Authentic presence is the natural state of being unconditionally open and responsive in the world.

Buddhist psychology, Existential Therapy and the nondual wisdom of Dzogchen offer an integrative approach for opening ourself to what is as it is. Through increasing our capacity for being present to the way things actually are rather than how we think they are, we can befriend habitual patterns of defensiveness and dissolve inner tensions. 

Unconditional presence in inherently healing to the everyday, divided mind, allowing mixed feelings and conflicted thoughts to settle down and co-exist. Through allowing greater openness the divided mind becomes less reactive, more clear and creatively-compassionately responsive. This shifts the holding-pattern of self-centeredness into the spontaneous freedom of self-liberation. 

The psychological courage to truly be ourself – and rest in undefended presence – is essential for any spiritual path that seeks deeper release. Self-honesty facilitates opening to The Mystery that I am not who I think I am, and neither are you. By seeing through self-other projections, it becomes possible to tune in to the natural ease, lucency and freedom of being as such. 

Clear seeing recognizes the natural perfection (dzogchen) of things just as they are, without anything needing to be corrected or rejected. Beyond struggles of seeking and meditative striving, the natural openness of simply being allows us to more deeply settle into unsettledness and swim more gracefully in the river of time. 

Lingering in a space of authentic presence, we find that even though we seem to be traveling through space and time, we are actually neither coming nor going, there being no other place than here to get to and no other time than now to arrive. If we recognize this from the inside, there is nothing we need do but delight in what is. If we don’t instantaneously recognize this, it makes sense to slowly but surely develop our meditative stillness and acuity to eventually do so.