Sailor Bob - nonduality on 91st birthday, 21-07-2019

Okay, so welcome everyone. We start from the names. I'm Katarina. Mark. Randy. Tess. Diana. Alex. Wendy. Monica. Erica. Ivy. Jessica. Chloe. Jane. Tim. Bobby. Sonny. Rosie. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Point vídeo. Point it out once again. Ha ha ha. Same old, same old. What we point to is what we call these days non-duality. Love it. Label they put on it. Non-duality meaning not two, one without a second. And we try and keep it in its simplicity. And it is very simple. If it's only the one, and they talk about the absolute and the great perfection, well it must be, if it's only the one, there's nothing other than that.

It must be the absolute, the total. And you've only got to look at a few of these things for a little while to look around you and understand. Though there are seeming thousands and thousands of different pattern, shapes and forms, there's nothing you can postulate that is outside of space or the stillness. . All movement comes from stillness. All sound comes from the silence. All seeming pattern, shapes and forms appear in that space. And when the Buddha said that it's a cognising emptiness, and he said that emptiness is form, and the form can be nothing other than emptiness. That's what he's pointing to. It's all that cognising emptiness.

And the cognising part, another name for that is knowing. Another name for the knowing is intelligence. Not the intellect, but in pure intelligence. It's patterning, shaping, forming, and everything. If emptiness is form, and the form can't be anything other than the emptiness, there's nothing or nobody or anything in this room that is other than that emptiness. Not only applies to in this room, but outside and everywhere and everywhere. All that cognising emptiness. An emptiness suffused with intelligence, a cognising or a knowing. When we say that, what is intelligence? Intelligence is just another name for knowing. Anyone who is not knowing right now. Intellect we point to.

It's the same intelligence, patterning, shaping, and forming in this universe. Look out there in nature and see how it's functioning. So the galaxies are forming out there, planets moving around, earth moving around the sun, seasons coming and going, tides coming in and out. Doesn't that imply that nature itself is suffused with that innate intelligence? It's not like we, as we use our intellects, it's not functioning like that, that one and one is two, two and two is four, or working things out with the mind. When you look at the so-called mind, there is no such thing as mind. If you think there is, describe that mind to me now.

Show me what it is. What do you think mind is? You realise there's nothing solid or substantial there apart from thoughts. And what are thoughts? Thoughts are words, or sounds, ideas, or images. And what's a sound, or a word? A sound is a vibration. And a vibration is a movement of energy. So, that intelligence energy, the activity of knowing. And we put all sorts of different labels and concepts on that. Spirit, essence, something else. Taking it to be something separate and apart. It's all that intelligence energy, the activity of knowing. Now, we've taken ourselves to be separate entities, individuals, persons. And these separate entities, individuals and persons, if we start on the so-called spiritual search, what are we looking for?

Because we've taken ourselves to be the person, the separate entity, and we're seeking to become whole or complete, or enlightened, or realised, or liberated, or whatever other labels they put on it. And it's all the absolute, it's all the one, what needs to be realised. What needs to be known. When everything is already that. And that's the label they put on it. I am that. And then we put another label or word on that. That's the chair, that's the carpet, that's the house, that's me, that's you. We've divided it up into concepts or words. And look into the words. Is any word the actual? Take word water.

Can you drink the word? Take the word fire. Does it burn your mouth? Maybe this I, word I or me is not what you are. It's not the persona, the mask, the conceptual image. And if it's all the one essence, it can't be anything other than that. That is the word. That is the earth. That is the sun. That is the tide. That's you. That's me. Everything is that. Which we put labels on it and differentiate it. Or seemingly so. And with that differentiation, we take ourselves to be separate entities, individuals, persons. We seemingly go on a path. The path to liberation. The path to realisation.

I can't see any steps out there. Where's the path then? And what's it on? Is it going up a hill? Down a hill? Or in a mountain? Or are you walking up into space? That seemingly search or path takes place in time. Another thing needs to be looked at. See if there is any such thing. There's no separation, no time, no space, no beginning, no end. No you, no me. There must already and ever be that totality, that absolute. Down through the ages there have been people, so-called people, or pattern, shapes and forms, that have expressed this. And pointed it out. And the great traditions and religions are formed around them.

But then they start passing it on to people that don't really understand it and form these religions around some great saint, sage, saviour or seer, who was only the messenger and they've worshipped the messenger and lost sight of the message. And the message has always been, you are that. You are that total. When we take on that idea, we're in that search. Now over the ages, you don't see a great many that have really understood it. They've formed religions around it and have millions of followers in the religion. And what are they happening in these religions? It's like somebody barricading for a football team. My team is better than yours.

My team is going to win the premiership. And we get into all sorts of arguments and fights and go to war over these religions. Not settling down and recognising that it is the one essence. And you already and always have been and always will be that. And in these statements, they call it a self-realisation, a self-liberation, a self-awareness, a self-knowing. We call ourselves the personal self. I am this person. How many self's do you think there would be if self means single and alone and one with? There's always and only and ever been the one self. And it expresses as realisation, liberation, freedom, shining, glowing.

The one self, patterning, shaping, forming, experiencing, everything. But we've labelled ourselves as this persona, this mask, and we think we can improve on that and everything will be right. But because we put all these concepts and labels on it, for concepts, labels are words, ideas, images. If concepts and labels and images are that which seemingly obscuring it, what would it be necessary to get rid of? Would it be necessary to understand the concepts, the images and the labels, see them for what they are, instead of being bound in them, bound up in the concepts, ideas and images which we've done? Put all sorts of labels on ourselves.

Taking the word to be real and not realising that's the belief in the word. I try to raise, work it out in the mind and get rid of the word or do something with the word that keeps us in the bondage. Not only keeps us in the bondage but causes all our psychological suffering. The labels we put upon ourselves. It doesn't have to be that way. Right out here, have a look into the word, have a look into the persona, have a look into this mask. Question your beliefs, question some of these concepts and ideas you've taken on. Watch the capacity of reasoning. See how it works.

See how it's always vibrating in interrelated opposites. See how your mind functions. If you think you've got a thing called mind, what we call mind or concept. And notice it always functions in the pairs of opposites. It's either past or future, pleasant, painful, happy, sad, loving, hating, positive, negativity, good or bad. Always in the interrelated opposites. And see how many words or labels and images we put upon ourselves. Words our parents told us, gave us a name, and they tell you again. Some of these people have understood it. They just say it's, in Hinduism, is Sat Chit Ananda, Nama Rupa. They're the five factors. And when you put the labels on those words, what's that?

It's existence. We'll break it into English. It's existence. Anyone who is not existing right now, and you're like, no, I'm existing. Chit is consciousness. Anyone who is unaware or unconscious right now, no, you'll say, I'm conscious, I'm aware. Ananda is loving to be, or happy to be, or they call it the bliss of being. Anyone who's not, who doesn't want to be right now, you don't want to give up that beingness. And the other two factors are Nama Rupa. Name and form. Now, any name you've got has been learnt, picked up along the way. Any form, the body, or the pattern, shape and form, the tree, the flower, the body, the insect, the bird, they're all forms, which we put labels on.

And they tell you that's the name and form of Maya. They're illusion. They're not the actuality. They're not real. Understand that they are. They are real in essence, but not in the way they're patterned, shaped and formed. Everything is formed out of that essence, or life, essence we call it, or call it spirit. A lot of people call it spirit. And what's spirit? Spirit is the essence, the pattern, shape and form which it bears in. What's the opposite of spirit? Matter. Matter. Or material. All these patterns, shapes and forms we take to be matter. Material. As we pointed out, as they say, it's the one essence.

The shape and form they appear in, which they tell you again in the scriptures, is Maya. It's illusion. Shape and form are just vibrating energy. There's nothing solid or substantial about it at all. So we need to investigate this and look at it all and see. And they tell you in some of the scriptures, in some of the scriptures too, that spirit can never know matter. Because all that matter is, is spirit. It's congealed or solid, seemingly solidified. Like the blood. When blood congeals, it seemingly sets and appears solid. Or matter then, material. So what you are in essence, always and ever have been and always will be, is pure spirit.

Spirit is the core of it all. It's the essence of it all. And matter is how it appears in a solidified form. Look along those lines, and grasp along those lines and see for yourself, whether you are that material body. Or is there a core essence running through it? Call it life if you like. Call it life if you like. If that life wasn't functioning through that body right now, if it hadn't patterned, shaped and formed it, and brought it into existence, how many thoughts could you have? What words could you have? Where would they abide? What would they look through? You know, the pattern, shape and form is there.

It is the spirit or the life that's enabling it to function. That's breathing it. Breathing it hard. Growing your hair and your fingernails. Digesting your food. Replacing cells in your body. Are you as the person doing any of that? Are you as the person doing any thinking? Are you doing any seeing? Any feeling, tasting, touching, smelling or thinking? We've taken the belief that we have, I see, I think, I feel. Since it wasn't functioning through that pattern in the life in here, how many thoughts can a corpse have? How many heartbeats can it have? How many breaths can it take? How much food can it eat?

Like a computer, it's got all that information in it. It hasn't got a scrap of information if the power's not on it. It's not a bit of good. So that's the zone we need to investigate and look and see if you are this body, mind, person. Indaintly, you already know you're not because you say my body. Say my coat, my car, my house. You know you're not the coat, the car or the house. You belong to this essence that you call me. But we think it's the person. It's my body. It's my mind. The way the functioning goes on, we're related to this my self, the personal self.

There is one self. Patterning, shaping, informing and expressing is everything. You want to know the truth and understand the truth, it's I, self. I am anything that pattern, shapes and forms and appears in itself. I am the fear. I am the anger. I am the unhappiness. I am the joy. I am the love. I am all those things that vibrate into different pattern, shapes and forms at which to take. At which to take them to be separate. In the very separation of the self, we like one thing and don't like the other. Try and get rid of it. Not realizing, if you notice your life, how it's functioning, you'll see it's constantly changing.

How long does the bad thing stay there? It only lasts for a long time, especially if you're reinforcing them with the energy of belief. And believing it's so all this is happening to me. But have a look again in nature. How long do clouds stay obscuring the sun? Not very long at all. They're constantly changing and moving on. Have a look in this thing you call mind. How many thoughts you're having? You can reinforce some by keeping them there longer than they should be. But go back, where are yesterday's thoughts now? How many of them are there right now? They can't be there unless you recall them.

Bring them right back. They're changing. But while we're reinforcing them and keeping them there longer, and we suffer accordingly, it's these sensations that come up from these thoughts. Fear is a sensation. Which we put, instead of seeing it fresh and new, instead of seeing it for the first time, we label it fear. The next one, this other one, we could call anger. I've had that before. We label it, instead of seeing it fresh and new, as a fresh sensation. This one is, this is a feeling of fear. This is a feeling of fear. This one is unhappiness. This one is joy. This one is sadness.

All sensations. The vibration senses vibrate, and we put a label on, according to what we believe it is, because we've had it before. You label it, instead of seeing it fresh and new. Seeing them in the immediate presence, when they come up, without putting any label. Have a curious look, curious. See what it actually is. You might see it totally differently. And you will. Because it's always transient. But while ever we're relating it to the old label, if we like it, and it's going to move, we don't want it to move away, there will be resistance. And if we don't like it, we don't want to keep it there, we will resist it again.

Don't you see this constant resistance? This is going on with us. It causes all the suffering. The fear, the anger. Not wanting things, or trying to get rid of things, or trying to hang on to things. There's a constant conflict. That resistance, conflict, and disease. All that resistance and conflict that comes with it, the anxiousness, the fear, the anger, the unhappiness, is uneasiness. Uneasiness is disease. And we have to look at that and see if that's how life is functioning. When you really understand and see the way it's functioning, there may be ways to see through it and change it. While ever we're constantly believing in it, which we have done, trying to work it out in the mind, think that thought's going to solve the problem.

Now, thought can be very useful. There are many inventions that have formed, and many things it has solved. But it won't solve this one. So when you understand what this thing called mind is, there's really no thing, there's nothing there with any substance, or any independent nature. Realize from that there's no creator. It's all by waiting for the self. No creation. The creation is just a vibrating manifestation. And no creature. We're all creatures. And you might understand how simple and easy it is to grasp this. But I mean to say you won't. The mind won't be utilized. But it'll come up naturally and spontaneously. There won't be a you or a me that's utilizing it.

There never was, never will be, and never could be. Related to that me, you've moved away from the natural functioning and put it into the, given it this mask, or this conceptual image, where you believe it needs to become whole, complete, total. We ask you to look at it and see for yourself. Got any questions or arguments, or tell us how you see it yourself? Get into it. Away you go. So Bob, it comes and goes. Understanding, knowing, comes and goes. What are some helpful statements, helpful statements that we could use to bring us back to that knowledge when we've moved away? Well, ask yourself this one.

What's wrong with right now if I don't think about it? Yeah, I know that one. You know that one? Well, what happens when you don't think about it? I just stop thinking and, you know. Yeah, but what happens? Another step forward and... What happens when you're not thinking about it? Can you say it's good? Bad? No, it's just... Yeah. Yeah. So it's brought you back to the immediacy. Yes. Another thing. Presence awareness. Are you unaware right now? When? Now. That's present. You are that presence awareness right now. Yeah. Not the one... It's as simple as that. Yes. Simple as that. It's that simple that we miss it.

Maybe I add to it just a little bit, because there is another thing that Bob said, that Bob sometimes stresses out as really helpful, is to just instead of focusing the whole attention in the mind, just come back from the mind into the sensory experiences which are always now. Like listening to the sounds, they are always happening presently, or seeing something, seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling. When the attention is not... It's kind of distributed more evenly between the senses, and because the mind is always overlooking the senses, the reality is always thinking either about future or past, or having a story to say, and it kind of misses out what is happening presently.

So for me, very helpful always was to just focus on few sounds, different sounds, like four or five different sounds, and hold them in the attention. And then there was no more attention available for going to the head. And that is grounding, and that is really pleasurable. Same with the sensations. Same with the sensations on the body. Same with different tastes. I mean, you know, people instinctively do it with the taste, but that's kind of dangerous. Like when people feel some sort of a void or want to break the emotional pattern of beating themselves, they go for food and they get addicted. Because that moment of eating a chocolate, it does break the pattern of thinking, and it is instant reward.

So I wouldn't recommend that method. But generally coming back to the senses, to hearing sounds, to the sights, smelling, even smelling the air, breathing, feeling the body, feeling the muscles, feeling the tensions and face, that really brings the attention back to the present moment. Because what we experience sensorily is always present. We can't really... I think it's the breath. I have a very strong mind, which is always walking on. And I had to practice yoga for many years, and it's always... When my mind is getting really strong, then I have to watch the breath. I feel the breath, and it sounds like the ocean, and that relaxes me, and it relaxes my mind.

And the in-breath is like the tide coming in, and the exhale is the tide going out, and it sounds like the ocean. And that's very relaxing when my mind is locking on. So coming to the senses. That's what I say. Let your thoughts ride out on the breath. The thoughts ride out... On the breath. Yeah. When you breathe out, breathe out the thought. What's that in? Just do it right now. I like the line, but... Yeah. I'm breathing out the city. The exhaust from the city. Yeah, it is a helpful idea to just breathe out whatever troubles you. It works because, as Bob said, spirit is the essence, and the prana, the breath, is spirit, essence.

It's the most refined essence there is, and it animates the body, and possibly the mind. Do you think prana animates the mind? Is it prana that animates the mind? But mind is God. It's creation. At first there was the word, and the word was God. Yeah. And the word is good. The word is creation. And so the breath helps dissolve. If there's something wrong with the breath, it's the soul. If there's too much creation, and there's too much manifesting, then the breath can... All things are made by the word. That's the creation. Nothing was made, or was made, without the word. It begins with the word.

The word was with God. That's all. God is a word. Yes. A label. God is spirit. God is spirit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not a word. Mm-hmm. That is so... Because every religion's got a different name for God anyway. Which one would have been a word? Can I just say something on the God thing, Bob? There's a misconception or misunderstanding that made us in the image of himself. And we immediately interpret that as, God must look like us. Yeah. That's how we interpret it. But if you actually look at that line, God made us in the image of himself, does God have an image? Not some old big daddy sitting in his car.

I thought that was there. So there's a... That's a pointer. God made us in the image of himself. He has no image. Therefore, we have no image. Yes. And the other thing is, just on... I was just bouncing around in my head. I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, I was just thinking, personal the so-called personal entity then if you like if we're going to be using the word god that's god's will god's will is free will yeah my will is self-will and it never works it never works because there is only god's will and the reason that we get into trouble as human beings is because we believe we have free will which is actually self-will but we believe that we have free will and when things aren't going the way that we believe they should be going we exert ourselves or we try harder to make things go the way we want them to go because after all i've been told i have free will but when you actually look at it we have zero zip nada free will as the personal entity we can't make anything happen we can't do anything You can't make anything happen.

And we attribute that personal self to be able to do, create, see, be aware, know. It knows nothing. It is nothing. So it knows nothing and it can literally do nothing. And it can't see anything. I'm talking about the personal me. It can't see, it can't hear, it can't taste, touch, smell at all. Why? Because there's not one there. There's literally, literally not one there. There's a believed in persona here. There's a believed in me here. And when you actually go looking for that, like really go looking for that, you discover there's actually not. And all that's been going on our whole life is we have a belief in a me.

A belief in a me that is present. When you are asking the question, Wendy, you know, like, what do we do? Like, what are some of the little pointers that we can use or recall when we fall in and out, if you like, of being aware one moment and not the next, you know? And yet there's certain little things that can get thrown at you. But the real question is, who is it? Who is it? Who is it that still believes it's falling in and out? And that has to be investigated. Until that is investigated, there's an assumption that there's a me here that still has to practice certain things or recall certain pointers to fall back into presence.

The real... See, we assume or believe or we assume. We assume. We assume. We assume. We assume. We assume. We assume. There's a me here. And we assume that the me has to practice or do or see or attain or learn or whatever. And non-duality is about cutting right through all of that nonsense because it is, cutting through all of that nonsense and coming right back to who wants to know. Seriously. Seriously. And if that's not investigated, there's always going to be an assumption that there's me here that's not awake yet, that has to do certain things or certain practices or whatever, you know, for me to finally awaken.

There isn't one. So it's not possible for the me to get this and it's not possible for the me to awaken. There isn't one. We are an energetic being, though. We are. Yeah, but there's no... We do exist as energy. Yes, but it's... And there can be blockages. Yes, but it's not an individual. It's not an individual, but... Then that's it. Well, I identify myself to be energy. Okay, then identify yourself to be energy. That's an individual identifying itself to be energy, is it not? It's simply a statement of description of the energy that I'm in. I understand. A statement of how I manifest on the physical plane of reality.

I identify myself as being energy. I don't identify myself as being anything. Zip. Absolutely void. Nada. Nothing. Zero. Well, that's a very difficult place to be. I feel sorry for you. No, that's where we all are. That's where everybody actually... That's where we all actually are, but there's a belief that... that I'm an isolated individual, me sitting here, that's either experiencing energy or not experiencing energy, or getting this or not getting it, and so on and so forth. There is not a single individual sitting in this room. No. But that can only be seen in stillness. It can't be seen through... It can only be experienced in stillness.

Experienced. So it's very difficult to point to. No. In actuality. Can anyone... negate your being right now? So your being, not was-ing or will-being or becoming, just pure being. We put the label human on it, and put the label on God on it, you know, take away the label God and human, separate the beings. There is... Anything in this manifestation is just pure being. Mm. That's the best word, I think. The best word. It's so neutral. The mind can't latch onto being, really, can it? Yeah. Pardon? Mind can't latch on... No. It can't latch, but you can't negate it. Yeah. Can't negate. Can't say, I'm not.

Isn't that what I said? Just in a different way? Yeah. That's right. The trick is to look. Don't look and see what's really actually going on here. And you have to look at yourself. You have to look at yourself. Look here. Not out at a teacher, not in a book, not online. You literally need to turn and look. Find the subject. Is there a subject here? Go looking for it. There's an assumed subject. There's an assumed me here. Go looking for that. See if there's actually anything there. What is it that's aware of your personal me? Can it be the me that's aware of the me?

So what is it that's aware of that? And we ignore that completely. Completely. And the reason we ignore that is because all of our attention is always objective. It's always put out there. Always. Even being aware of thoughts that manifest or supposedly being aware of the me that's here. Yeah? To be aware of any of that stuff. Thoughts, tasks sitting over there, feelings in the body, my so-called, you know, contracted me. To be aware of any of that, you've got to be separate from it. You cannot be aware of anything unless awareness is separate from it. To be aware of it. So anything, literally anything that you can be aware of is not you.

And we give no, and I mean zero attention to that that is aware. And I'll tell you why we give zero attention to that that is aware. Because we assume it's me that's aware. And we look no further. We assume that, take that as a belief, and then run with that. And then run around trying to wake up. Trying to get this. Trying to wake up. That awareness is not the me. This that's here, there is no me that's here seeing. Yet there's seeing. There's no me here that's hearing. Yet there's hearing. Tasting, touching, smelling. Doesn't belong to the me. At all. In that point that I sometimes use in, if we're able to create amnesia in everybody.

And everyone's me disappears. Amnesia, yeah. Right down to not recognizing your face when you look in the mirror. Complete amnesia. Okay. Still be there. There'd still be an aliveness there. There'd still be seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling. Who would be seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling if amnesia was there? Who? Does there have to be a who for the seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling to be? Who is there? If who is the unknown, then who is that? That has to be found out. Yes. That literally has to be. It's an experience. Found out. No, it's not an experience. Experience is come and go. It's not an experience.

So you have to look. You literally have to look instead of running around doing all these practices. What will I do? How could, what, you know. How can I stay in the present? How can who stay in the present? You're never not in the present. It's all just words. Yeah. Yeah. There's just a me that believes it's not present. The me is just a pattern of thoughts and then another pattern of thoughts comes up and says, I'm not present. And this pattern of thoughts goes, yeah, yeah, no, no, it's not present. All that's ever going on, the only conflict that's ever going on is in the head.

It's only thoughts that are in conflict with one another. There is no personal antecedent. There's no personal entity here. There's no personalized me here that it's happening to. It's just thoughts. And that's what I mean by turn and look and actually, truly see what's going on. All you are is a thought, a pattern of thought. That's it. Because where do you go if we create amnesia? You disappear. Yet, this body is still sitting here. It's still seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling. So, what is that personal me other than a memory, other than just thoughts? It latches onto this awareness and says, it's me that's aware.

It's me that's seeing. It's me that's hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, which is ridiculous. When you actually look for yourself. Get out of the head. Like, get out of the head and look. It doesn't take intellect to look. It doesn't. I'm not using intellect to look at Dale. I don't need intellect to look there. It's just looking. It's really, really simple. Just look what's actually really going on. And don't question your assumption. Question your beliefs. You believe you're here. You believe you're solid. You believe you're a person, an entity here. You believe it. Otherwise, you wouldn't be turning up here. Yeah? See if that's true. Or am I just running on a belief and an assumption?

That's why we asked here to look. Look. See if there is actually a me. Where is it? And what is it? Where and what? And if you look hard enough, you'll see. All the me is, is just a pattern of thoughts. Nothing else. And it latches onto presence and then claims ownership of the presence, which is what makes the me feel so solid. Because that that it's latching onto is real. That presence, that awareness, that aliveness is real. And that's what makes it feel, ugh. So Terry, let's forget about indigeneity in here because nobody's got indigeneity. Let's go to an old people's home where there is a person.

There's actually a person who's actually got it. So what's happening in that case? Just forget it. So she doesn't know. Let's say it's a woman. But she doesn't know who she is. I don't know. I don't know the level of the, the, look, that amnesia is a pointer. Yeah, I understand. But in reality, if... I don't know. How would I know? I'm not in that person. I don't know. I don't know what's happening for that person. But it's purely a pointer. You know, if, if... And you have to imagine it. Like, if you were able to go into a state, if you like, of just complete and absolute amnesia, where does your me go?

Who am I then? So that person would have no identity, basically, would it? But they'd still be being. But they'd be, but they'd still be being. Yeah, I realise. You're still alive. You're still breathing. You see this. They'd still be being. They just wouldn't have a memory of themselves. That's what I'm asking. She would not have a memory of who she is or her identity. They'd still be being. They'd still be being. Yeah. Yeah. But they'd still be a part of their perception of themselves. Oh, guys, you're getting into your heads again. Stop it. Just look. Stop it. Seriously. Just look. Look. I'll do it that way, too.

Yeah. Bob wants to say something, Bob. It all comes about from the word. Oh, no. There's God. Yeah. I've got to find an answer. Answer the call. Who's answering? Nobody. Interesting. There's no... If you've got no words, how are you going to translate or label anything? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is it called that? Anyone who is unaware right now? That's a word, but you can't negate the label, what's there. You like to call it awareness or being or whatever you like to call it. But you can't negate that. It's actually the name there. Again, being, knowing, loving to be. Words on that discriminate it, it's a label.

And also what you said first, the first answer Bob gave to Wendy, without amnesia, when you ask yourself a question, what's wrong with right now if I don't think about it, for that moment there is no thinking. And without a thinking, there is no identity. We have to think our identity to existence. I have to think I'm a woman, I'm Polish, whatever, to actually identify. Without thinking, it's like, and everyone has the sample when they wake up in the morning, from the morning, from the morning, from the morning, from the morning, from the morning, and sometimes it's just the dream. Like sometimes you maybe one leg in the dream and still and one leg wake up.

Or there is just pure sounds are coming into existence. The sides are not yet, the eyes are closed. But then you know, maybe you stretch your body, this comes into existence. Basically, the reality as we know it, get downloaded without even a day of a week. Okay, what day is it today? Is it Monday? Or is it Tuesday? Am I going to work or not? not this stuff comes into the attention slowly so before that comes into attention Who am I Who am I without thinking of my identity or Who am I without remembering what day of the week is there so this one is a free sample is something that everyone can relate to without creating conceptual identity we know this is natural state and it is so natural that everyone knows that because everyone was born before they learn words and started identified they were existing from that point and everyone also knows that when they stop conceptualizing and relating and translating everything as relevant to me so it is a natural state but there is one more thing I wanted to add because it was we use the pointer saying that there is a life essence or breath animating a body that suggests that there's two things the dead body and a life essence there is no two it's only one it's just that that one vibrates into a shape of a solid matter and vibrates into a subtler shape of a less solid breath and vibrates or doesn't vibrate into a shape of a space in which it is so it isn't that there is a life essence animating something that is dead and that it becomes alive or it isn't that there is a breath or there is anything it's just one manifesting in many many different ways and we can't even say is one because it's a vibration it's the potentiality it's not a thing so this one is a useful point pointer like Bob often uses the idea that you know there is there is a concept and the energy flows into it the belief flows into a concept and this concepts become believed into existence becomes reality it's not that there is a concept and belief as a two separate things of course but it's a pointer it's useful it may make it clear how that concept becomes alive by the act of feeding it with attention and again it's not two things but that's illustration all those illustrations are helpful and all those illustrations are to be put aside when they are not needed anymore it's happening all the time it is just to be recognized see that the way and i love it this is the way terry is speaking to the identified mind because that needs to be addressed so because he does it i don't do it because you know i don't want to repeat what he just said this makes no sense so i come from the completely opposite perspective from the space perspective if you are already completely disidentified you are already completely disidentified free free flowing space of consciousness what you are aware of through that consciousness is just passing phenomena so it is available right now only right now this is only one moment in time that is available right now in the presence so whether the whether you are aware of the mind being very very busy or the mind being very very quiet what does it matter absolutely that's correct you're not you're not coming it's not it's not like that that's right it just is it just is that's it yes yes you've got it right yeah you're ready yeah 10 out of 10.

yeah beautiful i'll give him 11. yeah your time is mine made it's a concept it's a purely a concept because all we ever are all we ever are is absolutely present present where's time in that identify itself when the when the concept of time comes into play which is something that we've learned but the problem is we take we take it to be real just like we take the me to be really we assume we assume time is real we assume time is that it is an actual thing or an event and the feeling of boredom is a real thing there's a feeling of boredom in the present Yeah, that's just time being discontent with present, which is just mind being discontent with present.

Because mind's there. In the absence of mind, there's absolutely no discontentment of presence. Can we continue, I mean, from the beginning of feeling of boredom, continue this 100%? Yeah, that's one way you do it. Or you could just come back to who's feeling it. Sorry, that's the bottom line. Whatever resonates. Is it happening to you? Yeah. Yeah. Or come at who? Like, all right, there's boredom here. Okay, so what I'll do is I'll just really dive into the boredom and I'll really focus on the boredom. And hopefully if I do that, boredom will just dissolve. Who's doing all that? Who's saying all that? Who's practicing?

Who's going to do all that? Me. No, no. I think I need more explanation. Can you please? Yeah, well, I think he was coming from the space perspective, from the opposite approach. Like, you know, the approach that Terry offers, investigate the me. Who is it happening to? But what you're saying, if there is a boredom and you look at the boredom, you can't find it. Because the boredom, nothing is actually having any independent nature. Boredom is an absence of attention. It is an inattention. So the moment you put attention on where you were thinking there was no sensation, nothing going on, or void, or whatever, you won't find it.

You will just find a lot of life. It's flowing, naturally flowing. So did you try to actually look at the boredom, what it is? How does it feel? Where is it located? What, how does it taste? What substance does it have? Because I did. And I haven't found any. Because there isn't one. Boredom is a label, it's a concept. But the moment you try to pinpoint that very sensation and associate that very concept with particular experience, you will find that it's not. You will find there is a flow of a lot of different sensations going on. And when you see the body is experiencing sensations, there are emotional patterns, there are thought patterns, there's so much going on.

How can you call it boredom? It's fullness, it's a richness of life. So this is when you don't want that boredom to go away. You don't actually focus on it, hoping that it will disappear. No, you're just curious. You just open, totally open your field of consciousness, verifying, or experiencing or appreciating whatever shows up. The wave that shows up on the ocean, you're curious about it. So you'll look at it with no intention to destroy it. Just with the intention to actually really appreciate it, really find out, really curious. And what you're going to find, you're going to find that full flow of life. Every moment.

And that's what Bob was saying in the beginning. I am... You know, he was saying, I am this, I am that. I'm that, I'm this, I'm that, I'm that, you know, I am the anger, I am the boredom, I am the... It's sort of tying into what Bob was saying in the beginning. And this is also often overlooked because, again, it's a very, very useful approach, the approach that, Terry, you're suggesting to actually investigate the mind, separate the subject from object and then see everything as objective and then look what is who is looking. That's one way. What Bob is saying is, again, the perspective, the space perspective, the opposite perspective.

At the moment when, before the mind comes in and splits the experience into two, there is just boredom, there's no one who feels bored. There is just anger, there's no one who feels angry. There is just sadness, there is just whatever the experience is, it's just the pure functioning of the experience. And at this moment, there is no separation and there is no problem. I am the anger. I am the boredom. But there is no conceptual identification with the pattern. It's just how the consciousness is expressing itself. No split. Spontaneous. Spontaneous. But a second later, the mind comes and says, oh, I felt angry, I shouldn't have felt angry.

Now the split comes. Now there is me feeling angry or me feeling bored. Oh, what am I going to do about it? Now there is already duality entered the picture. And this is the way where you go. And you do investigation, which Teddy is offering. Go and investigate. Who is the I? Because a moment ago there was no I. There was just pure fury, let's say. Or there was pure joy or pure ecstasy. Just the plain functioning. But the moment later, the narrative self comes. Hey, this is happening to me. There is my boredom, my fury or whatever. That's who is that my? Or just go back to the plain space and see.

Oh, yeah, that is the wave tsunami. Well, volcano arising with anger. OK, cool. No one. What do you find out whether you go the way that Teddy offers? You can find nothing because there is nothing. There is no I. Or whether you just look from the space perspective that you are whatever you are seeing, you are the totality, then again, there is no separate self. So either way, you end up in non duality if because that's your natural state, that's who you are. Well, you know, as somebody said earlier, leave everything as it is. Just as it is. Unaltered, unmodified, uncorrected. No partiality. No preference, no partiality, no comparison.

Is this not wiseness or will be? And just running. Stop taking credit for the anger. Yeah, stop taking credit. Stop taking credit for anything. Because it's not you. It's not you. It's not you. Not to imply it was you. The problem is the me. It's the me. And we're going around trying to either fix it or enlighten it. And that's the problem is the me. It's so silly. It's like that's the actual that's the actual sort of. I wonder if it can't be fixed because there's nothing. Yeah, I know. It's a fix. It's a fix. Everything is just constantly, spontaneously happening, including the feeling of anger, joy, shame, whatever it is, because there's no you there thinking that stuff.

There's no you there that's responsible for those thoughts coming through, which might produce the anger or the shame or whatever it just arises. And then me steps in and goes, oh, I wish I can get angry. What are they going to think of me? But everything is just happening. It's always after the event that me steps in and pats itself on the back or hides its head in shame. You know, if we were responsible for these feelings or these thoughts and so on and so forth, we'd all be masochists. Every single one of us would be guilty of being a masochist. If you're responsible for it, why are you thinking the stuff you think?

Why would you? And if we have free will, why wouldn't we just from this point forward be happy? Stop it. I love that. Yeah, just knock it off or think nothing but blissful thoughts from this point forward. Stop it. Get the Shakti thing out of us. Yeah. Stop it. What happened to the peacock path? There you go. Stop it. So all the thoughts, all the meaning, all the stuff that comes up is just happening. And that needs to be viewed and seen as just happening instead of taking credit for it. I N G on anything. And it's happening. It really means seeing, hearing, tasting, touching.

Touching and and another way of putting it. Being. Knowing and loving to be. All awareness of the being is bliss. That's it. Your lovingness of your life is just being aware of being. And you don't have to put any words on those. Can you negate your beingness right now? To express it to somebody, you've got to say I am. I'm being. Anyone who is not knowing that to express this, I know. And nobody in this room that doesn't love to be. There's a terrific film called, I don't know if anyone's seen it, I Love Huckabees. Yes. Have you seen that? Do you remember the scene where Dustin Hoffman is explaining to the guy who's seeking, having an existential crisis?

And Dustin Hoffman puts him in this bag and zips him up. So he's completely in darkness. He's completely in the void and then unzips him so he comes out. And then he's completely in the void. And then he's trying to explain existence, like through a blanket. Like this is the Eiffel Tower. This is a house and this is you and this is me. That for me, that was the most perfect explanation that helped me get it. Everything is one. Like it's just one. I saw I did. I did see it as a blanket. And even as an actor, when I was an actor, I saw the blanket of humanity.

It was just there. There are people there. There's a blanket of humanity. And so in this film, I love Huckabees. It was just the most perfect for me explanation of the manifesting, the manifesting out of the unmanifested. Yeah, good idea. Ocean waves. This is certainly a love concept. Exactly. It was that. That's what I was saying. The ocean and everything coming out of that. It's wonderful to see because it's impersonal. There's no personal in that simply arising out of nothingness. That's our way. Yeah. Yeah. So even the ocean and the wave, I love that analogy because, as I mentioned before, is quite close to our professions, Bob's and mine.

But it also has limitation because for the waves to arrive, arise outside of the ocean, they have to be something outside of the ocean. So they have to be above the surface of ocean. They have to be a space or air so the waves could form. Whilst in the manifestation, it's kind of the expression happens within the ocean. So it is within the space, not outside of space. But it's a good illustration. Again, I like to actually point the limitation of all the illustrations before somebody else tear them apart and reject them as unhelpful. Because knowing the limitation, we can still use them as helpful pointers rather than just latching on to, no, no, that's nonsense because it doesn't work.

You know, the mirror or other analogies, they can be really helpful or the finger in the moon. Like the ocean doesn't reject any wave. Any wave that appears is accepted. And I read a statement by Rimi yesterday who had about two lines, I can't say it, but the ocean allows every wave to reach the shore. You know, so it's sort of in loving presence all that time. The wave. In a sense, the shore is going somewhere, so there's sort of duality there, I suppose. But there's a limitation again, like what you were saying, but I still find it beautiful. It is because the manifestation doesn't, you know, they're all every single form, including mosquito, other annoying creatures.

They are the children of the absolutes. They're equal to God. Even people we don't like. And the wave has never been anything other than the water. Yeah, that's right. The same essence, just taking another form. To me, there's no limits for that one. That essence or presence is our natural state. That's who and what we actually are. Some people refer to that as God. Yeah. Some people refer to it as intelligence. And it doesn't matter what they're just labels. Yeah. But that presence, that aliveness, that in the absence of the personalized self is beyond description is absolutely beautiful. And you're really seeing. You're really hearing, tasting, touching, smelling.

Because it's not being filtered through a me. I remember going for a walk with friends and we're walking through a forest. This is when I was really caught up, you know, walking through this forest. Somebody paused and said, look, what a beautiful tree. It's hard to say. But my immediate response then was I looked at the tree and went, it's a tree. I didn't see it. I didn't see it. What I first saw was it's a tree. What I first saw was the thought that came up in my mind. Are you kidding me? It's a tree. That's what I. And because I saw that, you know, the description, I didn't see the tree.

What I saw was the comment. That came out of that person. And then the judgment I had around the comedy that came out of that person. That's what I saw. It's just another tree. Get over yourself. That's what came up. So I didn't see the tree. And that's just an example of what goes on all the time throughout the course of the day. We're so consumed with self and we're so consumed with the idea of me. We're missing everything. And we're so consumed with, you know, little stories about. We're missing a million different little things. Instead of just saying what is right here right now.

It's wonderful. What is right here right now. And 99% of the time throughout the course of the day, it is. The only time it becomes not wonderful is when we step into our head. Yeah, it's not wonderful. It's not wonderful. I'm bored. I don't want it to be like this. I want it to be like that. But it's actually, you know, whenever you. I was going to say, bring yourself back to the present. What a ridiculous statement. But anyway, but whenever you find yourself absolutely here right now, present 99% of the time throughout the course of the day, nothing's wrong. Nothing's wrong. It's all it's all all as well.

All is totally OK. It's quite amazing. But we don't go here. Like we assume we're present. We were in our head. Got on board or on this or on that or I feel stuck or. No, I feel lonely. I feel isolated, whatever. Just like the story that I told myself about the tree. You're not living life. Life isn't being lived and seen and experienced here and now and here and now is where we're awake. This is where we're awake. And since we go into our head, we're dreaming. We're not here. Completely not here. We're not saying anything. Not actually hearing anything. Even when we're hearing somebody talk or communicate what we're actually listening to while we're hearing someone talk is either our objection as to what they're saying or our story immediately.

It starts conjuring up a story around what the person is saying. So we're not actually completely open and listening. All of us. And we're listening to ourselves. I can't wait to throw this back at that person. That person is so full of shit or whatever. Whatever the story may be. We're not. Bob calls it half to half. Just half to half. Right here without a story, without a judgment. Without anything. Just and whilst that story is going on, which is all based on the belief in a me. So the story is about me. Selfie always about me. Me, selfie. I like saying me. Jane likes to say selfie.

That's a poor pattern. Yeah. It's just self obsession. And you know what self obsession is? One pattern of thoughts being obsessed with another pattern of thoughts. That's bizarre. That's the so called obsession that's going on. Our primary addiction, which seems to be really difficult for people to drop. Our primary addiction is addiction to thoughts. Then every other addiction manifests from that. Can we go to thinking O? Why don't we go to TO instead of AA? Sorry, TA. Thinking is anonymous. I'm not talking transactional analysis. I'm talking thinking anonymous. Thinking anonymous. When that comes into being, we'll know we're really getting something in. You could maybe go over thinking anonymous because thinking is a useful instrument.

You don't want to lose your capacity of thinking. And you can't. Selfing anonymous. You don't lose that. You don't lose that. Selfing anonymous. How many steps, Terry? Um. One. No, none. None. Sorry, you got it wrong. There is just one. There is just one. Okay. All right, you got me. And that step back must look forward. That's correct. Yeah, you're spot on. Step aside. I can tell you a little story because it's Bob's birthday, but we're having a birthday every day because we live here and we enjoy the being. And yesterday was a beautiful sunny day. So we went for a beautiful sunny walk through the anniversary trail to a mailing route just for a dick of coffee or something just just to be outside.

And and this is really a great illustration of what you were saying, because we just sat. We got the water. I mean, there was a green bottle and there was two glasses and the sun was shining through the green bottle case putting a shade on the glasses and the pattern of light and and shade was dancing over the table and well, and we were just taken by it. I had this beautiful necklace also from Julia that was making drops on everything else. And Bob was overlooking one part of the sky also. And I was overlooking the other part of the sky. So our attention was absolutely completely for an hour that we spent there with the sparkles, with the entertainment of the light play on the table and the skies on both sides.

And we were laughing and we were happy and we were easy. And one could. I would say it was boring and would start constructing problems in the head. And that's what I would probably be doing five years ago. And I would not notice any of that beautiful nature there. But because, yeah, that's that's our Bob's birthday every day and my birthday every day, just just just living in the now moments like this basic moments contain such a profound beauty in them that would normally be missed out. So we spent an hour. We got our coffee. We took the walk back constantly being aware of the sky.

That was very windy. Clouds were changing very fast. I took about 50 pictures of them. Can't help it. You know, it's impermanence. I totally accept it. And I totally accept the pattern of cheating the impermanence and cutting a still of it. It's not me doing it. It's just the pattern. So the moments, the life from from that from that standpoint of not being busy with the commentary. Sitting in the head and constructing problems and translating everything as relevant to me, but just being open to whatever life is, whatever the ocean is waving at this moment to the sounds, to the sights, to the play of lights.

It's just it makes it so light. Like Jane, you often say traveling light. Yeah. Mm hmm. 12 step tradition that admires Bob as I do. And. I was in the Yarra Valley yesterday. It was absolutely stunning. It was just such a beautiful day. And just driving through those hills. It was just an up at Hillsville Sanctuary. It was so beautiful. Gorgeous day. So that's how it is for children. What you're describing. Yes, that's how it is for children and childlike. And perhaps why Jesus said something like unless you become like children. You won't enter the kingdom of heaven. That's exactly right. Because the kingdom of heaven is really Amanda.

Amanda is being this. Yes. What it is. That's it. Become like little children. And children are just completely spontaneous and adventurous. All their senses are wide open. They're curious. They just check all this out. And the next minute they'll be screaming and then they'll be laughing. And there's repetition. There's no boredom. They learn pretty quick. Yeah. Well, they can get then they become conditioned. Okay. So, yeah, as we all do. I love watching my little grandson because, you know, he's he's exuberant with joy. One minute he'll be screaming the next, then he'll be laughing the next. And he'll be there's no resistance. No resistance. Yeah.

No selfing about, oh, I wished I hadn't screamed. They don't give that. That doesn't even come up. That's right. It's just raw. And then whatever. And they're quite free in that. Like there's an absolute freedom in that. Total. I relate to them. I'm with them. And the fact is that every moment when we kind of stop believing in a boredom, which is stop believing that it could be or should be different or other or better. Every moment is. It's unique and it's precious and it's only here for that one moment. It is never going to have the same form and shape. So why overlook it?

Why not really completely embrace it and just embrace it in a way? Not that I am embracing the moment. No, just dropping the I am this precious moment that will never be the same again. It's only here now. And it's never boring. I mean, even in instances where there is a discomfort for the body, let's say there is cold or there is a headache or whatever that is still only here now. It is not going to last. Nothing lasts. So even that could be really embraced fully, not embraced again as a dualistic sort of, oh, yeah, OK, I'll tolerate it. No, it's just just having that curiosity about just about being this moment, just being whatever is the seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, not limiting ourselves into that.

I am here and the world is out there. No, I am this world like the seeing is extension of me as the attentional consciousness, I am whatever is within my gaze. This is this is the experience of being or hearing the same or even thinking when I can conceive of the galaxies and stuff like this. That's me, too. But if I don't, it's just that immediacy. Say something, birthday boy. Are you happy on your happy birthday? Yeah, so much so I can't be bothered talking. Do you still go sailing? We do river trips. We've done a couple of times every single river trip on the Yara that we could.

Had enough? Yeah, yeah. Go for lunch. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. For showing up for the first time.