There are two aspects to this. The first is the clear basic truth of what you are. The second is the relinquishment of any erroneous concept taken as one's identity. From my perspective, the first point is the most important. To see yourself clearly as the non-conceptual presence of awareness or being beyond thought is the annihilation of the ability to believe in any other concept, just like if you set an ice cube out in the blazing sun, it must disappear.

Make sure this part is very clear. Your presence as being-awareness is beyond doubt, and no amount of thought activity is going to change that. Also, the very conceptualizing is appearing in awareness.

The thoughts prove the presence of non-conceptual awareness. Experiences and thoughts come and go as simply appearances in what you are. Nothing at all can knock you out of what you are, because for anything else to be, you must be present. And that presence is what this is about. From this rock-solid and unshakable platform, any other looking can happen, but always against a background of felt and thoroughly present freedom. This light of freedom naturally unwinds all residual grasping at feeble conceptual images, just like shadows flee before the rising sun. Without this fundamental aspect being locked down, any other investigation can subtly get us back into the 'now I am there, now I am not' feeling, which is really a subtle concept about a someone who is not even present

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Right now, notice the space around your body; and let the attention go onto the space. Space is always present whatever the "time" is and wherever "the body" goes; we just don't really notice it. Does space have a beginning? An ending? No. YOU are like that: Space. Putting the attention on space means taking the focus off thoughts; not trying to change, modify, resist or correct any thoughts or emotions but rather it's just a simple pulling the focus off them; not putting so much energy of attention and belief on them. Use that innate energy to notice the ever present space in which your body and the furniture, trees, cars, sun, show up.

Awareness is NOT "transient". Consciousness comes and goes in awareness; dream and sleep and waking, i.e. all "states of consciousness" and unconsciousness!), come and go in awareness. Awareness is the open beginningless endless clearing FOR all to appear while awareness itself is always fully ON. The notion that there is an "I" that "knows" or doesn't know coupled with the notion (thought) of there being such a thing as "time" (when!) is all just energy moving in awareness. And in the immediacy of present awareness there is no separation; the idea of separation must go! Let that timeless awareness be the focus. Give up all such erroneous concepts! Pause any concept of "I" or "time" and your natural eternal oneness-statelessness is utterly obvious. That is not a "practice" in "time". It's right here and right now. Just notice what you've been overlooking!

As you are no doubt aware that YOU ARE, here and now, just know that this open and awake awareness is the real treasure; it's your own language-less being-love! The invitation is to pause all concepts and dive into that loving Presence.

Awareness is open, a NON-conceptual all encompassing Love. In concept it would appear to be "something". That's why we say "it" is NON-conceptual! You are That. As Nisargadatta said, don't refuse to be That!

Your own Inner Guru is guiding every step and bringing you Home in perfect timing. Understanding this can bring a lot of peace around all the happenings!

There is one constant Presence, call it awareness, call it being, call it love, call it Self, call it God, call it … hamburger! It doesn’t matter what you call it; because “IT” is utterly beyond any concept, description or label. Language gives up when this is clear! But let’s attempt to use words to point: Close: It just IS. Closer: Isness. Closer yet: Non-conceptual awareness. Best? Perhaps, Non-conceptual love.

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Why are you suffering? Look deeply to see who is suffering? What suffering is there if there is no one to suffer?

On the general, relative level of appearance, there seems to be a person with problems. But look at it more closely. In this very moment, this very presence of being, is there a problem?

Look at the illusion of time; as you sit and a moment passes, where is that moment NOW? It doesn’t exist, it only arises as a memory, which is arising when? NOW! There is only now, there is no passage of time, there is only now appearing, that’s it.

In this very moment, without going into memory, what problem is there? You must go into the assumed past to retrieve information about time in order for a problem to exist. Let’s say someone crossed you somehow, let’s say yesterday. Where is that event? Does it exist now, except in a thought that is arising in the present moment?

These thoughts about being wronged and all this are very appealing, in a perverse sort of way, because they give this identity of a separate self its seeming reality. Without such dramas, such a “self” wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. That’s why these fabrications of a wronged person arise so easily. They give the character its role to play in this drama called life.

There are two ways to go, either keep on believing in this pathetic, wronged, idea of a person, or break those shackles and see who you are. You were never that idea, never that thought that rose up.

What you are is ALL, every single aspect of the game. You are what appears to be the wronged person, and the so called person that wronged you. It’s all one expression, so how are you damaged by any of this? It’s just the Absolute expressing itself, and You Are That!

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The 'I' thought or notion of being a separate person can be very subtle. If there is any belief going into such notions as 'I have seen it' or' I do not exist' or 'I am enlightened' or 'I have it' or'I am a teacher'-that is still the 'I' sense. Any reference at all to any shred of a separate or special 'I' is just another reference point. Many have a desire to proclaim 'I am now free', but you can never really say that when you see that the 'I' is a total concept. There is no one present to be free or to be a teacher or have any position at all, positive or negative. Even any subtle sense of becoming, purifying or approaching a goal is just another subtle reference to an assumed separate person or 'I'. Even well-known teachers almost invariably fall into dualism by proclaiming themselves a specially awakened one or implying that this is a process of becoming. For example, some say that first you become awakened and then later become liberated. Hogwash! Who is to do such a thing if there is no one to do it?
“Here and now you are the truth. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. Separation from immediate being, awareness, peace has never happened. Right now, you are what is being pointed to. There is no teacher, student or path, at all, just a simple pointing to what is undeniable, your own being. That is all. The 'I' notion is the assumption that you were some kind of entity apart from reality from existence-awareness itself.
Teachers and students invariably talk in reference to the reality of the 'I' concept. Both are playing in a conceptual illusion. Once you see this, you cannot play that game. It is so obvious when seen. But when it is not seen, whatever is said or believed, however noble it sounds, even if it be the highest non-dual verbiage, only perpetuates the false concept of separation. I was in non-duality circles for years and overlooked that everyone, including myself, was still functioning in reference to that subtle sense of self. Bob Adamson pointed this out to me immediately when I met him and I then realized what had been missed. Even the so-called enlightened teachers I had met, even the ones who proclaimed they had no 'me' or whatever, actually were still functioning in reference to that self-center and completely unconscious of it. I call it the 'enlightened ego', the self that thinks it has vanished. What I found was that in such cases the arrogance and lack of genuine humility were usually incredibly tangible and present around such people. In seeing there is no 'I', there is no one left to claim anything, even understanding anything. There is just what is.”
~ John Wheeler, in “The Light Behind Consciousness”. This is a VERY potent book and recommended reading for anyone still harboring any notion of a self apart from the infinite totality of what is.

There is a popular misconception that once Self Realization has happened, there will no longer be a "story". That is simply not true. The story goes on. The difference is, that story of a "person" is no longer taken to be "who I Am" as the clear understanding AND direct experience is that the story is merely an entertaining FICTION. Just like reading a biography of a person who came along and became "famous", the story is JUST a story with no meaning, no purpose, no point! As this dawns on you, that "me", the "star" of the story of a world in which "I am", is completely shattered! What is left is what eternally was and is, already ... what is always real: A simple elegant knowingness called "I AM" ... in other words the story continues so long as the body draws breath and has another heartbeat, but it is a happening for NO ONE.
This is never a matter of mere comprehension gleaned from reading texts or hearing talks. though. It is direct experiencing of every moment as "just what is" and what never changes is what is at the root, the essence, which is pure unadorned consciousness, self-aware, and always present in its timeless fullness.
Take the example of the "sage" 'Sailor' Bob Adamson. I Spent several days with him in 1985. I can assure you, the story of Bob, with a home, a wife, bills, aches and pains, who eats, sleeps and has all body functions, is in full play BUT there is no "personal attachment", no self-center believed to be separate. Same with Baba Muktananda and Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, with whom I spent much time! If I said, "Good morning, Gurumayi" she would respond, usually say "hello, how are you" with a palpable love that would knock me over! Yet there was a mutual knowing that no one was "doing" that. Same with the man who made it all come clear for me, John Wheeler.
So drop the notion that if "your" story is still happening that it means you are not free. Freedom is naturally fully here at all times, as the space, the aware Presence, that is the "knower" of "the story". There must be the absolute trust in the pointers that tell you over and over you are NOT the story despite what you may think you know about what is! What you ARE is the light of Being, IN which that story goes on. Until the body drops it will go on! No problem at all in that; it's just how Life manifests as the vast Play of Consciousness. That, the Play of Light, is all there is.
Drop the myths! See what is real and ever present always here now (now here, no w here)! If “you” can’t, then sing Bhajans, chant the Name of God with fervor and great love and let that melt the ice on your heart! Knowledge with NO LOVE is worse that useless; it is a spiritual ego trip! Whenever I have been with or spoken with Bob, he's always "signed off" with a hearty "Love Ya!" This is what I call the Juicy Wisdom, the merging of Jnana (Self Knowledge) and Bhakti (Self Love).
Know your Self! That is acceptance with no doer; love with no lover, and THAT is truly divine.
GOD dwells within You as You. YOU do not have a world or appear in a world. The world appears in YOU. Love your Self, see others as God, as your Self. Regardless of the play they are appearing as, they are all ONLY That Self. There is ONLY That Self, and It Loves all, ALL, as it is and as it's not! That's TRUE seeing and knowing, my friends!Being That, "you" are no more yet ... the story goes on and on .... with a silent wow behind it.

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A friend on facebook wrote me the following:

The pain I feel is not going to go anywhere anyway..so why not to write to you. It might change nothing, yet it won't do any harm. Moreover, I am always happy to write to you, because you are so warm, gentle and kind.
The thing is now I am completely sure, now I know that my friend, of whom I wrote to you a few months ago, does not love me. This one line may sound so superficial, so silly to you, yet I felt a part of me has died.
Again as it always happens, I feel calm writing you. But these last days, whatever I tried ---looking for the sufferer, or not looking, trying to impose absolute hopelessness on me, repeating always in mind "who am I?"---nothing could ease the enourmous pain in my chest. I felt like jumping out of my body, out of that all.

And this is my response:

Loss is like that. It just hurts. Even when there is nothing you can do to relieve the pain, you still might want to explore the experience you are having. Specifically, I would invite you to explore the part of you that feels like it has died. What is that like? If for just a moment, you completely allow it to feel dead, is it actually a bad sensation, or just a dead sensation? Our suffering always comes from our movement away from our sensations, not from the sensations themselves, even the most intense and enormous feelings.

It can help to allow the pain to be bigger than your body. There is no need to contain it within your chest. Just let it be as big as it needs to be.

And then you can maybe also be curious. What is the pain like? Where exactly do you feel it? How big is it? What else is present besides the pain? If there is a feeling of deadness or emptiness, what is that like? What is present in the empty space? What is here inside the deadness?

The point of these questions is not really to get rid of the pain. It is to help you discover that it is OK to feel pain. The deepest healing is always to find out that there is nothing here that needs to be healed. Pain is natural and normal after a loss, and yet you do not need to suffer from it. Just let it be here, and you may find you are OK even if your heart is broken. Your heart can be broken wide open without actually damaging anything, because your true Heart cannot be broken. It is big enough to hold all of the pain and loss.

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All the ways out and solutions are at the mental level. Before the mind even conceives of the next thought, you are already present. Your being is there. What we are doing is having a solid, straight look at the nature and characteristics of that clear and present existence that you are. That is all. Yet this is what overcomes the erroneous concepts and allows us to recognize and be what we are. By nature, this is unconditioned, undivided and free of all suffering and problems. Looking in this way, the questions raised by the mind drop away of themselves. Not because the specific questions get answered, but because the questioner (meaning the assumed limited identity) is undermined. What is the mind, after all? Is it not an appearance in and of awareness itself? Has it ever had any separate existence as a "thing apart"? If not, is it really anything other than THAT, in essence? Do not fall into the trap of dualizing the mind as something "other". You are that pure awareness (only a pointer!), but so is the mind. Consider waves on the surface of the sea. The waves ARE the sea in essence, but not as they appear. So it is all THAT. Remember, the key point is "one without a second", or non-duality. So who could be the one seeking or attaining reality? He or she is a complete myth! All there is, is THAT.

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Three men are walking. The first man makes a sword sound; the second man waves his hands; and the third man picks up a handkerchief.

1. If you were there, what would be your correct function?
2. What is the relationship?
3. And lastly, what is the situation?

Commentary: The function of each is different, but the situation is the same.

A long time ago Cheung Sahn Zen Master would frequently ask his students this kong-an. Nobody understood. Sometimes he would use wild actions or shout, "Yahhhh! Why don't you understand?" Still they couldn't answer completely.

This kong-an is very important. It is an object "just like this" style kong-an. There are two kinds of "just like this" kong-ans, subject and object. Subject "just-like-this" means when you are hungry, what? Eat! Object "just like this" means if someone is hungry, what? Give them food! That is object "just-like-this" style. So, in this kong-an, what is your correct function? These three men do different actions, but the situation is the same. Their function is different but it is the same situation. What is their relationship? What is the situation? Same situation, same condition, same relationship, but the function is different: one makes a sword sound, one takes out a handkerchief, one waves his hand--different action, but the meaning is the same.

Here's a hint: you go to a theatre where somebody is doing a one-man show. He tells a very funny story, he acts funny, talks funny, and then everybody laughs. Everybody is happy. Many different people are laughing with different styles. Somebody is laughing, "Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha." Somebody else is laughing, "Hu, Hu, Hu, Hu!" Somebody else is laughing, "Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho!" -- different laughing styles. The action is different, but the condition and the situation are the same. So, what kind of condition, what kind of situation, what kind of relationship? You must attain that. That is the object "just-like-this."

If you don't understand, just don't understand. If you keep this "don't understand" then your Don't Know mind becomes very strong and a big Don't Know is possible, which means great question and great doubt. If you don't know completely, then you will get complete enlightenment. If you have only a small question, only small enlightenment is possible. There are many kinds of enlightenment--small enlightenment, middle enlightenment, big enlightenment, and then finally, no enlightenment. No enlightenment is complete enlightenment.

If the idea of separation is running then the concept will present that there is 'one' who is not enlightened, one who is enlightened and one who is liberated. From that perspective only, there can be an appearance of a spiritual hierarchal system. Really this, like all that can be said, is all a load of rubbish because there isn't 'one' in the first place! Enlightenment is simply the indisputable seeing that there is no 'one'; that what you thought you were was nothing more than concepts passing in consciousness. So that destroys all possibilities of one being a guru or satguru - it's just gobbledygook. Yet, everything has its place and the inward movement of the mind can continue (post enlightenment) and consciousness(presenting as separate mind) can label this as progress. That happens too. But this is progress for whom? That's where it falls down again! There can only be a hierarchy when separation is running. Yet, levels of consciousness present in this movie and they do not apply to any individual. There are no individuals. Consciousness throws up all concepts and somehow if the idea of separation is running then they are taken as real, right and wrong, etc. So as long as that movie is entertained consciousness will continue to imagine/present the idea of a seeker with something to achieve. This is just the play of an I and there never was any one ever really caught up in this anyway....truly there isn't any 'one' and can not be 'one'. So that leaves all of this material as just thoughts (don't make them anybody's) with no substance in any objective reality. Still consciousness presents all these concepts, and it will continue to be like this, it seems. Yes for sure - remaining as pure silence beats all of this any day in any dimension!! A Dublin date for a satsang sitting has just been set up for March 6th and 7th.....let's see what happens! Hey Dan - really there is nothing to understand. Being what you really are is happening; that can not be stopped or started. What you are is beyond all of this. Nothing to work out any more perhaps; let the fragrance of what you are arise and dissolve any tendency to imagine you are other than the essence of all that IS.

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It seems certain that we ARE ... everyone seems to know that I AM, the apparently natural "sense of being" that awakes from deep sleep (wherein there is NO "I, NO "I am"; nothing at all, no sense of being or not being). Sleep is being no one and not knowing that one is being no one.
So what actually is real or permanent about the "sense of being", the acceptance of that "I Am' as my true nature? Questioning this, what is discovered (UN covered) is that even the sense of being is false, that is to say it is NOT eternal, not ultimately real, but rather a mere temporary appearance that comes and goes.
From where does this "I Am" arise and subside? What is the Source of this "I Am" sense of beingness that is (usually quite gratefully)  gone, forgotten, dis-appeared, in deep sleep or "physical death"? This body dies every night and is born every morning. Death is a happening in some eternal essence, as is "birth." 
Waking follows sleep follows waking ad infinitum! So what is REAL? What is Eternal? Do you know that? Or is all the knowing ultimately UNREAL? What is Real? What is the Source of Being, how is this "I Am" born? Where did "I Am" come from? Where does it go in sleep or body death?
Look for the Source of Being. What is seen? By whom? Where is freedom, power, love? What are these? Are they actually Real and Permanent? NO.
What IS reality and what IS unreality? Have a good look and see what is seen, hear what is heard, know what cannot be known. This is freedom. This is inconceivable. Cannot be known, cannot be perceived. Like deep sleep.
Look for that Source of that universal I, the essence that arises as "I Am", the unborn timeless eternal state. Look. Seek until there is no doubt about what is finally and always beginningless endless and Real... look out! Finding That, no one dies. Just Now.