This transcript was made by speech-recognition software, so names and some words may be misheard. The recording is the original: watch on YouTube.
Honey, Azulma, Andy, Timber, Gris, Harbo, Andy, Kavisha, Josh, Jim, Ross, David, Dame, Eima, and Cat. She's turned him off, I can't. Oh, okay. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Bob. Good to see you all. The one is. The one is. The one that I. Expressing. In all these patterns, shapes and forms, not only the people, but the things that are in the world are dormant. is a basic space of phenomena. A phenomenal manifestation. And the definition of phenomena is that which it used to be. We might think we are these individuals, these separate entities, these persons, but the reality that you are life itself. It's a unique expression of life.
Only the one seemingly separate and divided. And it couldn't realise or recognise itself if it didn't be divided. Could there be good without bad? Could there be silence without sound? Or a movement without stillness, really without summer? It couldn't be. But the problem is were taken on and divided that one essence appearing as words, concepts, ideas, images. were taken to be separate. But there is no separate entity anywhere at all. It's all the one is. Let's see what happens when we believe we are this separate. We've taken our souls away from the absolute and believing in we are these persons, individuals, separated and and that sense of separation is isolation.
It's insecurity, it's vulnerability. And the belief goes into that sense. And instead of being the one intelligent entity expressing as everything we take on the I am this person this separate entity that needs to become to become or realized or liberated or whatever. It's becoming as living as not being. or realized or liberated or whatever. It's becoming as living as not being. Anyone who is not being right now. No one can say I am not. So that needs to be recognized that I am already that. And that's what they tell us in the ancient text I am that I am. And that I am is not the thought.
It's the life itself. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I am the life. And no one can come to the Father except through I am. That sense of presence needs to re-cognize what they call the Father or the life essence itself. They put the label God on it. Look in the Bible and it says in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. and the Word. All things were made by Him by the Word. Isn't that so? You know anything at all without the Word? And there was nothing made that was made without the Word.
And where did these words come from? Were you born with any word? Well for a start off can you remember your birth? If you can't remember your birth where did you begin? You go back and see that you are the beginningless beginning. Because from the little sperm and ovum two microscopic colours coming together formed the little embryo the little fetus. before that, before those microscopic particles were there. Pure energy. Pure vibration. And they call it the basic space of phenomena. All this phenomena which appears to be has to be has to be has to appear in something. How could it be other than that? No appearance.
No thing. In its absoluteness it can't know or recognise itself. And that's what they call absolute. Great perfection. Perfect. Absolute. Totality. Non-duality. All words. All different labels we put on the that which can't be separated. Can't stand alone as something separate and apart from what is. It is all things and everything. and it is only the one essence. Not two. And with the words as Shakespeare told you there's nothing either good or bad but thinking most of us have. And that's how the words express. In the opposites. Good, bad, pleasant, painful, happy, sad. Loving, hating. Here, there. All words which we divide the indivisible, the inseparable.
Male, female. Male, female. All expressions of the base in which it all appears in. Space. Space is no thing. This room seems to have been in space. But the space forms the room. Battles, shapes, and forms, and appears and expresses as the room. And as everything else. How would that help? Well, living now the belief that I am a person. A separate entity. There is a realization of a separation. And separation is isolation. Standing on its own. That I am this individual and this person. It's separate from anything else. And so there's a lot of vulnerability and insecurity in that belief. What if I recognize that I am absolute?
That is all there is. And then, who can be superior to me? Who can be inferior? And what would I want from anybody else? Seeing as all expressions of the one essence. And separation which comes about with the learning of words which weren't even recognized until that little embryo that little fetus grew and the capacity of reasoning developed in it. And it learnt words. Learns words from the parents. Parents fussing around you speaking words. They learnt words from their parents. And you say you didn't learn words until you were a couple of years old. Then they point out you must be prior to the word.
You're before the words. Animals, birds and insects don't have words. They have sounds. And they can only function to a certain extent through the sounds. But with the learning of words we can create, we formulate all sorts of ideas, images, and different things. Which in that separation can be very useful. But in the separation they can become problems. What happens if I recognize and look at things and recognize that I am what they call pure existence. I am conscious. I'm not unaware. I am loving to be. I don't what it be not be I love to be. And that's what they're pointing out. The absolute.
I am already that. But these words I've learned that have been recognized and believed in from the time first started to reason. More words have been added to it. And that put it on this conceptual image. The belief that I am a person. A body. A mind. A conceptual image. Just like the things appearing in the manifestation. trees, flowers, birds, insects, mountains, rivers, planets, stars. Everything. Without the word on any of that. What is it? Is it just the one essence? And Buddha called it emptiness is form. Pointing out that in this space like awareness which is emptiness of any the pattern shapes and forms through vibration appear in it.
Emptiness is form. The forms can be nothing other than the emptiness. And I believe that. Because the parents told me so. They believed it. But then looking into it a bit further you see there are some so-called patterns, shapes and forms that have re-cognised and know the truth and pointed it out and others have picked it up. But not all of us look for it. Try to find the answer. But some of us realise that living as a separate entity with all its problems is not good enough. There's got to be more to life than that. And they're the ones that seek a little bit further.
Not realising in the look and the investigation you see it is already so. And the search itself becomes the problem. because we think we're going to become or get something. The idea of becoming is time. Space is no thing. No pattern, no shape, no form, no boundaries, no centre, no circumference. Time is past, present and future. Concepts, ideas, images. If I look into that and investigate and see that time is a mental concept. Is there a past if I don't think about it? Without a thought can you say there's a past or a future without the thought? Can't see anything at all. And if you stop breathing your heart stops eating hair and fingernails stop growing No.
And Shakespeare tells you that there's nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. makes it so. They talk about being knowing and loving to be that's the Sat Chit Tad Nanda existence consciousness bliss. Anyone who is not being right now. Anyone who is not existing. Anyone who is not conscious or unaware. Anyone who is not happy to be. No. You can't negate your beingness for existence. You can't negate the knowing of that. And you don't want to be dead so you must like being. Realise and recognise that I am that sense of presence expresses through the mind as the thought I am that is already that.
Which they tell you. It's the great mantra I am that. And you know that also. Because that's the chair you're sitting in. That's the room the chair's in. That's the space. That's the trees. That's the flowers. Every. That's the other people. Everything is that. Everything is that. Which we put words on and discriminate it and separate it. And divide it. Into other. And realise it's only the belief of me or I becomes the problem. because when I, the I in the way thought functions must be its opposite, not I we divide ourselves and separate the reality we are. And the Buddha calls it a cognising emptiness.
And emptiness with a capacity of cognising or knowing. And he made the statement that emptiness is emptiness is, emptiness is form. That all those shapes in this room are empty forms appearing in space. Space is no thing. And something come from nothing. Emptiness is form and he turned it round and pointed that out. The forms can be nothing other than emptiness. And they call it a phenomenal manifestation. And the definition of phenomena is that which appears to be. So we've got this amazing universe before our eyes with all the different shapes and forms Not realising it is appearance only. Seeming like a dream. Similar to a dream.
And this argument tells you that you're dreaming a dream you call the world. Stop looking four ways out. Try to get out of the dream and think make something else. He says the dream is not your concern. Your concern is you love one part of the dream and not the other. He says love all of it or none of it. And the rest will be done for you. Just the same as it brought you into existence and appears to be so. So it's constantly transient, constantly changing. So it will be. Pattern, shapes and forms appear, play around and disappear. These bodies are the same. Pattern, shapes and forms.
It plays around for a while. And then disappears. Where does it come from? Well it only can come from space. Space is no beginning or no ending. There's nothing you can postulate or think of outside of space. Where can it go? Well it can only go back to where it come from. It appears and disappears. That the space has been never corrupted or touched by any of the shapes and forms of it. And that all the pattern shapes and forms are adornments on that space. In a lot of cases it makes the space look a lot better, more beautiful. In other ways it can make space seem horrible.
With wars and famines and floods and fires and all sorts of things happening. But has the space been contaminated? Or corrupted? Or touched in any way shape or form? It hasn't. How could it be? You go to a movie and you see all the activities taking place in the movie. Dramas, comedy, all sorts of things taking place. But has the screen ever been contaminated or corrupted by anything that's appeared in? It hasn't. So space like awareness. Awareness that we know. There's nobody who is unaware right now. Each one is aware. And that awareness, we can't say what it is. Can't give it a shape and form.
So it's like space. It's no thing. Yet, everything is pattern, shaping, forming and appearing. Space is no thing. So can something come from no thing? It can't. It can't. It can't. It can't. It can't. It can't. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. Congratulations. Woo! I made it. Woo! Thank you. Sorry I didn't mean to take you out the room. You're going. So. All appearances. All appearances. Yeah. Nothing can be added to it. Nothing taken away. Though it seems to appear and disappear, space has got no boundaries. No beginning. No end. No centre.
No circumference. No centre. No circumference. But in the sense of separation, we get the concept of I or me. Then the things which appear on it, we take to be not me or not I. And divide ourselves. And division and separation, as I say, is insecurity and vulnerability. So only me can be unhappy. So only me can be fearful or anxious or depressed. This image I have about myself and things don't seem to fit with it or sit with it. It brings about fear, anxiety, stress, guilt, shame, remorse. So, all the psychological problems we have, conceptual words come up in it, appear to be real, seemingly real, and we suffer accordingly.
And this life, this pure being, this sense of separation, becomes pretty miserable. And Wei Weiwei tells you, why are you unhappy? He says, because everything you say, everything you think, and everything you do is for yourself. And there isn't one. So if I see the self that I believe myself to be, isn't a personal self, it is no thing except a thought, a conceptual image. Who or what's going to be unhappy? Only the believed in essence, the believed in person. Now look at that word belief. We believe this, we believe that, we believe everything. Look in your dictionary, what's the definition of belief? An unquestioned acceptance of something in the absence of reason.
Unquestioned of something in the absence of reason. And isn't that what we do? We believe there's this me, and everything is relative to this me. Relativity, or relationship, is duality. That's the split, that's the separation. There's nothing either good or bad, but thinking, most of the same. Now that's how thinking functions, good and bad. Pleasant, painful. Happy, sad. Words, and we take the words to be separate and divided. And that division causes the fear when I believe I am this individual. I'm insecure and vulnerable. I don't know what's going to happen next, or who to believe, or who to like, or what to dislike. All sorts of psychological dramas and traumas come up.
And the energy of belief going into them, they reinforce, and a story comes about. A story made up of concepts, words, ideas, meanings. Have a look at your stories. What's there if you don't relate to any story? What's wrong with right now if I don't think about it? Can I say it's good? Bad, pleasant, painful? Happy or sad? I'm not thinking about it, I can't put any of those words. Without the word. Without the word. Do I disappear? Do I fall apart? I don't. When I go to sleep at night, the words disappear. If I was the word, I, and it's not there when I go to sleep, it'll be the end of me.
But it's not. Because I wake up and realise that the life is still there. There is absence of the words, concepts and ideas in sleep. A dream might occur and form a seeming other world. And me in it, taking all sorts of activities and things in it. And it can be fear, anxiety, stress, love, hate, all these things in the dream. The same as it is in this waking state. When I wake in the morning, where does it all go? It all disappears. Pointing out that it was appearance only, only seemingly so. I don't realise in the waking, when I wake up, I wake up to this waking dream.
Because when I look into the dream when I wake up in the morning, and realise that my body had never moved off the bed, and no words had come out of the mouth, yet all these things took place. You know, I wake up, they're seemingly real and taking place. The dream is not the reality. And this waking dream is not the reality either. It's only how it appears. It's all happening to me. Believed in me. Believed in me. I am this person. I am this individual. I am this name the parents put on me, this label. But realise it's all words, concepts and ideas. Without the word.
Do I disappear? I don't. So wouldn't it be wise to recognise and see if this is so? I've beaten myself up with the concepts and ideas. Only me, it's only the idea of me, that I have this image about, can be fearful, anxious, depressed, guilty, shameful, jealousy or envy. Me is the cause of all this psychological. The belief in the word, a concept, an idea is the cause of all this psychological suffering. The cause and effect, the effects of the cause are the words we put up, the anxiety, the feelings and sensations, the fear, the anxiety, the stress, the happiness, the unhappiness. Cause and effect is what they call karma.
And we've got this big fear about so called karma. What happens if I recognise the cause me as a fiction? And ask the simple question, can there be an effect if you're not relating to a cause? We'll test it out. Don't relate to the cause me. Just leave it as it is. See what happens to the effect then. If it's going to come up out of the habit, mate. It's not going to last too long without being reinforced with the words, concepts and the story we go on with. Anyway, it just struck me out. It's gone on long enough. And you all hear, and a lot of you know all about it, and let it out.
Tell people about it. The first... And the people you can't. And the people you can't. And the people you can't. And the people you can't. And the people you can't. And the people you can't. And the people you can't. And the people you can't. And the people you can't. And the people you can't. And the people you can't. And the people you can't. And the people you can't. Those that are new might have questions and they might hear what you've got to say. But realise that everybody is already that. And that's the problem. We toast ourselves up with saints, saviors and seers. People we think are superior and better.
And believe in the person. And I'm not good enough or I'm not that right enough. And that's the problem. But recognise if you are already that, then where's the problem then? And all around you, the appearance, can, if necessary, be utilised and be used. Which it is done in the way the world is functioning and patting. And expressing. But because it's still relating to the separate entity, there are a lot of problems. But the one essence, appearing, patting and expressing as everything, which it is, needs the pattern, shape and form to express through. And we take these things to express ourselves to be real. Recognise your true nature.
So you need to do it. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks both. Thanks both. and the old spot, o'er the next book. Yeah, ma'am. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, we need to, you can turn your ears. And yeah, welcome again. We had a beautiful conversation just before Bob started talking between a few people here. And I wish you could actually share with the same freedom and the same clarity when the sharing time comes. Because this is really important what Bob just said right now. There's no one superior. He's not a sage and seer that is anything more and anything better than you are. The same life is shining out of his eyes.
And the same life is shining out of yours. You may have the concept that no, no, this is not the same life. There is me, some little creature there that takes credit for that light. But that's just a thought. Without that thought it's still the same light. So finding the way to let it really express through you, it might be more helpful. I remember finding it 10 years ago when I was coming to the meetings. Bob would recite the spiel. And it is such an advanced, condensed way of presenting the pointers without any fluff or any adornments. That sometimes it was a little bit too much for the mind.
So I needed to hear someone who didn't have much clarity. But it was unpacking it. And I remember people unpacking some of the pointers. And they landed out from those who didn't really have 48 years behind them or even 48 hours behind them of clarity. So yeah, just use that opportunity and see how it comes out of you. See what you understood. Even to say, you know, even if there is one pointer that really resonates, really landed, and you really feel that's true. And saying it out loud, it will reinforce it in you and it will, it may actually really help someone. One pointer. One thing that is truth.
I mean, everyone knows that they are. That's unquestionable. But some of those things that Bob is saying and showing in so many ways. Any of that? Anyone would like to? Please. Yeah, for me, the what's wrong with right now, if you don't think about it, is just a classic. But I don't know, I think I was talking to Helen about past and present, and she mentioned something the other day when we were chatting on the phone. And I got this, just this, like, it's like, you know, the classic balance scale, where you've got, you know, the middle point, which is now. And then you've got either ends of the scale, you've got, you've got the past and the future.
And everything's fine if you've got it in balance and you're in the now. But if you're going one way or the other and you're constantly going back between forwards and backwards, there's no equilibrium. So the equilibrium is, is in the middle now. And I found that as a really nice little, you know, visual reminder that if you're feeling out of balance, it's because you're not, you're not here, I, now. Yeah. So that's always helps me anyway. Mm. Yeah. Beautiful. That's the razor's edge. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Bob. Um, I think sort of on the same sort of vein I've been working with, um, it's like whenever I want to be somewhere else or doing something else, that's when I feel, um, some form of conflict or contrast inside of me.
Whereas when I'm just doing what I'm doing and leaving it at that, then like. Nothing's wrong. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's even beyond, you know, beyond fine. It's just, and there's a sense of presence, I guess. And it's hard to find the words because, you know, but, but there's definitely, there's no suffering, you know, and that, that absence of suffering is, is when I'm just doing what I'm doing. Um, and even when somebody tells me to do something and you, in the past, if I have a plan of what I'm doing and then somebody sort of interrupts it, I guess, and asks me to do something else, I get a bit angsty or something.
Then there's a bit of feeling of conflict, um, which is an unpleasant sensation. But then nowadays I'm sort of more open to that interruption and don't perceive it as an interruption. It's just what sort of, what's happening. Um, and that, that losing, um, just losing that idea of having a, like a destination, you know, whereas it's just sort of step by step, but without a start and finish of everything. It's just, is what it is. And so then it just, there's just less suffering, I guess. Mm. So, yeah, and that's that, that now, but every time I, I hear people talk about the concept of now, my logical mind goes, there's no such thing.
Um, so, um, because you can, can't postulate a start and a finish. So there is no now. Um, and, but it's just a word and it's just a pointer and it's just, you know, talking about that different, differentiation between, you know, past and present and stuff. But, and I think the word presence is working more for me. Um, but again, they're all just mind concepts and ideas and just exploring, you know, what is actually causing that suffering and that agitation. Um, and not buying into it. It's just interesting. But yeah, thank you. Beautiful. Yeah, that's beautiful. Yes. Uh, uh, the more, the more that you're in that.
Presence awareness. You can't be interrupted. There's no inter, there's no interruption. You know, and people say, oh, they interrupted my meditation. I said, well, if you're, presence awareness is the meditation, if you like, which cannot be interrupted. Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted to see it. Yes. Thank you. It's later. Um. Later, later. Uh, actually, it made me think of a little song that we made up a few months ago. Uh, if I can remember it. I haven't got my little guitar today. I forgot. Um, we have, we have a spare one here. Oh. Okay. Okay. I guess I can't get out of it then. Um.
Okay. Okay. Let's see. Let's see if this is, I don't know. Let's have it. There it is. So, okay, hang on. There, there. It's a bit of a put- A lot. It's a little bit of a lot, so. Oh, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. It's it. It's I was. A were. A. A. A. A. A. A.
A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. Sorry. Sorry. I'm a presence in my heart. Breath by breath, step by step, love is the path. Day by day, follow the way, presence in my heart. Breath by breath, step by step, love is the path. That's it. Thank you. I have a couple of comments from people who are online with us. Ariel says, love you Bob, thank you, everything is that and I am that. Yeah, that's a beautiful pointer to remember. And we have Gilbert says, pity the poor, poor me. It is a total fiction.
Everything about the me is a fiction. And Ram make a joking comment with a big laughing face. Get over your pathetic personal point of view, Gilbert. That's the boys teasing each other. And that's that for now. Certainly. I've got something to say. Please. Gilbert and Ram. But I won't. But Bob said today, where are you without your story? Yeah. And it's perfect. Where do you stand when the story's gone? And it's this. And you're talking about presence and you're saying about presence. But I remember someone said, trying to get into the now. And Bob so brilliantly says, try and get out of it. Try and get out of the now.
It's incredible. If anyone's striving or worrying or trying to get into the now, be more present or get out of the now. Everything occurs in this spontaneity of what this is. And God knows what it is. He knows what. He can't describe it or define it or come up with infinite words and poems and songs. But really, we have no idea. And it's some sort of miraculous thing that's going on all the time. It always has and always will. And that's all. That's beautiful. I love how it's beautiful to bind it. What Sha was saying about feeling sense of uneasiness whenever whatever you are doing is not in tune of what you would want to do.
You would want to be something else, somewhere else, do something else or any sort of a desire. The Buddha says that desire is the key or the source of suffering. But as you said, you know, can you get out of the now? If you recognize that even the desire is just a passing phenomena happening in the now, that desire is more of a laughable thing than the something that causes a suffering. Suddenly you are free from the desire. It doesn't mean desire won't arise. It means it will arise and pass away. Just like our cats, you know, they sometimes talk Bob into giving them a treat.
And they have a very distinct language. Meow. And sometimes that desire will be satisfied and sometimes it will just move on. But there is no suffering anywhere, even if the desire arises and passes away. So if the narrative arises, and Bob sometimes quotes that beautiful little poem, anonymous poem. I was trying to find the outer, but who cares? Life is the outer always and ever. As a rule, a man is full. When it's hot, it wants it cool. When it's cool, it wants it hot. Always wanting what he's got. What he's not. Never wanting what he's got. I didn't say that slow. You say it, Bob.
It's yours. You say it. Come on. Go on. No, we're not. You say it. That's and you say that. You say that. You say? Yeah, okay. That's the way. You say, as a rule, a mind is full. When it's hot, it wants it cool. When it's cool, it wants it hot. Always wanting what is not. Never wanting what is got. As a rule, a mind of man is full. And that's the desire. That's a little story about, you know, you are here. are here, oh no, I want to be in Sofia having cake, or I want to be, you know, on my birthday party, whatever.
It's always, or you're doing a task washing and dishes and, oh shit, you know, I don't like doing it, I want to do something else. Oh, I have those thoughts in the head, I don't like those thoughts, I want them to stop. Oh, I'm not enlightened, I want to be enlightened. Any idea of just being out of tune with what is happening, of stopping being space, but taking position in that space, this is me, this is I, and I am right, and God or life is wrong. That situation is not as it should be because I, the individual, the imagined separate self, I know better.
And it's laughable when you see how it comes and when you see which, the function of what is it, when you see the love behind it, it's cute, it's nothing wrong, the mind can come up with whatever it does, but it is a screen, it is like Bob was saying, it is that Indian and cowboy on the screen. And you as the witnessing presence in which that arises, that desire or that arguing with what is, that isn't touched, never. And just relaxing out of taking a position, taking a point in space that this is me, this is what I believe, and this is right, and the life is wrong, relaxing out of that fixed position and being that limitless, boundless, and how you say it, the space that is just free to be without any tight costume of boundaries, which are only and always forever mind made, because they can't be experienced.
Sensations can be experienced, but really body is a concept. Body is an idea, it's an image. You can say, I experienced my body. Well, do you really? You only experience it when it produced some sensations and then you don't experience the body, you experience sensation. So you are the space in which the sensations arise. That's just experience. There's nothing wrong with having those concepts. They, as Bob says, they're beautifully, beautifully helpfully navigating that complex Maya dance, but knowing them for what they are, knowing that experience comes first and the concepts are just a helpful function. I can enjoy them. Gilbert says, start, that was in the answer to Ram, start from the fact that you are that.
Then, the absurd hunger for non-duality is meaningless. That's exactly right. Yeah. And that's how Dean also pointed out when Bob says, you know, can you get out of the now? Are you unaware? Well, no. No. And then the bad comes and then you can laugh at the bad forever because yeah, the bad is only arguing with the obviousness. It means the obvious got missed out somehow. If you realize you are that space, that boundless, free, open field of knowing already, what else do you ever need to find? Or what liberation do you need from? The only liberation is from the misconception of being a separate self.
And if that misconception is gone, life just unfolds and nothing is wrong. Oops. Oops. That's back. Anyone? Anyone have maybe another pointer that you really like, that really speaks to you? That's, ah, ah, go on. Ah, I really, thank you. Um, the one that really touched me, ah, this time, was the news said, um, the same life is shining out of everybody's eyes. That is the thing that really went, whoa. That then gives me that sense of, ah, the one. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Last second. Um, I feel a lot of resistance when I think of speaking. Mm-hmm. So that's why I'm choosing to speak.
Um, to add to what some of you guys have said, one thing I always realize is, like, after, always after having a, you know, beautiful, spiritual, mystical experience of oneness, ah, the next few days after that, I always find myself chasing that experience, which is, ah, just being present. And I, in that process of chasing that experience, I always lose the reason I had that experience in the first place, which is just being present. And then, and then I sit down and be present, not trying to meditate, not trying to have any experience in particular. And then it happens again. And then, it's just such a delicate art of just, always not resisting what is right now.
So. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You want to sit down? As you say, we try to grasp it with a concept. And we fail, as I'm saying. We're bound to fail because it's not, not a concept at all. So instead of trying to grasp it, just relax again and let it come up as well. You've had a taste of it. And then, it'll always come up by itself. More and more frequently it comes up just the same. Well, the more and more you settle down into it, just the same as when we're thinking. The more and more we think, the more tied up and bound into it we get.
Mm-hmm. Practice makes masters, huh? You don't want to practice the thinking. Not that you have any choice. No, they want to practice. Yeah, you don't want to practice thinking and overthinking. Not that you have any choice. But it is a seeming choice of relaxation and recognition. Seeming choice of non-doing. And it's beautiful because you actually realize it by yourself. You realize that when, you know, when you chase behind, it kind of moves you away. And then when you give up, well, there it arises again. So that is the first-hand experience that you could totally trust. I don't know if anything else. A question. When Nisargadatta or you say, love all of it, the dream, like we are dreaming, love all of it, or none of it.
How do you love none of it? I mean, are you going around hating everything? I can't. Yeah. It all becomes the one. Yeah. It is, see, it really, when you decide to paint everything into color white or black, everything disappears and the color disappears itself too. So it doesn't really matter whether you like everything or you love everything or you hate everything. If you make everything completely equal, they all disappear. Don't discriminate. Yeah. So he kind of made a little bit of a figure of speech, a little bit of a kind of a play of a word. And kind of made fun of duality. Because when both extremes, when you use them into the extreme, the opposite disappears.
Whether you love everything. And of course, he doesn't claim that you have a choice. You choose now to love a raccoon poo or, you know, the holocaust. No. It is just a pointer which shows that because you differentiate, that's why you suffer. Because you have preference, that's why it creates the center which takes credit or holds onto the preference. Life doesn't prefer winter to summer. It doesn't hate one or the other. Or day to light. Life is completely neutral. But you can also say that life loves equally summer and winter and the flood and the fire and the day and the night. Or you can say that life equally hates love and hate or whatever.
When there is... You see how the duality completely gets obliterated if you apply one attitude towards everything. The attitude disappears. I will listen to this when I come home. Thank you. In the Henzingmi it says, When no discriminating thoughts arise, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. Yes. Heaven and earth. Well, heaven and earth, they can't be apart. We call the sky heaven, look up into the heavens. And the earth rolling around the sky, when are they ever apart? Yes. Only conceptually. The lover and hater are made of the same stuff. The lover and hater of the dream.
Good point. Absolutely. I keep thinking of that it's a living recognition. It's a recognition again and again and again and again and again. Because there's just that one moment of knowing and seeing and understanding the truth. At least that's what happened here. And then there's like this unraveling again and again and again of actually recognizing the truth. Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here. Because it seems that that's how God or consciousness claims itself through taking itself to be something and then realizing it's not. And, and I, what I've noticed is that it all comes back to sensation in the body. And that some sensations are discriminated against by the mind.
And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and the understanding that is right there underneath it, it's like it reveals itself as being nothing.
So the sensation which became something because the mind attached a story to it and created that subtle separation is just seen for what it is. But I think what feels really important as far as the understanding goes is that there's actually no one and there's this illusion that oh someone's got it and someone hasn't. And I've experienced that in my own self that there's this subtle sense of claiming that feels like it again it's that what Bob just said that you can't go left or right and any movement even a hair breadth movement away from what what the actuality is which includes everything it includes every thought every sensation every movement even perceived stillness the moment there's a hair breadth movement toward I got it or I am it it you you're back in the dream and yeah and it's subtle it's it's really it's really subtle and so I notice sometimes I'm in deep suffering and it feels so real it's like holy fuck like I I have so much work to do like even just that thought or or there's something to do in order and then I might even go about the business for for a little while of of believing that and it all comes back to the this sensation in the body that feels that that may have some memory attached to it and then some story and then there's a kind of a wanting to move away from that I don't want to feel that it is too painful but inevitably there has to be a sense of willingness and even that like you can't even make that happen but the sense of willingness arises because the suffering got too great it cracks you open again and there's the truth again so that's like it's not static it's not oh I got it and now I'm like I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm And, you know, sometimes there's red in the face and there's a sense of self-consciousness and, you know, it's just like these layers of conditioning that just need to be kind of seen through again and again and again.
So, yeah. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. I have a couple of comments here from... Ario says, being is beautifully effortless. And Colleen says, all is the play on the screen. The screen is like Teflon, non-stick. Yeah. And I love what you said, Lindsay. Just constant recognition that there is no self. That no matter how real everything, how real the suffering feels, there is no self. There is just a passing suffering. I mean, gosh, what suffering? Resistance. Passing resistance coming. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's just so wonderful to have those animals that we have around in our house. And you can tell that they do experience unpleasant sensations. Yeah.
They experience cold. They go sometimes check out and it's raining. They don't like it. They don't like it. Wonderful. That's part of the survival instinct, to not like what is not pleasant. And isn't that like, like that's, I think it's taken me so, so long, like decades to finally really get that unpleasant sensations are part of what is, you know, that, that, that I am, I'm actually nothing and I feel like the older I'm getting and as the body's aging, any kind of remnants of, of, of self identity that's wrapped up in the illusion of this physical form. Um, they're the parts that suffer and it's, it's literally, uh, an imagination.
It's an imagination, but it doesn't mean that the sensation goes away. No. The sensation comes and then it, and then it goes. Mm-hmm . And I think a huge learning for me is realizing the impermanence of sensation because the mind, at least from my experience, um, what's happened here, because there's been a lot of bad things that have happened in my life, um, that there's this sense when there's something really uncomfortable or so-called painful that it's never ending. Like it's, that's it, that, that, that I'm in actual hell. Mm-hmm . And to actually just, yeah, to, to see with grace, I suppose, because you can't, you can't really make yourself see, but you can intend to, to seek the truth.
Um, and I think that's, that's where the intention to, um, to seek the truth again is. Mm-hmm . Like what's actually true. Mm-hmm . Um, and then it just, yeah, so a lot of the pointers actually, for me, just seem really silly in a way, because I, I know, I know that I've hid behind a lot of those pointers. Mm-hmm . It's like, there's been a pointer and then it's like, oh, I'm supposed to just be that. Or, uh, like, oh, I, I am the screen upon which all appears. Yes. Okay. But do you actually really know that? Like, so it is, it is that, I think we have to be willing to suffer to see that, to, to see what suffering actually is.
Mm-hmm . You know, so. Mm-hmm . Mm-hmm . That's, yeah, that's beautiful. Being willing to suffer, I mean, being so unconditionally accepting of whatever life wants to experience in this, in this form at this moment. Even if that's crucifixion. So if there is, of course, and it comes in a package with the resistance, it has to, because that's the survival instinct. But is it me resisting? No, it is the program, it's the body wired to resist whatever is threatening its existence. So that, that resistance is actually welcome part of the landscape. It has to be there. And it is not about losing a resistance to being crucified.
Goodness . Why would you? I mean, our cats don't lose the resistance to being kicked or refused the food. And they are in natural state. It's just to recognize that that resistance belongs to the whole scene, to the whole body. And it is actually a wonderful, wonderful thing. It's another expression of love to be. The fact that I don't want to suffer is the proof that there is a loving to be. And recognizing it as such, already brings a little bit of relief. And that staying open and staying curious about, okay, that's hell now. So, being curious about that hell. What does it really mean?
How deeply does it go? I love when you say just being willing to find out. To look for the truth. To always have that, if there is any reminisce of a self or center, having that completely devoted to be committed to getting to the bottom of things. And the bottom of things is always freedom. Because that is the cognizing emptiness. That is the emptiness coming into, like Bob says, shapes, patterns and forms and everything. And as he says, an adornment of space are equally, he was saying, they may be beautiful. You know, space may adorn itself in all the pleasures and beauties. Or they may be horrific.
Space may adorn itself with all the wars and famines and horrible things. I see if there is anyone who says that. Yes? And as he said about the pointers. Yeah, that's all the pointers. People go in the direction where they are pointing to. The pointers are not at all. It never will be. You hear it, say, well that's good, I've got it. But you see a sign post on the road. So and so to, what's the names away? You don't say I'm there. That's where it's pointing to, that's where it is. You have to go there and see it. The same when they're pointing out this, you've got to investigate and see for yourself.
Because nobody can tell you or give it to you. That's it. And here Gilbert says... Sorry, I was going to say it. Okay, yeah. It's alright. It's alright. Keep going. Okay, you've got... Okay, I'll get quickly, I'll get Gilbert. Many do ten days retreats, trying to go beyond the mind, trying to beat the thinking into silence. Absurd. There can be no more silence than there is. The silence is before the cosmos, before every sound. Why not start from the fact that you are already beyond the mind and all its contents and contexts. I don't want to be nothing is based upon fear. That was quote unquote.
Is based upon fear. You are... Who are you really? Seriously? Who? A story of a me? Impossible. If belief in a me holds a sway over your life, then you have purchased shares in a fraudulent enterprise. Waiting for dividends from a counterfeit enterprise is foolish and full of disappointment. Investigate the belief in me. Beautiful. Thank you Gilbert. Me is a thought, says Jasmine. Peter you go and then Tony. Lindsay and Bob and Kat and everyone had already expressed everything I wanted to say. I'll add it in my own words anyway. And that is just that there's no rules. I don't see that any rules apply here.
And yet as humans we're always looking for that rule. That one rule. You know the one thing we can grab and hold to be the truth. You know the truth is such a lucid little beast isn't it? You know. When I have the idea that I've got something, instantaneously the opposite thought is there. So I'm under a kind of duress at that point. Right? Until we just simply acknowledge that there is no truth. There's no relative truth there. There's no way in which we can say we found the way out. Now through this method, a particular method. That's all I want to say. Yeah, absolutely.
Do you remember? Yeah. There's a pattern here that has a big fear. It's not going to remember stuff. It's interesting watching all the adrenaline go up in relation to that. But yeah, just about the take here on all or nothing. So nothing, the take here is really that when the thoughts aren't in there, there's just like a visual out there or a visual behind the eyes like a reddy brown color. And then the something or the everything is like, for example, Lindsay was expressing about the moment when there's nothing there for somebody else. And that just, then there's just a joy arises here, as long as nothing comes up in this head either.
It just seems to be a memory of somebody just laughing in a way that you just know there was nothing there. And that just brings up a joy like right now, the mouth is going up, you know, the things are happening because nothing's coming in to stop it. Because I don't know, I don't have much experience, a lot of the lovey-doveyness lately and even struggle to say the word love just because of patterns in here. But yes, the closest I've got is the automatic joy that comes up, you know, for very short-lived time. I'm going to hold it until it's almost cool. Or not. I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know That is right though when there is a field, a beautiful field, I'll meet you there.
I'll meet you there. Ah, ah, ah, ah, beyond that is right doing, beyond that is wrong doing, there is a field, a beautiful field, I'll meet you there. I'll meet you there. Beyond ideas are wrong doing Beyond ideas are right doing There is a field, a beautiful field I'll meet you there I'll meet you there I'll meet you there Ah, ah, ah, ah Ah, ah, ah, ah Ah, ah, ah Ah, ah, ah, ah Ah, ah, ah One thing, um, that can happen is this sense of wanting to remember ourselves, no? Because we, we tend to think we go out with the mind But the, it's direct experience, it's here all the time It never goes anywhere You know, everything is appearing in it So this, and we can say we need to remember this, but it's It's just coming back, it's sitting back in yourself, it's being here It's recognizing this all the time Not to, you know, because the mind wants to make a story Wants to make a plan, wants to make a practice of something But it's just like recognizing I'm breathing And breathing has always been happening Despite me There's nothing to do, there's nowhere to go It's here It's here Nice Yeah But just, so when we're breathing We're often doing something else, for example So then, then our awareness of our breathing Is limited or non-existent And it's only when we, we remember or recognize it later That in retrospect we go, yeah, well I must have been breathing Because I'm still breathing now And, you know, that time has passed And, you know, well we presume actually all of that stuff Actually But when you recognize When you recognize It's not like you've gone anywhere to recognize It's here Yeah, sure This awareness has always been here It's like you recognize the breathing has always been here And I didn't have to be holding it Or identifying with it Or doing anything about it It, I'm here You know, it's like I always have the analogy of this water You know, I am this water This consciousness This beingness, no?
And these bubbles of identification of shoulds Or should go out What am I going to do? What doctor to go to? You know, more information, I'm being overwhelmed You know, this bubbles up And we, you know, identify with those But always we're here We're here And this is all that needs to be recognized Time and again Is that I'm here And I didn't go anywhere That's the point That's the point There's no way to go There's nothing It's just here There's never been a journey to anywhere Ever You know, it's like when you wake up out of deep sleep And I was here You know, I can't say there was anything in there Because there was no mind content in the deep sleep But I was totally here I know that And this comes from such a depth And it's not of the mind, no?
That's beautiful That's beautiful That's just beautiful, beautiful I love that point here as well More than the idea of now Because, yeah, now has all sorts of different connotations While here And when you say yes The bubble or the thought appears in here Every thought of the most distant lands And the other end of the galaxy Appears here And there's no me going on that thought There is just thought So I cannot go anywhere I am the here I am not here I am the here This is what I am The here-ness The here-now-ness Whatever, nowhere-ness And the thought appear in that what I am Even the thought about other places and other people And even the thought about me being a woman from Poland Or whatever it is It appears in here Like Bob sometimes says He points out that the past and future Is only imagination or memory Anticipation or memory But where are they experienced?
Presently Presently Presently you can experience what you ate for dinner You can't go and leave it You can only experience it presently Presently you can experience your plans And projections But you can't experience them fully You only experience them as a thought A concept So every thought It doesn't take you anywhere Because that what you are You are not the little me Embarking on a train of thought And being taken, carried away It feels this way It seems this way But you are really the presence In which that thought creates that illusion And recognizing that presence Always coming back to the presence To the recognition That even a thought of the You know, million years, light years Or whatever Is happening here now And then there is no one To get lost in the mind There isn't There is just a thought arising There is no one in that thought Having that thought Experiencing that thought It is the presence On which that thought arises I see if there is anyone here She tells us I'm really enjoying it God, nice to see the whole congregation This is my first time to see you all And welcome Yes, thank you So anyone, we have another few minutes I'll say one more thing I think it's a soft landing I think it's a soft landing though Kind of like when we acknowledge that Our mind is like monkey mind You know The old Indian saying Where they catch monkeys in South India With the banana in a necked pot The monkey goes and grabs Makes a fist Grabs the banana And then tries to get away By keeping on holding on to the banana You know Running around The guy catches him of course But he could have got away If he just simply let go of the banana Let go of bananas Let go of bananas Let go of your mind Really You have to let go of every Every notion of what's What's good and what's bad She brought his T-shirt They go there She Put Put Put Yes Anyway Yes It is It is a nice little pointer It is a pointer A nice little pointer Just let go Let go of the monkey mind And then the bad mind comes But who is there to let go?
Forget about it You know If the pointer doesn't resonate Forget about it Realize Realize That what you are Doesn't hold on to it It is the realization That what you are In the depth Like Linda was saying You know Not the bubble Of imaginary Me following imaginary Whatever A wave on the ocean The ocean Is never holding on to anything Within that ocean The idea of holding on to arises So if you can't actually follow up the point that come on leave it Let it go Leave it as it is Because you have an idea that there is no one to leave it or leave it as it is Then just recognize that you are that no one who is already detached Who is already unaffected Even if there is a part Even if there is a part Or there is a part of attention trapped and affected by that banana That is just a part of attention There still is the presence The witnessing presence The field In which that trapped attention is being cognized Is being known So even if there is a desire and there is a following of desire And there is a resistance and there is a narrative That is all being cognized In that emptiness that you are Just relaxing and recognizing That's the field That's the field I'll meet you there There you are There is no you and me in that field We already won Yeah Like this room A couple of hours ago was empty The other crowd is here And a few minutes it will be empty again Everything has changed but the space Cognizing emptiness The space is a cognitive cognizing I know As Linda was saying the thoughts Things that come up Always here Always now Nothing added to it Nothing taken away Nothing taken away Nothing taken away And we have a comment here from Ram And he says The counterfeit enterprise of me Is a story that arises as temporary arising An adornment of that space that box speaks of Sometimes that adornment is seemingly pleasant And at other times awful And adornment like any other Yep Adornment of space Made of space too And like Bob was saying In the beginning You know You were told that form is emptiness And emptiness is form And you might believe it Either from Buddhism Or from quantum mechanics Whatever Everybody says that you know Like Today That's all energy Dancing Moving Energy constitutes subatomic particles Atoms Solid matter Everything is the energy And what's the energy And what's the energy That's the emptiness The alive emptiness Not nothing But the no thing It is not a thing Although in the process of dancing You know The dance of maya It becomes a thing The particles And matters And warmth And heat And But it's still the same one No thing And that you are Not the nothing The radiant aliveness The mystery The miracle of existence The beauty The joy The marvellousness Of it all Even if it's unpleasant Even if it's unpleasant No more comments?
No Anyone got bananas? Anyone? Anyone got any bananas? Anyone got any bananas? Anyone got any bananas? Actually I have a couple of bananas But not enough for everyone Not enough jars Enough bananas Enough bananas And if everyone gives up Yes That's right Peter Drop some Yeah We can Just let you not hold on to those bananas Not eat those bananas Eat those bananas Thank you Bob Thank you Kat Thank you Thank you everyone Thank you everyone Love you all Love you all Love you all That's it Riz It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good It's a good And I can you