Welcome to Peacefully

Many years ago I began a practice of self-enquiry or self-observation. Instead of allowing awareness to be projected outwards into the physical world, self-enquiry trains the lens of awareness inwards.

In practical terms, I would simply sit – with eyes open or closed – and observe whatever was happening within my consciousness.

From this practice, I was able to make several observations. Firstly, thoughts came into existence all by themselves. I didn’t need to do anything in order to have a thought. Secondly, if I didn’t grab hold of them, those thoughts either dissolved or disappeared. Thirdly, many of those thoughts contained the idea or concept of “I”. They were I-centred thoughts.

It became apparent that my true identity could not be the “I” because I was the one observing the “I” (or I-thought) coming into existence. Because I was the one witnessing the activity of the mind, I couldn’t be the activity of the mind itself.

Through this practice of self-enquiry, the deeper, transpersonal, truth of who I am was revealed. I am the witnessing presence, which is sometimes referred to as Being or beingness.

By allowing my awareness to rest within that state of being, a simple yet profound knowing became apparent: I am the Light of Awareness, which I often refer to as The Light of Pure Awareness or The Light Within.

This light of awareness is projected into the mind where it becomes formatted into consciousness. The realm of consciousness is where all ideas, stories and identities are born. In other words, who you think you are (the “I” or I-thought) is a product of the activity of the mind, until you practise some form of self-enquiry or experience some form of awakening, which reveals to you that you are not the activity of the mind, but rather the light that illuminates the mind.

Just as our solar system has a source of light at its centre (our sun), without which the solar system and all life within it would not exist, there is also a source of light at the centre of your being, without which you would have no awareness of anything.

This discovery of the light of awareness within me happened quite naturally, simply through this process of self-observation. However, when I attempted to communicate this discovery to other people, it became apparent that this was not a commonplace experience and it was something that many people found very difficult to relate to.

During the same period of time in which I was practising self-observation, a realisation occurred which was like an instant knowing that there was a path that led to this light of awareness. There was a process people could engage with that would allow them to discover the light within themselves and experience the profound inner peace that I feel within. This realisation arrived in my consciousness like a zip file that took me quite some time to unpack and understand.

Gradually, over a period of about a decade, a practical philosophy called Peacefully took shape, at the heart of which were the Seven Peaceful Ways.

Following the publication of my book, Seven Peaceful Ways, in 2024, I found myself on a new journey of discovery and exploration, which not only revealed new aspects of the light, but also took me very deeply into the darkness of The Shadow.

What emerged from this journey were a number of insights and realisations, which I will be referring to on this website.