How Do I Step More Deeply Into Presence?

Please, could you say more about the surface of the present moment. And going more deeply into the present moment? Thank you. The surface of the present moment, as I call it, is whatever you perceive with your senses. Seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, whatever. So that's the surface of the present moment. Is sensory perception external? And that's already beginning to become more acutely aware of sensory perception. It's a way of entering the present moment. The expression you can use for that is come to your senses. Come to your senses. Because when you come to your senses, you step out of the stream of thinking. So to really give attention to something, you withdraw. By giving attention to sensory perception, what's around you, you withdraw attention from thought. So there's not enough consciousness available now to make thoughts. Because the consciousness is not directed towards sense perception. And that's the surface of the present moment. And that's already a wonderful thing to wake up into your surroundings where you are. And you realize you might have been for hours trapped in your thought. Only peripherally aware of your surroundings. And then you. Oh. And you listen and you look and you feel perhaps a breeze touching your skin. There might be certain scents in the air. And that's the. I call that the present moment. But it's the surface of the present moment. And then you become aware of yourself not as the person, but as a consciousness that is perceiving. Because without consciousness, there would be no perception. And so you become aware of that still alert background to your sense perceptions. And that is the depth dimension of the present moment. That's the one thing that never changes. You are always that conscious space. Now what? The surface of the present moment undergoes continuous change. Of course, there's a continuous flux of phenomena. What does not change is the depth of the present moment. Because the depth of the present moment is the space of consciousness. So at the deepest level, the present moment is the unconditioned consciousness. The space for everything. And you can be rooted in that. And then you relate to the world, the surface world. Which really includes your thoughts too. Or your thoughts are invisible. Relative to the depth of the essence of who you are as consciousness. Even your thoughts are a surface phenomenon. In the same way that the ripples on the surface of the ocean are surface phenomenon. But, of course, the ripples are one with the ocean. I often use that ripple analogy. Waves or ripples. The only tragic thing is if the ripple doesn't realize that it is essentially the ocean. And then the ripple thinks it's no more than a ripple. Oh, dear, that's scary. Because there are other rebels that are bigger. And there are even some waves. Of course, they're all very impermanent. But if the ripple realizes the attention of the rebel is no longer just on the surface of the ocean. Well, what's the next thing I need? Oh, that rebel looks scary. I need a different rebel. I run away from this one. Oh, this one is nice. I love you. Come. Come with me. I need you. I need you. Please. Now, if we get together, we can almost become a bigger rebel. Okay. Let's get married. But they still haven't realized the essence of who they are. So whatever happens on the surface only is frustrating if you don't realize the depth and the vastness out of which you have come. The vastness to which you're always connected. And you don't know.