Restlessness, conditioning, trauma. Sailor Bob and team. 19 March 2023

It's on! The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The Well, it's the same old, same old. What do we talk about? They call it non-duality or Advaita or just that or pure presence awareness or whatever other label you like to put on it. Now Advaita translated is Sat, Chita, Nanda, Nama, Rupa.

They are the five factors. Sat is existence, Chita is consciousness, Nanda is loving to be, Nama, Rupa the name and form. And I tell you it's Maya, that's the body-mind, is illusion. And when you look at it closely that's the problem we've taken on. We believe ourselves to be this separate entity, this individual, this person. And non-duality translated means one without a second, not two. So, if you understand that, and just realise that everything is already that. So 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 and see for yourself. Because no matter what you might have believed or understood, nobody can ever do it for you.

Because there is no body other than that. And even the term nobody means you might believe you are this body-mind, this person. But nobody means there is actually nobody. Body is just the vehicle. The life essence translates and expresses through someone at the door. So another way I put it is, I'm not talking to anybody. I'm not talking to any mind. I'm talking to that I am, that I am. And that I am is the sense of presence. Not the body and mind. Sense of presence. And knowing that you are. And there isn't anybody in this room who doesn't know I am. And that is the problem.

Put the I am on it. And take the I am to be the person. Now if you read Nsagadatta's book, I am that. He'll tell you in the third chapter, he's got a chapter devoted to it. The person is not reality. And investigate and look and see for that, see that yourself. We call ourselves human beings. If you believe in God, you call God the supreme being. But what happens if you take that word human away and take the word supreme away? You're left with the beingness. Can anybody negate your beingness right now? Anyone say you are not? We all say and know that I am.

But that I am, as I pointed out before, is not the reality. So that's what needs to be looked because we've taken on this belief in being the person. And when you look at an investigation, you'll see that's the cause of all your trouble. It's only me that can be unhappy. Only me that can be sad, angry, fearful, jealous, envious. All these human concepts relate to that sense, the believed in sense, the presence, the I am-ness. And they tell you that, as I say, it's all such a chatter down another river. Well, is anyone who is not existing right now? You will know, no, I'm existing.

Anyone who is unconscious or unaware right now? No, you know I am not unconscious. I'm conscious. I am aware. Anyone who is not happy to be? Well, none of you want to be dead right now. So you are that already. But we ignore it. And that's what they tell us in the scriptures. They call it ignorance. And we think we hear that term, we're dull or stupid. It doesn't mean that at all. That means we are ignoring what we truly are and believing we are as a separate entity. This individual. This person. So, you arelll, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I God is the word, another label we put on it.

All things were made by him, by the word. And there was nothing made that was made without the word. And isn't it so? You put words on everything. But how many words were you born with? You weren't born with any words at all. And you didn't learn any words through about two, two and a half. When the capacity of reasoning developed you. And you were in that capacity of reasoning. Your parents fussing around you. Told you little Johnny or little Billy or little Gene. Whatever your name might be. And you picked up the words. And you learnt other words with it. And look at all the words we've taken on board now.

But as I say, you didn't have any words when you were born. And you didn't pick up these words when you were about two, two and a half. Some of you might have been earlier. Some of you later. It all depends how smart you were. Isn't it? And the word came upon you. And we believed in the word. So the first couple of years of your life, you were living without the word. And what do we call mind? Mind is a word. A thought. A label. My mind. A word. Is the word the real? Investigate the sea. Is the word the thing? Take the word water.

Drink that word if you can. Quench your thirst with the word. You can't drink it. You can't quench your thirst with it. Because the word's not the thing. Take the word fire. Cook with it. Eat yourself with it. You can't. But when you look at this word, I or me, are you that word? And you realise you're not the word. And if you were the word, you'd be frightened of giving it up. But you're glad to give it up every night when you go to sleep. That means you're not the word. And I just wanted out the word, the word's not the real. And I just wanted out the word, the word's not the real.

So we learn words. So we learn words and learn the word I, me, and I am so-and-so. But the great mantra in the great word is I am that. That is what I am. That is just another label. You all know what that is. 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. That's the bird. That's the way. Everything is already that. Which we discriminated with more words to divide it. Separate it. Separate it. Instead of saying it, everything is that. So we take on the belief that all these things are separate.

But have a look at them. What are all these words, concepts and ideas? Aren't they all objects? You're aware of the word. You're aware of the thought. You're aware of your breathing, your heart burning. They're all objects. You're aware of the thought. We talk about non-duality, remember? One duality meaning one without a second. Not two. And so that means that there's only the one essence. The one subject. And that subject is what I am. It's that sense of presence. It translates to the thought. I am. I am. And the objects are not real. There's no object in non-teuropathy in Advaita. It's all pure subject. object.

But it appears to be object. And we believe in it. Now, have a look at the word belief. Belief is not the real. You look in your dictionary and look up the word belief. It's an unquestioned acceptance of something in the absence of reason. Acceptance of an alleged fact without positive knowledge or proof. So you put these beliefs to the test and see if they'll stand up to it. And they tell you that the false cannot stand up to investigation. And if you try that out, you'll see it's real. We've believed in so many things. And when you look into them, they disappear. The water in the mirage, the blue sea, the blue sky, the snake in the rope.

When you question all these things and look into them, they don't stand up to it. But that sense of presence, that knowing that you are, which translates into the thought I am. That sense of presence, presence, awareness. Anybody who is unaware right now, no. You know you're not unaware. Anyone who is not conscious, no, you're conscious. Anyone who's happy to be, you're all happy to be. You don't want to not be. So you are already that. So what you are seeking, you can never find the answer in the mind. Because there's no such thing as mind, when you look into it. Mind is object. Everything you see, you're aware of.

birds, trees, flowers, raven, space. It's all objective. And the subject is that sense of presence, which translates as the thought, I am. When the sargeter tells you to stay with the I am, people get the wrong take on that even. They think, you've got to repeat, I am, I am. Come to it. But I am is the sense of presence, the knowing that you are. And you see it for what it is, just that pure knowing and realise, I am the being, the knowing, and the loving to be, the such, it and end. Already that. But I think I will become something. If I do this practice or believe in this and pray to this and worship that, do whatever the practice can.

But becoming, being can never be becoming. Because becoming implies a future time. And you look into the concept of time. And see, that's just a concept too. Ask yourself, is there a past if I don't think about it? You investigate that and look at it and you see, there's no past if I haven't got a thought. And is there a future if I don't think about it? The same thing. Past and future are concepts. But go back again to what they're telling us. The great perfection I tell you in Buddhism is non-conceptual awareness. Awareness without any concepts, words all over it. Just that pure being, that pure awareness without the concepts.

Have a look and see what's it all take place in? Where's it all happening? What are we all sitting in right now? Aren't we in space? Or can anyone say what space is? Can you grasp space? Can you find a beginning to space? It has no beginning. Can you postulate or think of anything that can be outside of space? What would it be in? It can't be anything but space. It's got no boundaries. So if space has no beginning, it's got no boundaries. So it's got no beginning, no end. And can you postulate or think of anything outside of space? space. You can't. So everything, I mean that exactly, everything is the content of space.

space. But space is no thing. So you and I are things. The tree, the flower, the birds, the bees, everything else, are things. Space is no thing. So can something come from no thing? When I say no thing, I don't mean nothing. That's where they make the mistake. They think there's nothing. Nothing is a vacuum of a void. Zero. No thing means it's got no pattern, shape or form, no time, no beginning, no end. It's just as it is. What is means unaltered, unmodified, uncorrect. Appearance only. Sat, Chit, Ananda. Being, nothing, nothing to be. So something cannot come from no thing. So this world, though it appears real, solid and substantial, there's really no thing.

Patterns, shapes and forms and appears and expresses as everything. So, that's what it all is. And we put labels, we didn't have any, we weren't born on any words, we weren't born with words until you were about two, two and a half, you learnt words. We put labels or words on everything. So all these things are the content of that space-like awareness, which is absolute. Absolute. Nothing can be added to it, nothing can be taken away. But we believe we are these personal selves. But they don't tell you there's a personal self in any of the scriptures. There's also only one self, one Atman, Atman self, whatever, the Brahman self, or whatever label I like to put it.

But the meaning, it's only the one essence that's appearing as if... Now, doesn't that great mantra then, can't you see it more clearly? I am that. Of course you are that. That is all there is. It can't be anything else. So, the body is just a conceptual image we have. Are you this body? Are you this mind? Investigate. Am I this body? Am I this mind? Well, have a look. You say, my body, my mind. You say, my house, my car, my coat. Are you the house? No. Are you the car? No. Are you the car? Goat? No. So, you're not the body. Not the goat, car or house.

Well, maybe you're not the body either. Investigate and have a look. What's the body made up of? Made up of elements. Air, earth, fire, water, space. That's what the body's made up of. Take the air out of your body. See how long it lasts without the air. Take the water. Water. Die of thirst without water. Take the body temperature. Get hypothermia and die. Get off the earth. Get out of space again. So you realise you're not that separate from those elements. And all those elements can be broken down to subatomic particles. into pure energy. So all this body is is a vibrating pattern of energy.

What about this thing called mind? Again, say my mind. Just like my body. Well, show me your mind. Can you show me such a thing called mind? Again, investigate. What's mind? What's mind? Words. Sound. What's word or sound? A vibration. What's a vibration? A noise, a sound, a vibration, a word, a movement of energy. So the body, mind, are just vibrating patterns of energy. Appearing to be real. Appearing to be solid and real. In the saga that it tells you, it says, you're dreaming a dream, you call the world. He says, stop looking for ways out. The dream is not your concern. Your concern is that you love one part of the dream and not the other.

He says, love all of it or none of it. Don't take a stand anywhere in any separating nor dividing. And he says, the rest will be done for you by the same essence that brought you into existence. And it does. How did you come into existence? You believe you were born but nobody can remember your birth. People say, I remember your birth. But how could you? Because you weren't born with any words. How could you say, I was born without a word? That presence awareness was there and you didn't pick up words until the capacity of reasoning developed when you were about two, two and a half.

So you're not the body, you're not the mind. You are what they call the absolute or the great perfection or if you like to call it God, you can. Put some label or concept on it. But if you're the absolute, who can ever be superior to you? Who can ever be inferior to you? And what would you want of the other persons? If you know and recognize you are the absolute, there's nothing you require or need. As the Sargata says, the rest will be taken care of. That same essence that brought you, intelligence that brought you into existence or bring about what's necessary in the moment.

How did you come about? Well, go back as far as your father and your mother. Another thing in the Sargata says, there is only life. There's nobody who lives a life. Life lives on life and out of life more life comes. See that's so. How did you come about? It come about through the parents coming together. And how did that come about? Well, that pattern, intelligence energy is a pattern shaped and formed as your father were enabled in that pattern a microscopic particle called a sperm to form. That sperm was diffused with intelligence and knew what to do. The same in the mother. That life essence in your mother enabled in that pattern another microscopic particle called an egg or an ovum to form.

That egg was diffused with intelligence and knew what to do. It attached itself to the wall of the uterus. And the sperm, knowing what to do, swam to the ovum. Had the capacity of swimming. Pointing out it was diffused with intelligence and knew what to do. when those two came together and merged that cell doubled and doubled and doubled again and formed the little embryo, the little fetus which is what you are today. What were you doing about it then? Nothing. Nothing whatsoever. And what are you doing about it now? Nothing. Isn't the breathing, the heart beating, the hair and fingernails going on right now?

What are you doing about that? Deliberately. Nothing. It's all happening by itself. And what must be animating it? That same life essence that's rolling the earth around the sun causing the seasons to come and go, the planets to form, explode, explode, the seas, the tides to come in and out. It's breathing you, beating your heart, it's growing your hair and your fingernails, it's digesting your food, doing all these things. And you, as the person, are not doing anything at all, have never done anything and never will. Though you've got this belief that I am doing these things. That's why they call it ignorance. Not that we're dull or stupid, it means we are ignoring it.

We're focusing into this belief we are this person and learn more words, take on more concepts, ideas, load ourselves down with all these objects instead of doing what they tell you in the scriptures. what they tell you in the scriptures. Detach. Detach from that burden of object you're taking on board that weighing you down, that's wearing you out, overloading you, fearful, anxious, depressed, guilty, unhappy. Only me can be unhappy, only me can be depressed, only me can be fearful, anxious. me is the cause of my psychological suffering. and the effects of that cause are the anger, the fear, the depression. What's cause and effect? Isn't it what they call karma?

Cause and effect? What happens if I look at the cause, me, and see it's a fiction? and simply ask the simple question, can there be an effect if it's not related to a cause? Or can it? Work it out and see if it can for yourself. So I see that me is the cause and the effects are that cause the belief and the cause me. So if I see that there's and ask myself the simple question, can there be an effect if it's not related to a cause? Well it can't be. So what's going to happen to all this so-called karma if it's not being related to the cause?

Try and hang on to it if you can. things continue to appear seemingly vibrate and happen but understand what they are. Just patterns, shapes and forms appearing, playing around and disappearing. See how it functions. Something comes up and you like it. How do you know? Well I've had this before and it's good. Naturally I don't want the good things to go. I want to keep it. not realizing that everything is transient. This whole manifestation is transient. It's constantly changing. You haven't got the same body right now as what you had when you walked into the room. There's not one cell but there are hundreds of cells dying and thousands right now and being replaced.

What are you doing about that if you think you remember not doing anything about it at all. It's happening naturally. So everything is transient. So no matter how much you love it or how much you want to keep it there and hang on to it struggle as much as you like. It's going to change. You don't want it to go what do you do? We resist it from going trying to keep it there when we resist it. Don't you realise that resistance is conflict? Any resistance you are in you're in conflict with it. And if you're in conflict with all these goings-ons it makes you unhappy, fearful, inusious, uneasy.

So there's resistance, conflict, uneasiness. Another word for uneasiness is disease. Resistance, conflict, and disease. Something comes up you don't like the other way around. Oh, I've had this thought, it's a bad thought, I shouldn't be thinking this. I don't want it, I don't want it. What do I do? I resist it from being there trying to force it out. Again, conflict. Again, disease. So you see why our lives are made up of all this discontent, unhappiness, fear, and all that is going on? All because of this relativity. Relativity is relation, relative to. And we think the main, the male-female relationship is the main problem. It's a problem alright because it's relationship.

So is every other relationship going on. But when it's a natural merging and understanding and recognising the oneness that you are the life, you are the love, you are the absolute, you are the pure being. Test it out and see what happens then. So, that'll do me for the day and the cat tells you, you can all jump in and have a say because, as I said earlier, I can't teach you anything, I can't tell you. And each one, some of you here have got a good understanding of it or you wouldn't be coming here. You'd be sticking to your religions and staying out there trying to become good and all the rest of it.

that you reckon there's got to be more to it than that. And it takes you to look somewhere else. And it'll take you to where it's got to take it if you keep open to it. Is that being aware, open, mind and recognising the absolute. So, away you go. Give me my ears. I want my ears. I want these. And the other one. Thank you. Okay, and we have 20 plus people who are online with us. So, welcome to those who came late and to everyone again. And to our online community. And we have a few good morning messages and welcome messages from people who are with us and a really good question from Maya.

So, I'm going to start from reading that. She says, I feel constantly restless and find myself constantly reaching for ways to change my state of mind through breathing exercises, coffee, tea, nootropic drinks, workouts, etc. I find it hard to just sit in the moment unless I have something in my hand that can help me feel content and relax. I have an urge to constantly change my state of mind to be able to appreciate the moment. It is my mind playing tricks on me or what is that energy that is driving me? Thank you for everything. That's a beautiful description and beautiful question. Who does not know the feeling of the moment not being enough and wanting for something more to be in the content of consciousness?

More pleasure, food. Like, you know, today when you go in tram you see the young people constantly checking social media and constantly being restless and, yeah, that seems like almost the icon of today's attention spam. So, thank you for putting it that clearly. I guess we just open it up and perhaps, Bob, you want to say something? How would you approach it to start with? I think the start is already made and it's brilliant. You actually are the consciousness in which you notice the restless mind and you notice the desire for more pleasure or more excitement or more relaxation or desire for that moment to be more complete than it is as it is.

So that is the beginning. Did you want to? I could, but I won't. I won't. I won't. I won't. Give somebody else, yeah? I won't. I won't. I won't. I won't. Please, give us the... Yeah, I mean, I don't really have any... It's just more of a noticing rather than anything else but, like, just the noticing that there's always, like, the non-jewel and the jewel in everything. Like, you know, if you're thirsty, you're going to need to get water. If you're hungry, you're going to need to eat. If you're, like, you know, we have this nervous system that does get overworked because of our state of life and you need to rest that and relax that and, you know, new tropic drinks are great and so maybe, you know, there's just, like, a bit more of acceptance or something that needs to come into that rather than trying to get away from it or shun it or it's bad or, you know, I have to be in, you know, some non-jewel consciousness which, I mean, yes, like, whatever that means, I don't know.

I'm not there but... Yeah, you know, but, like, yeah, just the fact that you're noticing that and maybe just, yeah, bringing, like, I think self-care is actually really beautiful and it's necessary and just, you know, accepting that we're human and that we have these kind of fundamental needs and, yeah, just allowing yourself to have those and to nourish that as a form of, like, growing love or something like that and just, yeah, staying with that awareness as well. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful. Well, as you say. Beautiful. Good. That's right. I was just going to... Mark it. Yeah, it's... You're right. It's the problem that we think there's a me and a not me.

But those words are not separate at all. As Shakespeare told you 400 years ago, nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. And the two ends of the one stick go ahead and vibrates into bad, pleasant, pain, happy, sad. But we've got good and bad fear and we've separated them, making them two and that's the split. But if you see there's two ends of the one stick, they're both the one stick just like, you know, the earth rolling around the sun. This ends facing the sun now and it's light. The other end facing away from the sun is dark. Does the earth know anything about darkness or light?

It doesn't. Does light know anything? No, it doesn't. So when the good, bad, the pleasant, painful, nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Just wait, leave it as it is without trying to fixate on it or change. It'll come around and show you the other end so you're seeing the total rather than keeping the separation going. And that was beautiful what you said because what actually happened when Bob had the restless legs, we went to the doctor and asked for the drug. That may be necessity. Life may move you to do this this way. Who knows? And someone had a question. I was actually just going to respond to the answer as well, yeah.

Because this is something I've been dealing with recently as well until I stopped fighting it. Like, we want to be this peaceful entity, this amazing Buddha all the time, but this is just another state. Like, it's okay to be restless. It's okay to, we don't have to fix anything. And instead of trying to run away from it, even if you are, it's okay as well. And just noticing it and observing it is kind of enough. And once you actually do that, then it takes a bit of that intensity away as well. And if you can get to that place that you notice, like, oh, I'm restless.

Okay. And you just let it be for a second and you're just embracing the restlessness for a second. And then you can go to, like, the second step or not of asking, well, who is it that is restless? And then it's just, it's just energy. It's just moving in a certain way that we deemed, like, this is not, this is not how it should be. But it's just energy. Yeah, so that helped me. Yeah, as you say, let it be. I just feel like answering that one too. Just look at what the mind's telling you. It might be telling you a whole lot of confused stuff at the time, but just look at one thing, like maybe it says, I'd be happier if I was down the beach, but then really have a look at that and see if that's true.

Ask yourself that golden question, what's wrong with right now without a thought and realise it's often the mind is, you know, telling you a whole lot of rubbish. You're actually fine where you are at the moment. Thank you. I became vegetarian since 14th of March, which is a couple days, three, four days, three days ago, five days ago. It's over emphasizing to say go and investigate in the mind, everything is okay. Everything is not okay, until you have a healthy body by changing your diet to vegetarian or vegan. I assume that body is not designed to digest the meat and since I've done that, since I stopped eating meat and dairy products, my meditation improved extremely and quickly.

My digestion, my mood, my everything, focus and concentration, sleep, wake patterns and cycles and that's also something very good to consider. So, plants are good. Plants and feelings. still. Yeah, I have another here, let's see, that's a question or comment from Tanya. This week I have discovered that inquiry, investigation, keeps the pattern of thought, seeking pattern appearing. I don't feel to inquire anymore. There is much narration appearing, nothing, but also peace, joy and nothing lacking. Can you say something about this? Now, that's interesting. You've noticed that the pattern of seeking is there. You look at the natural world, in the world of animals, if there is any need that is unmet for the body, they will be seeking for the nest, for the partner, for the food.

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with seeking if there is no story backing it, that something is lacking, or something is wrong, or something needs to improve, because they don't have the narrative as far as we know the neuroscience in the brain. So, not much narration appearing, much narration, she says, appearing, but there is also peace, joy and nothing lacking. So, if the narration is there, the entertainment is there, the humming music is there, or whatever the commentary is there, that's the habit. But if there is nothing lacking, in that completeness of nothing lacking, the body will seek whatever it needs to, to fulfill itself and to find itself in the best condition.

Yes? Nothing wrong anymore. Nothing wrong anymore. Yes, and Vivek says, just be, be peaceful, no thoughts, no memories, no anxiety. Yes, and also, what has been said a couple of times, you know, have that affectionate awareness of being, as Bob says it. Be warm towards whatever shows up. And as you said, you take the label of the, you know, calling something anxiety or calling something restlessness, restlessness, it's already loading it down with all the anxiety and all the restlessness you ever had before. But seeing it as energy moving through the body and being curious about that energy moving in the body, being warm towards that energy moving in the body, that is a totally different way of experiencing what appears.

and much easier, kinder, gentler, happier, more peaceful way. John says, in this moment we have everything we need or we would be dead. How clear is that? That's right. Need is something without which we can't function and we function, obviously. awareness of being. Affectionate. Isn't it sweet? Yes. It's beautiful. And yes, different things help people. Like, it's wonderful. Like, you know, some people get, when Bob got restless legs, of course, we try the natural, the massage, the magnesium, all that we possibly could without any tougher intervention. Sometimes acupuncture helps. Sometimes change of diet helps. Life will move you. If it can be done without the excess story, that's kinder towards yourself and others.

Because I also had strong stories about diets and things and felt the need to feel superior towards those who had different and needed to convert them. That's not very kind. But yes, different things can show up and being open and being curious will just move, as Bob says, will move you where you need to be. And that's it for the online comments. So, now the mic goes back to you. Dean, tell us, how are you doing? There's a miraculous show going on. It's an incredible show. And all the frustration or the anxiety or the diet or I'm not the frustration, I'm not the diet, I'm not any of that.

But they're all just these appearances in the miraculous show. and that's it. And you're not doing it and there's no one doing it. It's just, that's the appearance as it appears. And it's labelled and perceived or like this or that but it's just constant, it's full. It's just that you know that there's a show going on and that's really, the contents don't, are all not negated, they're all included and totally inclusive. but there's no one doing it. So it's just that appearance of all the patterns appearing as this show. Colours, thoughts, ideas, world, space, time, everything. And that's it. It just goes on until it doesn't.

I don't know. But it's actually, if you, it's miraculous, it's magnificent. It really is. Like when you can see the sky from the clouds and you know it's always like, these days like, if it's not magnificent I think, ah, there must be something wrong. I must be believing something in some way. Otherwise it's just incredible. And so, is that right? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for the wonderful talk today, Bob. I do have a question actually I wanted to ask. I do have a question for you that I wanted to ask. How is it possible to maintain that sense of I am, that being awareness all the time regardless of whatever you're doing because when you, let's say, working or you're doing something else, it's easier to forget that and be immersed in your work or you know whatever you're doing but how do we maintain that sense of I am that, I am that being doing all the time.

When you, when you're thinking of some other things and you're doing something else, are you unaware? not of the thing that I'm doing but of myself of what I am. Yeah, he's not unaware of what he's doing but he's unaware of his own existence. Well, what are you? First of all, aren't you existence? you're aware of not existing right now? Not at the moment but I would say is there any other time? Where you, where you feel that you're not existing? You'll realize that life's got to be there before your single thought, breath, movement or anything at all can take place. In other words, it's okay to not think I am, I am, I am all the time.

Okay. No. That life is basically there in which everything appears. And Sakata says, you are the way, you are the truth, you are the life. That was Jesus' presence. Jesus. Sakata said, people thought he was talking about himself, he wasn't. He said, I am the way, that sense of presence that I am, that you're knowing I am, without even thinking of the word. That, that, that might be true, but during like, relating to that first question that lady asked, like all the time her mind is restless and yet she's aware like, you know, she's restless. So, that, that sort of sense. There isn't, there isn't no awareness of the restlessness.

Yes. So, the awareness must be there to recognise that. You can't grab, tell me what awareness is, but you can't say I am unaware. It's the same with the being. You are being right now. You can't say you're not being, but you call yourself a human being, God or something else the supreme being. Take away those terms. Can you stop being? So, being, knowing, loving to be is the Satyatananda. It's always happening. Without being this or knowing that or loving this or that, just that pure being. So, when we talk about Satyatananda, which is, you know, joy, truth, consciousness all the time, but as human beings we experience so many different emotions, sadness, anger, like all the negative emotions as well.

As human beings. Take away the human, try and stop being without being human. Realise that beingness is there first, whether you put a human on it or any other like it. And when you put the other label on it, you seem to obscure it. But you haven't, that hasn't disappeared. Without that awareness there, you can't say, think or do anything at all. But you can't tell me what awareness is. Thank you. You know, nobody ever asks the question, how can I keep this anxiety going? Because we know how to keep it going. We just add more stories to it. And we share it with others.

You know, and get them to validate this story. So, the simplicity of being doesn't require a story. the natural state is wordless and silent. And to expect some answer to come from the mind is really not very bright. But the mind has always got something to offer. Oh, well, after all, I should be able to offer something. but, you know, what's wrong with right now if I don't think about it? And as Bob points out, to do that, you have to pause a thought and have a look. And there's nothing you can say about it. You can't say it's good or bad. that's like a little opening into the infinity of the actuality of reality.

But it's not good enough for the mind. The mind wants to claim something and make it mine. And that's the problem. It was interesting what you said before about, you know, when sometimes you forget about the being or the self when you're working or, and, you know, it was something that I noticed early on coming here that when I'd be working away I'd be quite happy just doing the work without any thought about the self and then suddenly oh, this work is boring or what am I going to do tomorrow or I better cook some dinner tonight or will I go suddenly the mind comes in and all sorts of, you know, anxiety or impatience comes up with it and that, but the natural state of just being and doing without thinking is fine but then once you go into time and the self all sorts of problems in the mind arise.

Yeah, it's interesting if, you know, we all know, I'd say we all know what it feels like to be anxious. There's a certain thing going on in the chest or whatever and, you know, if you don't add a story to it, it just, it lasts a certain time and it goes. It's replaced by other states. So, it's like, what's wrong with right now? Even though there's this, if I don't label it as anxiety, then all those stories, habitual stories of anxiety don't get involved. So, it's just a sensation and what's wrong with the sensation? In deep awareness, no questions arise. None. So, that tells us, doesn't it, what deep awareness is as opposed to what mind is.

Questions arise we're in the mind. The mind is active, trying to define us, trying to make us an object, object, as opposed to, or a subject as opposed to an object. We're stuck. So, you know, the only question to ask is, is that, just get that distinction correct, I think. Just know what mind is and then bring it, bring it to awareness, be aware of it, notice it. Many people have said this today, that that's enough. It's enough to do that, just to bring this question I have in my mind about me to awareness and then there'll be no more questions, all questions will be answered there.

That's all. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, along those lines, I found like this, someone was saying like these words and that itself and it's like the experience is, it's so subtle and it's always been there that it's and yeah, it's just so subtle and it's that sense of being yet the mind, we've been with the mind for so long and it's so, it's such a like large kind of, it takes up so much like space in our experience because that's kind of really all we've been looking at and kind of sometimes like well, you know, when you get to that sense of awareness it's, it is subtle, it's not dramatic.

If there's any like kind of dramatic experience, it's that you suddenly realize that the mind was telling new stories and that's where you're like oh my god like what was going on and then so yeah like and someone else said nicely it's nice to be with some work or whatever and just not think and just do whatever needs to be done and yeah there's that there's not this thinking about the self and thinking about awareness because you're just in a state of well people say like don't be doing but you're just in a state of flow yeah and there yeah I found that there is kind of transition period of just kind of coming back and like seeing okay the mind is wanting something or telling stories and I think yeah it is kind of it could be it's like a process of building a muscle of recognition of the mind and yeah it for me it's it's not instant and it's kind of like you know yoga is a lovely teacher because like you can't just get rid of tension in a muscle straight away you have to kind of work at it and relax into it more and you know once you've kind of been with that tension and release that tension it's just a state of no tension yeah so I don't know I can't remember what the main point was that's beautiful that's exactly that's the point yes because yeah no point is the point so relaxing out of any points but I see also where Ruben where are you coming from there is kind of a popular notion which is taken from Nisargadatta's statement that for three years what helped him was to constantly staying with the IM as much as he could of course when he was dealing with the client in his biddy shop he couldn't but when he could he was staying with the IM and initially it kind of means thinking that so if I'm thinking something else I can't think I am because initially we don't really know any other way of engaging with anything than through thinking initially that's the way but what Nisargadatta was maturing into initially thinking remember the IM ah yeah I remember now okay so I'll just focus out of thinking into the IM so remembering is utilizing the mind and then later on the more relaxing out of thinking because sense of presence doesn't have any flavor doesn't have any taste it is going on all the time it doesn't have shape doesn't have form doesn't have temperature nothing nothing can be said about it apart from whether you think about it or you focus on it or you feel it or you don't is there it never stops I don't think I should have two mics by the way so when you look at the natural world you look at the nature animals are resting in the shade or in the sunshine and just having the five senses or six senses or whatever the amount of senses they have open the fur or the sands going through the ears or whatever the signals are coming and the body is receiving it and responding to it if there is an urge to go and run and hunt or kill or hide they follow the urge the body follows the urge if there is no urge there is just relaxing into that being they don't have to think about it and they are in natural state non-stop what differs us from them is the veil of story the veil of clouding thinking interpreting we are not lying in the sun we are thinking oh how nice it would be if there was a copacabana beach and there was the little girls with the umbrellas perhaps drinks whatever we have imagination which is a fantastic wonderful tool but it has been overused so vastly that the identification flew into the imagined costume that we consider ourselves to be so now to recognize like I loved when Gilbert said we don't have to talk ourselves to feel anxious we don't have to ask how to do anxiety we know the anxiety happens so we know the identification also happens but we know that when anxiety doesn't happen we know that relaxed natural state and it is not that somebody stopped doing it or it is not that on the natural state somebody started doing it so that things are there is no doer to any of it it is just the flow if there is a possibility to relax out of the flow of running for food building nest working the corporation whatever the necessity is yes that's the place to relax out of thinking and naturally when you're out of thinking there is being in whatever way it appears it may appear as sensory experiences but this being is pre-sensory it doesn't have any flavor it can't be focused on it's a helpful pointer stay with the being focus on the being but you can't because it doesn't have location it doesn't have anything to hang on to but it is just to relax out of what obscures that being nothing obscures the screen it's still there but when you have a very entertaining movie going on who watches the screen everybody is taken by that content by that movie so relaxing of the content of that movie and screen as invisible as it is is there is never away but I also have a couple of answers here Tanya says life is unfolding and moving this body to do whatever it does thank you yeah life is never wrong never wrong and Sally says I'm curious about what non-duality says about living and working with the impact of trauma thanks and I know Sally that you know that non-duality is not a philosophy who has opinion on certain topics non-duality is just a basic recognition of life staying behind everything one non-dual life life expressing as body with trauma life expressing as body with no trauma life expressing and singing hearing did you want to say something about that yeah it is it is a good question and I know that you understand what non-duality is we know you and we know you do and as it is one non-dual one life as much as it creates the trauma in certain mechanism in certain bodies and again the easiest way is always to look at the natural world because that's the simplest dog doesn't re-traumatize itself by repeating stories and yes it still gets a trauma whether it is a physical or whether it is an emotional abuse the trauma actually affects the body it rewires the computer it rewires the perception it is absolutely there people on top of it have a complex way of re-traumatizing by re-living the stories and again because there is one life that one life which created seemingly environment which caused the body to respond in the rewiring and traumatizing that same life finds a way to resolve it just being open to that life there is no one answer fits all there is not that everyone should get THC oil and relax it helps to some with trauma we actually we have seen a healer recently who was telling us about it we not following that line of treatment but we heard about it and there are different ways that resolve and life always provides with the eyes wide open we know there are huge research on psilocybin dealing with trauma on various natural exercises cognitive behavioral therapy not CBD CBT so life provides the answer and sometimes it doesn't and that's the answer too because when you look at the stories complex bigger picture stories life experiencing itself as everything as Buddha who got awakened because somebody died and somebody got sick and somebody got was poor and suffered life was behind the sick and the dead and the poor and life was behind the Buddha awakening so but it is a beautiful question and thank you for that I don't know yeah please first thing in relationship to trauma it's it is necessary to expose the areas of mind where they're hidden and oftentimes with trauma traumatic events mind is hidden like one gets lost in the emotions of lack of some kind so yeah but just an absolute faith in the power of awareness to drag you through that somehow that will happen that's where we need to place our fate I think and then do whatever happens as you say yeah it'll work certainly work for me yeah um yeah I think like my thing recently it's that kind of um for lack of a simple explanation the non-dual and jewel as far as like non-dual awareness and this kind of jewel interaction of um matter or something like that um but yeah like kind of bringing yourself back to that non-dual awareness like was said it has kind of a power to um kind of loosen the mind or something like that or like you're kind of grasping to the mind and um letting go of the stories and that that is kind of a journey in itself but um it's you know it goes back to that idea when you're thirsty you need to drink and when you're hungry you need to eat and trauma is um you know it affects us on so many levels and um you know it affects us physically it affects us mentally I mean you could say like on some kind of you know energetic level um and there's kind of there are ways to deal with this um on that level that are completely valid and maybe necessary um for you to move past that and to be comfortably with awareness um and yeah so I think like trauma um from a non-dual state it would be the same as um dealing with an overactive mind or dealing with someone that's has a um physical sickness or an impairment like um yeah they all have their kind of ways to be soothed or dealt with on their level um but from a non-dual state it's kind of coming back to that awareness yeah yeah um so but yeah trauma is hard but there's kind of yeah it's more extreme yeah it's more extreme um but you know don't lose hope there are ways to kind of soothe yourself and heal from that and yeah yeah thank you that's beautiful that's right we have a comment here from uh Maya says thank you everyone many vows wow wow in answer and John Allen says life works in zigzags not straight lines as Bob says good and bad are just ends of the same stick allow trauma to be it it will take you somewhere yeah yeah thank you John Bob I heard him say once where is your trauma when you don't think about it or where is your conditioning when you don't think about it and in this way you just see how it is like you were saying like it is more extreme but still it is something that comes up on that screen of basic screen of basic presence some sensation which will have physical component which will have maybe shivers or maybe some sort of what we label as panic attack but without labelling it is the energy moving surging and it's never the same it changes giving it space being curious about it will bring an insight or will bring resolution but will certainly change yeah yeah yeah I once heard I don't know how true it is whatever but the idea that like yoga asanas like yoga postures or to get a person into a state of like comfortableness and relaxation so that they could totally kind of bypass the senses without having that distraction and that's not a non-dual kind of teaching or whatever but I can't remember anyway these yeah it can help yeah I forget where I was going with that but yeah anyway thank you yeah it's amazing life will tell you what helps several years ago somebody was in a really bad way they were talking about suicide and they convinced me that that they were deadly serious and that they had planned what they were going to do but they wanted to have a coffee with me first so I went and had coffee with them and I could see that this person hadn't smiled in maybe months and they were pretty miserable and the question I asked the person after a few minutes was one of the questions that Bob asked in meetings what conditioning do you have if you don't think about it and this person saw without a doubt because there was a little smile came and I knew that she had seen that there's no conditioning if you don't think about it and from that moment on for her the idea of suicide more or less disappeared so that's the crux of the situation we need to confront this bullshit story about me is it true is any of it true and that question is a beautiful question what conditioning do I have if I don't think about it you have to pause the mind and without getting getting the story going there is no conditioning and that can just blow the whole thing to smithereens but it's no good if you don't do it you don't have a look you have to recall it for it to be have an effect it's just interesting talking about trauma because I think the word trauma comes from the German for dream and actual fact that what we're recalling or Freud I think first used it is we're recalling the past in this trauma over and over again that we are the victim of the incident in the dream and we live in this world as it is now and what we have is we have heroes who are trauma victims they are made into heroes in the media and all this and this is absurd because it just compounds the story you know what trauma is there if you don't think about it nobody wants to look at that because these things happen to me you know blah blah blah blah but is the me real behind you I will say that it's a bit easy to say it's a dream and it's not real looking at it from outside but when you're in it it feels real so there's no point of saying like it's not real it's very hard like sometimes the movie is so intense that it's so hard to look outside of it and it's okay that it's intense and I think the way to go about it is just allowing it to be if you can detach from the story and just feel whatever happens because it is real on the body as well there is like actual physical things that are happening if you're able to detach from the story that's great and just let whatever is happening happen and if you can't that's okay as well and it's like what Bob said of like affectionate awareness be kind with the fact that this is happening and it's okay that it's happening and you don't have to be not traumatized or you don't have to know that it's a dream and also that some days it'll feel like this and it'll be easier and some days it won't and it all passes like we don't stay in the same state all the time so like even thinking about it as a storm like we really want the storm to not be real but it is a storm right now but it'll pass and tomorrow is a new day and yeah and do whatever you need to do to take care of the body and take care of the mind and even like slowly retrain the mind or do the yoga poses or the qigong or the cbd oil or whatever works to help the body just pass through that energy that is just happening yeah and I don't think like this space it doesn't judge anything at all so if there appears to be someone to help with some specific old patterns or traumas that perhaps need to get cleaned up because I agree it's like it's easy to see through the story but for a traumatized person that may need some of that help appearing to clean up some old thought patterns that will continue to reappear and torment them the person thinking that they're the person as part of the journey and it's not judged everything's okay and that's happened a number of times in this journey and it's helped open up the space even more by getting specific treatment around certain patterns old selfing patterns so everything's actually allowed but for me it's just seeing that what's transient and what's not where the space out of stuff arises and appears and it's the misidentification as the appearances as being mine and what I am so yeah for me it's just like the space is already here and there's a knowing and everything all the resources are already there without the need for thoughts and feelings like like speaking here without thoughts and everything is aware and everything is already available the mind is just another function like a hearing or a seeing but it's not me hearing or seeing it's just appearing thoughts are just appearing that's not anyone doing it it's just arising out of the space but it's taking that to be what I am and going down the rabbit hole but for regards to trauma treatments and stuff I mean it's all good it's all okay whatever if you feel that's going to soothe that help in some way okay and you can continue to explore this stuff more because this is more end of the line stuff I think when you're heavy depression for 20 years or something like that that's going to need a bit of love and a bit of help from perhaps some other resources I couldn't jump from that straight into a non-dual teaching for for this experience it's been a process thank you thanks just to put it in possibly simpler terms as Bob has said many many times you don't just break out into tears feelings follow thoughts emotions follow feelings so it all starts with a thought and then that thought then extrapolates into a story which then creates feelings which then turn into emotions depression sadness anxiety so in watching the mind and seeing how it operates you catch the thought before it has a chance to even turn into a nasty or whatever story and then that you know and then that's that's it it's like what's wrong with right now unless you think about it you know in watching the mind and recognizing the stories as they appear and then not grasping at them just letting them go then they haven't got a chance to turn into negative feelings and then which then turn into you know all the horrible trauma and emotions that we've been talking about so it all comes back to the same thing watch the mind and see how it operates and that's it that's all you Bob has said that repeatedly that's all you have to do that is the simple and the most potent pointer the other thing is to realize that the me can never wake up the me is the dreamer the dreamer can't wake up the dream goes and disappears the awareness is always there but we don't notice it because it's nothing it's just awareness I'm finding that the more I can accept and accept what's going on in my mind I'm coming from a place as a child and a young adult where I really hated myself and that was a place of self hatred but that meant I accepted nothing of the sort of persona or personality that I had and I was not able to accept how others were either and the last however long I I have become more accepting of the fact that whatever is going on in my life is not necessarily me although there are many times I do forget that but there has been more compassion for myself and that's been such a relief and whatever trauma has happened has come short of a better word automatically it was meant to happen and it's not something to be taken personally necessarily and and the same applies to others you know we can be triggered by others but it's the same for them whatever is going on for them is happening automatically and it's good to come to places like this to be reminded of that you know regularly and to change and shift our perspective and yeah for me it's all about you know constant remembering constant forgetting after that but remembering again so thank you thank you beautiful so also remember that nothing proves anything about you nothing has the ability to prove that you're not that remember that and that will be a beautiful return to heart I think I did want it and it sort of ran out but let me just say you know like 36 years I had a sort of I was suffering I suppose that was the word for post-traumatic stress syndrome you know it just happened and to say don't think about it or let it go or whatever this didn't work because I used to wake up at night and that was it and you know there's some things you have to live with you have to live with getting old you know you have to live with having accidents not being able to walk and you know and my big problem is somewhere in the life I got turned against authority so I'm a bit anti-authoritarian at the moment yeah and I always have been and that's okay but I winch about it sometimes and I winch about that actually more than I ever did about falling over and losing the use of my legs when that happened I thought to myself oh well this is my new life I've got to get used to it you know and that was it that was it no more thoughts about it and and and still the the establishment bother me you know and and and you know that's just the way it is that this is this mechanism this body mind mechanism has needs it has needs for connection it has needs for food and and I think that this meeting isn't this meeting about helping helping the people people to see that that the the the idea that I'm a separate individual mechanism in the middle of nowhere in the middle of everything in the middle of a big illusion isn't that what we're we're about here we're not about I want breakfast tomorrow I'm really hungry and these sorts of problems that that that that that that that that that that that you know and I think you've got to deal with them and and and like I did with my PTSD I dealt with it using one of the ways that have been mentioned in this meeting today so it worked and so this is what you've got to do attend to those things in life your needs for connection your needs for food those sorts of things so as Cole mentioned correctly the body needs good exercise good functioning good health needs and wants take care of your body and when you have a healthy body you have a clearer better mind and investigation becomes easier according to my best understanding thank you you know just one thing when I ride the bike electric bike I ride down the track every now and again and when I ride that I realize I'm not riding the bike it's not me riding the bike it's the body doing its thing it's just riding the bike that's all that's happening beautiful the bike's riding you the bike well whatever's riding me the universe is riding both I have a couple of comments here from people who are with us and Chandika says abide in silence if there is no silence just question who's not silent and Vivek says trauma is to the entity and I bet he meant just the concept trauma because obviously animals don't have an entity and we can still label whatever the conditions as a trauma but yes it is to the machinery the costume the body mind but awareness pure emptiness does not have any trauma it may express as the traumatized body mind but in its essence it's pure and Donna says who is suffering or is suffering simply arising and John says suffering is not a glitch it shows you where you are arguing with what is and I love what Cole was saying with that you know that romantic resistance towards establishment behind it is this beautiful sweet romantic ideal of justice perhaps or social justice or all that how lovely this is love this is beautiful but of course the call separate and the establishment separate this is the content of the dream and as you rightfully pointed out we are not about the interaction of the dream figures in between them but waking up and seeing the dream as a whole including that beautiful romantic ideas of love and justice oh yeah this one is punching this one because it is beautiful seen from this bigger picture perspective you see okay this body mind costume legs not working that body mind costume some sort of a they all have some sort of ways of expression which are unique and different and cptsd and all that stuff and self hatred and all of it is just the way it dances into that magnificent dream in which only due to which non-duality can be realized if not for that veiling of the screen if everything was just painted white there would be nothing there would be no screen there would be no you know like everything is nothing but it appears as that incredible dance and absolutely we don't diminish or or shut at someone that ah no that's all bullshit you don't exist so your broken legs or your severe abuse is not real well now realizing that in that one field life expresses as the energy in the form as the energy of the heart calling and compassion this is all included and even the opportunity to experience that mirror neurons and feel somebody else's pain is beautiful in itself but again if you look at the traumatized animal it does not go to the story and does not keep the wounds open and pour salt onto it by relieving it so this part could be potentially recognized the curiosity and loving awareness towards whatever arises it will be arising as long as it has to because this was again wonderful pointer that Bob always brings up if there is a pain physical pain in the body is the body calling for attention sometimes emotional pain or thought based pain which came to emotion and which is stuck in the body is that body again screaming for attention for something to be brought back to balance it's almost as if there is that level of the water which is always even suddenly there is a suction and every attention goes into it let it feel it let it heal it that is life resolving itself and if we stop the story and see where the energy moves it always finds its level and I hope that everyone who needs healing will find that place in which this healing flows but as John was saying if not for suffering we wouldn't know where we resist what is there would be no so often facilitates the search the investigation and it opens the door to completely different way of living experiencing life which is a peaceful and joyous way and we have Angela says sending love thank you and we have Bradley if trauma is stored in the body and not a memory form of the past made real in the moment via thought we would all be the size of sumo wrestlers some people do eat over the emotional upset and Sally says thank you for all the beauty full sharings thank you Sally and thank you everyone thanks everyone thanks all thanks and all and thank you