When it is heard and resonated with... Bob and friends. 6 Aug 2023

Gilbert, Susie, Anita, Julia, Veronica, Michael, Tony, Carl, Laura, Josh, Marty, Jonathan, Catherine, Peter, Ross, Linda, Heyman, Adrian, Lockheed, and Bob. Well, hi, everyone. Morning. You all got an idea what it's all about? It's called in the ancient text, Invader. Meaning nonduality. Described as one without a second, not two. And that's what it's pointed to. And that's what needs to be seen. It's a singularity. And very simple. Now, if it's recognized here, it must be recognized there also. Because when you look into it, the and the to theivo, I, youivo, theivo, theivo, theivo, theivo, theivo, the theivo-ivo, to the<|de|> the the the theivoit where people have grasped it and understood it and passed it on.

And they all point out it's single and very simple. And the seeming simplicity of it is missed. Because we've got this concept, this strong concept, that I am. And that's alright too if you know what that really represents. It doesn't represent the person, this body-mind. It represents the absolute, the one without a second, the non-dual presence of awareness. Anyone unaware in this room right now? And you realise now. Unaware. You look around it it's pretty full. So there's a room full of awareness. Who thinks they're going to find something other than what is right now? You realise of course, I am not unaware so I must be aware.

What is this awareness? Well isn't it basically knowing and being? Is how they describe it? Being, knowing and loving to be. Any zombies in this room? Anyone who doesn't know that they're being? Or is unaware of being? And you all know that's right. But why is it? It's not latched onto and believed in and taken to be what it is. The absolute. Why do we think back into this sense of individuality, separation, personal? And they describe it as being, knowing and loving to be. As I said before, there's no one who is not being and anyone who doesn't know that. Can anyone get up and say I've not been?

You can't. Because you know that you are being. And anyone doesn't love to be. Well if you were faced with death right at this moment, you wouldn't be too happy about it. So why not embrace fully what you actually are? You are that. And that's what they tell you again. There is only that. Only. Nothing other than that. And don't you know that? I know that. Why shouldn't you? No great. Big deal. Just a simple recognition. That I am. But it's not this body mind that I'm talking about. This body mind appears to be something. If I investigate this body, what is it? What is it?

There? Seemly. Isn't there an awareness of the body? If you are aware of, that means you are not really it. What the aware of is that you're aware of. If something... Can you speak a little louder please? I think it's got the ears. It's got the ears. Yeah. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy. Yeah. That make any difference? Yes. Yes. No. No. No. No. No. No. Thank you. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot.

A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. a lot. a lot. a lot. a lot.ivo.ivo.ivo. But did anybody have to start hearing? Or was the hearing there naturally also? Unearthly. Anyone need to start breathing? Or seeing? Tasting, touching, smelling? Or hasn't that been with you or you with that all the time? Because isn't there the hearing first and you say, I hear? Isn't there the seeing first and you say, I see? I think. But the actual functioning is ever fresh.

It's ever present. It's ever aware. Pure knowing. So being is knowing. And knowing is being. So they're not divided after all. And the loving to be is the other part of it. That's naturally happening also. Who wants to be dead? So you all must be happy to be. So a little bit of investigation. The recognition must be there. That I am that. Just the same as it is here. There is a being and a knowing of that which I am. And that I am-ness is the sense of presence. The awareness of being present. It's not something that might become something at some future time. Something might change this pattern that we think is the person into becoming something.

It won't. You cannot become what you already are. How many of us have tried to become that? We're probably still trying a lot of it. And not realise that you really can't negate it. Try and stand up and tell me that you are not. I don't see everybody jumping up and saying, I'm not, I'm not. Why? Because the knowing that I am is constantly and ever there. It's ever fresh, it's ever new. It's not the knowing of five minutes ago. It's the knowing of five minutes in the future. It is exactly what is right now. But the concepts, the head stuff, the ideas, the images, the thoughts, the feelings, the words, are all giving us different takes on it.

But is the word the thing? When it tells you in the Bible, in the beginning was the word. That's when it seemingly all began for us, with the word. They're going further to say the word was with God. The so called God that we believed in, taking to be some higher power, that's going to put us on the head and take away all our sins and depressions and guilts and remorances and all the shames and fears that we imagine are real. And does that happen? It does happen when there is a recognition that you are not this person. You are not this body. You are not this body.

You are not this mind. You are not this individual or separate entity. And I know you are the one. And I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one.

I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. I know you are the one. But it's there completely. And it's not isolated to one separate pattern, shape or form. As I said, it's been able to be latched on by everyone, but not all it is. Or it's known by everyone. But again, we've taken on this belief we're separate. And we're told that it's one without a second. But it doesn't fit the concepts, the ideas, the images that we've learned.

And we don't believe it or don't want to believe it. So we think there's something that needs to be done to become something. But don't you see that becoming is a movement away from being? And it implies a future time? Have a look at time. Is there a past if you don't think about it? When you think that, you realize there's no past without a thought. That thought was, I was in the past. But when you think that, what's this past you were in? Isn't it just a concept or a thought or an idea now? Can you live a moment ago? Can you live last week or yesterday?

You can't. So past has become what you call a memory. And what about the future? Well, after I leave here, I'm going to do such and such. This, that or the other. I've got some concept or idea about future time. What's the future? Can I live in the future? I can't. But I can anticipate what I think I'm going to do in the future. I can imagine. Create mental images or thoughts and anticipation about it. But it's not the actual. And when is that anticipation, imagination taking place? Isn't it presently? You can't anticipate or imagine a future time, unless you're conceptualizing it as something away from present.

This presence. They say, presence, awareness. What's awareness? Oh, I don't think you can tell me what awareness is. But can you say, I am unaware? You can't. Because you know there's something there that you can say, I am aware. There is a beingness. There is a knowingness. There is a livingness. There's a sense of being well. Sense of nothing wrong. But when the conceptualizing are regurgitating, bringing the past and imagining and anticipating the future, not a conflict goes on. All sorts of thoughts, ideas, images come up. Instead of leaving it as it is right now. And what's wrong with that? I think of that and pause a moment.

There's no great argument or concept or idea going on. There's just the pure beingness, the pure knowingness, and the pure awareness. There is seeing, there is hearing, there is tasting, touching, smelling, heart beating, hair and fingernails, growing food, bang-dodges. All sorts of activities are going on, which I can call life. And when I listen to somebody like Mr. Agadatta, who has understood this and looked into it and seen it for true, and others say it, he says, there's only life. We've got the idea of life and death, being born and dying, and becoming this and becoming that. He says, there's only life. There's no body who lives on a life.

And everybody in this room is a body. You say, my body, and I'm alive. But what is this body? There's no body who lives a life. What is the body? Must be an appearance. Must be seemingly so. It must be something that that awareness or life is formed and expressing through to give it some seeming reality. And it expresses as the primary thought. I am. Now as we said in the beginning was the word. What words did we have when you were born? Well have a look at that. Can anyone actually remember your birth? And you know, no, I can't remember my birth. People say, I remember my birth.

But can you? And could they really? How could you say anything at all about it if you had no words? The dog or the cat doesn't say, I was born. Or the bird. Or the insect. Can't say it. They come into the being. But they can't say they were born. And when they go, like here, when this pattern goes, can I say, now I'm dead? It'd be good if I could, wouldn't it? But I can't. So the beginning and the ending are not recognised because we had no words at the beginning and you won't know which breath is going to be your last. But in the meantime, what have we done?

We've learned all sorts of words and concepts and taken the word to be real. And so I get it and it tells you again, it says, nothing can trouble you excepting your own imagination. Now, what happens if I'm imagining this or that? Well, when I look at it, isn't that when the trouble starts? It's not good enough? Or they don't like me? Or I shouldn't have said that? Or this is a problem? All conceptual images of a lead to be true. But if there was no word said, not thinking anything, I'm not saying anything. Now again, I'm started again. I'm sitting here, breathing was going on, hearts were beating, the livingness was going on, but there was no word or concept interfering with it or causing any chaos or any upheavis at all.

Stillness, silence. And the sacred tells you, my silence sings. In that silence, there is a singing, if you like. my emptiness is full. So silence, stillness and emptiness are not a vacuum or a void. The singing extremes that live in your memory, the singing sounds of silence. And they wrote songs about that, the sound of silence. emptiness is full. Though I'm not thinking of it, there is the basic seeing of everything that's in this room. Can't say it's not there. I haven't put any labels on it, but it's full. It's empty. It's space like awareness. All these things in it. So can these things superior be anything other than the emptiness?

Somebody says emptiness is all there is is emptiness. Why? I forget what it says anyway. I won't say that one now. I forget a lot of it. Doesn't matter. They're all words anyway. And have a look at the word. Is the word the thing? You investigate it. You see the word water, you can't drink it. The word fire doesn't burn your mouth. The word me is not what you really are. The word I, again, is not what you are. All these words are not what they seem to be. the sense of presence, the awareness of being, translates as the thought I am. Now that would be true if you really looked into it and saw it.

But when we say I am, it's I am Bill or I am Bob or I am Mary or whatever your name might be. You don't see it for what it really means. It means that sense of presence. That knowing, that beingness that I am. I am that. And that's what's sold clearly in the scriptures too. Have you ever looked in any of the scriptures at all? You must have seen it. The great mantra. I am that. You might have heard it. And the story told about the bloke told, goes to the guru and asks the guru to teach me the truth and the guru says, there aren't that.

He says, I have heard that before. That's not much good to me. And the guru said, that's all there is. He says, you better go somewhere else. And he says, I will go to the other guru down the road. And he says, okay. So the bloke heads off and he goes to the other guru. And the guru says, what do you want? He says, I'll come to the truth to tell you the truth. And the guru said, where have you been? Well, he says, I've been up the road and seen how to go. Well, this guru knew, the other guru knew what he was talking about.

And he says, well, I'll teach you truth but you'll have to serve me for 12 years. And he says, good, anything, anything at all for that. I'm after that. I need it. And he says, he calls the ashram minister. He says, what job have we got in? Well, he says, the only job that's left is picking up the cow shit. Well, he says, that's your job. The fellow says, okay, anything for the truth. So, he diligently picked up the cow shit for the next 12 years. Then, when he finished, Proseguro, he says, I've served you faithfully, master. Now I want to know the truth. Come and do it.

And the very said, thou art that. But this time, he recognized it. He heard it. So he'd heard it for the first time. And that happened in this case too. I'd said it, I'd said it, knew it for a long time. But when it was finally heard and resonated with it, it was different. And it's keen to be recognized for what it actually is. Innately, everyone knows that. Don't you? that. 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 outside. That's the car going by. That's the flower. You see, everything is that already.

Already that. But we put other names and labels on to discriminate it. But when the scriptures now, you read them again and they tell you there is only that. That is all that there ever is. Then the next time you hear it, it might resonate. You might see it for what it is. Yes, that is exactly so. That is what is. Not what was or what will be but what is right now. What is means it's immediate. It's immediate. It's this life essence. It's only that. And as this one without a second, can there be anything other than that? Well, I say, I am. Well, that I am that I'm putting on can only be that.

Not I am this person. I am this body. I am this mind. What's the I am then? Well, what's here? Isn't there a sense of presence of here? There's awareness of being present right now. There's awareness of everything in this room. There's awareness of things outside the room. Can I once say that I am aware? I can't because I've got no name for it. But there is a knowing. a knowing that I am. And when they call it being, knowing, and loving to be, they're explaining it again. It's not telling you what you are. You are that being and you are knowing that being and you're loving to be already.

When does it change? when does it begin? When you look at it and remind yourself, hasn't it always ever been as far back as can be remembered or recalled? Can you say anything about being born? No, because you can't remember it. So you don't know what was before that. But you realise through seeing others now that you were forming in the womb. Life was living on life. And out of life more life was coming. As Nisargata says, life lives on life. And out of life more life comes. So when does that life begin? When does it cease? You can put a story on it like they do in the scriptures.

Adam and Eve were the first people that were born. Yeah? What were they born from? How did they come about? It's a story. But they were in paradise. They weren't living from the concepts ideas like we are. Everything was paradise. Heaven. Going well. But then they did what I quoted in the Bible before. In the beginning, the beginning for them was they learnt words. They ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. learnt words in other words actually. And then they're kicked out of paradise. And then we've been seeking it ever since to get back in. Not realizing that you were never kicked out.

You never left it. You've only taken erroneous belief that you are this concept, conceptual image. You are this person. And when you look at that, where does it come from? Persona, a mask. A mask obscures your features, if you've got a mask on your face. And that's what these concepts do. They obscure your reality, your true nature, because they believed in. Look at that word belief, one of the words we've learned. You see, the belief's not the actual. It's not the real. Look at the definition of belief. An unquestioned acceptance of something in the absence of reason. In the absence of reason. And isn't that true?

When you were called Little Johnny or Little Jane or Billy, did you question it? No. You immediately took it as real. I am Little Johnny or Little Jane. And reinforced it by the people around you, going to school and learning more words. Never once questioned it and looked into it. And so it became the real. And living it. And with it came all the conflicts and afflictions that the believed in separate entity can make up. With thoughts, words, concepts and ideas. I'm not good enough. I'm fearful. After all, I'm only human. I don't like it. They hate me. I'm fearful. I don't like it. I don't like it.

I don't like it. I don't like it. Absolute has been broken down into all these concepts or words. And we've investigated words and seen the words not the thing. The word water, you can't drink it. The word fire, you can't cook with it. The word body is not what you are. Have a look. What's this body made up of? Elements, the earth, fire, water, space. You don't have to be a Rhodes scholar or a science to work that out. They point it out in science and all these. And you see it. The body is made up of elements. And you also realise from what we understand in this day and age we might not have understood years ago, that these elements can be broken down into subatomic particles, into pure energy.

energy. So this body is a root full of energy as well, mixed with all the space which is energy. Outside is energy, this earth rolling around the sun, waves on the water, seasons coming and going, tides coming in and out. All vibrating energy. energy. And it's vibrating intelligently. It's not a haphazard, accidental, patterning, shape, look at it. Look at the beauty in the flowers, the trees, you and me and every other. Everything. You can see it implies it's suffused with intelligence to shape and form. it's but it needs a pattern to express through. As that pure awareness, it cannot express anything. So it forms the body, mind to express through.

And the body, mind is not what you actually are. But you are the life that's living it, forming it, patterning, shaping it. Take that stance. I am the life. I am the absolute. What can be added to the absolute? Not a thing. It wouldn't be absolute. What can be taken away from it? Nothing. Because it wouldn't be absolute. So if it absolute, nothing can be added to, nothing can be taken away, and I must be that. What the hell am I seeking? What would I want? Why not try living as that and expressing that? I know who I am, or what I am, or how I am, or when I am.

Let it do what it does. And that's pretty hard to let go of. The old habits have been formed over the years and believed it, but it can be done. And once you get the taste into it and start looking at it, it follows on, it naturally becomes easier. And then if suddenly you realise well, it's there, I am that. Thoughts might come up, but they won't be the problem they were before. They can be handled, they can be useful and utilised, but they won't be beating me up. Life becomes easier and effortlessly. And it's not going to last forever, it doesn't have to, it will change, because that's what it is, it's transient, changing, it's transient, transient, it's constantly changing.

But every change is into something fresh and new. And there's nothing to be fearful or anxious or unhappy. or depressed. Leave it as it is. So that's it, away you go, get into it. And there's another one here for you. And we don't really have questions from our online community, we have a couple of welcoming messages questions. And no questions. So the mic is going up to you guys, to keep us going. So this is about sharing, asking questions, telling us what you heard, what resonates. That actually helps, even if you're just putting in your own words, what you heard of Bob saying, what actually made you, I heard the background laughter, what brings the response.

That's the natural resonation. It really is not necessary to understand every single analogy or pointer, because they all point into the same place, beyond the mind. So one, actually resonating with one pointer is enough. That one pointer, when you really kind of take it to the heart, that's it, that's really it. so it is, every pointer is pointing beyond the thinking. It can't be grasped or understood by thinking. It is not the metaphor, it is not the analogy, we call it space, or we call it awareness, or we call it I am, or we call it God, or we call it love. Neither of those labels are it.

Intelligence, energy, great label that Bob uses, neither of the labels is ever it. And yet, there is undeniability of existence that, as Tony says, there is not void. I've got that involved, but yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's the only one that is. Yeah, and it's brilliant, it's not void, there is existence, or there is no void. There is undeniability of that presence, which you can call whatever. And this is really it. Besides that, there is obstructions, there are clouds, they are things that take attention away from that undeniability of thatness. And those are things that we look at and discard. If you answer the question, what's wrong with right now, if I don't think about it, and you realize there is nothing wrong, that is it.

That's probably one of the best descriptions of natural states that has, at least that I've ever heard of. Nothing is wrong, Nisargadatta would say, nothing is wrong anymore. There's nothing wrong. There is no one who objects to the reality. Even if there is a pain or even if there is a rain, there is nothing wrong, because there is no imagined self that has the idea that life should be different than it is. So nothing is wrong regardless of circumstances. and if there is an idea that something is wrong, we can look at that idea. What is it? It's an idea, right? It's just an idea.

So why bother? Relaxing back with the natural state, with that mystery, with that magic, with that incredible miracle of no void, of experiencing, rather than bothering with the cloud on the sky, idea, one or the other. Anyone would like to start? Share? I start? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Dean, and Kat, and Bob, of course. I'm very happy to be here, and every Sunday, every Zoom meeting, I'm more and more happy and prefer to be in this community. and this is my start. I hope things come up in people. I mean, energetically down and flat, it doesn't mean that I'm lazy or other people are lazy, due to practicing inquiring themselves.

It is simply how life intelligence energy works. and I'm attempting to come out of the flatness, but still more things have to be done, of course, apparently, in order to make me more capable to do basic things. Rumi mentioned now I'm wiser, I want to change myself rather than changing the world. world. Me too. I'm far distant from Rumi's understanding, Bob's understanding, other people's understanding, Gilbert's understanding. And here we are. Please, anyone, help me. I mean, anyway. It was just something really simple I wanted to say. The real miracle is that we have nearly 30 people, all with a similar intention, in such a small space.

Well done, everybody, well done. The organisational skills are phenomenal. Thank you. Yeah, in the appearance, there's distance. There's here and there, and the idea of I'm not there yet. But there doesn't exist, because, you know, over there, if I walk over there, it's going to be here, isn't it? You can't actually get out of the here. So even if in my mind I think I'm going off into some dream or some expected destination, I can't get out of the immediacy, because the immediacy is the life, eternal life, really. There's no time for life. You know, where does life come from? Where did life begin? Science said, well, it was a big bang.

And they've got a telescope up there that's trying to find it, looking back in time. But the only time there is is now, the immediacy, the time itself is a concept. And we can imagine time and we can seemingly see space, but what do we, can we see space? We see volume, the volume of this room is in space, but the eye is appearing in space, and the first thing you see is space. So, what am I? What am I? Where am I seeing from? This is a really significant question. Where am I seeing from? And who is seeing? seeing? And the direct pointing is seeing is spontaneously happening.

You are not doing the seeing. You know, you open your eyes in the morning, the seeing is already there. And maybe there's a few moments where you don't know where you are, you don't know who you are, you're just in a room, and then the labels come back. Oh, yeah, I need to get up and have a shower and have a coffee and go to work, or whatever the story is. But in the immediacy of presence, awareness, there's no story, there's no me, and that can be recognised. And really, that's all it is. So, the kind of message is investigate. if you're suffering psychologically, investigate who is this me that's suffering.

And inevitably, if you really look, you can't find a me, because science will tell you there's no static point anywhere in the universe. It's all a movement, a flux of change, constant change, that the constant change is appearing on that which doesn't change. But the noumenon is not manifest. The potentiality of being, knowing, everything is in the noumenon, which you cannot experience. It's beyond the mind and beyond experience, but you can't negate it. many years ago, some author came out and said, God is dead, and wrote a book about it, and all the crazy intellectuals jumped up and they're all having this argument about God's dead, or is God alive, and it's just concepts.

You can't deny that you exist, no matter who you are, you can't negate the fact that you exist, because we are all existence itself. What it is, you can't describe or know as an object, because it's a subject. It's the one and only subject. Call it God, or call it me if you want, it doesn't matter, the words are not it. beautiful. I have a comment here from people who are with us, and there is Manju, I don't know, Heyman, if you remember Manju, the girl in that dress on Bob's birthday, I got it from Manju. She says, hi Heyman, that is also idea, more things to come up in order to be.

Nothing needs to come up in order to be. And I also have a couple of comments from Tanya, which she sent on a private chat, but then she explained that this is because she couldn't join the meeting. So she says, I'm wondering if some sounds still annoy you, does that mean you still have a lot to look at? I have had a slight interest in a Buddhist ten feathers model, and feather four, five, which I investigated after the knee has been seen to be illusion, suggests there would be no reaction to annoying, loud sounds anymore. At that point, I didn't know she couldn't join the meeting, I wouldn't have answered it.

But I just as quickly answered, tested out in nature, with birds, cats and dogs. And she says, thanks, in nature, birds, cats and dogs hiss or bark at each other, fight each other, etc. The feathers seem to be a lot of concepts. Answers my own question again, can't join the meeting at the moment, which is why I message you. You see how things that initially are to serve, obviously all those practices and all those pointers in Advaita of Buddhism or Christianity, they are not traps which are meant to misguide people. No, they are expressing as someone's hand extended to help. But when you get it to the head and create a lot of concepts out of it and start comparing, oh yeah, the feather number file, feather number five, I'm not quite there, I should be like this and I'm not like this.

Well, it becomes a heavy conceptual overlay and underneath of that you are, you are just like everything in nature, just like the bird, the tree, the cat, the dog in a natural state. So those concepts, they may be useful at some point or the other, but once you see your true nature, throw them away. There is non conceptual, ever fresh presence awareness. There is no need to cover it up with concepts. And there is no need to double check and doubt and that all happens through mental activity. Comparing myself, oh, am I there where Bob is, what he's thinking, am I thinking, or my understanding of Bob's and Gilbert's, that's a comparison, that's a lot of mental activity again.

And that mental activity happens in the natural state which we just ignore because the attention habitually goes to the story. And it is not to stop the story, it can't be done because there is no one there to stop it, but it's a simple recognition. In the relaxed natural state, simple recognition that there is that space like awareness and then suddenly there's a movement of attention and the attention moves. Oh, Bob. Ah, he's here. Oh, he's the enlightened guy. Oh, he's my husband. Oh, he's 95. Everything comes in that moment with the movement of attention. The whole story, the past, the associations, everything becomes real in the dream.

And then, oh, beautiful. Wow. Relax again. And then attention will rest on something else. And it also comes up with the whole universe, full detailed, like a fractal. The more attention goes in, the more details get real, get projected into that dream. And it is dreaming all the time. But knowing that it is just dreaming, it's just floating through and loving itself in every form. What's wrong with the thought? Nothing. What's wrong with the story? Nothing. But how personal it is, how relevant it is. It's to be admired, it's to be loved, it's sweet, it's nice, or it may be not. From the human perspective, everything's included.

Maybe painful, maybe stressful, maybe sad. That's part of the tapestry, part of this landscape, of that incredible manifestation. Just, I'm sorry. Go for it. Thank you, Kat. Thank you so much. Thank you, Dean. Just a quick response. I mean, something come up that I'm going to share, which is, thank you, Gilbert, about, I'm going to share something about things. The good news is that things will happen naturally rather than I'm doing it artificially. So it is a fact in the terminology of non-duality that there is nothing to do. It's a fact. You don't do anything artificially or act. I acted, but then later I realized I acted for a few years that I was coming here.

But then things have to happen naturally and it will happen naturally. There's literally nothing to do. That's my current understanding. And also Gilbert was explaining that time does not exist. Well, if you use reverse engineering, if you like, you can say, you can bring the map to territory. So the map is terminology of non-duality and the territory is your experiencing and the consistency of your experiencing and the terminology will determine by saying, I make the map to territory. territory. So right now, in my territory, which is completely illusory, is time still fact, but it erodes. It's a less intense or dense or solid fact compared to my past and that I think implies, I assume implies, not I think, that it will be ceased to exist in the future.

So you can call it progress, but at the end of the day, these are just words and energies and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Hello. Yeah. There is only now. Thank you. I think yeah, in the awareness of life energy, vibrancy, whatever's going on, sensations or experiences can't seem to prove that that is not all there is. That everything is already that. And that's brilliant. It's lovely. Yeah. What's up everyone? I just wanted to, I had an epiphany a long time ago and I forgot the epiphany. I was like, damn, that was a really good epiphany.

I fucking forgot the thing. And then randomly this morning it came back to me. And so I wanted to share it. So there's a point there in my story where I was an athlete, I was a rower. And my goal was to go to the Olympics and try and win a gold. And I thought that if I did that, that would be what would make me happy or content or full. And, you know, it's pretty stupid when I think about it now because it's like, I would have got there, would have been however many seconds with a medal around my neck and then, you know, my other foot steps in front of the other straight after that.

So to think that, to believe that chasing that goal or idea was going to bring me fullness was stupid. And then the epiphany came and I was like, well, where am I when I do get that medal? And it goes back to what Gilbert was just saying is, I'm here. here. And so, you know, I realize that all I really want is just to be here. It's not actually the medal, you know, it's just that idea ends up ending when I get the medal. And where am I? I'm here. So what is it that I really, really want? It's not really the medal. It's not to go to the Olympics.

It's just to be here. And I don't have to fucking go to the Olympics to be here because I'm already here which I realized and I was like, fuck that's stupid. So stupid. Why would I try and get the thing that I want in such a ridiculous way when it's already here right now? And yeah, you take that to everything. Someone wants a car, someone wants to make money, someone wants to become a billionaire. Or when they get those things, where will they be? they'll be here. So what is it that they really want? They just want to be here. So just the absence of thought, just simply, just literally, just simply being here.

But we're already here, so fuck, we don't have to go and do that. So, all right, that's me. I'm reminded of a little story about the Jewish people in the, I think it was in the Warsaw ghetto, they got together and they tried God. I'm pretty sure this is accurate, but it may not be, but it doesn't matter anyway. They tried God, so they had an advocate for the prosecution, they had an advocate for the defence, thank you, thank you. and they had a judge and they found him God guilty in the end. All their cases and everything, it was really intelligently operated, as it would be amongst the Jewish people who were very intelligent, I believe.

But they found God guilty and then the judge said, okay, well, this is what he said, okay, God is guilty and now let us pray. That's basically what it is, isn't it? We'll go through all the mechanisms of all the concepts, we'll argue this, we'll argue that, and in the end we're still fucked and far from home, so we'll just turn and face the reality that we're just there, beyond concepts, isn't it, entirely. Thank you. Time for a laugh. I want to just tell a little, you remind me of a story about two rabbis, and this is, you know, it's not racist, it's not racist, so there's two rabbis and every day in the synagogue they kneel down to pray to God and they say, oh God, I am nothing, oh God, I am nothing, and they do this for about an hour.

Anyway, they get a new janitor who's a gentile and he's watching these rabbis every day, oh God, I am nothing, oh God, I am nothing, he thinks that's a pretty good prayer, I might join them. So one morning he very bravely goes and kneels down next to them at the altar and he starts, oh God, I am nothing, oh God, I am nothing. One of the rabbis looks and nudges the other one in the ribs and says, look who thinks he's nothing. nothing. thanks again, Bob, amazing, beautiful, and everyone that's spoken. Yeah, what's occurred to me, and I think Gilbert said it and what really resonated with me was simply the immediacy of everything, like just how immediate is this energetic resonance vibrating with no thoughts and no ideas prior to something coming up and out of that space and creating the separation.

But, you know, there has been for this over here, there's been a lot of mud that has come to the surface over the journey and it's when that mud is taken to be me and my story and I'm in it again. And that's all okay too, to be dragged into that, suddenly that's an appearance there. And what is happening underneath is just happening anyway, whether the me likes it or not, it feels like this is just unfolding. Whether it's arguing with what's happening or not, it's just going to unfold that way anyway. And that's where the resistance and the pain is and taking the mud to be what I am.

So it's like we're taking ourselves to be the map and not to be the territory. We're thinking we're all the instructions and all the directions and this way, that way. so I think it's just, I like to just keep fronting up to this thing and over time the truth hits more and more and it burns up more of the mud. And it's, it gets painful in there sometimes but it's still part of the process it feels like, not that there's a process, not that there's time, but we have to sort of refer to some of this unfolding as well, I think. So, yeah, that's, but I just want to thank Bob for his amazing service and your amazing service, Kat, and for all your love and always being there when, I mean, the mud's come through.

So, thank you. Thank you for your amazing sharing, beautifully said. Beautifully said. I don't know if everyone's seen a lotus flower, but they're very, very beautiful flowers. flowers. And the thing about a lotus flower is that its roots go right down into the muck in the bottom of the pond and it feeds from the muck. So it's a kind of a symbol, symbolism, you know, that we have to have that muck in a way because it's the transformation of the unconscious bondage of self. when it's recognised or it's made conscious and then it's let go of. That's not open. If you don't let go of it, it recycles back into the mud.

And the other one of Raman Maharshi was about the two thorns. You get a thorn in your body and it's painful. You use another thorn to remove the thorn. And then he says you throw both of them away. You don't stick one in your pocket for later. You don't become an expert at pulling thorns out. That's it. Did you want to add something? Yes, I just maybe elaborate on that which was actually touched upon a few times and returned a few times. The moment where there is nothing wrong. The moment that there is no thinking. It's just a natural state. Nothing wrong. It's not that there is a me or there is no me because there is no one to even evaluate it.

If there is no thinking, I can't say whether there is an imagined self or there is no imagined self because that resides in thinking. there is no self-evaluation. There is no time. There is no progress. There is nothing that is going light or easy. Nothing. It's just nothing wrong. It's just what is. And then the attention slowly moves. And again, it meets something. It meets Bob or it meets the flower. It meets a memory. It meets a story. It meets self-evaluation. They are not wrong. All of those things are totally, beautifully valid in the dream. Bob has the analogies about growing from the fetus. There is no time and yet there was a fetus, right?

There was a life essence. In that life essence the two cells got together and they grew into a body over time, even though there is no time. It's a good metaphor. And then they grew into a seeker. And then all that is a wonderful valid metaphor within the dream. But you can see how even that piece of memory or that piece of pointing arises in the present moment with all its landscape. The whole world arises. The idea of the time, the idea of the fetus or the body or the cells or the seeking. The whole past arises in this moment. Within that arising there is comparison.

Yes, it was so much worse than years ago. It's so much better right now. It is valid, but it is still a current arising where the attention is looking and is engaged with the landscape of a story. And that all happens on that basic screen where nothing is wrong anymore. And this is not wrong. This is not that attention shouldn't go and put a Netflix or listen to the music. This is just the nature of the appearance that everything flows and moves. it's just the realization though. Right now there is self-evaluation going on. Or right now there is Bob going on. Or flower. Or something that arises which is also another face of the divine.

This is also the way the absolute, the emptiness turns into the form. The past, the thought, the story, the husband, all of it is the emptiness turning into form, dancing for itself. It is pure perfection. But the moment attention exclusively engages with the dream, 100%, it becomes actualized. It becomes reality. It becomes solid, substantial. It feels like you were so drawn to that Netflix TV show that you completely forgot that you were the one sitting and watching. The crying with the actors. That's a good movie. That's what it does. And there's nothing wrong in any of it. It's just a simple recognition whenever it is available that brings up that clarity from which whatever is happening, pleasant or painful, happy or sad, becomes what it is, the story, the unfolding, the content and not that basic screen from which it arises.

You're suddenly more in touch with the essence or the heart than with the content. And the content is still appreciated and content is still valid. But that's not the ultimate reality. Ultimate reality is that which doesn't change, which never changes. And it's beyond description. And it's undeniably here. Always here. Only here. And now. That's it. Thank you. Sorry. You can see. Everything you're explaining is like, and what's been pointed at, is like being experienced. It's an experiencing. and during the week some, this mud sort of seemed to come up. And it's like, it was like what Gilbert said, it's like got this pattern that wants to repeat forever and ever and ever.

Like it's just, until it's really, really recognised and then it just, it just completely dissolves. It's just amazing. But coming here today, I don't know what's happening really at all in any way. But somehow the mind flow has slowed. And in the slowing, it's just, the watching of attention. You don't know where attention is going to land or what it's doing. But in the slowing, the mind flow, it's like, it's empty. There is no time. All I can describe is just the experiencing. And it's like a sensation in the shoulder or a tension of sunlight over there. but it's all happening right in this, you know, it's spontaneous.

There's no story. The mind flow just slows. And I find, I just really wanted to share that I'm just very happy to be here and love you a lot Bob. And you're fantastic. There's something, I don't know, I'm not going to try and describe anything at all, but the presence, there's something that is just so peaceful. Yeah, it is tangible, palpable almost, but unexplainable, really indescribable, but there's a lot of gratitude and love. And yeah, thank you. Just wanting to expand on what you were saying, Kat, there's a story, or there's an analogy in one of the Upanishads in India, and it talks about these two birds, two birds sitting in a tree, and one is very active, building a nest, and you know, gathering all the twigs and, you know, eating the fruit and being very active, and this is very much a, you know, symbol of our active self.

And then there's another bird in the tree just sitting there watching, just watching, and this is more the analogy of our witnessing self. And at both times, this is happening for us. You know, there's the active side, like I told the story of last weekend of watching myself going out onto the street, you know. So this stationary, this thing, something, this self that doesn't move is very aware of what the movement is. And this is all happening at the same time, and it's all of us. Yeah. You know, so this is a very powerful something to remember. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful. And the action figures acting, that presence is always there.

Yes. It's never not there. Witnessing. Yeah, yeah. It reminds me of when I first read the Upanishads, when I was in my 20s. Aurobindo, I think, was the guy that did the translation. And the thing that struck me in the first few pages was it says, Avidya and Vidya are the same. Oh, okay. And one is knowledge and one is ignorance. Oh, okay. So, I mean, I didn't understand it at the time, but I understood something about it. So in the appearance, we're dancing between knowledge and ignorance. We don't really know anything, but through experiences, we gain some sort of knowledge, which animates us. but the movement, the essence, I would say, is cognition is a movement of energy.

You know, what calls it the activity of knowing. And everything in the phenomena is moving, generally. So that movement of the phenomena is the same movement, cognition, there's no separation. And in recognizing that, all of our belief systems collapse. Separation is, there's no separation. It's a sense of separation, as Bob points out. It starts off when the child looks out and sees something in the room and says, that's not me. And there's a sense of vulnerability. reality. And so from then on, there's a story added to this sense of separation, me, trying to make it solid and real, you know, trying to protect it because everything is not me.

Everything else is not me. And reality is I'm not me either. but this movement of the cognition and the movement of the phenomena is not separate. So recognizing that, all of our accumulated knowledge is actually ignorance. And our ignorance is knowledge. They're the same. So it's a movement. The stillness and movement, you can't have movement without stillness. You can't have stillness without movement. They are the same. It's like the yin and yang symbol. And the yin and yang symbol is encased in a circle. And we don't, we tend to forget about the circle. The circle is the orb of existence or the so-called boundary of everything.

And this movement of the yin and yang. rotating within the symbol is the life. It's the life movement, which is totally balanced. It balances, you know, the negative and the positive balance themselves out. And the neutral is the circle, which encompasses everything. But there's too many concepts there, aren't there? I like what it says in I am that. there's the noumenin and the phenomenon. And, you know, and the noumenin in its unicity can't know itself. So that's why there's the phenomenon. phenomenon. Yeah, beautiful. I have a couple of comments here from the online community. And this is Gioti. She was saying earlier that there's, I think someone was saying 30 people in the room.

Susie. She says that it's another 24 online, up to 30 online. And then she says, really hope there are some Netflix shows of that quality that are so immersive in the near future. Yeah. And Will says becoming aware of thoughts has been very helpful as shifting attention away from thoughts to identify with awareness has simplified everything. Wonderful meeting. And Zanti says there is no need to desire to be. Being already is. And Bradley, I'm sure there was somebody who brought the furniture into that room. Many bodies arrive in the room today. Who brought the emptiness into the room? And what has the most potential? the furniture, the bodies, or the emptiness?

Very good. Beautiful. Beautiful. You could fit more. Yes, Adrian. I'll say one more thing. I think that word attention doesn't seem to get enough attention. It's like, okay, there's attention moving around, but what is that attention that's moving around? That's the direct seeing. it's not my attention sort of thing taken to be my attention moving. So that's, I think it's important. That is absolutely crucial. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Ten minutes to go. Gutsy. I just wanted to highlight, you know, a really good pointer that Gilbert has shared quite a few times, is watch the mind and see how it operates. You know, I started watching my mind and realised that it's pretty sneaky in terms of it pops up, you know, and it goes unnoticed sometimes.

But when it's noticed, at least for my, this mind, it tries to understand what's going on and that that understanding creates a seeming someone there trying to understand something. But when you, when you watch it, I mean, it's different for every mind. If you watch your mind, you'll see, you know, how it seemingly takes over the emptiness. And, you know, you can see people that are trying to be pretty or beautiful. You know, all of that display of the mind is just a display. And if you watch it carefully, right now, you'll see that it displays itself in different ways. but none of it is, yeah, none of it is you if you have a have a close look because, you know, when there's nothing there, you're still there.

And all the same shit that's been said plenty of times. But, yeah, watch your mind, see how it operates is a great pointer. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting when Gilbert mentioned about the yin and yang and life and turning and I just remembered when I was in school. It was, I don't know, 20, 30 years ago. We actually had the same topic in our history lesson of, I forgot what it's in English called. And we went through different cultures and life, like cultures long time ago and art and art and buildings and, you know, and that always appeared that yin and yang or that life coming and going.

Yeah, basically it's just realizing now that I hear it in different wording now, 30 years later. And I never saw that way it's been taught. But yeah, you can see it, like, also the swastika sign and literally in Italy when you walk around in these old buildings even when they're almost ruined and you look on the floor, sometimes in the corner you can see things like that. So that I realized that teaching must be always there somewhere. Yeah, I was like, oh, that's interesting. So that just came up. And I never understood it that way I understood now at that point in time. that. That.

That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. That. now. that.ivo that. that. that. that.ivo that. that. that.ivo that.ivo of. that.ivo that.ivo and. Hello family, everybody. Bob, Kat, thank you again. Yeah. There's been a bit going on over here recently, but yeah, the mind wants to unpackage everything before time. But just a little sharing that's helped me, regardless of what way you come into your truth, if you will. I just think it's very important, the attitude that you come into it with, no matter if it's inquiry or meditation, or devotion or whatever it is.

Just the attitude. Just being open, I think, is very important. A lot of times we don't notice it, but we bring a lot of baggage. It's very subtle. You think you may be getting it, or you think you may be as open as you possibly could be. But yeah, the mind is very sneaky. Marty, it wears very many, many different costumes along the way. So yeah, like Bob was saying, any movement of energy is pretty much a movement away from truth. Yeah, that's all I've got at the moment. But yeah, just being open and not bringing anything to any investigation. Just being as empty as you can completely.

And that's a concept which gets shown up over and over again. You get humbled over and over and over. But yeah, but just stick with it. Yeah, just be as available as you can for this investigation to everyone who's still searching and going in. So thank you. The thing is, also, the life doesn't stop living. And experiences don't stop. The apparent experiences. And that includes smacking your finger with a hammer, having an accident, fighting with a loved one, somebody dying. So all of those things still occur, still have a direct experiencing of. And there'll be reactions to that. Because that's just what it is. But there's a thing about the identifying who's having those experiences.

That's, I think, for me, where the difference became. And also that the suffering around those things drops a lot quicker. It doesn't get held, and it doesn't get the story building up around it. But those things still occur. And they will occur. Yeah. And also when those things occur, there's no repression. Yes, that's right. There's no repression. It just comes up and dissipates, comes up and dissipates. Yeah. So, you know, the truth is always simple. And what is common to all? What is the common thing that we all experience? Isn't it the unknown becomes known, and then it returns to the unknown? Mm-hmm. So things bubble up out of the unknown, or the unconscious, as somebody says.

I think it was Jung or what. Uh-huh. He calls it the unconscious. Mm-hmm. Collective unconscious. Yeah. So things bubble up out of the unconscious, out of the unknown. They're known, and if you don't try and grasp some benefit from it, allow it to flow, Mm-hmm. then it's gone. It's released. So there's no bondage of self in that. That's right. There's no me in that. It's just, Mm-hmm. It's not even acceptance or rejection. It's just the flow of the river of life. Mm-hmm. And that's what's common to all, is this bubbling up of the unconscious, is experienced, and then if you let it go, life flows much more smoothly.

But if you've got a little me in there that's trying to, on a progressive path, you know, a spiritual path, and trying to gather merits and credits, then it becomes very convoluted. And the truth is always simple. Mm-hmm. And, you know, and the bullshit is very complicated. Oh, there's a cool thing. Hey. Not more details in bullshit. That, um, oh, sorry, that commonality is like, it's quite incredible, because, um, you see that, like, there's actually, it seems like there's, there's not 30 minds here. There's one mind expressing in all these different ways. and so every, every, every, every time someone spoke of the mind, it was like, I, it's intimate to, to this, like, the experience.

It's not separate, oh, your story, you're a bit more stuffed up than this one, and psychologically, you've got, no, no, it's like, although there are some exceptions. I don't have much to say, but there's just sitting, sitting here, kind of throughout the meeting, it's just more and more of, like, this very simple, not, uh, exciting joy that I find, not even coming up, but just being there. Um, and then, like, this joy appears, and, I've, there's almost like a desire to, oh, what, like, what is this joy? Like, how did this come to be? And then, that, this thought comes in, and as that comes in, the joy, kind of, starts diminishing into the background, and then I'm like, okay, stop looking at it, and, and there it is, and then, start trying to find out again, and have some beautiful way to explain it, but, um, yeah, it just is, the joy just is, and, it's beautiful, and that's really, there's nothing else, I don't know what, what it is, or how it is, it just is.

So, I used to always say, be warm towards it, give it a nudge, and a wink. Mm. Yeah, maybe that it is. Maybe that it is, be warm towards it. Yeah, so, thank, thank you everyone, thanks Bob, thanks Kat, that's beautiful. Thank you. Thanks Lucky. All right. Yeah, isn't it an amazing sweetness, into focusing, into the heart of hearts, really, because that's what we're exploring, this is not an intellectual investigation, or analysis, how everything is empty, and, and nonsensical, it's really an exploration, of a love for being, and the way that love for being, as a movement, expresses itself, as the 10,000 things, which are all just a dream, but, what an amazing dream.

So, thank you everyone, for being here, and joining us, on that beautiful little exploration. Thank you. Thank you to the catch. Oh yeah, look at the girl. She's so zen. Look at the girl. She's so zen, this cat. This cat is so zen. She also knows. Good one, you're welcome. Good one, you're adorable. Yes, thank you. Thank you everyone.