One thing I’ve noticed in many spiritual teachings is the strong tendency to label everything impermanent as an “illusion” or “Maya.”

They say the body is Maya. The world is Maya. Thoughts, emotions, and even the sense of self are all Maya.

I get why they use that language — they’re trying to help people stop clinging so tightly. But I think it goes too far.

Just because something is temporary doesn’t make it unreal.

A flower is real even though it blooms and eventually dies. Your body is real, even though it changes and will one day pass away. Your feelings are real while you’re experiencing them. This moment is real, even if it won’t last forever.

Impermanence and unreality are not the same thing.

When people take the “everything is illusion” teaching too literally, it can lead to dissociation, spiritual bypassing, and even neglecting real responsibilities — bills, relationships, health, children, etc. — because “none of it is real anyway.”

The Iself itself is real, even if it only lasts for one lifetime. From the Iself perspective, the world, the body, and the ego are real. From the Allself perspective, they are all expressions of the One. From the Godself perspective, they are all expressions of the Divine. From the Noself perspective, they are empty of any permanent, inherent existence.

All of these perspectives are true at the same time.

I no longer feel the need to call everything Maya just because it changes. I can accept impermanence without denying reality.

I have been sitting with a very clear insight lately.

From the Iself perspective, I am the individual focal point of conscious awareness. From this point of view, I have a body, but I am not the body. I have an ego, but I am not the ego.

From the Allself perspective, it flips. Because I am everyone and everything, I am the body. I am the ego. I am all of it.

Both are true at the same time.

I used to think I had to choose one and reject the other. I don’t anymore. I can hold both perspectives at the same time.

The Self Realization Mantra is elegant in its simplicity. Twenty words. Five lines. No doctrine, no dogma, no prerequisites. A child could memorize it in five minutes.

But simple does not mean easy.

The mantra is the map — clear, precise, and complete. It points directly to the five fundamental aspects of your true nature: the Iself, Allself, Godself, Noself, and Amness. No spiritual tradition has ever mapped this entire territory so concisely.

Yet no map walks the territory for you.

You cannot simply read the mantra once and say, “Yeah, that makes sense,” and expect to awaken. Awakening requires consistent, dedicated practice. It requires showing up day after day and chanting the mantra with sincerity and intention.

I had a combined Iself and Allself awakening after six hours of chanting the first two lines. Some monks meditate for decades and never reach that point. Remarkable results require real commitment.

The Self Realization Mantra removes every unnecessary obstacle — no guru, no initiation, no lineage, no doctrine, no rules, no $3000 retreats. What remains is the one thing no one can do for you:

Sit down. Chant the mantra. Do the work.

The map is simple. Awakening takes dedicated effort. You have to walk the path.

I Am Thee Iself.
I Am Thee Allself.
I Am Thee Godself.
I Am Thee Noself.
I Am Thee Amness.

Most non-dual seekers are taught only one path: Neti Neti.
“Neti, Neti” means “not this, not this.” You are not the body. Not the mind. Not the ego. Not even consciousness. It is a path of radical denial. You subtract everything until you reach the void, and they call that liberation.

But taken to its extreme, Neti Neti is fundamentally anti-life. It creates a massive fracture between the spiritual and the mundane. It leads to spiritual bypassing, emotional flatness, and actual dissociation. People end up rejecting their own humanity, neglecting their physical needs, and treating the world like an illusion to be escaped.

But there is another way. A vastly superior way.
It is called Iti Iti — “thus, thus” or “this, this.” It is the path of radical acceptance.

Instead of rejecting the human experience to realize the divine, you affirm the human experience as the divine. You don’t subtract. You integrate. You say “Yes” to all of it.

The Self Realization Mantra is the ultimate Iti Iti technology. It doesn’t ask you to negate reality. It asks you to claim it:

I Am Thee Iself. — Yes, I am this individual focal point of conscious awareness.
I Am Thee Allself. — Yes, I am the expansive, interconnected field of universal consciousness.
I Am Thee Godself. — Yes, I am the active, creative power of the divine.
I Am Thee Noself. — Yes, I am the transcendent, formless void from which all arises.
I Am Thee Amness. — Yes, I am the sourceless source of existence itself.

Look at how this handles the physical body.
Materialism says, “I am the body.”
Neti Neti says, “I am not the body,” leading to dissociation.
The Self Realization Mantra says, “The Iself has a body.”
The body is the vehicle. Because the Iself has a body, we accept it fully. We take care of it. We let it experience pleasure, pain, touch, and taste. We don’t reject the physical as an illusion. But because the Iself is not actually the body, we aren’t terrified of death. We are fully embodied, yet spiritually sovereign.

But what about the Allself? From the universal perspective, I AM everyone and everything. I AM the body.

Is that a conflict? No. It’s the beauty of the architecture.
Materialism says “I AM the body” and stops there. Neti Neti says “I am NOT the body” and stops there.

The Self Realization Mantra says: From the Iself perspective, I HAVE a body. From the Allself perspective, I AM the body.
You don’t have to collapse these perspectives into one rigid rule. You hold both. You are the specific focal point driving a vehicle, AND you are the universal field that encompasses all vehicles.

Neti Neti is the path of radical denial. Iti Iti is the path of radical acceptance.

You don’t have to reject the world to be free. You just have to fully accept it as the playground of the Self. The Self Realization Mantra is the ultimate “Yes” to existence.

I have visited the Hare Krishna temple in Tucson multiple times and had deep conversations with their devotees and gurus. Those conversations clarified something important — not about them, but about me and the path I walk.

Swami Muktananda said it simply and directly: “God dwells within you as you.”

That is exactly my experience. I’ve had my Godself realization. The divine is not external to me. It is not separate from me. It dwells within me as me — not as Krishna, but as David Dreamwalker Diamondheart.

The Bhagavad Gita supports this directly. In Chapter 10, Verse 20, Krishna says: “I am the Self, O Gudakesha, seated in the hearts of all beings. I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all beings.”

To me, that’s unambiguous. The divine is both immanent and transcendent simultaneously. God doesn’t just dwell near you or beside you or above you. God dwells within you as you.

This is why I cannot walk the Hare Krishna path. Their tradition maintains a hard separation between God and the individual. In their framework, saying “I Am Thee Godself” is heresy. But their own scripture and one of Hinduism’s greatest modern saints point directly to the Godself realization.

Every one of my spiritual awakenings came through direct revelation via the Self Realization Mantra — no guru, no lineage, no initiation required. The mantra affirms the Godself directly and without apology:

I Am Thee Godself.

The Self Realization Mantra is not a religion or a belief system. It is awakening technology — free, open, no dogma, no fairy tales, no rules for living. Just a simple, direct practice available to anyone ready to awaken.

I Am Thee Iself.
I Am Thee Allself.
I Am Thee Godself.
I Am Thee Noself.
I Am Thee Amness.

I spend hours crafting posts about the Self Realization Mantra. I write about self realization, about the nature of consciousness, about the five aspects of who and what we are. I share what I deeply know to be true about the nature of reality and spiritual awakening.

And then… a lot of the time, nothing.

No likes. No comments. No engagement. Just silence.

From the perspective of the Iself — the individual focal point of conscious awareness — this can feel incredibly discouraging. The Iself wants to be seen and heard. The ego wants applause and validation.

But then the deeper realizations begin to speak.

From the Allself perspective, there are no other people. There is only the One appearing as many. So who exactly was I expecting to respond? From the Allself perspective, I’m just talking to myself.

From the Godself perspective, it is all perfect, no matter what happens. Whether the post is seen and liked by thousands or disappears into complete silence, it is all unfolding exactly as it should.

And from the Noself perspective, the silence is not rejection. In fact, it’s the only appropriate response the Void can give. The infinite nothingness doesn’t speak in likes or comments. It speaks in silence.

The Noself simply rests in that perfection.

So I keep writing. I keep sharing. Not because I expect a response, but because the truth within me wants to be expressed. Whether that expression echoes through the hearts of others or disappears into the Void itself… both are perfect.

I will keep screaming into the Void.

I am self realized, and I say so when it feels appropriate.

However, I rarely — if ever — refer to myself as “enlightened.”

There’s a reason for that.

The word “enlightened” has become loaded with centuries of spiritual mythology, guru worship, and unrealistic expectations. When most people hear the word, they picture a perfect being who has transcended all human flaws and emotions.

That’s not who I am.

I am a human being who has had a deep and profound realization of my true nature — including the Iself, Allself, Godself, Noself, and Amness. I still live in a body, I still have a personality, and I still move through ordinary life.

Self realized feels honest and grounded to me.
“Enlightened,” on the other hand… that one just doesn’t feel right.

A lot of people in spiritual circles talk about enlightenment as “recognition.” They say it’s about recognizing your true nature.

But there’s a problem with that.

Recognition is a mental process. It requires memory, comparison, and thought. You’re literally re-cognizing — thinking about something again. That’s still happening in the mind.

True enlightenment is not a thought process at all.

It’s a deep, transcendent knowing that exists beyond the thinking mind. It’s not something you understand. It’s not something you figure out. It’s not something you recognize. It’s something you know.

Many people spend years filling their heads with spiritual information. They become very good at talking about awakening, but they never actually awaken. They become experts at playing Spiritual Trivial Pursuit — full of concepts and quotes, but no real transformation.

Enlightenment is not what you think. It is a deep, transcendent knowing of your true nature.

There is a widespread belief in spiritual circles that both the ego and the Iself must be destroyed or transcended in order to awaken.

This is a mistake.

The ego is built upon the Iself. Many traditions mistakenly treat them as one and the same, and attempt to kill both. But they are not the same.

The Iself is the fundamental individual focal point of conscious awareness — who and what you essentially are. The ego is a necessary functional layer built on top of the Iself. It is the personality structure that allows you to navigate the world, interact with others, and operate effectively in daily life. Together, the Iself plus the ego determines how you show up and function in the world.

Throughout history, there have been some yogis and mystics who, through intense sadhana and force of will, managed to completely erase their Iself. When the Iself was erased, the ego was also wiped out, leaving them completely non-functional — having to be fed, washed, and cared for like an infant by their devotees. Becoming a burden on others is not a laudable spiritual goal.

Your individuality — this unique focal point of conscious awareness — is not something to be annihilated. It is not a mistake. It is not an obstacle to realization. It is the doorway to awakening. It is something to be acknowledged, accepted, and cherished.

In fact, the very first line of the Self Realization Mantra deliberately affirms and validates the Iself:

I Am Thee Iself.

You did not come to this planet to erase your individuality. You came here to experience life through it. The Iself is not something to overcome or get rid of — it is something to be fully realized as one of the five fundamental aspects of your true nature.

You can realize Noself without destroying the Iself.

You can be fully self realized and still have a healthy, functional sense of “I”.

The Iself is not the enemy.

It is part of who you are.

“Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead… only try to realize the truth.”

“What truth?”

“There is no spoon.”

“There is no spoon?”

“Then you’ll see, it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.”

Most people think this famous scene from The Matrix is just a standard non-dual teaching. They think it means: “The physical world is an illusion. It’s all in your mind. Transcend the form. Deny the spoon.”

But I see it a little differently.

Think about what a spoon actually is. It’s an inevitability. Every single civilization that has ever existed on this planet created a spoon. It is a universal constant of manifestation. When consciousness takes physical form, the spoon must appear. It is the necessary tool through which we nourish ourselves.

So when Spoon Boy says, “There is no spoon,” he isn’t telling Neo the spoon is fake. He’s telling Neo: There is no spoon separate from you. You ARE the spoon.

And what does that signify?

It signifies the Iself.

The Contraction path of spirituality tells you that the spoon (your individuality, your Iself, your form) is an illusion that you need to delete, transcend, or annihilate.

The Expansion path tells you the spoon is an inevitable, beautiful, functional tool of consciousness.

You don’t transcend the spoon. You realize you are the spoon, the hand holding it, the mouth it feeds, the hunger that necessitated it, and the Amness that is the entire meal.

Stop trying to bend the illusion.
Embrace the inevitability of the Iself.