Jed,
I was doing (not really doing, but you know right? :-) I was contemplating where the feeling of "being-ness" comes from. So, I began to focus on the I am. Where is it the idea that I AM or that something exists.
And when I do that, I notice like I disappear. In the sense that there's no I thought. And I feel like the sense of being is all around everything. Not focused on my body, or in a point or place.
It made me recall when Nisargadatta said that the I AM pervades everything.
But the I AM is not the truth, or at least not the whole truth. You were saying that the I AM is the way. So, I am the way, as Jesus said.
The idea of I AM creates the illusion, but beyond the I AM is the absolute.
When you realize that is when you are enlightened? Because sometimes they say that knowing "who you are" is enlightenment, but if the I AM or that which makes you "be" or points to what "you really are" is really only part of what is (The absolute) What is there to know or be conscious of? If the Absolute transcends even the I AM or consciousness. Even awareness?
What really is, isn't. Or si both at the same time.
One silly thing that I wanted to tell you is that since I began to contemplate more and trust more in that sense of I AM or awareness I remember my passwords (not all of them but more than what I used to).
When I am going to sign in on a website (I design websites so I have lots of passwords to remember) without thinking the passwords appears in my mind. And normally I doubt if that's really the password (because I don't really remember or I am not sure) but I trust in that and I write it anyway.. and voila! It works...
Weird. I don't know if just my mind playing games with me. (Even knowing I don't exist).
:-)