The idea of separate self is an illusion. Sailor Bob and team 25 Jun 2023

Anita, Anita, Jo, Jo, Jo, Jo, Joseph, Jo, Joseph, Jo, Joseph, Chris, Catherine, David, I wrote the name, Frank, Trey, Julia, Josh, Rose, Gilbert, Haim, Dave, Jack, Marty, Haim, And I'm here. What's that? Good morning. Good morning. Good to see you all. Good to see you all. The amazing thing is that no one's snarling at each other, fighting with each other. Everybody's pretty joyful and happy. And what does it tell you in the Scripture? When two or three are gathered together in my name, There I am in the midst of it. And what is thy name? I am is my name. I am that I am.

And isn't that right? Anywhere is not that sense of presence, that beingness, that knowingness right now. And when that sense of presence is there, everybody is expressing it and recognising it. It's a very joyful group. Instead of you an arsehole and blah blah blah. It can get very nasty. But it doesn't have to be that way. Know the truth. And the truth will set you free. And I am is the way. It is the truth. It is the life. And I am that. Aren't you? Nobody is jumping and saying, I am not that. Why not? If you believed truly that you weren't that, you would.

But nobody is disputing it. And I am not that. But a lot of us don't express it either. Because we probably still got that sense of presence, of fear, what they will think or what they will say. What they will think or what they will say. That has brought you all together here. And there is nobody here that doesn't want to hear it. Otherwise you would walk out of the room. But you haven't. So each and every one of us knows that. I am is the sense of presence. The awareness of being present right here, right now. And there is anyone here that can say, I am not.

You can't. So when they say, let it rest. It is uncontrived singularity. Or abide as that. Instead of moving away into the conceptual image that there is other than that. Relax into it. See what happens. And some of you here will recognize it and know it. Feel it. Others might be just looking into it. Different states, different stages. But there is nothing, no thing, that is not that. And innately you know it. Because you say, that's the chair. That's the space. That's the carpet. That's the tree. That's the flower. That's you. That's me. You know innately that everything is that one essence or intelligence energy.

Intelligence energy, the label I put on it. Intelligence is knowing. Not your intellects that knows this or that. But the very fact of being, knowing and loving to be. The life of you. That which is actual. Not the conceptual. And you can't help but recognize. And the Buddha called it the cognizing emptiness. And we think that cognizing, we cognize emptiness. It's the emptiness. It isn't. It's the emptiness itself that has that capacity. It's the emptiness that nothing can be outside of that emptiness. And that's what the sacred has put it. My silence sings. My emptiness is full. So putting it all. Silence, emptiness, intelligence, energy, whatever label you're looking to put on it.

Are all the one thing. Emptiness is formed, the Buddha told you. And the forms can be nothing other than the emptiness. But when we believe in the shapes and forms, we believe in the shapes and forms. Is this poor me then? Or unhappy me? Or unhappy me? Or me that's a good fella having a bad trot. Or me that's a good fella having a bad trot. Or me that's a good fella having a bad trot. That's what we believe in the shapes and forms. Is this poor me then? Or unhappy me? Or me that's a good fella having a bad trot. All the different concepts and words.

What we believe in the shapes and forms are all the one thing. Emptiness is formed. It's all the one thing. Emptiness is formed. The Buddha told you. And the forms can be nothing other than the emptiness. But when we believe in the shapes and forms. Is this poor me then? Or unhappy me? Or me that's a good fella having a bad trot? all the different concepts and words. And that's all that words are, are concepts, ideas, mental images. How many words were you born with? You say you were born. Can you remember your birth? You look at it, you realize you can't remember your birth.

Why? Because you had no words. You didn't learn any words till the capacity of reasoning came upon you after you were a couple of years old and you learnt words from your parents. But none of us realized then that the word wasn't a thing. We took the word to be real. When they told you that I am Bill or I am Bob, they put that label on you, and we believed it. But look at the word. Is the word the thing? Take the word water. Somebody asked for a drink of water. Can you drink the word? Can you swim in the word? Will you drown in the word water?

You can't. The word fire, can you cook with it? Can you eat yourself? Look at I or me in that light. What is it? Is it I am this body? Or I am this mind? Or I am this person? Investigate and see. And that's what they tell us. Need to investigate. Because the false cannot stand up to investigation. Am I this body? Or innately, I know that I am not this body. I say my coat, my car, my house, my body. Which one is correct? Am I the house? No, you are not the house. Am I the coat? Am I the coat? You are not the coat.

Are you the body? Well, are you the body? This body is made up of elements. Just like the elements around you that you are not seeing. Knowing that they are there. The air. The fire. The water. The space. Investigate this body and see that's all this body is. Take the air out of it. See how long there is going to be a body there. Take the water out of it. Take the fire. Separate yourself from the earth. Get out of space if you can. When you break it down and look at it, you are not this body of flesh and bones that appears to be there.

That's just another appearance. Like everything else in this manifestation seems to be so. It appears to be so. It appears to be so. They call it the phenomenal manifestation. The definition of phenomena is that which appears to be. So everything that's appearing in this body is what we phenomenally take on the word, put the belief of the word into it. It's all the one and the same essence. A vibrating intelligence energy, the way it patterns forms. For a tree to be a tree. You know it's just an accidental way it's happening. Or a flower that comes onto the tree or the fruit. It implies it's suffused with intelligence.

This body. This body. With all the knowledge that's in each and every different pattern. Expressing. In pi it's suffused with an intelligence energy. Life. That's what intelligence energy is. Life. Life. And they tell you that in the scriptures. There is only life. There is no body who lives a life. I think we are this body and the body doing the living. It's not the life is suffusing, patterning, shaping and forming the body. And everything else in this manifestation is life. As this Archadestra tells you there is only life. There is no body, mind or anything else that lives a life. But he says life lives on life.

And out of life more life comes. It's all coming from the one essence. Investigate that and see if it's true or not. Where did you come from? Go back and look. You see it came from your parents. Your father and your mother. The life of your parents. Where did they come from? The life of their parents. So out of life more life has come. That animating life essence in your father. Enabled in that pattern like a microscopic particle called a sperm to form. You can't see it with your naked eye. But that sperm was suffused with life. It knew what to do. And the same with your mother.

Another microscopic particle called an egg or an ovum. To form. In the mother. And that sperm and ovum knew what to do. It attached itself to the wall of the uterus. Just it wasn't something accidental floating around there. It knew what to do. Attach itself to the wall of the uterus. And the sperm knowing what to do swam to the oven. And penetrated the oven. Those two became one. Doubled and doubled and formed a little embryo. The little fetus is what you are today. What could you do about it then? Nothing. Do you think you can do anything about it now? Did you grow that body?

With the mind? With the thought? Is it breathing you? Is it beating your heart? Or is it that life essence that's doing it all? When Christ told you I am the way. I am the truth and the life. People thought he was talking about himself. A big note to himself. It's not. It's that sense of presence. And knowing that you are. Anybody who's not aware of being present. Right here and now. It's that sense of presence. That is the life of you. And expresses it as the thought I am. In other words. If it hadn't learnt these words. How could we even say I am the way?

I am the way. I am the truth and the life. People thought he was talking about himself. And big note to himself. It's not. It's that sense of presence. It's that sense of presence. And knowing that you are. Anybody who's not aware of being present. How could we even say I am? Now the cat or the dog or the bird or the animal. Hasn't got any words. They know that they are. But they're not putting any. Descriptions on themselves. I am this body. I am this person. They're just functioning. Naturally as that animal function. The life in the seed. That put in the ground. And the warmth.

And water. And that. And the atmosphere. Penetrates and expands it. And sprouts it. The life that already is in it. And it grows into a tree or a flower. But before it. The leaves come upon it. Then the branches and all the rest. Then the flowers and the fruit. Doesn't that imply it's a fusion with intelligence or life? The same with these patterns there. Keep recognising and realising that life essence that you are. And see the difference. To what it is that I believe. This, that and the other. I'm a good fellow having a bad trot. Or this is happening to me. And there's fear.

There's anger. There's depression. There's guilt. All these concepts come about. That are separating. This reality that I am. Enter the believed in conceptual entity. The person. And they tell you. That the person is not the reality. Where does the word person come from? It comes from the ancient Latin persona. The mask. And the mask is the conceptual image. The image of concepts. Words. What they tell you. Your Bill or your Jane or your so and so. And they tell you those words. We don't investigate to see that the word is not real. We believe it. Somebody asks you who you are. You'll say I am this person.

And we suffer accordingly. Because the person is the believed in separate entity. They tell you in the scriptures. It is one life. It is one being. It is one intelligence energy. Everything is that one. Without a second. Without any other. The second means two. And me and the other is dualism. So. We are absolute. The pure intelligence entity. Take on the idea we are separate. We are living through the perception. The believed in concept that I am a separate entity. That I need to become one with this. Because the scriptures tell me. You need to become one with it. The real something. The real thing.

The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. The real thing. I can live yesterday. I can recall parts of it, but I can't recall it all. And I certainly can't recall back to when I first learnt the words. There could be a vague memory of some of the things, but not of everything. And what can't be remembered is not there anymore.

I can anticipate and imagine what's going to be tomorrow, and anticipation and imagination are talking about some future. So past and future are concepts. What's left? Presence. What is this presence? It's here, it's now, it's spontaneously functioning. It's a spontaneous happening. It's got no duration. Like past and future time have got duration. Anticipation and imagination is future. Anticipation and imagination, you're not living. Past is dead. The future hasn't arrived. Anticipation and imagination, you're not present and aware right now. Nobody's jumping up and saying, I'm not present and aware, are you? Why? Because actually you know, you are present. But how many concepts and ideas and thoughts are going on in that head?

And you've got this that happened and that that happened, the story of my life. And that's all that my life has become, a story. The story has a beginning and an ending. So it remains, it means we're relating to the past and anticipating the future. But what is wrong with right now? If I don't think about it. I can't say anything at all about it. There's silence, seeming emptiness, no thoughts. But the life hasn't disappeared. There's a pure sense of being there. A sense of awareness. You can't say what awareness is because it's another word, it's another concept. But you know, without that awareness, if you were unaware, you couldn't say anything at all.

You couldn't lift a finger. You couldn't feel anything. You couldn't touch or smell anything. You've got that awareness of the very life essence that you are. Not the person, not me, that's got to do this and needs to do that, needs to think about this or change that. It's just what is. What's going on here? Breathing's happening. I didn't think about that breath I just took. I didn't think about expanding or contracting my heart. Heart was beating. Breathing was... Air was beating in it, coming in and out, breathing to happen. Life was living. The living was happening. It was a spontaneous beingness. And being is not what was.

It's not what will be. It's being. The ing is something that happens. Being is not was-ing or not will-be. We call ourselves human beings. So the beingness is there, but now we're applying to this fat and shape and form which we call human. Human beings. Human beings. And when we've got this idea in that beingness is greater power. It's got to be better than what we are. We're having all this suffering and fear. A God or a higher power. A greater being. So we call God the supreme being. And supreme, it's better than what we are. What if I cancel out that term human and cancel out the word supreme?

Can I cancel out the word being? Try it and see. See if you can say I am not. I am not, I am not, I'm not. You can say it a million times. But what is enabling it to be said? Just spontaneously knowing it. So you can't negate your beingness. And as I say, when you realise being is not becoming and not will be, stay with that beingness. See where it takes you. Realise it's always and ever been there. All the thinking, concepts and ideas, feelings, thoughts, emotions, have seemingly obscured it. Seemingly obscured it. Seemingly obscured it. It's been the back of it all. It's still there.

And they explain that in the scriptures. They say it's being, knowing, and loving to be. No one there now that's not being. And there's no one there that's not knowing that beingness. You can't say I'm not. So we're all loving to be that. We don't want to be dead right now. Don't they tell you that God is love? The so called God we're looking for. If God is love, the love must be God. Also. But we separate those two even. I love this. Not realising it's the one essence. Or if you like to use that term, God. I don't use it myself because it causes too much trouble for me.

But the recognition that that word is trying to express that everything is that. But they put a term on it and give it a shape and form and a belief that it's something greater than what I am. But try and cancel out the I am's for knowing that you are. Believe is not the actual. We take on all these beliefs. I believe this. I believe that. Look up your dictionary. The definition of belief. And it tells you belief is the unquestioned acceptance of something in the absence of reason. Means I haven't worked it out. I haven't tried to see what happened. I haven't questioned it.

So I take on the idea that I am this person. Because that's the only way I can take it on. When I learn words, parents tell me I'm little Billy or little Jane or whatever. I immediately say I am Jane or Bob or Bill or whatever your name might be. So we put the label on it. So if somebody asks you, you know, you'll say I am Bill or Jane. Whatever your name might be. So if somebody realizes that's just a label. Didn't say if you'd recognize the reality, just say I am the absolute. I am the reality. Because that is all there is. It is absolute.

They tell me that clearly. It's one without a second. It's not two. Two is separation. Two is relativity. Relative to. Something is relative to the other. And they say it's only the one essence. That patterns, shapes and forms and experiences as everything. And as I say, before the meeting started, everybody was jovial and happy. It was that one essence expressed through each of you. There wasn't much time for hatred or despair or guilt in that. Was there? Was there? Each one was expressing what was coming up naturally, inevitably. And we pick up again out of habit. We're told we're separate. We reinforce that belief. And it appears to be separate.

What's your next thought going to be? Have a look and see. There's nobody here who can tell me what their next thought is going to be. I ask her. You say, I don't know. You don't know, but a thought will come up. And we claim it. I think. And that's the problem. We've claimed that thought. The thought has come up spontaneously naturally. Now it's I think. Claimed by I. I is the conceptual image I have about myself. And so from then on, that's what we're relating to. Until, if we're lucky, something will turn us to look a bit deeper into it. This is not good enough.

There's still the fear and anxiety, the stress, the guilt, the shame, remorse that's still there. What is this I am that's taking it on board? Is that what I really am? It tells me again in the scriptures, I am that. That's the great mantra. Everything is that. And you know that. Because you say that's the chair. That's the table. That's the tree. That's the flower. Already you know it's all that. Which to discriminate, we put it on these words we've learnt. Otherwise, if we didn't have these words and discriminate, what could we say about anything? That you're that. This is that. I am that. Everything is that.

But the discrimination lies in the labels, the concepts. And they tell us again, the great perfection is non-conceptual awareness. Awareness without any of these concepts. It is the perfection. It is absolute. What can you add to absolute? You realise that if you add anything to it, it won't be absolute. What can you take away from it? If you took anything away from it, it wouldn't be absolute. Perfection is the same. You can't add anything more to the perfect. If you take something away from it, it wouldn't be perfect. They give it in one sentence there. The great perfection is non-conceptual awareness. Awareness without any of these mental concepts, which are thoughts, a concept, just a word, a mental construct added onto it.

So now when somebody asks you, you say, I am Bob, or I am the Australian, I am a good fella, or I am this. Instead of saying, I am the absolute, and you can't very well say, tell everyone you're the absolute, or they'll put you in the funny farm. But you can't add anything to absolute. And you can't take anything away from absolute. If you could add anything to it, or take anything away from it, it wouldn't be absolute. And have a look at that. If you know that you are the absolute, and it's all there is, can there be anyone superior to you, who've got this idea now, or he's much better than I am, or she is, or that's much greater than I am, or that's not so great.

So there's nothing superior to you. Can there be anything inferior to you? So you wouldn't look down on the other person, so called other. And what would you want from anybody else, if you know that you are the absolute? There was nothing that you would need, because the absolute contains it all. But how can you unlock it, or separate it, or believe it? So it needs to try and grasp it. You can't grasp the concept of absolute. But allowing it to be as it is, you'll see there's a change. There's a natural expression that comes about. Everything falls into place. And you've had taste of that.

You've had brief moments of that. And you'll say, well, how did that happen? Oh, I don't know. Then you carry on back into the old habit pattern. Instead of investigating a little bit further, if I look again and investigate, was it this person, was it this separate entity that did anything? Can the person do anything? The thought, I think, has become the thinker. So the thinker is the thought. But can a thought think? You realise the thinker is the thought, and there's nothing other than thinking. I must be the thinking. I can't be the thinker. Now the thought has come up. Now the thought has been the same, the opposite.

I'm thinking this thought. So it's been divided. But what if the thinker is the thought, I think? Which it is, when you look at it. Can a thought think? Can a thought be aware? Can a thought know this or that? It can't. So there is thinking. So I must be the thinking itself. What about seeing? I'm seeing. I'm seeing you. I'm seeing this. I'm seeing that. But can the thought, I see, see? Seeing is happening. It's happening with each and every one of you. The thought comes up, I see. But can the thought, I see, see? Try it out. I am aware. I feel. I taste.

I touch. I smell it. So the thinker is a seeming reality. But the thought, I think, cannot think. So thinking is what is happening right now. What is happening right now. You are thinking. You are seeing. You are feeling. Tasting and selling. All this activity is going on in the ING. Thinking, seeing. I think. I see. I feel. I taste. I touch. I smell. There's a sense of separation. You have separated into the dualistic belief. That there's me and other than me. And we get lost back in the concepts. And that causes, because there's a separate belief in the separation. That's only that separate me or I can be unhappy.

Because it's believed to be the self. Way of a way told us a couple of centuries ago, why are you unhappy? And he gives the answer, because everything you say, everything you do, everything you think, everything you feel, everything you taste is for yourself. And he says, there isn't one. We've got their idea that I am the self. They tell you in the scriptures, there is self. But they don't say it's a personal self. They tell you it is the absolute self. The one self that patterns, shapes and forms, experiences and expressing everything. The Atman self or the God self, the Brahman self. But we've got the idea of the personal self.

How can there be a personal self when there's no person? So you see, you wonder why we're getting into trouble. We're functioning from the wrong perspective. We're functioning from the belief that there's something here that has power of itself. And it is that one self that is the power, it is the life, it is the very being of you. Not the person. The person, as they tell you in the scriptures, is not the reality. It's just a conceptual idea. The call is to be what you are. I am that absolute reality. I'm not a person. I'm not an individual. I'm not a separate entity. I am that life.

That truth. That essence. As Christ told you, I am the way. The truth and the life. Not the thought I am, but that essence. So people thought he was talking about himself and missing out on what he's saying. He's not saying he's self wise, but the same as you can say. That I am-ness is there. What are you going to relate it to if you look at it? Are you going to keep relating it to the person, me, Bob, that's fearful, that's unhappy, that's anxious, that gets all these shame, remorse, guilt, and all these sensations on it? Or am I going to relate that she was the absolute?

The pure intelligence entity, which is the love. The heart felt being. The godliness, if you like, or whatever label you like to put on, except the personal. Be what you are, not what you pretend or believe yourself to be. So away you go, get into it. Thank you. So welcome to those who came later and those who are online with us. 21 right now, it's been 25. And no questions, only a few good morning messages. Good morning to the whole team, good morning to everyone and dear ones. So, that means no one like community is entertaining us. That means we invite you to share, ask questions, tell us your version, tell us what sits right with you, what causes resistance, anything that comes up and obscures that clarity of being.

Because the clarity of being is always there. I mean, there is no one who is not aware of their being or presence. It's just that sometimes that obviousness of presence is obscured by ideas. That it should be different, it should feel different. The enlightenment is something that I will experience, but not now, in the future. Those type of ideas are obscuring the obviousness of presence. And they are, we are inviting you to look at them and see if they're truth. See if the I can be found. See if the future can be found. See if that can be experienced. See what is experienced without the thinking.

What is the direct experience without the clouding of the leaves. Michael please. I'll just kick it off because apparently last week I spoke and I've kind of forgotten that. So that was interesting. But Anita asked me, how was your week? And I had to stop and think. And it's a bit vague. And when I explained that it was okay, she said, oh, you're much better than the week before. And I go, oh, why? I'd totally forgotten. So it's just interesting that hanging on to it doesn't seem to be there as much. Like it does seem like it was a long time ago, that whatever I said last week.

I had to really dig to get that back. Like even the memory of it. Beautiful. So it's just very interesting. I just thought I'd share that. Yeah. Thank you for that sharing because we actually had a discussion and I don't know if you were part of it, but as we go after the meeting, we go and have lunch together. There was quite a few people who were deeply grateful for what you have said because they could so relate to it. Later on, we had one on one meetings or one, two on two, whatever. And they also said that you just articulated in a crystal way what was sitting there in them, and they couldn't actually put it in words.

So, yeah, thank you for that. And the post scriptum, that it doesn't hang around anymore. That's even better. That's a nice kind of a cherry on the cake. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, say, look, Bob, just, you just some, say some, how about now? You have to speak up with your voice. Oh, yeah. This is for online communication. Okay. Yeah. So, you mentioned something that just, um, I'm trying to understand. So you said, what if, if you don't know what you're doing? Is itself a thought? Is that what you? No, if the, the thinker, the idea I think, is not the I that is doing the thinking, but it's another thought, the thought that says, I think the thought, that's the content of the thought.

There's no thinker in that. The assumption is that there is I that does the thinking. Yes. But the truth is there is no I that does the thinking. It's just the thought which says, I think. There's no one there. It's just the thought I think like any other thought. It's just a claiming. There's a claiming. Yes. That you, it's you that thinks. I. And there's thinking that seemingly in this illusion that happens. And nobody, there is no one here that's doing any thinking. So if you think you're thinking, well, what does happen in order for the thought to occur? Doesn't there have to be like a synaptic event in the brain, right?

A synapse fires and then the thought, you know, that's, that's actually how it has to happen. Are you firing the synapses or does that just happen? So I notice when I meditate. Oh, are you meditating? No, no. Well, okay. Let's just use the word. So the thoughts are generated not by me. It's very clear. Yeah. That the thoughts are not generated by me. Yeah. It took a while to get there, but I could see it clearly. But I still, I still didn't understand what you said. Like, what? Okay. So you say the thoughts are not generated by you. Yes. So what was the question that you had about what Bob was saying?

That, you know, if the thought I think is not the thinker of the thought, it's just a thought. There is no I that generated that thought. Okay. Yes. So this is what you already understand. Right? You understand that. I don't know why this simple thing just so vague to me, very vague. But if you look at another functioning in the body, growing the hair, are you growing your hair? No. But you can say, oh, yeah, I'm growing my hair. I just cut them short, but now I'm going to grow them long. Yes. As if you were growing it. Yes. So now the same way the hair grow of its own.

Seeing happens of its own. Thinking happens of its own. Of course, all, you know, your hair will be healthier if you eat healthier and so on, so forth. And your thoughts will be healthier if you are happy. And the seeing, you know, this is all interactive. It doesn't, it's not separated from whatever is happening outside. But the same way as you don't grow your hair, you don't think your thoughts. So what is the I doing at all? Is it even necessary to be there? Maybe it is completely redundant. Hair grow of its own. Thoughts come up of its own. Seeing happens of its own. Breathing.

Breathing happens of its own. So the I doesn't really have any job. The only job it does is take credit for what nature is already doing. So that sentence that Bob said was, what if, sorry, I'm just trying to remember, what if, when you think, sorry, what did he say again? What if the thought I think is not the thinker? What if the thought I think is not the thinker of the thought? What if that I is not thinking the thought? It only says I think. Yeah, okay. But it really doesn't think. Right. Yeah, it's a profound statement. What if the I in the I see doesn't do a seeing?

You know, Bob says, does the thought I can even see? The thought doesn't even have the eyes. The body has the eyes. The thought I see. The thought doesn't have a brain to think. Doesn't have eyes to see. A thought is just a sound. It can't do anything. So now I ask this question, because while ago, like even a year ago nearly, it was very clear that, I mean, in a moment, and it was more of an intellectual understanding than a realization, that seeing is happening. I mean, it started with hearing, that there is no hearer. It's only hearing. And then it, I could see that in seeing as well.

There is no seer. It's only seeing. I mean, not if it wasn't realization. It was like a, you know, simple, you know, I mean, simple, like I was wondering why they couldn't see that before. Right. So, so if that's the case, why I'm not realizing? What is stopping me to realize this? Like, is it because there is so much identification that I have to go through that, right? Yes, because there is an idea of I. You know, like you realize that that I can't see, seeing is happening. That that I can't grow the hair. That's right. Growing hair is happening. So it's. So you still believe that that I can get realized.

Mm-hmm. How can that you get realized if there is no one there? Realization is there. So when the I is not. I get that. There is really, I get, it's very simple that there is nothing in there, but I'm still so identified. What is, what is its energy? Like, I don't know, what is it? Bad habit. Bad habit. So how do you get over that bad habit? Yeah, that's what I'm doing. But the, I'm not a woman. There is a woman. By seeing that the habit is just a habit. Yeah, can you give him a speaker? Okay, thank you. The, you know, to, to reach an understanding, there has to be an experience, a direct experience of what's being understood.

being understood so that in in this case see if you can think a thought right now see if you can think a thought a single thought can you do it okay is that true so that's a direct experience you experience that you can't think a thought then the understanding changes naturally without effort so we need to have insights to eradicate the false knowledge that we've acquired which is all based about me and it's it knowledge is actually ignorance there's no difference in the ancient indian text it says avidya and vidya which is knowledge and ignorance are the same they don't say these things just for the fun of it it's a deep understanding and we need to have that understanding in ourselves all of the things that you think about yourself and all the knowledge you've acquired is nothing but ignorance and it's what gets you in trouble so that has to be eliminated by investigating like bob says investigate that me and see if you can find it can you find the me this me you can't find it so every time identification happens i just have to really look for that eye right yeah every time constantly whatever happens it was identified what is that identification what is identification about it's about identity what is my identity i identify with other things to try and make this me real but it's not real it'll never be real if i get attached to people and loved ones and things and i get upset if somebody steals my wallet or my car or whatever but that's not my identity what is my identity it's that i am the knowledge i am which is common to all but we're not used to living like that it's all about me and you know firing things and amassing things to make myself feel secure but there is no security for the me because it's a fiction a total utter fiction it's not popular knowledge you won't read it in the newspaper or on seven o'clock news the me is a fiction and all the suffering in the world is based on that so can you think a thought are you an independent agent of awareness or consciousness that can think and do all these things no you're not there's only consciousness consciousness is all there is and consciousness does everything there's no separate entity anywhere like the buddha discovered emptiness he said there's no self nature anywhere or something along those lines so this idea of self a separate personal self is the illusion causes all the suffering so it's simple investigate can i find this me in your own space and time in your own privacy see if you can find this me or do it right now you can't find it because it's a fiction it's a popular fiction that everyone believes in and the world is full of suffering and wars and god knows what's going on but it's an illusion it's a complete illusion we are all one essence appearing as apparent separate entities and you need to know the essence of it because you are the essence i am is the knowledge the knowledge i am is the essence of being and being is silent being doesn't need language so being is silent you can sit with that silence and you can watch the mind and see the mind is a movement it can't stay still you can meditate or whatever but that mind has to move because it's life it's moving and if you sit in that silence in the beingness you can watch the mind and see its movement and know that you are not you're not something that's identified with the mind you can watch it as a witness and see what it does and then you understand the mind and then as nisagadada says the mind is a good servant it's a bad master if you are a slave to the mind then you have suffering but who who is the sufferer sorry that took over yeah um i just want to say that the concept of me or i is rooted in the story of your life which is rooted in a time span can you speak up bob can't hear oh sorry the the concept of i that most of us grow up with and things is rooted in time it has a history we were born then we this happened to us this is what our identity attaches to but if you investigate time you'll see there's nothing but now and that's a story of self that's rooted in a history which is no longer evident it's not here anymore so that's and the uh to me the other thing that really quickly brings you into the now is the breath because that happens right now so you know uh sometimes the mind's doing this this this this and the story and the habit of my story then and then in the future i'm going to do that and then this happened to me and that happened to me that's just a story because it's only the present moment that can actually exist and here is where pure awareness exists it's the only place that can exist and uh you know sometimes the mind's going like that i find for me straight into the body the sensual experience and the breath you know that brings you straight into the present moment stops all that silly story about me because that's a habit i think yeah beautiful i think christian would be something that helped me um with that that i think kind of because it's kind of like the i guess the the pinnacle thing to get over everything else being your hair growing or your body functioning is kind of you know you're using your thoughts to to comprehend that and you can sort of but getting over that final hurdle of realizing that you know i think is a thought that we are just a thinking process for me i sort of question why did i think if someone asks you think something you sort of come up with a scenario or a memory or something and you ask yourself why did i think that particular thing and you sort of explore the reason behind that thought and you can't really find it like if i ask you to pick a movie you might you know run through a memory or recent movies you've seen or a movie that you really like but it'll change your answer depending on what's happening in your body at the time your environments there's so many different factors which influence that choice that you you feel like is a thought that you chose to think but then you realize like it's just just comes to you that makes sense that really helped me so yeah so um it as gilbert was saying you know the the whole society we're all we've all been conditioned to thinking that we're a separate entity and um you're right bob you can't hear no i can't oh is is that better you must project you could translate for us you could translate sonically so the other aspect that i find um that's being pointed to here is well we've explored the fact that we're not the thought then what when we're not we're not doing there's no separate eye that could be a struggle because we're continually using our mind that's the habit to use the mind to find that answer and when that's exhausted what is it it's no thing as bob points to uh the analogy of space which is just an analogy but uh to kind of have that insight or to um well in negation of the mind of the me then you're left with well what am i what is it that is cognizing what is it that is doing the growing and the thinking and etc and you can't put you can't put a label on that so it's resting and knowing that whatever is aware and you can put a name on it consciousness emptiness space but they're not the actuality as bob clearly points out so it's no thing that is doing the cognizing and the livingness and to kind of just rest or not even rest but just to have everything else thrown out the window you're left with nothing you're left with empty space that is actually intelligent that's the amazing thing the emptiness is intelligent is cognizing is the life and you can't really say that in terms of the mind and uh but it's it's always the case that is the thing it is always has been the case it's just the idea of a separate thought the thinking process has has caused the division the seeming division but in that empty space the investigation has to be done to just sort of unravel all that um yeah that's that's the you know what can you say for me it even goes a slight step further than that so just the idea that there has to be something behind something doesn't even seems to be a concept pure and simple like why why why does there have to be something doing something why did it does there have to be a god operating the universe like i just always thought they were redundant because they were just concepts you know simple it's it's just a concept has arisen something must be there operating why why can't there just be what is there you know why do we need to add in that extra concept it's extra you know it's clearly yeah clearly it's a concept right you know so then somebody made it up well you know it got made up it appeared this you know extra you know it just seems made up to me and redundant and a concept pure and simple so um yeah it's just movement so even like this idea of intelligence yeah and to me like even the idea of an intelligence there to me is another concept pure and simple intelligence why does it have to be an intelligence and i don't feel that sense i don't feel a sense of and you know maybe there is a sense of something there maybe there is an intelligence maybe that that is all there i just don't see it you know i just see non-void and that's about it and even that is a reflection so a reflection pops up a memory gets noticed and the memory is that when you know there was a sitting here with the thoughts turned off there was stuff coming there's still stuff coming into the eyes there was just still stuff here so upon reflection i the the concept pops up oh there's no void there's no nothingness altogether there does seem to be stuffness happening or things here you know we're not just empty void and and none of this but that is a reflection of an image that occurred while i was sitting here with the thoughts off i didn't get so so basically if the brain goes off right because it's you know the notion arises to stop thinking yeah so i did that and i and there was just like some images right no cognition no analysis no words no phrases nothing coming out it was just picture of this and then the reflection upon that is that that picture occurs because you know people are suggesting to do that the universe suggests you know what what was that and so what was that um the notion no void it's an there's no nothing here um pops up as a concept as as just a phrase well there's no nothing here um and reflection upon that is that that was a bunch of words that seemed to be laden with some meaning popped up there was certainly no little tony saying oh what what what kind of concept shall i pop up next um so really yeah the idea that there's anything beyond that there's anything at all there's just a concept of no void that pops up upon reflection of this image but when the brain's off it's just empty of everything yeah there's just empty like i can't even say anything like bob says you can't say anything at all like bob says you cannot say anything at all so even the fact that saying that there's no void is a concept that comes up later to me that's just a philosophical question did day cartes have it all wrong when he said i think therefore i am i don't know what to say okay okay you don't want to know what to say i have people who are commenting online okay yeah we have about 40 people with us now that's uh participation coming up and then there is quite a few so thank you so thank you i'm finally experiencing the state hoping that state will last can you stay with us we're gonna go to the restaurant later we can have a chat um thank you so chandika says thank you i'm finally experiencing the state hoping this state will last and serena answered to it no state last the only constant is the presence the awareness and manju says you are the knower of the state no matter what state comes and goes yes that's uh beautiful and julia british julia says love that gilbert no security as a me it is a fiction absolutely and vivek says realization is that this world body our illusion maya it is not the body the formless me awareness i am not associated with anything anyone anybody but just me the mere presence and we have over 40 people now so did you want to speak martin yep hey everyone um i just wanted to say the same message that everyone's been saying just with less words um there is no i there is only life and there's a thought but there's no thinker of the thought it's just all life making up um i do have a interesting story to share um so uh so i was yelling to my dad the other day and um yeah usually he's just asking me uh he usually just talks to me trying to make himself feel better um but he actually shared some uh something pretty something that's stuck stuck stuck in my memory um so i wanted to share it um so he's he's worked at a at a uh as a prison guard for 30 odd years and they have uh they had a course the other day um they had a linguistics specialist come in and run a course and anyway long and short of it is he was teaching them the best way to uh give a message that can uh improve the outcome of a situation that they might have in in the prison so for example they've got someone on their stomach and they're on their back you know what they say and how they say it changes the outcome of the the event and uh he was he was saying um this linguistics person uh separated uh a message into three parts you have the the information you have the tone and you have the action and anyway long long and short of it the message or the information actually makes up less than eight percent apparently of the message and so that really stuck with me because we're here trying to get the message through words when the words make up almost zero you know almost nothing of the message and and it's that that heart or that presence that's underlying the messages which is the message so it doesn't really matter what you say it's it's more about how where it comes from i guess and it'll always be right yeah that's that's beautiful that is actually profound because yes that's the the nlp really gives it in the numbers and it gives a little demonstration in which it shows someone who is absolutely devastated crying and saying oh my god i'm so happy oh god and what what message do you get or someone who says oh my god i'm so sad there you go that is how the the whole non-dual pointing works it is more of the tuning into that underlying frequency of clarity that comes you're gonna say something darling now because it's that your clarity of 40 odd years plus years that brings that you know we are we are all there is a lot of seniority and clarity in this room let's face it a lot of people have beautiful understanding but yes he's got the seniority that beats us all together you're prior to words first couple of years you had no words you were before that when we learn words we've let's believe we are the concept prior to mind the whole words sorry um direct experience has no thought you can't use the mind to experience it it's just direct experience beautiful and i have uh something from bradley and i always look forward to to reading what he writes they are seekers and then they are sailors and that's in capital letters there are seekers and then there are sailors there are sailors the ship called i think creates a bow wave called feeling creating a current called emotion how brilliant oh my goodness how does the ship overcome its own bow wave my goodness lovely uh it stops it stops it puts down anchor and rises and falls with the swell oh my gosh this is brilliant this what an amazing poetry and the metaphor that is so yes so on the spot just stop thank you bradley that was beautiful now anyone um i just wanted to follow on from what you said marty because i feel like that just absolutely nailed it in my mind because yeah sometimes the information's i'm sitting here and like bob is talking or gilbert is talking and it gets to the point where the information is actually not going in but you just like feel like i'm just so in tune with what you're saying but the actual information is not being processed there's just it's just like it's almost like the mind has stopped enough to care about what's being said and it's just so absorbed in the presence underneath what's being said um and yeah i think you just articulated exactly what i hadn't realized was going on that it's yeah the information doesn't matter sometimes it's just that beautiful presence yeah underneath i saw a funny little video recently and it's a a ship and the mayday call going out and and uh the message is we're sinking we're sinking and the german submarine is close by and he comes on and says what are you what are you thinking about the message can get garbled um i think um yeah the existence of the self is often dependent on others seeing other people uh yeah yeah um if uh and i think that uh also that um the sense of you is is always going to be there you're not going to lose that sense of me are you yeah to try and eradicate that's an impossibility you can't do that it's kind of like uh you know a good analogy is a light shine through a prism and all it instantaneously spreads into all the different patterns and forms including you you see there's no light left is there you know when the light shines through the prism you get all the different colors and all the multiplicity and diversity of everybody here you must include you okay that's a better way to look at it that there's nobody's out here you know to prove that you are not or that you are a separate being or here to demonstrate that you are the multiplicity and diversity of your king i don't know whether that helps but certainly a big difference between i think the headless way demonstrates this in some aspect you are the big difference between seeing everything out there proving that you're separate and seeing everything out there proving or being if you like the multiplicity and diversity of the one form which in essence without naming without naming anything becomes the simplicity of everything arising you are then instead of being looking for the proof of separation out there you are the thing that's responsible for everything just simply arising and uh fully including including the sense of you temporarily you don't know who you are right okay you don't know what anything else is you have an impression of what it is impressions come impressions go now there's no white and colored light there's just light yeah just quickly i quite like a saying i heard recently that the the universe like an apple tree apples the universe peoples which for me kind of put in perspective just like a natural expression as much as an apple tree making apples the universe peoples the universe musics makes poetry sort of just in the same manner that kind of helped me so that's the way you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you are and you way has two things it doesn't deny this or this they both exist so all the multiplicity exists but when you point back so you point out you can point in any one thing in the room when you point back at zero distance go to zero distance what's looking it's just empty if you go back and look at what is looking and so even the perimeter of perimeter of what we see is just here you can't see anything back there it doesn't really exist if you look at science or quantum physics that's what it says you know there's a probability of something matter existing in a particular place but until consciousness looks at it it collapses the wave function and the particles there they also have the particles there and there which is impossible to us right so it's kind of the same sort of thing like everything's out there so it doesn't deny it with the headless way it just says yes that's all there but this is what's looking that's empty it's just openness and that's pure love because it's open to everything and anything it doesn't reject anything it just accepts everything and it's just there it's just there yeah yeah when he was saying he swallowed the world as soon as things get here they disappear yeah yeah douglas's um headless way is interesting because it's not religious it's not it's it's it's lots of exercises just pointing out the fact that there is no separation you know um that the whole the wholeness is never separated the universe or and whatever the whole is you know people talk about other universes you know and that's just the intellect you know creating more diversity and complexity and but the truth is always simple so the wholeness is never divided but as a seeming separate entity there's an interior space where the so-called separate entity lives me i or whatever and then there's the exterior which is not me but there's no separation it's there is no separation and the self-centered you can't find it there is no self-center it's an assumption it's a story it's a mythology it's you know it just goes on and on so if you go looking in your own direct experiencing in your own volition in your own time try and find that self-center there is no self-center and science will you know any true and honest scientist there aren't many around um will say that there is no static point anywhere in the universe so if there's no static point anywhere in the universe what is the self-center it can't be static it can't be still or permanent it has to move and it's a movement and everything is a movement everything is energy and you better get used to it because you know you can't since people sit and meditate you know i've got friends who i hardly ever see now because they're always meditating they've been doing it it's not a joke i ring up and his wife says oh sorry he's meditating what is achieved what is achieved stillness still there's more stillness around than there is movement so you could you know there's more silence than there is uh sound so you can't create more silence you can't create more stillness but sit with that beingness which is relatively still and calm and observe this movement of mind and the and the tricks that it seemingly gets up to that makes us suffer the me is a fiction and you know you can deny it as much as you want you know there are teachers around who say you don't exist well that's utter nonsense who are they talking to yeah if the i'm talking to a non-existent person ultimately it might be true but it's nonsense you know i am existence itself you are existence itself there's no separation it's only the mind that seemingly divides the wholeness the unity into multiplicity through words and bob points us out constantly it's the words you divide everything up you divide everything and then you know in the appearance everything is separation that bottle sitting on the carpet is not the carpet the carpet is not the bottle you know that's the appearance but in essence everything is the one essence expressing and and appearing as and so in the three that is the one us to the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one that is the one it's easy to talk about and seemingly very difficult to do but it's actually effortless because the seeing is spontaneously happening you're not doing the seeing the hearing is spontaneously happening you're not doing the hearing so to recognise just those simple things you would think there would be a humbleness that comes it's like oh I'm not doing all that I'm not beating the heart I'm not sending the blood around the body I'm not doing the breathing you know people have breathing exercises to put you into some trance state I mean so what you're in a trance and then the trance goes waking state happens for so many 16 hours a day then there's a sleep state deep sleep state all these states are recycled because we live on a planet that spins around 24 hours and we can't stay awake or you can't be in the waking state permanently so the body needs to rest the sleep state the blissful sleep people say I had a blissful sleep well how do you know because the awareness is there the consciousness is abating it's resting but the awareness is timeless it has no beginning or any end so birth and death are just something that appears upon the wake the awakening or the wakefulness or the awareness or whatever labels you want to put on it blah blah blah blah Julia Julia Julia I have a favorite story it's all a story but it points to the insanity existing within this idea of whatever it is believed this I or this me is believed to be so if you have a disorder something like bipolar disorder one of the symptoms is called a delusion of grandeur it's a weird thing because I am grand but so is my dog shit so like there's all that you're that too the thing is I think that there's a thinking that there's something or someone that's more grand than something else or less grand actually so it's like or I'm not as grand as you you know what I mean so there's a believing that there's a me that could be more grand that's what they mean by the delusion of grandeur they don't seem to have the delusion of I'm a piece of crap but that's still a delusion right so there was a manic episode that seemed to happen in this mind in the story and during the manic episode there was a somehow there was a believing for a moment that what I am is well I am the reincarnation of Eve and Mary hey can you prove that I'm not you know what I mean actually I can I can actually I can but let me get to that point I'll get to that alright so so there was a buying into the reincarnation of Eve and Mary right and so and then there was also a buying into I am queen of the universe and these are the delusions during this manic episode but they took my my precious from me and I had a moment just sitting on the bed in the hospital and this thought arose right well if the false cannot stand up to investigation you shouldn't have a problem you should you know believe what you're saying is true you're the queen of the universe let's take a look can in this moment without referring to a illusory me or a past and future which I come to see only this is real um without a thought can you find the one who can be the reincarnation of anything or anyone or the queen of anything and there was proven no reincarnation so like I couldn't buy into couldn't be bought into you know and what was interesting I just I just I like this story but yeah I couldn't buy into it and it was that day like earlier that day I had been walking buck naked over to my neighbor's house you know telling her I'm gonna the Tony Robbins is gonna fly me and my husband in a helicopter and we're gonna ride Air Force One to the Vatican and he wanna come you know I mean like I was like really like you know earlier that day and then my husband who's known me for 17 years like he could see like because there was no more believing in that that oh yeah you know it all the all the mental you know it started to slow down and it was relaxing and I never took a pill by the way I never took never took a pill except well when I did one day like one one that's not you ask any doctor that's not gonna do it but anyway that's my my story and I like this story because I think it's kind of miraculous that just the seeing of the bullshit even in the midst of a complete psychotic you know what I mean but that is I think Krishna Murthy I was hearing him talk about it once really he was talking to some psychologist or whatever and it's really he was saying yeah it's the me this idea of me and there was absolutely a believing in a me in that moment and that I suppose could happen again so if it ever happened again you guys know just the thing to ask is right can you find the one who can give a shit who can who can be anything yeah okay it's just me thank you there is Tony behind you Tony Tony wanted to speak I might forget it but I might not yes just reflecting on what Michael was saying about when when you look in in this sort of emptiness which is and also Gilbert's like I don't know stillness but for me it's like kind of going underneath is still but sometimes like there's a separation when seeing those two things as well so it's really just a spate of thinking that there's a second part of what's going on that is empty inside or still underneath and when the tap of thinking is actually off those two things aren't there either and so in a way it there's more of a sensation of subtle satisfaction or somewhat fullness which I think goes away when there's a reflection of the emptiness defined as emptiness inside or stillness underneath and there's a separation there and I think that subtle satisfaction goes away when that separation is happening beautiful beautiful speaker and then Michael and then oh Michael did you want to I just thought that stillness isn't a kind of feeling I mean empty also yes somehow I have a separate for me it's more of a separate one it's more just like a deep dive it's almost a sense of going right under and oh it's very kind of still down there and then everything else seems to be superfluous although it's still kind of there that's just particular that's just what I was describing thank you what's wrong with right now if you don't put a thought to it if there's no thinking lovely did Michael want to speak or did you want to sit no okay I have a couple of comments Peter Peter oh alright thank you so sometimes I don't speak rather I don't speak I don't I don't sleep is the word I'm looking for I don't I don't sleep very well and I get up and I walk around and then I start to bake pastry and I guess that's the baking state it's not the waking state I get to the baking stuff and everything gets answered there Peter's baked I have something to say I guess for tomorrow come join us tomorrow online on Zoom if you're in the US time zone it's just for you guys really like not just for you anybody actually wants to join us but it's ideal for Americans and people in that US time zone because like right now is a decent time but we have Tuesday and Thursday Zoom meetings as well and that's 7.30pm which is like 2.30 in America in the morning so come tomorrow if you want yeah yeah and I have a couple of comments here from our online community JB says what an amazing meeting thank you all and Linda says you as a person don't exist I think it was when Gilbert was talking about some other teachers which was quite fun and lucid now Gioti says me quote unquote like George Constanza in one of the Seinfeld episodes where he just pretended to have a job and Ram commenting on it when he was an architect of a marine or a marine biologist yeah I don't know we probably don't know the TV show but whoever does yeah that's quite a few laughter about it so that's a good accent to yeah to just wrap it up and thank you everyone thanks thanks thanks everyone you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you youivo you you you you you youivo you you you you youivo you you youivoivoivoivoivo Soivo tooivoivoivoivoivoivoap