Ervin K Kery

Disciple: Master, what is love? We speak of it often, but what does it truly mean?

Master: Love is not an emotion that comes and goes, my disciple. It is the very essence of existence. It is the force that connects everything, the thread that weaves together the universe. Love is not something you do; it is something you are.

Disciple: But why is it so difficult to live from love?

Master: The mind distracts you from love. It creates fear, separation, and judgment. These are all illusions. Love is beyond the mind’s grasp. It is a feeling of unity, of being at one with everything. When the mind quiets, love is all that remains.

Disciple: Master, why are we suffering so much? Why do we cause pain to ourselves and to each other?

Master: Suffering arises because we do not see reality as it truly is. Instead, we perceive the world through the filters of our belief systems and prejudices. We don’t believe what we see; we see what we believe.

Disciple: How do our belief systems distort reality?

Master: Imagine wearing glasses with lenses painted in bright colors. These glasses represent your belief system. If the lenses are red, you see the entire world as red, even if it isn’t. These belief systems limit your perception, making you rigid and closing the door to playful, free thinking.

Master: The ego is the false sense of “I,” created by the mind. It is a product of identification with thoughts, emotions, and external roles. It believes that it is separate from others, and this creates the illusion of duality.

Disciple: But if the ego is an illusion, why does it feel so real?

Master: The ego feels real because it is constantly fed by your thoughts and beliefs. The mind identifies with the body, with labels, with possessions, and with the stories it tells itself. But the truth is, you are not the ego. You are the awareness that watches the ego, the consciousness that observes without judgment.

Disciple: How do I recognize this true self?

Master: The true self is not found in thoughts, labels, or actions. It is the silent awareness that is present before the mind creates its stories. Begin by observing your thoughts and emotions without identifying with them. Notice that you are the one who is aware of them.

Disciple: Master, may I ask you about consciousness? I hear the word often, but I cannot grasp its meaning.

Master: Of course. But first, tell me—who is it that asks this question?

Disciple: It is me.

Master: And who are you?

Disciple: I am… myself. The one who thinks, feels, and speaks.

Master: Now, turn your gaze inward. Look closely. Can you find this “me” you speak of? Who is it that thinks your thoughts and looks through your eyes?

Disciple: I… I don’t know. It feels like something is there, but I cannot find it.

Master: This “something” is your consciousness. You might call it your soul, your spirit, or your true self. It is not a thing, but an awareness. It is always present—silent, observing, understanding. It is the stillness beneath all movement.

ExploringThe Art of Conscious Living by Ervin K. Kery: A Journey to Authenticity and Presence

In a world consumed by the noise of daily routines, distractions, and societal expectations, Ervin K. Kery’s The Art of Conscious Living emerges as a beacon of mindfulness and self-discovery. This transformative guide invites readers to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the essence of who they truly are, beyond the layers of ego and the roles they play in life. With poetic insights and practical exercises, Kery offers a roadmap to living intentionally and authentically, making it a powerful companion for anyone seeking peace and clarity in an often chaotic world.

At its core, The Art of Conscious Living focuses on mindfulness and the present moment. Kery emphasizes that true freedom comes from observing and understanding the ego, not as an enemy but as a construct that can be transcended. By shedding the weight of past regrets and the anxiety of future uncertainties, readers are guided to embrace the timeless beauty of the present moment. Through practices like mindful breathing, gratitude, and intention-setting, the book equips readers with tools to cultivate awareness and deepen their connection to life.

This book is a guide to inner stillness, where the ego’s distractions are revealed, making way for pure presence.

It is for those beginning to awaken from the deep sleep of identification with forms, and for those who feel an increasing longing to discover the immortal essence within— the boundless being residing in the body yet often constrained by conditioning and limiting beliefs.

The insights shared within these pages can accelerate this awakening, offering glimpses into the unknown and guiding you toward the eternal, infinite Consciousness that dwells within.

Here, you will find keys to deepen your insight.

With a mind always craving information, these keys cannot be fully understood unless the mind is quiet. True understanding arises only in stillness. There is no need to apply these keys based on the mind’s expectations, no need to learn or “practice” them.

"The Mysteries of Consciousness” by Ervin Kery explores the profound enigma of human consciousness, combining spiritual wisdom with scientific insights to address timeless questions about existence, self-awareness, and the nature of reality. Below is a summary of the key themes:

Unveiling the Ultimate Mystery: Consciousness

Consciousness remains one of humanity’s greatest enigmas—a realm that challenges scientific and spiritual understanding alike. Ervin Kery’s The Mysteries of Consciousness dives deep into this phenomenon, offering a transformative journey that invites readers to rediscover themselves and the reality they inhabit.

* When you're unable to feel gratitude * Struggling with the present moment * Why is gratitude worth feeling? * Opening up to Life *

In our everyday lives, any other emotion is more likely to overcome us than gratitude. We may think we have nothing to be grateful for: this moment is not quite what it should be. And this leads to an unresolvable tension: the ideal state is somewhere in the future, and the future is not now, in this moment. "Give it to me, Lord, but give it to me now" - we want to get there as soon as possible, and this leads to longing, and in its absence, boredom. When we yearn, we draw energy away from the now to give it to future fulfillment, and when we are bored, we withhold our life energies from unfolding in the present - we wait in the hall of life, dozing in our dreams. A sense of gratitude only sometimes floods over us: for example, when we see a severely physically handicapped person, or a homeless beggar. We think, "It's a good thing I'm not in that situation" - and sometimes we mistakenly believe this for compassion.

* Why do we seek happiness in the future? * Happiness is not outside of us * Embracing the present moment *

Who wouldn't want to be happy? The unclouded peace and tranquillity, the ecstasy of happiness, when everything seems to be shining, our hearts are singing, we are in love with the whole world. But most of the time we don't have that. We yearn for happiness; we thirst for it and we think of it as a state to be achieved somewhere in the future. "I will be happy when I manage to achieve this or that dream". "I will be happy when I am rich and have no financial problems". "If everyone loves me according to my expectations, I will be happy" - these are the goals that stand in the way of happiness. 
You set yourself a goal and think: "When I reach that goal, I will be completely happy". You strive, you push, you do your best to achieve it; and when you finally arrive, after a lot of painful, soul-destroying suffering, you finally reach the goal, you are happy for a short while: "I have succeeded! I have done it at last! I have reached it".

* Does selfless love really exist? * The conditional love of the willful little "I" * The love that wants to pour out *

Oh, the love.. 

Admiration, adoration, like, love... are all manifestations and aspects of love. Abstinence, alienation, hatred, loathing... each a manifestation of inhibited love. Are we really living the miracle of love, or are we just parroting this fine-sounding concept?

The mother, when she gives birth to her child, falls in love with her foetus: for flesh is flesh, blood is blood, and then the child comes off the tree, roots itself in life, and the mother is unable to let go of her child. And so it is that the mature adult is dependent on the 'loving' chimpiness of his mother. As teenagers, when our emotions flare up, our sexual desires choose an attractive creature and lie that we are in love, when all that happens is that we have an unquenchable desire for sexuality. Poets, painters, sculptors, artists of all kinds have been inspired by love; beautiful, inspiring works have been created... but are they really about true, unconditional love or about the clinging, or even the chimping, of the selfish 'I'?

* The controlling self * The principle of least effort * Avoid obstacles in your way * Trust the flow of life *

There are days when everything works so perfectly: things are going well, success follows success, you're on friendly terms with everyone, you're happy and joyful, surrounded by love - it's as if the whole Universe is supporting you. At other times, trouble comes in droves, unexpectedly unpleasant events happen, a series of failures, losses, not being understood, even unfriendly - as if the whole Universe is conspiring against you.

The little "I" in us (the Ego) loves to be in complete control of every aspect of life, when exactly what we want happens. When life supports your ideas, your desires, you are content - you feel master of Life. But when things don't go according to your expectations, you feel you have to be more in control, stronger, more persistent, more resistant to what happens. 

* Why carry the stories of the past with you? * Every moment is a brand-new moment *

Do you occasionally wake up feeling irritable and annoyed, spending the entire day in a grumpy mood, even at the slightest provocation? Your whole day is a mess, nothing seems to go right, and it seems like you're being chased by misfortune. You'll notice: you carry the stories of the past with you.

Two monks on their way to a monastery come to a riverbank where they meet a beautiful woman. The water level is very high, and she is afraid to cross the river. One of the monks takes pity on the woman and carries her across the river. They say goodbye to the woman and continue their journey. However, the other monk, after a while, could not contain his irritation, burst out and berated his companion for hours:
- You forgot our monastic vows! How dare you touch that woman? You have dishonoured our religion and our faith! - he growled loudly.
The scolded monk listened patiently to his companion, until suddenly he spoke softly:  
- Brother, I took that woman across the river and put her down. Are you still carrying her?

* Suffering in the hell of past stories * The ego's self-repair programme * Mental suffering and physical illness * Why should we forgive? * The liberating practice of forgiveness *

 On the porch of our own hell..
Often we feel depressed, lethargic because we are wrestling with the ghosts of our grievances and resentments; and in this hopeless struggle we burn up our life energies. Perhaps we are at war with ourselves, we lack self-confidence, or someone has wronged us in the past, or done us an injustice, and we cannot forgive them. Something has happened that has scarred our carefully nurtured ego, and our soul is bleeding, suffering and scorched. It may have been a single stinging sentence, a few seconds of a very unpleasant event, but we replay the story over and over in our minds. In a voice of resentment, we engage in internal dialogue, or even loudly argue with our absent opponent, defending our truth, patching up our already brain-stained little selves. In truth, the event lasted only a fleeting moment, but we relive it again and again, projecting it onto the screen of our minds as a never-ending story. The mind makes no distinction between reality and imagination, so the incident happens to us again and again each time we relive it. 

* Our existence is a miracle * Does the body have consciousness or consciousness have a body? * "Nothing" or matter? * The oddities of selective attention * Is it the cat's head that causes its tail? * What are you paying attention to * The mysteries of consciousness *

We know that some time between 13 and 14 billion years ago, energy condensed into a tiny dot exploded in a huge explosion, and here we are, sentient thinking beings, wondering how it is that I am writing these lines on a high-tech gadget and you understand what I wrote. Isn't it amazing that such a mysterious awareness has sprung out of nowhere? But there are those who do not wonder at this, but sit in the hell of their suffering and think: I have a perishable body, in it a kind of consciousness, a multitude of emotions and thoughts; my body will pass away, die, and this consciousness will also dissolve into nothingness. And it may be that it is not our body that has consciousness, but consciousness that has taken on a body.

* The mysteries of our bodies * Captive to thoughts and emotions * The ultimate mystery: the Consciousness *

The mysteries of our body
Our senses tell us that our bodies are solid and constant. But in reality, our bodies are constantly changing, like a flowing river. With each breath, a huge number of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms enter our body, are incorporated into our cells, and the same number leave our body when we exhale.

In less than a year, 98% of the atoms in our body are replaced: the liver is renewed in 6 weeks, the skin in 5 days, bones are replaced every 3 months, and the 'raw material' of hereditary DNA is replaced in 6 weeks.

 * How do we become conscious? * A tyrant who lives inside our heads * The ego's death *

You must often meet people who are very caracan, strong and serious personalities: they embrace all sorts of beliefs, they are stubborn, they are rigidly adherent to their "principles", they have carved out an inflexible, hard personality for themselves, they often suffer and are subjected to "injustices" - as if they are at war with the whole Universe. They take it as a personal affront when someone disagrees with them, they become rude and speak their truth... even when they no longer have an audience. They carry the heavy burden of their fixed thoughts, life is a misery for them, they live only in the captivity of their thoughts. If you think that you are not "that crazy", but sober-minded, you have to face reality: inside your head there is a constantly nagging, wanting, willful tyrannical "little me" - who often makes your life hell. 

You'll notice: you simply can't stop thinking!

* We go in search of our true self, the spirit/soul within us, by experiencing it directly * Who are we beyond our imagination? * What is observing awareness? * And what is beyond? *

In the beginning there was an unconscious unity of existence with the universe.  Then came the consciousness of the body, and with it the consciousness of the "I am" - the observing consciousness that experiences the world with innocent curiosity. And as time went on, more and more layers were added to your true self, beliefs, ideas about who you are and who you should be. An image of 'self' has emerged, a phantom that has lost touch with its true self and has fallen into a dreamlike stupor as a confused little self, living in doubt and suffering.

* A taste of a new state of consciousness * What is beyond material forms? * The wonder of space * What is the mystery of consciousness?

Tasting a newly discoverable state of consciousness

Have you ever wondered what it is that hides behind your eyes, looking at the world through them? What is it that experiences its environment through your body? What is it that knows your emotions and what is it that knows your thoughts? Please, now - in this moment - turn your attention to the Consciousness that is reading these lines! Listen to the observer within you!