Sailor Bob, Kat and sangha - Everything about no-thing. 14th of March 2021

It would be nice if someone said, try this way first. Okay, we are starting. Welcome everyone and starting from saying our names so we know each other. Julian. Maureen. Jamie. George. Mandy. Tony. Adrian. Jane. Sally. And there we go. Good to see you all. It's been a while since we've had the, what do you call it? Gathering. Gathering. Starts like me, I think. Yeah. Show us your face. Yeah. Well, the spills are still the same. We don't teach you anything here and we don't tell you anything. What we do is point toward and ask you to look to where we're pointing to, to see for yourself.

Because no matter what you might believe or think, nobody can ever teach you anything. Or nobody can tell you anything. Not about what we're pointing to anyway. Because what we point to is what they call in the traditions, the scriptures, is non-duality. Advaita. It's a Hindu tradition. Advaita meaning non-duality. And they try to describe non-duality by saying it's one without a second. Not two. It's only the one essence. Patterning, shaping, forming, experiencing and expressing as everything. That's why they'll say in a lot of the traditions, the Lord thy God is one God. Here are Israel, the Lord thy God is one God. There is nothing other.

And the Muslims will say there's no God but God. Allah is his name. Christians. They'll say it's omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience. And all the different traditions have different names for the one essence. Hindus have thousands of names for God. Ganesha, Shakti, Shiva, Vishnu, Brahman. All talking about the same thing. One without a second. Not two. So when you look at it from that direction, it's not my God or your God or his God or her God. If you like to use that term God, it is the one God. Patterning, shaping, forming and expressing as everything. And all of us sitting here are patterned shapes and forms just like the room is a shape and a form.

And the trees and the flowers and everything else. It's all the one essence. It's never changed its true nature. It's never been separate or apart or divided. It's still only the one. They call it a higher power but it's no higher power or lower power. It's again the one power. And the Mahavaki, the great mantra is I am that. And so everyone sitting here puts a label on yourself with the I. You are that already. Now what's the point? Of trying to be. You've become something that you already are. You can see why it's impossible. That we've taken on this belief. That we are separate.

That there's absolutely no separation whatsoever. It's the one essence, pattern, shaping, forming, expressing, as appearing as everything. There is only the one reality and you must already be that. And it displays. It expresses in all the different ways. But it's never less that it's one nature, one essence. So we've taken on the belief that we are this separate entity. We are this person. Where does that word person come from? It comes from the ancient Latin language I think it was. Meaning persona, the mask. We've got this mask of concepts we've put on ourselves. I am Bob the Australian, the good fellow. Not so good. All concepts, words or thoughts.

How many words were you born with? Realise you weren't born with any words. At all. That's why you can't really remember your birth. Because you had no words, you couldn't discriminate it without the word. And the word's not the thing. Take the word fire, can you cook with it? Can you burn yourself with it? Can you eat? Eat yourself? with the word, the word water, can you quench your thirst with it? Can you swim in it? This word I or me is not what you really are. Another term for it, I call it intelligence energy. I don't use the term God because you can get confused with that term.

Purely and simply we all come from different traditions. Some of you might be Christians, some of you might be atheists, some of you might be agnostics, some of you might be the Hebrews or the Jews or the Muslims or whatever other religion you've taken, put your beliefs in. But they're all words, labels we put on. Quick question, are you hearing Bob alright or should we stop the air conditioner maybe? You're hearing okay? Cool. Is that seat 3 just over there? Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. Come closer. Oh, you're seated better, yes. How you doing? I'll pay up later. How you doing? Maybe you speak up a little bit closer.

I could hear. Yeah, that's fine. That's one of the, another thing we say that what needs to happen is you need to investigate and see for yourself whether you are this so-called separate entity, this individual, this person, this person. Yeah. Or as they say, it's the one reality, the one essence patterning, shaping, forming and expressing as everything. That needs to be seen and recognized, recognized. And they call it a cognizing emptiness. The Buddha called it a cognizing emptiness. We think that we are cognizing the emptiness. But it's not that at all. It is that emptiness that's doing that. It's doing the cognizing. Another term for cognizing is knowing.

And the Buddha made the statement there and then that emptiness is form. And the form is nothing but the emptiness. So it's all this emptiness that's doing the cognizing, the knowing. The patterns, shapes and forms are that cognizing emptiness. So you must be that already. Take the word first, take the word person, hey, how you doing? And we've seemingly separated ourselves. Now the sense of separation is isolation, insecurity, vulnerability. All the fear, the anxiety, the stress, the guilt, the shame, remorse comes about from it. Purely and simply because we've isolated ourselves, separated ourselves from the totality. And that sense of separation, separation comes insecurity. And with that insecurity, what are we doing?

We don't like to be insecure. So we're trying to become whole and complete. And you see that's an impossibility if we understand and recognize what we're pointing out there, that it's the one essence that's patterning, shaping, forming, experiencing as everything. And that is all there is. They explain it in Hinduism as the karmic essence. The karmic essence is the one essence that's the one essence. The karmic essence is the one essence. We call it sat, chitta and nanda are the terms for it, the five factors of it. Now the two factors are nama, rupa, sat. Sat is existence, chitta is consciousness, nanda is loving to be or being, and the nama, rupa are the body, mind, the name and form.

They say that name and form are maya, illusion, appearance. That needs to be recognized that This body we think is you or me or I, we call it I, is just the Nama Rupa, the name we put on it, Bob, the Australian, and the form is this body, mine. Am I a? They're an illusion. Not as they appear to be. And the problem is, when we've learnt words, all of us have taken on that idea that we are this separate entity, this individual. When you look into it and investigate it, you see it's not so. You believe you are this body, mine, are you the body?

Well, innately you know that already, that you're not the body, because don't you say my body? The same you say my house, my car, my coat, my hat. You know, not the house, the car, the coat, or the hat. Investigate, have a look. Who is this me or my? What I'm calling my body. Who? Who does that belong to? And we think that it belongs to me, myself. And don't they tell you in the scriptures there is only one self? One Atman, not the many, but the one. But now you've said, say, myself, you've separated yourself from the totality. And that insecurity and vulnerability that comes about with that separation.

What's the body made up of? If you believe you're separate. Have a look at it, question it, investigate. Because that's the thing we say, that the false cannot stand up to investigation. And the definition of reality is that which never changes. That body, mind, we believe ourselves to be, is constantly and ever changing. But what is the essence of it? What's the body made up of? And you realize the body is made up of air, earth, fire, water, space. Just like the elements around you. Try and separate yourself from those elements if you can. Stop reading. Say how long you'd last without the air. Stop taking water.

How long would you last without the water? Get off the earth if you can. You can't separate yourself from the earth. Get out of space if you can. You can't separate yourself from the space. The body temperature, the heat. Try and separate yourself from that. They've gone through the water and the air and the other things. So when you look at it, you're not separate from any of these things at all. All those elements. Can't they be broken down to subatomic particles? Into pure energy? So it's this one intelligence energy. That's the term I use. Fred, I don't use the term God because you can get confused with that term because we come from different traditions.

And you've got different layers to what you believe this God to be. So intelligence. Intelligence energy is just another label also. That's not it. But I think it's a good pointer towards it. Because I'm not pointing to some conceptual image or idea. We've got to be taken to be real. But intelligence energy. Intelligence is knowing. There's not one of you in here that's not knowing right now. And knowing is an activity. Any activity is a movement. And any movement is a vibration. And a vibration is just a movement. It's a form of energy. So the body, pure intelligence energy, will be broken down into subatomic particles.

The mind, the thoughts, the vibrations, will be broken down into concepts, ideas, images or energy. So where is the room for a person, a separate entity to come into it? If it's not separate at all. It's all in one. So we need to live. As the livingness is happening through us right now. The intelligence energy. Anyone who's not breathing right now. Anyone who's not, heart's not beating. Anyone who's not digesting the food, replacing cells in your body. Is the person itself doing that? Or is it what we call the life that's animating, patterning, shaping through that pattern. Is it the life itself that's doing it all?

Well have a look at that. I breathe. My heart's beating. My hair and fingernails are growing. My thoughts are coming up. Feelings are coming up. All these things are coming up. Who to? This conceptual image that I believe myself to be me. If that life itself is not in the body, how many breaths can a corpse take? What can it say? What can it think? What can it do? What can it feel? It can't do any of those things without the life. It can't do anything without the life. Now isn't that what Christ told you a couple of thousand years ago? He says, I am the way.

I am the truth. I am the life. People thought he was talking about himself. He wasn't. He was talking about that sense of presence. That life essence that's functioning through the body. That's the way to go. That's the truth. That's the life of you. That pure being. And being is not becoming. You call yourself a human being. You believe in this God. You call God a supreme being. What happens if you take away the label human? And take away the label supreme? Try and separate the beingness without putting the label on it. So wouldn't you, if you recognise that, wouldn't you realise, well I am this pure being.

Without putting any concept or words on it. Because try and negate the beingness. Can you say I am not? You can't. That I am is there. That's the pure knowing. So you're being right now. And you're knowing right now. And you're happy to be right now, aren't you? So that's the Satyajit Ananda. You are already that. What do you need to look for it for? But we think we are this human being. We're going to become something. And what does becoming imply? Doesn't imply a future time. And when you look at time, what can you say about time? Is there such a thing? We believe in the past and the future.

But what happens if you don't think about it? Is there a past if you don't think about it? Is there a future if you don't think about it? You'll say I was in the past. Alright, well try and live yesterday. Try and live five minutes ago. You realise you can't live in the past. Try and live in the future. Try and live. Do what you're going to do when you leave here. Do it right now. So you can't live in the past. You can't live in the future. So it's always this ever fresh, timeless, ever fresh presence awareness. And presence means right in the samadhi sense.

And anyone who is not aware right now, realise you're aware. So you're already that. And we pray. You take this conceptual image on and moving from that point of view, see how that functions. Something comes up in your mind, in your thinking. And you like it. Now you don't want the good things to go. You want always being the good things, not realising that this manifestation, being a vibration of energy, is constantly vibrating in the opposites. And the words we've learnt and picked up along the way see how they're functioning too, and realise they're always functioning in their opposites. Watch your mind and see how it functions, see what it's saying, it's either good or bad, it's past or future, pleasant, painful, happy, sad, loving, hating, positive, negative, it's always functioning in the interrelated opposites.

But we don't realise that it's transient. All this manifestation is spontaneous, it's transient, it's constantly changing. We think it has some time-bound essence about it, but it's not, it's spontaneous. When does now begin? It's got no duration, so it's not time-bound, because you say it's beginning right now, and as you're saying that, it's already ending. So this thing comes up, but I like it. Not realising it's going to change, no matter how much you love it, how much you want to keep them there, and the things around you. Everything is transient, changing, that body of yours is changing right now. You mightn't realise it, but right in this instance, there's thousands of souls dying right at this moment, and being replaced.

So this thing is going to change. We don't want it to go, so what do we do? We try to keep it there. In the trying to keep it there, we're resisting it from going. Realise that any resistance you are in, is conflict. So now in conflict with life itself, because you don't like the way it's going, or it is going. So we're resisting it. And any conflict makes you uneasy, it makes you anxious, fearful, depressed, jealous, envy, guilty, and all the rest of it. So there's resistance, conflict, and disease going on, all the time. Something comes up, and we don't like this one. Oh, I shouldn't be thinking this, or this, or no, we don't want it.

So what do we do? We do the same thing, we resist it. Again, conflict and disease. Then that resistance, conflict and disease. Comes us fear, the anxiety, the stress, the guilt. All the psychological suffering. Comes upon us. That's uneasiness or disease. Where's it all happening, in this mind. And we say, My mind. Is there such a thing? Show me your mind. Well hang on to the thing. You're calling my mind. Is there anything solid and substantial there you can say this is mine? And if there was mind, and you believe you are the mind, you'd be frightened of losing it, wouldn't you? Don't you gladly give it up every night when you go to sleep?

Unless you start to dream, or other things. So what's mind? When you've investigated it, you see mind is nothing but thought. And what's thought? Thought's word or sound. And what's sound? Sound's a vibration. What's a vibration? A movement of energy. So like the manifestation out there is all a vibrating pattern of energy, and the body's vibrating pattern of energy. That's all it is. The world as we know it is constantly vibrating, changing. So where does that leave you? It must leave you as this presence awareness. Pure being. Pure knowing. Pure loving to be. As Agatha calls it, have an affectionate awareness of being. In other words, be warm towards yourself.

Don't be dirty on yourself because you don't like the sun. Be warm, be affectionate towards yourself. Or, that's the loving to be. Recognising is going on. Room is there for being unhappy, fearful, anxious, jealous or envious. If you know that that self is the one self that's expressing, patterning, shaping and forming and appearing as everything, through everything. That everything in this room is already that. Even the room itself and the space in the room. It's all that. And each pattern, shape and form is that. But we try to find the answer in the mind. We've learnt words, and believed in the words, taken the words to be real, and put this conceptual label on ourselves.

I'm Bob, the Australian, the good fella, or not so good, or I'm unhappy, I'm fearful, self-pity, or jealous, or envious. All concepts are labels we put on. And see that the word's not the real. And if you went into a department store and bought a dress or a shirt or a pair of pants or something, and came out with a label, you wouldn't be too happy about it, would you? So the word's not the thing. But you are the life itself. And that's a word trying to describe something that's going on right now. Livingness, beingness, knowingness, existing, conscious, aware in right now. Recognise that. Settle into that.

And keep reminding yourself that you are that. That is the absolute. What can you add to the absolute? Nothing. What can you take away from it? Nothing. Nothing can be added to it. Nothing can be taken away from it. Everything must be that already. Or as they say in Buddhism, they call it the great perfection. What can you add to the perfect? It's another word the same as the absolute. Meaning absolutely everything. You can't add anything to it. Or you can't take anything away from it. And in Buddhism they call it, they give it to you in one sentence. The great perfection is non-conceptual awareness.

Nobody's unaware right now. You are aware. But there are all sorts of concepts going on. It's probably right now you're thinking this and thinking that. But it's non-conceptual. Without any concepts on it, cause a thought, no. Ask yourself what's wrong with right now if I don't think about it. What can you say without a thought? You must realise that if there's no thought going on, I've got to put a thought on it then to say, well, I'm here, I'm being. There's that knowing of that without putting the words on it. Words can be very useful. And they are very useful. But because they vibrate in the opposite sense, they're self-destructive.

Because it's that same word that tells you, I'm not good enough, I'm fearful, or I'm unhappy, I'm depressed. Without the word, everything is just as it is. What is means unaltered, unmodified, uncorrected. No preference, no partiality, no comparison. Sit with that for a moment and see, realise that the words come up in themselves. What's your next thought going to be? You realise you can't tell me what your next thought's going to be. But a thought will come up. And then we'll say, well, I think. I'm thinking this thought. The I am. Isn't it the sense of presence that's expressed through the mind as the thought I am?

So that I am is not the person. It is a sense of presence. A sense of sensation or a feeling. It's a feeling of being here right now, presently. And you're not unaware. There's awareness of presence there. As they say, one of the sayings is, let it rest in its uncontrived singularity. It's a singularity. It's only the one. The one in cosmos. Just relax. Rest in it. Abide in it. Abide as that essence. And it's always happening. But unnoticed. Unrecognised. It's a cognising emptiness. Let it continue to happen by recognising it. Reminding yourself. It tells you in the scriptures, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

How would you renew your mind? Just remind yourself of, I'm already that. I'm not this miserable body, or merely a pattern that's unhappy or fearful or anxious. I'm not this miserable body, or merely a pattern that's unhappy or fearful or anxious. I can display and appear and seem to be that, if I like, if I enjoy this suffering. But the psychological suffering is not necessary at all. It can be done without. We don't like to lose this or see this go, or somebody pass away, or things like that. But where are they all going? Where can they go to? Can you postulate or think of anything that could be outside of this space?

Or outside of the... awareness at all? That's what needs to happen. Some of you already know it, because you recognise it. And every one of you have had glimpses of it throughout your life. There have been moments when everything's swallowed into place, and you say, well, how did that happen? But then you forget about it. You don't... Instead of looking for it, you look back into the mind. You think, well, work it out in the mind. But you'll never ever find the answer in the mind, because the mind is time. If you're looking for something in the mind, you're looking for something in the future, or past.

It's spontaneously happening right here, right now. And you are already that. You can recall. You can't live in the past, but you can recall past moments. And the only actuality to give you new is when you're recalling it right now, because you can't tell me what you thought of a minute ago now, unless you recall it. Thinking's happening, and you say, I think. What have you done when you say, I think? You've formed a subject. A thinker. And then you say, that I am the thinker. But as soon as you say, I am, or I think, you've formed a subject. A thinker. That thinker wasn't formed until the thought, I think.

The thinking is happening spontaneously. And then you say, I think. I've got this thought. So now, me, the thinker, the subject, has the thought, I think, which has become the object. And what have you done? You've seemingly split the thinking into subject-object duality. But can there be a thinker, a subject, without thinking? Realise there can't be a thinker without thinking. And there can't be the thought without thinking. So you must realise from that that thinker and the thought, subject, object, are not the thinking. The thinking is the actual. But it's divided up into subject-object, thinker and thought, with words. I think. And the same thing is happening with the seeing.

You're seeing right now, but your eye's not telling you, I see. The seeing is happening through the eyes. But the eye's not saying, I see. The thought comes up and translates it as, I see. And that thought that's translating into this conceptual image, me, thinks it now has the capacity of seeing. The life essence that's breathing you, breathing your heart, growing your hair and your fingernails, digesting your food, has enabled the seeing, the thinking, the feeling, the tasting, the touching, the smelling to happen. All this happening is going on naturally. Not with the person. Have a look along those lines. Question, got any doubts or arguments?

Anyway, got any questions, don't hesitate to ask them. Got any doubts or arguments, don't hesitate to bring them up. Give a short version of it, whatever you can. But, you know what, I'd add something to it, Kat. For a start off, you know. I was just wondering, we have a few more people here. Should we run the names again, so you know who everyone is? And everyone knows everyone? Just, we have James here. Sally again. Jane. Estelle. Charlie. Julia. Carolyn. Oh, welcome again. Yes, welcome again, everyone. Thank you for coming, and thank you for everything. For the little donations that landed up in Bob's jar.

That really, really helps with his supplements, because on the pension that is just unaffordable. And we want to have that brain working and the knees also. But, and thank you everyone who is with us who couldn't come, especially Taz and Heyman. They're sending their love. And we have people, we have over 30 people watching us online. So welcome, everyone. And yes, that's the time when I'm going to say that we're going to have a little bit of a chat. And we interact. We ask questions. If anything was unclear, what Bob was saying, or maybe was triggering, or maybe was landing really well, and you would like to add something or clarify something, just open it up now.

We have no questions from the group out there. We have over 30 people and no question. Now there's our portable mic. Oh, now we have few. Okay, go on. What's the most common question that you get from people? I've got the common answer. Who wants to know? And we have couple of things coming. You think what you're going to ask, and I'll read the one, there is one from John David. Love you Bob and Kat. Love to my, all my extended family watching wherever you are. That's from America. Amarna, good morning, greetings. Oh yeah, we wanted questions. Thank you Amarna. And dear Bob, can you speak on desires please?

Desire. There's many different views on desire. And as Agadala puts it quite simply, he says desire is a fixation of the mind on an idea. And he says get it out of its groove by denying it attention. By denying what? Attention. Denying it attention. Beautiful. Now we have one from Tanya. And thought is always claiming, commenting, you, that's some spelling error, sorry. But everything happens without thought. Thought is not needed for the functioning. Yeah? We could say that there's such a things like depends on the definition of thought. Some people consider action impulse to be a thought. But then we would have to say that animals are thinking.

But in a way that we usually consider thoughts is just a narrative, the commentary. So yes, absolutely Tanya. The functioning happens as it happens in every other creature in the universe. But we humans, we have the chatter that comments on what's happening. And that commenting is totally not only the source of all suffering, because it judges, it labels. This is good, this is bad. I want this, I don't want that. And all the misery comes from it. But it's also just a time waster. Because it grabs the attention. And now I don't see the birds singing. I can't smell the roses. Because the whole attention is trapped in that self-entertainment, in that chatter.

So totally you got it. Thought is not needed for the functioning, Tanya says. And now we got Rohan. Thought is part of the functioning. And that's also true. It is part of functioning because everything is part of the nature. So yes, we humans are designed in a way that we do have that default mode network. And we do translate everything as relevant to the survival of this body-mind. It is part of the functioning. But it is also a source of suffering. So it is a part of functioning. Capacity to question thinking is also part of functioning. And that's what we invite everyone to do. Just question that narrative.

And see that this is only a pattern of chatter. And with that, you're free. Because you don't have to believe the thinking. You can just see it as the traffic noise or the birds singing. It's not me. It's not mine. It's not about me. Because there is no me. If you look inside, see if you can find an in me that the chatter or commentary is relevant to. You won't. Nobody ever has. If you do, good luck. Tell us about it. Shakespeare says, four hundred years ago, nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. This Agadatta puts it another way. He says, nothing can trouble you except in your own imagination.

Break that word imagination down to imaging. Imagine. And realize that's all we're doing. We're creating conceptual or mental images. Taking them to be real. And believing them to be real. And that's what troubles us. What we imagine or think about this or that or the other. And it's the very thinking or imaging in. Look in the mirror. What do you see in the mirror? Reflections or images. You can't say they're not there. But go up to the mirror and try and grab a reflection out of it. You can't grab it. So you can't say it is. You can't say it isn't. And that's the same with all this manifestation.

You can't say it is. You can't say it isn't. You can't put any set point on it. Static point whatsoever on it. It's constantly transient. Changing. Now we have another. I was going to say, I think you made a simple statement that mind is time. It's a very simple but profound pointer. Like mind is simply time. So it's like it just shuts that whole thing down. For me, I can almost see a thought. The thought, whether it's past or present. But what about when you can be swamped with a feeling? And the feeling encapsulates your whole, you know, not the whole being, but part of the being.

So more about when, and you know the feeling was started by a thought. Yet, you can be, well, I can be consumed by a feeling. And that can really overtake me. And then I can look at it. Not just rationalise that it started by a thought. Because that's all conceptual. But yet that feeling can still encase me, consume me. How does one actually, other than just sit there and say I release, release. That's a game with the words. But embrace it with the vibration as well so it can be free. Thought, feeling and emotion are one and the same thing. Different aspects. First of all, there'll be the thought there.

Then with that thought will come up a sensation or a feeling. And then with that feeling or sensation that's been there a little while, it'll become the emotional. Then it's got to the emotional stage, it's stirring the body up. So it's all thought based. Thought's very subtle. Then the feeling is a sensation or a feeling. And we put the... And we put the label on the sensation. We'll say this is anger or this is fear. How do you know? When your parents, when your little child told you you're angry or you're fearful. And from then on we've reinforced it in the belief that that sensation, instead of seeing it's fresh and new, we put the whole label on it.

This is anger, this is fear. And we try... Then we're in conflict with it. We start to try to fight it or get rid of it or add it to it or whatever. In conflict with it. But see, you know, see it as a fresh and new sensation. The sensation, the feeling. You see it fresh and new without putting the whole label on it. And you might see it in a totally different light. But when we put the whole label on it, this is fear or this is anger or this is stress or this is whatever, you know, living from the past again. Not with the fresh and new.

What's going on right now. But see that sensation or feeling as a fresh and new. The same analogy applies in space. Three aspects of steam, water and ice. Three different aspects of it. Like thought, feeling and emotion. Three different aspects of the one movement of energy. First of all, there'll be water vapor, which is steam. Then it condenses and becomes water. And then the water can become... The water can become cooled down and become ice. So that's the same thing with thought, feeling and emotion. We call it spirit and matter. So we've divided the two when it's the one essence. See, spirit, when it becomes consolidated with thought and feeling, becomes material.

It's seemingly matter. But spirit is the essence. And it's all one. It's only... Looking for the spiritual. It's all spirit. It's all essence. Appearing, patterning, shaping, forming, appearing to be solid and substantial. But it's not. Recognize that and see whatever the feeling is. Instead of putting the old label on it, see it fresh and new. And the... Last night I was on the phone with a friend of mine and processing. We were discussing something that had stirred me. Right? And there's a tendency for... And this pattern to go, well, who gives a crap? Oh, sorry. There's a tendency to go, oh, there's no one here to feel anything.

And she's like, just stop and be with the sensation. Just stay with that. But non-judgmentally and a little... And gently present with just what the feeling is. Without going into the thoughts, the stories, need to fix it, see who cares, all that stuff. That's another way. Oh, yeah. Find out if you can find the one who's upset is a great way to see past it. But also, it also helps to just to embrace your current experience gently. Like it's like... Treat it like it's a little baby crying for your love. And you just say, yeah, it's okay. And you give it some presence. And some gentleness.

And when you stay with it, it just moves on in that presence that it's given. But when we try to ignore it, avoid it, run away from it, push it down, judge it, in a way you're resisting it. And it persists when we go, well, I shouldn't feel angry about this because... Or I shouldn't. We should on ourselves. That's another way to keep it present. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if that helps, but it helped me last night. I think Jane had a pretty good answer. Because Jane is a performer. And you said you were... Can you tell us about it? It was a really good answer when you were saying that when you gather your energy for the performance, you can call it anxiety.

Or you can just... Or you can just say it's the energy you need to do the performance in my case. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Oh, good men, we got a lot of questions. I'm going to just read some of those. Yeah. Okay. Okay. You will see. Okay. Great. Okay. pratik. Yeah. Bob used to have a fantastic thing. He would say, go outside and just walk along the street watching without naming.

And it's the same with watching what's coming up, watching how it dissipates, watching how it just passes on like everything. All things must pass, including me, because I have to go now. Lovely to see you all. I've got to go to a family thing. It's so great to have the group back. Love you all. See you. Bye. See you. Bye. Got it. Okay, we got it. Bye, darling. Love you. Enjoy the family. Yeah, thank you. I will. Bye. Press something wrong. Yeah. We have 40 people with us right now and I can't actually turn the camera. Okay, Bob, would you like to add more on this one, on thoughts, feelings, emotions?

Just as you. Oh, yeah. I said earlier when she started off that stop and see. Mm. Stop. As you stop, have you stopped seeing? The seeing's still happening, but the narrative's not going on. Sorry. Another aspect is, of course, just seeing how every vibration in the nature is really the same one essence. And in the body, it will be reflected in the body. And the other part, then, in the mind will be reflected in the body. When we see the Markt we see a vibration in the mind, and the person who sees us, perhaps, depends on the feeling when we call it, of course, when there is a bubbling life here.

And let's say there is a little bit of a contraction, a little bit of a tension. I can call it anger. I can call it anxiety. And then the story comes. Then the mind will find evidence. Oh, this is why, because of environment, boss, my husband, whatever, this is, will justify the label. But really, when we take the label out of the picture, and we take the justifying story out of the picture, life bubbling through the body it has a center maybe in the heart maybe in the gut maybe in the skin maybe it's it has a lot of reflections in the body as a sensation and pure sensation doesn't have any flavor it's not good about pleasant or painful it may be uncomfortable at times of course when we run short of breath or something but this comfort is not bad as per se because discomfort can be the adrenaline rush which make you fight or flight which assures survival so that just instead of conceptualizing the raw energy we go back to that basic appearance of the energy as a vibration we are out of the mind we are back into the presence because sensations are always present this is what is happening and this is what is not happening this is imagination calling it anything or just you know what I mean?

I don't know what you mean? I'm justifying it with anything not only it keeps the feeling it it prolongs it it doesn't let it go move like a cloud but it also takes us away from that deliciousness of present experience after this I found that even anger when I take the label off and I just delight in that movement of fury just ah how energetic it's not ugly anymore it's not bad anymore It's definitely not saintly, like people like to imagine that once you see through the illusion of self, you know there's no one there that is pulling the strings or running the show, you straight away become saint and you can't bite anymore and you can't bark anymore.

Look out in nature. Dogs are no saints. They bark and they bite. So it is, of course, the reasons for barking and biting, they may go away, because what humans do, they self-medicate sense of lack. I'm not good enough, I'm small, I'm ugly, and now I have to fix it. I have to add to myself, so I have to steal from you. I have to compare myself with you, so I have to make you worse. And then of course I feel guilty because it doesn't feel right. So all that conceptualizing of feelings that are really to self-medicate sense of lack, of illusory self, because then you're not good enough.

There is no self there that is not enough, that is small or is ugly. There's nothing there. It's just a feeling, but that feeling, when you again look at it without a label, it's a passing phenomena. It won't stay, it will go. It may be here for a moment, and you may find the story why or what, but if you don't go to the head, you just see it gone. And if it doesn't go, you delight in it, because it's just the movement of life, just like the weather. Bob has old old stories. He has all sorts of feelings too, all the feelings, not just loving feelings, pleasurable feelings, blissful feelings.

But you know, when I serve him something rotten, he won't eat it. He will... I won't. How can you link the sensations in the body and so on to the sense of attraction or repulsion? Because you often say that you're either attracted or you're... Repelled. Repelled, that's the word, yeah. And so that's also still a sensory experience, but that's one that you talk about with more... With babies? ... credibility in a way, or more sort of like... I can't think of the words, it's enough. Yeah, when you talk, Bob, about little children who don't have an ego and they're either attracted or repelled, that's how the nature works.

Natural. When you relate the thought, feeling and emotion to attraction and being attracted or repelled, the natural movement towards or away. Yeah. So it's not that all sensation is just like some neurotic kind of like response, but there is some response which is... There's some response which is nature's response to a person, a place or a thing. And I've heard you talk before about your own experience with that that gives you... Has given you that sense of what you... Which you trust within the core of you. Response. Just as long as your heart's expanding and contracting, all the rest of it. So that's the way the functioning goes on.

If there wasn't one side of it, could there be the other? Could there be day without night, or silence without sound? Sound. Is it? That's a nice summary. What Tania was saying, thoughts are the source of suffering, and Rohan brought up that they are part of functioning. Yeah. The narrating of what is the natural, what you are just saying, what is a natural attraction. Like yes, Bob wouldn't eat certain food, would eat another, just like the cats. Natural attraction. What are you sing-a-ling Bob out of it for? You are just the best example. Example, yeah. It's the same functioning. Yes, the same functioning. All over.

You wouldn't eat certain food and would eat the other. The important thing is though, that we'll never find the answer in the mind. That's when we learnt words, and that sense of separation came upon us. We've been functioning from that ever since. And our schools, society, and everybody else, points in that direction. They say that we won't find the answer in the mind. That's what they tell us. They say you'll never ever get peace of mind. And you won't, because the mind can never be at peace. What we call the mind is constantly vibrating. It's a vibrating movement of energy. And they describe that, they call it the peace that passes all understanding.

It can't be understood or grasped with a concept. With the mind. But the peace is when the mind is not. When the thought, when the stop, just stopping for a moment, or even as you out-breath. If you breathe out a thought on you, let your thought ride out on the breath. When that breath goes out, and the thought goes out with it, what's there before you take the next breath? Isn't there a little subtle gap there? Recognise that it'll grow bigger and bigger. Like the good analogy is like the clouds on the sea. Blocking the sun. Outside on a cloudy day, would you say the sun's not in the sky?

No, you know damn well the sun's in the sky. The sun has never left the sky. You've investigated that and seen for yourself. But then you ask yourself, well what forms the cloud? Well the cloud itself doesn't know, the sun itself forms a cloud. The sun doesn't know anything about the cloud. It's the nature of the sun to shine. And in that self-shining, the radiance of the sun, what's it do? It evaporates water. The water rises and cools down a bit and forms a cloud. Now that cloud seemingly obscured the sun. What happens? The sun continues to shine, and it'll bring that cloud, cool it down, bring it down as rain.

Then the rain will cool and become ice. So it's changed from a simple thought, functioning thought, to that seemingly solid emotion. What the sun does is continue to shine. Now in that radiance of the sun again, which evaporates water, it also causes a wind to blow or cool it down. And the cloud will dissolve and blow away. And what's there? Naturally, without the cloud in the sky, it's much more clarity there. It's clear, it's empty, it's warmth, it's radiant with the heat of the sun. And it's the same with us. When there's less thoughts here, and emotion and feelings, like the emotion has become the thought that has advanced into the emotion from the subtle thought, none of those clouds are stitched onto the sky.

They're not attached there. They're free to move. Have a look in your head and see if there's any thoughts fixed in your head. There's no thought in your head. They come and they go. We fixate on some and cling to them. But again, comes in with the breath, goes out with the breath, the thoughts and the words. What do you do when you breathe in? Don't you inspire? There's another word for it. And what's inspiration? That's when you get all the good ideas or the good thoughts or the good feelings, whatever comes from that. All the knowledge and that comes in through that inspiration. So the same principle here is what's going on in nature.

Because it's all the one life, the one essence. The cloud doesn't know anything about the sun, and the sun doesn't know anything about the cloud. Darkness doesn't know anything about light. Light doesn't know anything about darkness. All that darkness is is the absence of light. All that light is is the absence of darkness. But all these seeming dualistic things, are the one essence still and only and ever. So what about thoughts such as, when we can get put up in a dream, sometimes it can be pleasant. So what about the meditative techniques where we visualize a future that we would intend to have? Or we visualize the chakras in our body.

What about consciously using thoughts to create more pleasantness? What are your thoughts on that? All those thoughts come. Everything is that. If you are moved, in other words, if you are moved to do some sort of practices, recognize that that being moved, that thought or idea to visualize or align chakras, it comes from consciousness, not from the individual self or ego, which is just a phantom. And consciousness is life. Bob has the beautiful one-liner, give credit where credit is due. Just give credit to the consciousness. You are moved to do something, save the world, write the book. That's the consciousness that gives you the inspiration or idea, the one essence, not the imagined self that doesn't have any power.

And then you, yeah, if you are moved to do something ugly, that's also the pattern that consciousness has formed. Just like Bob was saying, I love that analogy. The sun, which is the radiance, which is the clarity, which is the life essence, it evaporates water and creates clouds. So that very same life essence creates the bad habits, the addictions, the self-hatred, the ego. All those clouds are also the way that one life manifests. Everything is that one. It's nothing that is not it. And the capacity to recognize it is also that one. Yes. I think Jesus had a quote also in the Bible that recognize the Lord in all thy ways.

Turn the stone and that's it. Everywhere, like really, if it's only once, nothing, that's not it. And even thinking, because we had someone commenting here, I think it was, yeah, it was also Tania, that thought, the truth, thought is part of the functioning, but it's often untrue. And Julia was saying that this truth comes and goes. The personal ego moves. The mind takes over. Able to observe, but how does one settle into the seeing? Would you like to answer that, darling? Truth comes and goes. Can truth come and go? How to settle? When the ego takes over, that seemingly, it feels like the ego had the experience and the ego lost the experience.

But the ego didn't have the experience. Experience is there when the ego stops for a moment. Ego is a fiction. That's right. That whole saying is, Ego is when I go. Anyway, would you like to answer how to settle into the seeing? Well, try and stop seeing. Seeing is happening. Cognizing, another word for seeing. Cognizing is emptiness, it's seeing. It's emptiness that's forming. Form is nothing but the emptiness. We have a couple of interesting questions from Rose. What propels the field of action or field of whimsy to reveal itself? In other words, beyond personal choice or direction. The same thing that's running everything. Life, if you call it life.

Without life, what can anything do or be? Again, give credit where credit is due. It's always the same one, forming, shaping, patterning, patterning as different whims or motivation or inspiration or thoughts or actions or feelings or objects, forms, clouds, oceans, airs, all of it. Infinite field of potentiality. And then we have the brain that interprets things as colors and shapes and forms. We have Amarnath. Thought is always around body or limited ego. Without thinker, thought, thoughts, can be there. Like burnt rope. All thoughts related to five elements or senses. Good insight, isn't it? Can anyone think about anything else than the body, mind and the world?

Thoughts always apply to objects, sensory objects. Yeah, they're always about something or the other. Go on, Julia. So I was thinking about just kind of on two of your pointers. One of them being thought, feeling and emotion being one and the same. And the other being the false cannot stand up to investigation. Okay. So a feeling is false because a thought is false. They're both existing. Like, well, they're coming and going. They don't stay. I guess the truth doesn't change. Right? So I saw. I saw. I thought any word that we have, even anger, is a judgment. A label is a judgment. And I once, I guess recently, I saw that anger that was arising.

And again, there's a judgment happening. This shouldn't be. This should not be. That word should is like a good, I think, probably the dirtiest word in the English language. We have like lots of others. But we're all saying, shit, it's a bad word. But that word should is, to me, a really good pointer to remind myself that I'm thinking something or someone should show up in some other way. And I'm in my thoughts. And when I investigate that, I could, I don't know, it just kind of brings attention to me. It brings attention to the fact that I'm in my thoughts when I notice this shooting.

It's a good way to suffer. It is. It is. And including the shooting of the, or the labeling of anger or whatever. But I don't know. I just felt like kind of bringing that up that I think when I wondered. Like, for example, with the. I guess I noticed that when I was judging something or a situation or something like that, there was this shooting happening. And when I noticed the shooting, there was also a noticing of, yeah, just really a belief that something should be other than what is. And I really don't think anything can be. So I was buying into an idea that.

And I think it's false when I look at it that anything could come out any differently. I mean, the fact that we're sitting next to each other in the same room with all the things that had to line up that we couldn't have planned for this to be. It's just not possible that anything could be other than what is. And maybe I'm going in my head too much. But that's, I'm not doing that either. So. No, of course that's true. No, of course that's obvious. Yes. Things are as they are. If you want to argue with reality or if you want to believe that you know better than the nature of God, then good luck with that.

It hurts. Any other questions? Oh, cool. I'll just put the mic on this one. I'll give you this one. But they know that. Oh, yes. Cool. Sorry. So I was just wondering about abiding in presence. Like, I find that, like, it's, I can't abide in presence throughout the day when I'm going, talking to people or stuff like this. Like, is it realistic to be abiding in presence? Like, during, like, even conversation, as soon as I start talking to someone, I'm lost in a sort of conversation in my head. And so how do you, like, what's the? What would you say is the best way to go about that?

Were you, while you were just asking that question, were you unaware at any part of it? So you must have been aware. And you say, we've not recognised the focus, the chatter that's going on in the head, but realised that life isn't sublime at all. You couldn't have opened your mouth without that life. He wasn't aware of being aware. Awareness was there. Ah. Ah. Ah. But who is the I? Yes, that's it. Who wants to be aware? Yeah. . . . Awareness was there. . . . Awareness was there, but wasn't you. Yeah. But personal you. It kind of feels there is this notion in spirituality, which is a beautiful, helpful practice, and if people are moved to do it, wonderful, is the mindfulness.

And that's the practice which says that your mind should be aware. Your mind should be where your hands are, or your mind should be with every activity. So now, if you are aware of the presence, your mind should be aware of the presence. And we expect that the mind will always be aware or awake, or the mind will always be, it has something to do with the expectations of the ego, the mind, or the I, to be aware of what's going on. But the awareness is there before the mind comes to be aware. And after the mind disappears in the thinking, the awareness is prerequisite of anything to even happen.

And you are that awareness. You are that space in which mind is with your hands, you're mindful, or you're not mindful. Where the mind is dreaming away, or the mind is focused on five senses, or the mind is, or there is a certain amount of attention acknowledging this. . And you are the emptiness, or the presence, or the aliveness of being. Regardless of that activity, of that distribution of attention, you are that life essence, that open space, open field of consciousness. It's just that when the whole attention is spent in the thinking, then of course that kind of gets obscured. All that thoughts, clouds, the sky.

And I know you're asking about how to have that sky clear and unobtrusive. But then again, it is the one who wants to have clear and unobtrusive is the fictitious entity, is the mind. It can't happen. The mind can only feed on, oh yeah, the mind, the thoughts are where the actions are. Mindfulness, that's as good as it gets for the mind. That's not self-realization, or no self-realization. . . And the fact that there is no singular entity inside that keeps the attention focused anywhere is the truth, regardless of realization or not. But that fictitious entity cannot realize that, because that fictitious entity doesn't have the capacity.

The thought doesn't think. It is just a vibration. And the I is just a thought that can't think. . . So the thought that has to realize something, or stay in something, or be in the state, is just a thought. It's present or absent. It doesn't see. It doesn't have eyes, ears, nothing. So unfortunately, that realization of that open field of emptiness is available all the time. It's never really obscured. But it's totally inaccessible for the thought because the thought is noise. How can noise know silence? no silence what is beyond the noise and silence is obviously appearing in that open field silence absolutely noise arises from silence so even the ego even the thinking even the obscuration even the desire for clarity is all just the passing clouding consciousness if you see it this way oh i want to be clear all the time oh i don't want to oh i get it oh i don't get it all of this is just passing phenomena all of this is just what shows up and goes away content of space but space is never touched by any of it and you are that space so you just watch all of it as a movie without attaching to any of it even if it has intense sense of eye the identification this is me this important this serious even that is just a passing moment with that intensity what's it like to have the thoughts what's it like to have thoughts appear upon you rather than be be the one constructing the thoughts like in it yeah you think you're constructing the thought and you would like to know how it is not to construct them tell tell us how you construct them yes it only appears as if you're constructing them so so what's really happened they show up um yes so they but they appear to be constructed and so yeah whether or not they're showing up in reality doesn't matter because i i moment i feel like i'm constructing it so but you aware of that feeling that you're constructing them not always sometimes right now um sure yeah yes it's only about right now it doesn't matter what you're going to be aware of tomorrow right now it feels like you are constructing thinking and you are aware that it feels like it it feels convincing doesn't it it's brilliantly convincing and you are aware of that and that is the awareness yeah you know what helps me help me i think a little bit also was just the pointer that i'm seeing right seeing is happening and in order for this scene to occur okay what needs to happen is there's there's a there's a adjustment adjusting of the rods and the cones in the eyes i'm not sorry i'm not doing that okay now there's no one doing that it's just happening okay it's happening okay i see they're seeing happening but there's no personal doing of that now in order for a thought to occur there needs to be a synaptic event so these little tiny synapses in your brain that transmit neurotransmitters and all that stuff and they move things around the little tiny microscopic synapses are moving electrical impulses they're moving how did you do that how do you make that happen if you think you're making the thoughts happen and that's what has to happen in order for a thought to occur so if you're saying just just just to help you out like i don't know next time you think you're making the thoughts happen i'm not james yeah you're like you're somehow like knowing how to make the that's amazing tell me i want to know how to do that like or make it not happen and then you're like oh my god i'm not james i'm not james i'm not james happened can you make a thought not happen like can you just not not one for the next five hours not one it's going to happen whether you want it to or not so maybe you never made it happen in the first place yeah that's if you look at the thoughts i think it's it's not as if you ever choose that thought you know it's not there's someone i'm going to choose to think this now that's just appears spontaneously there's no one there's no process where okay i'm now going to choose to think this and Another point is, I think Bob says, why would you ever have bad thoughts if you were the chooser of them or the constructor of them?

Yeah, that's a good point. And I like the other point of Bob. You're saying they literally can't be a thinker without thoughts. So it implies that for there to be a thinker, there has to be thoughts, and thoughts aren't real. So the thinker isn't in there. You know what I mean? Like the thinker is beyond that. Not that there's a thinker, but I don't know if that makes sense. Thinking is occurring, and there might be a sense of I'm thinking this, and the languaging might still be happening as if I'm thinking that we should go and do blah, blah, blah. And the shift of awareness that knows the truth that that's actually, although that's the language, there's not an I, it's still there.

Speaking to somebody, seeing somebody, or you're listening to somebody, you haven't stopped seeing the rest of the people in the room, have you? When we isolate... I love that. Beautiful. Very 2020 of you, Bob. It becomes a problem, as they say, in the utterly awake, with the five senses wide open. We're seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, thinking. All those five senses are there. And they're open right now. But we're focusing on the one and seemingly shut ourselves off from the other. So we're not fully living. We're living from that conceptual image. And the seeing, the hearing, the tasting, touching, the smelling, all the other things that are going on, though they're there, they're not being noticed.

So we're focused into the one, again, isolated into the one concept or idea that's happening to me, sort of thing. So it says, be utterly awake with the five senses wide open and be utterly open with unfixated awareness. We are not fixated on the one sensation to the exclusion of the others, but you're open to each one, because even as you're seeing right now, you're still hearing. You're still breathing. Your heart's still beating. And you're not fully aware of them. But be open so that whatever comes up next, you can flit into it, instead of staying with the one to the exclusion of everything else.

And then we're not living. We're living behind the eight ball. But if you're awake to all those things, so that you can flit from one to the other without, you know, you're not going to be able to do anything. You're not going to be able to do anything. Without isolating, you're much more with life. When the clouds disappear in the sky, there's more clarity. When you're not fixating on the one thought to the exclusion of others, there's going to be more peace and joy, warmth. I have the comment which summarizes the same thing. It is from Tanya, and it's beautifully said. So the truth is there is only experiencing.

Yes. And seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, hearing, thinking, but no experiencer or me. There is just this presence awareness appearing as everything. Anything thought says is not true and is on the behalf of imaginary me as experiencing doesn't comment. Separation, division is only in thought, but not in actuality, right? Hope you don't mind all the questions. Thank you. That's from Tanya. Brilliant, Tanya. Beautiful. Thank you. And here Aldo is asking, what does the pointer, it shall not come nigh thy dwelling place, means? Well, it means that it won't touch you. Yeah. It can go on all around you, but it won't come nigh it, near you.

That's right. And then, yeah, nothing, yeah, you're free from, yeah, you're free from the idea that it's not going to come near you. Yeah. But what you are, the space, the empty space, is never touched by anything. The body can be destroyed. The mind can be traumatized. But what you really are, the life, the energy, can never be destroyed. It can change form, but it can't be destroyed. It can't, nothing touches it. The ways of expressions, the means of expressions, the aging of the body, getting blind or whatever, that can change. The way it comes out filtered through that, through that filtering mechanism. Yes, it will change, but the essence, the energy by itself doesn't.

Just like the electricity coming through a toaster as the heat, and through the computer or television as the images. But the energy is, it doesn't, yeah, it doesn't change. Now, Tanya also says, I'm mindful of the time, and we going for lunch, whoever wants to join. Tanya says, there is no thinker, but thoughts still appear. But yes, thoughts seem to be about the body and imaginary character. And now Chris is just enjoying, okay, and Caroline, God, Ram, Nazar, Haman, God. Yes, and it is surprising how the identification and attachments are so heavy energy, done by them. Isn't it amazing? How convincing, what a brilliant, brilliant appearance.

What a magnificent illusion. How the mind gets full. Someone, yes, yes, you're right, God. Yeah, it does really. No choice to escape suffering. Rox says, isolate. That's a cracker bulb. Which can't be isolated, Amarnath says. And Richard, if I have a problem, thoughts will tend to concentrate, isolate and focus around this. And Taz, isolate. Brilliant. Bob cracking jokes like this and people laughing. Yes, he is so sharp and so quick. And we are at the end of the comments. And if anyone wants to join us, we could continue in the cafe nearby. If people have cars who don't have cars, we can arrange who goes with who.

And you're still happy to go? You were happy to go? Okay. Wonderful. Yeah, so thank you. Thank you, everyone. Yes. If any questions were unanswered, we can continue. Thanks, everybody. Thank you. Each and every one of you know all about it anyway. Yes. That's good. Yes, everyone was a baby once without the narrative self constructed. So we all, this is the true nature. Off we go. So, yes.