Sailor Bob and nonduality group: self-constructed identity. 4 Sept 2022

Yodish, Pharoah and John, Lottie, Liam, Christine, Kristen, Christine Town, Joseph, Josh, Andy, Dean and Mark. Well most of you know what it's all about, what we talk about. Not anything new, come from the ancient traditions of the different traditions that go on in the world, mainly Advaita, the Hindu tradition. We try to point out some of what they say. I can't teach you anything and I can't tell you anything. All I can do is point toward and ask you to look to where I'm pointing to, to see for yourself. Because that's the important thing, that you see and understand for yourself. Recognise your true nature.

Another way of putting it, not talking to anybody. I'm not talking to any mind. I'm not talking to body, mind, identity that you believe yourself to be. I'm talking to that I am, that I am. That I am is the sense of presence, which translates to the mind and expressing as the thought, I am. If somebody asks you who you are, you'll say, I am so and so. But that's the wrong take on it, because the so and so is something you picked up when you learnt words. And you weren't born with any words. You didn't learn words until you were about two, two and a half, something like that.

But when you learnt words, your parents told you you were Jean or Bill or Bob or whatever your name might be. So you say, I am Bill or Jean. And that's where we make the mistake, because we got the idea then that we are this conceptual image, this separate entity, this individual, this person. But the sense of presence is the one essence that's patterning, shaping, forming, experiencing, expressing as everything. Some people call it God, and you can call it God if you like. I don't use that term. I don't use that term here, because all the different traditions have different concepts and ideas about what God is.

And in the Bible it tells you in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. That's all that God is, is the Word. All things were made by him, by the Word. And there's nothing made that was made without the Word. And isn't that so? All these things, including you, me, we're all things. The trees are things, the flowers are things, the spaces are things, the mountains, the hills, all things. All which we put words or labels on and discriminating and differentiating with the Word. And when they say there's only one God or one reality, that is all there is.

There is the One. One essence, patented, shaping, forming, experiencing, expressing, has everything. And you and I and everything else is that. And that's the great mantra they tell us. I am that. Innately you know that. Because you say that's the chair I'm sitting in, that's the carpet, that's the tree, that's the flower. Everything is that, which we put different labels on to differentiate. Everything is that. Everything is that. And you've got to differentiate it with the Word. And you've got to understand and recognise that the Word is not the thing. Take the word water. Can you drink that word? Soon realise that if you're trying to drink the Word you're not getting any of the actual liquid that is water.

The word fire. Can you cook with it? Can you heat yourself with it? Can't. Can you burn yourself? All these different words, not the actuality. It's not the real. It is not the thing. But we're using words, the words coming out of this mouth here now, are not what they actually are. But when you look at it, what is a word? Nothing but sound, noise. What's a sound? A vibration. What's a vibration? A movement of energy. Vibrating is sound. When you make a sound you put a clicker note on the piano. Makes a sound. We call it some musical note. Or pluck a guitar string.

It'll resonate and vibrate. Make a sound. A musical note. But it's just vibration. So you see all these words are vibration. Movements of energy. And that's what we call mind. And you say my mind. Can you show me a thing called mind? When you investigate and look at it, you can't show me anything at all you can call mind. Because all mind is is concepts. Words, ideas, images. What about the body? We believe we are this body mind, this person. Are you the body? Innately you know you're not the body because you say my body. Just the same as you say my coat. My car.

My house. You know you're not the house. You know you're not the car. Or you're not the coat. Maybe you're not the body either if you look into it. And when you investigate and look into it, you'll see you're not the body. What's this body made up of? It's made up of elements. Air, earth, fire, water, space. Just like the elements around you. Well separate elements. Well separate yourself from those elements if you can. Stop breathing. See how long you'd last without the air. Heart stop beating. Without the heart beating, you're not going to last too long. Take the fire, the body temperature. Without that body temperature you soon get hypothermia and die.

Take the water out of your body. Your body is 60% water. Get off the earth. Get out of space. When you investigate this body made up of elements, you'll see that all those elements can be broken down into subatomic particles. Into pure energy. So all this body is another vibrating pattern of energy. Like the mind. Like all this manifestation is a vibrating pattern of energy. They call it in the Vedas, Sat Chit Ananda. Nama, Rupa. They are the five factors. And Sat is existence. Chit is consciousness. Ananda is loving to be. Nama, Rupa. Nama is the name. Rupa is the body. Body, mind. And they say Nama, Rupa, the body, mind is Maya.

It's illusion. So this body, mind is only an illusion. It's a seeming pattern that apparently seems to be real, solid and substantial. But it's not. But take the Sat Chit Ananda, the existence. Are you existing right now? And you'll say yes, you are existing. Are you conscious? You'll say yes, I am conscious. You're not unaware. You are conscious, aware. And are you happy to be? You don't want to be dead right now, so you are happy to be. So you are already that existence, consciousness and loving to be. You're already that. What are you seeking for? Most people go on a search, trying to become realised or enlightened.

But if it's non-duality, as they say, which means one without a second, not two, means that everything, including you, me and everything is that. And that is absolute. It's the totality, absolute. What can you add to the absolute? Nothing. It wouldn't be absolute. What can you take away from it? Nothing. It wouldn't be absolute. Or another term for it, which they use in Buddhism, is perfection. They call it the great perfection. What can you add to the perfect? Nothing. It wouldn't be perfect if you could add anything to it. What can you take away from it? Nothing. If you could take away anything from it, it wouldn't be perfect.

And they give it in one sentence in there. They say the great perfection is non-conceptual awareness. Now there was nobody in this room who was not unaware right now. Isn't that the fact? So you must be aware. There's all sorts of concepts going on about it, thoughts, ideas and images. And images about what this awareness is. But it's non-conceptual. Without any word, just rest and relax into that awareness. Leave it as it is. Without putting any concepts, words or labels on it. Detach from any words, concepts, ideas or label. And we're seemingly attaching to them, fixating on them, grasping them. Let it be. And see what goes on then.

See how this functioning goes on when left as it is. What's your next thought going to be? You can't tell me because you don't know what your next thought is going to be. But a thought will come up. And you'll claim it as, I think. And as soon as you say, I think, you've formed a subject. A thinker. And that thinker is this conceptual image you have about yourself. Me. So you think, my think. I am thinking. And whatever the thought is, I'm thinking this thought. So now, what you've done, you've made it into duality. A subject, a thinker, and the thought. But can there be a thinker, the thought I think, without thinking?

And can there be the thought, I'm thinking this or thinking that, without thinking? There can't be a thinker without thinking. And there can't be the thought without thinking. And thinking, you don't know what your next thought is going to be. It's spontaneous. It came up of itself. That goes the same for the seeing, the hearing, the tasting, the touching, the smelling, the experiencing. The very living. Seeing is happening. And you say, I see. Now have a look at that. You're seeing through the eyes. But the eyes telling you I see, the thought I see comes up. But it's the eye is not telling you I see.

The seeing is happening through the eye. And it's being translated by the thought I see. The same with the hearing, the tasting, the touching, the thinking, the smelling. So the I-N-G, thinking, seeing, is something that's going on. Right now in this immediacy. When we divide it, that's what dualism is. Dividing things. Instead of leaving it as the one essence, now it's divided. Me and the other. You and me. This and that. High and low. Thick and thin. So it's a conceptual separation. We're separating the inseparable. And dividing the indivisible. And that's the cause of all the problems. Because when we've got the idea of me, you've got this separate entity.

Me, this person. Where does that idea or word person come from? Doesn't it come from the ancient Latin persona? The mask? So instead of saying me, Bob, the person, which is the mask, the conceptual image I've got, the thought up image, is not your true nature. Your true nature is that pure intelligence energy. The godliness of you. The realisation that I am that essence. I am that life. Which Christ told you a couple of thousand years ago when he said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. People thought he was talking about himself and saying, oh he's the way, he's the truth and the life.

He wasn't. He was talking about that sense of presence. That translates through the mind as the thought I am. He's claiming that I am. That concept is being said, translated as that thought. I am the way, I am the truth. That's the way to it. Through the recognition. And seeing that I am is not this body, it's not this mind, it's not this person. It is the life essence. I am the life. I am the truth. And the saga doesn't tell you that there's only life. Life is all there is. There is no body who lives a life. There is no person or separate entity that lives a life.

It's a life that's forming, patterning, shaping, forming, expressing as that body and through that body. He says there's no body, life, there's only life, there's nobody who lives a life. Life lives on life and that's so. And out of life, more life comes. Where did you come from? And you realise you came from the life of your parents. You came from out that life. And you live on life. Your food and your vegetables have that life in them. So there's only life. That is all there is. We've broken it up into these different pattern shapes and forms and believe we're separate and apart and suffer accordingly.

It came from your parents, that animating life essence, that intelligence energy that was vibrating, expressing as that pattern you call your father in that life through the food he's eating and the breath he's breathing, enabled in that pattern a little microscopic particle called a sperm to form. That sperm was suffused with intelligence energy. It knew what to do. The life was in it. The same in your mother. The animating life essence in your mother through the food she's eating and the breath enabled in that pattern. Another microscopic particle, a cell called an egg or an ovum to form. That ovum was suffused with intelligence. It knew what to do.

It attached itself to the wall of the uterus. And the sperm knowing what to do, swam to the ovum, implying it was suffused with the life. It has the capacity of swimming. And it swam to the ovum. And it joined up with the ovum. They merged together. And then that intelligence energy in those two coming together, that cell doubled and redoubled for the little embryo, the little fetus, which became the little child and what you are today, that body-mind which has grown into that human pattern, human form, what we call the human pattern, shape and form. So you came out of life. The same as the food you're eating is coming out of life.

And all the rest of it. All coming out of that life essence. And that life, as you know, is the sperm and the ovum that's suffused with intelligence, energy, the activity of knowing. So is that body. It's suffused with that innate intelligence. And we learn words. How many words were you born with? You realize you weren't born with any words. That's why you can't remember your birth. People say, I remember my birth. But you can't. How could you? How could you remember your birth if you didn't have any words? You couldn't even remember your birth. You couldn't even say it without any words. And you didn't learn words until you were about two, two and a half.

When the capacity of reasoning developed. And that capacity of reasoning hadn't developed. And with that capacity of reasoning comes about and we learn words. And then the division comes about. And in that division, and you believe you are this person, there comes insecurity and vulnerability. Because you've separated yourself from the totality. You're isolated and insecure and vulnerable. And we keep learning words. And you go to school and you learn more words. And you start believing in the words. And you add these words. I am Bob, the Australian, the good fella. I'm unhappy, I'm fearful. I'm having a bad trot. I don't like this, I don't like that.

All these concepts come up in words. And what does Shakespeare tell you? What does Shakespeare tell you three or four hundred years ago? He told you there's nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. And that's what we do. We think. And we think in the opposites. Good, bad, pleasant, painful, happy, sad, loving, hating, positive, negative. Watch your mind and see how it functions. And you'll see it's always functioning in the interrelated opposites. And I'm going to tell you the same thing. And he says nothing can trouble you. Nothing at all can trouble you except your own imagination. Now have a look at that one.

Break that word imagination down to imagine. Or image in. And realise that's what we're doing all the time. We're creating mental or conceptual images. Taking them to be real. Living in the images. In the imagined. And creating our own unhappiness, depression, shame, fear, jealous, envy. All the psychological suffering comes upon from these words we've taken and believed to be real. And what the trouble is, what we do, we think they're split. We divide them up into good, bad, pleasant, painful. And try to push out one. And hang on to the other and keep the other there. Not realising that they're not separate. Like you've got a stick.

Every stick you've got will have two ends to it. Every coin you see has got two sides to it. They're not separate. So these thoughts and words are not separate. Have a look out in nature and see the way nature's functioning. And this is what we're pointing to. The natural state. This natural state that's in you, me and everybody else. Meaning as in nature. Look out there in nature, what do you see? You see the earth rolling around the sun. The seasons coming and going. The tides coming in and out. Fine, wet, sunny, clouds. All this functioning going on in nature. And it's the life essence, it's intelligence, that's rolling the earth around the sun.

Causing the tides to come in. The seasons to come in and out. The seasons to come and go. It's that same life that's breathing you. Breathing your heart. Growing your hair and your fingernails. Digesting the food you eat. It's the same life, the one life, that's doing everything. But we've seemingly divided into the many. And see how that functions. Something comes up and you like it. And naturally the things we like, we don't want them to go. We've got to keep them there. We want to be happy and contented all the time. But remember what Wei Wei Wei tells you. Why are you unhappy? Because everything you say, everything you do, everything you think, is for yourself.

And he says there isn't one. When you realise that this self we believe ourselves to be is a fiction, there isn't one. You're going to relate. Relate to all these concepts. And you're going to be unhappy. So it's all problems of relationship. Relative to. And relationship, relativity, is dualism. And that's what we're pointing to. There is absolutely no duality in non-duality. It's all the one essence. And you are that essence. That is what you are. That's all what you are. You're always... We're an all-encompassing being. We're an always will be. It's a matter of recognising or resonating or registering it. You hear these words, some of them might resonate.

You might say, that's true, that sounds real. Because you already innately know it. But it's been obscured with all the chatters going on. And when you hear it, first you knew it and then a different light and the resonation was there. It's that innate intelligence and knowing that you are. It's saying, this is the way. As it tells you in the scriptures. You shall hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way. Walk in it, whether you turn to the left or turn to the right. It knows what is necessary and if you're open to it, it'll guide you. They call it the still small voice.

It's a seeming voice but it's that natural intuition. What's that word tuition? Isn't it teaching? You're teaching when you've got a tutor. Is that what you learn? Tuition, learning something? It's a teacher. So it's the intuition, it's the inner teacher. The life itself that's teaching. Take note of it. But we don't. We ignore it. But listen to it, hear it. And cultivate it. It'll become more clear and more intense. And recognize and know the truth. And that's how scripture is saying, know the truth. And the truth will set you free. Free from what? What's there to be free of? The only thing to be free of is free from the belief that you are this person.

You are this separate entity, this individual that's going to become something. Being can never be becoming. Because being is the actuality. It's happening near and now. Becoming implies a future time. Now there are a couple of things you need to investigate. Investigate time. And when you investigate time you'll see there's no such thing as time. Ask yourself this, is there a past if I don't think about it? And when you look into that you'll see there's no past if I don't think about it. Can you live in the past? Try and live a moment ago. You realize you can't go back and live in the past.

You can recall it. And that's the only thing, if you're recalling it, it's only there while you're recalling it. If you're not recalling it and you can't recall it, it's gone forever. So all these past memories you can recall, you're bringing up something that's dead and gone. And it's only the capacity of being able to recall it that's any good to you. And the future, can you, you can imagine and anticipate what you're going to do when you leave here. But you can't live a moment in the future. And when you're anticipating and imagining it, you're anticipating and imagining it now. And when you're recalling the past, you're recalling it right now.

So when you look at this closely you'll see it's always this spontaneous, fresh and new moment, this livingness, this beingness, right now. Have a look at that. You call yourself a human being. You've got this concept, I am a human being. You believe in God, you'll call God the Supreme Being. So then there's this Supreme Being, I've got to become like this Supreme Being, I've got to come and realise it. But take that word Supreme off, take the word human off, try and separate the beingness that you're sitting with right now. Try and negate it. Tell me you're not being if you can. And you know if you say I'm not being you'll be telling me a lie.

Because how could you say it if you weren't being, if that life essence of being wasn't there to enable you to say it. You're saying it, it's in the words, it's selling you, you're not the words. You are the absolute, the life essence itself. Take the life out of that body, what have you got? A corpse. That's two corpses before a human being. Before it rots and breaks down, still got the eyes, the ears, the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, the organs, the brain, all there. But what good are they to it without the life? They're not a bit of good at all without life.

Just like your computer is a good analogy, it's an analogy but it's a good one. You've got some amazing and wonderful information in the computer. Run the mouse over it or punch the keys and you can get that information out of it. It's written up on the screen. But if the power's not on, what are you going to get out of it? Nothing. So if the life is not in this body, what thoughts, feelings or emotion are you going to get out of it without the life? None. So what would that tell you? Are you the body? Are you the mind? No, that's like the instrument, the computer.

It's been made, it's been formed for all this knowledge to express through. And that's what it is. It's the life itself that's using this pattern through thinking, feeling, tasting, touching, smelling, to live. It's doing the livingness and expressing through this pattern. But you're not the body, you're not the mind, you are the very life itself. Something comes up and you like it. How do you know? Well, I've experienced this before and it's good. We don't want the good things to go, not realising that all these things are going to change, that this body is transient, it's changing right now, and the concepts, ideas and images are constantly changing.

There's nothing static in it whatsoever. We don't want the good things to go, not realising no matter how much you love them, how much you want to keep them to go, keep them there, they're going to change. We don't know how to go, so what do we do? We try to keep it there. We try to stop it from going. We resist it. And resistance, what is resistance? Resistance is conflict. If you're in resistance to something, you're fighting with it. You're trying to keep it there. You're in conflict with it. And that conflict makes you ill at ease, it makes you unhappy, fearful, angry, depressed, shamed, jealous, envy, all these psychological problems come up because of that resistance.

All happening to this believed in me. Something comes up that I don't like. I shouldn't be thinking, this is a terrible thought, it's a bad thought, I've got to get rid of it. So what do I do? I try to force it out. Again, resistant. Again, it brings about the fear, the anxiety, the stress, the guilt. And our lives simply, all the time, in this conflict going on, very little comes through where we have moments of the peace and the realisation, the recognition of what we are. Because of this conflict and disease going on, resistance is conflict and conflict makes you uneasy. And another word for uneasiness is disease.

That's how it's going. That's what life is all about for us. Resistance, conflict and disease. Always in this conflict. Me is the cause, the belief in the me, is the cause of all this psychological suffering. For it's only me that can be fearful. It's only me that can be unhappy. It's happening to me. Yes, I'm unhappy, I'm fearful, I'm anxious. Me is the cause. And the effects are the anxiety, the fear, all this psychological suffering are the effects of the cause. Me. What is cause and effect? Isn't it what they call karma? Cause and effect? And we've got all this so-called karma we believe in.

But what happens if I ask myself the simple question? If I'm not relating to a cause, if I see the cause as a fiction, see that there is no cause, can there be an effect without a cause? Well, you don't have to be a Rhodes scholar to work that out. If you're not relating to a cause, there can't be an effect. Recognising that, knowing that, wouldn't it be, well, if I want the way out, I'm going to see through this believed in cause, me. I'm going to really have a look and see if there is such a thing as a me there with any power, with any life, or with any independent nature.

And it doesn't take much looking to see through that already you've had the taste of it and you've had the taste of it all through your life. You've had points when everything's fallen into place and you saw it through it. But we've gone back into the conditioned belief of what our parents taught us, what our schools taught us and what we take to be real ourself. The belief that I am this person. Continue to do it if you want. But break the habit. Break the habit of believing it. Question. Have a look. Test it out. And in that testing out, you'll recognise that this believed in me is a fiction.

It doesn't exist. What I am, that sense of presence, the I am-ness, is a sense of presence. It's not the thought I am. But it translates as the thought. That sense of presence is the really knowing, the real knowing that you are. You are present. And there is an awareness of that presence. A knowingness of it. You are that awareness of presence. The pure being. The pure knowing. And the pure loving to be. That's what we point to. That's what you need to look at. If you've got any questions or any doubts, some of you here have had taste of it, some of you recognise it, got a good glimpse of it, and might be able to put it into different words than what I'm putting it.

It might be easier for you to grasp. But if you've got any questions, you've got any doubts, don't hesitate to ask them. Because there's no use. And if you don't like it and don't know it, well, you don't have to come back, do you? It's up to you where to go. So get into it. I'll tell you a little bit more. We have a couple of comments from people. We have nearly 30 people who have watched online. So here is, apart from welcoming messages for everyone, here is a question from Tanya. So it doesn't matter if thoughts come up complaining about what seems to be happening.

And she says, there has been a believing that there's thoughts still appearing and tension, contraction appearing, meaning that there's still belief in a me and then seeking for more ideas. Looking for the idea that is going to satisfy and stop the search. Now she's laughing out loud. There is a desire to be finished with seeking and finally be clear about what is. There is a question here, but I'm not sure what it is and I'm not sure what needs to be looked at and what is being looked at for besides peace. Can you say something about this? Well, as you said in the first place, it doesn't matter.

Matter is something that's solidified. Spirit and matter, they divide, but they're not divided. Spirit is essence. The natural life essence and the pure beingness. But when it solidifies, becomes solid, becomes material. Just like you've got liquid, water will become ice, become matter, something solid. When thoughts matter, they become a problem. But detach from them. We're not really attached to them, but we think we are. Just detach. Let it be. Don't fixate on it. Don't make it matter by fixating on it. Leave it as it is and it will move on by itself. Yes, beautiful. And that's actually what Tanya highlighted. That because the thoughts are appearing and because they cause some sort of response in the body, some tension in the body, she was wondering whether there is another thought that can stop those thoughts.

She said the idea that would satisfy the search and stop it. And here she says LOL. She's laughing. Like how can the thought pacify the thoughts? It's just... Realize we're not really attached to anything. Life is moving on. People come, people go, jobs arise and change. Everything is constantly changing and changing. Yeah. We fixate on trying to keep it there, we get into a lot of trouble. And also sometimes it's not the way that the thought comes and spears the body and we get the response in the body. Sometimes the energetic reaction movement is there in the body and the thought comes and justifies it.

For example, there was a raw energy of anger, let's say, at some point in this body. And now the thought, the narrative comes, oh, because of that, this is him, this, he made me angry. But the truth is the energy here moving, there may be anything, there may be a weather, a hormone, diet, whatever. And as we know from famous Liebert experiment, the mind comes and claims it half a second roughly later. The impulse comes first. If you look at the little babies, they don't really have thoughts yet. And the impulses to cry or impulse to laugh, that will still be appearing in the body.

When you look at the animals, they don't conceptualize thinking. But the natural energetic impulses come still there. So if there is, any sort of a contraction or any sort of a response, it might be to a thought that was inspired by the environment. Or it might be to just a raw energy, which is translated to a thought. Either way, if you look again at the natural world, there is a contraction and expansion, as Bob was saying, of the heart, of the lungs, of the seasons going, everything goes in cycles. So there is no state in which you're going to be in a state of contraction.

There is no state in which you're going to be in a state of un-interrupted, steady bliss or pleasure. Because if there was such state, you wouldn't be able to even appreciate it or notice it. Because anything that can be noticed, appreciated or depreciated, has to appear on the background of something else, of its opposite, or neutrality. So that neutral, natural state doesn't have element of pleasure-pain in it. Pleasure-pain or contraction-expansion, comes and goes on it or in it, in that space of knowing, awareness or consciousness. That's where the whole world plays, this is the stage. Look at this. I'm not attached to it. If I'm attached to it and try and stop it, it will get worse.

Leave it as it is and it will rest. Oh, for online, yes. My son, my other son, has a... Just hang on a minute, I can't hear you. Sorry, Bob. Sorry. Yes, my other son has a technique that's to do with the brain functions. And there's a part of our brain, and Liam probably will remember better than I do, there's a part of our brain that generates, that generates feelings. And they come continuously. And they come much faster than thoughts. Because thoughts, you will know this, thoughts come from the, you know, the higher functions of the brain, they require more neurons to trigger and all the rest of it.

So they're slower. But we often, we feel, for instance, sad. And we think that we are sad. But in fact, it's just the brain telling us that. And so if I remember my son did something with me when we were in Japan. He said, Mum, what do you feel? I said, I feel sad. He said, and now what do you feel? I said, I feel sad. Then he said, you need to accept that. You need to say, I accept that I feel sad. Now what do you feel? I feel sad. I accept that I feel sad. The third time that he asked me, I said, I feel sad.

And then I started laughing. Because the thinking part of your brain switches off that feeling part. It switches it. So... Yes. Because the feeling is not real. It's just something that your brain is telling you. So it's very, I found anyway, very effective as a way of defusing mental issues and other issues. But you have to be really careful. You have to keep it very simple. The basic four or five feelings only. And once you start, if you say, I feel sad, I feel sad because such and such and such and such. Once you start building a story around it, that entrenches it. Because you're using that mental part of your brain.

And you're entrenching the feeling. Okay. That's good. Thank you. Yes. There's this thought, feeling, emotion. Three aspects of the same thing. Just like in nature, steam, water and ice. First there'll be a thought. And then the sensation will come up. It'll name a fear or anger or whatever. We've got the habit pattern of labeling that particular sensation. And then it gets into the emotion. It stirs up the blood pressure and the big anger and all the rest of it. Just see if the present sensation, leave it as it is. Sometimes the feeling comes first. It gets translated to a thought. And the thought reinforces the emotion.

That's right. The feeling is quicker. That's the way the brain sets up. Although thoughts sometimes, come from outside. And they turn more thoughts. Yes. But remember that anyway. Nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. So you're on the right track when you're looking into your thoughts. Yes. Beautiful. And there is a couple of other comments we have from people online. Oh, so glad to hear Bob reminds us of the truth. That's someone called Music Central Recording Studio. Vivek says good morning. Claudia asking, how do we surrender? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Claudia asking, how do we surrender? And Byron answering, by resisting more. Which is not a bad answer really if you think about it, because there is no we to surrender. Surrendering is kind of like an act of grace that is happening sometimes through overload of the resistance. If you resist so much, you clench your fist so hard that you can't resist anymore. you do any harder it just opens up you can't do any more there's no more things so it's uh it sounds paradoxical but it it's as as good answer as any because how do we resist the first question is who is the we what is the we how do we start resisting or the eye start resisting when you realize that you didn't start it how can you stop it if the resistance is some that just came something came over like tanya was saying that the feeling or the the thought of the seeking came over you and you didn't start it how can you stop it you just really go backwards behind that resistance what's behind that seeking and see if there is any entity that does it if there is an entity to be questioned well find out if there is no one there then why bother it's just a feeling like you were saying the sadness came over the wave of sadness came and gone if there is no resistance to the sadness and there is no trying to fix it out and push it down as you say accepting it accepting is kind of a neutral state in which you do nothing about it you don't you know you don't love it you don't hate it all right it's all right and you need to accept it out loud sorry i'm very sorry thank you we have we have another question this is this is from amana answering to tanya leaving at zero complain thoughts levels there is no next we are already that nothing to be done or thought or become see the desire mechanism of desire we are separating ourselves from the truth continuously which is impossible truth is not effort it comes by this passionate understanding and clear vision clarity and cloudiness of the i am we are prior to the i am attachment mind is an illusion illusion can not clear illusion source can clear it as its absence that's the fun and ram says reality is that which never changes recognize the unchanging essence inherent in all changing phenomena thoughts feelings emotion nothing is static yeah and tanya says thank you bob and kat listening to you bob what i get from what you said is there is no need to take the thoughts or energy contraction seriously nothing to do about it leave it as it is and it's okay to do it will pass not affecting the being you are brilliant yeah beautifully said that's what Bob was saying it doesn't matter and I'm a nurse says surrendering is the finding phantomness of surrender nothing is mine or imagined I to surrender self-inquiry and surrender on two sides of the same coin I and Julia a British Julia says I have nothing to say and a big laugh and she's a book Bob and cut look great and the heart and for the comments for now so anyone so nothing if you realize there's nothing to surrender you're not attached to it firstly thanks thanks Bob as always it was thank you thank you for today was great I do have one question when you say the like the self is not real like you know you look at it and you see it's a phantom and I experience this when I'm when I'm in turmoil I look and I can see there's nothing there but at the same time it when I look back in time it feels like something is going on and it's a phantom and it's a phantom and it's a phantom and it's not it seems like something has gotten smaller like something has reduced to the point where you know maybe five years ago I'd get completely sucked up in the self and unable to separate and now it seems that still happens but less so and it's just kind of probably just overthinking it but it's like what's getting smaller if the if it doesn't exist then what's reducing oh the belief in it is not as strong and coming up and you know not still recognizing something there you know see it keep seeing it and you should be happy about that it's reducing and every time you recognize that it's going away and get less you know so it's the belief or the attachment to to nothing you know the more invested you are the more fanatical you are about it when you are less invested then of course less attention goes there and this selfie is a program it's a software it is that it is generated by the part of the brain called default mode network which basically just maintain the character so make you behave according to your past programming and creates that avatar in there in the whole system that has the illusion of having control and making choices that software when it is believed and it becomes present real experience when it is disbelieved it still works it still runs that is still a behavior of of a character that is kind of within the personality pattern but it when it isn't believed it doesn't really matter so the I the me the me character it may be arising like that but it's not really a belief it's not a character it may be arising like that but it's not really a belief it's not a character it may be arising like that but it's not really a belief it's not a I heard of some people saying oh the me has arisen I don't really know what to I heard of some people saying oh the me has arisen I don't really know what to make of it but some people have the very intense and strong feeling the me is make of it but some people have the very intense and strong feeling the me is still there and it arises and falls away what is that me probably a part of the still there and it arises and falls away what is that me probably a part of the software or some sort of an imagined character costume if the me doesn't software or some sort of an imagined character costume if the me doesn't arise because the concept has gone there's still behavior within the arise because the concept has gone there's still behavior within the arise because the concept has gone there's still behavior within the character either isn't character either isn't believed it will still behave it will still have the same preferences for the food and music and stuff like this but if it's not believed it's the pure function yeah thank you i was just gonna say i love the analogy of the backpack um you know you know we we start off with this big me which is like you know a big rock in our backpack and um you know as time goes on if we're walking up a hill those references to the big rock or the big me become less fulfilling so we're more attracted to that presence less attracted to referring to the pattern the pattern of me and so you could see see yourself walking up the hill with with a backpack and all of a sudden it's lighter and it gets lighter and lighter and lighter you know but it's still there you can see the action figure or the me doing its thing and you can see how perhaps using the memory in the past which doesn't really exist but utilizing the memory you can see how in the past there was a big hoo-ha going on and now there isn't so to me that's a big thing you see okay there's the pattern but it's like there it is whereas in the past you would be you know in bondage to it you would be you know walking up the hill with this big rock you know and it would take maybe a week to get over something you know and now it's like just chuck those rocks out of the backpack you know and you're traveling lighter hmm i've got it everything here is in defense of the labels but the uh the sense of self is a self-perpetuating self-referencing device which seems to exist but it only exists in the operation of it in the reference to it it's like um your notion that the question you posed is that this thing must have value or must be real in some way if it's still there is that correct you notice that reducing there seems to be some reality yeah that's right that's right or something else but it's only it's only seems to be there still because you reference it in a certain way you go back and you think about it everything we think about is made manifest as something which seems to be real and then we're often running trying to defend it because it's inherently part of our identity isn't it as a separate separate self-constructed identity this takes place at all um the mind if you like is in his mind as a separate self-constructed identity this takes place at all um the mind if you like is in his mind it's an integral part of our identity yes the mind if you like is in his mind completely abstract in truth just use so if that's all unreal and everything then the i think the key point is to find to realize that when you change so let's say like it is quite good for me to understand everything and then once you're back to normal life and then you have to recognize that the mind is doing it again and then actually you're already in it and then you don't realize why you're in it because you haven't noticed that oh i would let's say me i wouldn't i wouldn't notice that i'm already in it again and i think that's i think the importance to be conscious i guess what i'm thinking and what i'm doing right now with my mind or with my thoughts and why i'm feeling that way and then noticing it because if you don't notice it just goes back to the me again when you said uh or you said it took a week and now it goes quicker because you notice i guess it's quicker or it's not real because it's the name of the claim yeah and then the realization what the habit is i think it's the key uh for me not to focus on i think it's really important to recognize there's only one problem or one solution like the the mind in separation this so-called thing called the mind and separationism is hard to understand why it still exists That's what it does.

That's what the mind does for some reason. And Bob put it perfectly in his spiel. He said, all the problems are problems of relationship, me and the other. And it's just amusing to watch how the mind just keeps doing what it's always done. It keeps naming the me and then the other person, place or thing. And all of it is illusion. And the biggest illusion of all is me. And so it's like there's always going to be clouds in the sky. There's always going to be the mind doing its thing in the pairs of opposites, me and the other. Yeah. And then the response to the me and then the response to the other.

And then, you know, it's always going to do that. But it's the investigation that's the important thing. You know, you can sit here and listen to Bob every week. And if you don't investigate this illusion, this illusory me, nothing's going to change. You know, or it's not, there's no you investigating. It's a watching of it. It's a watching of the nature of the mind. It can only work in the pairs of opposites. It can only work that way. It always will. You know, but we're here now because we know we don't want to be in bondage to it anymore. You know, and so that's why we're here listening to this incredible set of pointers every Sunday, you know, to bring us to see the nature of the mind, which is not our mind.

It's just the mind. You know, the way it works in the pairs of opposites, which appears upon the presence that you are. You know, it's always going to do that. But you're not going to be in bondage to it. Because there's no you to be in bondage to it. The way the mind functions is that it creates a terrain, a terrain of emotions. High and low and important and unimportant, which therefore is totally confusing. It creates a separate universe, like a dual universe running alongside the real universe, which is completely and utterly one thing. And from which it springs, in fact. The phenomenal world of manifestation springs from the un-phenomenal world.

So it's all much the same thing. It is in fact the same thing. It is that and only that. But in separation the mind is dedicated to making it complicated, as complicated as possible, in fact. And there is only one problem and one solution, that is it isn't complicated, it's simple. It's so extremely simple we don't really have anything else to talk about once we're here. That there is only one thing. that and that's it we're done we're gone once you hear that everything else is just floppery it's just mental masturbation some are some are better at it than others yeah i want to ask um why why have we left our house of i am that and come all the way such a long way taking birth death birth death all this samsara and then now got lost in it and then trying to find our way back why did we take that why did we come out of the house of i am who wants to know who's asking the question also there are quite a few assumptions there did you want to address that bob would you like to answer the question why would we take thousands of lives and deaths and incarnations and reincarnations and go to samsara we could have just stayed there we could have just stayed there yeah well have you have you ever really left it are you unaware right now you are that presence awareness so it's seemingly obscured by the concepts those concepts obscuring concepts are time that there was past lives the future lives they all imagine that they only exist when you think about it the moment there is no thinking there is no yesterday there is no thousand years ago there's no past life there's no future life there's no past life there's no future life there's no past life that's what theみか blending is that from the present there is no future live this is how that life essence that oneness loses itself into the illusion by creating the dreaming itself about it the mind and the time in which it is the play it is the lila the divine game it pretends that it is something else than itself it didn't do it for any particular reason one white could say that why did we do this why did we go lost like you know the product prodigal son who left the father and squander all his wealth and then came back to the father and started appreciating there's a lot of stories that answer the question why but did it really happen did the essence really left or really got lost or incarnated reincarnated or is it just a thought in the mind that creates that whole illusion traveling through time this is not going to put you dreaming and dream you call the world he says stop looking for ways out the dreams not your concern your concern is you all have one part of the dream and not the other he says love all or none of it so when we started to dream we believed in this waking dream and think at last real when you investigate you see it that's all it ever was a dream and he appears to be so they call it a phenomenal manifestation the definition of phenomena is that which appears to be all this is appearance only and i kind of understand you know your your question you know now because you know it's exhausting isn't it i mean you know why why have we gone this great big and huge enormous to come home to the place we never left you know and so i didn't mean to simplify it by saying you know who wants to know but really who wants to know have a look at who really wants to know why we did that you know and that's just and did we really do it and did we really do it yeah that's right you know so and this is the terrain of the world so great that we cannot overcome it no you can overcome it in a moment simply by returning with your mind bang i'm that i'm not this that is seemingly so complicated that i can have to do all these steps to overcome it that's just a creation like another creation of the mind mind makes it well seemingly makes it the terrain so complicated that it just justifies staying there and not leaving not going home doesn't it this problem i've got cancer i'm dying i'm i'm cast out i'm abandoned all of this stuff all these are just complication of the creation of a terrain which makes it thereby uh sacrosanct and unable to be touched it's in an instant we can instant it's gone.

We're all talking about this mind but can anybody show me a thing called mind? Have a look. Is there such a thing as mind? There's no such thing as mind apart from thought. And if mind is thought, which particular thought are you? Which particular thought is it? Non-conceptual awareness. Awareness without any thoughts, without any thoughts. And you can't tell me what awareness is either but you can only put it negatively. Is anybody unaware right now? So you must be aware. What's seemingly happened or what might happen just in this present moment, you're not unaware and that is absolute. Bob, I was struck by something you said last week and kind of stayed with me.

You were talking about flow and non-conceptual awareness and you said it's possible. It's possible to live this way and that's actually stayed with me and it kind of gives us confidence that you don't have to stop every couple of seconds and locate yourself. You know, where am I now and what did I just think? So the sense of the real possibility of living in flow is really helpful. I had an attack of vertigo this week and part of my idea about living in the flow is kind of falling backwards through space, if you know, like that, which is a little disconcerting, I must say. But the idea that, yeah, this is, well, in the way you frame it up, it's not only possible but it's primary.

But just there's something caught and it's been working at me ever since, so appreciate it. Good. Thank you. Yeah, it's resonating. And also the important thing is, rather than locating yourself and just constantly keeping the guard, being an SS soldier, oh, where am I? What's the talk? It is the opposite. It is the relaxing into the natural sort of flow. There it is. Yeah. Mm-hm. Yeah. Yeah. Different question. When I was listening to you before talking about life, I was wondering, is there a difference between life and energy? Not really. Whatever label you put on it, there's still only the life or energy there, isn't there?

Yeah, but thank you for the question, because it often clarifies for other people. We have people who are kind of looking for a difference. What's the difference between God and awareness? Or between awareness and life essence? Or intelligence and energy? No difference. They're just different labels. I think when you look at life and when you look at energy, they both have an inherent is-ness about them, don't they? Beyond which you cannot describe. It's like everything, both life and energy are both explicable in relative terms, according to something else. What do you think of the way in which... The brain functions. The organism functions. But essentially, even though energy can be kinetic energy and heat energy and so on and so on, appearing in all these different forms, it's really just one energy.

There's only one is-ness. The essential is-ness of it all behind it is what we're talking about. The essence of everything. It's not just words. It's not relative knowledge. It's absolute knowledge. We'll get you another one like this. It does actually help, that little... with the Parkinson management. It helps, but this one may disconnect and this will be a disaster. I have a couple of comments from people who are with us online. Claudia, she was asking about the surrender. She says, maybe non-attachment is surrendering then. Yeah, not about insight. Yes. Non-attachment is a description, well, a good description of the surrendered state. And Amarna says, fun game is this we create constantly.

I to surrender or inquire its biggest last trap. And Cameron says, I love hearing your voice on this, Jane. Even when I am, it's looking at the screen, I know that voice. Please, no? Cameron. Hi Cameron. Yeah, hi Cameron. And Amarna says, I am the teacher, spiritual guru is the last and most difficult form of ego to be overcome. That's quote from Ramana Maharshi. Yeah, that's just someone's quote. And... We want to make past as present. That's the fun game of mind. Knowingly that past, future, present are illusions. Timeless acting as time. Movement, mind is motion. Me includes time, space and person. Cause, investigate the investigator.

Me, boo. But mind is never interested in me. And Tanya. Thoughts working in a pair of opposites, the mind doing what it does spontaneously, does not mean there is a me here. Thank you, Jane and Peter. And thanks Peter Amarnath says, We ourselves are talking with ourselves as universe, seeing I as I and you this does. And Ram. Bob gives a great answer to that question in the first page of his book, What's wrong with right now, if you don't think about it. Highly, highly recommended this book to everyone. As well as quite a few other books. If you go to Bob's website, www.sailorbobadamson.com, there is few books with links where that particular book as well.

You can just follow the link and get to Amazon and get it. And the other books too. And Martin says, I am that, not even that. And that's perfect because, yes, the assertion that there is something to be or become is already said too much. Even when we say it is one without the other, we add on the same breath. Not even one, because you can't like just like energy. You can't say that it is or that it isn't. When you switch off the light is the energy there or it isn't there. It is as a flow, but it is as a potential when it doesn't flow.

But potential is not the actuality. So neither is nor it isn't. So thank you, Martin. That's brilliant. I am that, not even that. And Amarna says, I wanted to hide the eye. There is no cause of God, world and multiple personalities. Pure sin only catch hold of seer if disappear. And Julia, a British Julia answers to Ram. Just ordered on Kindle. She just ordered Gilbert's book. Amarna, there are no answers to the question. Silence is the best answer to phantomness of the questioner is identified. And JB says, me is always in movement, trying to become or trying to repair and fix the past or future, but all this really is.

Being which is the loss of identification with the mind and its stories and all the other mind made drama seeing that this false identification is illusory. Even if it is a little bit, even if it is a little bit at a time is becoming is beginning of peace, thoughts still pop up and sometimes we get real back into identification. And I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. But it is easier to notice the way mind works. The deeper the investigation. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful said. Yes. It happens as is a tool as long as it is required. It is. It is utilized and watching.

And then yeah. And Adam says in a nutshell, he says that's that casts a veil of illusion over itself. That then. That removes the illusion. Yeah. Well said that cast the veil of illusion. Nothing was that's what Saroja was saying. You know, why that the darkness the pure potentiality goes into movement and creates the 10,000 things only to disengage and return home. Why would it even ever left? Well, that's a fire of consciousness. Yeah. That would be fine day and the truth is it can only know. The knowing can only be on the background of not knowing. So the pure potentiality is that neither existence nor non-existence.

The 10,000 things all seem to have several beings. So they are experiencing the being prior to I to I am being is not even experience. It is known or it is potentially there but isn't experience that's the experiencing and express an expression. That's the way it dances. It shows itself. It shines and I love what you say that 10,000 things because the 10,000 things don't all come up at once. So sorry, you know the 10,000 things, you know reveal themselves at all different parts of the journey. I think you know, so yeah, I just love that 10,000 things because all gets revealed all the time and everything's an opportunity to watch.

Yeah. And you know, and and all that does is is when you time that's all it ever does. And also I think he said that the answer that question beautifully when he says why would is there anything of value in that whole world of the illusion? And he says yes love. So that is the only way for love to be expressed and experience. If it comes into the expression experiencing. There is a. Possibility for appreciation and in the natural state as Jane was saying, you know, the 10,000 things whenever the attention rests you put it on the tree and then you see the detail of the leaves you put it on your child and you see the depth of the love and the connection you put it in the microscope and you see the whole world in the grain of sand and this is this in this way.

Can all be totally mind-blowing beauty and appreciation. That is. Standing out of that realization of that incredible diversity. And yeah, the love when once there is no bondage and no suffering is really easy to look around and this is brilliant. It's all dream. So what is still beautiful is absolutely to celebrate and enjoy. It's like the humpback whale that breaches itself in order to know its own weight. Haha. Hey, cool. That's a cool analogy. Well, that's another word. They bring in your love. And then I tell you the God is love. If God is love, love and love must be God. So say to that if you got any love there, that's the godliness in you.

Can we get? And then I'm enough answering to JB. He says beautiful knowing in that that it is neither deep. No shallow shallow. It's mind. And it's investigation. They said there is no no me and laughing. No, no me and Bill says you can't think your way to being absolutely. There is no me and what is just what is just what is and I'm an ourselves is the best book to read thoughts and waking dream deep sleep are its stages. Dharma is this. This is a good analogy. By the way, the book, you know that life. I heard it before being, you know, like you are the book.

Look at the cover, look at the inside and just get to know it. Read it. Be curious about it. Be interested about it. See what sort of values are there in the book. And if you have any sort of a movement if you are inspired like Jacinta is doing the course. But inspiring. People to perhaps work on those values and really bring them up. And that's a that's a cute sweet way of the Maya dancing and Amarnath says also drama is this. We wanted to dissolve the eye by inquiry or surrender, but it expanded to the infinite and it itself disappeared. And Claudia says look for the truth.

For the truth itself is the way to be. Yeah, that's beautiful. Yeah, don't go wrong with love. That's called so-called bhakti path, but it's just a label because the being itself is love. That's how love plays out because the movement this is the energy actualized when the energy is only a potential. There's nothing when the energy flows. There is life. There is love. There is movement. So yes, the love is for the truth. Is the way to be the love and the truth and the being one in essence and that's it for the online contribution. So back to you anyone. Yeah, just today sitting here.

I was feeling very like naughty. I'd say like very contracted and you know thinking how do you how do you sort of deal with this or something like that? You know, I can try and accept it but it's still there, you know, you just want to know. I just wanted to go away. I guess is the issue and that's resistance. So then it comes back stronger and stronger. You're feeding it more I guess. Yeah, and then I just sort of thought a bit about what Bob was saying and how they who is actually feeling this and so that kind of made it dissipate because it didn't have anything to bounce against maybe or something like that.

And then I was thinking a little bit. About I think it's from one of the books I read or heard that sort of saying that everything is kind of like every all of existence is like gold and you know, it's all different forms, you know, so I sort of thought about that a little bit and just even the resistance itself is resistance is painful, but is also gold together. So that was kind of interesting to yeah, and I don't know not really in control of it at all. So probably just give up there. But yeah, that was what was occurring today for me. So yeah, just one time.

Yeah, I was just interesting with the resistance what you said and I remember in the past I had and then when you say resistance is disease and and I don't know since I came to Australia, which was 10 years ago. And then once once I got here a year later, I had boils on my skin and I had it for a long time. And of course there's a medical term for that and so on and so on. And then after a while, I realized I can't go that medical path because it will just come back and so on. So I went to a kinesiologist. And he looked at me.

And he looked into that and he said, Oh balls resistance. And then I came up with a story for my dad because he was resisting politically say for his basically his whole life and I grew up in that environment and then I just realized that I am imagining resisting don't want to let it be or leave it as it is. Yeah, so what eventually went the way I'm not sure why and so on about it. I had it for five years. It was pretty horrible. Like yeah, I had open wounds like this. This thing. Yeah, so it's like I mean in medical terms of would be stuff infection in the morning.

Yeah, so but you know, it's multi resistant thing is the health. So it's like and I know the resistance was a topic and for my dad's whole life basically in political terms and he was very outgoing and was probably I was probably more in going. Yeah, I think so. I haven't really get my head too much around it, but I find it quite interesting how the term says persistent is disease and in the current geology terms. It does say the same thing basically and you put it up there as well and just the thought itself. Says okay. I'm not let it how it is. I want to change it or I'm holding on to the image.

What would be a better society or life or my life or whatever that thought is. I rather than just let it be. So yeah, okay. It was interesting. Before hearing you say the term default mode Network because the the the me is like the ghost in the machine. The default mode Network is like a network throughout the brain goes through all the regions and it's sometimes referred to as the house of the ego, you know, that's where and and when you naturally in your true nature. And you just naturally quiet, you know, that default mode Network. If you if you scan the brain, it sort of lights up this this there's nothing there because that thing this you know, the structure the the meditation is just quiet.

It's also quiet when you're task oriented. So you're actually doing something in the ego is not sort of it's just you. You're just doing some activity. But if you just sitting, you know quietly in being that also is deeply quiet or if you take plant medicines or something. Whatever as well. In being any moment that default mode Network can be just quiet. Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah, great point. And even success. Just yeah, don't give it much attention. Just stay in that heart of hearts. In the heart of hearts. Yes. Yeah. Loving awareness. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I'm Andy is an author of a book called being the really beautiful big book.

That is the title says it all. To me. And I have another comment from Amana saying resistance is this that there is no I which we are creating and a lot of funny faces. And Claudia says leave it as it is. And love it as it is. Love dissolves the resistance. And Tanya says thank you all for this beautiful meeting. Much love to all. So did you want to wrap it up Peter and we do wrap it up wrap up. Yeah. Yeah. Very important. Yeah. Yeah. Dean wrap it up. No, we didn't wrap it up. I think we want it. We want it. Come on.

Then say something. Yeah. Do you know? I was just looking at all these topics, you know, and I'm all this surrender and resistance and progression and being more aware and and flow and default mode networks and just looking at no, no, they're all fat. Everything is and the how you know, the leaving the house and all these topics are just fantastic and like and they're all contained in this book. Right? It's his book and this book has infinite arrays and displayed. It contains dinosaurs. It contains aliens. It contains it super consciousness and and and and it's the book itself is just incredible because everything is within it and it's books like made of love and this is just it's just filled with all these infinite pages.

There's no beginning and end to the book. But it seems like there's a book and when you see it all as a book, it's like wow, it's like fantastic and so thank you everyone. Thank you. Yeah, exactly. Never have been. That's the best part of it all with them. Yeah. So thank you. That's a brilliant wrap up. Yeah, perfect. And thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank you.