Imagine a projector screen and projected upon it is the moving image of water. The water could be a turbulent ocean scene of rocking and rolling waves, rising up and crashing down. It could a flowing river, with swirling eddies, as it flows outwards then inwards to and from the sea. It could be a calm pond scene, tranquil, with only a hint of the breeze blowing across the surface.

Although we may view these scenes and consider them to be different types of water, either relatively still, flowing or turbulent, it makes no difference to the screen. The screen remains unchanged whilst these different scenes may appear on it. Furthermore, there could be any kind of scene projected upon the screen, such as a forest fire, erupting volcano, or exploding bomb. The screen is just fine.

This is how it is with Consciousness. The moving, changing world appears within Consciousness. The world comes and goes, and Consciousness remains as it is. We may experience terrible events or beautiful scenery, but Consciousness remains as it is. We may consider that terrible events can have lasting psychological effects, and this is the case. But it doesn't change Consciousness. The mind or mental activity is also perceived to come and go in Consciousness.

What this means is that there is a deeper layer than the perception of the world and a deeper layer than the perception of mental activity. There is a core or supposed centre of perception which is not perceived, but is naturally perceiving. That is Consciousness. So we can rest assured that despite what may happen in the world or in the mind, the heart of our being is Clear Calm Consciousness.

Well, it's not really the heart of our being. It is all there is. It only seems that Consciousness is at the heart. Truly there is only Consciousness. Consciousness is our being. To use another analogy: consider Consciousness like a blank sheet of paper and upon it are drawn many circles. It may seem then that each circle has its own centre of consciousness. It could also even be considered that the heart of each circle is the shared Consciousness. So when we get to the heart of our being there is One Consciousness. Yet, as good as that is, it's not wholly accurate. Better to say that there is only One Consciousness Being, there only seems to be many beings, and there is nothing other than this One Consciousness.

So how does this help? Well, when times are tough, as they will be, we can know that we are unharmed. We can see that there is nothing other than the Consciousness that we are. We can recognise errors of thinking that lead to entanglement and suffering. We are not that which appears. We are that in which all appears. We are not a body, a mind or a soul. These are all names for movements within Consciousness. We are formless Consciousness.