiates for all within All. It’s the ultimate product.

• Sit quietly wherever you choose, give attention to your breathing, close your eyes or lower your eyelids a bit and slightly cross your eyes bringing them into a soft focus. Become aware of the energy in your environment starting with your body. Listen to the silence and become present within this field of Being. Observe a loving companion presence in the energy of this infinite field. Feel the vastness of the Who that is ultimately you. . .
• The next time you’re in a room with others, calmly give attention to your presence. Notice any anxiety, any fear, any tension. As you do, relax, release and realign with the peacefulness of the infinite field within. Feel the release, the realignment with your inner being, belonging and becoming. Allow yourself to simply be with this inner presence; calm, centered, alert, alive.
• In your workplace take a few brief ‘time outs’ to be present with your environment and with a fellow worker. Be present with them as if they were the only other person in the world when you interact with them. Focus on giving them love, companioning, understanding and primary knowing in your not knowing: nothing to prove, just presence. Experiment with making your presence your product wherever you are, with whomever you’re with, even yourself……..
• Journal your experiences with presencing. What are you learning? What differences are you experiencing? What are you identifying as your old and new product?