The important shift that happens in primary realization is recognizing, “I am not only fully encountering true nature, I am fully being true nature.” This means that there is a realization here that the that and the what are the same thing: “What I am is that I am, and that I am is what I am.” In primary awakening, the encounter with true nature, with spirit, is so full and so complete that there is no longer any separate you or it. You and true nature are the same thing. You realize that what you have encountered is not alien but your spirit. True nature becomes both your that and your what. It is your being and your essence. – The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers’ Stone and the Secrets of Existence, Ch. 2