Foreword

I want to say a few words about my video book The Borderless Bridge. In short, its message can be summarized into the questions “who or what am I”, “who are you”, “what is our true identity”? When my body ceases to exist, will I disappear? Self-enquiry is the investigation into the nature of our self, a deep dive beneath the surface of personality. Throughout history, spiritual masters have been interested in these questions. However, one does not need to be a spiritual master or a saint to be able to explore and delve into the reality of existence. Nevertheless, we must be humble and willing to question our ideas and beliefs about reality, in particular the deeply engrained belief of being a body. It’s about surrendering and letting go of what we believe to know. Only an open and curious mind has the power to inquire "who am I?" No one else can answer this question for you. You are the answer!
 
It is December as I write this forward. This is the darkest time of the year in the North. However, six months later, the situation is completely different, and we get to enjoy the bright nights of the midsummer. The world I see is a world of multiplicity and diversity, based on contraries. Yet, all opposites have one unified foundation, a reality, which is one. Darkness and light may seem like opposites, but there is also a light that has no opposite, a light that is not of this world, but instead the world is in this light.
 
Jesus saying "I am the light of the world" refers to this light that is within us. We are the light, and another name for it is consciousness. The light of consciousness shines in all experience and on all objects: it is the light of knowing with which we know our experience. However, the light of consciousness itself is not an object that can be reached or understood by the mind. That's why it is also called the invisible reality for which there is no established vocabulary. Nevertheless, the dear child has many names, and other names and concepts referring to the light of consciousness include the Self, true Self, one reality, I Am consciousness, presence, here and now, God, omniscience, oneness, non-dualism, the reality of being, silence, spiritual heart, love. Despite the range of concepts, I have tried to find words and a visual way to describe what is beyond all naming and what we lose by naming it! And yet, it is always present.
 
Who or what am I ?
My video book, The Borderless Bridge, depicts my journey towards non-dualistic understanding and experience. According to the traditional, dualistic perspective, there is a separate individual, an entity that encompasses the body and mind. Within the body, there seems to reside a conscious 'me,' and outside of it is the 'Not-Me,' which is the world and other body-minds. According to this dualistic perspective, experience is divided into the experiencer and the experienced, or the subject and object relationship.
However, on the non-dualistic path, the distinction between the experiencer and the experienced collapses, so that there is only experiencing and the knowing of it. We realize that there is only One, universal consciousness, and that we are this consciousness. One Self, which we commonly refer to as 'I' in everyday language, without truly realizing who or what I actually is! So, instead of over seven billion conscious individuals, there is only One - one consciousness with seven billion faces!
 
What is Self-inquiry ?
What does Self-recognition or Self-realization mean in practice? It is not an activity that is undertaken by the mind. On the contrary, it’s about falling back and sinking of the mind into its source, which is consciousness. I can practice this by directing attention first to what seems to be “out there”, including objects, thoughts, feelings, and sensations, and then back the other way, to what is within, to what is aware of this objective experience.
I can also ask myself, when a thought or perception appears, who or what is aware of it? And when this thought disappears, what is aware of that? The almost obvious answer is that I am aware. This brings us back to the question of who I am. Thoughts, images, as well as the body and its sensations, are all perceived; therefore, they cannot be what I am. What I am cannot be seen, yet I become visible through my manifestations. It is like waves rising in the ocean, frothing for a while, and then merging back into their source.
 
Being aware
In principle, self-realization is simple, as everything is already here and now! Being aware of being aware is not a rational process and may sound like theoretical philosophizing. However, when we delve into the essence of experience, we discover that "being aware" is present in all experience. Yet, conditioned thinking, attachment to our self-image and past experiences, make it complicated. It is difficult to see clearly that the identification with the imaginary separate self is the very dynamism which veils our being as awareness. We hope that by holding tightly onto this imaginary rope, we won't fall into emptiness. We fear that by surrendering, we ourselves will disappear and cease to exist.
 
What happens?
Self-realization can be a sudden, radical realization, like a stormy ocean which has the power to distinguish the false from the true. Self-realization may also be referred to as enlightenment, a sudden event in which the light of consciousness swiftly penetrates the content of the mind, revealing our identity as conscious awareness. Often, as in my case, it is instead a long process where self-realization is not the end goal but rather a starting point, after which the actual work begins!
 
For me, it has been important to face the dynamics that hinder from being the embodiment of truth. It took a long time before I even realized that I was conditioned to reject and exclude experiences which felt overwhelming. I bypassed them and behaved as if they did not concern me at all. It was a mental defense mechanism to escape the current experience. However, the rejected is projected onto other people, and so, we begin to judge, avoid, or downplay them. However, pain and physical ailments are forms through which avoidance coping manifests itself and makes it visible.  Denial and rejection work like a stone wall which isolates us from our own light. In the darkness, we do not see that there is nothing but a projection of our own mind.
 
To face the unfaced
On the path of self-realization all these bodily contractions in which the apparently independent persona has made its home, are gradually released. The light of consciousness is like the sun that makes the dust visible. The dynamics of conditioned patterns is pervaded by the presence of awareness, and as a result, they cease to exist. I learn to welcome all feelings and sensations without attempting to exclude anything.
 
Acceptance means having the courage to face everything exactly as it is. Without trying to change anything or aiming for a specific outcome, I am willing to sit in the fire of even the most unpleasant sensations until they give way. This may take hours, sometimes even several days, but eventually the fire goes out and love, which is hidden in the core of even the most painful sensations, is revealed.
 
Imagine how much lighter becomes the backpack of a seeker who wakes up and knows that love, or in other words, divine consciousness, is the only true power. The feelings that initially felt uncomfortable turn into a sense of inner spaciousness that is deeply peaceful. The power of the ego is imaginary, and when the illusion of a self-sustaining individual is revealed to be non-existent, the ego loses its apparent strength.
 
As the shadows get shorter, the nature of experience changes, and we see that only Love is omnipotent and all-knowing. Love is the holy force that transforms and takes care of everything, as long as I let go of the illusory role of the doer and knower.  When I learn to see myself in everyone, my world changes. For who would want to harm, hurt, judge, or in any way mistreat anyone if they know they are doing it to themselves?
 
Persona: an activity of consciousness
In the video book The Borderless Bridge, I refer to my own process of self-realization: what has been revealed and what it is like to live a life where the shadows of separation grow shorter and shorter. Every awakening, whether big or small, always feels like a blessing, a dive into realm of silence. Many years ago, when I set out on the path of self-inquiry, I thought that the true Self is a subtle, a kind of higher and spiritually more conscious form of my body-mind. The persona does not cease to exist, but its reality is revealed as an activity that either manifests selfless love or ego, the belief in separation. The word persona originates from the Greek language and means a mask through which the voice is heard!
 
Now and years ago…
The content of this video-book is a result and summary of thousands of pages and over ten years of work. For this project, I have learned photography and how to operate a drone to capture footage, edit the recorded material, and to work it out into videos. I have also recorded my writings and combined them with the film footage, resulting in 14 approximately 15-minute-long films, each with its own theme, accompanied by music. The themes form a set that I call The Borderless Bridge, the essence of which is revealed along the way.
 
In preparing the English versions, except for this preface, I have been assisted by Veera Hintsala and Deidra Ahorn, Dee for short. I am grateful for their help, and it has been a great joy and honor to have Dee as the Irish voice for these videos. Thank you, dear Dee! The texts are published as blogs on my website tuulikkiharmia.fi, and the videos can be downloaded on the same site. You can also follow my Facebook page Tuulikki Harmia-Pulkkinen and my Instagram account tuulikkiharmia. I will release videos and texts of this book one by one at approximately monthly intervals and announce new releases on my Facebook and Instagram accounts. I would love to meet you on the journey of self-enquiry!