Katie Davis was born in the United States and is a graduate of the University of Washington. She is a former secondary school teacher, businesswoman and mother of two. Davis is author of Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment.
In 1986, Katie Davis radically and spontaneously awakened without spiritual practices or teachers. In fact, she had no intellectual reference whatsoever for what occurred. The awakening did not arise from psychological suffering, but rather through a pure passion and freedom of the body through aerobic fitness. Davis spent the next twelve years integrating the profound realization.
In 1988, she met her husband, Sundance Burke, author of Free Spirit, who had similarly awakened before their meeting in 1982 with his teachers Satoshi (Osho) and Sunyata (Shunyata) who was named the Rare Born Mystic by his friend Ramana Maharshi. Since 2004, they have lived in Hawaii.
In 1998, Katie Davis became close friends with Eckhart Tolle, now author of The Power of Now and A New Earth. Since 1999, Katie has been sharing her message of conscious freedom and causeless joy. In 2004, Eckhart Tolle encouraged her to write her book, Awake Joy, and it published in 2008. She now travels worldwide for public speaking, satsang, intensives, silent retreats and private consultations.
Katie Davis is also published in numerous magazines and websites throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan and also has had appearances on Chicago's Never Not Here Television Show and Conscious TV in London.
Katie Davis offers public talks for churches and organizations and is a Keynote Presenter. She points to freedom from the ego state of consciousness, its time, conditioned thought and negativity. In this manner, we sense a more genuine aliveness, while living in the present moment as timeless presence. She recommends conscious breathing and becoming more aware of the body's sensing. It is possible that presence might lead to spiritual awakening.
Davis also offers satsang, intensives and retreats for those seeking spiritual enlightenment and Self-realization. As presence, we are able to rest silently as "I am," rather than "I am this or that" and with self-inquiry, attention shifts to the "I" thought that is the "I am the body" idea.
The ego "I" functions as an illusory veil that ties a knot between pure consciousness and the body. In this identification with the false "I," we are unable to become conscious of the sacred dimension that lies within.
Self-observation and witnessing are important keys. Through silent and still watching, we directly recognize all that we are not. When all that is false is spontaneously surrendered, what remains is who we already are.
Once we are able to rest solely as "I am," she recommends self-inquiry by asking the most essential question, "Who am I?" The ego "I" is an altered state of consciousness, but has within it the fundamental pure consciousness. This question unties the knot and removes the illusory veil, so that we may realize that we are already pure Awareness; purely being-consciousness-bliss.
Self-realization is the end of all psychological suffering.
"Awakening is waking up from the daytime dream and realizing that who you thought you were is not limited to thought, emotion or form. Beyond the imaginary seeker, beyond concepts and beliefs, there is a field of innocence and purity. We are this deep peace and sacredness, which is absolute and beyond all intellectual understanding. I invite you to recognize this Essence of Being and to directly realize the illusion of all psychological suffering due to misidentification, misperception of separation and attachment to conditioned thought."
"As conditioned human beings, we seek adventure in becoming. Yet, because this compulsive search is ultimately unsatisfying, we then seek refuge in the peace of being. Once we realize both the complexity of becoming and the simplicity of being, Awake Joy emerges. Its essence is the rapture of true fulfillment. It is a mystery that the human being fears the unknown."
