Kat, Bob and 'Fred' pattern in nonduality group investigation. 4 Aug 2024

Good Bob, Tony, Peter, Cliff, Dave, Fred, Michael, Jane, Gilbert, Lucky, Paul, Ross, Helen, Dean, Jason. I'm just gonna, sorry. Untangle it a little bit. Okay, thank you. So for the people who are online with us, Bob just made an announcement that he doesn't want to watch a video of himself from 20 years ago, like we did last week. He wants me to do the introduction. So that's what we start with. So roughly, the way he always starts it and I find it the most beautiful way of really pointing back to the true nature. You are already that. Or that you already are. That you know.

You know that you are. The awareness of presence is what we're talking about. This is called natural state. Some people have some fangles ideas and the fun words like awakening or enlightenment and those words have their place too in appropriate context but really for our purposes natural status is the most accessible easy way of pointing back to to that basic screen of awareness everyone is present Everyone is aware, everyone knows about the presence-awareness or awareness of presence. And that's really what it goes down to. So, noticing. You can't notice the presence-awareness as a thing, as an object. It is the pure subjectivity that it is.

So we can look at what is not awareness of presence. The content of the awareness of presence is what we discard. And there is the ancient method called neti neti, which basically discards everything that you can be aware, You can perceive or conceive, you can think of, you can objectify and that is a content that is not the presence-awareness itself. So the body is obviously a content, it appears in the awareness, it's an object. So you are aware of your body therefore you know your body. The thoughts, thoughts are also appearing in the consciousness. So you are aware of the thoughts, you know your thoughts.

There is awareness of thinking, there is awareness even prior to thinking. The following is a short summary of the Really, they are beautiful expressions of that essence, of that one life. But they are still a content of the awareness. Awareness is prior to all those stories and dramas. As much as we can acknowledge them, and we can love them, we can be free from them. So the story that says, I am not good enough, is just a story, it's not the truth. The stories that my country is going down, again, is just a story, it's not the truth. Or someone hates me or doesn't like me or whatever.

So questioning the content and seeing that the content is completely dependent on presence-awareness and seeing that that presence is first and realizing that if the content is absent the presence of awareness is still there And that boils down in Bob's beautiful quote, which is the title of a book that Gilbert put together, What is wrong with right now if I don't think about it? When there is no thought for a moment, even for a microsecond, there is still aliveness going on. There is still presence of awareness. And Bob says it beautifully, you didn't fall apart, did you? The seeing was still happening. Feeling, seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, with the thought absent or the content absent, the functioning is still there.

So you are prior to the content, you are the pure functioning. So that is clear and obvious. It couldn't be the body or the mind or the story. The story couldn't be true either because the truth is that which never changes. So even if there is a story, I am old or I have cancer or I am ugly, that is the story that could change. It hasn't been there before you were born so it couldn't be true. It hasn't been there probably this morning so it couldn't be true. The Truth or Reality is what we are talking about and the Truth is that which is eternal, beginningless, endless, changeless.

Yes, so that truth is accessible, is undeniable right in this moment. No one can deny the existence and as far as direct experience is concerned, that existence have never stopped. It is eternal in the direct experience of this moment, which is the only moment that ever is. The existence is eternal. We could conceptualize the time before the body was born. The existence wasn't experienced. But what is it? That's the concept. That's the image, imagination. The whole past is imagination. Bringing back the idea of non-existence of the body is bringing up the idea. It is not what is directly experienced in this moment. Bringinging up the idea of body being dead or non-existent is again imagination bringing back the idea.

In the direct experience existence, being or presence-awareness is eternal. That's the truth. And then we have some concepts spilled out in the books of pointers of transcending being and not being or transcending I am and not I am. Absolutely, on the conceptual level that can be discussed forever and ever. But when the concepts are absent, even the idea of transcending is also absent. And that's the freedom. And that freedom is never not here. The freedom from believing the conceptualization, the thinking, the freedom from needing to have something different or something more than this moment, Or freedom from comparing your words with some saints or sages that said that they are prior to I Am or after I Am or before I Am.

The freedom from wanting something different than what is. That is right here. If the thinking relaxes and it drops away into that eternity of now, into that mystery of existence That doesn't have a concept of anything different than what is. And from that perspective, looking at what is as a fresh new expression or appearance is pure joy. Life gets easy. And of course, it doesn't mean that the mind with its functions, beautiful functions of making sense of reality, will not come and offer another meaning. It will. But taking on that meaning becomes an option It doesn have to be blindly believed whatever the mind says Once the root of existence is found and the relaxation into that root or source of existence is embodied And that's the freedom and joy and that is available for anyone who dares and cares to look deeper.

Because it is enough to just see and follow those pointers. One of Bob's beautiful ways of investigation is to see whether you are doing the seeing or is the seeing just happening. And now as you realize that seeing is spontaneously happening, no one is doing it, you will see how mind comes into the picture and offers the interpretation. This is I, I am seeing you, this is what is happening. But that's not the truth, that's the interpretation, that's the overlay, mind-made interpretation. The truth is singular, seeing is happening. The interpretation says I do the seeing, there is me and there is a seeing. And within that seeing there is a process between the me and the seeing, me and you that is happening.

That is what the mind does and that is a beautiful function that makes the whole manifestation so colorful and so creative and so infinitely amazing. The duality, having the idea of me wanting to or being able to change the world and following the ambitions and the goals, setting goals All that narrative that brings motivation and demotivation as well. It's a fantastic function dividing singular existence, singular happening into the duality of me the doer and the deed, of me the seer and what is seen, me the hearer and what is heard. But that one creates the bondage also because that one right from the beginning of believing I am the seer, I am the hearer, I am the thinker, It solidifies the sense of I being separated from the seeing or from the hearing or from what is seen and what is heard.

And that sense of separation, in majority of cases if you look at the world who do not really need any spiritual investigation, it's just fine. It's just practical. People live and get old and die and focus their attention into whatever's in front of them. The The separation becomes so overwhelming. Then the people start entertaining the ideas that maybe that's just a nightmare, maybe that's not the case. And if we look at the natural world, it seems like this way of psychological suffering is only a human thing. We don't see psychologically suffering animals. We can see the behavior changing, we can project or anthropomorphize that dog gets angry or cat gets revenge or something, but that's just anthropomorphism.

Animals are learning from experiences just like we do, but they don't have symbolic language to create the stories. So life gets much, much simpler. If we just see how the conceptual stories, how the psychological suffering is just the overlay of natural functioning, and we can see that psychological suffering is optional we can live the life as in nature It doesn mean the life will be all rosy and pleasant The old age, sickness and death and all the experiences that happen within the dream will still be happening because that human dream will last as long as it does. And the dreams at night are no different.

The pain and pleasure, the day and the night and the winter and the summer and everything that is the content. But the attachment and the resistance to this content will be severed, will lessen. Life will become much, much, much more gracious and easier. And being aware of the fact that this is a dream, the body is a dream, The body is disappearing every night when you go to sleep and another body appears. The attachment to the body also can break down, can ease off. Bob sometimes quotes the Bible talking about, I think it was St. Paul dying daily, dying every night, dying every moment to that sense of separation, to that sense of imagined self The I am wrong, this is my fault or this is my credit.

Even that is part of spontaneous functioning. This is the part of the software of that amazing bio-computer. So seeing it as mechanical happening, seeing that as similar part to a sweating or digestion or salivating, Just a part of that vehicle, of that bio-computer, you are not bound by it anymore. You can be free from that. Another way that Bob offers to investigate, what is that me? Who is that me? If there is something that is painful and I'm resenting it, and there is that sense The sense of resentment and the feeling that there is a me, the me is a contraction, the me is a painful little dwarf sitting somewhere inside.

Can I put the finger on that me? Can I actually locate that me? If it is a heartbreak and a very, very strong sense of upset, it might sit in the heart for a moment. Most of the time it is more kind of head-based, anger type of a feeling. It may sit somewhere behind the eyes. But who is locating it right now? And that one who is locating it is obviously free from it. So if you see that the contraction happens in the body and you believe that this is the I, well who is it that believes this is the I? And where is the locating happening from?

If the I is here, how do I know that? Where am I looking from? This will show you that contraction is just the contraction, is the appearance in the field of awareness. This is not who I am. Because when the contraction is absent, I still am here. I am prior to the contraction. The

. Thank you for watching. If I look from the perspective of limited I, I am a victim. Why don't I look better? Why don't I have better parents? Why don't I have more money? What is going to happen to me when I retire? What is going to happen if I am God-bullied, when I lose the job?

My future is uncertain. That's terrible. That's a hell. But looking from the perspective of life, and life is the one force or one energy, The energy, Bob sometimes calls it intelligence energy, because it shows incredible intelligence in the way it creates all the patterns and shapes and forms. If you look at the energy, which I think right now even science agrees that energy is all there is, energy, potential energy or actualized energy, Energy as a potential, it is and it isn't. And energy in motion is everything, including matter. Matter is energy, mc2, E equals mc2. It is still energy, everything is energy. It's a vibration.

It's a different frequency of vibration to create the sound, different frequency of vibration to create x-ray or radiation that just knocked Bob about a little bit. Words, sounds, light, visible light, invisible light, matter, it's all energy. So if we look from that perspective, but that energy is intelligent. Some people, actually Twist Bob speaks about intelligence energy because it isn't a personal thing, but at the same time there is an intelligence in the energy. The energy is intelligent in a way, in a way it appears, in a way it appears as a human body with a great intelligence in creating that human body including human brain capable of I don't know how hundred trillions of neurons or whatever and capable of creating complex images, capable of creating things almost as complex as its own structure.

So there is an intelligence in the way that energy created the human body, created every blade of grass, every tree, every building using the human capacity, human creativity. But from the perspective of life, life is experiencing and expressing itself. And this is another beautiful book that Gilbert put together. Thank you Gilbert for all that you did in the early years with the books. You know, one essence, experiencing, appearing, experiencing and expressing as everything. One essence, that one life, experiencing itself, itself, one life as that life, experiencing itself through your eyes. That life is looking out of your eyes. That life is moving your body. That life is beating your heart.

That life is giving you thoughts. And of course, because everything is that life, every thought is completely related to the situation in which the body finds itself And to the environment because they are not separate They are one The environment the body everything is just that one life Hey, could you get the door, please? Oh, Tony, over there. Thank you. Have another couple of chairs there. Tony's sitting here. There in the corner? No? All right, okay. Yes, so looking, letting the life see, letting the life look out of your eyes. Get out of the way and let life see. Let life hear, let life experience whatever it is to be experienced.

Even if the experience is a fatigue or is pain, even if the experience is resistance, Just be that presence for life to fully experience every moment as it is. And now from the life's perspective, everything is clear. It's clear and obvious why there are people who are poor and rich, there are people who suffer, who are in pain, and there are people who are... And not just people, there are ants, there are viruses, there are bacterias, there are galaxies, there are planets. All of them are ways for that life to experience and express itself. And that you are, that life you are, you can honor the vehicle through which you are experiencing yourself, rather than compare it or complain about it.

Because that vehicle is temporary, it's constantly changing. Bob sometimes compares the, and this is another line of investigation, If you see in your language that you say my body, my car, my house, my coat, you can see this is something that you are using just like the house, just like the car, just like the coat. So that temporary vehicle that is like a home, you could just experience it like a vehicle, like a home, like a cart, like a house and let life see. Not that you have any choice in that matter, because life is going to do it anyway. The seeming choice, because there isn't any choice, there is no one there, there is no entity who can now decide, okay, I will be investigating and I will be free.

There is no I that could possibly get free. Investigation opens up or wakes up in yourself spontaneously, often through resonance. And that's why we have this group investigations. That's why we offer the frequency of resonation. For the investigation to wake up spontaneously, it is also life doing it. There is no person doing anything because the person is imagination. Person is a fiction, like Santa Claus is a fiction. So when that resonation happens, and that looking happens, and you look what is looking, and you find the vastness of nothingness, and yet the looking still happens, you're faced with the mystery, that huge mystery in which that I, that imagined self, just shrinks into nothing.

The existence is still there. The being, the presence is still there. Coming back to that presence and looking from there, and living from that point, and letting every moment to be as full and as complete as it is. That's the invitation. And because it is a group investigation, we invite everyone to share in the investigation. And bring the things mainly the things that do resonate and offer if it resonates in your heart you also offer that resonance to the group And it not you because no one is here there is no self even if you believe there is www It may bring a resonation and it may respond in other vehicle, in other instrument.

And nothing is ever wrong in the way life experiences and expresses. Anyone would like to share what resonates, what helps? Helen. I find, thank you for that Kat. And when you speak from presence, presence responds to presence. And with that, a stillness emanates. And it's very powerful today. Thank you. That's home, isn't it? Home you never left. Presence wouldn't be speaking. Presence would come through that cup, I don't know. People would put that away. And again, nobody in the world does the spilled away, the most beautiful and clear way as you do. Pretty good though, Kat. Thank you. Anyone? Yeah, thank you so much Kat.

Yeah, I really felt it too. I had a bit of a tear there at one point when you were sharing, just with that presence. I'm just curious, sometimes it seems like it's easy and it's never believe the mind, whatever it says. But I was aware this morning how tricky it is. I like to get up in the morning and just have quiet, have a cup of tea, three or four cups of tea, just sit at the back and look at nature. And Sandra's away at the moment, so she rang up with a technical problem with the computer, she had to work stuff out. And my immediate reaction is frustration.

And I saw, because my normal routine of peace is being interrupted. And then I noticed like the thoughts come because like it's simple, a simple thing to fix. So I explain how to fix and it doesn't work and then end up sending emails back and forward. I am a I am a person who is not aware of the reality of the world. Your computer has a personal well as well as www The habit of referring everything to me is really what's going on. And that habit, it's not a doing by anyone. The me is a fiction, so it can't accept or reject anything. It can't do anything.

It can't hear, see, think. It's just a fiction. And basically I think what seems to be needed is the recognition that cognition, naked cognition, is spontaneously happening. And imagination, the difference between naked cognition and imagination needs to be recognised. It's through imagination that we seemingly create problems for the me, by the me, blah, blah, blah, endless. So psychological suffering depends upon a fixation on the self-image called me. Because if there's no fixation on me, there's no psychological suffering. So really, that's a key point. If there's psychological suffering going on, investigate the me. See if you can find anything with any substance or independent nature that you can say, this is what I am.

And you won't find it because it's a fiction. But there's no value in somebody telling you that. Somebody's insight is completely useless. We have to see it for ourselves. So insight is seemingly the key that transforms our lives. And that applies to so-called mental illness. Somebody who has so-called mental illness, they have almost no insight into what's going on for them. So, yeah, this referencing the me or the self-image is really the problem, but it doesn't belong to anyone. It's not really a problem, but it seems to be a problem for me. But if you know that the me is a fiction, and when you see that the me is not something true in yourself, you also see that it's not true in anyone else, because it's the same illusion.

Does anyone want to add something? Beautiful. I'll say a few things. Thanks Kat, I really enjoyed the talk, the spiel. But what Michael said I think is very valuable as well, because in seeing what was going on in the mind allows you to be free of it. And anything can arise spontaneously and it's not like then, okay, I haven't got it now and I saw something but now I'm back in the thick of it. The And in a way it's really freeing to actually see that and face that. So actually everything is an opportunity to be free of

The seeming bondage of mind and that's all it is.

And I think the value of coming together like this is invaluable in a sense because we really have the opportunity to open up and share all these things which happen to everybody because we all have that same mechanism of mind and the body. And so, you know, we can all relate to what everybody else is going through because we're cut of the one cloth. So just having this opportunity to see through all those things which in our day-to-day life everybody is reinforcing The idea of being separate and this incredible manifestation which is so intelligent when you look at it. The manifestation is amazing appearance. It's so convincing.

It's very convincing that everything is solid and separate. What an amazing appearance that is. It's truly an intelligent vibration to put a label on it. But once you kind of, as you said Kat, you just have that opportunity to look a little bit deeper and you come to see what's actually going on, not what appears or is imagined to be going on. And all those truths that seem sort of so lofty are just what actually is happening or what the actuality of our lives or life is. So, good, thank you. Thanks Kat, that was great, really good to listen to you and think about those things that you talk about.

The me is a fiction and the more we see that this self-identification is a problem, the freer we become in possibilities and thinking and getting out of patterns. But the whole thing about, it's very complex because she's talking about patterns. There are patterns of thinking and conditioning, but nobody who has the conditioning, like the conditioning isn't personal, yet there are things like phenomena like one pattern falling in love with another pattern and then saying I like that about that pattern over there and so on and so on, but I don't like that. And those ideas seem to have persistence, you know, and they come up and we refer them in the mind.

Like my kitchen table is a concept at the moment too, but when I'm there in front of it, it seems to have form and reality and memory about it. So while it's a fiction, there's something there to be examined too. Are you trying to have a relationship with your kitchen table? A certain kind of love. That's gone. She's got four legs to look at. Four legs to cut? Kitchen table. Yeah, yeah. Bob talks about these things coming up in mind and disappearing like the The what I call those planes that go through the air and they let out a Skyraker trails. Skyraker trails. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Skyraker trails. Econ trails. Econ trails. Econ trails. In one of those books on Mahayana Buddhism, they talk about reflective, reflective, reflective I am a reflection of the identification. And what's found here recently is just that the same reaction comes up, the immediate I'm not sure what the reaction to my piece being interrupted or my view being rejected. And there'll be some eruption, eruption of anger. But just as quickly, it could just sort of immediately that's noticed, poof, it goes. So it's quite absurd to watch the immediate reaction and then the energy is gone. What can you do? It vanishes like the smoke from a plane.

It's quite comical. I was just in regards to that. I was just driving here. I was in my thoughts and thinking about all these sort of, I don't know, I was just in a, not a great space. And then I saw this woman walking a dog and the dog was just going around in circles having a wonderful time and my thoughts just completely disappeared and I was just there. So what happened to that other illusion, you know, that I was going through, so it just vanished like that. It was just like, it's just, yeah, so it just vanishes. In the joy that you were in that moment.

Yeah, in the joy, yeah. Michael? Yes? Gilbert? Actually, Ross, you've all been talking about a similar thing that I've been mulling just now, and that is divine will versus personal will and how it interacts with what you said, with what you said, and with what you said. Because divine will is what's happening, right? So it's all peace, love, and mung beans. Therefore, when the personal will wants something different, that's where the trouble is. When you're in the divine world, you're choice is... The microphone doesn't seem to be working. We put these labels on things. The mind can only divide itself. We say this is divine or this is ordinary.

I think in the Dzogchen teaching there's a passage that says there's no difference between a Buddha and an ordinary being. And to read that, if you've got beliefs about all this division, it's like, what? No, there has to be a difference, you know, because the whole thing about getting enlightened depends on a difference between an ordinary being and a Buddha. And I want to be a Buddha, whatever. But who is that? That's the mind dividing into good and bad, or divine and sinner and sin and all the rest of it. So in essence without a single word what am I Because language was learned at a very young age, but we existed before the language was learned.

I've got a grandson, seven months old, and it's a joy to be with him because he's so open, He's happy most of the time, and he's got no concepts. Also the cat, one of the cats, I was here a few months ago and the cat was sitting in front of me on the table, and he's looking the other way, and I'm looking into his eyes, and the thoughts come up, I wonder what he's thinking, you know? This is anthropomorphizing, which is so common. And even between so-called two people, there's this projection going on. What are they thinking? Do they like me? Do they... You know, just projecting this mental activity onto another person, so-called person.

But it's all my stuff, you know. I Am the Self. And the beingness is there, the functioning is there, but it's not claimed by any entity, it just is. And there's no division between the being here and the being there, it's one being, which includes everything. And I could go on and on, but I won't. Thank you for saying that. Actually I was thinking how to nicely bring everything to one. The divine will and the personal will is one. One will that is expressing and experiencing itself as clear seeing or as the seeing filtered by the personality. And I think that's what you meant, Jason, didn't it?

You know, when the will is filtered through personality, it's kind of further away from the... But it's still one. There's no... Yeah, I'm stuck in one of those. What do they call them? Koans. So if you're grumpy, you're not aligned with divine will, because divine will doesn't give a bleep, because it only says yes. If you believe that there is a you who is annoyed, Yes, that believed-in entity is suffering, but this is not who you are. You are the space in which the believed-in, imagined you is resisting the reality. So ultimately nothing has ever happened, but in the experience, yeah, it's not happening. The you, the I, the separate me hasn't happened, it doesn't exist, it can't.

But it is imagined, just like Santa Claus couldn't go through the funnel in Norway, Because it doesn't exist. But when you think about it, when you imagine it, when you believe it, well, yeah, the gift is here, that's the proof, he's been through the funnel. No, he hasn't. It's only one. But that one, and I like the analogy of seeing that one energy expressing, experiencing as everything. So that one energy channeled through that imagined body, because you can't experience the body if you don't think about it, if you don't have an image of the body, you just experience sensations. So the body only exists when you conceptualize the body.

But even for the sake of an analogy if you conceptualize the body and now there is a life and that seems like two the dead body and the life essence But it is only for the sake of analogy Now that life essence or that electricity going through that globe or through that body expresses itself as the seeing one frequency, hearing another frequency, taking credit mind, meaning making mind, relating mind. This is just another spectrum of experiencing that one energy. The Divine Will filters through the personality pattern which has been collected over imagined time and solidified as I am whatever, achiever or I am a healer or I am a male or whatever.

It filters through that set of concepts and suddenly has a completely different sort of frequency, different vibration, different colour. But it is still the same electricity, the same life, the same energies. Not electricity, of course, it's the life essence. So ultimately it is one, but the more it is filtered, the further away it seemingly moves from the source, because there is no further away, even that is imagined. But then it kind of appears like, you know, like the light put through the crystal, and suddenly it becomes colours. There are no colors, but you experience the colors. It feels like there are colors. Or Bob's metaphor about blue sea or blue sky.

There is no color in the water, there is no color in the sky, but we experience the color. So the experience of me being stuck in resistance because Absolute doesn't give a bleep, but I do. That's the same energy filtered through that crystal and showing up as this particular color. But it is also just an appearance, it is just a smoke and mirror, just a rainbow, it's nothing there. And that is when Gilbert was actually bringing back, you know, if that happens, what a wonderful investigation to go and try and find it. See if there really is anything that stands of its own, anything that you could point, grasp, anything that you could actually...

Actually, because if you can, that's not a problem. That's even more exciting. If you can find the me, who is the one who found it? Who found it? Obviously there wasn't a me that found the me. The me is an object now. So you are the one that found it, the object. You are the subjectivity. You're always subjectivity. And in the experience, yeah, oh goodness, believe me, I'm having some perimenopausal mood swings. Sometimes my mood swings like 20 times a day. It's incredible, incredible. One moment I'm singing a Polish shanty song and another moment there is a that irritability like Michael with the computer. And I find it absolutely mind-blowing, fascinating.

But this is not me. I am not having the mood swings. I am And the presence in which those responses or reactions are appearing. And they, if anything, they fascinating. I can't even be annoyed with that because that would be just another mood appearing. But it surely feels like, who was it Anita was saying, or Catherine, you were saying, is so brilliantly convincing. So absolutely beautifully convincing. It's not like a bad TV show where you can see the actors are overacting or underacting. No, it's brilliant, it's absolutely superb, supreme. Life pulls itself into that incredible show completely to the point that it has to sit and look to find itself back again because it's so convinced that it is that point in consciousness, isolated and separate.

But there is no duality. It appears to be, because without the appearance of duality, me and the other, winter and summer, there would be nothing. If everything is painted white, white colour disappears, together with everything that has been painted. The duality, the appearance, the experience is only possible because of the pairs of opposites, resistance, attraction, pain, pleasure. The Divine will and the personal will are one. For most humans they're not aligned, are they? That's the rub. That's right. That's right. Where are you measuring it from? How can you make a judgement about most humans? It's nonsense. Are most humans awake, are they? Are you awake?

Are you unaware? Are you unaware right now, is Bob's question. He's just saying that most people believe themselves to be separate. That's all he's saying. It's no good going there because... But they have the belief. I am Grumpy. I am a Then I get grumpy about, oh God, I have to do this on the computer. I've got to download this app or whatever. And to me, it seems like a great chore and something I don't want to do. But if I had to do it, I'd do it, I suppose. But that idea that I can't do it is something that's, you know, I've... Well, there's no me doing it, of course, but it is a pattern thing.

And it's stored somewhere in memory. Translated by Rami Amin Where that whole machinery is designed to make the life of that body-mind whole thing, the experiencing, as smooth as possible. So if it objects to something, it objects to it because its primary role is to supply survival and smoothness of navigation, meaning as much pleasure as possible, as much safety as possible. And of course the equipment playing against you doesn't supply much pleasure, so the objection comes up. But that objection from the mind, if you look at the motivation of that objection, gosh how loving, how beautiful. The mind gets grumpy or angry, of course it wants Cliff to have only pleasure and joy and safety.

How sweet! I'm with you on that, Kat. That is the way I look at it now because it doesn't spare that cat person as well. But it is sweet. I can see it in Bob as well, you know, he's especially after all those treatments, you know, there is a lot of objecting even to I try to feed him. It's constantly too much. That's unusual people. It is unusual. It has a characteristic. Very, very unusual. Bob used to be a glutton in the guts and now he a That was just a couple of days ago So what I've been noticing lately is that in awareness, I am aware that the body is in awareness.

I am aware that the mind is in awareness. And the seeing is happening without a thought. The hearing is happening without a thought. And I guess in that awareness, then you say like, what is not? So if I'm aware that my body is in awareness, and I'm aware of when that I thought comes about, that can't be me. And I've also been aware that everything works in the opposite. So like left, right, up, down, ground, sky. If I look into the distance, if I see the moon, how do I know it's far away? I've been asking questions like that and really been observing what it means to be aware.

Thank you. I found, I won't say I found, awareness is not something you do, awareness is what you are. Yeah. Beautiful. Just thinking about life. That was great, actually. Thank you for that cheering. Wonderful. Kat, beautiful today. Thinking about life, you know, is there different types of life? If there was, then someone like Gilbert would be of lesser value than Ross, for example. Thank you for watching. It's unlimited, isn't it? Because it's all the same in all of us, no matter how different we are, dealing with this huge thing, the absolute condition of life. Even on my last day, grasping for my last breath, that will still be an expression of life.

Thank you. Yeah, and even when the body starts decomposing, it's the same expression of life. I mean, it's a different expression, but the same life. And we have a couple of comments here. Jyoti says, a beautiful spiel, and Mitra, morning everyone. Thank you Kat and Bob. And Jeff says, it's good to hear you and great spiel and blessing. This is from Tazi and And Zanti. And Tazi says, the false identity is an image of the body identified with name. Look at your driver's license. Is that who you are? Great point. Yeah, thank you. And that's it. Just some of the comments that have been made has reminded me of things that I been contemplating now I am a member of the and that is that in many of the teachings across the spectrum there these terms called the Brahma which is the four divine abodes They are equanimity, joy, including rapturous joy, compassion, and loving-kindness.

If those four are not increasing and permeating your experience, then you're not living in presence or in that nondual state, because they are the natural dualistic expression of the state that is. And it's only our delusion and clinging to any sense of self that stops those from always being there. And so where you've got these frustrations and things occurring, and these, like you said, it was beautiful, this just happens and it's, oh, well, look at that. See, that's that joy just coming through, that natural equanimity. It's like, yeah, it's whatever it is, you know. And that's just tremendous. It shows that it's growing in your life.

So compassion is the recognition of someone else in a state of suffering and you recognizing that you then move to loving kindness which is the expression of that compassion. But you yourself remain always in equanimity. So one's the head of the dog and the other one's the tail? How are they different? One is motivation. This is Jason brain. They're different. They sound very, very similar. They do sound very similar. There's a difference of expression. That's all it is. It's like wanting to hit someone or hit someone. Or wanting to kiss someone and kiss someone. Yeah. What's compassion? One's compassion apparently. One's from the head and one's from the heart.

Yeah. I've just got a question about resisting and clinging. I read that in the I Am That book. The resisting and clinging, is that stopping the experience of the present moment? So if you don't resist and you don't cling, you can remain in the present moment? Is that what that means? Not that you could really ever leave the present moment, because present moment is all there is. But see, there is a subtle difference between identifying I am the one that is resisting, or I am presence in which resistance happens. See, when you look at the cat, when I will, you know, like squeeze his tail, he will resist it.

He didn't leave the present moment because he is not identified with a little me that is opposing to the squeezing tail. When you are experiencing resistance or attachment, you are already intuitively identifying as a self, a separate self, and that's why this resistance arises. I mean more like sensational based as well. Sensations are just sensations. They don't resist and they're not attached. But if you're attached to the sensation or if you're resisting the sensation, then there's that self that is doing it. It's the imagined self that is resisting or attaching. It's not just in a state of joy and equanimity, recognizing things coming up and down.

And then just letting it. Letting it be. Oh, I've got a pain. Oh, it is. The end of the story. Also I just add onto that all good suggestions but I think there a resistance in the self when there an awakening of the knowledge that there is no self And there a resistance in the self to letting go of that idea And that it's like trying to hold on to the identity of self. And in fact as the realization dawns that there actually isn't a self and it's just a play of Lila and a play of what arises in the moment. There's a kind of, oh, hang on, no, just because you're used to having this sense of me, and when that starts to drop, it can be initially, oh, no way, you know, your rug's pulled out from underneath you.

And that can offer resistance sometimes, yeah. I'm going back to those four words. I actually have more words than that. Well, peace would be another one for me, as is happiness. Joy, certainly. Yeah, well, we can go into headspace and debate the words, but they're all the same because they are always pre-existing. Are you aware of them? So peace is here like even when you have a car crash, right? So you can also be angry and also be blissed off your face at the same time if you can concurrently hold those in the perceptive container, the perceptive mechanism that you are. And that's the trick.

Yes, if you're in a relationship. Who is trying to do anything? Well, what is volitional awareness? We need to take it down to the core before you start saying who's doing what. I am a person who is not aware of the existence of the self. attributes are not arising spontaneously and remaining. Without attribute. Yeah, without attribute except attributes arise because there is still a dualistic appearance and they are part of the state of presence in a dualistic environment. It's not really dualistic, is it? It's not really dualistic, except that is the nature of the experience. And in the nature of the experience of the presence in a dualistic situation, that's what comes out.

Aren't we going beyond that? Can't we see through that? If you're beyond it, then you wouldn't see me, I wouldn't see you, and none of us would be here at all. That's beyond it. I am not seeing, it's just, no I don't want to talk about it. Buddhism is quite an amazing thing. It has some absolute jewels, but it has a lot of rubbish, which doesn't come from the Buddha. In one of the texts it says, all phenomena is self-liberating. Period. So all of this nonsense about somebody resisting this or accepting that is all a fiction. And it's a referencing to the self-image me, who is on a spiritual path, who one day will become enlightened or whatever the story is.

One of the most valuable questions to ask yourself is, without a word, what am I? Naked cognition was there before words were learned. The nature of reality is that which never changes. We learn language, we put labels on things and events and everything, and we get caught up in our own narrative. And really neti neti is what Nisargad points out. I'm not this, I'm not this, I'm not this. And if you keep doing that, there's nothing, the mind can't come up with anything. And that's the true nature of your mind. It's clear and empty. As soon as you start thinking dualism arises. Well who's thinking?

Thinking is like clouds in the sky. You can't make the clouds go away. Thinking arises. And there's nothing wrong with dualism in that sense. Yeah, but it's not true. It's not real. It's one reality. One reality. People talk about my reality, your reality. It's one reality. There's only one awareness. So the mind divides it up by labeling it, and then we have a problem. If you do the investigation and look at your own so-called consciousness, and you can't find a self-centre, there's a quietness that comes, which is naked cognition. And you can't add to it, you can't take away from it. It's always here. But how long before the mind starts dividing again?

I mean, the primary thought is I Am. Yeah, but once I am you are, he should. That's right, but if you don't understand that it's only the mind that's dividing it, and it can't really divide anything, then you're caught up in the illusion. But if you understand that it's only the mind that's dividing it, there's no division. It's unity. Equanimity. And really, aren't we talking about this direct pointing compared with a lot of methods which are progressional? You know, I'm this and I will become. Even on a personal level, there's conflict here, so somehow I have to fix it now. I have to fix it.

And so, you know, that's what I found is a really big breakthrough, is seeing that in any direction that the mind takes, whether it be a spiritual method, a psychological method, it's always a continuation of time and me. And then to see that very clearly, everything collapses, And you're left with presence-awareness because the mind cannot interfere in any way. And Bob always has said, once the mind, once you start modifying, correcting, altering, interfering, and it's very subtle, like what we've been talking about. I think this is all the discussion we really have revolves around this one point. And that is to see that in any direction we take it, even in a subtle way, it's taken me years to kind of see this, but you know, again, that's just a concept, just a concept because it hasn't, that's my story, and see how it sneaks in, but you know, it's a joke, but in any subtle direction, It's like we're in this cycle of mind without even realizing it.

You know, it's so, you know, all words are traps. I could say unconscious, but, you know, we're so caught in this seeming network of thought, like a fish in a fishbowl doesn't realize it's in that situation. And it's almost a story here that don't realize how we're, we think we're what we are. So in any direction you can't go there and it just leaves you with the actuality. And that's the major difference I found between this pointing and anything else. Beautiful. Beautiful. Bop, bop. Given in one sentence there is absolutely no duality in nonduality. See how Bob puts it so sincerely. He also has another one.

There is no duality in nonduality. He's got another one and this was beautifully you elaborated on it. He says first of all the answer is not in the mind and then he says whichever way you go You are going within the mind The only way out of the mind is full stop There is no other way out of mind It only full stop Whichever way you look will always be in the mind. And then Bob also says that, you know, when you are on the North Pole, whichever direction you're going to put your step, it will be moving away from the North Pole. The following is the first one.

I want to remind you more. Also, about the teaching of the mind, the answer is not in the mind. You can't find the answer in thinking. That is the only thing that is said to the mind. Everything else is spoken heart to heart or self to self or life to life. It's offering the resonation. The only thing that can be understood intellectually, if anyone believes in intellectual understanding, is this. Distrust the mind. The answer is not there. Stop using the tool which is not good for that job. You throw both away. Throw both away. But at the same time there is an apparent mind, life, body, awareness, you know, as Bob says, you know, intelligent forming, energy forming and shaping constantly.

That is not denied or rejected but it's within the consciousness. It's not separate to the consciousness. It's the appearance. And so to me that brings, oh liberation! Oh man, just drop it! It's liberation, it's all good. Enjoy the ride. What's been happening here, it feels like the understanding over the last couple of months I am a person who is not aware of the existence of the essence. experiencing itself as everything. And someone said the other week, or I heard that it described as, you know, whatever we're, whatever this is, is consciousness experiencing itself as the world. And that something about that phrasing, it was just like, oh, everything is me, is that.

And there's love there. It's like when that recognition of everything being it or that, that appears to be what love is. Like previously I've experienced love in a person and that's that kind of recognition almost of yourself in another. But in that moment of seeing everything as that, there's like love without object. Thank you. Thank you In the morning connect with that loving presence and before you go to sleep connect with that loving presence To me, and I always see this every time I'm here, to me the biggest expression of presence I typically see in this room is when you cats are looking at Bob with just the love that gushes out of your eyes and I saw it just before.

That's just too easy. I know. And it's blatantly obvious every time I've been in the room and you look at him. Thank you. Nothing proves that I'm not that. Nothing has the power to... no thing has the power to prove anything about me. That's an interesting thing to contemplate. Where does that lead us? Nowhere. But nowhere is alright. Nowhere is good. Just here. Exactly. Just here. Now. Now is always this conscious, this beautiful livingness now. Now means nowhere. Nowhere. Now where? If you actually spell it and you divide the words. It is just one letter ahead. Nowhere. Thanks to everyone for your wonderful animated contribution today.

It was good. Thank you. More and more we allow, we can allow these different points of view without saying, hey, you're a bloody idiot or something. We can say that as well if we want to. Everything's accepted. That's all good. It's all good. As long as there is nobody to take it on board. As soon as I open my mouth, it's going to be dualistic anyway, isn't it? As soon as we open our mouths we're fucked. Did you say that on YouTube? Yep. Do you want to say something? No? I'll give them a computer a name for those who get frustrated with their computers. I don't know if you've heard it before but I call mine Fred.

Which is short for what? Fucking ridiculous electronic device. . Now we've got a traditional kind of name to label it. . How beautiful labeling is, isn't it? What a fantastic capacity. As many other capacities that the mind has, they absolutely, when you're free, The All of these stories, including everyone in it, including people's relationship with you, to you, including your self-esteem, all those stories, when you actually see the bigger picture of incredible creativity, of that capacity to imagine, is mind-blowing. But of course, the moment you believe one or the other, you're fucked. Because even if you believe you are wonderful, and the world is wonderful, and everyone is loving, then you're going to strive to keep it this way.

How long will that one last? It may change whether you push it or not. It may change to worse. But being free from being that space space like awareness realizing that you are that space you don have to try to be it you just realize that you are that space And as that space that intelligence that life the world appears within you Of course it isn't separate. Everything that appears in that field of awareness appears in you. So every other people, every other galaxies, every other countries, anything, past, future, space, all of it appears within the field of awareness. It is inside you. You contain all the world, all the worlds, everything that's conceivable.

Even you will be in that. I'll meet you there. I am suffering because of the ideas. What a freedom! That's the only freedom. The only freedom there is. It's a freedom from believing the ideas. And ideas can be absolutely loved as another magnificent expression of that one life essence. Love and compassion and equanimity. Any ideas, any feelings, any emotions, any expressions. Expressions of good stories, bad people, microbes, viruses, diseases, deaths, famine, all of it. From life's perspective, there's nothing good or bad, nothing right or wrong. And in the human perspective included, having a heartbreak because someone is torturing an animal, or having a feeling of disappointment because the loved one left you.

All those are just such a gorgeous, colorful mandala of life, constantly changing like a kaleidoscopic changing. But the stillness, the space that you are, that field of consciousness that you are, that is prerequisite for all that change, for all that incredible richness of every moment, of that constant present moment. Is that what is necessary? Is that what matters? That's the truth, the reality. And from that perspective even the illusion is made of that same substance of reality. The substance of reality fluctuates and dances like the particle of light. In the essence, Bob has that beautiful one-liner, in the essence it is real. Everything is real in its essence, but not in how it appears.

Not in how it appears. When it appears as an object, as a separate thing, separate thought, separate image, that's maya. It's real in the essence, but not how it appears. Like the Sat Chittananda, real in essence, being consciousness bliss, But not how it appears, nama rupa, not in the name and form. Well, that's it. We have Tazi here, say, awareness naturally and spontaneously recognizes what it is not. Beautifully said, beautifully said. And that's it really for the comments, I think. Thank you everyone.