Who is asking WHY? Sailor Bob and the group 3 Dec 2023

And then we have Kristal, Thibaut, Ross, Charlotte, Martin, Chris, Cliff, Paula, Paul, Peter, Imali, Lassander, Dan, Stephen, Saul, Uli, Christina, Linda, Jas, Adrian, Manju, Dean, Dan, and we have Sheila, Michael, Michael, Yes, right. Lovely. And we have both. Thank you. Good morning all. Good morning. Well, now it's all about to point to nonduality here. And start off by telling you I can't teach you anything. And I can't tell you anything. Understand that right from the start. All I can do is point toward and ask you to look to where I'm pointing to to see for yourself. Because that's what it's all about, seeing for yourself.

There's no one that can give it to you. We could probably talk about his nonduality. Nonduality from Advaita, translated means one without a second, not two. Only the one essence that patterns, shapes, forms, experiences and expressing as everything. Only that. Only that. And that is the great mantra. I am that. You are that. This is that. Everything is that. And you know that's so. Because you say, that's the chair I'm sitting on. That's the room the chair is in. That's the space in the room. That's the tree. That's all that. We all know that everything is already that which we discriminate by the word. By putting different labels on it, the word.

And when you understand that the word is not the thing, the word is not the real, you see it in a totally different light. Another way I put it, I'm not speaking to anybody. I'm not speaking to any mind. I'm not speaking to that body mind entity that you might think you are. What I'm speaking to is that I am. The I am that I am. That expresses through the mind as that thought I am. Just to this and nothing else. And that's what we point to. The absolute non-duality. The great perfection as they call it in Buddhism. And they give it to you in one sentence here.

They say, the great perfection is non-conceptual awareness. Awareness without any concepts or thoughts or mental constructs. And in Advaita they say, it's Sat Chit Ananda. Nama Rupa. Sat is existence. Chit is consciousness. Ananda is loving to be. And Nama Rupa is the body mind. They say Nama Rupa, the body mind is Maya. It's illusion. But you can't deny your existence, can you? You can't deny your unconscious or unaware. You are aware and conscious right now. And nobody wants to be dead right at this moment. So you're happy to be. So, you might not have understood it, but you are already that. Always have been. And always will be.

And you must recognise from that, that the search itself becomes the problem. Because what you are seeking, you already are. And when you see through that, how ridiculous that could be. So it's a matter of recognising and what they say, knowing the truth. Know the truth and the truth will set you free. What are you free from? You're free from this belief that you are a person. A separate entity, an individual. Where did that word person come from? It comes from the ancient Latin persona, the mask. Pointing out that we have this conceptual image. Which I am the person I am. Bob, the Australian, the Goodfellow, all the conceptual image.

All based on past events, experiences and conditions. But if I am not unaware right now, and there's a presence of awareness, and that awareness becomes conscious. Conscious presence is functioning through each and every one of you right now. So you already are that. And that is all there is. That vibrate patterns and expresses as everything. And we've all learnt these words. And when you look at the words, you'll see the words not the thing. Try and drink the word water. Try and cook with the word fire or burn yourself with the word fire. Look into these words. Look into these words. What's this me or I that you believe yourself to be?

We've taken it because we haven't questioned it into being this body mind. But am I this body? We'll investigate that. And that's what they keep telling us. The false cannot stand up to investigation. When you investigate and look into these things, you'll see it's not true. Am I this body? I say my body. Don't you say my coat, my car, my house? You know you're not the coat, the car or the house. Well maybe you're not the body either. You know you're not the body. And when you investigate it, you'll see what's this body made up of. You realise this body is made up of elements.

Air, earth, fire, water, space. Try and separate yourself from the air. Stop breathing. See how long you'd last without that element. Stop drinking water. You'd soon drive thirst. Take the body temperature. You'd soon get hypothermia if you weren't warm enough at night. Get out of space if you can. So when you realise you can't separate yourself from these elements, and these elements can be broken down to subtype particles into pure energy. And that's all this body is, a vibrating pattern of energy, which expresses in all these different patterns, shapes and forms. The life. And you are that life. And that's what Nisargata tells you. There is only life.

There is nobody who lives the life. And he means simply that. The body is not life. The life is expressing through the body. And forming the body. And you are the life. That's what Christ tells you. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Not talking to himself as this person. But that's presence awareness. And is anybody unaware right now of being present? That conscious presence is with you right now. Recognise it. They say it's a cognising emptiness. Recognise it, emptiness. And when the Buddha says that emptiness is form. All these forms, whether you like it or not, are emptiness. If we turned it round the other way, emptiness is form.

And said the forms can be nothing other than the emptiness. So it's all appearance. They call it a phenomenal manifestation. And the definition of phenomena is that which appears to be. Appearance means it seems to be so. We all seem to be this reality. But you look outside and you recognise that's not so. Things are not as they appear to be. Go down to the ocean, I say, get me a bucket of blue water out of the sea. You say, don't be an idiot. Because you know the water's not blue. But doesn't it still appear to be blue? Even if you know it or not.

But the sky, you go outside on a clear day, there's a blue canopy over, what's seemingly over the sky. Go up in a plane 30 or 40 thousand feet. Is there any blue that's there? There's not. There's many other metaphors they use to point it out. Like the snake and the rope. Fellow steps out of his cabin on a dark, wet night. Stands on a piece of wet rope. Rolls under his feet and he believes he's strut on a snake. Air stands on in and the goose pimples come and the fear there that... As he imagined the serpent's poison ripping through his body. He's shaking with fear.

Somebody comes out with a torch. Look, it's only a wet piece of rope. When he sees it and recognises it, all that fear disappears. But it doesn't stop... The body doesn't settle down straight away. It'll take a little bit of time to settle down. But left as it is, it will settle down. The same here, we've got this conceptual idea and image that we are this separate entity, this individual, this person. When you investigate and recognise it is not so, people say, I came here and I saw it. I went away and it came back. How could it come back if it never existed in the first place?

But we fell back into the same trap of believing the mind and the conceptualising that's going on. And the great perfection is non-conceptual awareness. And there's nobody who is unaware right at this moment here. And awareness is there and is expressing through that pattern, shape and body. What about this mind? Think I am my mind. Well, if you think you're the mind, investigate that. Show me a thing called mind. Can you show me anything you can call mind? There is no thing called mind apart from what we call thought. And if thought is mind, which particular thought would you be? Well, you believe you are that I am.

That's the primary thought. That sense of presence. If that I am and that thought was the real, you'd be frightened of losing sight of it. But you give it up every night when you go to sleep. So innately you know you're not that I thought. You're not a thought at all. You are prior to the thought. You are not the body. You are not the mind. That's the pattern through which it expresses through. And that's the form that it expresses through. How does that form come about? Well, go back as far as your father and your mother. That animating life essence that you call your father, through the fruit he is eating and the prana, enabled in that pattern a microscopic particle called a sperm to form.

That sperm was suffused with intelligence. It knew what to do. The same in your mother. That animating life essence in your mother enabled another little microscopic particle called an egg or an ovum to form. That egg or ovum attached itself to the wall of the uterus. It knew what to do. Two microscopic particles knew what to do. Because the sperm swam to the ovum and penetrated the ovum. And when those two came together that cell doubled, doubled again and formed the little lab here, the little fetus which is what you are today. What were you doing about it then? Nothing. And what are you doing about it today?

Nothing. It's happening by itself. Just the same as the earth is rolling around the sun right now. This part of the earth is facing towards the sun. So it's light. Now it will keep rolling around and the other side of the earth will come up to face the sun again. But this part will face away from it. It will be dark. And the other part will be light. Does the earth know anything about daylight and dark? It doesn't. Does the sun know anything about daylight and dark? Well, it's happening spontaneously and naturally. Now when you were born, can you remember your birth? People try and tell you, I remember your birth.

But how could they? Because you didn't have any words at your birth. And realise that you didn't learn words until you were about two, two and a half. When you picked up words first, parents fussing around you, speaking words. And the capacity of reasoning had developed in that little infant. And you started to work things out. And when they told you, I am Billy or Little Jean, you'd say, I am Billy or I am Little Jean. I am this person. And from then on we reinforce it. We go to school and learn more words. And people tell us. We're reinforcing it every day and believing in it every day.

And it seems very real. That I am this separate entity. I am this individual. I am this person. I am is the sense of presence. Which translates through the mind as that thought I am. Shakespeare told you that there's nothing either good or bad. But thinking makes it so. And when you look into the mind, the senior core mind of belief, see the way it's functioning. It's always vibrating in the interrelated opposites. It's either good or bad, pleasant, painful, past, future, happy, sad, loving, hating, whatever. Watch the mind and see how it functions. It's constantly dividing into the pairs of opposites. The problem with that is we take the opposite to be separate from the other side.

But good and bad are not separate. Pleasant pain are not separate. Happiness and sadness are not separate. There is no thing separate in this manifestation. There are two ends of the one stick. So what we do when we take on the belief that this is good. I don't want the good things to go. Not realise it. That everything is transient. Everything is spontaneous. Everything is changing right now in this moment. You haven't got the same bodies you walked into this room with. You haven't realised that. And it's constantly changing. There are thousands of cells dying in it right now. And being replaced. And each cell that's replaced knows what to do.

A skin cell won't replace a liver cell. A liver cell won't replace a heart cell. Each cell suffused with that intelligence energy, that activity of knowing, knows what to do. And that's what we're saying. So we've taken on this idea that we are this person. Now when you look into that. Look in the Bible what it says. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. That's called God. That's another label. Another word we put on it. All things were made by Him. And there was nothing made that was made without Him. Isn't that so? We have words for everything in this manifestation.

And they're all made by that innate intelligence energy. That rolls the earth around the sun. Causes the seasons to come and go. The ties to come in and out. That's breathing you. Beating your heart. Growing your hair in your fingernails. Enabling it to speak. And the language to come out. It's all Maya or illusion. All appearing to be real. And the thing is we take on the belief that it is real. When you look in the dictionary and look up at the definition of belief. The definition of belief is the unquestioned acceptance of something in the absence of reason. We haven't reasoned it out. We haven't looked into it.

We've taken a bit to it. Acceptance of an alleged fact. Without positive knowledge or proof. Here that you might take another look at things. And see if something moves you all here. But not happy with the way things are. And realize there's got to be more to it. Than what a lot of the scriptures tell you. That have been corrupted and contaminated. And tell you're a sinner. You're a sinner. You're a horrible person. You're this, that and the other. And you've got to become good. Becoming is not being. Understand that. And there is. Is there anyone in this room who is not being right now?

Not being this or that. But pure being. And that being is knowing. And that knowing is loving to be. That's the Satyat Ananda in other words. So. The search itself is the problem. Settle into that. See where it takes you when you're sinner. And there's people in this room. That have understood it. There's people who are looking at it. And people coming along to. Look at it. Because they're not happy. With the religions. Which have got corrupted and corrupt. Along the way. And they call you. And they call you. So you've got to do this practice. And that practice. Otherwise you're a sinner. And unhappy.

You get beaten up. And you go to a place called hell. Heaven and hell. Duality. No such thing. Never look at that. In the Bible. I tell you. Adam and Eve are in paradise. In the garden of Eden. In the heaven. But what happened? They ate of the tree of knowledge. Of good and evil. They learnt words in other words. As soon as they learnt words. They obscured themselves from the natural state. And they kicked out of paradise. And that's what's happened. They get back. And recognise your true nature. And they're not. They're not. They're not. They're not. They're not. They're not. They're not. They're not.

They're not. They're not. They're not. And recognise your true nature. And be. What you are. Not we believe ourselves to be. As I say. Something comes up. See how it functions. Something comes up. And you like it. And we don't like. The good things to go. Not realising. That they are transient. No matter how much you think of them. How much you love them. How much you want to keep them there. You can't. You can't. Because it changes. Just like day and night. day and night, change it. We don't want it to go, so what do we do? We try to keep it there, we resist it.

And don't you realise that resistance is conflict? If you're resisting something, you're in conflict with it. And if you're in conflict with it, it makes you unhappy, depressed, guilty, agitated, anxious, all the psychological comes up from that resistance. So it makes you uneasy. So there's resistance, conflict and disease going on. What about when something comes up that you like? Well, you don't like it. It's like I said the first time, wasn't it? Yes, you don't like this time. You know, oh, I shouldn't be thinking that. I'm a bad person. I'm a sinner. I'll have to get rid of it. So what do we do? We resist the so-called bad things, try to get rid of them.

Again, conflict and disease. So you see why all this conflict is going on. And what I told you a few hundred years ago, he says, why are you unhappy? Because everything you say, everything you do and everything you think is for yourself. And he says there isn't one. And when you investigate there is, you'll say that's true. There is no personal self. And they tell you that clearly in other scriptures. They call it the one self, the Atman self. Only that. It's that self that is awareness. And there's nobody who is not aware. So it's not a personal self, not this body mind. It's that self that's animating, expressing and breathing and beating heart of this body mind that formed this pattern.

Just the same it's formed all these other pattern shapes and forms that are this manifestation. And it tells you again in the scripture that it is a phenomenal manifestation. The basic space of phenomena. Now there it is. They call it the telling you what the base of it is. The base of it is space. Space is in this room. Space is outside the room. Look at space. Can you find a centre to it? Can you find a spot anywhere or imagine a spot even where space begins? You realize it has no beginning to it whatsoever. Does it have any boundaries? Is it contained in this room?

Does it contain outside the room? Does it have any boundaries to it? Any circumference to it? It hasn't. It is no thing. And everything, there's nothing you can postulate or think of that could be outside of the room. Have a look at that. What would it be in? Try and imagine something that is outside of space. It would have to be in something. And you realize the only thing it would be in is space. Space is no thing. Yet everything, and you and I are things, the trees are things, the flowers are things, the flowers are things, the flowers are things. This room is a thing.

This room is a thing. Are the content of space. And space, the basic space is no thing. Can something come from no thing? Impossible. So realize that thing. So realize that thing is no thing. And you must recognize that there is only space. I am that space like awareness. Can't be anything else. I'm not this person. I'm not this body. I'm not this mind. I'm not this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person.

I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. I'm this person. So the word that is only appearing to be something and it needs something to express through. So it forms all these different patterns to express through.

Otherwise there could be no expression whatsoever. And we'd stay as that no-thingness which we are. But we form these patterns to express through and experience and know our true nature. But it needs to be recognised that that is all there is. And you and I are everything else are that already. And that being a transient pattern of energy, you look into time and realise that time is a mental concept also. Past, present and future. Well try and live in the past if you think there is such a thing as time. Realise you can't go back and live the past. It's gone. You might be able to recall some of it, you won't recall all of it.

And what you don't recall is gone forever unless you read about it somewhere or something. And what you can recall about it, you can only recall it right now. So you can't live in the past. What about the future? Well future is anticipation and imagination. You cannot live in the future. You can anticipate and imagine what you are going to do when you leave here. But it won't be the reality until you are actually doing it. And what you are anticipating and imagining right now will only be happening right now. Well when does this now begin? Try and grasp it. I've got it now. As soon as I say that it's gone.

But I've got it now again. And you realise if you look into it, this now is spontaneous. It's not a part of time, it's spontaneous. Last butter. You can't even say it's an instant. That will be close in time also. So you'll realise that you are this bodiless, mindless, timeless, spaceless, non-dual, one without a second, the great reality. That's what they call it. The great reality is non-conceptual awareness. We've learnt all these concepts and words. See the words not the real. And the definition of belief, we believe in all these things. Look into the belief. Is it a fact or do you believe it? You look into belief, you'll say belief in your dictionary is an unquestioned acceptance of something in the absence of reason.

We haven't reasoned it out, we've just taken it for granted. Acceptance of an alleged fact, is the fact that we are these persons, is alleged, without positive knowledge or proof. When you put it to the test, am I this body, am I this mind, you'll see it falls apart. This body is made up of elements, it's nothing but energy. Mind is thought, thought of sound, word, of vibration. That's energy too. And that's what Einstein told you years ago, it's all energy. And that's right. Energy is a vibration, a somewhat of a movement because it's spontaneous. It doesn't even last. Spontaneity. A throb, a pulsation, or whatever you like to call it.

Anyway, recognise that you are that. And that is all there is. And that is all I'm saying at the moment. As I say, some of you have been here, they can talk about it and tell you about it as well as I can. And you might hear it in a few different words, which might resonate with you. And then the resonation, that resonation is a recognition, a recognition. Because that which is resonating with it is the life essence of you, that hearing it and resonates and responds to it with a sense of wellbeing. So you might hear it there or some of you might be, have doubts or questions.

Don't hesitate to ask them. Because that's how it's been passed down through the ages, from one so called being to another. In the old days, people would talk about it to only one or so in a village would hear it. And might only be able to pass it on to somewhere else. And then few would hear it and some would translate it, take it, different take on it and translate and corrupt it. And putting all sorts of rules and regulations on it that you're a sinner, you've got to do this and got to do that. And that's the great scriptural saying, know the truth. And the truth will set you free.

And the only freedom you need is the belief, freedom of the belief that you are this person. Take that fact that you are the reality, you are the absolute. And that's what they call it, the great perfection in Buddhism. What can you add to perfect? Nothing. What can you take away? Nothing. It wouldn't be perfect. So the great perfection is non-conceptual awareness. In Hinduism and others they call it the absolute. What can you add to absolute? Again nothing. What can you take away from it? Nothing. In the recognition of that, that I am the absolute. Who can ever be superior to you if you recognise that?

Who can ever be inferior to you if you recognise that? You'd be taking somebody away from the absolute. It couldn't be. And what would you want from the other person? So don't you see that all this psychological suffering going through, the wars and everything, wanting something from someone else, something to believe they're better than others? A lot of those things would disappear. Be unnecessary. As Nsaka Dutta says, realise you are dreaming a dream you call the world. He says stop looking for ways out. The dream is not your concern. Your concern is to love one part of the dream and not the other. He says love all of it or none of it.

See it for what it is. You can't negate it, Raleigh. You can't and it's all the one. Just love all of it or none of it. And this is a beautiful thing. He says the rest will be done for you. By the same life or essence that brought you into existence. What were you doing about it in the womb when the sperm and ovum came together? Nothing. What were you doing for the first couple of years of your life when you had no words? Nothing. You were being looked after. It's only in learning the words we've taken on the idea that we are this separate entity, an individual.

It won't stop happening but know the truth about it and let it express as it will. And that sense of well-being is at the back of it all. The loving to be is there naturally and evidently. Don't they say God is love if you like to use that term? If God is love, love must be God. And you know what love is. You've got some concept about what you think that God is. Be the love, the well-being. And love one another as they say. Because it would be only the one anyway. Anyway, away you go. So, welcome everyone. We have about between 25 and 30 people at Vary.

And we have a couple of welcoming messages, a couple of private messages. And there is one from Gilbert. Effortless and spontaneous. Who could suspect it is all happening without any me doing anything? Beautiful summary. And Laura, recognition. Life is beautiful once it is seen. Thank you both. Thank you, Laura. And we invite everyone of you to contribute. Say anything. If there is nothing coming up. Maybe even just speaking up after that introductory spiel. What you really heard. What touched your heart. What will you take home with you. That will actually, that really rings true. Because even saying the same what Bob is putting out in the spiel.

Someone else may hear it. Someone else with less than 47 years of clarity. It may be more kind of down to earth if it's said by someone. Hi Tony. Don't forget to let the parcel. I know. I know. Thank you. So anyone would like to start? And we have the mic for the online community to hear what you say. And... Sorry? So anyone would like to hear what you say. You know, I didn't mean to say anything. But everyone was sort of looking at me. So. So. So. And. And. And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more.

And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more. And, you can go a little more. your spiel this morning Bob and that whole thing is you know it doesn't stop you know this expression doesn't stop but you know it keeps happening but there's that underlying feeling of all is well and like a little joy or something not far from the surface but all the shit keeps happening you know I'm dealing with it as it happens so yeah and yeah just that just love this morning I was talking to my housemate and said having breakfast how would it be you know if we all had a spirit of giving just that how would that be you know how would this world be if everyone had that just a spirit of giving that whatever I love you know thank you that's all I've got to say that's beautiful yeah my name is Saul um I can't get over this sense that I'm really stupid I've I understand I've I understand what you said I've loved and listened to Nisagadatta for 20 years but I'm still thick as a brick what can I do drop that concept pardon drop that concept okay how pause the thought what's wrong with right now if you don't think about it there's nothing wrong with right now well there you go nothing wrong nothing right haven't dropped dead haven't dropped dead still aware it's no thing but we can't grasp that we're so used to as I say looking into things and being things that you can't understand no thing because it's empty you're cognising emptiness emptiness is forming all these things look around you see all these forms and realise they're all empty patterns look in the mirror what do you see in the mirror a thing a dancing thing I mean a formation in the mirror you see reflections a brick a brick reflections reflections or images pardon you will see reflections or images in the mirror you'll see your face in the mirror it's an image yeah and the sargeter tells you there's nothing can trouble you except in your own imagination and break that down to imaging or imagine so we're creating all these mental images and taking them to be real and that's our trouble you go to a mirror try and grab the image out of the mirror you can't it's not there but it appears to be there you can't say it's not there because it appears to be but you know it is not there because you can't grab it so it either is or is not and that's the same with this manifestation you can't say it is you can't say it's not good and bad you know the two ends of the one stick not separate everything is divided seemingly into the pairs of opposites but it's all the one essence that's patterning shaping forming experiencing expressive as everything and you are that essence what's your next thought going to be I haven't got one you don't know but you'll say thought will come up you'll say I think I think this thought as soon as you say that you formed a subject a thinker the thinking the thought which is the object subject object because dualism ask yourself this can there be a thinker without thinking can there be the thought without thinking so subject object are only the concepts think of thought the same with the seer the thought I see can't see the thought I feel can't feel the thought I think can't think all concepts the seeing hearing tasting touching smelling thinking that's all going on the ing the functioning is a reality when you put the I onto it or the me onto it you've divided it so they say seeing no thing yet it is seen and that sounds funny doesn't it but when you look into it that's what's happening all this is no thing including this it's being seen so it's all up here it's like reflections in the mirror and you are that life that's perfect shapes and forms already hi Bob thank you so much primarily I listened to you I think about two years ago and it was just magic and I just want to say he was saying he's feeling like a brick and when I first listened to you I thought I really got it and that was so stupid it was just a thought and he's thinking he's don't understand anything it's again another thought and it took me long time to see that it's just concepts whether we get it or not thanks took me a long time too I like that it's just a thought yeah I like what you were talking about in the spiel about the vastness of space the vastness of consciousness and that's what we are is that consciousness yet this self conceptualizing comes up at times and you know you and yet in in that sphere of vastness that little concept that we take to be so important is is something that just passes like this morning's breakfast or seeing something on the way it has a it has an appearance and yet moves on and the same with those concepts of self except we tend to string them together and think that they're continuous but really they're just appearances when they come up in our mind you know I had a passionate argument with someone a week or so ago and thought and I was thinking about it later in the day and I'm feeling a bit turned up about and I'm thinking what's that because the concept is I'm right and they are wrong and suddenly that splits there and the uncomfortability comes with that splitting off from just just the energy just the beingness and then it loses its importance really because once you once you think you're right you think well I've got to defend myself and you know how do I make them see my point of view and it's all imaginary you know that there's any battle or anything that needs to be had there because it's all just an illusion in the mind or a passing event and yet we attach this whole concept of awareness or you know what we see as awareness into that focus it into that one little event and then keep focusing it there rather than letting it pass like the banks of the river are moving past us and everything in life has that movement I have a couple of people from our online community answering the question Vivek says Bob's every pointer is so clear and compassionate and yes when you actually take on board that simple question he said what's wrong of right now if you don't think about it and you realize nothing there's no I there's no you there's nothing if there's no thought there's no problem there's no separation there is no concept of being brick there's no concept of getting it not getting it needing it in future or anytime nothing when the thought thought is paused but of course there is no one here to control the thinking and start it or stop it that's the point there's no one there who has any control over it so that pointer is really just to resonate and have a quick check of what Bob was just saying did you disappear no did the heart stop beating no so everything's going on seeing's going on hearing's going on the leaving is going on without the thinking so then the thinking comes back of course and the idea of no this is I doing the seeing and seeing and objects and all that all that divisions come up in that empty space and of course that's the nature of things but once we know that without that thinking life didn't stop the leavingness is still there just no problems no separation no entity no identity no belief in being something else or anything at all there's no belief of being anything at all not even of being absolute or being clear or being enlightened non zero and then the mind comes back and says hey I have to find it this state this supreme state that everyone is talking about I the imagined self have to find a state that I will hold a bliss forever and ever that's a ridiculous story like Primali was saying that this is the thought I had it or I didn't get it they're both equal they're both just objects appearing in that open field of space of knowing before the thoughts came up that space of leavingness seeing hearing tasting touching smelling singular experiential directly experiential space of being uncovered by any clouds is prior to those thoughts coming up and clouding it and we are that prior to thought thought is just another transformation of energy like perception is a transformation of energy or action all of it is like this is not a source it's already further away from that essence because it's already manifesting as something I am not a thought because I'm aware of thought but who is aware is it the me that is aware or is it just the pure knowing so this is what Vivek was saying every pointer is so clear really just have to take it to the heart because the mind can't hear it for the mind we are all talking about nothing not the no thing full and radiant and alive but nothing bullshit so mind can't hear it only the heart can fully hear that this is not nothing but it still is a no thing which neither exists nor it doesn't it's a fully blown mystery of radiance and beauty so Jasmine says you have to trust and that's a beautiful beautiful comment thank you Jasmine Bob says relax into that you know you know you exist before the thinking comes up that's the knowing that's not a belief you can't stop being that's the truth just trust in that relax into that the rest will reveal itself and Ram says there is no giving without taking and Vivek drop the I thinking being stupid it's a mind play stay in the heart and stay there beautiful Vivek yeah drop the I it's no one to drop it but recognizing that it's just an appearance it's just it's really enough usually and Laura says spirit of giving and spirit of kindness how hard is that as Jesus said what I do or say to the least of my brothers I do to me this is being seen in an indisputable way here beautiful and Jasmine says you can slice and dice in million ways there is no answer there you have to go through and beyond beautiful there is no answer there that's the one thing that you can really understand fully in your mind the answer is not there mind doesn't have answer all the answer that comes to the mind is just a bundle of concepts which appear in that sphere of awareness and Gilbert says conceptualizing is fleeting and renewing itself constantly the timeless nature of naked cognizing cannot be stored in memory of me absolutely me is an image made of past memories concepts it's nothing that it has got any capacity to do anything to store anything to know anything to recognize anything it's an image image doesn't can't grasp or get anywhere to any state and Vivek says lacking incompleteness etc are all tricks of the mind do not buy what mind tells yeah beautiful lacking and incompleteness sense of unworthiness sense of there is something wrong with me sense I'm not fully or I have to complete myself find myself embellish myself improve myself any sense that I am separate self that is less than the absolute than the pure field of knowing will cause a lack it's all belief based it's all because the mind buys into I mean because the energy of belief goes into a concept without the thinking there is no deficient I there is no sense of or even healthy I healthy ego unhealthy there's no ego frankly of and you you an energetic immediacy before the mind comes in and starts to narrate everything and I think the big point of is one that needs to be looked at is the concept is the time looking at time and seeing that as a complete conceptual thing as well like the me can only exist in time and time is a concept so anything where it's going this is what I've been doing for years and this is what I'm not getting is already going out into that conceptual time arena if that makes sense so I don't know what I'm trying to say so saying this this backstory the backstory isn't there now because it's not the back it doesn't exist and the future doesn't exist and the me can only exist in that so that's what it really needs to be fundamentally investigated and saying well how can that be but there's something here without time that it's not even now it's prior to now is also a unit of time that isn't doesn't exist either so it's a beingness prior to all that investigation sort of thing I don't know hey everyone I feel really good right now I don't know about you guys um I was driving yesterday you know and um I was thinking I had this this idea popped up and it was like oh we're all given the name from our parents you know no parents are given a name my name was given to me it was Marty or Martin or however you want to say it but um you know it was given to me and you know Bob points out that we end up sort of recognizing this name or we start taking on this label you know from the age of two it could even be later who knows um and then we go on to think that this label that we've been given already into the you know already a couple years into our lives is the cause for all of this you know a word or a label that you've been that's been you know given and now you're claiming this label to be the cause for this just doesn't even make any sense you know um you know this was here prior to you ever had a label or ever had a were given a name and um you know how could a word make this I don't even know that that's just such a funny statement you know um that's all I'd say great yeah words can't really believe that's a mystery how is how does the belief happen you want to elaborate on that both the energy of belief I like it so it's one energy it's not a different energy it's no difference to any other expression of the energy when you hear the word you go to school and you've got to remember it remember recall it keep bringing it back and that's the tool we lock into it and so the same with this you recognize that you are that self and keep reminding be transformed by the renewing of your mind it says in the bible how would you renew your mind simply by reminding yourself that you're not the mom and I still would like to thank you so for actually bringing it up because it takes a doubt to actually stand up a lot of people show up and never speak or never ask questions or never admit to to those doubts and we do really really appreciate someone to take a stance and do it for those who can't find the balls to do that and you probably I remember being in that position where I couldn't ask questions I was seeing Bob coming to the groups for two years whenever I could because I was working at sea so I could only show up every couple of months or so never really finding a courage to speak and it was just that one time when I asked him a question but I couldn't even hear the answer I needed the recording to listen to it later because it was too overwhelming to even force myself to open my mouth and it was so important it was the only important thing in the whole universe it was so heavy because of that sense of importance and the final answer is just complete lightness that heaviness that importance that significance of those questions and all that search is all completely mind-made but you can't see it until until it just drops away because then you see what's missing that incredible tension anxiety stress yes but it does I mean we can see people coming here for a while we can see people who stopped coming here because they don't need it anymore we see people who sometimes show up out of love and respect for Bob and share the message because it does get easier the more and more of that resonation with something that everyone already innately knows in their heart because as Bob said everyone was born prior to language before they were given the name they were babies they they had all the instincts they knew how to make the mother care for them without even having a concept that they need that care so we were born to the natural state and it is all underlying there underneath that level of of overlay of concepts so when you when you hear Bob speaks and ah you're right of course of course there is a great intelligence in every fraction it's a great intelligence in a way that the body came about how it grew from a little a little a little blob a little cell intelligently into the complexity that it has today into the brain with all the electrical signals and all that stuff incredible every little bit of pointer of his it just it's just to blow the mind really and to and to say wow yes right deep in the heart everyone knows that that it is a great unknowable mystery and it can't be the answer to who am i can't be found the definition i am whatever nothing or i am god they're all words they're all nonsense the answer is really the absence of question when the questioning goes away completely and you just merge with that space like open field of knowing the mind so you are the whole field and you can't even say that this is what you are because there is no you to differentiate there is nothing that is not it so for the mind is completely completely incomprehensible it can't ever be comprehensible and even the descriptions seemingly complicated further because it's because it's so simple like like the way you see the the wildlife the the wild creatures we had pain creatures here a couple of cats roaming around they don't have concepts of needing to get somewhere or achieve something they don't have concepts of being inferior being not good enough or being not enlightened or deficient in any way or stupid life is leaving them they have no as far as we know no place in the brain which hallucinate a little me so they don't need to get enlightened because they have never been undarkened by that crazy idea of separation but that idea is also a part of brilliance of life because that idea enabled the idea of identifying with an image created that magnificent variety of connections between that whole planet between people in in various ways exchanging stories finding yeah it's brilliant when you see the whole picture you are not bound to believe that this is true that this is i this is who i am this is what i need to defend it's mind-blowing thank you yeah bob uh from your talk today i'm struck by the absolute ephemerality of everything yeah it's just like that and but the thing is that that's really a natural state isn't it just look at really natural easy thing is to recognize that nothing is concrete no idea can be concrete no emotion no nothing here is concrete so what we are is a flow or a process rather than anything concrete the problem comes from this uh tension we have between wanting to make what is not in concrete form concrete the tension is between trying to make that real always constantly this is what we do with our conceptual minds we're trying to make things real trying to hold the universe dead all the time always it's in flux isn't it it's always moving that's what we are we're moving so um yesterday we had a interesting experience with this we went to buy a a mower a ride on mower right and from the shop and i had arranged it beforehand that the guy was going to sell me the mower we got there and everything was awry you know and in normal circumstances i felt the urge to kind of make up a a story and to get into an argument with the guy right you promised blah blah blah blah but i couldn't do it you know there's some urge in me rather to be happy rather than to hold on to something which had already left completely completely gone i couldn't find it anymore i was just happy to be there i was looking at the furrow in the guy's head all his stress you know within that furrow but uh yeah it was just fun in the end and that that is the true nature isn't it that's our true nature is that everything is empty moving changing all the time even the human intellect which we think is so bright is actually the dumbest thing in the universe we're all thick as a brick if we think that we're relying on concepts to give us any reality at all so this is it this is how we let go let go simply by looking at reality now and and coming to terms with the absolute simplicity of it all this is not complicated not a complicated issue at all it's very very simple just look at what's happening now and and your experience will show you exactly what this is if you like which i don't know what it is but i feel it but i feel it what the last oh that's finished um the last thing bob said you said bob was you know vibrating patterning of energy i was going to say um you know what's what's the point of all this bob if you do your job well and cad if you do your job well we haven't really got any questions anyway because nothing's popping up but all i know is some of the downstream effects like i saw this guy the other day walking down ackland street i haven't seen him for a year but he owes me eight hundred dollars and i thought to myself i don't even care and i think that's part of it and yesterday i was driving my car i'm just cruising just cruising along in that kind of awareness that you have when you're driving your car where you're not you've got to be aware but just just really chill out awareness and if i'd gone even a little bit faster another car just shot right in front of me they'd know they just if i've been going just a little bit faster they were smashed into my car and smashed into my door but i think that's another effect of just you know living without too many concepts i think you still have concepts but over time there's kind of less of them you don't need to grasp onto them so much you're sort of just letting go piece by piece until you just sort of move into a flow also with when i work sometimes i do furniture removals and it's a big day there's a lot of furniture to move and i'm not feeling like it so okay hang on let's not think about it and my boss says do you want to see a picture of all the stuff we're going to move i go no i'll just stay in the moment and you just stay in the moment just move one piece at a time stay in the moment and before you know the job's finished so i think there's some of the effects of what bob's talking about of course there's other effects but um um if you might build it up too much in your mind there's so much resistance so much pain just it's just horrible but it's good to just let it all go and just let the guy that owes me money go let the car go in front of me instead of hitting me let the furniture kind of move itself so yeah thank you bob thank you that's good can i ask another question um there there was one question that i would love to have been able to ask nisargadatta um because he talks about how from the absolute spontaneously the this prakriti and purusha this these principles of duality emerge and then they have this dance and stuff and it's in the and it kind of i get the impression that it it comes out of love you know that the love to be um but i i i noticed that sometimes people would ask this i'm going to go but but why something like that why why does it even happen why does manifestation even emerge and he i always felt like he was kind of somehow slippery in his in his answers i i still there's something in me that wants to understand what what why even anything well that's what he said yeah ask why who wants to know i feel like i am that absolute that wants to know why did i do this what the fuck what was i thinking i think you didn't know why no nothing ever happened okay but that sounds like a slippery answer to me it's a dream well ponder over it and see yeah right i say ponder over it and see you know looking into it you'll recognize the truth but loving to be is really i i think it's one of my favorite answers because of course every answer why is the mind inviting you to create a story so it is just moving away from the truth every why question is invitation for justification explanation story is killing the mystery is to say no no there is a simple answer for example absolute was bored or for example absolute just we're bursting into creation because we call god the creator the creator what does it do it creates it says it's an original cause all of those are just stories so they rather than really going into a story and believing particular version of a story of creation and now you can have different people resonating with different one people who predominantly fear boredom will say oh yeah yeah absolutely who would who would who would ever want to experience eternal nothingness yes boredom this is the answer that resonates with my heart and other people who are actually drowned very very creative and very very kind of oriented in the diversity lovers of the of the abundance they would say oh yeah creation the first the original cause is the creativity of the universe that's why that's why it was done yet another ones will resonate oh loving to be everything wants to be everything wants to express its being its love for being and that's the only way to isolate and discriminate itself on the background of non-being so see there is many many stories another story was oh because when you forget that you are the light and you experience the darkness you crave the light and you go on a journey of finding it so you lose yourself to find yourself and that's the play they call it lila the god sport of divine game that's another story they all beautiful stories you can pick and choose and believe whichever one you want but i think the best answer i heard bob saying who wants to know that's a good answer because it straight away points at the source it is you who is the dreamer so you why why is the mystery of dreaming happening you know the answer that is within you not within him he can't tell you but another one he answers is why not and what one i learned when i was a kid and i used to ask why they told me why is a crooked letter can never be straightened and it is a valid question it's fascinating we all love the story so um so one of the things i like about coming here is the diversity of perceptions and or stories or whatever and you know when i when i when i hear the answer to this this uh gentleman's uh question um uh that you'd like to ask nissa godata i i really resonate with that because i was born with with with with why w-h-y written on my brain and and it and you know when i was at school in science class i i used to get nicknamed why because that's all i ever did and i rather suspect that when i came here for many years i was always asking why three times a week i was asking why and it's and you know what i suddenly realized that the the all the questions i asked all the questions i asked were were that they weren't the sort of things that i wanted to know the answers that i had no aren't no questions all of a sudden and but the but whenever whenever now i ask why and i still ask why 20 times a day i hear the answer but the answers are just more more more mind stuff yeah they're not they don't do anything they don't they don't actually then they don't point to what what we're all here for you know and and bob's bob's things well who's asking i mean that's a short answer but yeah man's a bit longer yeah that's beautiful thank you paul yeah i always go with the why not but it's like why should why have more precedence than why not you know and and when they both just come to that point in the middle that's neutral that just seems purer and more fundamental than going to one side of why or the other side of why not stay you know yeah that's a beautiful answer thank you the thing is when this is um more experienced like there's nothing that needs to know why or there's nothing that is wants to ask or have any answer to anything so it doesn't there's nothing there that it's not it doesn't even need to understand anything like it's it's not required so but the thing i was going to say is that there's it's important i think to see that the me is like a story so it's the story of me it's not actually me sort of thing or it's not what i am um so it's like if someone's telling a story about something it's like not what it actually is it's like a narration or just what the description of some of something that apparently might have happened it's not what it's not what actually is so i think it's good to say that the me is just a complete story on a continuum of time that doesn't exist and it doesn't exist um right now michael did you want to did you want to speak i'm sorry i felt thick as a brick for a long long long long long long long long time too and um sometimes i still feel thick as a brick but i mean some of the thing that's kind of really helped me that bob has shared that's like what's wrong with right now if you don't think about it but another way of looking at that is what else is there so and then paul hederman uses the phrase um you know it's just ordinary dog shit awareness this is it you know it's not some big bright sparkly boom of light and love and although it can be that but that's that it's just this so i really i don't know bob if you wouldn't mind sharing i know you've had some big experiences what's the difference between those big experiences is that what it is or if it's not that what is it everything is that and there is no thing but passing phenomena is passing phenomena experience that has beginning and an end is just another cloud on the sky and you are the sky did you want to elaborate i have a couple of comments from our online community jb says when thought is paused there is still intelligence but it can't be defined knowing is not knowing something specific but knowing is seeing hearing senses happening spontaneously no one is there making any of it happen me exist only as time bound timeless absence of concept and belief in time great spiel bob clear as usual thank you that's from jb thank you joy and then gilbert says life is spontaneous there is no formula or preconception necessary and kate the answer is the absence of the absence of the question love that thank you and vivek commenting on gilbert's uh no form formula no formula on lighter note all formulas are wrong newton's low e equals mc square body organs working on certain principles etc are all false and a smile and laura a great example and they are relevant in a dream but they are still part of the dream great example of it working in the real world letting someone who owes you money just fade away beautiful and jc bob good to see you and british julia wonderful and beautifully busy meeting thank you bob and cut and laura dog shit awareness and laughing bob sometimes quotes this uh from that ancient scripture of the day and lusra we have a two-day think what you are all of the other people that you have to go to the new day and lusra and yd and lusra and lusra and lusra and lusra and lusra and lusra and the lusra and the lusra and the lusra and the lusra and the lusra and the lusra and the lusra and shell awareness, sort of diamonds, elaborate names that you can't even, very, very long, Indian names with tons of letters.

And at the very end it says, or some call it ordinary awareness. And Bob adds garden variety, ordinary awareness, which for the mind is so taken for granted, is so overlooked, it really is the nothing. So that's that. And I'm often surprised that, it surprises me that how well things turn out when I just get out of the way. When I try and have all these great plans for doing things and then I get frustrated that they don't work out or that things change, which they inevitably do. And then when I give up and just, then somehow something that I completely didn't think of just works, works itself out.

So yeah, sometimes, yeah, just let it be, get out of the way. Or at least the mind, because the mind always wants to know. That's what it's designed to do. And it'll never, never stop wanting to do that because that's its purpose. Whether that's scientists looking inwards and outwards and, you know, the biggest telescope or the smallest thing, it'll never end. They'll keep finding something smaller and something larger. It's just, because that's, the projection is endless. The projection is endless. So yeah, just keep going. Paula. Paula. Paula. Paula. Paula. Paula. Paula. Paula. I just want to say, I'm really aware of what awesome, good fortune or karma or just to be here at this point in time, to have this opportunity.

It is quite, it is extraordinary, actually. And, um, and also, by the end, by, like, I feel it now and just like, I look around and it's like someone's gone around, I don't know, like I'm tripping, you know. Everything is just, and it's not, you know, it's ordinary awareness. And, but everything is brilliant, like the green, the people, the, her alabaster white skin, the, just the brown, everything is brilliant. Like the green, the people, the, her alabaster white skin, the, just the brown, everything is clear and luminous. So, yay. Yeah, just an observation on the, that question about who wants to know. And I used to find that a really hard one to take when Bob would say, who, who wants to know back to me?

And I think, well, I bloody well want to know. But then the other big question was, um, who am I? And there's no answer to that. I am, I am I, is all the answer you can come up with and, um, you know, big imponderables like what, what is love? And can you describe awareness? Can you describe love in any satisfactory way to the mind? You know, it's all you can say is I am, I am that I am love. I am awareness. And, uh, you know, it points us back to the fact that, you know, awareness is primary. The mind comes up in awareness, but it can't, can't deal with any of that stuff.

It's, it's beyond, it's beyond thinking and it's beyond the mind. And it just is. And what is happening now is inexplicable. And it's just that. It's just, it can't be, it can't be described or contained in the mind. It can't be described, but we have a go at it. The, um, the ancient, uh, Chinese Buddhist said, uh, this reality has three dimensions to it. And the first dimension is pure being. Uh, second dimension is perfect enjoyment. And the third dimension is magical emanation. But these three are actually just one. They can't be, uh, there's no differentiation between them. And another thing we've been talking about, spontaneity.

It's interesting to note that that, that word in English comes from a Sanskrit root, Svota, and from Svota, we get spontaneous. And this is the, um, if we put everything together, that's happening now, this is an explosion in consciousness. This is, this is the big bang that scientists talk about. It's all happening now. So, uh, just to put in a good word for the mind, it gets a terrible beating here. Um, the, uh, the ancient, um, teachers of dog change. Um, The ancient teachers of Dzogchen, they had a word for ordinary mind they call Sem's. And then there's the pure mind and the pure mind is the creator of everything.

It all comes from this pure mind. Everything that can be imagined manifests. It's here now. It's in the great diversity of what we each contribute to each week. And it's all part of this great magical show. I'm starting to think a whole lot of stuff comes back down to the whole free will concept. And whenever, you know, there's looking in here, there's never like a little Tony running around. There's never blueprints. There's never rules and regulations. There's none of any of that stuff in there ever. So to say there might be and it's not, you know, somehow not showing up. But billions of people say there definitely is and they haven't even probably looked inside.

I'm starting to think I've always given everyone the benefit of the doubt, but now I'm starting to think they just don't actually even look ever really. And they don't realize how much they're not looking and how every two words really has another assumption in it. And they're not unpacking the sentence they say about what's going on in here. You know, every look at every two words and see what assumption got made then. And if you know, you can't see any of that stuff in there happening. So why do you need to know a why? Because what could be done with it anyway, if there's nothing that can be done with a why?

You know, there's nothing that can be moved or changed or fixed by knowing the why. You know, I'm not sure people just feel unsettled and want to ask why or whether it's, you know, oh, then I can do something. But yeah, I mean, if you can't do anything with any of it, then there's no need for why. Why? And I don't know why people, you know, people either, you know, they tend to personality wise go with, you know, what, how, who, when. And I've always liked Colby and the why. And it's like, yeah, okay, now I can see why I don't have a proper career or anything.

Because I'm just sitting here asking why all the time and not doing anything. But the fundamental, you know, ultimate use of a why is useless. So why just becomes a fun, interesting thing that's done for no purpose. And that's enjoyable. That's it. Beautiful. So one of the amazing things that I think we all find out, find about this is, you know, you can forget an understanding that you have, you can forget, you know, a pointer that Bob or Kat has given you. And you can forget what it is you knew just before. But you can't forget this. You know, no matter how hard you try, you can't forget it.

It's really, you know. Yeah. So I think that's just a, it's just an amazing thing. Like, you know, something that we all are. And just naturally, we can't forget it. Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to say something, Bob? Yeah. Now I have a couple of comments from the online community. Here is from Gilbert. And if the narrative says this will never end, it will appear so. There is no beginning to mind and no end. And Bradley, to paint the canvas of consciousness with a paint called thought is to paint a demon and go running from the room while forgetting who holds the palette. And I have a look at the Sermon on the Mount in the Bible.

It says, take no thought for your life. What you shall eat, what you shall drink, what you shall wear. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit of his stature? Consider the birds in the field. They don't either sow or gather into barns. Or the lilies in the field, even Moses. Or Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed by one of those. Your father knoweth you have needed these things. And it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Father is not big daddy in disguise. But that life essence, that innate knowing. Be open to it. Recognise it. See what comes up.

And recognise it in all thy ways. Recognise that it's beating your heart right now. Recognise that it's doing the seeing. That life. You don't do the seeing. You wouldn't know how. Recognise thee in all thy way. The life is looking out of your eyes. The life is hearing itself. It's experiencing, expressing itself. In all thy ways. There is no space, no room for you and I. You don't know. Bob sometimes points to the omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience. There really is only that. Only life. And that you are. And that you can't forget that you are. You can't not know that you are. You know that you are.

Okay, so that's that. And... Thank you, Bob. You have to make it. Thanks, Paul. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. Thank you. Thank you.