Dedication
Dedicated to all of humanity
May  The Greatest Secret fr ee you fr om all suffering and
bring you everlasting happiness. That is my intention for you, and for every human
being.Epigraph
“Of all the things human beings can learn in this life, I
have the gr eatest news to tell you, the most beautiful
thing to shar e . . .”
—MoojiContents
Cover
T itle Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
The Beginning
Chapter 1: Hidden in Plain Sight
Chapter 2: The Greatest Secret: Revealed
Chapter 3: The Reveal Continued
Chapter 4: Y ou’re Dreaming . . . It’ s T ime to W ake Up
Chapter 5: Freedom from the Mind
Chapter 6: Understanding the Power of Feelings
Chapter 7: The End of Negative Feelings
Chapter 8: No More Suf fering
Chapter 9: Dissolving Limiting Beliefs
Chapter 10: Everlasting Happiness
Chapter 1 1: The W orld: All Is W ell
Chapter 12: The End—There Is No End
The Greatest Secret Practices
Featur ed in  The Greatest Secret
About the Author
Copyright
About the PublisherAcknowledgments
The Gr eatest Secr et  cou ld not have come into the world
without the help and support  of many . First, I wish to
acknowledge a nd honor the teachers whose illuminating
teachings are featured throughout this book. They epitomize
grace an d wisdom, and I am beyond grateful for their presence
and willingness to be a part of this life-transforming book. T o the scientists  and doctors fea tured in this book, my deepest
gratitude for your leading-edge perspectives that humankind
needs to take us out of the dark ages of old paradigms that
don’ t work anymore and into th e illuminating presence of the
true Infinite Being that we are. T o t he members of The Secret team who worked with me on
The Gr eatest Secr et , there are no words that can describe my
gratitude for your dedication and support of this project. Whenever I announce to the team that I have discovered
something earth -shattering that I must share with the world, I
am s ure they ta ke a deep breath, wondering what is going to
come next. But without excepti on, they open their minds and
lift their  consciousness to the level that is required, so as to
provide their invaluable contribution through their roles. Skye Byrne (my daughter) is The Secret’ s editor , my editor ,
and my human compass for a ll of my books. T o edit my
books, Skye needs to understand all the teachings at the
highest possible level to ensure that I stay on track and fulfill
my grea test desire—to write as simply as possible so that
millions will be set free from su f fering and be in joy . T o work
on the early stages of a book is no mean feat, and there isn’ t
another person on the planet who could do it to the level of
brilliance and perfection with which she does it. T o Skyecomes my deepest and immeasurable gratitude, as her guiding
hand can be found on every page. Another hand you will find on every page is that of our
creative director , Nic Geor ge. The beautiful design of this
book is due to his extraordinary  creative abilities, his beautiful
creative eye and hand, and his deep intuitive sense. Creating a
new book with Nic is a process of sheer joy , and I am blessed
to have him, along with Josh Hedland, who worked side by
side with Nic on the cover and interior of The Gr eatest Secr et . Glenda Bell worked diligently with the teachers, contributors,
and their teams so that the teachings would be accurately
portrayed in the book. In a migh ty ef fort, she worked selflessly
and enthusiastically around the clock, through the nights and
weekends, to connect with all time zones, for which I am very
grateful. Thank you to the rest of the am azing Secret team: Don Zyck,
our CFO , who is always ready for the next quantum leap with
our com pany and who ushers us through the legal and
financial require ments, keeping everything flowing toward our
intention; Josh Gold, who man ages all of our social media
platforms brillia ntly and who w ill ensure that every country in
the world knows of this book; Marcy Koltun-Crilley , my
dearest friend who has been on this journey with me from the
beginning and who I am honored to say is an integral part of
The Secret team; and producer P aul Harrington, who has been
with me since a decade before  The Secret even came into
being. Paul encouraged and inspired me to write The Gr eatest
Secr et  in the early sta ges, when it se emed almost impossible
that this precious truth could b e conveyed simply . Paul also
produced The Gr eatest Secr et  audiobook, working beside T im
Patterson in post-production and bringing the revelatory words
in this book to life in audio form. My gra titude to the amazing HarperCollins team, whose
excitement in working on this book is contagious. Thank you
to the wonderful Judith Curr , president and publisher of
HarperOne, and my fantastic editor , Gideon W eil, who were
both suc h a joy t o work with. Th ank you also to Brian Murray ,
T erri Leonard, Y vonne Chan, Suzanne Quist, Laina Adler ,Edward Benitez , Aly Mostel, Melinda Mullin, Adrian Mor gan,
Dwight Been, Anna Brower , Lucile Culver , and Rosie Black. Thank y ou to the international HarperCollins team: Chantal
Restivo-Alessi, Emily Martin, Juliette Shapland, Catherine
Barbosa-Ross, and Julianna W ojcik. Thank you to the
HarperCollins U K team: Charlie Redmayne, Kate Elton,
Oliver Malcolm, Katya Shipster , Helen Rochester , Simon
Gerratt, and Julie MacBrayne. And thank you to the
HarperCollins G lobal Publishing Partners: Brasil, Espanol,
Mexico, Iberica , Italia, Holland, France, Germany , Polska,
Japan, and Nordic. Special thanks to the following  people who helped me with
their invaluable feedback: Peter Foyo, Kim W all, John W all,
Hannah Hodgde n, Marcy Koltun-Crilley , Mark W eaver , and
Fred Nalder . T o my family , Peter Byrne, Oku Den, Kevin (Kid) McKemy ,
Henley McKemy , Savannah Byrne Cronin, and my daughter
Hayley , who was the force that set me on my incredible
journey in search of the truth six teen years ago. T o my dearest
sisters, P auline V ernon, Glenda Bell, and Jan Child, thank you
for loving me and for allowing me to love you. And fin ally , tha nk you to my amazing and beautiful teacher ,
whose words and teachings of  the truth over the past four
years ha ve radically transformed  my life and helped me to see
clearly who I re ally am. This precious book is in your hands
because of her unlimited givin g and her patience in helping
direct me home. My love for her knows no boundary .The Beginning
After the release of The Secr et  in  2006, my life became what I
can only  describe as a dream life. Through practicing The
Secr et  principles religiously , my mind had become
predominantly positive, and so my life reflected that positive
state in my happiness, health, relationships, and finances. I
also found myself with a natural love and gratitude for
everything in life. But desp ite all of that, somethin g inside me continued to ur ge
me on to seek more of the trut h; something propelled me to
continue my search, though for what, I didn’ t yet know . Unbeknownst to me at the tim e, I had begun what was to
become a ten-year journey! It started with studying the
teachings of an ancient tradition in Europe, the Rose Cross
Order , a nd I studied their profou nd teachings for many years. I
also spe nt some years studying Buddhism, the many works of
the Chr istian mystics, theolo gy , Hinduism, T aoism, and
Sufism. After I studied the ancient traditions and their
historical teachings, my search turned back toward the present
time, and I started following recent teachers like J.
Krishnamurti, R obert Adams, Lester Levenson, and Ramana
Maharshi, as well as some teachers still living today . Throughout my journey I learned many things that are
unknown to the public at lar ge, and while they were
fascinating, none of them made me feel that I had found the
truth. As t he years pas sed by , I even considered that searching might
be m y life fore vermore. I didn’ t realize it then, but I was
looking for the truth in the world, when all along it was closer
to me than I could ever have imagined.T en yea rs after my search began, in early January of 2016, a
challenging situation arose in my life that caused me to feel
deep dis appointment. I was surprised at the depth of negative
emotion that I felt. How could I feel so bad when I usually felt
so g ood? But that disappointing situation was to become the
greatest gift in my search for the truth. T o turn my disappointment around, I grabbed my iPad and
watched an interview on Cons cious TV with a man called
David Bingham. At the time of the interview David was not a
teacher but was just an ordinary  everyday person like you and
me, with one d if ference: after twenty years of searching, he
had discovered the truth! I w atche d the interview , and aft erward I listened to a podcast
that David recommended. I listened intently to the podcast,
and during it I heard that most people overlook this discovery
—not because it’ s dif ficult, but because it’ s so simple. Then, I
was able  to speak with David on the phone, and during our
conversation he said, “Look at w hat I’m pointing to. It’ s right
here.” A nd suddenly I saw wha t I had been searching for . It
was  so simple, and it was  right here. Just like that—after ten
years—my searc h ended! I can say without any hesitation that
the happiness and joy I felt from this discovery was worth
every se cond of my years-long journey . Even if it had taken
my entire life to discover it, it would have been worth it. In th e en d, just one simple discovery was the whole truth that I
had bee n looking for , which is actually what everyone is
looking for , whether they realize  it or not. And once I had seen
the truth, I could see that it was everywhere. Everything I had
been rea ding and learning for ten years contained it; I just
didn’ t have the e yes to see it at that time. I had been searching
for year s, from one tradition an d philosophy to the next, and
what I had been looking for ha d been right in front of me all
along! From the moment I made the di scovery , I knew that there was
nothing more important than to understand this discovery
more, live it com pletely , and then share it with the world. My
hope was to sho w the way out for those experiencing hardship,
to help end the pain and suf feri ng that so many are enduring,and to shine a light to a futur e where we can live without
anxiety or fear . I ha d already been putting notes from everything I was
learning in a folder on my computer that was entitled “My
Next Bo ok.” It was an intuiti ve sense that inspired me to
record e verything I was discovering, in the hope that I could
eventually share it with the world. Those cherished notes,
when I had finished collating them, became the foundation of
this book. Just two months after discovering the truth through David
Bingham, I met someone else w ho was to have an enormous
ef fect on my life, and on the creation of this book. She walked
into a room I wa s in at a retreat, and when I walked up to talk
to he r , h er prese nce had such a profound ef fect on me that any
trace of negativi ty from my entire lif e was gone in an instan t! She had  been a s tudent of one o f my all-time favorite teachers,
the late Robert  Adams. I kne w instantly that she was my
teacher , the one who would hel p me fully realize and live the
truth in this lifet ime, and she has remained my teacher for the
past four years. Her teachings are straightforward, beautifully
simple, and she never hesitates to tell me if I’m going in the
wrong direction. While her name remains anonymous at her
request, I have shared many of her life-changing teachings that
propelled my life into one of constant joy and happiness. My
deepest wish is that they will do the same for you. She, along with the other teachers featured in this book, helped
lead me  out of the darkness of ignorance by illuminating this
one discovery . Every one of them helped me to understand the
truth that I had  discovered more deeply and to live from it
more fully , and the love I feel for them is infinite. Their words
that changed my life forever are featured throughout this book. W ith every step you take throug h this book, you will become
happier and your life will become more ef fortless, and that
happiness and ef fortlessness wil l continue to increase without
any end. Any fear and uncertainty of the future will no longer
plague you. Any anxiety and str ess about your daily struggles
or w orld events will dissolve. Y ou can be free of every form ofsuf fering that you might be experiencing right now . And you
will be. While there are certainly some  huge revelations throughout
these pages, there are also many simple practices to
immediately put  those revelations into practice. The practices
alone ar e worth  their weight in  gold. I know . I am the living
proof of how well they work. The Secr et  showed  you how to create anything you want to be,
do, o r ha ve. Not hing has changed—it is as true today as it ever
was. Th is book reveals the greatest discovery a human being
can ever make and shows yo u the way out of negativity ,
problems, and what you don’ t want, to a life of permanent
happiness and bliss. It sim ply doesn’ t get any better than this. It is my greatest joy
to welcome you to The Gr eatest Secr et .C h a p t e r  1
Hidden in Plain Sight
Of t he billions of people on our planet, only a few have
discovered the truth. Those few are completely free from the
turmoil and negativity of life and live in permanent peace and
happiness. For the rest of us, whether we realize it or not,
we’ve been in se arch of this truth unceasingly every single day
of our lives. Despite the fact that this great secret has been written about
and alluded to by many great sages, prophets, and religious
leaders throughout history , the majority of us still remain
ignorant of the single greatest discovery we can ever make. Among those who have share d this discovery with us are
Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tzu,  Jesus Christ, Y ogananda,
Krishnamurti, and the Dalai Lama. While they each have dif ferent teachings that were appropriate
for their time, they all refer to the same truth—the truth about
us and the truth behind our world. “In some religions this truth is expressed less openly and
clearly than in others, but it is nevertheless the truth that lies at
the heart of every religion.”
Michael James, fr om  Happiness and the Art of Being
This gre at secret  is in plain view for every one of us to see. It’ s
closer to  us than our very breath , yet we’ve missed it! Ancienttraditions knew that to hide a s ecret it should be put in plain
sight, wh ere no one will think to  look for it. And that’ s exactly
where The Greatest Secret lies. “Thus it  is referred to in the Kashmir Shaivite tradition as ‘the
greatest secret, more hidden than the most concealed and yet
more evident than the most evident of things.’”
Rupert Spira, fr om  Being A ware of Being A ware
W e’ve missed the truth for thou sands of years because we’ve
not looked at what is right in front of us. W e’ve become easily
distracted by our problems, the drama in our lives, the
comings and goings of the ev ents in the world, and we’ve
missed the greatest discovery we can make that is right here
before u s—a discovery that can take us out of suf fering and
into lasting happiness. What secret can possibly be so life-changing? What single
discovery can ever end suf fering, or bring everlasting peace
and happiness? Quite simply , a secret that reveals who you really are. Y ou might think you know who you are, but if you think
you’re a n individual person with a name, who’ s a certain age,
from a particula r race, who has a profession, a family history ,
and various life experiences, you will be stunned by the
revelation of who you r eally  are. “The only way that someone can be of help to you is by
challenging your ideas.”
Anthony de Mello, S.J., fr om  A wareness: Conversations with the Masters
W e’ve all accepted many false ideas and beliefs throughout
our live s, and those false ide as and beliefs have kept us
enslaved. W e’ve  been told that there’ s limitation and lack in
the world—that there’ s not enough money , time, resources,
love, or health: “Life is short,”  “Y ou’re only human,” “Y ou
have to work h ard and struggle to get somewhere in life,”
“W e’re running out of resource s,” “The world is in turmoil,”
“The world needs saving.” But the moment you see the truth,
those mistruths will crumble, and your happiness will arise
from the ruins.Perhaps you’re thinking, “My life is going swimmingly , and so
why would I even want to know The Greatest Secret?”
T o quote the wonderful late Anthony de Mello, S.J. :
“Because your life is a mess!”
Y ou may disagree. I certainly didn’ t think my life was a mess
either until Anthony de Mello defined exactly what he meant. Do y ou ever ge t upset? Ever get stressed? Ever worry? Ever
feel anxious, of fended, or hurt? Ever feel sad, down in the
dumps, or despondent? Are yo u ever unhappy or in a bad
mood? If you e xperience any of these emotions at any time,
then according to Anthony de Mello, your life is a mess! Y ou mi ght think it’ s normal to be plagued by negative
emotions throug hout your day , but life isn’ t supposed to be
that way . Y ou can live your life utterly free of hurt, upset,
worry , and fear , and exist in continuous  happiness. Life is showing us there’ s a way  out of suf fering through every
single challenging circumstance we experience, especially the
very chal lenging circumstances. But we don’ t see it. W e’re
lost in our probl ems, and we miss the very thing that is right in
front of us that is the way out of all problems forever! “W e se ek happiness in experience after experience,
relationship afte r relationship, therapy after therapy , workshop
after workshop—even ‘spiritual’ ones, which sound so
promising but never address the root cause of suf fering:
ignorance of our true nature.”
Mooji, fr om  White Fire, second edition
Whenever we suf fer , it’ s becau se we’ve believed something
about ourselves that isn’ t true; we’ve mistaken our own
identity . All  of humanity’ s s uf fering comes down to a case of
mistaken identity . The trut h is, you’re not a person  who has no control over what
happens to you and your life. Y ou’re not a person who has to
slave at a job you don’ t like, o nly to die at the end of it all. Y ou’re not a pe rson who has to struggle from paycheck to
paycheck. Y ou’re not a person w ho needs to prove yourself or
who needs anybody else’ s appr oval. The truth is, you are notreally a  person at all. Y ou are most certainly having the
experience  o f being a perso n, but in the bigger picture it’ s not
who you are. “It isn’ t the way it appears to be. Y ou aren’ t what you think
you are.”
Jan Frazier , fr om  The Freedom of Being
“Sometimes we’re tar geting the symptoms in life but the real
cause in life we’re missing—the understanding and
recognition of our true nature. This is the one medicine for
everything.”
Mooji
“All the unhappiness, disco ntent and misery that we
experience in our life is caus ed only by our ignorance or
confused knowl edge of who or what we really are. Therefore
if w e wa nt to be free of all forms of misery and unhappiness,
we must free ourself from our ignorance or confused
knowledge of what we really are.”
Michael James, fr om  Happiness and the Art of Being
Y our ga uge of how your life  is going is your level of
happiness. How happy are you? Are you genuinely happy all
of th e time? Do  you live within a continuous background of
happiness? Y ou’re supposed to be happy all the time. Happiness is  you. It’ s your true nature. It’ s who you really are. “The thi ng that every one of us is looking for in this world is
exactly the same thing. Every being, even the animals are
looking for it. And what is it that we’re all looking for—
happiness with no sorrow . A continuous happiness with no
taint whatsoever of sorrow .”
Lester Levenson, fr om  W ill Power audio
Every action we take, every dec ision we make, is because we
think we will b e happier from it. It’ s not a coincidence that
we’re all looking for happiness ; in our search for happiness,
we are actually looking for ourselves without realizing it! It’ s not possible to find lasting happiness through material
things. Every material thing appears and eventually
disappears, so if you vest your happiness in a material thing,your happiness  will disappear when the material thing
disappears. There’ s nothing wro ng with material things (they
are won derful, and you deserve to have whatever you want in
life), but it’ s a major breakthrough when you realize that you’ll
never find lasting happiness in them. If material things brought
us happi ness, then when we receive something that we really
wanted, the happiness would n ever leave us. But it’ s not the
case. Instead, we experience a fl eeting happiness, and within a
very sho rt amount of time we ’re back to where we started
from—a state of wanting more things in an ef fort to feel happy
again. There’ s only one way to find lasting, permanent happiness—it
is to  fin d out who you really ar e, because your true nature IS
happiness. “The world is s o unhappy because it is ignorant of the true
Self. Man’ s real nature is happin ess. Happiness is inborn in the
true Self . Man’ s  search for happ iness is an unconscious search
for his true Self . . . When a ma n finds it, he finds a happiness
which does not come to an end.”
Ramana Maharshi
“The on ly real purpose of being here on this earth is to learn or
to re-remember our original natural state of no limitations.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  W ill Power audio
“The discovery of our true Self has the power to transform the
darkness of ignorance into the li ght of pure understanding. It is
the m ost profound, important an d radical discovery . It is a tree
that bears fruit immediately . When we realize who we are—
the one experiencing and perceiving the world—so many
things will be set right. There are not many things to know if
truth is what you seek. It’ s not volumes of knowledge that are
required—it’ s to come to the recognition of the one true Self
that you are.”
Mooji
Remembering w ho you really are has been given many names
over th e centuries. Enlighten ment, self-realization, self-
discovery , illumina tion, awakening, remembering. Y ou
probably think “enlightenment”  can’ t be for you (“I’m just anormal person”), but you couldn’ t be further from the truth. This dis covery—this happiness, this freedom—is who you are,
so how can it not be for you? “Open yourself to the possibilit y that you can experience the
truth  of what you are , this very mom ent. How , you may ask? By noti cing that the only o bstacle in the way is your
imagination—your imagined opposition.”
My teacher
“W e are free, and we don’ t know it. It feels the furthest thing
from possible, that it could be  so. W e’d swear we’re at the
mercy of what g oes wrong, what goes right. And yet (here is
the truth), freedom is right here.”
Jan Frazier , fr om  The Freedom of Being
“Self-realization is possible f or someone who’ s had no
education and it can also be po ssible for a king. There are no
preconditions to  self-realization . Self-realization isn’ t just for
those w ho’ve under gone yea rs of spiritual practice—it’ s
possible for someone who’ s been drinking and smoking all the
time.”
David Bingham, fr om Conscious TV
What W ill Y our Life Be Like? “I’m talking about something that hardly anyone has yet
experienced. How can I describe it? No limits on anything in
any direction whatsoever . The ability to do anything for the
mere thought of it. Y et it is more than that. Imagine the highest
joy you can have and multiply by a hundred.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  No Attachments, No A versions
When you fully recognize who you are, you will have a life
without problem s, without upset, hurt, worry , or fear . Y ou will
be f ree from t he fear of death and will never again be
controlled or tortured by your mind. False ideas and beliefs
will dis solve. In their place will be clarity , happiness, joy ,
peace, infinite fun and wonder—every moment a delight. Y ou
will know you are safe and secure no matter what.“And when we recognize this . . . ultimate happiness is
established pe rmanently , and  forever . And with its
establishment comes immortality , unlimitedness,
imperturbable peace, total freed om, and everything else that
everyone is seeking.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
When you fully recognize who y ou are, life becomes ef fortless
—everything you need seems to appear without any ef fort
from yo u. There ’ s an ease and a flow that take over your life. A lif e of  lack and limitation is o ver forever . Y ou come to know
the ultimate power you have over everything in the world. When you fully recognize who you are, suf fering and struggle
will be gone, a nd fear and negative emotions will dissolve. The min d will quiet. Y ou will be filled with joy , positivity ,
fulfillment, a sense of abundance, and an imperturbable peace. This will be your life. From the words of Jan Frazier , a mother and literary teacher:
“Imagine this: Whatever has weighed on you suddenly no
longer w eighs. It may still be there, a fact in your life, but it
has no mass, no gravity . All tha t has ever troubled you is now
just a feature of the landscape,  like a tree, a passing cloud. Every bit of em otional and mental turmoil has ceased: the
entire bu rden, so me form of wh ich has been with you as long
as yo u can reme mber . A thing familiar as your closest friend—
as much  a part o f you as the language you speak, the color of
your skin—is utterly , inexplic ably gone. Into the startling
emptiness flows  a quiet joy that buoys you morning, noon, and
night, that goes everywhere you go, into any kind of
circumstance, even into sleep. Everything you undertake
happens ef fortlessly . Y ou are happy , but for no reason. Nothing
bothers you. Y ou feel no stress. When a problem arises, you
know what to do , you do it, and then you let it go. People that
used to  drive you crazy no longer do. While you feel
compassion for others’ suf ferin g, you don’ t suf fer yourself. Activities that used to be tedious are fun. Y ou don’ t need
therapy; you don’ t get bored, an xious, or moody . Except when
needed for a task, your mind is at rest. Y our life is entirely
fulfilled—without your having t o do anything to fulfill it, . . .you know that no matter what challenge you are handed—for
the r est of your life—the peace will sustain. Never again will
you be afraid, desperate, lonely . Whatever comes your way ,
this causeless joy will hold. Imagine it.”
Jan Frazier , fr om  When Fear Falls A way
This is your life with The Greatest Secret. This is your destiny .C H A P T E R  1  S u m m a r y
Whether we r ealize it or not, we’ve been in sear ch of The
Gr eatest Secr et unceasingly every single day of our lives. This gr eat secr et is in plain view  for every one of us to see,
yet we’ve missed it. W e’ve m issed th e truth for thou sands of years because we
ar e distr acted by our pr oblems, the drama in our lives, the
comings and goings of the events in the world. W e’ve accepted many false ideas and beliefs thr oughout our
lives, and they have kept us enslaved. Whenever we suffer , it’ s because we’ve mistaken our own
identity . Humanity is suffering fr om a misunderstanding of our true
natur e.
Y ou ar e having the  experience of being a person, but in the
bigger pictur e it’ s not who you ar e.
Y ou’r e supposed to be happy all the time. Happiness is your
true natur e.
Discovering who you r eally ar e has been given many
names: enligh tenment, self-r ealization, self-discovery ,
awakening, r emembering. Open yourself to the possibility that you can experience  the
truth of what you ar e, this very moment. When you fully r ecognize who y ou ar e, you will experience
a lif e without pr oblems, upset, hurt, worry , or fear , and you
will be filled with joy , positivity , fulfillment, abundance, and
peace.C h a p t e r  2
The Gr eatest Secr et: Revealed
“So close you can’ t see it. So subtle your mind can’ t understand it. So simple you can’ t believe it. So good you can’ t accept it.”
Loch Kelly , fr om  Shift into Freedom r egar ding the Shangpa Kagyu T ibetan Buddhist tradition
Why is it so few have discovered the truth? Why haven’ t the m ajority of us realized
who we are? How can billions o f people have missed something so vitally important
to our happiness? W e’ve m issed discovering The Greatest Secret because of one small obstacle: a
belief! J ust a single belief has prevented us from making the g reatest discovery we
can make. That belief is that we are our body and our mind. Y ou Ar e Not Y our Body
“W e came into this world to be a body in order to learn that we are not a body .”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
Just as you use a  car to get from one location to another , your b ody is a vehicle you
use to move around and to experience the world. “If you have a c ar , you do not say you are the car . Why then, if you have a body , do
you say you are the body?”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
Being m aterial, your body isn’ t conscious. It doesn’ t know it’ s a body , but “you”
know it’ s a body . Y our toe doesn’ t know it’ s a toe, your wrist doesn’ t know it’ s a
wrist, yo ur head doesn’ t know it ’ s a head, and your brain has no  idea it’ s a brain, but
“you” k now each and every pa rt of your body . How could you be the body when
you know all the dif ferent parts, and yet not one of them knows you? It’ s prob ing que stions like these that enabled the great beings of the past to unravel
the mystery behind who we really are. “The wo rst habi t we have gotten  into over the millenniums is that we believe we are
this body .”Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
“W e hav e for gotten what we are , and we have identified ourselv es with objects. I am
this body , therefore I’m going to die.”
Francis Lucille
“Y ou fear that if the body isn’ t, you are not.”
Lester Levenson
Believing you’r e just your body creates the biggest fear of humanity , the fear of
death: when your body dies, you fear you will no longer exist. It’ s like a dark cloud
hanging over your life. “If you want immortality—stop holding on to the body .”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
It’ s good news that you’re not your body , because your body is going to come to an
end one day , as all material thin gs do. The world is completely made up of material
things, a nd not one of those thin gs will last, including your body , which appears and
disappears through the process of birth and death. What you actually  are never dies! “What you truly are cannot die. The body will die, but the body is not what you
are.”
Mooji
“W e have free will to identify with the body or identify with who we really are. Body equals pain and what you are equals infinite joy .”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
Y our way out of all dif ficulties begins with letting go of the belief that you are your
body . Y ou Ar e Not Y our Mind
The voic e in your head is not yo u, yet you’ve probably believed it is you for most of
your life. While the voice in your head sounds like you, seems to know a lot about
you, and has become very familiar to you, it’ s definitely not  you . That voice  in your
head is your mind, and you are not your mind. “The mind is a collection of thoughts that constantly appear and disappear .”
Peter Lawry
“If there are no thoughts, then there is no mind. Mind is only thought.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
Check for yourself. Where is y our mind if there is no thought? Y our mind isn’ t
there. “There’ s nothing  inside but thoughts and feelings, memories and sensations, but are
you a thought? Are you a feeling?”
Rupert Spira, fr om a public talk
If you were a thought—let’ s sa y , a frustrated thought—then you would disappear
when th e frustra ted thought disappeared. Y ou are not a thought, a sensation, or a
feeling, because  when they end  you would end too, but you’re still here after they
end. Y ou are he re before a thou ght, you are here before a feeling or sensation, and
you remain perfectly intact after they’ve gone. It’ s fairly obvious when you look atit. Certainly , we do experience th oughts, feelings, and sensations , but we are none of
those things. In some  ways it’ s easy to under stand how we’ve missed seeing who we really are,
because the body and mind are a very convincing combination. O ur mind keeps up a
constant tirade of thoughts, mos t of which include the word “I,” as though the mind
is us. And you may be surprised to learn that all our bodily sensations come from
the mind, too, which reinforces our belief that we are our body . “How others see you contribute s to your sense of self. When things happen, they
seem to happen ‘to’ you, or you  may bring them about . . . Y ou care what happens
because of its ef fect on you. Y ou ‘hold’ yourself with a wish t o keep yourself safe
and in a good light. Y ou certainly do seem real.”
Jan Frazier , fr om  The Great Sweetening: Life After Thought
It’ s n ot that you don’ t have a bod y and a mind; it’ s just that they are not the r eal  you. Just like your car , they’re simply finely tuned instruments you’re using to
experience the material world. “Identifying wit h the body and mind is the only thing that is covering up who you
truly are. It’ s this misidentification that is veiling your true Self.”
Mooji
Ar e Y ou Really the Person Y ou Think Y ou
Ar e? “Considering all the ef fort given to bolstering the ego—the emphasis on self-esteem,
reputation, achie vement, physic al appearance, material acquisition—it’ s a miracle
awakening ever happens at all.”
Jan Frazier , fr om  The Freedom of Being
The ego, the imagined self, the pretend self, the separate self, an d the psychological
self are a few of the names that teachers and sages have given for our mistaken
identity . All of these descriptions refer to a body and a mind that together make up
what we  call a p erson. When we refer to ourselves, most of us are referring to this
person that we think we are. “A person is what you experience, it is not what you are.”
Mooji
“There’ s no such thing as a person. If you say , ‘I’m a person,’ t hen you have to say
which one—there was a baby once upon a time, there was a teenager , there was a
toddler . . . and then this whole process will be over soon.”
Deepak ChopraTM, M.D. Y our per sonality is constantly changing, so if your personality i s you, which person
are you? Are you the angry person, the loving person, the fr ustrated person, the
irritated person, or the kind person? Y ou probably think you’re all of them, but you
can’ t be all of them because if y ou were, the angry person would never disappear; it
would a lways b e here. Or if the frustrated person were really you, when the
frustrated person  disappeared, a bit of you would disappear with  it. But that doesn’ t
happen, does it? Y ou’re here be fore the angry person appears, a nd you’re here after
the angr y person disappears. Y ou’re here before the frustrated person appears, andyou’re here after they disappe ar . Clearly you are not your changing moods or
personality . “Personality is a useful tool, but it cannot define who you are. Who you are lies far
beyond who you think you are.”
Jac O’Keeffe
“The big gest obstacle to discovering the truth of who we essentially are is the belief
that I am a cluster of thoughts, memories, feelings and sensations. T ogether these
form an illusory self or entity . T he belief th at I am this entity is the only obstacle. All our psychological problems are due to this imaginary self. It always comes down
to mistaking ourselves for this.”
Rupert Spira, fr om a public talk
“The pe rson onl y seems to exis t because of the persistent and unquestioned belief
that there is an actual ‘person’ here. But the person, or ego, can’ t exist without the
belief in it. It’ s only imagination. In truth, there’ s no person at a ll. The only resident
of this house of the body is the p ure Self, which is what you are. The rest is all made
up. There are not two tenants in this body , there’ s only ever been one. Belief in ego
gives a sense of reality , but this is not a fact, only a fiction.”
Mooji
What’ s the problem with believing we’re an ego or a person? W e f eel small and extremely vulnerable. W e’re afraid of bad things happening to us. W e’re afraid of illness, getting old, and dying. W e’re afraid of losing the things we
have, and not getting the things we want. W e live in a state of lack, believing there’ s
“not eno ugh”: n ot enough money , not enough time, not enough  ener gy , not enough
love, health, or happiness, and not enough life. And even wors e, we believe we’r e
not enough. None of this is true—in fact, it is the very opposite of the truth—but we
can neve r have true lasting happiness while we hold on to the belief that we’re only
a person. “The tragedy and comedy of the human condition is that we spend most of our lives
thinking, feeling, acting, perceiving and relating on behalf of an illusory self.”
Rupert Spira, fr om  The Ashes of Love
“The ego isn’ t who you are. But it makes so much racket you can’ t hear who you
really are. If you keep it going, if you feed and water the ego, it’ s madness.”
Jan Frazier , fr om  Opening the Door
“I think  everyone is suf fering from person poison . . . living  life too personally ,
perceiving life too personally , taking things too personally . When you’re responding
to li fe in a personal mode it is  a form of blindness. Y ou don’ t see things in their
correct light.”
Mooji
Y ou are most certainly experiencing  a  body , experiencing  a mind , and having the
experience  o f being a person, but these are actually the least parts of you, and
ultimately they are not you, because when they end, you  do not end. “There is ‘no people’ in people.”
Shakti Caterina Maggi
But there is a r eal  you.“Why is  it so h ard to see thro ugh the ego, to let it go—to stop believing in the
solidity of the l ittle guy? Why do we hold on to this appare ntly real self, when
beneath and around and above and swimming all through it is this gor geous other
reality that really is real, that can be counted on for sustenance, for perfect
peacefulness? W hy deny ourselves this, for the sake of something so paltry by
comparison—for a thing that causes so much trouble, even pain?”
Jan Frazier , fr om  Opening the Door
Big Pr etenders
Y our thoughts, feelings, sensa tions, and beliefs seamlessly work together to
convince you you’re a person. W e’re all big pretenders. W e’re pretending we’re very
small. W e’re pretending we’re very limited. W e’re pretending we’re a small, limited
person w ho is born, lives for a time, dies, and that’ s the end of us. But nothing could
be further from the truth! “W e are self-obsessed with an imaginary character that doesn’ t exist.”
Shakti Caterina Maggi
W e coul d say that this imagina ry character is exactly like a movie character . W e
know th e actor playing the char acter exists, but does the movie  character know that
the actor exists? No, the movie character is imaginary . W e cem ent our belief that we’re a person with every thought. If you check on any
thought, you’ll find that there’ s  a “me” at the center of every one of them. Those
thoughts centered around the “me” you believe yourself to be af firm over and over
again that you’re a little, limited person. When yo u belie ve the voice in your head is who you are, you a utomatically believe
everything it says; you believe all the thoughts that your mind generates. Thoughts like:
“I’m getting old.”
“I’m too tired.”“I’m not good enough.”
“I can’ t do it.”
“I don’ t have enough time.”
“I’m not as healthy as I used to be.”
“I don’ t have enough money .”
“I’m not smart enough.”
“My eyesight is not as good as it used to be.”
“I don’ t feel loved.”
“He or she doesn’ t approve of me.”
“I don’ t deserve it.”
“I’m scared of dying.”
“I don’ t know what to do.”
These th oughts are all limitations, imposed on you by your mind. Who you really
are is un limited, which means absolutely nothing has power over you! My teacher says that we’re prac ticing being small through constant limited thoughts
(like the  ones I just listed), and  if we were not prac ticing being a small, limited
person, we would see the truth of who we really are. Everything about a “person” is the very opposite of who you really are. The person
is imperfect. The real you is per fect. The person is temporary and limited. The real
you is permanent and unlimited. The person is born and dies. T he real you is never
born and  never dies. The person  is personal and unstable. The real you is impersonal
and always stable. The person has changing moods. The real you is constant
happiness and peace. The perso n is full of judgments and opinions. The real you is
allowing and accepting of every thing. The person gets sick an d becomes old. The
real you is not subject to aging, and sickness can never touch you. The person
suf fers. The real you is free of all pain and suf fering. The person dies. The real you
exists for all eternity . T rading Unhappiness for T ruth
There’ s only one way to have a blissful life with lasting happiness, and that is to
know your true nature. There’ s only one way out of a life plagued with problems,
negativity , and discord, and that is to know the truth of who you really are. “The real you is  infinitely grand and glorious, whole, perfect, and in total peace, and
you are blinding yourself to this by assuming that you are a limited ego. Drop the
blinder , the ego, and be forever in perfect peace and joy . Wh en you have found
yourself—you will have everything.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
“Life is not about solving lots of little problems because they will never end. Life
points us to the one essential thing that has been overlooked —our own true and
unchanging self . Mankind as a whole is living lar gely in the m istaken idea  that we
are fundamentally a person with a body as opposed to our true Self.”
Mooji“There may be tragedy in the ‘story’ of our lives, but in truth, there is no tragedy
happening to us. Ultimately , the  story is only there to teach us this distinction. The
moment we take the lesson even the story changes to reveal itself as beauty , love,
and intelligence. Do not be attached to the concept that misery is unavoidable. As
long as we are attached to this concept, there will be misery .”
Francis Lucille
“In the biblical parable, the ma n who is identified with the body/mind is the man
who built his house on sand. T o realize one’ s true nature is to build one’ s house on
rock.”
David Bingham
There’ s no search to find the truth because it is what you already are. How could
you search for yourself? It’ s only that the majority of us have been constantly
looking away from our true selves, rather than looking at who we are. Have you ever looked at one of those pictures where there are two images in the one
picture? When you first look at the picture, you can see one image clearly , but at
first you can’ t s ee the second im age. Y ou try , but the second image seems to elude
you due to your focus on the first image. Y ou have to cha nge your perspective and soften your gaze ever so slightly  t o see the
other image come into view . In Rubin’ s famous picture, at first either you see two people looking at each other , or
you see a vase. T o see both images clearly you have to shift the way you’re looking
at the picture. For most of our lives we’ve been looking at ourselves from the perspective that we
are a body and mind—that we are a person. But to see clearly who we are, just as for
Rubin’ s painting, we have to shift our perspective—ever so slightly . The RevealLet me ask you one simple question. Are you aware? Y our answer must be “yes,” oth erwise you wouldn’ t be aware o f the question I just
asked you. Let me ask you again. Are you aware? Y es, you’re aware. Y ou were aware as a baby , through your childhood, your teenage
years, and throughout adulthood. Y ou’ve been aware your entire life. A wareness is and has been the o nly constant in your life. Y our body keeps changing,
your min d keeps  changing, thoughts, feelings, and sensations all keep changing, but
the one thing that has never changed is your awareness of it all. And that awareness is who you r eally ar e . Y ou ar e A war eness. “Y ou are it. It’ s so close you cannot see it. Y ou look through i ts eyes at the world
around you.”
Jan Frazier , fr om  The Freedom of Being
“When we say ‘I,’ we’ve been  conditioned to believe that we’re referring to the
body , when really ‘I’ is referring to A wareness.”
David Bingham
Y ou are  not a body , a mind, or a bundle of thoughts, feelings, memories, or
sensations. Y ou are the one who is awar e  o f your body , your mind, your thoughts,
feelings, memories, and sensations. Y ou are A wareness itself. “The moment you meet A wareness something in you recognizes it.”
Mooji
Y ou’re a ware of  reading this book. Y ou’re aware of the sounds around you. Y ou’re
aware of the room you’re in. Y ou’re aware of your name. Y ou’re aware of your body
and the clothes on your body , your breathing, and bodily sensations. Y ou’re aware of
the roof of your  mouth, the sol es of your feet, and your fingers. Y ou’re aware of
your mind, the thoughts in your head, and your feelings and moods. In fact, you couldn’ t know or experience any of life at all without A wareness. Y ou Ar e the A war eness That Is  A war e of
Everything
A wareness is what is aware of every single life experience you have. It’ s not the
mind or  the body that is aware of your life. Y ou—the A wareness that you are—are
aware of the min d, thoughts, and the body , and anything you are aware of cannot be
you. The teac her Sailor Bob Adamson points out that we know we ex ist—of that we have
no doubt. W ell, the only way we know that we exist is our awareness that we exist. W e m ake the mistake of believin g our awareness that we exist comes from the mind
or th e body , but that is not true. Our awareness that we exist is what we truly are, not
the mind or the body .Just for a moment, imagine you have no body or mind. T ake away your body . T ake away your mind. T ake away your name. T ake away your life story , which is your entire past. T ake away all memory , beliefs, and all thought. And notice what is left. What is left is simply A wareness. “If someone were to draw our a ttention to the white paper on which these words are
written, we would suddenly bec ome aware of it. In fact, we were always aware of
the paper but we didn’ t realise it due to the exclusive focus of our attention on the
words. A wareness is like the white paper .”
Rupert Spira, fr om  Being A ware of Being A ware
Just like  the white paper , A ware ness is always present in the background of our life. W e usua lly give  our exclusive attention to our mind and thoughts and our body and
sensations, beca use they’re very attention grabbing. But we could not experience the
mind and its tho ughts or the bod y and its sensations without A wareness to be aware
of them, just as we could not see any words if it were not for th e background of the
paper the words were printed on. “Give yo ur attention to this back ground, even a little, and you will discover a whole
new world.”
Hale Dwoskin
“A wareness is the most obvious element of experience and yet the most
overlooked.”
Rupert Spira, fr om  Being A ware of Being A ware
“The subtle thing that is overlooked is that everything is known directly by
awareness, but it’ s assumed th at everything is coming in thr ough the mind. For
instance, the common thing would be to say , ‘I think,’ but actually , if it’ s looked at
carefully , it’ s noticed that there is an awareness of thinking . . . so the thinking isn’ t
who you are; there’ s something that is aware of thinking.”
David Bingham, fr om Conscious TV
The one  that is l ooking out through your eyes is A wareness! Th e one that is hearing
through your ears is A wareness! W ithout A wareness you wouldn’ t be aware of
anything you see, hear , taste, sm ell, or touch, and you would have no experience of
the information coming in through your senses. Y our senses aren’ t aware; it’ s
A wareness that’ s aware of all of your senses. “The apparatus with which we see is by itself inert, unable to see. A telescope is
useless without an astronomer behind it. It doesn’ t see anything by itself. Likewise,
the apparatus of mind doesn’ t see anything by itself.”
Francis Lucille, fr om  The Perfume of Silence“Y ou are the A wareness that is aware of everything.”
David Bingham
“This individual  consciousness— our feeling ‘I am a person, a s eparate individual, a
mind or  soul confined within t he limits of a body’—is merely an imagination, a
false and distorted form of our pure consciousness ‘I am,’ but it is nevertheless the
root cause of all desire and all misery .”
Michael James, fr om  Happiness and the Art of Being
“The ‘me’ that we imagine we are is just another thought.”
Kalyani Lawry
“Our real nature, the infinite real self that we are, is simply us minus the mind.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
Our mind distorts the world we see by layering veils of thought and belief, one over
the top of each other . Each me ntal veil distorts the world furt her and prevents us
from seeing everything the way it really is. “The mind will never discover who you are because the mind is the cover -up of who
you are. It’ s only by letting go of the mind that you will discover who you are.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
T rying to see the truth with your mind is like trying to see something with a
blindfold on. Y ou need to drop the blindfold to see, just as you need to drop the
mind to see who you really are. “Attempting to understand cons ciousness with your mind is like  trying to illuminate
the sun with a candle.”
Mooji, fr om  White Fire, second edition
W ithout even realizing it, most o f us are constantly focused on the noise of thoughts
coming from our mind. A waren ess is always present, but when there’ s a break from
the n oise of thoughts, it’ s much  easier to notice it. When thoughts stop, we become
consciously awa re of A wareness, which has been existing silent ly in the background
all along.The Mind’ s Cover -Up
“W e’re so used to knowing ourselves through our troubles, our dramas, and our
obsessions that awake awareness, which is our true nature and our basic goodness, is
hard to accept as our true identity .”
Loch Kelly , fr om  Shift into Freedom
“A wake A waren ess” is the name that Loch Kelly uses for A wareness, and it is just
one of the many dif ferent names  used by teachers past and present to describe what
you are: A wareness, A wake A wareness, Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness,
Being, B uddha Nature, Christ Consciousness, God Consciousness, Spirit, the Self,
Infinite Being, Infinite Intellig ence, Unlimited Being, T rue Nature, T rue Self,
Presence of God, Presence, Presence A wareness, Pure Consciousness, Pure
A wareness, and many others. A ll these words are describing ex actly the same thing
—the A wareness that you are. “W e’re so smart and our lives are so complex that it’ s hard to believe that simply
discovering awa ke awareness could be the solution to our suf fer ing. It’ s also hard to
believe t hat the most important d iscovery is already here within us; we don’ t have to
go on an odyssey to find it, earn it, or develop it.”
Loch Kelly , fr om  Shift into Freedom
“The great joke is the simplicity of it all.”
Peter Lawry
It’ s a  great joke because what we truly are, what is closer to us than our very breath,
has eluded the majority of humans for thousands of years. W e’ve missed the simplest, most wonderful discovery because our thoughts have a
hypnotic ef fect on us that keeps  us in our head, oblivious to A w areness. W e usually
give our attention exclusively to the thoughts in our mind an d to everything we
perceive through  our senses, and  with our attention diverted we miss what is always
present—A wareness. “There i s nothin g wrong with t he body or the mind. The only problem is that we
identify our witnessing presence, consciousness, with them. As  long as we identify
this witnessing presence with the body and the mind, there is no room for this
presence to reveal itself in all its glory .”
Francis Lucille, fr om  The Perfume of Silence
“For a moment, take of f the pers ona. It’ s just an item of clothing, threadbare, stained
with years of wear and tear .”
Pamela W ilson
“T o believe that our Self—lumin ous, open, empty A wareness— shares the limits and
the desti ny of the mind and body is like believing that the scre en shares the limits
and destiny of a character in a movie.”
Rupert Spira, fr om  The Ashes of Love
“People think they are a human being, but they’re the Infinite Being. They’ve
mistaken their identity , but who they really are has never left them and is always
present.”
David BinghamY our mind appears only when you have a thought, and it disappears after the
thought has ended. But A wareness never appears and disappears. A wareness is
always p resent, even when you’re asleep. It feels  like A wareness disappears when
you go to sleep and appears again when you wake, and yet you  know when you’ve
had a great nigh t’ s sleep because you say something like, “I slept really well. I slept
like a baby .” How do you know that you slept like a baby? Y ou know it because
A wareness was aware and present the entire time you were sleeping. When you ask yourself the qu estion, “Am I aware?” immediately A wareness is
noticed. It didn’ t appear; it was a lways present. Y ou simply took your attention from
thinking  and put it on A war eness , and so you became consciously aware. Everything other than A warene ss eventually ends or dies. W ithout exception, all
material earthly  things come an d go, appear and disappear . Ev ery single thing on
earth—bodies, cities, countries, oceans—appears and eventually disappears. T ake a
moment to think about it, and you’ll see that nothing remains . It’ s all temporary ,
even pla net eart h itself, the sun, the solar system, even universes. Nothing is here
forever , except for one thing—A wareness. Y ou, A wareness, are here forever! Our bodies age, yet when people get older they’ll say they don’ t feel they’ve aged,
and that they feel the same as they always have. They’ll admit that their body feels
older , but the one they feel themselves to be deep down doesn’ t feel like it has aged
at al l. W ithout r ealizing it, they are sensing the timeless A wareness that they really
are. “When you remember your pa st, your childhood, who is it  that remembers? I
remember . ‘I’ is that which knows the experience, remembers the experience.”
Deepak ChopraTM, M.D. The “I” that we call ourselves at five years old, fifteen years o ld, thirty years old,
and sixty years old is the ageless A wareness that has witnessed our entire life. Five years old: “I . . . am going to school soon.”
Fifteen years old: “I . . . can’ t wait to graduate.”
Thirty years old: “I . . . just got engaged.”
Sixty years old: “I . . . am not ready for retirement yet.”
“Self-realization is to see that t he changing appearances on the surface of life are
arising w ithin th e permanent, ever -stable A wareness that one truly is and has only
ever been.”
David Bingham, fr om Conscious TV
“This is not a fairy tale. This possible thing is as real as a tree, a s real as politics, as
the roots that hold the tree to the ground, as real as the newspaper and its stories. It
is as real as the Red Sox, as the price of gas, as a fight with your  in-laws, as real as a
tuition bill . . . T he truth is, it is more real than these things, and yet it is hardly seen,
hardly felt, let alone directly known.”
Jan Frazier , fr om  Opening the Door“There is not one of us who is not in direct touch with, in possession of, an infinite
Beingness that’ s  all perfect, all present, all joyous and eternal. There is not one of us
who is not in direct contact with That right now! But due to wrong learning, by
assuming, over the ages, concep ts of limitation and by looking  outwardly , we have
beclouded the view . W e have covered over this Infinite Bein g that we are with
concepts of, ‘I am this physical body ,’ or , ‘I am this mind,’ or , ‘W ith this physical
body and mind, I have heaps and heaps of problems and troubles.’”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
“This is the same state that most religions refer to as ‘libera tion’ or ‘salvation,’
because only in this state of tr ue self-knowledge are we free or saved from the
bondage of mistaking ourself to be a separate individual, a consciousness that is
confined within the limits of a physical body .”
Michael James, fr om  Happiness and the Art of Being
Consciousness o r A wareness is also known by some religions  as the presence of
God. When a person has a divine experience—an experience where they feel they
were touched by God—the individual mind and ego drop, which then reveals
A wareness, or the presence of G od. There is a feeling of pure love, infinite peace,
beauty , happiness, and bliss, which cannot be mistaken for anything but divinity . “In reality , we are the Infinite Being rather than the human being. W e are the Infinite
Being, having a human experience.”
David Bingham
In many  ways, the truth of life a nd of ourselves is actually the complete opposite to
what we have been taught. Inste ad of looking out ward to the wor ld for happiness,for fulfillment, for answers and truth, we need to turn and look inward, because it’ s
only in that direction that we will find everything we’re looking for . Our
breathtaking world, and everythi ng in it, is meant to be enjoyed to the fullest, but the
happiness, joy , love, peace, intelligence, and freedom that are A wareness—your
very nature—can only be found within you.C H A P T E R  2  S u m m a r y
A single belief has pr evented us fr om making the gr eatest
discovery—the belief that we ar e our body and our mind. Y ou ar e not your body; your b ody is a vehicle you use to
experience the world. Y our body isn’ t conscious. Believing you’r e your body cr eates the biggest fear of
humanity , the fear of death. What you  actually ar e never dies. Y ou ar e not your mind; mind is only thoughts. If ther e ar e no
thoughts, then ther e is no mind. Y ou ar e not a thought, a sensation, or a feeling, because if
you wer e, when they end you would end too. Y our body and mind together  make up what we call a
person—the imagined self. A person is what you experience, it is not what you ar e.
W e can never ha ve true lasting happiness while we hold on
to the belief that we’r e a person. Y ou ar e  experiencing a body , experiencing a mind, and
having the  experience of being a person, but they ar e not
you. W e’r e pr etending we’r e a small, limited person thr ough
constant thoughts of limitation. Who you r eally ar e is  un limited, which means absolutely
nothing has power over you. Y ou’ve b een awar e your entir e life; A war eness is and has
been the only constant in your life.That awar eness is who you  really ar e.  Y ou are awareness. Y ou couldn’ t know or experience any of life without
awar eness. It’ s not the min d or the body that is awar e of your life. A war eness is what is awar e of every single life experience
you have. Imagine you have no body or mind, name, life story , past,
memory , beliefs, or thought. What is left is A war eness. W e usua lly give our attention exclusively to thoughts and to
everything we per ceive, so we m iss what is always pr esent—
A war eness. A war eness is pr esent even when you’r e asleep. When you ask yourself the question, “Am I awar e?”
immediately awar eness is noticed. It didn’ t appear; it was
always pr esent. Everything other than awar eness eventually ends or dies. The “I” that we call ourselves at every age is the ageless
“I” of A war eness, which has witnessed our entir e life. Instead of looking outwar d to t he world for happiness, we
need to turn and  look inwar d; it’ s only in that dir ection that
we will find everything we’r e looking for .C h a p t e r  3
The Reveal Continued
Y ou ar e  A wareness; you’re not a person being awar e  of something. Y ou are
Infinite A wareness itself. As Francis Lucille said, a telescope is just an instrument without the astronomer
looking through it. Y our body and mind are instruments too. And so what’ s
looking through  your eyes? Y ou, A wareness! What’ s hearing sounds? Y ou,
A wareness! Y our body is alive because of A wareness—A wareness is actually
the life force that animates your body . “The fu ndamental mistake is to believe a human being is experiencing
awareness. This is not correct. Only awareness is aware, and  therefore only
awareness can experience awareness. When I ask you, ‘Are yo u aware?,’ you
will pau se to check your experie nce and you will answer , ‘Y es.’ That ‘yes’ is an
af firmation of awareness’ s awareness of itself. It is not a body or a brain that
experiences being aware. The body and brain are experienced ; they don’ t
experience.”
Rupert Spira, fr om the talk “The Light of Consciousness”
Ther e Is Only One: Our Name Is “I”
“Only awarenes s is aware. Hum an beings aren’ t aware. Dogs and cats aren’ t
aware. Animals  aren’ t aware. Only awareness is aware. There is only one
awareness, just as there is only  one space in the universe. That awareness is
refracted in each of our minds and, as a result, each of our minds seems to have
its o wn package of awareness, just as every building seems to contain its own
space. B ut the awareness with  which each of our minds is aware of its
experience is the only awareness there is, infinite awareness, just as the space in
all buildings is the same space.”
Rupert Spira, fr om the talk “A war eness Is the Only A war e Entity in Existence”
This Infinite A wareness—this one and only A wareness— is you , and every other
person! There is only one A wareness, and it’ s the same A wareness that is
operating through everybody . There is just one of us. Our name is “I.”“There is only one ‘I,’ and you are It, as everyone is It.”
David Bingham
It’ s the one A w areness operating through every living form. A ll the physical
forms are simply dif ferent veh icles for the one glorious, Infin ite A wareness. This is the true meaning of the teaching, “W e are one.”
Consciousness and A wareness are dif ferent words used to des cribe the same
thing. They both describe you. “This very ordinary consciousn ess, which is hearing these w ords right this
moment, and understanding the m, happens to be also the divine consciousness
that lives all lives. There is not a single separate entity in the entire cosmos.”
Francis Lucille, fr om  T ruth Love Beauty
“W e are One. There is only one in us. There is only one as us.”
Mooji, fr om  White Fire, second edition
It’ s a little like t he trillions of individual cells living, working, a nd operating in
your bod y . Unbe knownst to each of the individual cells, they are really part of
the one human being. There ar e billions of beings in the world, operating as
individuals, and unbeknownst to most of them, they’re the one a nd only Infinite
Being. “W e have been taught to believe that this consciousness is personal and limited,
and that  each person is endowed with a private and separate co nsciousness, so
that ther e are many consciousne sses. W e have never considered that while it is
easy to verify that two objects are separate, because it is possible to see their
borders and limits, it is not possible to find any border or limit to
consciousness.”
Francis Lucille, fr om  T ruth Love Beauty
If there’ s only one A wareness or Consciousness, why aren’ t you aware of
thoughts or sensations in other people’ s bodies? Or of what an animal in Africa
is seein g or hearing? It’ s bec ause A wareness or Consciousness has been
funneled throug h your mind, m aking it localized to your body . Plus, the belief
that you’re a s eparate individual prevents you from experi encing the full
expansiveness of A wareness. But when you feel compassio n or love for
another , you are far more tuned in to the one A wareness than you might have
realized. W e’ve all had gl impses in our li fe of the A wareness that we are, but more often
than not  we passed them of f as something we imagined or a trick of the mind. Whether we remember them or not, we’ve had experiences that we can’ t
explain, very often when we were children. It may have been an experience
where y ou felt you expanded to be really big, and felt like the w orld was within
you, or maybe you saw or heard something that no one else could see or hear . Children are more tuned in to A wareness because their mind hasn’ t yet covered
A wareness over  with a whole array of mental concepts and beliefs. Under the
age of two and a  half, children are pure, simple A wareness. They don’ t have the
experience of being separate, wh ich is why they refer to themselves in the third
person.
thegreatestsecretbyrhondabyrne-220221200112.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Dedication
Dedicated to all of humanity
May  The Greatest Secret fr ee you fr om all suffering and
bring you everlasting happiness. That is my intention for you, and for every human
being. Epigraph
“Of all the things human beings can learn in this life, I
have the gr eatest news to tell you, the most beautiful
thing to shar e. ”
—MoojiContents
Cover
T itle Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
The Beginning
Chapter 1: Hidden in Plain Sight
Chapter 2: The Greatest Secret: Revealed
Chapter 3: The Reveal Continued
Chapter 4: Y ou’re Dreaming. It’ s T ime to W ake Up
Chapter 5: Freedom from the Mind
Chapter 6: Understanding the Power of Feelings
Chapter 7: The End of Negative Feelings
Chapter 8: No More Suf fering
Chapter 9: Dissolving Limiting Beliefs
Chapter 10: Everlasting Happiness
Chapter 1 1: The W orld: All Is W ell
Chapter 12: The End—There Is No End
The Greatest Secret Practices
Featur ed in  The Greatest Secret
About the Author
Copyright
About the PublisherAcknowledgments
The Gr eatest Secr et  cou ld not have come into the world
without the help and support  of many. First, I wish to
acknowledge a nd honor the teachers whose illuminating
teachings are featured throughout this book. They epitomize
grace an d wisdom, and I am beyond grateful for their presence
and willingness to be a part of this life-transforming book. T o the scientists  and doctors fea tured in this book, my deepest
gratitude for your leading-edge perspectives that humankind
needs to take us out of the dark ages of old paradigms that
don’ t work anymore and into th e illuminating presence of the
true Infinite Being that we are. T o t he members of The Secret team who worked with me on
The Gr eatest Secr et, there are no words that can describe my
gratitude for your dedication and support of this project. Whenever I announce to the team that I have discovered
something earth -shattering that I must share with the world, I
am s ure they ta ke a deep breath, wondering what is going to
come next. But without excepti on, they open their minds and
lift their  consciousness to the level that is required, so as to
provide their invaluable contribution through their roles. Skye Byrne (my daughter) is The Secret’ s editor, my editor,
and my human compass for a ll of my books. T o edit my
books, Skye needs to understand all the teachings at the
highest possible level to ensure that I stay on track and fulfill
my grea test desire—to write as simply as possible so that
millions will be set free from su f fering and be in joy. T o work
on the early stages of a book is no mean feat, and there isn’ t
another person on the planet who could do it to the level of
brilliance and perfection with which she does it. T o Skyecomes my deepest and immeasurable gratitude, as her guiding
hand can be found on every page. Another hand you will find on every page is that of our
creative director, Nic Geor ge. The beautiful design of this
book is due to his extraordinary  creative abilities, his beautiful
creative eye and hand, and his deep intuitive sense. Creating a
new book with Nic is a process of sheer joy, and I am blessed
to have him, along with Josh Hedland, who worked side by
side with Nic on the cover and interior of The Gr eatest Secr et. Glenda Bell worked diligently with the teachers, contributors,
and their teams so that the teachings would be accurately
portrayed in the book. In a migh ty ef fort, she worked selflessly
and enthusiastically around the clock, through the nights and
weekends, to connect with all time zones, for which I am very
grateful. Thank you to the rest of the am azing Secret team: Don Zyck,
our CFO, who is always ready for the next quantum leap with
our com pany and who ushers us through the legal and
financial require ments, keeping everything flowing toward our
intention; Josh Gold, who man ages all of our social media
platforms brillia ntly and who w ill ensure that every country in
the world knows of this book; Marcy Koltun-Crilley, my
dearest friend who has been on this journey with me from the
beginning and who I am honored to say is an integral part of
The Secret team; and producer P aul Harrington, who has been
with me since a decade before  The Secret even came into
being. Paul encouraged and inspired me to write The Gr eatest
Secr et  in the early sta ges, when it se emed almost impossible
that this precious truth could b e conveyed simply. Paul also
produced The Gr eatest Secr et  audiobook, working beside T im
Patterson in post-production and bringing the revelatory words
in this book to life in audio form. My gra titude to the amazing HarperCollins team, whose
excitement in working on this book is contagious. Thank you
to the wonderful Judith Curr, president and publisher of
HarperOne, and my fantastic editor, Gideon W eil, who were
both suc h a joy t o work with. Th ank you also to Brian Murray,
T erri Leonard, Y vonne Chan, Suzanne Quist, Laina Adler,Edward Benitez, Aly Mostel, Melinda Mullin, Adrian Mor gan,
Dwight Been, Anna Brower, Lucile Culver, and Rosie Black. Thank y ou to the international HarperCollins team: Chantal
Restivo-Alessi, Emily Martin, Juliette Shapland, Catherine
Barbosa-Ross, and Julianna W ojcik. Thank you to the
HarperCollins U K team: Charlie Redmayne, Kate Elton,
Oliver Malcolm, Katya Shipster, Helen Rochester, Simon
Gerratt, and Julie MacBrayne. And thank you to the
HarperCollins G lobal Publishing Partners: Brasil, Espanol,
Mexico, Iberica, Italia, Holland, France, Germany, Polska,
Japan, and Nordic. Special thanks to the following  people who helped me with
their invaluable feedback: Peter Foyo, Kim W all, John W all,
Hannah Hodgde n, Marcy Koltun-Crilley, Mark W eaver, and
Fred Nalder. T o my family, Peter Byrne, Oku Den, Kevin (Kid) McKemy,
Henley McKemy, Savannah Byrne Cronin, and my daughter
Hayley, who was the force that set me on my incredible
journey in search of the truth six teen years ago. T o my dearest
sisters, P auline V ernon, Glenda Bell, and Jan Child, thank you
for loving me and for allowing me to love you. And fin ally, tha nk you to my amazing and beautiful teacher,
whose words and teachings of  the truth over the past four
years ha ve radically transformed  my life and helped me to see
clearly who I re ally am. This precious book is in your hands
because of her unlimited givin g and her patience in helping
direct me home. My love for her knows no boundary. The Beginning
After the release of The Secr et  in  2006, my life became what I
can only  describe as a dream life. Through practicing The
Secr et  principles religiously, my mind had become
predominantly positive, and so my life reflected that positive
state in my happiness, health, relationships, and finances. I
also found myself with a natural love and gratitude for
everything in life. But desp ite all of that, somethin g inside me continued to ur ge
me on to seek more of the trut h; something propelled me to
continue my search, though for what, I didn’ t yet know. Unbeknownst to me at the tim e, I had begun what was to
become a ten-year journey. It started with studying the
teachings of an ancient tradition in Europe, the Rose Cross
Order, a nd I studied their profou nd teachings for many years. I
also spe nt some years studying Buddhism, the many works of
the Chr istian mystics, theolo gy, Hinduism, T aoism, and
Sufism. After I studied the ancient traditions and their
historical teachings, my search turned back toward the present
time, and I started following recent teachers like J. Krishnamurti, R obert Adams, Lester Levenson, and Ramana
Maharshi, as well as some teachers still living today. Throughout my journey I learned many things that are
unknown to the public at lar ge, and while they were
fascinating, none of them made me feel that I had found the
truth. As t he years pas sed by, I even considered that searching might
be m y life fore vermore. I didn’ t realize it then, but I was
looking for the truth in the world, when all along it was closer
to me than I could ever have imagined. T en yea rs after my search began, in early January of 2016, a
challenging situation arose in my life that caused me to feel
deep dis appointment. I was surprised at the depth of negative
emotion that I felt. How could I feel so bad when I usually felt
so g ood. But that disappointing situation was to become the
greatest gift in my search for the truth. T o turn my disappointment around, I grabbed my iPad and
watched an interview on Cons cious TV with a man called
David Bingham. At the time of the interview David was not a
teacher but was just an ordinary  everyday person like you and
me, with one d if ference: after twenty years of searching, he
had discovered the truth. I w atche d the interview, and aft erward I listened to a podcast
that David recommended. I listened intently to the podcast,
and during it I heard that most people overlook this discovery
—not because it’ s dif ficult, but because it’ s so simple. Then, I
was able  to speak with David on the phone, and during our
conversation he said, “Look at w hat I’m pointing to. It’ s right
here. ” A nd suddenly I saw wha t I had been searching for. It
was  so simple, and it was  right here. Just like that—after ten
years—my searc h ended. I can say without any hesitation that
the happiness and joy I felt from this discovery was worth
every se cond of my years-long journey. Even if it had taken
my entire life to discover it, it would have been worth it. In th e en d, just one simple discovery was the whole truth that I
had bee n looking for, which is actually what everyone is
looking for, whether they realize  it or not. And once I had seen
the truth, I could see that it was everywhere. Everything I had
been rea ding and learning for ten years contained it; I just
didn’ t have the e yes to see it at that time. I had been searching
for year s, from one tradition an d philosophy to the next, and
what I had been looking for ha d been right in front of me all
along. From the moment I made the di scovery, I knew that there was
nothing more important than to understand this discovery
more, live it com pletely, and then share it with the world. My
hope was to sho w the way out for those experiencing hardship,
to help end the pain and suf feri ng that so many are enduring,and to shine a light to a futur e where we can live without
anxiety or fear. I ha d already been putting notes from everything I was
learning in a folder on my computer that was entitled “My
Next Bo ok. ” It was an intuiti ve sense that inspired me to
record e verything I was discovering, in the hope that I could
eventually share it with the world. Those cherished notes,
when I had finished collating them, became the foundation of
this book. Just two months after discovering the truth through David
Bingham, I met someone else w ho was to have an enormous
ef fect on my life, and on the creation of this book. She walked
into a room I wa s in at a retreat, and when I walked up to talk
to he r, h er prese nce had such a profound ef fect on me that any
trace of negativi ty from my entire lif e was gone in an instan t. She had  been a s tudent of one o f my all-time favorite teachers,
the late Robert  Adams. I kne w instantly that she was my
teacher, the one who would hel p me fully realize and live the
truth in this lifet ime, and she has remained my teacher for the
past four years. Her teachings are straightforward, beautifully
simple, and she never hesitates to tell me if I’m going in the
wrong direction. While her name remains anonymous at her
request, I have shared many of her life-changing teachings that
propelled my life into one of constant joy and happiness. My
deepest wish is that they will do the same for you. She, along with the other teachers featured in this book, helped
lead me  out of the darkness of ignorance by illuminating this
one discovery. Every one of them helped me to understand the
truth that I had  discovered more deeply and to live from it
more fully, and the love I feel for them is infinite. Their words
that changed my life forever are featured throughout this book. W ith every step you take throug h this book, you will become
happier and your life will become more ef fortless, and that
happiness and ef fortlessness wil l continue to increase without
any end. Any fear and uncertainty of the future will no longer
plague you. Any anxiety and str ess about your daily struggles
or w orld events will dissolve. Y ou can be free of every form ofsuf fering that you might be experiencing right now. And you
will be. While there are certainly some  huge revelations throughout
these pages, there are also many simple practices to
immediately put  those revelations into practice. The practices
alone ar e worth  their weight in  gold. I know. I am the living
proof of how well they work. The Secr et  showed  you how to create anything you want to be,
do, o r ha ve. Not hing has changed—it is as true today as it ever
was. Th is book reveals the greatest discovery a human being
can ever make and shows yo u the way out of negativity,
problems, and what you don’ t want, to a life of permanent
happiness and bliss. It sim ply doesn’ t get any better than this. It is my greatest joy
to welcome you to The Gr eatest Secr et. C h a p t e r  1
Hidden in Plain Sight
Of t he billions of people on our planet, only a few have
discovered the truth. Those few are completely free from the
turmoil and negativity of life and live in permanent peace and
happiness. For the rest of us, whether we realize it or not,
we’ve been in se arch of this truth unceasingly every single day
of our lives. Despite the fact that this great secret has been written about
and alluded to by many great sages, prophets, and religious
leaders throughout history, the majority of us still remain
ignorant of the single greatest discovery we can ever make. Among those who have share d this discovery with us are
Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tzu,  Jesus Christ, Y ogananda,
Krishnamurti, and the Dalai Lama. While they each have dif ferent teachings that were appropriate
for their time, they all refer to the same truth—the truth about
us and the truth behind our world. “In some religions this truth is expressed less openly and
clearly than in others, but it is nevertheless the truth that lies at
the heart of every religion. ”
Michael James, fr om  Happiness and the Art of Being
This gre at secret  is in plain view for every one of us to see. It’ s
closer to  us than our very breath, yet we’ve missed it. Ancienttraditions knew that to hide a s ecret it should be put in plain
sight, wh ere no one will think to  look for it. And that’ s exactly
where The Greatest Secret lies. “Thus it  is referred to in the Kashmir Shaivite tradition as ‘the
greatest secret, more hidden than the most concealed and yet
more evident than the most evident of things. ’”
Rupert Spira, fr om  Being A ware of Being A ware
W e’ve missed the truth for thou sands of years because we’ve
not looked at what is right in front of us. W e’ve become easily
distracted by our problems, the drama in our lives, the
comings and goings of the ev ents in the world, and we’ve
missed the greatest discovery we can make that is right here
before u s—a discovery that can take us out of suf fering and
into lasting happiness. What secret can possibly be so life-changing. What single
discovery can ever end suf fering, or bring everlasting peace
and happiness. Quite simply, a secret that reveals who you really are. Y ou might think you know who you are, but if you think
you’re a n individual person with a name, who’ s a certain age,
from a particula r race, who has a profession, a family history,
and various life experiences, you will be stunned by the
revelation of who you r eally  are. “The only way that someone can be of help to you is by
challenging your ideas. ”
Anthony de Mello, S. J. , fr om  A wareness: Conversations with the Masters
W e’ve all accepted many false ideas and beliefs throughout
our live s, and those false ide as and beliefs have kept us
enslaved. W e’ve  been told that there’ s limitation and lack in
the world—that there’ s not enough money, time, resources,
love, or health: “Life is short,”  “Y ou’re only human,” “Y ou
have to work h ard and struggle to get somewhere in life,”
“W e’re running out of resource s,” “The world is in turmoil,”
“The world needs saving. ” But the moment you see the truth,
those mistruths will crumble, and your happiness will arise
from the ruins. Perhaps you’re thinking, “My life is going swimmingly, and so
why would I even want to know The Greatest Secret. ”
T o quote the wonderful late Anthony de Mello, S.
All of humanity.
Who is the book dedicated to?
Not specified in the text.
Who is the author of the book?
To share the greatest secret with the world and help end suffering and bring everlasting happiness.
What is the author's intention for the reader?
Skye Byrne
Who is the author's daughter and editor?
Editor
What is the author's daughter's role in the book?