TAKE AWAY THE WORD. Sailor Bob and ND explorations. 11 Aug 2024

Tony, Manny, T-Boar, Chris, James, Catherine, Michael, Justine, Tom, Elaine, Marty, Flobby, Adrian, Dean. Morning everyone. Morning. Great to see you all. Great to see you. And mine the hell wouldn't be great if I couldn't see you all, I wouldn't be here. So it's a damn good start. And you know what we're on about? We're talking about the nondual, ever-fresh presence-awareness, the actuality of everything. What I mean by that is what they call nonduality in the scriptures. Nonduality meaning one without a second, not two, only that. And our problem is we've lost sight of it. Take ourselves to be these persons, this separate entity. What we're talking about is life or life energy, which is all there is.

There's a bloody voice which has gone. Nisargadatta tells us there is only life. There is nobody who lives the life. And Adrian was giving me a bit of a charge up this morning, a bit of a burst of energy. Doesn't it mean to say there's going to be a transference of energy or not? You can't be because it's all one. But it all can be helped by putting some energy into it. Or trying to put energy into the body. Or talking about it, or reading about it. Or believing, not believing, or knowing it for certain. Know what you are. And what I am and what you are is already that.

And that is the great mantra. I am that. And you know that because you say that's the chair you're sitting in, that's the carpet on the floor, that's the space in the room, that's the room, that's the tree, that's the Everything is that which we put different labels or words on. How many words we are born with. You realize you weren't born with any words. So what's happened? We've taken a word to be real. What our parents told us, that you're so and so, you are this word. Instead of investigating and looking at it, we didn't know what to do. We believe in the word.

So I am Johnny or Little Gene or whatever the name might be. That's taken to be the reality. But then again you look into the ones that understood it. The great reality is non-conceptual awareness. Awareness without any of these concepts, without any of these words, ideas or images. And is there anyone in this room who is unaware right now? And you know I'm not unaware, you know you are aware. That's how they describe it in Hinduism. Sat Chit Ananda, Nama Rupa, Sat is existence, Chit is consciousness, Ananda is blissful, loving to be. There was anyone who was not existing right now, and you know for certain, oh, I'm existing.

Anyone who was unconscious, I can't see anyone who was unconscious here. Anyone who was not happy to be, well, you want to be, even if it might be so wonderful, you don't want to be dead right now. So that description means that you are already that. You are that existence, consciousness, this, excuse me, obeying, knowing, loving to be. But what's happened? We've learnt these words. And as I said before, you weren't born with any words. You didn learn words until you were a couple of years old when your parents or people fussing around you were speaking words and the capacity of reasoning was growing in you and you were able to hear and understand and recognise the sound And then the intelligence translates them into words, concepts and ideas.

So now when you say I am and your parents told you you're a little Johnny or a little Jean, what do you add to it? I am little Johnny or little Jean. And you are ignoring your true nature. You are the reality. You are the great perfection. We've swapped it for the side here of being a person. And with that being person is the sense of separation. You separate yourself from the absolute, isolated yourself. And with that separation there's insecurity, vulnerability, sadness, unhappy, depression, guilt, shame, fear, remorse. All these concepts come up because I've taken myself to be this person. And Nisargad clearly tells you that the person is not the reality.

And when you look at it, it's another word we've learnt, coming from the ancient Latin persona, a mask. So this person we believe is supposed to be I am Bob the good fellow blah blah blah and all the rest of it. There's only a conceptual image that I've added all these concepts to and taken it either way. But then you look into it a little bit further and see what Christ is, sort of. Christ says, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. People think he's talking about himself. He's not. He's talking about that sense of presence that's with you, with me and everybody I Am-ness.

And that is the way. Go with the I Am-ness, not the words or the thoughts, but the knowing of your presence and the awareness of your presence. And that is the truth. That is the life. And it needs to be investigated. As I say, we've learnt these words, taken all these words on board, and said, now I am Bob. This conceptual image, which is a good fellow, or thinks he is, or some people have called him a bastard or no good at all. There'll be all sorts of concepts of what this pattern, shape and form is. And the point of the thing is, he believes them.

There is a belief in the concept. And the concept's not the reality. Concept's just another word, thought, idea. And they tell you in the scriptures, the great reality in Buddhism, I tell you, the great reality is non-conceptual awareness. And in Hinduism they call this the absolute. What can you add to absolute? You can't add anything at all to absolute. It wouldn't be absolute if anything could be added to it. What can you take away from it? Nothing at all. It still wouldn't be absolute. So they're telling you that they're absolute. They must realise that I am that because that's the great mantra. I am that.

Everything is that. Innately you know it. That's the chair, that's the carpet, that's the tree, that's the flower, that's the bird. Everything is already that, but what have we done? We've separated and discriminated with the word. And the word is not the real. The word is not the thing. And have a look at that. See the word is not the thing. Take the word water. Drink it if you can. Wash in it. Swim in it. See if you can drown in the word. I Am, that is my purpose, I Am, that is my purpose. We're told in the bible that God created Man in His image and likeness.

This image and likeness, these body-minds, we think, is the godliness of us. That's what God is like. He's this image. He's just a cloud somewhere or a place called heaven or hell or whatever label you like to put it He pointing the bone us and causing all sorts of strife When they talking about the image and likeness you see that all that this God is is the Word. It tells you in the Bible, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, the Word was God. That's all that God is, is the Word. All things were made by Him, by the Word. There was nothing made, there was what was made, without the word.

And isn't that so? What have we done with all this manifestation? We've picked up words along the way and got labels and words for everything. Instead of seeing everything as it is. And again in the Bible it's pointed out Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, Paradise. Everything's going alright. Paradise is a great life. Well what happened? They ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In other words they learnt words. And as soon as they learnt words, that I am a man, I am this person, I am this, they were cast out of paradise. And that's been so ever since.

With all these words we take we've got this conceptual image. And we beat ourselves up with the word. And look at this life as we know it now, with all these concepts and ideas and images, the races, the religions, the colours, the creeds, the ideas and images, everything that's going on. All concepts, all words, all conflict. And that's what happens, all in mental turmoil and conflict. And have a look at that. Something comes up in your life and you like it. And the things we don't like, the things we like, we want to keep there. Not realising that everything in this manifestation is changing, constantly changing.

The things we like today are certain to change. We don't want it to change not realising that no matter how much you love it, no matter how much you want to keep it there, it's going to change. Because everything in this manifestation is transient. It's all changing. This body you walk in the room with is not the same body. There are thousands of cells dying at it right now and being replaced. The thoughts that are coming up, not the same thoughts, feelings. So it's going to change, and we don't want it to change. So what do we do? We resist it. I resist, resist, ah fuck.

By resisting I mean we struggle with it. We don't want it to change, we try and keep it. But realise resistance is conflict. And what is conflict? Conflict is disease. You're fighting with it. So that's what goes on, the resistance, conflict and disease. I don't like this or I don't want it or this is good or this is bad. So the other way, something comes up that you don't like. Oh, I shouldn't be thinking this thought, I'm a sinner, I'm a terrible person, I'm a bad man. I don't want this, we try to force that one out. So there's always conflict while we're in the Word.

What happens without the Word? As Shakespeare says, there's nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. So there you are. Without the Word, what's thinking? They tell you also, nothing can trouble you, Nisargadatta tells you, except in your own imagination. And what's imagination? Imaging in. We're creating mental images. And they'll tell you the word is not the real. The beginning was the word. So it's all based on words which are not the real, they're not the thing. What's word? Well, word is nothing but sound. What's sound? It's a vibration. And what's a vibration? A movement of energy. So all these words are a vibrating pattern of energy.

And what are you without the word? What can you say if you pause the thought and ask yourself what's wrong with right now without the word? You can't say it's good, you can't say it's bad, high, low, present, painful, anything at all about it without the word. It just is as it is. Wordless, timeless, faceless, spontaneous. But now we've started to fill the words when we were told, what our parents told us, you little billy, I am little billy. I don like this I don want that So we get locked in the words which causes the fear the anxiety the depression the guilt the shame the remorse the unhappiness all based on the word What is wrong with right now if I don't think about it?

Without a thought or a word I can't say it's good, can't say it's bad, can't say it's pleasant, painful, happy or sad, but I cannot say it's not. So it just is. And we know that also. We call it human being. We call ourselves human being. I am a human being. And this thing we call God is a greater being than what I am. So that's a supreme being. Now we've divided it and separated it again. What happens if I take away that word supreme and take away the word human? See if I can separate the beingness without the word. Can anyone say that they are not being right now?

You know they can't, it's an absolute certainty, I am. You can't say I am not. But when you believe I am this person, you've shut yourself off. As they say, you shut yourself off from the sunlight of the spirit and the insanity of the question and the conceptualising returns, and you're stuck back into the shit again. But it doesn't have to be that way. Recognise, as I said before, the word is not the thing. What am I without the word? Well, I can't say I am not. I can say I am, but what I am? What is this I am? I am. When I look at it, it's just the sense of presence.

The sense of being present and aware, which is translated as the thought I am. So it's presence-awareness. Anyone who is not present right now, or unaware, then you'll say, no, I'm aware, I'm present. But you see what we're doing, we're headed as presence-awareness, we're looking to become present and aware. Stupidity. How can you become something that you already are? It doesn't happen and it will never happen. It will never happen until it's recognised what it is. You are already the absolute. You always have been and always will be. Now if you are the absolute, or in Buddhism they call it the great perfection. And I tell you in Buddhism the great perfection is non-conceptual awareness.

It's that awareness without concepts. An absolute, nothing can be added to the absolute. Nothing can be taken away from the absolute. If it could be added to it, it wouldn't be absolute. If you could take anything away from it, it wouldn't be absolute. If I recognise I am the absolute, who can ever be superior to me? I don't have to look up to anybody and take any note of anybody. Who can be inferior to me? No one. I can't look down on anybody and say, so and so or this, that or that, because recognising it is all absolute. No one superior, no one inferior, and what would I want from anybody else?

Well, we recognise that everything would be available if it's absolute. It is already available right now. And a lot of it's pushed away, and a lot of it's trying to be held onto. There goes another loan. Nothing to be added absolute, nothing taken away from, it is already that. So we go back to the that-ness again. Now there are others here who have recognised this and others here can talk about it and might use different words or different concepts to what I'm using, but express them. And there are others that are just picking it up a bit and might like to ask a question or do something about it.

And others might hear it because that's how it's passed along, how it's been passed along

There is no one superior to anyone else, and while there is the belief that there is, there are all sorts of fears, anxieties, stress, going on. Now, have a look at that word, belief. We've all got this belief in this. Your dictionary definition of belief is... The definition of belief is an unquestioned acceptance of something in the absence of reason. It means something comes up and somebody tells me something, without questioning I believe it. An unquestioned acceptance of something in the absence of reason, acceptance of an alleged fact. An alleged fact without any positive knowledge or proof.

Have a look and see how many beliefs you've got. If you've got all these beliefs, question them again. Have a look into them and you might see things differently. And in the seeing things differently, the activities and living is going to be different. Instead of the fear, the anxiety, the distress, the guilt, the shame, the fear, the remorse, all this psychological suffering comes along. You might see there's a sense of well-being there, a sense of joyousness, a sense of love, a warmth, a happiness to be. And being is knowing and loving to be. And that is all there is. So that'll do me today. So you can all know it, so it'll take over and host it and get you to ask questions or tell me all about it.

And you can have a good meeting, which we generally do. We have a few people from our online community watching and a couple of good morning messages. Anika says, good morning Bob, so delighted to see Bob is feeling well enough to give us his spiel today. I absolutely love satsang. Thank you so much for creating the space for this to happen, Kat and Bob. He's feeling well. You're still in love. Thank you. And we can give him the hearing back. And this is the time when we invite everyone who is with us to participate, ask questions, tell us what resonated, because generally the whole nondual message is something that is supposed to ring the bell, it is supposed to resonate in the heart.

There is nothing new, there is nothing that you don't know already, it's just the recognition that this knowing is it. Because if you listen to the bad advisors that the conceptual narrative mind is, it will tell you that this is not it, that there is something more, something bigger, something better, something to achieve, something that isn't happening right now, but maybe in the future if you read a lot of scripture, do a lot of contemplation or meditation. Translation I am a woman. We invite, we have another mic to go on the room so people who are with us online can hear everyone. We invite anyone to speak, to say how you feel about it, what you know, what you don't.

A mic in the room. Mike in the room. Michael says Mike. Mike says Mike. Just the image in is becoming... you hear the message so many times, you know, the image in, and you can't get it intellectually, but it's very different when you kind of notice it coming up. Yeah How the thought comes an image comes and then an image of self comes as well like there whole image of whatever it is you thinking about You might think about one particular person and then there an image of self that pops in and then there's a whole story between the other and self. But it's beautiful to notice that there's something there before that, and during it, and after it.

And it's an ongoing practice as well, because it's just like that hall of mirrors. And that's what resonated with me this morning and what I've been noticing as well. Thank you. Thanks Bob for the great talk. Thanks Mike for the great joke. I noticed before any images appear there's a stirring. I recognized that stirring before it happened when I was very young or before I appeared. Most everything was everything without names or forms, but there was a stirring and that stirring just was recognised in the quiet listening and it's just a slight movement And then that movement becomes an inquiry, what is going on? And then something emerges from that and that's what Michael was talking about with the image in, and the imagination.

And there's a separation and that's the start of the story. I love that word unfolding. It feels like that's what happens. It's like from into space something just unfolds and then everything just comes. But there's nobody doing anything. There are many of you and I'm sure that I will be able to read your mind for a while to come back to the centre for a discussion. It's just that it's like a process, I guess, but there's no name to it. There's no, what was the other one? The form and formless, you know. It's yeah, yeah, it's just, and it just happens. What's the stirring? A movement of energy.

So it's all energy. It forms into words, shapes, patterns. Yeah, and the way Tibor said, you know, unfolding, you can see how the attention feeds the unfolding. The attention which is that energy, which is that energy like, you know, it's just different vocabulary and that's what we like to express it in different ways because it's very simple. It's very simple, but you can see that unfolding is witnessed. That attention feeds it. The more attention you put into it, the more, you know, like a flower, it opens up with more details, and more like a new universe opens up in a drop of water. And where did it start?

It's like, did the flower start from the seed? The flowers start from the microbes in the soil. Where is the unfolding from? There is no answer to where the unfolding is from. The story of origin is just a beautiful story. It's again imaging. We image in the story of origin, how it happened, when it started, what was a prior moment prior to it. All of this is imagination. We love our stories and there is nothing wrong in loving them. You see the flower and you imagine the seed. The seed is not there, it is gone, it is dead. But having that capacity to imagine is a beautiful capacity.

If we actually understand that this is just one of the capacities, like a capacity for seeing or hearing or anything. But it is not reality. It's almost like the black hole is that the mind imagines the black hole but can't conceptualise what's on the other side because there's nothing. The mind, which is what invented the black hole, cannot see past the blackness. It just nothing yet everything even theoretically unfolds on the other side of the black hole but we don know where or what or how It's the mind that will never see through that black hole, because it's non-conceptual. So, I have to give just another word.

Yeah. Yeah. And the freedom from actually finding comfort, freedom in finding comfort in the not knowing mind, in being absolutely at peace with the unfolding as it happens without needing to understand it, to have it explained, to have it projected back the origin of it. It's just this moment. How did I get here? Who cares? I am not a person who is not aware of the existence of the mind. I'm just completely still the show. Yeah, what's been said what's been said by everyone Yeah, it's like this natural spontaneous Thing that's happening and There's no sort of beginning or ending to it and you can't really I am the creator of the I'm a person who's always says, you know, look at where that appearance is coming from and you'll see that it's all one.

But to try and understand that is impossible. And sometimes that can be, you know, one of the tricky things. Just make it unnecessarily difficult and confusing because there really is nothing to understand. It's like I'm trying to communicate something that has something to get or understand about it. But there really is nothing for you to understand about what I'm saying, what anyone's saying, because it's just appearing. And it's just noticing that what appears, there's no right or wrong with what appears and what is said. There's no getting what is said. There's no understanding. There's no making sense of what's being said because there's no sense about it.

I am not a person who is being I am not a person who is only one. It really is the art of listening in that space where if you listen without the commentary, without trying to work out what am I going to answer, what I think, or do I agree or do I disagree, or is he right or is he wrong, or I like when Bob speaks but I don't like when someone else speaks. All that commentary, you can't actually hear what is being said in a way which may hit that soft spot. And bring that, ah right, but I see Chris has the mic, so this way?

I'm sorry. I just want to say thank you, that's all. Yeah, that's the point, not to get it, yeah. It isn't really, as you beautifully said, it's nothing to get really. It's just an exploration, like someone on Zoom meeting said, It is like a campfire exploration by friends who are actually getting out of the way and let that life speak, the same life speaking through different mouths, expressing it in different ways. And sometimes the expression may be a little bit off or a little bit confused because part of the expression of life is the mind, is the personality, is the desires, the dreams, the fears, all of it.

But having it put out and seeing whether it resonates or it doesn't brings more and more of that clarity into the picture. James if you Well all knowledge is gathered on that emptiness James DeVille Catherine? And just one little point which is obvious but you know it's not something to then, well I'm not here now, I'm going to get it later or I'm in the conceptual mind now so therefore I'm not, you know I have to practice to get there more because when you look at it it's that all that kind of thinking is just thinking, the mind playing in its pairs I am not creating more conflict by thinking, I have to do more in order to get there or to become that, because that's just the commentary of the mind continually presenting itself and therefore creating more conflict.

So just seeing through that whole game of mind is freeing in itself. That no matter what happens, it's all that. It always comes back to now. I can see that clarity is there, no matter what. It can be seen at any point. Beautiful. It's like what Michael was saying, the imaging arises in the consciousness, and that includes the image of I Am or myself, the mental representation of what I Am. Those images are really no different, even though that looks different, the room looks different to the image I may have of myself. But they are made of the same substance, they are made of the mind stuff, of the vibration of the thought.

So they are equally unreal and they are equally what is arising in a sphere of thinking. Just like Bob is giving the example often of the seeing. The capacity of seeing is being expressed and experienced fully. Everyone can tap into that singular experience of seeing. And within that, the objects arise and the subject is straight away assumed. When I see the room and people as an object, I assume this is an I that is seeing them. But the truth is they can't be separated, neither the subject nor the object from the seeing. They can only be separated by the concept, by the mind. So the direct experience is singular, there is seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, non-separable from one another.

And then there is mind imposing the duality on it. This is I seeing you, this is I hearing you. But if you look to the source of that seeing, hearing, you can't find the I. And obviously you can't because who would be finding it? There would be another I and another I and another I. It's impossible. So the natural recognition is there isn't one. The seeing is happening, but there isn't I that does it. So what does it? What does the seeing? Does it have to be a thing that does the seeing? Seeing, and again Bob beautifully explains it, how it happens through the instrument.

You know, when I put the binoculars, the seeing will be more, let's say, far-oriented. When I put the microscope, the seeing will, the instrument will modify the seeing. The instrument of attention will also modify the content of the seeing. But the capacity stays the same. The content is changing all the time. And Bob often brings up, you know, you wake up in the morning, seeing is there, ready. You don't have to start it. You don't have to switch it on like the light or you don't switch on the sun or anything. And then you leave the room. The content of seeing is changing, but the seeing is the same.

The instrument may start failing. You may need the glasses, but the capacity doesn't change. A A

I Am Being, I Am Knowing, but a little bit of investigation and the I can't be found. So the seeing is the capacity, it is unlocated, it doesn't happen seeing, hearing, being, being knowing, loving to be, Sat Chit Ananda, it is just happening. And where is that being? The being expresses itself through the ten thousand things. There is a being of a bottle, there is a being of a teabag, there is a being of a rose, there is a being of a room. But the separation into being of what and how is happening only through labeling.

Without any labels there is just being. Bob sometimes describes the same phenomenon with the imposition of the language by showing how we call everything that. That is the phone, that is a mirror, that is Peter, that. Everything is that, separated by the labels. So again, instead of trusting that fantastic tool that the language is, that fantastic tool that lets the body navigate and cater for itself, and that should be used as a tool, instead of trusting that tool to be the description of reality, it should be used as a tool tool and reality can be accessed and it is accessed whether we know it or not directly.

So direct experience is singular always. Singular seeing, hearing, being, tasting, touching, smelling. That's happening right now. They are chairs in the room if you like. That's the naughty space. The naughty space. Yes. Introverts. Well, suddenly there are so many introverts here that it doesn't really give anyone any space anymore. Asperger, autism and everything that is overwhelming quickly and now you have a closer encounter. I was just going to say, come on in, there's no one here. Yes, so anyone would like to add something or express, describe that singular experience? Anyone would like to maybe question it or argue with it or maybe object to it?

Because the feeling may be very, very persistent that there is an I and that I feels incomplete, The Most of the time we have a good intention of motivation or something. When a little child is being scolded, you're worth nothing, prove me that I'm wrong. And then that very narrative is being adopted and we beat ourselves up. I'm not good enough, I'm not tall, I'm not short enough, I'm not fat enough, I'm not skinny enough, I am not wise enough, I am not whatever. All those concepts, they are not the truth, they are not defining. They are not, this is what you can find if you look inside, the limiting concepts that are causing a contraction, that are causing a painful feeling.

But even those concepts and those feelings is what arises. Nobody was born with that. A little baby that is born with the capacity for seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, which develops when the mind develops. I mean the capacity doesn't, but the distinguishing between the objects that are being seen or heard develops. It isn't born with those sense of insecurity and vulnerability and inadequacy. It comes later. So it can't be you. Going back to, like, I still get a lot of anxiety feelings and a part of me is there, wants to work it out where it's coming from, what, like, I don't even know how to say it now because I don't sometimes know where it comes from.

It's just these feelings and sensations that come up and there's a part of me that wants to solve it. I think I've mentioned this to you a few times before. Does it matter? No. No. Just, okay. Sometimes surprise surprise sometimes solving it in the mind works Michael will say something about hypnosis It sometimes works I know about the cults and the groups of people that adopt a story Oh your anxiety is just a reflection of the past and I am a person of the present It's like a Buddhist tale of walking a thousand miles with the stone in your shoe and then taking it off.

So sometimes working that anxiety out in the mind brings a relief. So you can come up with whatever the explanation and then you can see through it and you can, who knows, the pattern may shift. But if you are here in this room, you are looking for freedom from the mind with its stories and its explanations. The life will experience itself and express itself through those stories, through other people. There is a sense that the stories don't matter. Like, even if I'm making it up, because there's no story right now, it's past or future. Now there is no story. The sensation is still in the body of something happening, that's now.

But is it just a thought as well? Or is it like, sometimes it just throws me because it's, There's something happening, then the mind wants to go into an explanation of that or try and find a label for it. The label doesn't actually matter because the label won't fix it anyway. It'll just take me down a deeper rabbit hole. So, just don't worry about it, I guess. Yeah, and see where the life will take you, because there is a possibility, you know, that medicine may have an answer. There are things like chemical imbalances in the body or in the brain. Who knows, life will take you where you need to be.

If that is required, you may just pop a pill and that disorder or that chemical imbalance may be sorted. Or you look at these sensations and give them space because that usually what happens if there is anything calling for attention in the body. It may be a broken bone, it may be any sort of a disorder, it may be acid reflux, whatever. If it calls for attention, if it's given that attention, that very attention is healing. www.nisargad.com.au I Am the One who is the One. I Am the One who is the One. I was just going to say something that triggered a response from what Tibor said earlier.

There's a stirring and there's something that needs a resolution. He said, well, is it the seed, the flower grows from the seed and all that? The seed in the Sanskrit language is dhatu, the seed form, everything coming from justice, a seed. There's a whole book written about the roots of words called the dhatupada. And then this basic space of reality that we are talking about that the Dharatu what called the Dharatu Dharma or Dharma Dharatu basic space feeling That's what's stirring and it's something we're really looking for the truth. So it's the stirring of something that needs some resolution. So we all do it in our own way and we all label things.

I found in me when I was going through that vibration, and when you go through to your true self, that vibration was my resistance to the loving kindness that we all are underneath. And if you can just say it's just a vibration and don't want an answer for it, just in your body. And just let it be. There's nothing to do, nothing to get, nothing to know. And just let it be in the moment. Loving what is in any given moment. Without wanting the answer or wanting to move it. And it will just disappear. And the obvious thing of course when you look out in nature, you know, if there is really a strong sense of discomfort, that might be actually calling for changing your position, for example, you know.

Just as everyone was talking, it was also this sense of what was... In the exploration of all this, different things come up, which is what we're all doing in various ways. There is some truth to this pushing, and again, there's no right words for it, but this pushing through. You know, if you're using metaphors, the seed pushing through the ground is the sensation. It's just, there's something, there's a, I guess there's an uncomfortableness is a label to the newness of it, or, that's not even the right word, I'm just grateful for everyone's different ways of reflecting back what is and it's okay. That's all. Beautiful.

When you think of the discomfort, Bob may have something to say about all sorts of different physical discomforts too in the body related to health challenges. Some of them can be addressed in a simple way. And this is again when you see uncomfortable animal. Some of the discomforts may be addressed and they will be. And those who can't, you probably, you know, best off if you can peel off as many labels as you can. Just peel off the label discomfort and see what it is. Be curious about it. See, okay, the vibration is in the stomach. Oh, it kind of makes my stomach twist. What if I take the label off and see what is the area that is affected, see what is the frequency, how it pulsates, does it pulsate very finely, just really finding genuine curiosity.

Because there is no simple easy way to switch it off or change the position or address it in any way. You may as well, this is what presents itself. So this is how life is dancing the dance of Maya right now. Give it a space, give life the whole scene to show up. And without the idea that this is discomfort, it might be fascinating. I used to experience that when I was in acute pain after the accident. And the pain, I've kind of started really investigating the different hues and different shades of pain. And I found like I didn't have enough language, I didn't have enough labels for all that pinching and tinkling and buzzing and buzzing and doing all sorts of different things in that big wound that I had.

Amazing. It became amazing. Out of painful, it became fascinating. But we have also comments here. Ariel says, sometimes the mind likes to think it has control over attention. Fantastic point Ariel, great point. Mind is non-existent. Mind is just a capacity for thinking. It doesn't have any control for attention. Attention is called. Life will call the attention and it will go where it needs to go. The mind can seemingly object to that natural flow of attention but it's also only seemingly because mind belongs to that whole flow. Who is discomforting and who is not? Who is recognizing the opposition? Yeah, beautiful. It's all one essence. And Vivek says, when mind is still, no thoughts, then me is clearly observed.

There is no past or future in me There is only ever shining me And Julia says you are right about the label being the problem What energy is good or bad without a label Beautiful. Yeah, I was just going to say, if there's no solving happening, then, you know, what's happening is just totally relaxed. You're just totally relaxed. There's no issues. I was going to ask Jane if she could tell, I really like your story with when you were singing, you talk about how you, are you able to tell that? But another thing that's been coming up for me ever since you posed your anxiety thing is there is no practice, I am not anxious but what helped here was Bob used to always say, who is it happening to?

And he'd say, answer me, and I'd say me. And where is that me? That me has to live in the memory. It has to be in the past or it has to be anticipated and imagined into the future. So, me is just a memory. So who's anxious? Who's disturbed? Who's full of disease? You have to really have a look at that. Where is that me? It really is in the memory. And that's the split, that's the duality. Yeah, and the thing about, Marty reminded me about was the singing. I used to say to Bob, I get so nervous and anxious before I sing, I'd say, don't label it.

Or if you have to label it, say it's the energy you need to do the performance. You know, so, yeah, what kept coming up for me was, yes, there is no practice, but just have a look at the me that it's allegedly happening to. We all know, or at least we hope we know after listening to Bob I am a woman who has been in this world for a long time that there is no me. So, there's no solution as you say. Yeah, beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, I can't remember I heard this, whether it was Bob or someone else, but it's like all of the viewpoints, the different viewpoints of practices and all those sorts of things like trying different classes.

So, you're taking on this process or this system or this, and you're trying all the different classes. And you might try binoculars and you're getting a different viewpoint. The end of the story. Why not? Why not? This precise moment could be completely different than just going like that. And that does happen, like miracle remissions in illness. So that can happen. So the answer is why not? Yeah, yeah. See the idea that, again, who has the preference for the story not to continue? Anybody there who wants the story to stop because you're looking for the ultimate freedom, freedom regardless of whether the story perpetuates itself like a madman or is quiet completely.

The freedom that you are, that space that you are is not touched by narrative, by the story, by repeated story, nothing. And this is the deepest relaxation. The surface relaxation will make, oh yeah, that story is there, it's impersonal, I don't take it on board. But there is still an I that doesn't take it on board. You can relax even deeper in which you are life itself. You are the space itself. And if the life wants the story on, you want the story on. You are life. There is no objection. And then you can't even say that I want it or I don't want it because as life there is no I.

Yeah, there is still a subtle I jumping in somewhere there, isn't there? Enjoy it. In this life you may enjoy the subtle eye jumping in. Helen? Dean? You got a mic. I Am the One, I Am the One. I don't know, I'm amazed like because we don't, you know, you start with the fact that you are that and we don't teach you anything, we don't tell you anything and yet somehow in this brilliant way you've been doing this for like over 45 years, Bob. It's magnificent. Page 1. A reference point or self-centre with any substance or independent nature cannot be found. Page 1 of his book.

And then page 2. Keep seeing that there is no thing that sees, and recognise that seeing of itself is happening quite naturally, and the recognition of the natural seeing will appear to last longer. I mean, these words, they're just explaining everything that we're doing here so perfectly. There doesn't need any more conversation. The rest is party time. What are we going to eat today, Bob? We are going to eat cake. We are going to eat cake? We got Jacinta's birthday? That's beautiful. I only mentioned that this book, if there is anyone who doesn't have that book, It is the only book ever written by Bob and not transcribed by his students, or you can't call them students if there is no teaching.

But it is a brilliant small book that you can find on our website, saylorbobadamson.com, and we have it on eBay. It's, yeah, you can show us. Just over there. Another little one, the first one. Yes, that's it. Gilbert published that with beautiful golden letters. And it's Urban Guru Press Gilbert 2012. And it's just real, true essence, like really squeeze out of too many words. It's one liners that you just sit with and they open up. It's a beautiful little book. And it's inexpensive even though I paid for it more than we are charging. But it is there to be had. So that processes may take place where letting go occurs and thoughts once they may arise, oh holy crap, that might be me doing it, I better stop.

Processes take place and here they drop a lot of shit and give much more space to just be there with no thought. And there's nothing wrong with that and they're just happening and it's not me at all. Never thought of me doing those processes. But they happen. Beautiful. Yeah. Well said. Very well said. Yes. And Julia says, I concur, Dean. Added words are not needed. And added words just happened and they were beautiful. Just to bring some contrary opinion. I think it's great that we do have the conversations though too. Totally. Because there's so many nuances to the mind and, you know, we're all a little bit different.

Thank you. Campfire Exploration What you're just saying just reminded me of a meet. I went to a Hare Krishna meet like years and years ago and the one thing I remember them talking about was a band, you know and everyone's a different instrument and Then you all play, you know, you play all these different instruments and it creates this beautiful sound together that's kind of what I kind of kind of feels like you know what like this group with all the different sort of ways that everyone approaches it and it all sort of comes together as one except when I speak and it separates Beautiful.

Yeah, go on. There's no one playing the instrument as such. The instrumentation is happening There no controller there no player but it is an incredible orchestra going on And the only thing required, like Catherine was saying, get out of the way. It was the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus was asked what is he going to tell, what is he going to speak to people about. And he says, I have no idea. I'll open my mouth and the Father will speak. Or the Holy Ghost will speak. Recognition that there is only one life experiencing and expressing us everything. There is only one life speaking to everyone.

Even if the speech may be discorded or even if someone is making a really false tune in the music. Well, whose concept is that? It's still life. If there was only positive characters in the movie, nobody would watch it. And they would not be positive anymore. The appearance, the duality has to be diverse. They have to be black and white and all shades of grey and all the colours and hot and cold. If there was only hot, there would be no hot. And the cold wouldn't be known. Nothing would be known. The appearance, the way it is, is to be loved and appreciated in all its colours and hues.

And it is pretty amazing to have a group like this, where we kind of stay on the ball of the only game in town, as Bob says it. It's the only game in town. We are referring to the direct experience of the truth, not to different belief systems, not to belief system which the science is collectively approved or accepted belief system, or religion one or the other, or non-beliefs really, beliefs are being questioned. And that is quite beautiful because that is what is really happening outside those rooms. People usually relate to each other by sharing problems or sharing opinions. And here we just open up and let the Father speak, not the Big Daddy in the sky, Or not the Holy Ghost, but the life itself.

It's an amazing day. Just one little aspect of that is like, you know, normally people, you know, we reference everything in terms of time, you know, past and future, etc. But then, you know, here we see that actually, you know, time is a concept obviously. Everything that's said and all the anxieties, all the good things and the bad things, all pass instantly. Even in the moment now, everything is just happening right now. Everything that's being said just a moment ago has gone and where does it go? We don't know where it goes. Everything that is coming is coming of its own. I didn't plan to just speak right now, for example, and soon it'll stop.

But that's an amazing thing to see that it's all happening right now, as opposed to the belief system of time, which is useful only in practical circumstances. Thanks for sharing that because this moment, right, how is my moment different to your moment? And it doesn't matter where you go in the world, travel 10,000 kilometres and visit someone, how is that moment different? The Time doesn't exist in it and yet it's always this moment and it's always we're always in this moment. We can't be anywhere else and that's always been that way. And here as well, always here. Even if the here is in some conceptualized other location somewhere on the other side of the world.

Yeah. It's still here. Yeah, it doesn't matter where I go, I'm always there. It doesn't make sense. Here is everywhere and now is now. Nothing to say? No. We have Anika says agreeing with the lady about the conversation. It has been so helpful to hear everyone's expressions on the same topic and more little ahas occur. Very grateful for the way this satsang operates. Diversity in oneness. Thank you Anika That beautiful That really how it that is the true art of listening Without the overlay of concepts oh Bob has 48 years of clarity I listen to him and no one else Everyone is that Thank you for this And everyone knows that they are Everyone knows that they are Vivek says, sometimes voice is low, request to keep mic closer.

Yeah, good point. Anyone who speaks, just speak to the mic. Thank you Vivek. Deborah says, I really enjoy this group. Thank you. I just want to add on, when everyone was doing something over there, I wanted to add on to that. Here is freedom as well. We're free here. Free of concepts is freedom. And so why go, you know, like you can't go anywhere else. So why imagine you're somewhere else? Beautiful. And that's a great point. You know, here is the freedom. Here is the freedom without any context of me being sick or aging or having problems, without any context. Contexts that is always a story created by the mind.

There is freedom without any concept or idea of past. Oh, I've been better now I'm getting worse. Without any concept, without the mind, there is freedom. Here and now is always a freedom. The moment mind enters it and Bob sometimes equates in a spiel that time is mind, mind is time. Is there a time without a thought? Is there a time without the mind? No, it isn't. Is there any other location without the thought? No, there isn't. So in that directness of here-now or now-here, there is absolute freedom. Even if for a moment you push aside the ideas of mind or time or imagination, Even for that moment you realize, and this is another of Bob's books there on the table and on our website, what's wrong with right now if I don't think about it?

Nothing. Nothing is wrong. But that's not it. Have I disappeared when I stopped thinking? Nope. The existence is still there. Without the thought, existence is still there. So obviously, prior to the thought, I think, there is an existence. Prior to any thought, there is an existence. So what must I be? If I want to identify as anything at all, if I have any need to identify as anything at all, then existence or life or space is probably more accurate if you look at direct experience And then identifying as an idea, a thought, an image, a mental image, a body, a mind. So it is an honest investigation until the time comes that even the idea of being space or even the idea of being life is redundant because there is no one who ever wants to know who am I, what am I, where am I.

There is no one there, it's just life, lifing. What you're describing actually, I think this is just a description of things, it's not really, there's no real truth to it, but it seems like there's a, what you're describing actually permeates and rewires the whole system, so thereby it actually functions from that place. It's not a conceptual understanding of things. It actually functions from that way. Like a practical example, maybe to deal with a situation. There is no need to deal with it until I'm faced with it, until dealing with it happens. So there's actually no problem at all, no matter even if it's very difficult or problematic So, I think, that's what it is.

There's no problem with that, it's all imaginary. So, that's just like a little example of this teaching. Actually, it really permeates the whole system, functions from that way. Which is the same for everyone. I think the only difference is that we believe in thoughts, really. That's about it. Beautiful. And what you just said, that's the great thing about the Dharma. As I said, that's the grace, that's what Bob often starts. It is no teaching really, it is a description of the experience. There is no one here who could teach you anything, because there is no one here, full stop. And in teaching, there is an assumption that there is someone who knows better or knows more.

If anything, he would know less. But it doesn't really matter what the content of knowing is. It doesn't matter whether he may know more on one topic and less on another topic. It doesn't matter. But when he says, I can't teach you anything, I can't tell you anything, because there is no one there. There is only the same one life speaking to itself, reflecting itself in other forms. So what we can do and that what we are doing and that why it is so beautiful and simple and authentic Just what Dean was pointing out we are describing how it is happening And in that description the resonation happens.

And in that resonation it gets rewired, it gets reinforced. Yes, of course, of course the seeing is first and then the content comes up with the narrative. Of course when the narrative is out of the way, well there is no time, there is no past, there is no future. Oh yeah, right, right, it's just resonating and verifying, no teaching. There is nothing that when you hear it and when you say, yeah of course, it means you knew it always innately. There is nothing that you just learned that you didn't know a moment ago. That's the beauty of it, everyone's that. So what did I have to do with creating this form?

Beauty! What did I know about my mother when I was in my mother's womb? Lovely, yep. What thought did I have in my mother's womb? What did she have about me? I don't even know how the heartbeat is beating. I'm seeing, I don't know how I'm seeing, I'm seeing, I'm hearing. And like it's pointed out, whatever I see, if I turn my head a certain way, The content changes but the seeing doesn't. We're all miracles walking around seeing but there's only the one miracle. To all of you. Beautiful. And you're all that. We all that we were, Katrin? No, just passing. We were talking on the Zoom meetings and if there is anyone who would like to join us on the Zoom meetings, we have Zoom meetings twice a week in the evenings for European time zones and tomorrow there is a Zoom on our morning and American afternoon.

Anyone is welcome to join the campfire explorations. Explorations of friends who are equal, there is no superior, no inferior. Everyone knows that they exist. And we were actually, when James talked about everyone, we're kind of making fun a little bit of the idea, some people don't like nonduality, it's two words, nondual. You know, oneness, what a better word. Well, really, oneness, we are all one. Doesn't it sound funny? We are one. Well, it is not untrue entirely because in the essence everything is that. But as it is expressed, it really doesn't matter hanging onto words. Some words may resonate with some and not resonate or cause inflammation in others.

If you really look for the freedom, go beyond language. And this is what Bob often quotes in Hing Sing Ming, the truth is beyond language, because in it there is no time, no future, no past, no yesterday, no tomorrow. How was it? The way is beyond language? Yeah. The way is beyond language. There's no yesterday, no tomorrow, and no today. Not even today. Even the now is a concept. Make the slightest distinction. Yeah. Make the slightest distinction. Yeah. You want to quote this part? Make the smallest distinction. Leave me alone. No. Never. So we have Vivek says nonduality are two words and oneness is one word, again words.

Again mind is creating concepts and mind is at work. Yeah, yeah, the words, it is the truth is beyond language. It is beyond whether it's one word or five words or thousand words, it is beyond language. What language? Most of us use Sakhon? So you can't drink it. So the word oneness, what does that represent? I've got a universal language. Silence. Universal language. That's it? That's it. Yep. Thanks Bob, thanks Kat, thanks everyone. Thank you everyone.