Sailor Bob - Nonduality - you are not the body. 31 May 2020

I can't see anybody here. Yes, look at me, I'm here. Yes. Morning everyone. Morning. Looks like a nice day out there. How's everyone going? Everyone who is only the one. In all the different patterns, shapes and forms. The patterns, shapes and forms understand that they're appearances only. They're never separated from the absolute. People and persons, people, and why don't I understand it, or why don't I see it, or the me, or the I comes back. It's hard, nothing can separate it. It's only these wrong conceptual concepts we've got about it. It never really, it really needs to be investigated and see if you can separate yourself from anything really.

No. It looks separate. Every leaf on the tree looks separate. And it is, if each one is different, just like no two sets of finger-pins are the same. There's still appearances, patterns, shapes and forms that's taking place on that absolute. And then doesn't the Maha mantra take on a different meaning then? When you say, I am that, most of us when we say I am that, we believe I am Bob, or I am that. I am the person. I am the individual. I am the separate entity. And it's my self. As you see, how many self's do you think there are? There's only one self.

Self-shining, self-knowing, self-seeing, self-hearing, self-feeling, self-tasting, touching, smelling, self-expressing. As self. The absolute. How could, or who could ever be different than that? So the appearances in this material. In this manifestation. The fact that they are appearing in a way. They are appearing in an intelligence way. A wondrous, amazing way that everything is pattern-shaping for me. Implies that the absolute is suffused innately with the one intelligence, the one knowing, the one essence. And there's these little pattern, shapes and forms. A cat expressing as a cat. A tree expressing as a tree. A flower expressing as a flower. A thought expressing as a thought. And if that life essence wasn't suffusing everything, then I call it life essence.

And that's another name for God, if you like. But thy God is one God. There is no other. They're not talking about some big daddy in the sky. Or somebody else. Or some separate entity. Or some separate individual that's going to give you this. Or take that away from you. Or beat you up if you don't do what he says. Because if you are already that, if that is going to give you, is not there already, what can come to the absolute? Or what can be taken away from it? So it's all expressions are that. Godliness, if you like. Or the one essence. Or the intelligence energy.

Seemingly dividing by the concepts that are taken on board, or the words. And the fact that the conceptualising can take place, or the words can be there. If that life wasn't there, suffusing that particular pattern, which appears to be separate, and is not or never was. Mm-hmm. It's suffusing it, that pattern. And the wonder is, as patterned, it gives it a body. A so-called body. Now, when there's all this technology we've got, if you didn't have a TV, what's it going to express through? Not going to express through a radio. If you didn't have a radio, what's it going to express through? So we've got, well, I say we, this body is formed to express through.

Yeah. And see, if the body wasn't made up of all the organs and intelligence suffusing it, and the life has us to express through it, if the power wasn't expressing through the radio or the television, what could you see? Mm-hmm. It's there. It's there, totally there right now. And we're not seeing any power. We're seeing the way it expresses, like we can't see the wind. But you can see the expression of it, moving the branches and leaves on the tree, blowing the leaves on the ground around, doing lots of other things, forming clouds, and push, moving the clouds around the sky. Mm-hmm. And all the other ways it does, bringing the tides to the sea, and the waves and the ripples.

And it's breathing you, beating your heart, growing your hair and your fingernails. No difference from what's going on at separate and apart from you, seemingly separate and apart from you and outside of you, when you see all these things taking place in nature. And we think they're separate and apart. But you'll try and separate yourself from nature. How did that pattern, shape, and form you call the body? Mind form, if the life essence or the nature wasn't expressing through it. It's the same as a tree forms seeds through pine cones or cones or other sorts of things. Yeah. What would the seed be contained in if it didn't have a pine cone or a seed pod to form it?

We say what we like to discriminate it, and we have done because we've never been told to look other, anywhere else when we were little children. Look outside of yourself and acquire, amass, accumulate, add to, become, keep becoming, acquiring, good education, more wealth, be a car, good relationship. Get all these things. And we struggle and fight to get them. But rather than say it, and Christ tell you it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Not big daddy again, but that life essence. What comes into your life is what we needed. And the seeming blockage of it, seeming blockage is the thought, the concepts, the ideas, the images.

Could you have lifted a finger, blinked an eye, tasted a taste or smelled a smell without life suffusing that pattern? So it doesn't take on a different meaning then when you start reading the text or the scriptures. You are the life. There is only life. As the saga says, there's nobody who lives a life. Nobody who lives a life. Realize that. It's not the body that's living the life. It's the life that's suffusing and expressing through the body as what we call a body. And a mind. Show me a mind if you believe you're the mind. Can you show, what shape and form has the mind got?

Is it a little part in your body somewhere that you can cut out when it dies and say this was mine? It's not the brain. Lots of other things come through the brain too. The brain's a useful instrument through which they sink. All these expressions come about. I am not the body. I am not the mind. And I am, we think, is the persona, the person. Persona coming from persona, the mask. You've got to, with this coronavirus, you put on a mask. What's it done? It's obscured your true face. People you meet have got to recognize you through that mask, and they can. But we haven't recognized ourselves as the mask of concepts.

And that's how proud we think. This persona, this mask is real. This is what I am. Christ tells you, I am is the way. It's the truth. It's the life. And who I am is the sense of presence. You are that sense of presence. And isn't that so? You are aware of presence right now, or there is an awareness of presence there. Is it the separate entity that I'm saying is you or we that's doing it? Or is it life doing the lot? And where does a you or we come into it if there is only life? Whose life? You can't even say it's my life or your life without relating it to the conceptual image, the mask.

There is only life. And life, out of life, more life is continually coming. That's why these patterns, shapes and forms, like trees, flowers, animals and all the rest of it, keep producing the projection of more life. It comes through them. They are the patterns through which carry the seeds and the germs and shape and form the fresh and new patterns. Out of life, more life comes continually. And we say, what about when we die? Is there another life? Is there a past life or will there be a next life? There is only life. There is no past life or no future life. There's only been life.

There's not even a separate life there now. Perhaps you believe yourself to be, and in the belief that you are that separate entity, you want to continue. And you want a next life. And you can form all sorts of concepts, can form. Images will come up and you'll say, well, that was my past life. What can you do about it right now if it was past? Time is a mental concept also. Is there a past if you don't think about it? Is there a future if you don't think about it? And you don't have to be a Rhodes Scholar to work that out. If I don't think about it, I can't say there's a past.

I can't say there's a future. I can't say it's good. I can't say it's bad, happy, sad or anything at all without it. Without that life essence of fusion, this pattern right now. And build our future. And build our future. Build or hurry, can't say it for you. The life is expressing through them too. And they've taken themselves to believe that they're Bill or Harry or somebody else or whatever label they put up as a... Be the life that you are. And that life is free. It's not encapsulated in a pattern, shape or form like the body or anything else. They're all formations in it of the life itself.

Formating in it. The Buddha said it's a cognising emptiness. We think we are cognising emptiness. Oh yes, I'm empty. Well, that's empty. It's not. It's the emptiness itself. As I say, the intelligence of fusing it is forming all these patterns in it. Which we... Which the cognising is coming about. And he said that the emptiness is form. Pointing that out, that the emptiness is forming. All these patterns, shapes and forms, they're all empty. The form can be nothing but the emptiness. Vibrating into different patterns. Just the same as in the ocean, it stirs the water up and forms ripples and waves. On the water, tsunamis and everything like that.

Volcanoes can form in the... In the... In the earth. And implode and explode. Stars and galaxies and everything else can form. But is that life essence or intelligence energy, which I call intelligence energy, rather than using the term God? Because I think we can get confused with that term. Get confused because, oh, we all come from different traditions. And if you're a Christian or a Muslim or a Buddhist or a Jew, you've got a different concept of what you believe God is. A higher power or a greater power. Or a superpower. But the only power there is, is the omnipotence. The total power. The absolute power.

Omnipotence. Omnipresence. Omniscience, yeah. The pure intelligence. That's patently shaping and forming and everything. The one essence. You can liken it to a generator. A generator that's handing out the power. Every globe you've got in that house where you're in, or wherever you're in, every globe, has got the seeming power in it. But if it wasn't for the generator, couldn't any of them be light? Can't. They're all different. Some of them different voltages. And you have TV, radio and everything else has got different voltages. Just the same as the different patterns in this manifestation. But it's the one generator that's empowering them all. And it's the one life essence that's doing this manifestation.

This cosmos. The amazing size of it. Geration. And we, so-called human patterns, which we call human, call ourselves human beings. We call us God. Supreme being. Oh, this power is greater than I or me. It's the supreme being. Take away that label, supreme. Take away that label, human. And what have you got left? Being. And can you negate your beingness? Can you say, I am not? You can say it. And isn't it amazing? If you say it, what's there to say it? Isn't it that life essence that's forming that body that enables the words to come through it? Those lips. And then now the sound through the throat?

And we think it's me, or I, that's got this power. And it's kept us in bondage. Bondage of self. Julia says, I love when you include Western, Eastern, and every and no philosophy. Everything. That means that. Everything is that. And look at that again. What is this manifestation made up of? Things. You and I are things, which we put labels on. The pictures on the wall are things. The wall itself is a thing. The tree and the leaf are things. Everything are things. So it's one thing appearing as everything. It's only appearing as a thing. And so all this manifestation is made up of things.

And what they're appearing in, the screen on which everything is appearing, is that cognizing, emptiness. A stillness, a silence, an emptiness, suffused with the cognizing or knowing, or the pure intelligence. It's able to vibrate and orbit. All shapes and forms and things. So can some thing come from no thing? That cognizing emptiness, emptiness is no thing. Meaning it hasn't shaped or patterned anything at all as yet. But something come from no thing. It can't. So even though it's appearing as different, it's still always and ever no thing. The one. The one essence. Has no shape, no form, no beginning, no end. No static place. No center, no circumference.

Everything is no thing. But it's patterning, shaping and forming. So the universe appears, and they call it a phenomenal manifestation. A manifestation made up of phenomena. And all these so-called things are phenomena. And the definition of phenomena is that which appears to be. It doesn't say that which is, it appears to be so. It's seemingly so. So again pointing out that what you are is a little bit more than that human body you believe yourself to be. That's suffering, that's fearful, that thinks it's got it one day and lost it the next. It's going to become something. It's always and ever been that. Being that.

That which is everything and the no thing. That which we put words or labels on. As these patterns, shapes and forms which have the capacity of reasoning. That's the one essence. It's the pure absolute that's doing the reasoning. But it's enabling to express through each and every pattern, shape and form. And it's vibrating there now. Vibrating might be subtly, it might be a bit louder. And how many thoughts could you have without it? What sights could you see without it? How could the heart beat without it? How could the voice speak words or sounds without it? We take ourselves to be me, the body, mine.

You are the life. We call it life. You are life. No body lives a life. Even so this body is, this life is, if this body is seemingly alive and going, it's alive, it's the body that's that's been formed and patterned into the form. That's the livingness that's in it. It's enabling everything to go on. And it's no different from the absolute which is all contained in. So you are the absolute. Or as I call it in Buddhism, the great perfection. Or the no thing. They say the great perfection is non-conceptual awareness. Awareness without any words or concepts or ideas. There are a lot of words coming out of this mouth.

Not one of them could be spoken without that life essence and a half. I don't know what's being said any. Couldn't care less much. It's just bubbling away. Just like the heart is beating. Hair and fingernails are growing. Food is being digested. The question from Brad, Hi Bob, are all phenomena simply masks manifesting on the ocean of essence? Yes. Appearance is all masks. Yes. It's the one essence appearing as everything. And those masks which we call masks are just vibrations of energy vibrating into patterns. Like you see, you put a lot of iron filings on a piece of paper. Put a magnet under it. Move the magnet around, it'll bring those patterns, those iron filings to it and form different shapes and patterns.

So it's something, I don't know if it's like that in nature, but it's the same sort of thing I mean, it's happening. It's that one essence. It's the magnetic energy, if you like to call it that, that forms all these pattern shapes and forms. And the pattern shapes and forms pass on. Break down. But out of that, there'll be other pattern shapes and forms. People will say, well they come back. You as the body never were. So how the hell are you going to come back? But that life essence that you are, is still there. It's merged back into the totality. And that particular same pattern, shape and form, we'll probably never see again.

But that life will come, continue to pattern shape and form into other patterns. When a drop of rain goes into the ocean, do you think you'll ever get that drop of rain out of the ocean again? You won't get that particular drop, you'll get other drops. And you know, you know, there'll still be water. Yeah, Brett says thank you. I've had a little breakthrough with that. And also Tanya is saying, she's laughing, that annoyance just came up. Because her husband invited friend over during the satsang. And she's laughing. Good. Well done. Tanya got a good understanding. Doesn't know that nobody can throw her off that anyway.

Any other questions? Not yet. Do you want to add something to that? There is one here. Bob, you mentioned the suffering of gaining and losing. How can I find happiness if I feel like I've lost something good or can't attain the good I seek? Again, who is looking for it? You want to relate it to the conceptual image. Me. I've got to be happy. If you're not relating to that, what is it? What's suffering then? Now the suffering might be expressing through that pattern, as that pattern. There's the absolute, all the so-called suffering, everything that goes on is all appearance. The manifestation is phenomena, appearance only.

Ram has made a joking comment to Tanya, that proceeding divorce in order is a joke. You'll have to fill in. Yes, Judy is asking, what is intuition? Hmm? What is intuition? Intuition, what's tuition? Teaching or learning. Intuit. Innately within you, that intuition will come up and express things that you might not have understood before. You'll see something happening and you will intuit it, what to do. And so the spontaneous activity will follow. Other people might have a different idea of it. That will do me now. Who doesn't? Yeah, I just add on this because we don't have questions. I think that intuition is whatever you call it, because it is just a label.

Some people I learned that understood intuition as some sort of an instinct. We would say that animals have instinct, they know what to do instinctively. So in humans, we want to kind of anthropomorphize it a little bit and call it a little bit more novel. So we call it intuition. Some sort of a sixth sense or something. But again, it is always what you understand by the label. Because Bob may use that label for some other sort of an instinct and other people may use it for other sort of an instinct. It's always about agreement on terms, what they mean. I would say intuition is sort of an instinct.

So it is some sort of like almost kind of, outside of the calculating consciousness, some understanding that is outside of conscious perception and interpretation. But it's still there and it still causes the action. Oh, still small voice I heard Bob, you were saying sometimes. Yeah. Yeah, that can come up as what they call the still small voice. Somebody is sitting there, sitting on your shoulder and whispering in your ear. But that's not what it comes up. There's some more questions. Michael is asking, can you please talk on seeking? How do we stop seeking? Well, how do you stop? Once you find it, it'll stop by itself.

If you've left, if you walk out of the house and slam the door behind you and you get in on the road a bit and realise you've left the keys, you've been looking for your keys or something outside and they're not there. Yeah. I would say, because the question is to both of us, to stop seeking is just really recognise that there is a part of you that doesn't seek. There is some sort of a part of an aspect of you that is constantly at war with what is and wants something else, something better. Seeking pleasure or seeking enlightenment. But that part, that restless part of attention is always at movement.

But how do you know that this one is in movement? You know it because there is a part of you or there is a depth in you that is still. So recognising the search, recognising the movement of attention happens from that stillness. And basically just resting in that stillness. And then the movement will be basically just run itself out. Like the fire will starve without extra fuel put on. So seeing the movement of attention, the not this, the waiting, the looking for something better from that point of stillness and moving back more into that point of stillness where the observation happens. It affects in, first of all, withdrawing attention from the movement and the search.

And later on completely taking it away from movement and the search. And there is a point in which search still happens but it doesn't bother anyone. Because you are that stillness. So whether the eyes are moving and sliding from object to object, whether the sounds are being heard and whether the inner sounds are also being heard, it doesn't matter because there is no one there to bother, to be bothered by it. So then if the search is there or the search is not there, it doesn't matter. That's the end of search because there is nobody seeking. Yeah, that's a good explanation. But the actual stopping of seeking, when I met Nisargadatta and he told me I wasn't the body and the mind and I saw it, I said I'll never be caught in the mind again, but I was, but it wasn't the same.

It wasn't the same. And then all that discipline I was doing at the ashram, it all fell away. And it left me with nothing to do, nothing to be, nowhere to go, and nothing to see. So the seeking just dropped away. There's never been anything to search for ever since then. Because as soon as it comes up and now, hang on a minute, I've seen through this. If it comes up and you seem to be going back on the search again, I've seen through this. I'll have another look, I'll investigate again and see if I was seeing correctly. And you have another look and if you're seeing, what you're seeing is false, it's not the fact.

You know, and you can't believe it anymore. So you're going to persist in something you can no longer put any belief in. When you no longer believe you're the person or the separate entity or the individual, you are the tality. Who's going to seek what, why and when? There is another question. It is from Tanya. Any pointers on looking at fear of gaining weight? Fear of getting fat? Yeah. Do you have any pointers? What to do? See what fear is? She says, I know fear is just a label, but that sensation still appears occasionally. If the sensation appears occasionally, what would happen? You have to, you must be eating too much.

You're eating the wrong foods or something like that. Have a look and see. I'd say, yeah, I did work out the possibility to read the questions on another phone now because there were people asking about it for me not to jump in and out of the screen. But yeah, the first thing I would say about fear of gaining weight is not to want to get rid of it. Because wanting to resist it and get rid of it regurgitates it. So if you actually just find yourself in a situation, oh my God, I don't want to be fat and ugly. What's wrong with that? That's love.

That's actually a nice sort of a thought. If it goes with the sensation of fear, just as you answered yourself already, see that sensation. Take the label off and see how the contraction, you can actually learn a lot about your body. It could be a fascinating learning to actually see how the mental image comes, the idea comes, and that idea creates contraction in the body, perhaps makes your breathing shallow, perhaps makes you clench your fists or your teeth, and all sorts of reactions happen to that idea. So now, as you are watching the reaction and not the idea, the idea can't sustain it anymore because the idea doesn't get energy.

So your energy is now with whatever is happening in the physical realm. So attention is withdrawn from sustaining belief. And then the thought will go and you will learn a lot about yourself. But I would not want to have the motivation to get rid of the thought because if the thought is there, on the deepest level, you are the life. You have put it there. You wanted it there because who you are and what you are is that life essence that created the situation with the thought appearing. So if there is on the surface someone who doesn't want that thought, then obviously we have conflict.

We have two. We have life and the I that thinks that God is wrong and I can have it better, you know. I know better what's good. So not resist the thought. Use that thought for learning. And perhaps even actually send it a kiss. I mean, gosh. I have a thought occasionally that I wouldn't want to be fat. I don't take it to be my thought, but it's a common thought. Everyone makes it. I have that thought. But what's wrong? I mean, let it be. A fear? Yes, the fear can be a great teacher when you take the label and go and follow sensations. You can really enjoy it.

Brett is asking, what is the definition of creativity? Is it the dance of being? Creativity? Yeah. Yeah, beautiful. You said it. Yeah. It's being. There's no creator, no creation, and no creature. It's all just the activity dancing, as you say. Yes. Jane says, be still and know that I am God. And Rohan replying to Tanya, there is a subtle idea that you are the body that has a weight now, isn't it? In the present moment, how to make the comparison? Yeah, that's a very good point. Yeah, thank you, Rohan. You're chipping in better and better pointers. And thank you for participating and bringing it on.

Yes, it is that aspect here as well. You know, yes. Ultimately, who cares what happens with the body? I mean, you don't want to end up like Nisargadatta with the lung cancer, smoking cigarettes. If the body naturally wants to look after itself, it is great to follow that. But ultimately, you're not your body. The body is just a vehicle. And why to be preoccupied and concerned as if it was who you are? It isn't. Can I add something? Nisargadatta wasn't worried about the body, whether they had cancer or not. Exactly, exactly. And if that happens to you, then you wouldn't have the thought of gaining weight being a problem.

Or getting sick being a problem. But if it is, if that natural instinct to look after the body is present within the structure of conditioning, yeah, that's nothing wrong either. I mean, yes. Bob is looking after his health pretty well. The instinct is there. The education was such. And yeah, somehow the love and compassion includes the body. Doesn't exclude it or ignore it. And neither one is better or worse. So Mukti says, Bob, you've spoken of knowingness in your core and that you trust that. Is that example of what you are calling intuition? Knowing something in your core? Yeah. Yeah, I would say the knowing, like essential knowing, like a certainty.

It may appear as an intuition until it actually really sets itself for and it is a certainty. It is undeniable certainty. Knowing in the core. Tania is saying, Yes, Rohan, I see that there is identification with the body that has a weight. In the present moment, there is no weight. Beautiful. Yeah, without the thought, there is no weight. Julia says, Any problem, including searching, exists in imagination. Thank God we are not the imagination. Nothing can trouble you except your own imagination. Yeah, that's very true. Every problem has to have its conceptual sort of overlay. If there is no interpretation going on, it's just what is as it is.

Even if the situation is, objectively one could say, uncomfortable. If there is no thought that it should be any other ways, there is no problem. It's just what is. So the imagination that the world could be or should be different is what causes the conflict. Comparison with the ideal that is created in the imagination that is dreamt. And there is a belief that it could be or should be here. That's what is happening. Yeah. That's what makes the, that's what creates the suffering. Julia says, I just noticed that I am thanking myself for being myself. Yeah, well, natural gratitude arising. I hope you didn't split yourself.

No comparison is made in the present moment. That's right. Yeah, it's only in the concepts, only in the imagination. And Sydney says, Is depression the same as depression? It's the same as what Kat was just saying about weight. I believe I struggle with sadness, seemingly because of loss. Yeah. You struggle with these words, you put the concepts on them and take the word to be real. It would, you know, and the sensation, thought, feeling and emotion, the same thing, the sensation comes up. It might be fear or anger. You've put that label on it and you've labelled it from the past. So you're relating to a past sensation.

And we were told when we were young, this one's anger or you're angry or you're fearful. And we keep, when it comes up again, we keep, instead of seeing it fresh and new, we see it with the old label we put on it and the old belief and it becomes overwhelming. See every sensation that comes up, see it as a fresh and new sensation. One which you might be so familiar with, you'll label it as fear or anger. But really have a look at it again as it comes up right now. Really go into it. And it's not what you believe it is. Yeah. Yeah, this, it is interesting idea and thank you for the idea because yes, this is everything one expressing.

So you can relate one thing to the other because the essence of it is one and the same. But it's an interesting idea to actually see the depression in the same light as you see the fear of the gain of weight. And I see there is something Rohan is saying and he is having already good insights. We talk about people who have eating disorders as having an unhealthy body image, but somehow miss the fact that the body image is just an image. Brilliant. So depression in the same light could be unhealthy image of the self. If you think that you are missing something, or you lost something, or the sadness comes up because there is something that is not right.

It usually comes with the idea that you perhaps neglected or you wasted something, you wasted your life, your potential, or something didn't go the way it could or it should. So in this, there is an analogy. But it is also, I think, always good to open it up completely and see all the other components that could be contributing even a lack of some microelements or vitamins or certain... Because depression is also associated to neurotransmitters, low level of serotonin, which may be diet-based. It may be not enough of a kimchi that Bob loves so much that maybe makes him so happy. It could be many, many contributing factors.

But the self image will definitely be a big one here. A sense of loss, a sense of I shouldn't have lost something. I shouldn't... Perhaps some people, and I know quite a few people, and I love them to bits and I really value their input into the whole dream, have that very intense sense of loss and they are called tragic romantics. They experience that deepest sadness of the bodhisattva, of the broken self, of the damaged self, to the point when it becomes unspeakably beautiful. The density and the depth of sadness, there is incredible beauty of that. We are wired towards pleasure and against pain. But if we can actually find the place in which that human bias is taken out of the picture and the incredible sensitivity, incredible vulnerability is expressed through one particular body, us, that...

I don't even have words for it. That just deepest tragic sense of nostalgia. There is a beauty in it and when you see it this way, you don't want it to go. When you don't want it to go, it served its purpose. It has been finally acknowledged. It has been loved as part of the appearance. And you may find it not there anymore. At least I was kind of dealing with that when I was still a seeker. We have... Yeah, Julia is asking Sydney to call her later. And Tanya is saying, Rohan, I used to have anorexia or anorexic thoughts appeared and have surfaced recently around weight.

Thank you so much, Kat, Bob and Rohan. So true that what you said, Kat, about not resisting the sensations and not labeling them. Sally, I noticed that I have strong and persistent habit patterns of the mind and feelings. If I try to use the pointer that there is no me, I feel I am trying to get rid of an experience and the experience persists. The pointer that I am finding useful at the moment is to be aware of the awareness of the feelings and thoughts. To try to focus on what is aware. Great. That's the way. You can't... You can't force yourself to believe that there is no me if you are experiencing sensations.

The idea of me is the idea that sensations are an entity. So the moment when you realize that sensations are just sensations, there is no entity having them or being them, that's when the idea of no me lands home completely. But it lands home from within, from your own discovery. If someone tells you, oh, focus on there is no me, now that's a belief and that's actually false. That's completely not right to actually try and brainwash yourself to believe something that is against your experience. That makes no sense. And what you do is exactly what I would advise anyone. Just drop off the whole idea of me, no me and see what is really there.

And then thoughts are there, sensations are there, feelings are there. Yeah, they are there. So they are objects, they are objects in consciousness. You are watching them appearing and disappearing. You then probably recognize that you're not the thoughts because they come and go. You're not the feelings because they come and go. You're not sensations. So it kind of... The next step is to see, okay, so I'm none of this. What am I? But it may never come. The what am I may never come. You just stay with not being identified as anything. If the idea comes, yeah, but I am something, then you may be looking for what you are.

But if the idea doesn't come, well, no problem. I know what I'm not. That's it. That's enough. And we have... Gosh, I don't want to get lost. Yes, Sydney says, without the overlay, there is no problem. Very helpful, thanks. Julia says, the identification as personal me is the cause of all psychological suffering. Yes. And Sydney says, also helpful what Bob said, see each thing as fresh and new. And Julia, every moment is when you examine them carefully. And Sydney, and the beauty of seeming tragedy. Thank you. Swami Aston says, lovely. Julia and... Tas says, thank you for your musing on sadness, Kat. Thank you. Thank you.

Musing, I like the word. Jane says, all disease or conflict arises when relating to false image we have about ourselves in relation to another person, place or thing. See the image is never the real and the disease or conflict dissipates and you are cognizing emptiness. And coming through a lot of... Yes. ...pressing well through. Yes. Julia says, Sydney, I found making a slight variation in Sedona Method fifth way of inquiry by including pre-examines pointed in the question. If I am not the body or thought or feeling, can I find... Phone is limited. Can I find one who? Can I allow the question to not be answered?

Kat, you were saying, what I was just typing as I typed it. Synchronicities. And that was the last question for now. Good. Hmm. Excellent. Excellent. Yeah. Questions come up and I start answering them. Yeah, that is beautiful. This is when, I don't know, Julia, we were talking lately. She says she really loves the entertainment of hearing people expressing non-duality. But you yourself also love the entertainment of that very non-duality flowing through your own self. When you see, you don't really want, you don't even want to kind of mud it or obstruct it or influence it by any other talks because you want to see how clear it will get through this channel when it starts expressing as itself.

And it doesn't always mean that you are the one who is the one. It's not. And it doesn't always get, you know, it can get mixed up with different sets of beliefs throughout the life. I could see like those beliefs, they are fading. Some of them dropped off instantaneously and others, they probably linger still. And slowly they kind of become more and more transparent until there is hopefully none left. Or functional beliefs that are part of the story and that are perfectly fine. I mean, I think that's a functional belief that if you have the vitamin C drink or green smoothie, you'll be well. Okay, that's a functional belief.

That's part of the dream world. The whole world is dreamed into existence. So, the remedy is dreamed into existence. It is believed. It is known that it is believed. And there is no one to object it or no one to resist it. So, the play flows. The knowingness, the understanding, seeing the truth makes you free. But it doesn't stop the dream. It doesn't stop the dream from flowing as it does. What you are, you are already. Without putting any concepts, beliefs or ideas on it. And that was expressed as the thought I am. I am is that sense of presence expressing through the mind as a thought.

But you're already that. Isn't it so? Without putting any other thoughts or concepts on it, labels. That is what I am. I am that. That is a chair. That is a carpet. That is what it is. What it is means it's unaltered, unmodified, uncorrected. You don't have to seek it. You don't have to find it. You don't have to do anything at all with it. You already is that. Yeah, and that's why it is so, one could say, important, but nothing is really ultimately important. But it is really helpful if, if you express whatever comes up, because sometimes if it is a little bit mixed up, or it's a little bit not completely straight, or it's kind of on the edge of, of, of real precision, Bob will straighten it up.

He will refine it. He will put it on the right track. And that's why also we invite everyone to join us on a Zoom call. Join us on a Zoom meeting when everyone can speak up with the voice. Like Rohan, you, you're not really, you don't need any refinement anymore. You're brilliant. What comes out of you is just so, is gorgeous. And Heyman is, is coming this way too. And a lot, a lot of people, we can see it over the years. And that's the most, most beautiful thing to actually see. But if there are any lingering questions or problems, even if they are repetitive, if you, like Brett was actually asking question and answering it in a brilliant way.

This is, this is what we're here for to actually just, yeah, to show the way and, and to, to make you see it yourself and express through yourself to make that clear channel of, of transmitting the clarity. So join us on Zoom on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Melbourne time. And yeah, it may be a night for people overseas, it is morning for, for people in Europe, but I think it's worth it. And I think it's fun and we can use his presence while he's still there. Hopefully it's going to be there for a long time. So we have another question. Brett says, thoughts and sensations are the flowering of fiction and folly arising within silence, returning to nothing.

Oh, beautiful. Thoughts and sensations are the flowering of fiction and folly arising within silence, returning to nothing. You should, you should write a poem. We had Tony writing beautiful poems, but she kind of didn't lately. That cannot be just a body. Tanya says, and Julia, I wish you would do a Zoom meeting, but I wish you would do a Zoom meeting for Americans. Well, it's not impossible, Julia. We could change one time of the meeting if, if we have requests for that. But so far we only had maybe a couple of people from America who were totally happy to just get up at four in the morning and listen to Bob half asleep and then throw a question if they woke up.

But if we have requests like this, it's totally doable. Yes, it's easy. We can do that. And thank you for, for putting us on the right track, Poppencut. We all won. One returning home is an honor. How can anyone put you on the right track when it's a pathless path? Pathless path. Yes. Sydney says, I'd love America Zoom. One of the meetings we could maybe change the time to earlier, maybe. Yeah, well, we can talk about it. We can see because we have still predominantly people who are local. If they would like to, we could do Saturday, maybe. Because people who are working, if we would start doing, let's say Tuesday morning, people who are working wouldn't be able to join us here from Australia.

But yeah, it is all to work out. Like, yes, send us a messages and we'll work it out. We open. Oh, Tony. Tony says one and a half poems popped out the other day out of the blue. Oh my gosh, that is wonderful. I love Tony's poems. Yeah, you got to share it, Tony. And Wendy says about Zoom meetings, Tuesdays and Thursdays. What is the meeting ID for attendance? Wendy, the meeting ID and the link to the Zoom meeting you will find on Bob's official website, www.silobobadamson.com. Another one you will find on that website that you are just watching us live. That's official Facebook website.

You will also find it on Meetup. So I won't be reading the ID here because you still need the link to join. And the easiest way is just to click on the link. And if you have any trouble finding it, contact me a message. I'll send it to you. And Julia says, if you did Saturday at noon, that would be 17. That would be 7pm in Los Angeles. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, we could. We could probably do it. I mean, yeah, or even earlier before lunch for people who don't work. And now we have also from Rohan, Buddhist master Dong San. There is a way no one will reveal the secret.

You must enter the door yourself, but there is no door. In the end, there is not even a way. Yeah, it seems like there is a way. It seems like it's the path, but it's a pointer. The gateless gate is a pointer. You see it when, when you're there. It's closer to your eyes. It's never absent. It's always there. It's just so largely overlooked because, because of the training of attention. Into focusing into the objects and into the stories, making the stories. Yeah, Tanya is saying that Saturday noon or earlier as I go to bed early over here in New Zealand, that would be a good time.

I love you both. Thank you for doing this. We love you too, darling. Julia can't not. Such a sunlight. We have a moment of silence now. No questions. Picture's behind, is it? Yeah. It's not coming up on what is right now. Yes, it's behind. Yes, it is few seconds behind. But I saw myself moving when I hadn't moved at all. Yeah, we are watching the questions here. And the picture is, is, well, it's a lot of questions going around the world and coming back. It takes some time. So there is a delay in the picture that we are seeing. Now we have a question from Sally.

Kat, I like what you said about the training of attention that we have been taught to place all of our attention on objects rather than the knowing of being. Yeah, that's, that's it. I mean, that's how innocent we are in the way we are perceiving the reality. Even in a very, very early, very early development of the brain, psychological development of a baby, the way the conditioning starts is immediate experience of the baby is that mother appears and disappears. It doesn't have concept of space. Mother going to the kitchen. It just appears and disappears. But as the brain matures, it creates or invents the concept of space, even though the object or the person is not there.

Or the person is not in the immediacy. It is imagined to be elsewhere. And then slowly with that, first words are being learned. And then more of the words which are symbols. And they only symbols for things. Even when we say space, we make it to be a thing to talk about it. Like word space is not space. And space is actually absence of objects. So we are completely innocent. The way the whole, the overlay of the conceptual world has been learned to project on top of the reality that is absolute mystery and a pure field of probability. We are completely innocent about it. So that takes the heaviness out of our, why am I not getting it?

What's wrong with me? The eye never gets it. The eye is just part of the software. The eye is, and it's a brilliant part of the software. The eye, it's like having an entity projected or imagined inside and everything related to that entity. That also increased the creativity. Because when you look at the animals who don't do it, well they can build, you know, the ants or bees, they can build a sophisticated societies. But they're nowhere near where we are with creativity. So it is what it is. But there is a possibility to see through it. And that's what's important. And Tony says, I found one here, the poem.

I don't recall writing it though. I'm not in the habit of writing down other poems. And the few ties I write the author. So please let me know if you've read it anywhere else. Okay. Yeah, give it to us and I'll let you know if I've read it anywhere else. Prove that the time is illusion, Julia says. Your dash is done. Your day was red. Hmm. Okay. Got to wait for more. That's a part of the poem I guess. Brett says, Bob and Cat, I understand everything, then as soon as I understand I lose it. It was so close then, and in an instant it is miles away.

How do I maintain the essence at all times? Get rid of the me that's hanging on and trying to hang on and trying to get it. Think back into being that. Hmm. When we... Yeah, unfortunately it's a tough one because it requires completely giving up the desire to want to have it all the time. Because it is there all the time. It's only the veil of that imagined conceptual self that creates the illusion that it comes and goes. And see it's still there. Are you unaware right now? Hmm. And you'll say, no, I'm not unaware. So you must be aware. Hmm. You are that awareness.

And the insight, when everything is absolutely clear, insight cannot stay there all the time because it would completely lose its validity. It has to be fresh and new. So it has to fluctuate. Even the insight is part of the appearance. Or it's a disappearance of the mind. Or it's a disappearance of the appearance for a moment. But to be valued and appreciated is just fresh and new moment to moment. It's a sad one because everyone wants the constant bliss and a constant clarity. But the one who wants it is the one who can't have it because it is the one. This is the one who argues with the reality.

If reality doesn't have it, that's the will of the Absolute or that's thy will, the will of God. And now comes the individual who says, I want something else. I want the bliss. I want to have understanding. The I can't have it because the I is the veil. The I is what clouds it. So the way to come back to the understanding is to see the I as a cloud and see there is really no I. See that whatever the I, the I is usually disguised as Sally expressed it beautifully. Bundle of sensations, thoughts, emotions, that's what we take to be I. But when you look closely, there is no I.

It's just a bundle of sensation, thoughts, and feelings, and images. Some stuff. There's no I in it. So then you're looking from the stillness already. And we have Tony's poem now. What are you looking at? Where did it come from? The sunlight? Yes. Your dash is done. Your day was red. And now it's time to lay your head. For all that is and could was done. And now as ever left is one. Ah, beautiful. No, I definitely didn't read it. It must be yours. You could Google it, but I'm pretty sure it's yours because, yeah, you've got a gift. And left is one. Thank you so much, Brett, says many blessings.

Who is it? Brett. Yeah. Very good, Brett. Good input, yeah. Yeah, good input. And unfortunately, that vacillating, that part of the seeming journey when there is a feeling that I have it, and I lost it, and I knew it, and I... It seems to be so common. It seems to be so frustrating, frustrating also because the more you actually, the more you taste the clarity, the harder by comparison the absence of clarity feels. So it feels like being in one leg in one boat and another leg in another boat, and it's just between two worlds, and it's hard. That's why it's best to start from the fact you already are that because when there's an eye that wants to try to become or get something, it can't happen because you are that.

That is all. I am that. And not I want that or I need that. I am. Yeah, and that's the toughest thing because it really takes recognizing that right now, the desire to have something else than what is, is exactly what keeps you away from recognition. And when you have the memory of, of bliss and clarity, it's just almost impossible not to desire more of it because that's how the brain is biased. But the recognition, always the recognition, oh desire again, oh the eye, or whatever. The recognition of the content of consciousness always happens from the stillness. Movement is only known from the stillness. So first to recognize the content and then relax to the stillness.

Not even first and second. Yes. So if the opposite wasn't there, how could you be happy or unhappy without that? Yeah. It's always, needs to relate to the opposite to give it some meaning. If it's just as it is, why relate it? I don't have to become I am. I am that I am. And if the content of presence experience is the resistance and desire and sensation which habitually comes with the label of fear or depression, that's the content. That's the content. Nothing can be done about it. It's already there. Resisting and fighting it makes no difference because it's already there. So to start with actually, oh yeah, alright.

That's it. That's there. Now, what are we going to get from here? Where do we get from here? It's always getting back to here. It's nowhere to run away from what is. It's really to stand still in whatever is. And that stillness is who you are. And it's never far away. And Tanya says, there is a thought that life seems so much later when, when it is seen that there is no separate self, that there is just thoughts, sensations, etc. When all is silent, even if there is a lot of noise, it is still. It is so amazingly beautiful. That's right. Yeah. There is a beauty in sadness, really.

There is a beauty in anger. How did she start that off? Yes. There is, there is the thought that life seems so much later. And maybe there should be another word. Lighter. Lighter. Yes. That's right. Well, that's enlightenment. That's it. Yes. Instead of trying to acquire something, take something off, throw, throw the rubbish out and that will make you a lot lighter. Yes. When you throw off the extra weight, you are much lighter. Mmm. And Brett says, I remember reading years ago about not trying to clasp at running water to quench your thirst, but to simply cup your hands and gain all you wish. I now understand this teaching.

Wow. Mmm. Yes. Mmm. And I think that's a great way to start. Mmm. All the rubbish is being thrown off. Laughing Tanya. Julia, if there is a thought I am giving my attention to, a fictitious story instead of blissful reality of what is as it is, when nothing needs to be different. Mmm. Yeah. Thoughts arise, thoughts go. Mmm. And also, you're right, Julia. The thought somehow clouds the reality that is there already without it. But thought is also part of the appearance. Mmm. Sometimes thought is just narrating whatever is seen. And thought is only a problem when you make it to be a problem. When the thought is there in the background, just like we have the background of a heater running and we have the background of the traffic, we don't make it to be a problem, it is not.

So if there is thinking going on or narrating going on in the background and there is no one to resist it, it's not a problem. It doesn't have to be silent or nothing needs to be done about anything. Timothy says, If everything is one, why do I experience life through a particular body-mind instead of all body-minds? Well, I pointed that out earlier. Yeah. Just… The one essence is expressing through everything. Mmm. And the one is not separate from it and has no power over its own. Mmm. So even… When you take belief that the I that's expressing it or having it as a separate entity, an individual, that is the problem itself.

Mmm. Instead of saying it's all expressing as it is. It's all what is. Unaltered, unmodified, uncorrected. Mmm. And if we didn't have these patterns, shapes and forms to express through, how could you express? How could the absolute express itself if it hasn't formed patterns, shapes and forms to express through? Yeah. Good. And in fact, as life, you do experience itself as every single shape and form. As a human body, you only experience one set of totality. Yeah. You only experience one set of thoughts, feelings, emotions. I think the good analogy would be to use… Bob often uses computer, but radio or television sets is a good analogy.

You are not the TV set. You are not the radio. You are the electromagnetic waves and all of them. They are encoded through particular TV set as a movie if you tune the channel. So, electromagnetic waves doesn't experience one TV. It experience every single TV. But it doesn't have a brain to interpret it. It needs a TV to interpret it. So, as life, you are every form. When you stop the thinking, then you will stop experiencing just one body and one set of thoughts. Because it's only that overlay of interpretation that makes the experience limited. When the mind is off, there is just being. There is no particular form.

There is no particular form. It's not that suddenly the overwhelmed sensations of every single feeling and every thought. Because that is just… There would be nothing anyway. Everything and nothing are just one and the same. But it's an interesting idea to ponder upon and it's interesting desire to have. Like having a computing capacity which would allow you to have gathered experience of every leaf, every bug, every bacteria and everything. Yeah. Every bacteria and every star and every galaxy at the same time. Detailed experience with perceptions and everything. It is there. But not in a way human brain is encoding it. And we have Tania. So, though thought has no more significance than the air conditioning sound or cars passing by.

Wonderful to see. Yeah, we'll see that. Yeah. What's thought? Sound. What's sound? A vibration. What's a vibration? A movement of energy. Yeah. Sound is noise or vibration. Yeah. Rohan, to speak of all body minds requires taking a position that I am a body mind, right? Yeah. Without the labels and identification. How to say me or others? Yeah. That's good. Beautiful. Good point again. Yes. Yes. It is still assuming that I am a body mind. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. It is still assuming a perspective of the form because, again, from the perspective of that electromagnetic wave or the generator or the energy that goes through or the life essence that fuels it, the forms are only a channels.

They're not who you are. Watching the clock. Yeah. How many are watching? Right now, here, you have the number, twenty-six. Taz there? Yes. I've seen him. Yeah, I hope I didn't miss any of the questions. Hebe. My clients, people I'm visiting, they always laugh at me because whenever I step, they say, Oh, we were just singing about you. When you're happy, clap your hands. Yeah, they all perplex it. How can you be happy all the time? I know them for three or four years. It's a lightness to life. It's joy to life. It's a privilege to serve. It doesn't mean I don't get PMS and jump occasionally, but that's beautiful too.

Tanya says, good question. Oh, Julia is asking a question here. Why do you suppose some meditation teachers recommend chanting some meaningless words? Why some meditation teachers tell you to chant some meaningless words? The vibration is in the words, the sound, you know. It comes from somebody who's got a good understanding and speaks the word and it vibrates. It's just a movement of energy and it'll tune in with the universal energy, which it is anyway. And I think chanting something that is meaningless probably would be even more helpful than something that is meaningful because then you don't focus on the image. Yeah. Well, the best answer to it is just see it for yourself.

Just spend 15 minutes. Or 10 minutes or even 5 minutes and repeat some nonsense in your head and see where it takes you. It's fun. It's just, it kind of creates altered state of consciousness, which expands the experience of the immediacy. I don't know. Some people believe that it can take you somewhere or it can wake you up. They have all sorts of stories, what it can do to you. But the easiest thing is just, yeah, just figure it out for yourself. See if it's for you or not. Let the energy resonate with the energy that's in the life that you are. The fact is that if you repeat a word, it doesn't really matter what word in the head and the attention goes with that word, that very attention doesn't go into imagination or the story.

It doesn't matter whether it does or not. Break it down. It's vibrations. Energy. Energy. And energy. It's the same intelligence energy that functions the universe. Yeah. I remember I used to sit with three different Zen Sanghas for many years with the question, Who am I? And it became like a mantra because it didn't really have the answer. But while chanting that question, I couldn't chant any other questions. I couldn't entertain myself with any other ideas, thoughts or stories. So the mind had a little bit of a respite and learned the habit of, not engaging with the narrative constantly. So yeah, we don't ever recommend any sort of practices and promise people that it will give them something.

But if someone is moved to do one thing or the other, who are we to say not to do that one thing or the other? It's whatever rocks your boat, they say. So this is a good question, Julia, Tanya says. Seems a bit pointless to channel. Can you chant a meaningless word? Yeah, yeah. It's everything pointless. It's no point. Tony had a nice noticing of a deep-rooted fear of being killed off for not doing what others wanted. Then the notion of being killed off as an event dissolved into fuzzy unboundedness and didn't pop back. Didn't pop back in. The handful of times, this has been remembered in the last couple of days, the event of being killed still does not present as bounded or real.

Hmm, interesting. Yeah, it's a nice observation. Something interesting. And seeing the solution of it, whatever it is, that means that it's been watched in the right way. Thus, the direction from Bob towards the experience of sensation rather than naming of it opens up the door to the alternative, to the aliveness of now. Thank you, Bob and Kat and everyone today for your beautiful, heartfelt input. It helped melt me back into love. Thank you. You did. Thank you. yeah melting back into love why not you are that living enough yeah had enough yeah if there is no more questions coming then we're gonna have lunch okay thank you everyone thank you what a beautiful input