Awareness of Self - Sailor Bob's nonduality group 26 Jan 2025

I am Kol. I don't know, she didn't show up. Maybe she'll come late or maybe she won't. And we may also have an interruption today, so we'll see how we go. Maybe we won't. Yes, so traditionally, just as we always start, we invite someone to give us a little introduction, if you feel like, just saying, just like what we were really talking right before the meeting. What works, what is clear, what is helpful, What is completely digested through the system in Bob's style, what really makes a difference, because that authentic testimony of the real difference, the lightness that it brings to daily experience, that's of the greatest value.

Anyone? I don't mind saying something. One dot. Yes, I'm Cole. Look, I see a lot of people and I've got a lot of friends and I talk about this stuff a lot. And for some reason, you know, when I'm talking one-to-one with them, I just talk and I talk and I talk and there's no Cole there. I am not sure, but when I am here and if somebody says, Col, could you say a few words? Col gets in the way and that's just the way it is and that's fine. I might say something a bit more later on. Thank you. You don't want to say what you were just saying?

It was so beautiful about, you know, that conditioning, easing off one's disawareness. I guess it's more of a question sort of chat because there's still... the mind is looking for clarity and I'm aware of that. What I've been witnessing lately is, if this is the right word, There's awareness looking at the conditioning of Tasha and the more that awareness anchors in, although that's not the right word, the more awareness of awareness, the more the conditioning, it's easier for it to fall away. And there's more peace, there's more choices, there's less anger, like less frustration, and more, almost like loving connectedness to everything and everyone, but at the same time nothing.

So I don't really know what to say other than that's what's been happening lately. There's more of a gap between the learnt behaviour, the learnt conditioning and this presence, this stillness that's amazing. It's beautiful and it doesn't actually want anything. It's just... I don't really know the words because it doesn't really need words. I could put a few labels like peace and joy and harmony, but it feels like as if there's more presence inside the body as well. It's like as if the physical body is opening out and waking up, as if each individual cell is being, I don't know, awakened. And I don't really know what that is because I thought liberation would be this whiz-bang experience and God would reveal itself to me and Tasha would be no more.

But it's almost like this breathing in and breathing out. This Tasha is, Tasha isn't. So I don't really know if there's a process of waking up. I don't know if that happens like that or not. It reminded me of a little past section in Bob's book Beyond Words, Beyond Mind, and I'm paraphrasing, keep seeing that there is no one entity who sees and the seeming clarity will seem to last longer. That's it. Beautiful. Yeah. Thanks, Bob. Yes, it certainly appears this way. It appears that there is a process of shedding the conditioning. And some people may call it the conditioning is me, but really the conditioning is just the content of the programmed mind.

There is no me, really. And I like, you know, that was very good illustration, call gets in the way. But call is just a set of conditioned mind which says ah look you are exposed you know you may be judged you may be rejected you may be it comes with the anxiety The I don't want to be nourished, I don't want to be rejected. Go on. So, look, there is a dual awareness, okay? There is awareness that the... that Khol is just a story. Khol is no different to this light up here. It's just part of the manifestation, part of the appearance, okay? And there's nothing there at all, really.

But, you know, it's a bit like... Shakespeare talked about the world, something about being on stage. We're all actors on a stage and that's what we might call the conventional reality. And you know, I have to go down the shop and get some food because I'm hungry. We have to do those sorts of things and those are the things we talk about. I like that you used the word meaningless then. So what is meaning? What is supposed meaning in this dualist? Yeah, it's really just information given apparent reality by symbols, which are really, which are just words, which are just arbitrary sounds, which have differently perceived from one seeming entity to another even.

I Am, I Am, I Am, I Am, I Am, I Am. It's only a story, but meaning is relative. Just like time and anything that's relative, well, it's... Every word that you ever speak has got no meaning. Please say that again. I said every word that you ever speak is meaningless. Yeah? Yes. I agree with you. Yeah. Yeah. And therefore, expand that. Seeming information, seeming facts, seeming it's all actually, fundamentally, got no veracity of its own. Then strip it right back to that. Yeah, believe, no I was elaborating on your word, meaningless. Yeah, good one to explore because what is meaning? The other side of that coin.

And this morning I was listening to the conversation and I thought, wow, you know, I was asking, is this possible, is this possible? And I was thinking, well, if you believe, if you believe in nothing, nothing, then the other side of that coin is, well, everything is possible. Why would you limit life as a so-called individual entity? So that's it. And also even the speculation, just having that attitude, is this or that possible or not possible, is that going to happen or not? Just somewhat also exchanging the unborn Buddha mind for a thought or looking for the belief or the answer. The beautiful aspect of freedom is when you find yourself in a field that, wow, show me life, show me what's possible.

I have no idea. I don't know what's possible, what's not possible. I'm curious. I'm just open to be shown. And ultimately, yes, all the conditioning can drop when the body drops. And also we have so many examples in the history of people entering so-called samadhi, which is kind of a coma state and other things. www The most dreadful the most transformational the most insightful or most clear they just something that comes and go and appears as a pattern and with no ultimate validity Like you were saying, the two of you, about the words and the meanings and the things. Of course, those things are just part of the mirage, smoke and mirror.

I mean, say the same word in a language you don't understand. Where is the meaning? It is all being learned, it is all being conditioned, including the narrative going in the head. Switch that narrative to whatever, Greek language or German or whatever, and then what does it mean? The thought which will tell you, oh shit, it's gonna go wrong, you're gonna get old, you're gonna lose your job, you're gonna, you know, this is gonna happen, you're gonna get left whatever. What meaning of those? And that's a freedom also what you were saying that you know the freedom to include like being that field in which temporarily there is an assumption of being a body that goes to the shop and grab the food and eats the food.

And then temporarily there is an assumption of being a role. You are a father, so you are a dad. Those actors, those acting roles, if there is no sense of identification and there is just that open field of knowing and the curiosity, Okay, how is it going to show up now? Am I going to play a husband or am I going to play a father? Am I going to play a child or whatever? It's just wow, show me. I don't know. I'm curious. It's so freeing when am I going to make a fool of myself? Am I going to get rejected? I don't know, that fearlessness of just letting the body with its conditioning to unfold as it is conditioned with as much of the energy taken out of that mechanical automatic autopilot to the field of curious awareness in which, ah, yeah, let me see, let me see what is the next thought going to be, what's the next behavior going to be, what's the next role.

This body is going to play, life is going to experience through this body. I don't know, but the more of that free attention underlies whatever is playing out, the less mechanical, obviously, simple math, the less of the energy of belief fuels the conditioned behavior. And that non-judgmental free attention, that space-like awareness, It doesn't have the preference to break the behavior, to change the conditioning. It doesn't have any conceptualization in it at all. It's just cognizing. This is the cognizing emptiness. It doesn't, oh yeah, but you know, I'm swearing I want to break that horrible habit. No, that's the mind. Oh, I'm gonna watch myself swearing and break that habit of biting nails or whatever.

That is again the attentions in the mind. The part goes on the autopilot and the part plays the Nazi. You know, I'm gonna watch you, I'm not gonna miss one thought that shows up. All attention completely taken away by the conditioned mind, playing a role of a guardian and playing a role of vigilante and playing a role of the automatic autopilot. Autopilot. No free attention to just be amazed like, wow, look what's happening. The conditioned behaviour. Can I just sort of say something that's occurred to me? I wanted to say about this business about growth, you know. We were talking about that a bit earlier Trish and I don't know, all I can say is that Col, I if you like, have always wanted to grow, okay, whatever that means.

It's internal and it's sort of happened. I mean I did always want to understand this business called nonduality. I just wanted to share with the audience, I guess, that one of the things that came up for me about two years ago is I noticed that I was making judgements a lot. You know, I was sort of saying, this person is this, or this system is broken, or this government is this, or like that. I'm not into politics, but like that. And I looked at it and I thought, well that's a load of rubbish. You know, it's rubbish stuff. And I realised, and it became object, I realised that Carl was splitting things up into two halves and saying this is good and that is bad.

And I thought, well... And then I read the Hinsing Men and I was reading about the Hinsing Men because I love the Hinsing Men and And was saying that if you split things up into two halves and champion one and shun the other that the sickness of the mind I thought, well that's pretty bright, you know, that's a crazy thing to do. And so what I did, I started to look at this stuff. And it wasn't that I made judgements about the behaviour, but it was like every time a judgement came up, I noticed it, you know. And that was two years ago. And now, my mind doesn't actually judge very much, you know, it just, Even when I hear people talking, I mean, I think, well, so-so?

That's just what happens. And as the Hensheng Min says, that gives a wonderful peace. Just stopping judging. So, there you are. That's a little contribution. I think Bob wants to say something. Do you want to say something? Yeah, the Hensink Ming points out that that's all the problem is, the discrimination or the division. The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. It's only when they take a preference, like they put love and hate, but it means every preference. Love and hate are both absent. Everything becomes clear and undisguised. What it means, what's that? Everything becomes clear and undisguised. It means it's not divided.

It's just as it is. And what's wrong with what is if you don't think about it? So it falls naturally into place. When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, the smallest distinction, I'll have it on earth set infinitely apart. So pointing out that when you look at it in the overall matter, it's no separation, it's not any apartness from it, if left as it is. That's what we... if we don't leave it, if it's not left as it is, then it becomes a problem. And that's all our problem is, is how we think about things, how we divide things.

Left as they are, what are they then? They are just the oneness, the undivided, inseparable, pure, intelligence energy, life essence. So this needs to happen, the recognition of it, leaving everything as it is. Have a sip my darling. And I love the way actually Koli you presented it, because when you said you've noticed There is a lot of judgement arising. There was no judgement over that. And that is the key point. When you come and you notice there is a pattern. Oh, interesting! Rather than, oh shit, I hate that, I want to just break it. This is the attitude of the awakened mind so-called. Some of the texts call it the awakened mind which is all-embracing, cognizing emptiness.

It doesn't judge, it doesn't believe that there is anything wrong with any pattern. There is a pattern of whatever, of stealing, or there is shoplifting, or there is a pattern of overeating, there is a pattern of drinking, pattern of judging. But the sky-like awareness doesn't distinguish love and hate like Xin Xin Ming, this is good, this is bad, this is pleasant, this is bad. No, those labels, those judgment statements, they are just what part of the conditioning arising. So when you notice the conditioning and you are free from any resistance towards the conditioning, you are just curious, oh, this is arising. Now some of the attention completely relaxes into that field of curiosity and noticing it arising, just like noticing other thoughts or behaviours arising.

And now from that free attention, suddenly more attraction goes to that curious field of peacefulness, like Tasha, you called it a peace, you know, that... Because there is no judgment. E-noticing judgment. There is all-embracing welcoming to whatever arises. Now that that judgment doesn't get that much fuel to burn, so it may arise much weaker or it may stop. The field doesn't mind either way. It's not that I have preference for no judgement. Who is the I who has no preference? There is no one there. The preference again may arise and that is witnessed in that curiosity just as much as the judgement is witnessed. Judgment arises, preference arises, the plan or goal arises, or the dread or anxiety arises, or the fear of rejection or fear of failure.

All those things are arising and if there is enough of that relaxed field of curiosity, they all equal, they all amazing, they all incredible. Because there is not enough of that identification with the trait. You know, like, I believed I was my fear of rejection. That was my identity. I was persistently shy and socially anxious. That was who I was. But once it shifted and now, okay, this is just another wave arising. This is just another pattern arising. How interesting! And you can see how strongly it arises, how often it arises. How long does it last? And this is what Tania was quoting from Bob, that at some point that noticing may, how was it Tania, may the peace arise to appear longer, that undivided attention.

And that's really what it is, the restfulness, the peacefulness, the tendency for life to identify us a pattern. This is me, this is who I am, I have to defend it, I have to fight for it, this is my identity. That one doesn't show up that often, that tendency. And it's just that relaxed field in which things are allowed to come and go like clouds, pass. All of the things, including anger, including the anxiety, all of them, they just, wow, different vibration, different energy, different flavor, different texture. Like different sounds in the sphere of hearing, like different colors in the field of seeing. In the field of emotional awareness, there are different vibrations.

And they all equal because cognizing emptiness, that open field of singularity, that I Am-ness, that Sat Chitananda, it doesn't have the conceptualized, doesn't need to judge or label. I think I'm gonna have to include few of the people who are with us and we have a lot of good morning messages and love and gratitude from James and Catherine and Sandy says good morning lots of love and morning morning morning and highs and and good morning all Magi says and me meaning is attribution relative to shared value yeah. Beautiful. And Henia, oh thank you. And that's it. Thank you messages and much love from Henia. Both guilty and not guilty are judgments, says Julia.

I wish you told us you decided not to come. We could have included someone else. And good morning messages. That's it. Anyone? Anything? Bob? That's how this thing works. Yeah. What brought it up in Cole to talk about the Nsingling. Yeah, beautiful. What needed to come up, will come up. And tell us the way out, if you look at it from that point of view, it's not difficult. If we've got no preferences, if there's no stance taken anywhere, it's left as it is. Left as it is means that's all it is, only that. There is no problem if that is not divided into that and other than that.

If it's left as it is, that's it. And pointing that out or remembering and reminding that you are that. There's nothing else that needs to happen. And that's out there. Why was Cole thinking of that? I wasn't thinking of that particularly. Was anybody else in this room thinking about that particularly? Before it was brought us to something. So see it takes its place as it should. And we understand that and recognise that is going on. Problems settle down relax cease to be And where you left then with just as it is unaltered unmodified uncorrected That love That's beautiful. That's it. Yeah. Unaltered, unmodified, uncorrected. What a beautiful set of statements.

Just as it is, as it is, like this is the non-conceptual awareness, as it is. Nothing to add, nothing to take away. It's a funny thing to add. It was interesting, I was watching the other day a guy called Daniel Smachtenberger. You probably know who he is, but Daniel Smachtenberger is a guy who's a very bright visionary and he talks about the world and what's going wrong with it or anything else. And I looked at it the other day and he said, you know, he said, what we've got to do is we've got to stop this rat race in science and a rat race of trying to change everything all the time.

We've got to settle down and just be, you know. And I thought, well, that's straight from the Hensing men. I love the Hinsing Ming. I just love it. It's a really fabulous document. And for those who are perhaps with us for the first time or are unfamiliar with Hinsing Ming, We actually have a treat, a full commentary on full sins in mink which are translated as verse of faith in the mind, in a way of awakened mind. And it is on Bob's channel. Probably about a month ago or maybe five, six weeks ago we had Ram here who came from Sydney. Transcription by Bob Deference I am not sure.

So you may get yourself familiarized with that because it's really precious. It really is a beautiful, very, very clear presentation of that undividedness. And yes, because Bob prefers it, we appreciate it. A lot of pearls like that Bob included, he also often says that the message isn't his, we like to have it Bob's style because the pearls that he found are really clear. But as he says, all of those things have been known for centuries. There is really nothing new under the sun in the way the message is delivered and particulars of the message. The non-separation, which people call oneness because they want to avoid the two words nondual, you know, like if it's one, why two words?

Well, it's simple why. The best way of describing anything that is non-objectifiable is by denial. We deny the two-ness by saying not two. We don't say it's one because it's not even one. It is beyond the concepts. It can't be grasped in any mental image or any definition. So negating any aspects of any or even negating pointers, pointers often contradict each other as well and that is intentional because there is no truth that could be included or encapsulated in the words, in the phrase or slogan. It is all just pointing towards, so there are pointers about there is no time, for example. What an amazing pointer.

And now people come and argue, yeah, what do you mean there is no time? If I broke a leg yesterday, I'll still have a plaster on my leg today. So that's a proof that there is a time. Well, yes, in the dream, by all means, there is a time. But in the direct experience, there is not. Direct experience versus the interpretation of the experience, which is the mental overlay and the narrative and the commentary of the experience, which necessarily includes time, because experience is so rich and has so many aspects. The time that is invention of the thinking of the mind beautifully stretched out infinite in both ways so more can be inserted more can be packed into it But the direct experience is really simple it just the experience is the seeing and the content being and the content thinking and the content imagining narrating all and its content which is inseparable from the process So in the direct experience, time is only a mental construct.

It never happens. Nobody has ever experienced directly a yesterday. You can only experience a yesterday as a memory, as a mental image. Nobody has experienced tomorrow only as a mental image. So in direct experience, there is timelessness of this ever-fresh present moment now. In the dream, in the story, by all means, there is a time, the body was born and it grows and it gets conditioned and it gets deconditioned and it goes through experiences, pleasant and painful. Just like every night when you go to sleep, there is another body that is also preconditioned and it also goes through the experiences. And where are they now?

In the ever fresh present moment of this current aliveness, they are just an echo, a mental imagery. The dream, the past experiences, the childhood, just an echo happening right now. Everything just right now. And I think we have a couple of comments here. Catherine says anything acquired there must be a presence there before that thing acquired and you are that. Beautiful, absolutely. That which is prior to any acquisitions. And Henia says been reading Beyond Words Beyond Mind daily over and over feeling so much peace and clarity. Relaxing into what is. Thank you Bob. Beautiful. And Ariel says detail. Yep. Anyone? Time is just another label, another word.

We haven't got that idea of time. Where are you? Have you disappeared? Have you moved away? Have you got any division at all? What are you relating it to? That is the only thing that is relating to, the only thing that is related to, in the thing called time, which has no reality whatsoever. Everything is just as it is. Unaltered, unmodified, uncorrected, and it changes by itself. I Am. The The conditions of the children are more than the others. Some are more socially acceptable, they will have easier lives, a bigger circle of friends, possibly. Some have the conditioning, there was a lot of trauma or a lot of violence in early childhood, will develop the conditioning that is quite antisocial and quite causing a lot of trouble or judgment or sense of not belonging and other type of suffering.

This is all life, self-organizing. If it has the vehicle of experiencing and expression placed in the environment that is supportive, it will make it to a supportive, well-socialized member of the community. And if it doesn't, if the environment is not, like Bob often says, I am very happy of the group of the The same conditioning Hitler and the same power beyond conditioning Angel or Mother Teresa, whatever the social symbols of goodness and badness you believe in. The same power standing behind the restrictive movements of exclusion and the same breaking that movements or changing that movements. If you look through the history of humanity, it is constantly changing.

It's stepping ahead, it's stepping backwards, it's stepping sideways. And this is the life, including all the forces, is creating those changes. There is no one doing anything. You may have a leader that you want to blame, but that leader has been grown in the environment and it has been brought up by life. The life was delivering the air and the food and the influences. So whoever is seemingly to be blamed or to be in charge is again inseparable for that whole fabric of things. And that brings again the attitude of just curious, peaceful sense of wonder, because now blaming the government doesn't make that much sense anymore.

And it may still happen. And these judgments and these analyses and explanations, they don't alter anything! Because they're all after the event, you know? And the event is this right now. So, yeah. Just a couple of quick other things, nothing to do with this. Hensing Min, H S I N, H S I N M I N G, if you want to Google it, okay? Sometimes it's spelled with X, X Y N, X Y N. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, it's, um, yep, that's it. But on Bob's channel you can find a beautiful commentary that, uh, that Ram transcribed and read back to Bob. So Bob is listening and Ram is reading.

He's got a fantastic radio sounding voice. So it's a really, really pleasant little thing. So no, we didn't want to advertise the channel. It's just to expand on that beautiful piece of... And Adrian says, love you guys. And Vivek, feeling of separateness, ego, results in time. Yes, you often hear mind is time, time is mind. Ego is just another interchangeable word for mind. So, there's certainly understanding in that. But all these seeming differentiations, judgments, good, bad, likeable, not likeable, presence of judgment, not, all of that which is happening in the dream, who cares? Good point. Absolutely. Yep. You are not that. Mmm. But, Bob. Yeah.

Mmm. Well, it comes back to, in the beginning was the Word. Mmm. Where were all these problems if there's no Word? Beauty. Beauty. Yeah. Who cares if there is no concept of anything being right or wrong? Mmm. Mmm. Being right or wrong. Yeah, that's a good thing to explore as well. The no-thing-ness of the word. It's just the sound. Without the word, what is it? Just as it is. Now, is is a word. Without that, what is it? And that's all the problems are, ever will be. The belief in the word. How many words were you born with? Investigate along these lines and the recognition comes up that all there is, is the immediate, the immediacy.

Which expresses as words, feelings or emotions, all things that have been picked up along the way. Lift as it is. What is wrong with right now? Now is just another word. It's all knowledge, knowledge. Break that down into now. Yeah, we actually get it in the book. K-know-ing, knowing. Yeah. So it's all there. Just a matter of looking into things, seeing things and translating into the reality. And it all comes back to the one essence, the one life, the one being, the one knowing. And what's all that comes under the influence of I Am? I Am that being, that knowing, that loving to be. It's all necessary.

It's all that can be necessary. I don't need that. Can you say you are not? What is the way? What you are explaining. I would like to... yeah, now. What is the way? What is? This is. This is. This is it. It is there. Yes, there it is. Everything is that. Take it away. Take it away. And it's nothing special. There's no extreme experience one needs to grasp for. It's just ordinary awareness. Nothing special needs to be done. Search we don't have to transform the so-called apparent entity. None of that needs to happen. Just resting in the suchness, the isness, that there is a knowing, not by anyone, anything, but there is just a knowing and it's happening.

But you know, how, all is good, but how foolish to see an enormous complex computer with all knobs and dials. It's nothing but a mirage computer and there you are standing before it, pushing all the buttons and flipping all the switches trying to change something on this mirage computer. How... what's the point? Just take it as it comes. Now, just take it as it comes. Accept it. Marvel at it. Be amazed by it. It is amazing. It is an amazing mystery. Love it. Sat Chitinanda. Nothing else to be done. That's it. Be who you are. Don't be the doer. You are not the doer. Be the space that you are.

And space doesn't really need to fix anything. It doesn't need to try. If trying happens, that's not who you are. The one who tries is not your essential self. The one who's got ambitions, plans, objections, judgments, resistances is just a pattern. You are the space-like awareness already, right now. You are. Like when Bob was saying, like you were what you were before the words. Like a newborn baby who didn't have any concepts, any... The natural resistance may arise if there is cold or wetness or hunger or whatever but that just belongs to the functioning Space doesn resist The functioning takes care of the necessary resistance if there is any change required Translation And then passing the years of digging into the sense of poor me and all those other concepts, they are just patterns arising in that field of awareness.

And you are that field of awareness with the words or without the words. If you were that field of awareness always and forever, because that is one that we point to, then whether there are concepts in it or there are no concepts in it, the field isn't touched. The emptiness, the space that you are is never touched. The silence underlying the sounds is never affected by the sounds, no matter what the narrative will say. And from that field, recognizes patterns in life. And like Tanja was saying, just appreciating them, loving them, just marveling at those different patterns. The And subside. And you are that field.

And I think we have another couple of comments here. Primali says good morning. And that's it. What does Rumi say? There is a field. And I'll meet you there. Yes, yes. Even though there is no I and there is no you and there is no there because it's just here. But it is very poetic if he didn't use the word, the poetry uses the word and word by its nature... Anybody who is not here? Anybody is not here, good point. I am a member of the National Council for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of the United States. I Am, I Am, I Am, I Am, I Am.

I don't know if I've explained it very well or not. But yeah, it occurred to me that it's not me doing it. I thought it was me. It's essence, just being. And in the pattern of being, it appears through the mind's perspective that there's growth and change. That's it. When you relate to a me, what have we done? We've separated and divided it from what actually is, and that's the habit we've come to believe in and everybody around us has. And so we all get locked into this idea of separation. And the idea of separation means there's more than one. But there is no more than one.

There's not two. Only that. Only that. The appearance is the mechanism I Am the I Am the One There is growth but it's actually not you. It's changing. It's part of the change. And with this, with this and with this, we share that aspect of change that we both look at it and we can say, I've got that and you've got that. But there isn't really an I and a you, there's just a mechanisms there that conditioning has developed in us a sense of me-ness. And it's not there, it's just an illusion. Beautiful. That's beautiful, he said, yes. That fascinating pattern which Bob often refers to as the cause.

There is no cause and effect, as Nisargadatta says. Everything is interrelated. There is infinite amount of causes to produce the effect. It's the whole world contributing to any cause. I am not. All these things make me think I'm unlovable, I don't deserve to be loved. This is all I, I, I. This is all obsessing about the me. And there isn't one! And you know what, I've got so many people I've spoken to about this sense of me and they are totally and utterly convinced that there is something there. I say to them, look for yourself, where can you see me? Yeah, I'm clear, there's a me here, they will say.

So then, and something that's quite useful sometimes I say to them, so in your own awareness right now, and this is a well-known one, in your own awareness right now, just sitting there, in your own awareness, how many ears have you got? And they'll often answer two ears, but then after talking to them about that, they realize that they actually aren't aware of their ears anymore than they're aware of a person there. That's right. Wow, that's a brilliant way of putting it. Thank you. Yeah, I love it. Bob sometimes refers to his old friend Douglas Harding who is actually showing that you don't have a head, you don't have a face.

The seeing happens singular. This is a singular seeing, you know. It's like almost like a big window through which the seeing happens. It's no one there doing it. And Bob has this beautiful pointer. You wake up in the morning, you don't flip it on like light, like a switch on off. Translation The sense of me is like that metal rod and it is putting the fire into the life essence itself. And it gets hot and it gets red like a fire and it says I am the fire myself I can burn I can heat I can shine in the light This is who I am The sense of conceptual image says I have the power to see This is I I am seeing I am hearing The me, the imagined self, the me, the little Katarina there, or little Bob in there, believes suddenly now the image has the capacity to see.

Capacity of seeing is there regardless of the image. Little baby can also see. And it doesn't have the concept that there is the little me there that does it. Or the baby doesn't have the capacity to reason yet, but the capacity will develop. And with the development of the capacity, the mental image will also get developed. And now, by the one fun moment, In that moment, which I actually had really amazing luck to witness once, the child suddenly recognizes itself as the body-mind. The child, I was in Paris doing the introduction to nonduality from my previous school, we were doing Magic of Awakening retreat, We were staying in the family with a little baby, a two-year-old little boy, gorgeous little boy, who would, when the mother asked him, where is the baby?

He would run to the mirror. He didn't expect this wasn't him. The baby was there. And then one fine day, he looked in the mirror, his eyes opened wide, and he just made the connection. What he just shown in the mirror? And that was the moment when we all, there was like four people, five people in the house, froze and witnessed the moment of the connection being made. And as instantaneous and as singular as this experience was, the same singular and instantaneous could be experience of recognition That that image is not who you are or what you are. It's just an image. But the existence doesn't change.

Before believing you are an image, you exist, you see, you hear, see, taste, touch, smell, just the same. When the belief in being an image drops away, it is such an uneventful moment of realizing that shit, nothing is different. Seeing is the same, hearing is the same, nothing has changed. Only the belief is recognized to be an illusion. So it is pretty amazing to just see how that me comes into existence and how that me, like that rod in the fire, starts believing, I am the fire myself, I can burn, I have powers. The me doesn't have any power, it's a dead image. But it feels, no, this is I, I can see, I can think.

Or there is I feel, I feel I exist. No, you feel existence. And then you translate to the idea that this is I that experiences existence. While really is the existence itself experiencing the I. Existence is experiencing the image of I. Existence was there before the image. The existence was there shining out of the eyes of a baby. Image wasn't there. Image came along and it's also sweet and funny to see how the image changed. Like what image did we have of ourselves as teenagers? Is there any one aspect of the image still present? What image did we have as a five-year-old, a good little girl, a bad little girl, boy or whatever?

That image is still, is just as changeful as everything else that actually proves how illusory it is. And it's ever-changing and it's impermanent because there was a time when it was not. And there is a time when it is no more or it is different. And I see there is a comment here from Catherine. End of mind Vivek says liberation and he says very beautiful explanation by Bobcat. And Catherine says you can't write a message without a background. You can't send a message without a screen. The screen of the background is never affected and you are that But never the messenger. Beautiful. That's it. Yeah.

Yeah. They are such a gorgeous, elegant metaphors showing that you are the screen or you are the background or you are the capacity. You are the ever-present, ever-fresh presence-awareness capable of experiencing and expressing as seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, thinking, imagining, narrating. There is still that one life that shines through those holes in the body, the holes of the eyes are seeing, the holes in the ears are hearing, the holes of the mouth are speaking, smelling, all that one potentiality, one field of potentiality experiencing and expressing. The capacity for seeing includes every single shade, color, pattern and there are other capacities that other body-mind mechanisms have.

Dolphins having sonars, or bats having sonars, or bobs changing colors, or moths and butterflies, or peacocks having those incredible ways of utilizing the capacity for the nature to blend in. The tiger having stripes or leopard having spots mingling with the leaves and shades and being invisible. It's just incredible how that capacity for experiencing and expression utilized in this so many diverse colorful ways. I just remembered a joke. So, have you heard about the claustrophobic astronaut? He needed space. I love it. Did you hear that? Have you heard of claustrophobic astronaut? He needed space. But this, you know, like you were saying, behind these seeming eyes, you know, admittedly, there ain't nothing but space.

And behind those beautiful eyes, there's nothing but space. Space, space, space. Yet in the dream, it's, you know, a habit to attribute qualities to the individual, the entity, Aam Tatha, I Am, I Am Ther, I Am. And it's not a thing. It's not so much fun when you believe it in the dream. But there is no thing, including no requirement to place energy of belief into anything. Always that field of, you know, that space-like field of awareness. Anyway, that's it. Beautiful. And seeing how that energy of belief just flows where it is attracted, automatically. There is, you know, there are people who are born and in love with football or tennis or whatever, and energy of belief goes there and it fuels and it creates wonders.

There are other body-mind mechanisms naturally drawn to finances or advertising or marketing. That's just the same life. There are other body-mind mechanisms naturally drawn to investigating and looking back at is there anyone there? Or what is it, that whole magical display? How is that magical display even maintained? How does it even happen? And it's absolutely not necessary for everyone to look into it. So there's no need to go on the Jehovah path and knock the door and save anyone, because everyone is already saved. The life is already as it wants to be, as it should be, including collapsing of civilizations that were happening. I love that part of Bob's spiel where people get fixated on the ideas and wonderful, that's also in life.

And completely forget the bigger picture that even if that whole planet will get blown off by the asteroid or whatever other causes, nothing is lost. Life will find a way to experience and express itself as it does. It may find a way to experience and express itself through the artificial intelligence instead of the biological. And if there is no one there who is identified as a species, well, there may not even be much of a resistance to it. And who cares? And if the resistance arises to it, that's equally beautiful because that's equally life-loving itself. There is nothing ever wrong in the way life is presented.

This was really the best way of expressing the nondual awareness or the freedom from psychological suffering done by Bob's teacher and friend Nisargadatta. Nothing is wrong anymore. You don't believe your thinking. The thinking telling you that this is bad or this is wrong or these people shouldn't or these people should. This is a good example of what good people should do. Everyone has free will and choice and they should act on it. If there is no belief in any concepts like that, what is wrong with this moment? There is nothing wrong any more. Nothing wrong any more. And I see David says here hence the terrible two the self centred comes into being and it wants what it wants Yes and Anthony says beautiful cat And beautiful cat here as well Yes, life gets really simple when it is really, when the mind is seen for what it is.

The tendency and patterns of thinking, there may be a tendency to catastrophize, but it isn't you and it isn't yours. If that tendency is running in the body and habitually it is energized because that's the strategy to foresee the worst-case scenario and get prepared, wonderful! This will still run as it does, but if it is not you and not yours, you may marvel at it, you can laugh at it, You can let the body still install 20 pieces of smoke detectors at home. Not a problem at all without having any sense of paranoia or attachment to the imagined self that is responsible for any of it.

So no pattern is right or wrong from the ultimate perspective. It is just an expression. It's like a painting. You need the light colors in the painting and the dark colors. Otherwise, if there is no contrast, if there are no colors, if there are no shapes, no patterns, well, you know, what the creative power of the Creator. That's what it does, this infinite field of potentiality, this great intelligence, the energy of intelligence or intelligence energy, it creates and it expresses because it can, It does it in infinite amount of ways and it enjoys true seeing of its own creation. I mean, I can tell you there is a lot of enjoyment in the way life looks through Bob's eye, isn't it?

It's a joy in life. Look at this foxy smile. Swing for yourself. It's pretty obvious in my case, isn't it? And this can change too and life may enjoy a darkness or grief or anxiety or fear as long as there is a freedom for any pattern or any feeling to show up. And even if there is resistance showing up, if there is enough of the free attention, just the relaxed, free witnessing presence to embrace whatever shows up, To embrace pain, to embrace fear, to embrace grief, whatever is going to show up. The freedom is unobscured. As long as the body is around, of course, there will be natural preference for survival, for pleasure, for beauty over ugliness, whatever the judgment or conditioning or definition of it is.

That's also embraced. That is also just part of the appearance. Anyone? Just a short thing. Like it's naturally there in everyday life. What's that song? For reason is just another name for nothing left to lose. Oh, I love when you speak songs. There is a lot of wisdom in music. Again, another beautiful concept, but nice pointers, a lot of nice pointers. They're everywhere, actually. Yeah, but you know, what if, what if you just conducted a little experiment? Next time you read something that's supposedly, you know, something wise or like the... And instead of trying to understand it, you just read it. It didn't go into the mind, it didn't try and understand it, just let it flow over you or wherever it's going.

Stop trying to use the power of this mind to understand. And it applies to anything, everything. Because then perhaps you would stop giving so much power to concepts, meaning, information, and forget the word for a while. Forget the word, ignore it, and just go back and just rest in the only thing that you know to be true, is the uncontrived singularity, that beautiful, restful, unchanging, ever-present, indestructible, Beautiful beautiful presence suchness Forget about trying to understand all the stuff all this craziness beautiful play that happening in this mirage which derives from nowhere else but your own imagination Your own imagination. Nothing can trouble you. Yes, say it from the beginning.

Accepting your own imagination. Nothing can trouble you excepting your own imagination. And a beautiful freedom of not needing to know, because if there is no one there, whoever needs to grasp or understand or keep it or remember, who is there, who is bound to focus on it or investigate it? If there is no one there, freedom from needing to know and grasp and then seeing, oh, body grabbed the book, so what? Body is reading a poem, so what? Or listening to a song, so what? The body-mind, of course, it's not just body, you can't separate those two either. When Krishnamurti's books was named pretty appropriately, freedom from the known.

Freedom from the knower. Freedom from the known is freedom from the knower. It's just the no-ing. And here Anthony says, speak for yourself, ha ha, cheeky Bob, love it. He's cheeky as ever. I was going for a walk this morning and I was just in my own world not really thinking just I'm just walking I guess and then the thought dropped in I think perhaps was more of an awareness but the thought dropped in you know how it happens like so quickly and the the the concept of leave home at 10 past 9 to get to Bob and Kat's on time and it was like as if I am a person who is not aware of the existence of the mind.

I am a I don't need to know all that information. The body knows how to do it. Thinking is a good or bad thing, but thinking makes us happy. Yes, the thinking. Thinking, thinking. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. It was the thinking that was just, it was actually tiring and exhausting and no longer entertaining. I am a woman who is a woman of the mind, who is a woman of the mind. I am a woman who is a woman of the mind. I was just walking away or stepping back from that and going, oh that was a thought and so was this. And it just kept going until there was the awareness of I was observing flowers again and back in, I don't know, no mind, no space.

And it was just more peaceful. And I wasn't late. It's lovely to just be free, to let anything, even the judgment arise, and even the judgment of a judgment arise, and just keep stepping back and including them, just relaxing back into that space-like awareness. And I see we have Anthony says, I may never get to see you both in person, but I want to say thank you all the lessons over the years and my love to Bob and in spirit. I truly thank you and I want him to know how thankful we are. Hmm, thank you Anthony, that's Anthony. And Vivek says, Creator expressed itself as creation, but creation is always unrest until it recognizes back the creator and rest back Thank you, Vivek, for bringing up the aspect.

Actually, what Anthony was saying, I was reading an email this morning, Bob is getting thank you messages and acknowledgment of that beautiful service that he's done. And I'm gonna just read a little fragment of it. Rarely in the course of my years of looking for an answer have I come across someone so willing to freely give up their time and energy to share the essential message of being. I doubt you could count the number of people who found solace and comfort in this communication over the many years it's been put out there into the world. What a beautiful way to live a life. And of course the email was much longer, but this was just the fragment that I think speaks for more than just one person.

And as the man said, countless people who came through those rooms and found peace and solace in being pointed back to the base, to the being, Rather than trying to find the answer in the mind and trying to add some understanding to become some better person in the future. Bob is so beautifully generous and uncompromisingly clear in really just bringing that basic understanding back home that you already have and are. You already are this space-like, clear, cognizing emptiness, this singularity of I AM which is not a person but the field of knowing, in which all the known and the apparent knower may arise and take different roles and play different functions and have different expressions.

Ultimately, you are the field. You don't know what's your next thought gonna be. You don't know really. Maybe the idea arising that statistically I always responded this way. But that's just a thought. Life is fresh and new. And anyone, the last word? Because we are. Bob, would you have a last word? Love you all. All there is, is love. What does that say? Mind is the master power that moulds and makes. And man is mind and never more, ever more he takes the tool of thought and shaping what he wills brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand helps. Anythings in sacred as it comes to pass, environment is just a looking glass.

You are open space filled already, sea and sky, relax, reflect, resonate, recognize. That's our cards showing the four main ways, four R's of investigation. She also gives us much love and love you Bob, love you cats and cats too. That's from Anthony also. And still not the last word because we were waiting for Giulia. We were a little late. Full stop. Full stop. That's a good last word. Full stop.