Awaken the heart. Sailor Bob and Sangha. 29 Jan 2023

uh jane michael josh dean and there's zuma is is all that needs to happen because everything is the no thing and the no thing is everything no separation we've all taken on the belief we are these individuals separate entities persons taking ourselves from the great reality the absolute into the belief that we're separate that is the cause of all our problems and it's very interesting to be separate it ought to appear to be separate also but to take it as a reality can be pretty terrible because it's a sense of isolation separation and you are the absolute and everything is that call it all things is everything and everything is that and recognition that you are that absolute is the reality see through the isolation and separation all the other appearances and know the truth and that's a saying you've heard somewhere along the line know the truth and the truth is set you free you're free from that limitation that we put ourselves as this person and the person is not the reality it is a conceptual image we've taken on board and believed to be so we talk about the one essence that pattern shapes and forms and appears as all these things the absolute what can you add to absolute you can't add anything to it what can you take away from it nothing but we do divide it and separate it with these concepts words or language terms of that in the bible in the beginning was the word there was no beginning without the word the word was with god the word was god that's all that god is is a word a label we put on that absolute and we believe that god is the power in which all these things appear in.

And it is. It's the one power. There's no sense of separation. But we've taken on this play. What concepts of it? And the belief in the concepts. In the word. You weren't born with any words. And you didn't learn any words until you were about two, two and a half. Because you couldn't... That capacity of reason hadn't developed before that. And parents fussing around you, told you words. Called you little Johnny or little Jane or little Billy or whatever your name might be. And without question we've taken on, I am little Johnny. Or I am Jane. It comes as seeming real. Now we've separated ourselves.

And with that sense of separation comes fear, unhappiness, depression, guilt, shame, remorse, all our psychological problems come on. Because of that belief we've taken on. And it's all a belief that there is something. All appearing in the no-thing. And Sargent had told you nothing can trouble you except your own imagination. Shakespeare told you there's nothing either good or so. Good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Somebody else, I forget who it was now, says, why are you unhappy? Because everything you say, everything you think and everything you do, is for yourself. And there isn't one. All pointing out to that non-dual, ever fresh presence awareness.

And knowing that I am. Caught in Hinduism and Veda. And Veda translated as Sat Chit Ananda. Nama Rupa, five factors. Sat is existence. Chit is consciousness. Ananda is loving to be. Nama Rupa, the other two factors. Body, mind, name and form. They say Amaya. They tell you that. This body, mind, entity, we believe it's something, is Maya. Illusion. Illusionary pattern, we put the energy of belief. Sat, existence. Are you existing right now? Of course you are. Are you conscious? Yes, you're conscious. Are you unaware? No, I'm not unaware. You must be aware. You really already are that essence. We're not simple at all. We've taken on the idea that we are this.

I am this body, mind. I am this person. And I think it's the third chapter of the Sargadatta's book. I am that. Tells you the person is not reality. And so each and every one of us is that. That's the great mantra. I am that. And every one of you know it. Because you say that's the chair I'm sitting in. That's the room the chair's in. That's the space in the room. That's the tree. That's the flower. Everything's already that. Which we discriminate with the word. And the word is not the thing. Have a look at these words you've learnt. Water. Take the word water.

Can you drink the water? Can you drink the water? Can you drink the word? You can't quench yourself with the word water. You can't swim in it. You won't drown in it. The word fire. Does it burn your mouth when you speak it? Can you cook with it? Can you heat yourself with it? You can't. So what's this word mean? What can it do if it wasn't the seeming doing happens and you put the word or label on it. I'm doing this or that or something else. But the word is that. That is just a word. And that is. Everything is. But it's been described and separated with the word.

But it's all that one intelligence energy. Intelligence is knowing. Such in an Andrew's being. Knowing. And loving to be. So you are being right now. I put on it human being. I call him a human being. And God is so far much greater than me. It's a supreme being. What if you take that word human off? And take the word supreme off? Can you negate your beingness? Can anyone in here say I am not? Innately you know that I am. And that I am-ness is a sense of presence. And knowing that you are. Not to believe it in person. For the person is not reality.

So whether you know it or not. Start from the fact that you are already are that. That is all there is. And in the recognizing that and living as that. A lot of the fears. Things that happen to us. Are left behind. No longer fall in the trap. Of separation. Because it's all inseparable. It's all indivisible. Everything is. So I'm going to tell you. That nothing can trouble you. Except your own imagination. And that's very true also. Imagination. Break it down to imagine. Or image in. Broken down further. So we are imaging in. Making conceptual images. And believing in. Of all this manifesto. So the example of that.

If you look in a mirror. What do you see? You see a reflection. Or image in the mirror. Try and grab that image out of the mirror. You can't. But you can't say it's not there. You can't say it is there. It appears to be so. That all this manifestation is the same way. It appears to be so. But appearance is not the reality. What can you add to the absolute? What can you take away from it? Nothing. It wouldn't be absolute if you could take anything away from it. It wouldn't be absolute if you could add anything to it. In Buddhism they call it the great perfection.

The perfection is the same as the absolute. Nothing can be added to it. Nothing to have taken away. In Buddhism they tell you the great perfection is non-conceptual. Non-conceptual? Awareness. Awareness. None of us run aware of it. You're right now. I was unaware of that. So that's all it is. You and everything else is that. That is all. Now I can't go around telling everybody I am the absolute. They'll think, put me in the funny farm. But it doesn't stop there. the fact of being or knowing and recognising. Now, if I am the absolute, and you are the absolute, who can be superior to you?

Because it's absolute. Who could be inferior to you? And what would you want from the other person? Nothing. Because if you are the absolute, everything is available to you. You don't need it. So, that was understood by everybody in the world to be a different place. I wouldn't want to take anything from anybody. I wouldn't want to be fighting with anybody. Leave everything as it is. But the recognition, the knowing, has to be. And that's another way they put it, the Satya Nandara is being. Being. Knowing. And loving to be. And there's no one in here who doesn't love to be. Nobody wants to be dead right now.

All love to be. But we put the knowing onto the individual person. I think that is knowing I am. That I am, instead of leaving it as the absolute, when we picked up that word, when we started to learn things, the sense of separation came upon us when we separated ourselves from the belief I am, were. And we've believed ourselves to be that ever since. But down through the ages, there have been those, that that's not good enough. There's more than that to it. And they've opened up and looked into it and seen they were beyond this person. They were beyond this mind. Beyond these thoughts and feelings.

Put it out there, and others have recognised it. And the great traditions and religions were formed around it. A lot of these religions put all sorts of conditions and things on it, rules and regulations, on it instead of leaving it in its purity. And have millions of followers following that tradition that still leaves them stuck in the idea of the person. But the others, the great saints, sages, saviours and seers that have understood it, people have set them up as something superior, as these saints, saviours and seers. And worshipped the messenger. Set them up as gods and realised, and missed out on the message. And the message is simple.

Thou art that. That is all there is. I am that. Thou and I are the same thing. And you don't have to become that. Because becoming implies a future time. If you look in this concept of time, past, present and future, and ask yourself this simple question. Is there a past if I don't think about it? Past is gone. And it's gone for good. Unless it's recalled. The only past there is is something we recall. Bring it back into the present. A lot of us seemingly live in the past. How can you live in the past? When it's gone. What about the future? We can anticipate and imagine the future.

What am I going to do when I leave here? And all the rest of it. But that's not now. It'll be in the margins. So past and future are imagined. Nothing can trouble you except in your own imagination. How many of us beat ourselves up with the past? It troubles us. Imagination. How many of us can anticipate and imagine the future? Imagination. Now we're locked. Past and future. What's wrong with this presence? Right here, right now. It's spontaneous. It's got no duration to it. It's not a time-consuming thing. It's a time-consuming thing. It's a time-consuming thing. So that's all. Time is a duration. This presence is spontaneous.

Comes and goes. Be with it. That you are that. See where it takes you. And we're not loading ourselves down with the past and with the future. Concepts. All these concepts we say we weigh ourselves down with and have concern or fear or anxiety or stress about. Leave it as it is and it spontaneously comes about. As it's said, nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. Leave it as it is. Unaltered, unmodified, uncorrected. And your next thought, the same as your last thought, is spontaneous. Each thought is spontaneous, fresh and new. But no duration. Leave it as that. And seeing how life goes on then.

It comes as it is. And what is in this absoluteness, in this presence, can not be said to be good or bad, pleasant or painful, but it is is. Is what it is. Not what it was or not what it will be. Isness of being. Being aware. Being knowing and loving to be. That is what I am. That is what you are. And there's no becoming in it. Because you can't become anything. Only what something you can imagine or anticipate. And put the energy of belief into it. Now belief, look at the dictionary of beliefs. We believe this and believe that. But the dictionary says belief is an unquestioned acceptance of something in the absence of reason.

Acceptance of an alleged fact. Without positive knowledge or proof. Put the beliefs to the test and try them out for yourselves. And you'll see. What you think or believe about somebody, hold a grudge or something about them, a bad feeling or bad thought. Only believe to be asked. Test it out. Question it. See for yourself. And question the belief you have about yourself. You are this unhappy, fearful, anxious or depressed person who's had a bad upbringing, a bad life. People didn't like me. This happened to me. That happened to me. We weigh ourselves down with all these things. And believe, take a belief in it.

We lead miserable, miserable lives because of it. Is it really so? Yesterday is gone. And it's gone forever. And I can, it can be recalled. And the fact is it's only partially recalled. You can't recall everything you did yesterday. Only partially. That partial belief is enough to cause unhappiness, fear and depression and guilt, shame and loss. And all these things. And you can imagine what's going to happen to you. Tomorrow or the next day or later on in the day. If somebody's out to get you or this is going to happen. See how our life functions. Always in these beliefs. And these opposites. And what's wrong with right now?

If I don't think about it. Have a look at that. What can you say is wrong with right now, this minute? Without a thought. Let the thought rest for a minute. Don't pick it up. Don't go into it. See. When you look at that and start to see that this image you have about yourself with all the concepts we've got about it. All the fears, anxieties, stressors, guilt and remorse. Is weighing us down. Carrying around a a great amount of concepts, ideas and images. How would you be without loading yourself down with all that past and future concepts? Detaching from all the stuff, all the weight we've added onto ourselves.

And carry around. Let it rest. As Nisargadatta tells you. Let it rest in its uncontrived singularity. Just as it is. In that singular. Without that weight on it. Thought free. Ever fresh. Presence aware. There's much more room then for the spontaneous functioning. Which, leave it as it is, is joyous. It's complete. It's total. No room for division or unhappiness in it. Be that. Thought free. Ever fresh. Presence aware. Know it. What it is. And you've had taste of it all through your life. And then something come up and covered it seemingly obscured it again. We take it on the surface, get ahead of it. But doing that, we look for it with concepts, words, ideas.

And load ourselves down again and again and again. Instead of being with what is. Unaltered. Unmodified. Uncorrected. Uncomparisoned. Partiality. Or comparison about it. Just as is. Being, knowing and loving to be. In its freshness. In its absoluteness. In its fullness. There's a sense of well-being there. A sense of joyousness. Things happen. And they can be welcomed. Because they're happening if it's not corrupted by all the previous concepts. It'll be okay. Know for certain that you are that. And the Buddhists, they told you, the Buddha told you that nothing, he called it a cognising emptiness. And we think we are cognising or knowing. But he didn't mean that at all.

He made the emptiness itself as that capacity of cognising. And he made the statement there and then that emptiness is form. You and I and everything else in this room and everywhere else are forms. He said emptiness is form. And the forms are nothing but the emptiness. If you are the emptiness, be the emptiness. Don't add the partial onto it that you're a person. If you're going to put anything onto it, put the absolute onto it. That you are. Because a person is not the absolute. A person is only this idea of a separate entity. An individual. And that's open to suffering. Love, joy, hate, fear, all the conceptual concepts we carry around are carried around in these personal ideas and images.

And the majority of people in the world that are doing that. But there are more and more that are seeing the way out and understanding it. And pointing it out. More than there was ages ago when they didn't have the means of corresponding or letting people know. Or delivering it. And recognise that you are the life itself. Not the body. Not the mind. Not the individual. Not the person. But the life of that person. That individual. That entity. Take the life out of that body. What good is it? It rots. It breaks down. It's burnt. It will go back into the... It becomes dust. Dust again breaks down.

Not a bit of good without the life. A good analogy for that is like a computer. Your computer's got all that amazing information into it. In for it. But you can punch those keys and run the mouse over it as much as you like. If the power of the computer is not turned on, it's not a bit of good. The power. So if the life... Power's not in the computer, it's not a bit of good. If the life's not in this body, it's not a bit of good. But know and recognise that you are the life. And let that life express which it will and does.

Because it's breathing you right now. It's beating your heart. It's growing your hair and your fingernails. It's causing the thoughts to function and appear in your body. Ideas, concepts and images to come. But if you get out of the way as a person and let it happen, you'll see life will be ever fresh and free. And that is what you are. So that's it. People here understand it and know it already. So don't hesitate to point it out so others will hear it or recognise it. And if you haven't got it fully or don't understand it, ask questions. Because somebody here will be able to point it out to you.

That's all we can do. Just point to it. It's absolutely that presence awareness. Life itself. Go on Kate. Hello again and hello everyone who is online with us. We don't have any questions. We have welcome, we have namaste, and we have hello everyone from everyone who is out there. And it's 20, 25 people right now. So now we're going to entertain them. Bob has already made the introductory... How was it one of our Zoom people says? Deconstruction. Deconstruction of any fixed ideas of what the self or the world might be. From any angles and all different angles. Deconstructing. You're not the body or the elements.

You're not the mind. You're not the thoughts. You're not your feelings. So with that deconstruction, we are left with the mind that doesn't know which is no mind. But if there is any mind that wants to know, wants to figure it out, work it out, that's the time for questions. And nobody from online, apart from greetings and loves, is not asking questions just yet. So please give us a direction or perhaps share something that moved you. Maybe when Bob was speaking, something touched your heart or something that... Yes, please. Yeah. So what is stopping me from taking that final leap? I am ready, but I want to be in the awareness.

So what is stopping me from being there? I don't want to try. I just want to be in the awareness. So what is stopping me? The final... Yeah. Yeah, you think you know. Bob. Yes, Bob. Are you unaware right now? I am aware. So be that. Away from I am aware or unaware. But awareness is happening. And I'm translating it. When you're not thinking, when you don't have that idea, see there was this old saying that the only difference between the enlightened and unenlightened is the idea or belief that unenlightened has that there is a difference. There really isn't. The difference is only a thought.

The difference between you and Bob is your belief that there is a difference. Because Bob is purely and acutely aware that as much as he exists and there is awareness of existence, there is no less of awareness of existence in you. But you think that on top of it, something has to go, something has to shift, something has to change, something has to stop, something has to happen. But really what has to happen is the thought, the belief in that has to just relax. Because when you are not thinking, what stands in the way? What stands in the way to full awareness of your presence?

Bob asked you, are you unaware? You said, no, you are aware. But now this is not enough, right? Because the mind comes and says, oh yeah, that's not good enough. I'm aware, but so what? Where is the enlightenment? Where is the bliss? Where is the, you know, the concepts, the ideas that mind comes up that something has to change. Bob says, you are already that. And the mind says, no, I'm not. I need to have a fireworks or sun or thunderbolt, something. But the truth is, you really are already that. It's only the chatting mind that tells you that you are not. When that mind eases off and relax, you know, when you look at the beautiful sunset or you eat the delicious chocolate cake or something, or you pat your cat, or you do something that is not good enough, it is completely taking away the narrative.

This is the moment where nothing is wrong. Nothing wrong. Life as it is, is lovely. It's just easy. That is what we call natural state. Now people come and say, oh no, this should be something different. Enlightenment. This is something big. This is the word that is heavy. But the natural state is the state in which we are as in nature. Just relax natural being. At ease with everything. The body is hungry, the body eats. The body wants to empty the bladder, the body goes. The mind needs to get entertained, plays the music. And there is no one who has any problem with that. But usually there is this conceptual self, me, Katarina or Saroja, who says, that's not good enough.

I want more pleasure. I want more bliss. I want more love. I want more, more, more, more, something else, not this. This moment is no good. This is wrong. It has to be different. And that very construct, which says that God is idiot. He did it all wrong. I know better that this moment should be different. God is stupid. The reality, the totality that created this moment this way is wrong. I, the constructed self, I would do it better. More pleasure, more bliss, more love, more. That voice. That self, that constructed self, which is just a habitual following of that little, you know, when we were learning how to speak, when Bob was saying, you two, three year old collecting words, you know, learning, rehearsing in the head.

Okay, what I'm going to say? Oh, I, yeah, okay. Baby is thirsty. Oh, baby wants this. That voice, we became so accustomed to it that at some point when the transition came from the description to the relating, this is I now. I am hungry. I want the lolly. I want the ice cream. This voice become internalized as well. Now this voice is me. And now this voice says that this is no good. This, this is wrong. So now I believe that this is, this is me. I, I say it. How am I going to disbelieve? How am I going to get rid of the I?

That is, that is impossible. That can't happen. The imagined self cannot imagine itself to not exist. The recognition comes from beyond that imagined self. When you see that, you see how the whole machinery came into the spiral, into that intricate game of illusion, that smoke and mirrors, you just see with no thought, no problem. Natural state, ease, nothing wrong. The thought and the thought saying, no, I'm not enlightened. I'm not that. I'm not clear. I'm not. Then the drama comes. So you see there is really the thought that has to be disbelieved, distrusted, recognized from that relaxed space of open consciousness. In that open consciousness, sometimes there is a thought I.

Sometimes there is no thought I. But the being is always there. The being is always there. So when there is a thought I, and you see that this is just what comes up on that field of consciousness, you don't believe that this thought I is who I am. It is just something that sometimes is there, sometimes not there. When you go to sleep, there is nothing wrong. When you are exposed to something really high vibrationally, you know, like love, beauty or bliss, nothing wrong also. But then, you know, the longing gets, but I know there is more. It deeply in my heart, I know there is more.

And I don't get it. I want it. I desire it. I crave it. My heart wants that sense of fulfillment. And now it becomes a story of life. I have to seek for it. I have to devote everything to find it. But it's never hidden. Can I say something? Please. I think the question you said was why, what was the question again? You said why can't a... What's stopping me? What is stopping me? What's the final step? What is stopping me? Final step to... But what you said is what is stopping me. That was your question. What is stopping me? There's the split. You see, a split there so so you are the awareness that's a fact Bob asked you are you existing right now you said yes that's the awareness right and then you said but what is stopping me so that's the me which is can only live in your memory that the memory of you is stopping you from just being so the me cannot live right here right now the me is a memory of you so there's a split between you and the awareness allegedly in your mind but you're never not the awareness you are always the awareness it's just the mind appears upon it the mind appears upon it and yeah do you as you're speaking like it was it was really clear I think I think exactly what everyone else is saying I've got nothing really of any use to say but but it was like um I'm ready what's stopping me from taking this there is no leap leap is the leap is an idea what's stopping me is another idea and the me that's ready is another idea as well and they're all it's all just just these little words of energy little packets that I just believed in and if they're not they're not and there's nothing to be done and everything resolved right there and everything's perfectly resolved right here right now as Bob says in the unborn Buddha mind the unborn Buddha mind before the word and the word me is a word are you a word no you're so much more than that you're the awareness right here right now pure love itself sat shit in under being knowing loving to be that's what you are and the word appears upon it you're not the word yeah like what you said cat the false self can't get rid of the false self but the false self is false so there's no use um operating from that point of view anymore because it is false you are the awareness just be from there forget the false self pretty good now yeah I was I was just thinking like that's it as well like that question coming up is also it that's it of course and if you can kind of just say well right now this is it but to be different they got wanting to be different even with all the questioning and the thinking you're not getting it and the chasing all that yeah if you can just stop and say what if i let go of wanting that to be different and this is it with the noise what's that nothing else and i would like to also add that see your heart is so awake is so awake because i heard that question from you before and i totally resonate with myself having the same questions true devotion towards the truth true love towards the truth and wanting to do everything anything everything whatever it takes to reunite with that longing of the heart with that absolute or that totality that i knew deep down that i am and staying in that love in that devotion in that longing is in itself fulfilling but it becomes suffering when it gets translated to the thinking because the translation to the thinking is the translation to luck see the love itself the longing itself oh i know i know for a fact there is a greater more fulfilling and more beautiful reality my heart knows this and it is right it is stay in that heart knowing the moment you go to the head and say oh but i'm not in it i'm not in it this is something else this is not it this is no no no no i'm lacking i'm i'm deficient i'm incomplete i'm limited i'm poor me i'm unworthy i'm unlovable i this is the eye in the head like jane beautifully said this eye is made of memory this eye it says oh i'm catarina i'm saroja i'm this and that and the other everything that you ever learned heart doesn't have that in the heart there is just pure knowing of that infinite boundless freedom of existence heart doesn't have concept that i am in the body i am the body i've been wounded traumatized abused heart doesn't have that sort of a language it all comes from here so when that longing strikes see if you could just stay with that and just stay there stay there stay there stay there it feels the mind will be really perplexed like oh nothing happening it's not it's it's threatening you know because the conceptual mind does not exist in the absence of concepts so you stay in that nothing and there's just restlessness explosiveness it doesn't want to be either but stay longer than you can and the tears of devotion will naturally dissolve any resistance and that is the sample of no mind because it really is the only mind that stands in the way and the more moments you have of knowing on the level of your being on the core of your being like bob says heart is not a physical instrument it's the core it's the source it's that energy the pure consciousness that you are that knowing is there it's it's only the mind that translated to oh no that's not it that's not no if you could stay in the non-conceptual as much as you can it may even be enough like bob says his his most famous quote what's wrong with right now if you don't think about it oh yeah but how often do you have to ask that do i have to do it all the time what's wrong oh nothing what's wrong nothing god what a practice you know 12 hours a day i'll have to just keep looking what's wrong with right now if i don't think no once is enough but if you really see you ask that question once you really see that without the thinking if i'm not thinking there is nothing wrong that is the natural state nothing wrong with the thinking now the natural state doesn't disappear so the thinking it comes and goes on it it can be believed and it causes suffering or it can be used as an instrument and it becomes just a tool for functionality so you are really really and in your heart you know it because you can feel with your whole being otherwise this question wouldn't come up this longing for the freedom for the truth for the union with the truth for the truth for the source in your heart you are in that state only the translation translation by the head no no no head will always say no because mind lives in memory like also jane points out quite often beautifully and simply because bob says it too but she just nails it you know it can't live in the present it can't it doesn't have any concepts it can only live in you know the projecting the past into the future.

It needs the story. It needs the context. What is the I if I don't know that I was born, if I don't know that I'm male or female, if I don't know that, you know, all those things that I learned in the past. It's nothing. It has no boundary. I can't even say I have the face or the body. I can't even, nothing. In the present, the separation cannot really be conceptualized. It relays on the past. So, without that concept, you stay in the nothing. And that's natural. Like all the, you know, the cats, there is a little boy with us. They live in or he's probably in and out of it.

How old is Siegfried? Five. Still very close to it. And I'm sure you dare. Many times a day when you're just with your heart without the translation. And the translation, it is a function. It has its uses. You know, conceptualizing self for the sake of communication, of connection, of bonding in big groups, finding peers. This is so beautiful. But it can be freeing and it can be used rather than the life being completely hijacked by this imposter. Believed to be real. It is not like Cliff was saying. It is false. It always will. But when you believe it, you know, when you believe Santa Claus, it can be scary for a little child inside.

Yeah. And what Bob says, all we can do is point. All we can do is point. So, we can only know what we're not. Because what we are is awareness. All we can do is point to the truth of our own. Being. Everything else is a story about people, places, or things. You know, including the story about me. Which all appears on awareness. So, it's that. I am that. Yeah. So, it's all good. It's all good. You know, it's all good. But we really can only know what we're not. Because the narration is just a narration as Bob said. Does the fire burn your, does the word fire burn your mouth?

Does the word water quench your thirst? Is the word me actually real? Is it actually who you are? You're the awareness. And the rest is just a story. So, you can only know what you're not. Because in reality you're just awareness. One. With all of us. That is such a beautiful point. Saroja, when you ask, what can I do? What is the I that is ready to do anything? What is the I? What do you think is that I that wants to do anything? Who is that I? When you say, what can I do? What do you mean I? Do you feel that you are the feeling or you are the body-mind?

You're the Maya. Yes. Yes. Can Maya do anything? No. No. Beautiful. Yes, she can't. Maya can't do anything. No. Rainbow or reflection in the mirror can't do anything. I can feel. I can feel I'm not the body. I can feel I'm not the body. I can feel I'm nothing. I can feel the darkness. I can feel the emptiness. I can feel the nothingness. Sometimes I don't feel. I can feel my body. Yeah. Sometimes I just feel I'm not there, but. So there is just a feeling of knowing, a general knowing of everything, right? An emptiness, body, everything. So you can't say what that knowing is, can you?

No. But you can't deny it. There is a knowing. Of course there is. Because with the knowingness, I'm seeing all my senses are functioning. With the knowingness, I'm talking. I'm doing everything. The knowingness is there. The life energy is there. Yeah. What Bob said, the life energy is there. So you are being. I am being. I call it ease of being. Being at ease. Just rest in that ease. Rest in that ease. Rest in that, yeah. Of being. Peter, did you want to say something? Yeah, everybody said so eloquently, eloquently, that, you know, just do the work of looking and seeing whether or not the self that I've made in association with these thoughts is real.

That's all you need to do. And everything else will be added unto you. It's like all we can do with the mind is to negate, you know, define what we are not, and then everything is added unto you. So just, you know, as Kat has so rightly pointed out, you are, you're beautiful. You have it all already. There it is. Whoosh, bang, done. Mm-hmm. Why worry about anything at all? Particularly these thoughts which could, you know, the thought, the voice which says, I don't have this, I don't have this. That's nearly a momentary construction of nothingness, isn't it? When we really look at it. Yeah.

That in itself has nothing in it. Do you see that? Yeah. We called it Maya. Mm-hmm. And Peter says, he said, that's Maya. Yeah. See that, that construct that tells you that there is something you haven't got. There is a knowing, that wide field of knowing, knowing the emptiness, knowing the body, knowing the nothingness, the darkness, all of it. That is being known. There is a knowing to all of it. And what, the, the stuff that constructs and says that, you know, something missing, is something lacking, is also known. This is Maya. You said it, Maya. Can Maya do anything? That's, keep recognizing Maya and see that the recognizing, perhaps that recognizing, capacity to know, is more of what you are than the Maya.

Because capacity to know is always there. And Maya comes and goes. The concepts, they're there. The concepts, the ideas, the constructs, they come and go. And I think we have couple of comments from people. Maybe they will have something that strikes you who are online with us. There is, Yelena says, it's always the imagining that it can be better that causes the split. Everything is always perfect, but the me won't let you be in that. It's habitual. Mm-hmm. Break the habit and there it is. That is a brilliant point. Brilliant point, Yelena. Yes, the me is a program which is designed to always find something better than that.

And that's a wonderful program. Brilliant. But you are not the program. The me, the idea that, oh yeah, I can get better money, I can get better partner, I can get better house, I can get better food. Wonderful. That is progress, so-called. That is how the whole growth, the creativity comes from that. But you are not. When you believe that this is me, that's when the suffering starts. There is a perfection and that perfection can be recognized. And the program for improvement, lovely, let it run. But don't be fooled that this is the identity. And now John says, there is no I. There is no I to have habits, so there are no habits to break.

If you think there is a habit to break, you are back into the me game, laughing out loud. When the idea of better comes up, it comes up. It will go away unless you, the I, grabs onto it. And if it does, then it comes up. This, then, this, then, this, laughing out loud. It's another way to saying the same thing. That's right. Well said, John. Yes. You can say the same thing in many ways. And it's no wrong. It's no wrong to say that there are habits. Because in the direct experience, if you translate it into words, you can actually see that there are habits that are not present.

And they drop away by themselves. And even though there is no I, I mean, I have a couple of cats. They have completely different habits. And they don't conceptualize any I's. And some of those habits are broken when I change where the food is served. So it is no wrong what Jelena said. And of course, it's brilliant what John says as well. It's the same way of saying it. It's just, yeah, we actually recognize because we already are all being lived. We are already cognizing capacity. Everybody has that wisdom. It's just to uncover it. Nobody is wrong. Everybody knows that they are. How it is expressed, it is how it comes out.

That's uniquely beautiful and different. Now Adrian says, sometimes the final step idea is the one that can be seen like, oh, what really is that idea that is trying to get the final step. The issue is we are taking that idea to be my idea. That's right. Can you see that? How that idea that, you see, I understand absolutely everything. It's all clear. It's all obvious. I've seen it. I felt it. It's all good. It's just that one final step that I have to take is this idea is so charged, is so emotionally charged. That it feels like the ultimate truth. It feels like this is true.

Like this idea is not the same idea as the sky is blue or oh, I'm hungry. But it is. All ideas are just ideas. That's a good point, Adrian. Thank you. Yeah, he says, seeing that that idea trying to get the final step is just another idea and not mine. Yeah. You know? Just Tristan. Tristan. Oh, yeah. Just waiting patiently. I've had too long to think now. Just listening to everyone sharing and relating that to surrendering to what is and recognizing there's, yeah, reflecting on there's nowhere else really to go. And when you try and go off the path or... Move out of this what is, then, yeah, then that separation's there and it's painful.

So, stop doing it. Like telling myself to stop doing it, I guess it's a reminder. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. You may still somehow resonate with the heart and think you're the action. Invoke the action. Yes, Peter. No, no. Oh, Zohar. I just wanted to say through... Through the... Through the... I must say through my experiences, just to remember to be gentle with yourself, as well. Because it is a... It can seem like a big transition. Not just a firmware upgrade, but a changing of the operating system completely. Yeah. Like it's... And having those glimpses is like... Is a good part of it. Just acclimatizing you to apparent changes, you know?

Yeah. So, yeah. Everything... Yeah. Just be... Just be gentle and loving and... That's it. Thanks so much, Peter. Yeah. Bye-bye. gentle and loving and let it happen. The more we try and force this and anything, the further away we are from it. So just allowing, I think. Beautiful. Yes, go on. It keeps coming up, so I think I'd better save. I think the important thing is to also see the nature of the story. You know, the story can only work in the pairs of opposites. So there's me, you, pleasure, pain, desire, fear, yesterday, tomorrow, you know. And, you know, to see that little narration going in that order, it is like an operating system.

It's appearing on that presence that you are. But that's the nature of the mind. It cannot see outside those pairs of opposites. And so give it something that it can't figure out. And it's like going ten times more full on. And, you know, there is no answers in the mind. There's no answers there. So someone says, now you can't get milk at a butcher shop. Will you go to the butcher shop and ask for milk? No. Okay, so there's no answers in the mind. There's no answers in the mind about that presence. Because that's prior to the mind. You know, so there's no milk at the butcher shop.

Have a little giggle about that when you get caught in the mind again. Thinking that you are that. You know, the mind appears upon that presence that you are. It can only work in the pairs of opposites. And you're never going to find an answer to knowing that awareness there. You can't find it there. You know, it's prior to that. It appears upon it. It's like when the cord is pulled out of the computer. What is there? You know the school. Yeah, yeah, that's right. And so when the operating system's not working, but the power's still on in the computer. The computer's still working, but the operating system's all stuffed up.

Well, the power's still there, but the operating system's not. The operating system's a bit raggedy jaggedy, you know. So give it a question it can't figure out. It's like having a nervous breakdown kind of thing. You know what I mean? Because it cannot find the answer there. Because it's prior to it. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I love what Zoran was saying about the gentleness. You see, this is again the problem which many seekers see. Yeah. And I think there's a lot of them that struggle with, and that was my story too, having that level of devotion and that level of desire, the final desire to find the union and the oneness and end that suffering, end that separation.

And being so invested in it. The heart was awakened, but the mind was still in charge. That was often, instead of that gentle loving hug and the gentle, there is an imagined self there. instead of giving it blowing it a wink and a kiss I would punish it severely that would be the self punishment yeah you weren't clear enough or you weren't awake you didn't go on the razor's edge or you should be away called or you should be mindful all the time should be in the meditation all the time if not all you are bastard you are wrong you are a bitch you deserve punishment you should never you should never deserve anything good that is the opposite that is reinforcing that separation that separate self you know like if you could talk about so-called subconscious mind as a set of software just the same way as you have the dog which also operates on that basic sort of instinctive learning you know the dog runs away and you call it back and you give him a treat and then he will come back again but if the dog runs away and it comes back and you beat him it won't it won't so that same situation sort of a basic structure of our programming is there if something if there is a moment of glimpse a moment of respite and you give it a treat a little bit of love oh yes ah thank you thank you rather than beat up oh you see you've been gone for 20 minutes you've been fantasizing imagining you've been in your head for the last two hours you stupid you idiot you'll never get it you're wrong you're training the dog to never come to never have that glimpse ever again so really kind loving like Tristan was saying a surrendered approach you know approach of surrendering to being where instead of being harsh and instead of what might work in another areas of life nothing is wrong that approach is not wrong you know like if you if you cook and you touch the stove you burn you do it again you burn again well that is an effective learning people can tell you about the 10 years and you won't learn until you get burned this approach doesn't really apply in this one here we reward that little doggy so it keep coming back so every moment of natural state nothing wrong all right now is there anything right now that moment's okay ah yeah this is okay I'm awake this moment of okayness where there is nothing wrong yeah that's it that's it I can't even say I am awake because there's no I really it's just a wakefulness it's loving to be it's loving to be yes and as yeah the loving to be you want to be there you don't want to be in the conflict of the thinking and the mind and the past and all that stuff has its own reward and all it needs is a bit of earnestness to keep your eye eyes open in a way and uh the loving to be shines through and as Tristan said watch the resistance watch the resistance to what is yes you know yeah just what just watching and if you're watching that resistance um it's an opportunity yeah it's an opportunity to rest in that being beingness that that you are you know and it's great because everything's an opportunity to watch them Bob wants to add something yeah I just say the same thing gently as what do I say being at ease um being easy he's a being being at ease you're being just rest easy just stay easy in that beingness Bob I love what you said that could almost have kind of fallen by the side is that awareness is the life awareness is the life we live awareness is the life force awareness is life right and if we allow that life to leave us every moment without questioning without comments without interference then we have actually surrendered to that awareness we are that awareness living itself it's so much simpler than all this dialogue and diatribe around it it's actually unbelievably simple and that is why in Sargadatta keeps coming back to it over and over again.

Life lives us. It is only the one life living us. And if we can recognize it at every moment, every second, and really be it without comment, with total surrender and acceptance, there's nothing more to seek. Everything will be revealed in that. It is being revealed in that, every second. It's really much, much simpler, isn't it? Absolutely. Beautifully said. Brilliant reminder. That simple we miss it. That simple we miss it, yes. And really, this could be a nice sort of insightful, even a way of centering that love, that love that is already there for the truth. Give it a little bit of a task, employing the mind in a little bit of a sadhana.

Recognize, like in every single moment, you are being lived. Everything is. Everything is happening and unfolding from infinite amount of factors contributing. Like this whole program is so infinitely complexed. Starting from the body, the nervous system, all of it, the processing. See how you're not the doer. See how there is no I, there is no self in this. And then you look out and you see the same applies to the trees, the plants, the skies, the animals, the interaction between people. The whole universe, moment to moment, is playing out. Every single player, it seems like there is a multitude of players, but they all interconnected.

And just really moment to moment realizing how there is no doer in any of it, blows your mind and it keeps you in the state of like fascination. And that's pleasant. And that's revealing because it's undeniable. I mean, when you really set your heart to translate and use the mind into translating it in this way, you see the mystery, you see the miracle, you look with that sense of awe. There is no personal story saying, oh, that's shallow, oh, that's ugly, oh, that's stupid. There is nothing shallow, ugly, stupid. There is nothing wrong. If you see constantly what Marika was saying, life is leaving everything.

That is such a brilliant way to channel that devotion. And as Marika was saying, if there is no awareness, what can anyone do if there is no awareness? Yes, sir. Just a little quick story. Yesterday I was having this meeting with a woman about, it's like an executive group that's come together to basically map out the life of a girl with disabilities. So everything is mapped out, like what she likes, what she dislikes, what she has preferences, how she regulates, what triggers her, and it's big lists of behaviors, patterns, things to do, things not to do, and from time frames to the whole life was mapped out by this.

And I was in this meeting, it was amazing. I was just watching this whole show. So it was like the narrative. It was just an example of the narrative that goes on. And actually, there's a spontaneous life that's actually happening. No one can see it. It's obscured by this map of this person's life and how we can make it better and worse and fix it and change it and improve it. But even that's part of the whole script, part of the whole show. But it sort of had like a little impact on me at the time. I was like, wow, I was just blown away by it.

And it's like I walked away. Even now that there's this show going on and there's like these little names, like above your head that says Kat, Bob, Marika, good comments. Just all sorts of little commentaries, like little imaginary words, saying stuff that actually means nothing at all because there's this spontaneous show that's just going on. And there's no one controlling it, no one doing it, no one who's anything like that. And it just goes on. And it's pretty funny. It's ridiculous. It's absolutely incredible. It makes the divine loud, doesn't it? To think like, yeah, I've got some sort of control and free will and I'm going to fix things and change.

But that's part of the dream, I think. That's part of the whole expression is to appear that way. And it is. But when you know it's not actually real, the appearance is so much more fun and easy and light. Exactly. That's the thing. If you know it's not real, there is place for everything. There is place for mapping a character. I mean, when you adopt a dog from the shelter, you get the same and there's no self in a dog. There is conditioning, likes, dislikes, preferences, all of it. And there is a place for everything. There is a place for training. There is a place for, as you say, the regulation, self-regulation, learning skills, all of it.

There is even a place for self-help. Anything is part of the play, but it can be light. It can be joyous. Like I read in one of the books when I was still a seeker, actually it was an audiobook, I listened to it a couple of times because it was so entertaining. The guy who wrote the book, he says, so, okay, you are the enlightened guy, so what are you doing with your time? And he says, well, I kill time before the time kills me. For instance, I like to jump off the airplanes. What's the problem with that? Whatever you do. It's just that it can be done with beautiful lightness, curiosity and amazement, and look at this boy.

And we have five minutes to go. So we have no comments from online community. We talked about, I was talking before about the false self. But we step in and out of the false self all the time. You know, it's part of the life to recognize that false self, but the thing is to see past it and to not be caught in the dream and have it turn into some sort of nightmare and you think you can't get out of it. I just wanted to say something that you said that I think ties in about all we can do is really do the looking and the seeing.

In terms of what we can do, I think that really makes a lot of sense because when you really look, there's nothing there. Sure. Yeah. But what we can do, I think that was a really great bit of advice. Yeah. Beautiful. Yeah. And in regards to the doing, I think there is a point where the doing exhausts itself. The doing energy will come to a sort of end, the realizing that nothing can be done. And I think it's just a natural process where you have to keep butting your head against the wall for a while until you realize this isn't doing it. And another something presents itself which you're not in control of.

And it's all pretty organic and natural. I think after a certain point, I think Ramana said, once your love of being is greater than your love for doing, you're pretty much home or something along the lines of that. So when you start to love just being and you realize that the doing is no longer doing it for you, then there's not too much more to sort of worry about. Yeah. Thank you. That's a beautiful summary. That is exactly what's happening. When I'm letting go, like one by one, and I know that I'm in a very relaxed state, but then I know I'm not the body, I'm not the mind, I'm not the breath, I'm not the form, I'm just the presence, the life energy.

And you know, like what you said, it's just... Yeah, it's just the more you see that and the more you stay with that, it's just a natural sort of progression. I think, yeah, eventually it'll just work itself out. Like everything is just perfect the way it is. I think even compared to what I see outside of this room, even to be at the point where we're at, where even we have that longing to see something like this and that inner urge for what, you know, the path that we're on, it's very rare. It's perfect. It's beautiful. I just thought that the use of the phrase that this too does not prove that I'm not that is quite useful.

It was for me anyway. Because if you take an idea, for example, you know, I'm not letting go into this thing, it's too hard for me to let go into this in some way, whatever the idea is, and I say this too does not prove that I'm not that, I can say, well, that's a true statement, isn't it? I can say, well, does this idea that I've got in my mind prove that I'm not being, prove that I'm not alive? Does it kill me in this instance? And of course it does not. This is a way through, you can apply that phrase to everything that occurs here, get good results from it.

Just a quick reminder, a little plug for tomorrow. If you're in the US, if you're available on Monday mornings at 9.30, you can go to Bob's website, the meeting page, and you'll see the Monday morning, it's our Monday, Zoom meeting for Yanks and people available in the morning. Sunday afternoon in America. Yeah, Sunday afternoon in the States. Yeah. Click on Bob's website, is that it? Yes, that's the one. I just want to actually acknowledge what you said, Kat, about devotion. I think that is an element that is somewhat underestimated, and I think it's an extremely important element, because it is devotion to your love for truth, which is that life living us, that devotion is an expression of that life.

And when that is listened to and acknowledged and allowed to be, it will, it dissolves almost every obstacle. That's right. And that is ultimately, I think, the most beautiful response to life living us. It is surrender and it is total devotion to the truth that we know is that life. Beautiful. And as Bob used to say, the truth eats away the lie. And that's sort of validating exactly what you said, the truth eats away the lie. And this alleged you actually doesn't have to do that. It doesn't have to do anything. You know, even though apparently it thinks it does, the truth just eats away the lie or the story or, you know, the story of me.

It just... You know, the great poet Ray Keats, Keats said that very beautifully, actually, except he added one other item, and he said, truth is beauty and beauty truth, and that is all you ever need to know. That's it. Was that Keats? That's Keats. Oh, I love Keats. And I have the... Just one final comment from Tanya. She says, resonating... And we had love sent from Tony and Mary to everyone and to us. Oh, hi, Tony and Mary. Love you. And we have... Tanya says, resonating so much with what Kat and Jane have said today, and many thanks to Bob, realize there is more looking without the thoughts, the non-conceptual awareness.

There is much more peace and ease. Thank you so much. And Jonathan says also... Oh, yeah, they are just thank you messages now. And John says, Krishnamurti said, truth is a pathless land. And I wanted also to acknowledge what Marika was saying, because that's just so crucial. When Nisargadatta says, love and wisdom are two sides of the same one stick. I remember Adrian was here once in the meeting when he had a beautiful insight. He says, well, there is so-called realization or awakening on the level of the mind, when everything gets clear. But until the heart awakens, it's not really complete. And I say, it's not only not complete, it's worth nothing.

It's rubbish. It's imagined. Whatever you imagine that you know or whatever you imagine that you understand intellectually, it's bullshit. You get Alzheimer's and it is gone. Or you get drunk and it is gone. Or you go to sleep and it is gone. The awakening is only, only on the level of total integration of the heart and love. This is where the separation disappears. Intellectually, we had people here who were saying that, oh, I understand that me and that glass are one. Oh, really? Is that your experiential knowing? Well, I'm sorry for you. That's not it. The intellectual understanding is rubbish. It's just a blah, blah.

You can recite the blah, blah. The true awakening is when you actually stop thinking and it is the experiencing of that natural state of nothing is wrong. Nothing needs to change. Life is a mystery. It's a miracle. You don't even have to translate it to those words. And this is available moment to moment. And as Miriam was saying, yes, that is the only thing that one seemingly can do. And there is no one doing it. It's the recognition, realization, the seeing. This is the project that I'm working on. Hopefully, I'll figure out the way to deliver it and send it, sell it in America. The deck of cards with four colors, realize, recognize, reflect, and relax.

Not that there isn't a self that can do any of it. And there are pointers to every one of it from Bob. Not that anyone can do it. But this is to invoke the natural recognition, the natural relaxation, something that is available all of the time. It is the resonation with the frequency that kind of, you know, like you punch the string of a guitar and it creates the response. So this is what the natural state is all about. Just tune in to that innate knowing. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. Thanks, everyone. Thanks, Bob. Thanks, Bob.