The pure act of awareness is what defines your being in the moment, in the now. The act of perception further defines your being in the moment and the act of desiring further defines your being in the moment, etc. etc. You might be able to conceptually understand that your being is limitless, but unless you are actually able to be aware of this limitlessness, it is just a thought, an empty concept, a mental construct without substance or inherent existence. Thought is a kind of action that can be either limited or unlimited, however it is an action that pales in comparison to the possibilities afforded by the action of awareness or even the action of perception. The paradox (and subsequent completion) comes in when one realizes that being itself is the ultimate passivity, and yet at the same time the ultimate action. The first and penultimate condition of existence (or being) is awareness. The mystery inherent in this is quite obvious; as awareness itself is unconditioned and unconditional, yet it is the singular condition of existence. Awareness is totally passive and yet something is occurring, something is acting. If you understand this, then you can understand why there is no nirvana without samsara, and vice versa. The force that causes beings or things to exist and the force that causes beings or things to be aware is the same; however at this level, everything is the same. That force is everything: the substance, the forms, the background and the foreground, it simultaneously contains and is everything.
