This transcript was made by speech-recognition software, so names and some words may be misheard. The recording is the original: watch on YouTube.
Christian. Brendan. Luke. Paul. What? Jimmy. Marty. Marty. Hey, man. Thanks. Okay, so welcome everyone here and everyone who is with us online. Traditionally, we start from inviting anyone who would like to give us an introduction, if there is anyone who would like to take the chair next to Bob. Just share what's clear, what's obvious, what's working. You can also do it later or we will be sharing after the introduction. So that's just an invitation, just a reminder that those meetings are not about the messenger. They are about the message, they are about the non-dual investigation, about returning to what we already know, but we ignore.
That's why Bob also used to call it, this is the curse of humanity, the ignorance, like Buddhist tradition says. It's not that we are...stupid or dull is that we are ignoring the obvious we are ignoring our essential nature the miraculous awareness of presence oh there's another participant joining yeah a couple of cats joining and if there is any um Sound issues, please let us know. We'll try to attend to it. I'm just going to check quickly.Let's try here and try there. Yeah, I love them.So no issues with the sound. Thank you, Sandy. Okay, off we go. Anyone? Anyone? Anyone to start? It's just an invitation.
Anyone? Tanya? Another one at the door. Okay, so I'll just start. So it really is the whole story of the ignorance, of ignoring our essential nature, of ignoring the mysterious, miraculous fact of existence, fact of the presence of the consciousness without which nothing is. The consciousness is there, it's obvious, everybody knows about it. It's not even knowing about it, it's really being it. No one can right now not be aware of being conscious. And the easy way to verify it is to just try and stop. Stop for a moment being aware of your presence if you can. If you can't, well, that's out of the way.
Everyone is equally aware. They are present. They are conscious. They are aware of that presence. And this is it. This is the final truth. This is the great mantra. I know that I am. That I am is the final mantra. There is a knowing that I am of existence. Now, that's usually not enough because our main processor, the thinking, whichwhich is dividing, creating the whole duality, the whole experiencing, and processing everything as in relation to what there is a great enlightenment to be attained. Or there is a me that is not good enough, that is incomplete, that is not enlightened. And there is an idea that that me can get better, can get bigger, can get brighter, can get more pleasure, can attain a state of eternal ananda, bliss, pleasure, constant ecstasy.
So those concepts are all appearance in that consciousness. If not for the consciousness, none of those ideas could even exist. So the consciousness always goes first. But for the mind, the consciousness is nothing. It's a blank, empty screen, nothing. Because the mind, that processor, is designed to divide. It came along, of course, the mind depends on the definition, it's the processor in the body, it even worked when you were in the womb, growing the hands or legs or lungs or something. So it always worked. But the moment the child is born and it starts learning words, starts adopting language, which is called for a reason, a symbolic language, it is putting labels, symbols over things, which is a fantastic capacity that this humanpattern have other animals birds insects have other capacities that were equally fascinating but this one is is our thing it creates an incredible outlet for the life essence to express through the images stories imagination concepts of past and future and it also is a double bind it also creates the illusion of an entity of self that is running a show Just because the nature of the mind is to label, divide, put symbols, the whole manifested world is clogged with things.
And the no thing is incomprehensible and is just like the eyes cannot see the space. They can see objects in space. Mind cannot comprehend the no thing. It can only comprehend things. So the moment we start looking for that presence of awareness or that life essence with the mind, the furthest we can go is to find nothing, but not a no thing. Mind cannot comprehend the aliveness, the radiance. It can also find the vibration in the body, but that's not it. The vibration is also appearance on the screen. But that screen, that sentience, which doesn't have any qualities or capacities, that cannot be grasped. So the whole spiritual search, trying to find God,trying to find peace, trying to find myself, trying to become someone better, maybe add to myself or heal myself.
This is all happening within the realm of conceptualization, imagination. So there is the image that there is an I, a self, separate from everything else. This is I, and this is not I. And this is again coming from the language, because that's the nature of language. And it is practical, and it is wonderful. But when it is believed, it appears real. I met last weekend people absolutely convinced of the existence of demons. He lived in hell. That was his truth. That was the experience. And I was convinced for most of my life in the... Idea of having a little mini me little little self that is running the show that is controlling thoughts that is always failing at it also and that was a hell too it is a hell to live with that imagination of the agency that is separated and that has to do all those difficult things, make choices, decisions, and every choice and decision can be wrong.
You can screw your life, you can go wrong, you can choose the wrong partner, wrong job, and you're going to waste your potential. My God, what a weight.If I believe that's true, welcome to hell. Luckily, and those things can be very, very easily seen through and dispelled. A simple investigation will dispel the illusion of the separation. What could possibly be separate? Is the thought I separate from the mind it appears in? Is anything that is appearing separated from the screen or the space in which that appears? Can even the thought, any thought that you could think of, is somehow separated or unrelated to the environment that it arises or is it a product of it it's one big dance the thought the body the mind everything is completely interdependent interconnected inseparable The body cannot be separated from the environment, from water, fire, earth, food, which is matter element.
The mind cannot be separated from the body and the environment. Environment cannot be separated from the projector, from the mind. Close your eyes and then the environment disappears, at least in a visual field. Go to sleep, the whole environment again disappears. Maybe some other environment appears. But there is no separation. Separation cannot be experienced.It can only be imagined. It can only be believed in. And when it is believed in, it is experienced. So this investigation is the easiest when we start from the strong beliefs that we hold dear. I'm not good enough. There is an I and that I should be somehow different or better.
Because as it is, it's no good. Or I am not there yet. Or there is something that I don't understand and I have to keep trying. I am a spiritual seeker. This is who I am. And is that true? Or is just a thought. And Bob has a beautiful shortcut to that investigation. We have good morning messages. Good morning. Beautiful shortcut to the whole investigation, which can be attained right away. A question, what is wrong with right now? If you don't think about it. What is wrong with you? If you don't think about it. What is wrong with the world? If you don't think about it.
What is wrong with the childhood trauma, past, future, anything without the thought?You can know directly, you can intuit, or you can just find that gap which is caused by the question. And the question arises, what is wrong with right now if I don't think about it? And see if you can say anything. Obviously, you would need the thought. Without the thought, nothing can be said about it. You can't say it's good or bad. You can't say it's right or wrong. Nothing. And yet, you didn't disappear. You're still here. The existence is there. The consciousness is there. There is nothing wrong. And the consciousness is still there.
The concept will arise. Yes, but.and the story. But without that thought, existence is there first. And that's your essential nature. That's the natural state. You can see, start from that, that this essential nature is already here, present, is experienced. It cannot be not experienced because without that, nothing is. So it is the first and utmost, first one and only. That's the truth. That's the reality. That which is always here never changes. Whatever, whenever you look, you're always there conscious. The idea what you are comes on it. One morning... You are confident, another maybe or maybe not confident or anxious. You know, when you get up as a child, you're a good little boy or good little girl.
Where is that concept now? You may have a concept that you are... A husband or a wife or a worker or a seeker or a contrarian or whatever the concept is, this is just a fleeting phenomena. What's wrong with right now without that concept? You're not that person anymore without that idea. But the existence is there still.So exploring the idea of identity, of that assumed identity. Who am I without the thought? What am I? Where am I? Am I? What is the I? Who is the I? Is there an I? Without the thought, is there an I? I is already a thought, it's a translation.
But what it translates? It translates the sense of presence, that consciousness, that field of knowing, that field of pure existence. It translates to the thought I.So when we do the investigation, of course, we use the thoughts for the communication. But what's behind the thought? What originated the thought? The pure essence of existence that doesn't have any shape, any form, any size, any temperature, any color. Nothing. Nothing can be said about it. That is what is translated. But when it is translated, when it comes like I, I am, that I is already associated with a lot of story around it. I am. I'm female. Anyone want to question that?
Of course I'm female. Come on, I've been female since I was born. Well, really? Without the thought, am I? When I go to sleep and I dream, and I have quite vivid dreams, it's just like an artifact from my past career as a ship's officer. There was nothing to entertain, so the mind just got really wild with incredible, incredible pictures. I wasn't always woman in those dreams. No, no details.Yes, so being whatever, being, taking any shape, any size, any form, is always coming after. Being what? Being that. What is that? What do you think you are? What do you think you are now? What do you think you are in relation to your job, your duties, your spouse?
See how fleeting that concept of self is, how changing, shifting that concept of self is. Which concept would you be? You're talking with your child and you are a dad. You're talking with your wife and you are a husband. You're talking with your boss or your employee and you're yet something else. You're not talking. You're experiencing a feeling, a dysregulation or jealousy or anger or whatever. What are you then? You're not even the body.So you can see that identity that is built after I am is constantly shape-shifting, is fleeting, is unreliable, is concept, mental image. Which one is right? You can see those are temporary costumes that are handy for communicating, for relating, for doing tasks.
Of course, even the animals, they are conscious of their size and shape, and that's handy. Cat doesn't bump to the wall. It knows how narrow or how wide the entrance is. But we have additional function of hallucinating the image of self existing through time. And this very simplistic image like, oh, right now I'm in the role of a speaker, so this is my identity, I'm speaker. And then next moment I'll be in the role of listener and that's my identity listener. It isn't that easy. This is just the surface. It's very, very easy to see that. But when you look deeper, that concept of I, that sense of presence, which was there throughout your life, right from the earliest memories.
Every moment you look, there is the sense of presence. That sense of presence translated as I. And the defining of the I.because of the symbolic language, because of the communication, because of the concepts that symbolic language and that facial recognition program running in the mind and all the other programs, voice recognition programs, all those programs that are running and making, navigating the world and making sense of the world, they include the vehicle. Called I. So now I, I have a past. I have desires, I have fantasies, I have hopes and dreams and heartaches and traumas and values. All those things are added. I have bank account or debts or obligations.
All of those things are added. And now that construct, that self-construct becomes really rich and juicy. And it's really... Like a solid block every experience is added to it so it grows throughout life it becomes so rigid and it also requires defending this is me this is important if i believe in this and someone question it i feel like they're questioning me Because this is my belief. This is my story. So this one, when you actually see what it is made of, that sense of self,of that sense of identity, what it really is. You will see the bunch of memories, you will see a bunch of programs, a bunch of habits of perception, habits of processing, habits of making meaning and making sense.
And if you can disengage, and find the curiosity relax and and be what you are that open field or space of consciousness that is never changing that is still that is real and see how everything in that field of consciousness is what is arising See how in that field of consciousness without the thought, the body is arising. And with the body, perhaps seeing is arising, and hearing, and tasting, and touching, and thinking, imagining, dreaming, defending, fighting, hoping, dreading. All of that is arising in that field of consciousness which doesn't mind what arises. It's not that you have to find yourself in the state where you are free from that which arises.
No, the you, the mental image can never get there. The mental image is what arises. And what you are already right now, the consciousness, is already free from mental image.See the mental image arising. You are the freedom. You are the consciousness. The mental image arises within you. That which you think you are arises within you. And see what is it that you think you are. It may be very emotional, it may be very, it always feels personal because presence is your most intimately you. It is the very, I mean, personal is a loaded word, but it is nothing closer than this sense of presence. But when the costume of I, of self, is put on it, that costume of self feels that this is I.
It's like Bob's metaphor, and it's not Bob's, the metaphor is thousands of years old, of the iron rod in the fire. Is put in the fire and it becomes hot like a fire and it becomes red like a fire and if it could speak it would say i'm a fire i can burn so the same with that image of self is put in that fire of pure energy of life itself pure consciousness So it feels like it is consciousness. It feels like it can see, it can hear, it can have all the capacities which consciousness utilizes through that vehicle.call of the body mind it feels like this is the eye that can see i can hear while this is consciousness looking i as only a rod in the fire remove it from the fire and you will see it has no capacities whatsoever what the capacity can world have it borrows or it hijacks the capacity inherently present in the body-mind utilized by the consciousness to see the way the consciousness is seeing is to discard any ideas of the agency in between The thought is arising, the thought says I.
The thought is arising and the thought is defending in ideas that are dear. And I am the witnessing presence in which that is happening.And you are always that witnessing presence, although they habitually, of course, day in and day out, everyone around you, all the priests and prime ministers and celebrities and actors were relating to the world from that standpoint of imagined separate self and pretending to be the separate self, just like, you know, like any good actor, when it plays a role, it plays it so well that it almost forgets this at all. So we are all Oscar actors. The consciousness is playing an incredible role of so many individual vehicles looking out in the world and having personal stories and having personal self that is going to get something, something or become someone.
Or maybe in the next life or whatever the story says. The consciousness that God is having a ball. But how about getting out of the way and letting him see directly, rather than through that translating agency, through that imagined self, this is me, this is I who is seeing, this is I who is hearing.How big is that eye? Where is it located? If you don't think about it, can you even sense it? What are you sensing? Sometimes people would say, I sense the contraction there somewhere in the heart, around the heart or throat. Okay, so you sense the contraction, you call it I. Hmm, interesting.
Who's sensing it? And which one are you? The one who's sensing contraction calling I? Or the contraction itself, the object in consciousness. So whatever you define the I to be, as you are defining it, you're already defining an object. That's not who you are. You are the one that is defining. And now step back and see that capacity. Even that searching, trying to find, trying to look, who am I? Where am I? What am I? Who is looking?until you see that there is just activity happening in consciousness the same way as the activity of changing weather happening in the sky the activity of erupting volcanoes continental shelves moving tsunami waves arising planet moving around the sun Nobody is doing any of it.
It's just arising. Interdependent co-arising in that field of knowing. You are the field of knowing. And the phenomena are arising. One of the phenomena that are arising is the idea that there is me. There is something wrong with me. I have to become someone, get something, or I have to get rid of the me. I have to somehow dissolve that sense of me. There is no sense of me. There is sense of presence that will not be dissolved. No need to try.What is often called a sense of me is a temporary contraction, temporary feeling, temporary thought. That one can be recognized as an object. If you relax and let yourself be that open field of conscious awareness, And even if the tendency to engage in a fight is happening in that field of conscious awareness, it doesn't mind.
It is okay, just as it is okay with the volcano erupting and burning the city or the continent, or extinction of the 95% of the species, or potential extinction of that species. Consciousness doesn't mind. The presence, the awareness, the open field, the pure potentiality. It's not a thing with the sentience or with preference. It is the field of potentiality. It will find, or it won't, infinite amount of ways. To express this is really what what is being said the dream is for that field of potentiality to experience and express as all of it as the whole whole beautiful dream so the only And this is a fun metaphor thatBob used to always bring in, the only problem that we ever have is the belief in separate self that is running a show.
Once you discover there is no separate self and you can't ever do anything wrong or right and no one else can do anything wrong or right to you because there is no you. Life is like a dream and it always is. It continues to show up in the 10,000 ways. But now it's not personal. Now whatever is happening is just what is happening. Now there is still a duality experiencing and expressed as winter and summer and the pain and the pleasure and joy and the sadness and all of it. But if it is not personal, if it isn't for me, then even if resistance towards pain shows up, and I bet it will, you know, you look at the nature, any animal who is experiencing pain will do anything to alleviate it and will run away from more pain, will resist it.
Natural resistance to pain and natural love for survival wanting to be loving to be is part of that adventure that little vacation from the eternity of pure nothingness pure potentiality showing up as form and experiencing everything that goes with the form its limitationsits size, its shapes, its tendencies and feelings. And Anthony says, it's a middle state, able to feel the good and the bad days with the same okay attitude. Hey all. Yeah, beautiful. That's it. The space doesn't mind. It doesn't even say this is a good day or this is a bad day. The pure consciousness that you are without thinking doesn't mind anything that comes and goes.
Even if whatever comes and goes is still already showing up with the label good or bad, with the attitude of resistance or following. No, it doesn't mind. The space doesn't mind that there is a tendency to grab that bottle of wine or that chocolate ice cream and at the same time have the narrative, oh shit, I hate myself. I don't want to do it. It doesn't mind anything that appears. It is always and forever free from anything that appears, including dream character acting out its own conditioning. If the dream character, be it a bird or be it a dog, is designed to sing or to bark or to bite, It does what it is designed to do.
And it is not the doer. It just does whatever it is designed.to do and the space the field of potentiality is experiencing itself through that bird or that dog or that human and us that bird and that human and that dog and the problem again bob said you know the problem happens from You want to sing? Just being a bird. Have a mic? No. Problem started from believing words, the words that kick us out of the paradise, the divisions, the separation, the good, the bad, eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Of good and evil differentiating dividing and believing in the differentiation and the and division i ate the fruit and i know now that i am bad or i am good or you are good or you are bad or female or whatever australian or polish or whatever believing in the differentiation distinction the fruit of tree of knowledge now i think i know something that's what the belief is unquestioned acceptance of something It feels like I'm now falling from grace.
Good point. Yes. Now the openness, that field of curious feel.field of pure potentiality is limited, is shrunk to the place of I know what I am, I'm female. Now I close the door to experiencing a mystery of life, being point in consciousness, just experiencing whatever arises in the field from which I am not separate. If I'm female, I'm not male. If I'm human, I'm not human. There is always a limitation coming with any sense of identity. And identity is that fruit of the tree of knowledge of good or evil or any other word or symbol. It is a limiting concept, limiting belief. That I am.
Is unquestionable truth that can be verified at any moment that's the final truth that's the mahavakya that i am i can't unknow it this is an experience but what i am is a belief It's that horrible apple that kicked me out of the paradise. It took me to the realm of being limited, of being separate. I'm something. I'm not the totality experiencing the incredible dream of arising and passing through. Phenomenas, thoughts, feelings, bodies, all of it happening. Well, it is still the experiential truth. That's why we invite.everyone to just distrust the beliefs question the beliefs and come back to the experience what is the experience seeing right now the seeing is happening the content of seeing is changing but the seeing is a capacity that this vehicle has the consciousness through that vehicle it has the capacity for seeing Bert has the capacity for singing and Dean has the capacity for whistling.
But the pure capacity of seeing is not my capacity, it's not human capacity, it's not me doing the seeing. Nobody does the seeing. Seeing is already present. It's not mine. It belongs to the consciousness. So get out of the way and let it see. Let the consciousness look. Let the consciousness unfold. Let every moment be fresh and new and be curious how it is going to unfold, what it is going to bring, what thoughts are going to appear. I can't think them. They're going to arise just like the content of seeing. They're not mine. I can't choose them. I can't discard them. I can't let go of them because there is no I to do any of it.
But if I am that field, completely unengaged and completely open, they will move on. They will float through. The biggest dramas, the stories that arise.spontaneously will move equally spontaneously away and you can be very very entertained by the dream or you can look back and see what is dreaming and you will find nothing But that nothing is not the nothing that the mind calls nothing. That nothing is the source of all sentience, is radiant, is filled with love, is pregnant with all that eternity of everything. It's like in Nisargadatta's quotes. Wisdom says I'm nothing. But it's not nothing. Love says I'm everything. The potentiality, the no thing with the potential to appear as everything.
The content of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling. Get out of the way. See that the I that you may think you are is just a thought mental construct. So it really isn't in the way. It's just another of the arising things. Just like the scenes arising, sounds arising, thoughts arising, mental image is one of the things that are arising within that which you are. And I think that will be enough. And dances beautiful. So like everything that's been this.described here is really is really like um totally immediate like it's it's right here it's closer than close it's beyond closeness and farness and like what's been said like it's it's really simple like can the thought i see actually see anything.
It's a thought. Or can the thought, I'm going to fix or change or improve, actually fix or change anything? It's a thought. It's a fleeting little packet of energy just floating around being registered or seen. There's a knowing of the emptiness itself appearing as all these different things as this whole show. Everything that's been described is immediate. It's like your absolute birthright. It's not something to strive and practice and attain in some future place or time or dimension. It's so immediate that here it is. It's this. And thisness can be described in so many different ways. Without a thought describing, because a thought I describe can't really do anything.
It's a thought. Labelling something that is. You can label it as much as you want to be labelled, but it just is, regardless of the label or regardless of the language or regardless of the... The vibration of that particular word or thought that is labeling it. It makes no bloody difference because this is. It doesn't matter if it's talk.It's described in any language under the sun. It just is. The taste of something is the taste. And infinite descriptions of the menu are not eating the menu, are not eating the food that is described. So I just, I don't know, I'm just sharing that the immediacy of everything that's been described is like it's a felt sense of energy that's a field that's right here and no one's...
Separate from it, like you might have a feeling sitting on a chair that you might be separate. And yet the feeling itself is just a fleeting feeling in the appearance. And what is the appearance? The appearance is everything. The appearance starts when you wake up every morning. There's a me in a bed and a room and a house and da-da-da-da-da. And then it just grows onto a world and a life that I was born and I'm going to die. These are all ideas, all appearing in the screen. And the screen is, what is the screen? The screen is the emptiness appearing as all these objects, even like people like Marty.
I think that's all. I'm just, that's it for this moment.Just sitting here. Listening to the cat, a lovely spiel cat. Little by little, there's a process of unbecoming seems to be taking place. Where things are dissolving. And then there's the reflection on, even though it's impossible to follow the words one by one, because they're arising, they're disappearing,They're just passing in that fleeting moment. But it's seen that these things, if you analyze them and break them down, they're just a whole lot of nouns placed on this emptiness. And I notice in the body there's this trembling, sort of contraction, but there's a trembling there because it's recognized thatThere's nothing.
What's being spoken about is nothing. It's just words, nouns, ideas, concepts that are just placed in this field. And they have no meaning. They don't matter. Nothing really matters.It's the insubstantial pageant faded. As someone said. Thanks, Kat, and thanks, Willie. Yeah, it was really good to hear. I was taken back to when I first started coming here, throwing back in my memory of the self. I remember coming here and around that time I found a book that was called The Self-Aware Universe that was written by this astrophysicist who'd been brought up as a Hindu and then you know, gone to university and studied and all that and forgot all that.
And then he was trying to work out, you know, the nature of consciousness and started to realize that the universe arose in consciousness. And, you know, it came back to looking at the Hindu philosophy of non-duality as a way of explaining it all. And just that idea of the universe being self-aware was ringing true with what I was hearing here. And, you know, I am that awareness as is the universe and everything vibrates.with that I am-ness, even though that's a thought to us, everything knows it exists. And we are that existence itself. And, you know, as a child, I grew up in that just beingness.
But the older I got, I started to realize, or I grew up in a family that was sort of hell, like we were talking about. And I started to grow into that hell of being that fucked up person that wasn't doing it right or had it wrong or could do it better or should do it better. And that whole hell sort of descended on me in a way and, you know, I looked for escapes and I went for alcohol and everything else, you know, to run away from this mind. And then, you know, something in life turned me around and, you know, I came here and went to other places where we talked about.
About that and um you know so i've found that freedom of the self but you know you talk about shape-shifting and you know my experience as being you know involved in politics and and drama and acting and all that it's all about shape-shifting and being an appearance to somebody else and um You know, I see that and that's what life is today, you know, theories of little plays and adventures and assuming an identity and that identity changing.all the time, but that one underneath always exists, that existence exists without the thought, without the thought, but the thoughts come and go. I think I love it in Nisargadatta, he says, you are the all-pervading, all-transcending reality.
think, feel and act in accordance with the whole. Well, sometimes it doesn't seem like I'm thinking, feeling and acting in accordance with the whole. It feels like it's pretty selfish at times. But when you realise it's all being motivated by that sense of existence, that's where it's all coming from. Even when I think it's about self, I realise... It's doing what needs to be done anyway. And that's it. It's a great way to live. And you've just got to, well, I find that it's that recognising, that coming back to what really is, just that simple beingness without a thought, you know. The mind divides the beingness up in the language.
I am, you are, he, she, or it is. But it is just being. And to think and to move around and function, we necessarily separate it up in the mind. But the fundamental really applies. Thanks, Chris. That's why the meetings...often started with start with the fact that you're already that you're already that you are that you've always always been that and it's always now yeah never any other time any other times imagine it and it's so liberating i just want to um you know also add to what you've been saying is that the when you see that you're not the doer You know, we take on this identity of the doer and the responsibility of that identity.
Then things still happen. You're not actually, it still unwinds and you're not the doer. And the freedom of that, the mental freedom and the physical freedom. Of that is such a profound um that's been my experience um you know uh we are not the doer it arises anyway if you've ever got a time or space in your life where you can just actually not not think about doing which is as thinking you know that's where there's no imperative to take a wholly active role, although that's not denied either, but that freedom when you see things will just happen, they arise. And the more you get out of your own way, the greater this thing presents.
It's just such a liberation. And of course this is the arena of change, constant change. It's always changing. Anyway, I just wanted to add on to that.I have a couple of comments here from our online community. Tanya says, all is included. Car honking at you, hugging a friend, a fire, flood or earthquake, anger, anxiety, sadness, happiness, thoughts. Nothing needs to not appear for peace to be noticed. All is peace, love, intelligence, energy, presence. And she says, and there is no me or you in us any of that. So nothing that thoughts, beliefs said was important or should be done matters. That's beautifully said, Tanya. And I love, oh, gorgeous.
And I love what Cliff was saying, you know, that sometimes it feels like it is not holy consciousness. It feels very selfish. But that idea of selfishness is also a label arising with the action. And the action is innocent. Like Anita was saying, there is non-doership in preserving the vehicle for the consciousness to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. Naturally it has to be preserved in the dream that's the loving to be that's the self-preservation so yes all the actions will predominantly will be body mind related and it will be mine body mind related but it only will be mine in the narrative in thethought because in the happening without the concept of I or the concept of that thought it is just what is happening you know I'm not preoccupied with taking the next breaths or with having another heartbeat and it still happens and it happens for me this body same with if the thought is required to pay the bill the thought will arise and if it doesn't and bill are not paid the consequence will arise and it doesn't matter like Tanya said beautifully nothing really matters the seriousness of life the
and the importance of things which cause the most inflammation and the cortisol shots in the system, that one eases off.
Whatever happened is going to happen. This body is going to expire. It's just a temporary adventure vacation from the eternity of nothingness. Marty. Yeah, everything that's being said is just so nice to listen to. Yeah, nice is the best word I can come up with for what I've been listening to. Yeah, and at the moment, you know, when I sit in this room for too long, I start forgetting what everyone's labels are. So I'm sorry if I... I still remember Dean's though, can't forget Dean's. Yeah, but sorry, what was your name again? Cliff, yeah Cliff, that was, yeah, just hitting the hammer on the nail in terms of what this is all about.
I just wanted to talk about how this is the first time that I've been back since, Bob as a form has been gone. And I just want to say how amazing it is that it still feels like I'm listening to him talk. I still feel like I'm just in the room listening to Bob. And, yeah, I just wanted to share how, I guess, amazing. It is to be in the space and you know Bob has touched many so-called peoplein here and for me he really simply just pointed out while I was in the mess of all my thoughts that that I'm alive and and that sort of that sort of obviousness what I forget the word that is used but the the I guess ignoring ignoring ignoring the fact that you know there's life happening and it's something so simple and and he just I guess pointed that back out to me and got me out of you know, the mind and it made me just sort of realize, well, we are, we are all alive.
And, and then just pointing out that this life, this aliveness is actually just happening, you know, with or without any so-called me doing anything, you know, the breathing, the heart beating, all of that stuff is just happening effortlessly. And to just see that, you know, it's actually so simple, so clear that this aliveness has to be here before these... Thoughts can appear, I guess, and these so-called sort of identitiesseemingly created with these thoughts, you know, can't exist without life. And so life has to be the core of everything. And when you, I guess, go into the core of everything, you see that it's all one.
And we're all that life. And yeah, it's just amazing, isn't it? I guess that's why we're all here. And I just want to, I guess, thank Bob for sharing such a simple, I guess, reminding us all of, you know, that life that's in all of us and everything. And what a joy it is to be able to just share it, you know, in this space, even though we're sharing nothing, really, which is always funny when you think about it. We're sharing nothing, but nothing is everything, and so we're sharing everything. So, yeah. That's what came out. I am that. And that's it. That's it. That's the life essence itself, actually sharing itself as itself with itself.
And Marty, thank you for reminding us how incredible it is, life and everything that's happening, how incredibly unlikely yet here.It's complexity and just happening. Amazing. But it's so easy to go get to the end of the day and not be amazed by the amazingness of it all. And it's just happening. I'm a PE teacher and the boys have to do like a 15-minute run. And I was trying to give them a pep talk to hype them up a bit because usually no one wants to do a 15-minute run. You know, it's the last thing they want to do at school. And I was just talking about, you know, how all of you guys all made it here, you know, against all odds, you know, out of all the millions of other, to put it, you know, bluntly sperm cells that could have been here instead of you you guys are all here right now and you've got the opportunity to run and it's just like you just kind of say it but if you really try and if you really look at it for what it is it's like that's so unfathomable yeah you know sorry that was a stupid story No, it's exactly, exactly.
I was, you know, how when I, the word unlikely came up, it's, you know, it's incredible, incredible. But, you know, arising this morning, sitting on the edge of the bed, there's no plan to do anything. Just then it just proceeded to happen. Everything that just happens. The body gets up, you know, walks to the bathroom, you know, gets rid of the clothes, turns.There is no plan. There is no planning. It's just happening. All of it's just happening. And then there's a walking down the stairs and coming into the kitchen. All that, as all of that's happening, all of that seeming changes are occurring, that sense of presence, sameness, stability, silence, never goes.
It's always the same. It never changes from the moment of waking to the moment of going back to sleep. It's that same awareness of presence sitting quietly in the background. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.I got Anthony says, don't believe the words. They imply too much separation, but they are so lovely without the belief. Connecting is what they are really doing. That's beautiful. Yeah, what a beautiful way of connecting, sharing stories, sharing pointers. And if you connect energetically to the energy behind the words, you don't object to the words. You could, ah, this word is a wrong word. I don't like that word. Who cares about the words?
It's the message that is behind, it's in the resonation. Thank you, Anthony. And Tanya says, beautiful, Anthony, what a great pointer and so true. Christian?I'm quite a practical person in this life, I guess, or in this body, or as this character. So I like to, I'm obviously very much interested in this clear light mind or this awareness. And one of the interesting things I find as a way of being it, even though we already are it, is like when you first wake up in the morning and let's say your life's been going in a particular way, you've been in a groove for a while, everything's kind of going, but suddenly there was a, yesterday, there was a shock and something's changed, some drama has gone on, something's changed.
So now you've been asleep and then you're just waking up. And at that time when you're just waking up, and things haven't, you haven't sort of quite come to your senses. So it's kind of like, that's kind of where it is. You're kind of in that space. And then you remember this thing that happened and suddenly it's like, oh, and then you're back to the character, you're back to the being. But so it's, so from a practical point of view, I really like to, stay in that space as long as possible. And just when I wake up, rather than actually get up, before I come to my senses, I just try to stay in that as long as possible.
And it's so blissful and so beautiful.No, we don't necessarily talk about that stuff because you don't want to be grasping for that. But it naturally manifests and the rest of the day you can just be sitting there and just the trees and the sun on the leaves and everything's so amazing, you know, and it's like, and your mind again starts to trick you a little bit thinking, oh, it's such a beautiful day, you know, it's so, you know, nature's just so amazing, you know, but actually it was simply from being close in that space and not being the little elf, the little me that's dividing life and relating to her own and has all these problems or whatever.
So anyway, yeah, I thought I'd share that one.Yeah, Bob had this beautiful practical pointer, you know, when you really, because the tendency is to prioritize thinking. And let's face it, it's a natural tendency. This incredible entertaining system is so surpassing everything you could ever think of. I mean, one thought can transport you into parallel realities, into... Imagined past into incredible ecstasy of the fantasies. One thought which can be as multi-dimensional in the experiencing, it can contain the visuals and the sounds and the tastes and the smells. Incredible. It really is a great competition for that basic functioning of the present moment which contains of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling.
I remember when I was, one of the ships I was working on, I was chief officer and there was another Polish person, another dream character playing a Polish guy. He was a younger officer. And the rest of the crew was mixed, but we knew each other kind of roughly visually from the school. And we had a couple of bicycles on the ship. So I say, hey, let's go and get the trip to it. It was a beautiful city of Edinburgh. I said, you can't miss that. And he said, yeah, okay, okay, let's go. Well, I was a senior, so he didn't want to object.When we arrived to the same port a few weeks later, I said, are we going?
I said, what's the problem? Oh, I don't know how to explain it to you, but I'll show you. He took me to his cabin, opened the laptop, showed me a computer game called, I don't know, was it Second Life or something? It was a computer game in which he was every character in the game. He could design the game. He could design what is going to happen, who he's going to meet, whether he's going to be at the daytime or dusk, whether it's going to be in the mountains or in the town. He would design the town. He would perhaps meet someone to fight with or whatever.
He was the mighty doer. And he had multitude of lives. And he was playing two or three roles in that whole game. And when I saw it, I say, you know what? I'm more than happy to explore Edinburgh by myself. And thank you very much for your beautiful warning to never touch that shit, because I can see that it can compete even with that entertaining system and win the competition. And I'll be happy to smell the rain and just be with the simplicity of life. So that is how totally enticing and engaging this one is. And you can transfer it into some other entertainment, the movie or the theater or the...
Jumping off their airplanes, hot air balloons, and any sorts of adventures that you could take.think of and imagine and you don't even have to go anywhere you can put vr googles and you can experience it or basically just rest back and dream and how that is how this basic seeing hearing tasting touching smelling is completely secondary because it produces less of the dopamine rush than your social media, your computer game, your engagements, your fights, your dreams, your whatever. But the simplicity of life and the joy of life is equally there, if not more, because there is more. Because there is a freedom from the turmoil, freedom from the sense of doership, which may make you a mighty God who designs the towns and cities and countries in one moment and an absolute dickhead and a failure when something goes wrong, when you fail to look after your children because you are so busy with the game, when your wife is complaining that you are not contributing your energy and your time, when the whole world is left behind because you are addicted to that dopamine rush.
So life, simple life, in which there is a simple appreciation for basic pleasures that are happening presently, not in the imagination, not in the realm of thinking, but in the realm of, like Dean was saying, sitting on a chair. Well, and it may appear as there is a separate body.sitting on separate furniture but in the direct experience in the immediacy there is just the experiencing of a touch and the same with the seeing it may feel like it may translate like there is a seer looking at this that and the other but really in the direct experience that is seeing happening immediately seeing happening and the content that is fluctuating and dancing and changing and there is the same with hearing and if the attention brings is brought back to the experience ink direct present immediate experience sing it is equally if not more rich than that capacity for imagination capacity for translating and reasoning which often which often backfires because even when the meaning is made of something And it is enticing and it is colorful and it's amazing.
And all those systems and philosophies and religions and models of reality, yum, wonderful, they are always related to the me. And me is right. And me likes this. Me doesn't like that. And the me is always the imaginary me that exists in the language. It's always separate. It's limited. It's confined. It may be very smart, but just for now. Next minute it will be stupid and forgetful. It may be very confident again.Just for now, in a minute, it's going to happen something else. It's going to be rejected. It's going to be judged. And it's going to keep judging. And it's going to take credit for it.
This is I. What's wrong with me? Why am I so negative? You are not you are the space all that stuff if the mind goes havoc dysregulated and completely stirring the show and completely taking the whole attention away from the immediate seeing immediate experiencing of tasting touching smelling if there is an identification with the thought rather than watching it like a cloud passing through the sky yes there are great pleasures associated with it and there are great displeasures too and there are great turmoil great psychological suffering associated with it too And who likes to suffer? The way out of psychological suffering. The way out of a psychological suffering.
Question the validity of your imagination. Like one of Bob's favorite quote of Nisargadatta. The only problem you can ever have is in your own imagination. You can only imagining the dream is going on and the dream is not your problem, it's not your concern. Your concern is relating, I like this part and I don't like that part.Dream goes on. Let it go on. It's beautiful. It's just that imagining that I am the doer in the dream. I can do this. I can change. I should. I would. People, other people should. The world should be different. The politics should be different. My wife should be different.
This is the psychological suffering. This is hell. And I'm speaking with people on an individual basis, and I can see how those big, big events in life, the loss of a spouse, the loss of a relationship, the loss of a job, the loss of... Of anything is usually a bigger cause of a drama and trauma and psychological suffering than any loss of that basic freedom of just being present. They don't very often the question that I ask, what would you rather? Would you rather resolve your situation with your ex-girlfriend? Or would you rather be free from all psychological suffering and drop the importance of all that nonsense, of that temporary nonsense?
At the point of a big trauma. Oh, no, no, no. I just need to know. I just need the money. I just need this. I just need that. Well, look into it. What do you really, what do you really value?you what do you really need if there is psychological suffering if you question the sufferer if you question the identity rather than the object of the suffering object i have not enough money i'm too fat i have addiction i have trauma i had you know object of suffering will always be there if the subject is present If there is a self, there will always be something that will be not good enough for that self or too good enough for that self.
If there is a relating happening, that is a never-ending story. Rather than picking on every single cause, potential cause of suffering, look at the projector. Is there anybody there? And if it isn't, what that phenomena matters? Yes, the bodies will come and go. Bob used to say, you know, you may get attached to someone and I guarantee they will let you down, they will betray you or they will leave or they will die. Either way, it is going to change. It is always going to change. Put your trust, put your heart in that which doesn't change, with that which is forever here, the awareness of presence.
Even if the body gets sick and all the bodies expire, they get all the wrinkled, they get sick, they get different ailments. They will die eventually. But the consciousness...experiencing that one is present that one is unrelated to a vehicle to the story is free from all of them and it doesn't mind whatever appears and that's the joy treasure the greatest the greatest treasure most reliable most reliable that is it yeah yeah yes yeah yeah yeah I think, you know, recognising that there is no self and it is just being and everything appearing in that, I find I don't get bored. Or if I do get bored, that just passes too.
Like it's just another experience and there's always... Experiencing going on. But I used to get stuck in things like, oh, I've got nothing to do tonight. Oh, what am I going to do? And yet, as the night comes on, there's always something that's happening. But you get stuck in that idea of me that's not going to get something or me, oh, God, I'm having a dreadful time today. It's awful. And actually, the whole week's been bad. In actual fact, my whole life's been bad. And then you think, well, when did I think that? Oh, I just...Just then, like it's just another idea and yet you own that.
And owning it, you polish it and keep going on with it. And it does seem like you're having a bad time then because you're creating it in your mind all the time. But let go of the self that's owning it and creating it. And it just moves on. On to the next thing. You go first. Oh, yeah. I was just going to comment on the mind with the mind. But so I guess, like, there's nothing wrong right now if you don't think about it. So this mind... You know, I guess sometimes I definitely found for myself at a point I was trying to get rid of the mind.
And now I'm sort of there's an appreciation for the mind. There's a mind, I guess, like, you know, if you're a builder. You wouldn't be upset having a hammer because you can use a hammer, you know, to build, which is your job. And I sort of see the mine in a similar way. It's, you know, it has its function and it can actually be amazing to use. You know, but a lot of us, I mean, if there's a way to say it, maybe, you know, usein the mind to, I guess, hit ourselves with a hammer. And so we're trying to get rid of the mind, but in fact, we just have to use the mind.
Well, the mind just has to be used in a way that, you know, it's, I guess you could say, they're meant to be used, you know, to appreciate life or... However, however you want to you could use it any way you want really there's no right or wrong way to use it but Now right now If you don't think of anything, there's absolutely nothing wrong.And then the mind comes up and it has a perspective, you know, like you said, my life, or this is boring today, or my life's not going that well. And then you believe that. And, you know, that causes suffering. And so, you know, then the mind becomes this terrible thing because you've just used it to hit yourself.
But if you come back to this right now where there's absolutely no perspective, you know, when there's no perspective of now, it just is. And you can't say anything good or bad about it. I think that's what Bob used to say. You can't say anything good or bad about it. It just is. And that's the, I guess, the mind explosion. It's just sort of like this is and nothing can be said about it. And so from this point, you know, you can either use the mind to make your life a misery, a mental seeming mental misery, or you can use it to
share the life with yourself, I guess.
I guess that's what we're doing with the mind, right? So there is an amazing way to use the mind, I guess. And sure, the mind still comes up with, you know, you call it negative thoughts or whatever you want, but nothing sticks to this. There's no thought that can stick to this. And so if nothing can stick to this, then you're always free of any thought that comes up in reality. So even a good or bad thought, it doesn't really matter which one really you have because you're free of them. But if the thought's going to come up, why not share that life and share that joy of being?
With yourself. Like, that seems to be what's coming up. Yeah. That's all I have to say. I just want to have an input here about physicality, the body, and when the body actually suffers, is really suffering. And the stimulus coming from the body is so strong, it overrides everything. That is a reality as well. You can't deny that that is part of the experiencing going on. And sometimes it's so strong that...nothing except to be in the suffering of that. But the experience here is that it still passes, it's still ever-changing. And it's like Melbourne weather. Whatever it's doing, it's gorgeous because you know it's going to change in a few days.
But the suffering that comes from the physical body when the body's not well, can be overwhelming and that's not denied either, except that there are changes continuously within that as well, which is being acknowledged or observed, you know. And you don't have to add psychological stuff? No, exactly. You don't have to add anything to it. It's just experiencing. And it certainly doesn't give you the freedom to think outside of that suffering, but the suffering passes. That's the thing. Everything changes. This is the arena of change. And that's the thing that you can know. That sort of reminds me of Ram Dass a little bit. Sorry, I'm going on a tangent.
That story reminds me of Ram Dass a bit, like how he had a stroke, I think, and then he had this physical impediment, but it actually ended up becoming an opportunity for him to go deeper into his self. You can't go deeper into your self. You know, the way that that was seen with the mind became this absolute joy for him, you know.I guess. Yes, he had limitation, but I'm talking about a pain. Did he have pain? I don't know. No, no, he had stroke, so he couldn't physically take care of himself anymore. Yeah, right. But the thing about pain or nausea or something that's really strong.
There's no way to think your way or to be separate to that experience at the time. In a lesser way, like the Melbourne weather, you could go to another suburb of the body and you don't even notice what's happening in that other suburb. But obviously that's not what is that intense. No, no, there is an intensity. In chronic illness and in chronic disease, that there is no liberation from that suffering in the moment. But the nature of it will change. That is the thing that is reliable. And there is something that witnesses that. And even in that suffering, there still is a consciousness, but the suffering that comes in that time is so strong, there's nothing but suffering.
And so that's, to me, I just feel I have to say that to acknowledge that not everything is seen. At the time, you know, there is something obviously seeing or knowing there's suffering, but it doesn't lessen the suffering and the stimulation coming from the body. So, but the thing is, it always changes. The nature of it changes.which is a liberation. And just to add to that too, it's not necessarily what we would term physical suffering of the body. Yeah, so thoughts can come that are so intense, so strong, you know, that there is, you know, seeming mental suffering in terms of you know like suicidal ideation or whatever that's really intense and that there's it's all life-lifing there's nothing wrong if the thought then comes I need help or I could do with some relief from this and then seeking that it's perfectly natural to want to be alleviated from suffering.
You see it in nature. And there's nothing wrong with that. If you're in intense physical pain from cancer or whatever, what's wrong with having fentanyl patches or taking morphine, right? Okay, yeah, okay. Yeah, or, you know, taking some medication that alleviates some intensity of... Thoughts or whatever if they're coming if they're causing some sort of depression or whatever it's all life life and there's nothing wrong with any of it ultimately but the the physicalbody or whatever that is wired for survival and pleasure. So. Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, it's funny you say that because the last couple of weeks I feel like I've been contemplating waiting quite a bit.
It seems to be a regular pattern in my inner life, waiting for whatever work to finish, waiting for the next holiday. That's a super common conversation at work is, when's your next holiday coming up? It's a classic combo. And I was a few weeks ago, I was kind of thinking like, well, why, like, why am I always waiting for a holiday? Like, what is it about holiday that's so nice? And it's, you know, it's basically, obviously you're doing what you want to do, which is another way of saying like, you're not resisting the present moment. There's no like, I'd rather be somewhere else. I'd rather be doing something else.
And so I started just walking around the city during my lunchtime and playing a game where I pretended I was a tourist and I was on holiday in the city. And I just kind of walk around and look, just look up at the buildings with a curious mindset. And, you know, a strange thing happened where, like, I truly felt like I wasseeing these buildings for the first time. It's like everything is new, it's beautiful, there's just like enjoyable curiosity walking around the city looking at buildings I've seen probably a hundred times before but never actually been in that seeing whilst I'm looking at them. And I noticed like there's no thought here, there's just joyful curiosity.
And, you know, even the mundane office blocks are beautiful all of a sudden. And it's like, yeah, what's wrong with right now if you don't think about it? Like, obviously nothing. But also... When you don't think about it, there's a simple joy and newness to everything that you see. And now I guess I'm on holiday every lunchtime and it's lovely. And yeah, there's just this newness. There's something about just in that kind of, it's like somewhat artificial way of getting myself into this point of view of like pretending I'm a tourist that seems to just work. And then, Yeah, I was like, why is this so nice?
What's going on? I look at the same buildings each day and they're new. And yeah, it's just that's what's there when you're not identified with thought. There's just a joyful curiosity about life, about boring mundane buildings, about like buskers or people arguing.Yeah, and that seems to be all that we're talking about here is just what is, and that is... What can you say about it other than it's beautiful and it's joyous? Fresh. Fresh. Open your eyes. It's a new. It's a new. Yeah, just something that she, sorry, I had a thought on that, but it actually totally was that as well. So, yeah, I had a massive headache during a satsang once, and so I just went in the other room, and it was just like, there'd be like a, you know, I can't remember, like a, with thuds coming up, it's not that, but it's like a sharp, you know, just like a, not even a sharp, but an intense headache, you know, feeling.
And so, you know, I guess I thought about, you know, it's painful and not wanted or whatever. And then there was just a, you know, I'm here to satsang, what do you do to satsang? So wide openness to... What is this, you know? And so it becomes so wide that it does go to that space and it's just nothingness and, you know, it's just peace. And then, you know, then there's a massive, like, pain again. So it kind of was this, it just went on for, like, half an hour or more, just like this. Trip song, you know, there's three things happening in a cycle.
But yeah, it was just something that happened, something, it's not even to do, it just was what was taking place with that kind of experience. Yeah, and when Bob is talking about psychological suffering or the pain, he used to differentiate that.Pain is something that is physically wrong with the body and it calls for attention. Psychological suffering is a narrative that can but doesn't have to be believed if investigated. And we had a lot of people over the years who suffered from the chronic pain, sometimes for 20, 30 years, sometimes needing really like medical heroin, whatever, to survive. And they said it was the grace and the curse, of course.
And through those pains, they had the greatest, darkest nights of the soul and the greatest realizations. Just simply by differentiating between the physical pain and psychological suffering, which means physical pain and narrative coming from the psychological. That's that's why bob wouldn't call physical pain suffering just just to differentiate just to make it clear that physical oh they say everybody who has the definition of suffering being associated with physicality oh the whole non-duality is crap because you cannot really avoid suffering this is bullshit buddha was an idiot he was a cretin he didn't he lied animals suffer because they can get cut or caught or whatever so that's why the clarity in the language was introduced that physical pain when something is wrong in the body emotional pain when something is imagined when something is believed into realityby the act of subscribing to the content of the narrative.
That's why we say there is a possibility of freedom from psychological suffering. There is no possibility of avoiding human pain, pleasure, day, night, darkness, light. All that is part of the dualistic manifestation. And I have here, Anthony says, oh, I also wanted to comment. That was beautiful when, Loki, you were sharing on waiting and contemplating and introducing the idea of almost even pretending to be on a vacation. That's the beautiful way when Marty was saying mind could be utilized. It could be used. What a beautiful, creative way of mind being used. And of course, there is a disclaimer. The one that uses the mind is the pure awareness, is the pure consciousness in creative ways, finding the creative ways.
The moment there is an I that takes credit, oh, this is I, I've done it. Well, you know, you kind of lose a little bit of a fragrance of that beautiful freedom that is associated with realizing that the mind is just. Tool so that that tool is is by all means it's an incredible incredible tool it's a wonderful servant they say again and a terrible master so don't give it any credit if the mind says i did it laugh don't forget to laugh this is bullshit it can't be done the thought i dean was explaining you know this is just a thought it's just a thought it can't do anything can't see can't hearCan't say, can't believe, can't do anything.
Comes and goes. And Anthony says here, looking at the trees and the fields, hearing the birds, smelling the flowers, a simple walk is full of life. Nothing needs to be added to nature. Thoughts are so clearly taking you away. From the observing magnificence and Anthony also says anger attached to the pain is the thing that can be overcome yeah and this is a beautiful point and thank you for that Anthony yes as entertaining as the mind is it kidnaps the attention away from the immediacy and takes it into the imagination. You have 100% of attention available. If 90% of that attention is dwelling in the imagination, there's only 10 available for hearing, seeing, tasting, touching, smelling.
And as Bob would say, you would miss. The opportunities that are open in the immediacy that are whispered because you're so busy talking with yourself in your own head. It's not necessary. It doesn't have to be this way. Tony. This immediacy is the greatest show in town. Like Cliff was talking about earlier, it's like this is the greatest show, is the immediacy. And in that show, everything is curiously exploding and presenting. And so eventually, like the attention really wants tojust sits quietly and watches the show unfold. And that's where the attention goes, on the unfolding of the show. But it may change to other things as well, but it's always in movement.
Sometimes not that quietly. Yeah, yeah, yes. In the back, yeah. Tony? Oh, yeah, just once, like, I went from... Cuba to whatever one of the hubs is in Germany and it was like going from you know nearly Christmas so it was quite warm in Cuba they just started to put on their cardis and the men were just starting to put shirts on and I go to the hub what's the one furthest west in Germany it's not Curlin I don't know whatever it is And, you know, I don't have a jacket, you know, and, you know, everybody's freezing. It's four o'clock, it's dark, and they were going inside for Christmas, you know.
But I didn't feel the temperature, and then I realized it's because I was traveling. I just, you know, all that stuff wasn't even impacting me at all. Back in New Zealand, I'd be like, oh, my God, this is so miserable, you know. Distribution of attention. It's just nothing, yeah, nothing at all. It was just really interesting that when you're a traveler, when a tourist, you just, you're not sweating any stuff, you know. Yeah, great example. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, everyone online.