Bliss Of Being: BOB. Nonduality explorations 12 Oct 2025

And we have Miranda and we have Anne, Michael, Sheila, Loki. All right. Okay. Yeah. So, sorry for the false starts and issues.Life, it's its prime. And it has to be this way. Life has to be this way. It has to pain up. It has to go up and down. It has to be winter and summer and cold and hot and the sickness and health. Otherwise, there is nothing. So it has to be pain and pleasure. It has to be joy and sadness. Otherwise, there is no experience. For anything to be experienced, it has to be known. It has to be isolated or separated on the background of its opposite.

So to be able to experience health, we have to know at least sickness. To be able to experience winter, we have to know the absence of winter, which is summer or spring or whatever. Something that... The whole body is wired to acknowledge or notice or experience something. We experience things. In the sphere of seeing, we experience objects of seeing. In the capacity of hearing, we experience different sounds or absence of sounds. So the whole dream is about the ever-changing, never-changing, experiencing, never-changing experiencing and ever-changing experiences.So that's why we call it dream because you can't even say how real or unreal it is. Experiencing is undeniably right here, right now, and it's always right here, right now, anytime you look, anytime you check.

But experiences are not lasting. No matter how long you're sick, you're going to get better or worse. No matter how hot it is, it's going to be hotter or less hot. It's going to change. No matter how many blissful states you had in the meditation or in ashram or wherever, that one is also going to change. Everything that has beginning and an end is just a fleeting experience. But the capacity for experiencing, the capacity for being alive, the presence itself, that one never changes. And that one is what the non-duality points to, like a basic screen, or like the emptiness, or the source energy, or the heart of existence.

The capacity for being alive, the capacity for presence. And in Hindu scripture, they call it Sat Chit Ananda, being, knowing, loving to be. The awareness of existence is joy or bliss or stillness. And that awareness of existence is there all the time. In that awareness of existence, there is the equipment playing up and they aredifferent things coming and going. There is weather coming and going. There is a sunny day and a rainy day. There is a positive mindset and negative mindset. Everything happening unfolding ever fresh ever new in buddhist scriptures they call it non-conceptual ever fresh presence awareness just this and nothing else pointing out that nothing else is real only the presence awareness is real and nothing else Everything else is maya, is appearance, is illusion, is the emptiness that is formed in its essence.

The opposite well they won anyway so that the form which is emptiness in its essence and the emptiness which is form in its essence because the moment the emptiness takes form it appears to be form and yet its capacity is shape-shifting is like one of Bob's books title, One Essence, experiencing and expressing and appearing as everything. One pure potentiality that can't even be said to exist because it's not objectifiable, that one potentiality appearing as everything. Realized as every fleeting thought or mood or state of mind or experience or sensation or perception or so-calledappearance of material object or anything. Those are all appearances because the capacity for experiencing is there.

If not for that aliveness, if not for that presence, nothing could be known or experienced in any way. So pointing back to that basic screen, which is inseparable from what appears on it, and not two things. When we use language, we point to two things. There is an experiencing and there is a content. There is a seeing and there is a content. As if they were separable. They are not. You can't separate that which you are seeing from the capacity for seeing. They inherently one. You also can't separate yourself as a seer from the capacity for seeing. Because if the capacity is not there, there is no need for a seer.

There's no point of even labeling it. And if there is no machinery through which the capacity can be executed, then of course there is no capacity. So that separation of experience, seeing and the content, seeing and the content, and the seer and the hearer is only conceptual. It only comes because of the nature of language. Language is being designed to objectify and label that which is being objectified. So if not for the language,There is a cat meowing here. It's a form of language too. But there is no division in the way cat is processing the world. It doesn't have to put symbols on anything that it is seeing.

So it is naturally drawn, like a little baby, naturally drawn, the attraction and repulsion. The attention is moving wherever it is moved to be moving. And there is no narrative, there is no commentary taking credit for that movement. So life is spontaneously unfolding through the body of a cat, through the body of a tree, through the body of a planet, through the body of a cells in your skin. The life is unfolding through the vehicles available for it, for the life to experience and express itself. And one of those vehicles is also the cognitive capacity, the capacity to label, to separate with words, with symbols.

There is also life experiencing and expressing itself. And even the concept of separate self, which can't be found, but it can be conceptualized and believed. And when it is believed, it's believed into existence. It appears real. It feels real. It feels like there is someone there running the show. Just like there is a belief in a God Almighty or angels.devils when the belief is there they appear real they feel like they are existing like there was a belief bob often brings the example of flat earth people believed it there was no way anyone would board the ship and sail towards horizon they're not crazy they don't want to fall off the edge Only when that belief changed, those actions were possible.

So belief makes real seem, seemingly real, makes seem real. I know quite a few people who are absolutely fanatical about their beliefs in regards to health or dietary or political things. They know for certain. They're ready to kill for it. And throughout the history of all the human history, we had a lot of examples of that level of fanaticism. And this is all the same mechanism. Believing that there is a separate self and this is I is just the same. Is the unquestioned acceptance of an idea that hasn't been verified. So verifying the idea, is there a separate self? Is there an I, a person inside my body somewhere that is running the show, that is thinking thoughts, feeling feelings?

Or perhaps it's just like the other creatures in nature, in nature like cats.trees there is just life unfolding through the vehicle the life unfolding through this vehicle in response to bad weather might bring up the even the bad weather is a concept may bring up the sadness or some other associations depends on the conditioning of the machine In the response to the abuse, it might bring violence or it might bring a devastation. Who knows? I don't. The life is expressing through this vehicle just as it is expressing through any other. And how it is going to be expressing? It is spontaneous, but it is predetermined.

So everything that created this body in the way that it is right now, and that's the whole universe, that like Bob is showing up right from the food that the great grandparents were eating before they even met and the air they were breathing that caused their body behave in certain way and that caused them to meet and produce the grandparents and the parents and the genes and the environment and the upbringing and the religion and the family. All of it shaped that particular course of action which created this body in this shape in this form and again the 10 000 things the whole universe contributed to the preferences in music or tastes in booksor the way the body holds its hands or heads or smiles or deals with trauma, all of it is being coded or predetermined or designed by the whole universe.

And to explain it, we use the concept of time because that's the way to slice the absolute unthinkability of that. Ungraspable infinite amount of causes and factors and bring them into a timeline and says this happened over thousands of years though even the idea of time and the thousands of years is the idea that is just describing a pattern right now So the thousands of years of great grandfathers are just the explanation coming up now. So it really is a mystery how life is experiencing and expressing, is dreaming itself a vehicle for the experience and expression, and is using this vehicle the way... The whole again the whole universe allows it to use in a cat will be meowing with the dancer it will be dancing with the tree it will be doing the three things and with the human with the human body there is again the infinite amount of ways in which every moment that life experiences and expresses itself And then again.including the illusion of a little driver of that vehicle, a little thinker of the thoughts.

But that illusion of separation, of a thinker, of someone there inside, my ego, my soul, or my whatever it is, causes psychological suffering because if there is someone inside and that someone inside is me then now the whole survival mechanisms attached and designed to protect this machine are my problem now So now the life is one big problem. And that perspective on life is the perspective of psychological suffering. There is not much room for appreciation, for love of being, if everything is translated into a complaint, into a problem. There is something wrong with me because the mind as its nature the survival mechanism again is designed to optimize and to do that it compares so suddenly i comparing oh she's nicer she's slimmer she's is richer of this shit you know everything's wrong with me Or perhaps I'm thinking too much, other people don't think that much, or maybe whatever.

The whole mechanism that keeps the body alive and keeps the body functioning optimally now is turned against it becauseSuddenly, its mechanisms of evaluating and judging are now being taken personally and believed. And that belief hurts. That belief is isolation, separation. There is something inherently wrong with me. How can I fix it? Maybe I'll go and do the retreat or the course or sit and meditate every day for two hours. Or maybe I'll eat clean or eat something else. And unfortunately, the base of the whole conundrum is wrong. It hasn't been questioned. There is no one there who is inherently wrong. There is no one there, full stop.

There is no one there who is inherently right either. There is no one there. Full stop. And if there is no one there, if it is just life, speaking with that accent because it doesn't have another vehicle, looking with that eyesight because it doesn't have another vehicle through this one, thinking this particular line of thoughts because that's what it has been conditioned to no one doing any of it so whose business is it what whose problem is it even if the life is designing a thought that oh yeah this body should be slimmer richer nicer younger whatever That one is not personal. That is just a habitual way of narrating.

None of my business is not a problem.because there is no one there. So discovering, looking at life, looking at the world from that perspective of just being that space-like awareness, just being that sphere of dreaming and discovering what is life going to serve, what's the next thought going to be. What's the next weather going to be? What's the next feeling? What's the next response to the weather, to the feeling, to the event? I wonder. Life as the space, it does nothing. It doesn't even gravitate towards that which is more pleasant and resist that which is less pleasant. The body does that. Space doesn't do anything.

It unconditionally allows everything. It doesn't even do any allowing. It doesn't do full stop. But it appears us. The space holds for everything, the dark and the white, the pleasure and the pain. And it doesn't differentiate and it doesn't separate and it doesn't say this belongs here and it doesn't. It doesn't resist. It doesn't accept. It just is. That isness. Unaltered, unmodified, uncorrected isness just as it is. That is the life essence. And it is present right here, right now, underneath the layer ofconceptual thinking which may be commenting oh yeah I get it oh I don't get it oh I know it intellectually but I don't quite experience it all the eyeing all the eye thoughts constantly translating everything that is spontaneously unfolding to not only translating but also referencing it to me, to the self, to the I, which doesn't even exist.

But there is an existence. It's not the I, it's the pure existence. So instead, I am, the existence is undeniable. But the mind, because the mind is words, the mind is just thinking. The thinking capacity... And its capacity to narrate or translate into a language, that's how it is conditioned. It translates the sense of existence to the words I am, to the thought I am. So the I am is as close as you get to that. Pointing out that pure existence, the pure aliveness. Though the thinking capacity doesn't stop there. It doesn't say I am full stop. It says I am this, I am that.

I am not good enough or I am not wise enough or I don't get it or I don't experience it. All that is already just beating around.the bush somersaulting churning clouds i am full stop that is the final truth or realization that i am surprisingly so a lot of people completely overlooks the fact of existence they take it for granted so much that they don't even acknowledge That, oh, wow, that's not a small thing. Hey, wait a minute. There is an existence. Luminous, radiant existence is here right now. I am, I exist. Wow. Straight away, the mind or the thinking capacity goes towards objectifying it.

Yeah, yeah, I can't really objectify the M part, but maybe I. I am a person, I am a woman, I am a man, I am this nationality, or this race, or this color. That is all costume. That is describing a costume, a vehicle. It's like describing your car. You're not your car.But the thinking capacity, this is its nature. It objectifies, relates, compares. That's what it does. So realizing that because you are, the thinking can even do it. What was it? This Descartes, I think, therefore I am. It's quite the other way around. You are. Therefore, the thinking is even possible. The thinking happens because existence is there.

Existence can't be denied. You can't pause it. You can't stop it. You can't even imagine non-existing. So the existence is that basic screen. Largely overlooked, underestimated, and in the search for pleasant experiences, for experience of enlightenment, liberation, fulfillment, whatever the name, the final truth or the miracle of existence is completely ignored or overlooked. And it happened through the conditioning, relentless conditioning, learning of that little body-mind through imitation, learning the language, eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of the good and evil, and losing the paradise. By learning language. Now this is an object. This is an object. This is not I. And this is not I.

And this is I. Now we have the separation. This is good.I want more of it. This is bad. I don't want it. And the whole suffering came into life because of that relating. Bob would say relationship, relating everything to the imagined self is the source of all psychological suffering. There is no one there. There's no need to relate things. When the cat, there's a cat here, when the cat is feeling like, you know, step on its tail and he will run away. Or when he's, don't do it. When he smells the food, he'll be attracted. That attraction, that repulsion is life spontaneously expressing through the body of a cat.

And there is no narration. There is no relating. Oh, this is happening to me. Oh, it shouldn't be happening to me. Oh, what do they think? Or do they like me? Or do they don't like me? Or do they judge me? None of that takes place as far as we know. And we can see the joy of being, the level, the quality of presence is always engaging with what is happening. He's always alert. He's always here. He doesn't trade the unborn Buddha mind for a story, for the thought. And he's always happy. Unless, of course, there is some...Yeah. Kick or step on a tail. If there is anything that the vehicle needs addressed, the attention goes and prioritize the vehicle.

And that's also natural. Natural that the survival instinct of... Of the body-mind machine, which is a vehicle for the experiencing. Without it, life can't see, is blind, can't hear. Here's my baby.Yes, so life is very simple for the cat and it could be equally simple for anyone and everyone. Just to realize what is inherently there and what is prior to everything else, what is, what really does count in the whole conundrum, what really is to be... Bob would say, give credit where credit is due. What really is to be in the heart of worship, like he would also quote Muktananda, he spent some time there in the ashram, I think, over 18 months, where he would say, if you knew who you are, you would bow to yourself.

There was some other things added to it. But the bowing to that self, that aliveness, that truth, falling in love with the reality, with the miraculousness of that radiance, and just being that space of loving to be. And realizing that that loving to be is is what you are is your essential nature if there is nothing standing in the way if the vehicle doesn't call for attention or if the mind is not chatting away and taking the this precious currency of aliveness into the storeIt's not trading the unborn Buddha mind for a thought, for imagination. This moment right now is perfect. There is nothing wrong.

There's nothing wrong with right now. This moment is it. This is the aliveness. This moment is unrepeatable. is never ever going to be the same again. It's precious. All of it, all of it, the whole universe created this moment as it is right now. And it is to be celebrated in that loving love of being. Instead, very often what happens, see how Kat actually found himself at home. Naturally, without any effort, just drawn, where it's nice and warm, drawn towards pleasure. And so it is every pattern. You know, the sunflowers goes and moves towards the sun, follows the sun. The trees grow high to get to the warmth.

And dig deep to get that water from the ground. Everybody naturally follows like the river moving the most effortlessly and finding, carving the easiest way to even the level. Everybody, the cat, the human, everyone is living in the same way. You could absolutely trust that instinctual way of living without any need to exercise painful illusion of control and constant failing to control what you never did. Constantly guarding your thoughts to only have the good ones, even thoughYou can't never ever think a thought. They are all discoveries. Everything that happens within the sphere or space of consciousness is a fresh and new discovery of that moment which will never be the same again, which is to be celebrated right now.

The movement of attention. If there is discomfort, the attention will go and attend to it. The body is already designed in a way in which it will resolve whatever needs attention. If there is a sickness, it will resolve it the best way it can. And the mind will also be utilized for that. And again, if the mind is conditioned in a way to just relentlessly pray instead of going to the doctor, well, that might as well be the way for that particular body-mind mechanism. Another will be conditioned to do the opposite. And who's there to judge it? Who's there to object to it? It is the way life expresses itself.

And it is very, very fleeting because the expression, the body, the temporary presence of every feeling, of every body, of every thought, they are all maya, they are all appearance, fleeting appearance. That which doesn't change and that which is forever here is the presence. In which that appearance happened.prior to the sickness and health, pain and pleasure, every weather, the consciousness in which all those appearances are playing up, coming and going, that consciousness which can't be separated from it. And which is timeless and spaceless and bodiless and mindless and birthless and deathless. The body is changing, the body is aging, the body is getting sick, is dying.

Who cares? If you are not the body, and the body has already inbuilt self-correcting mechanism that if it is sick or it needs more water, it will communicate. Or if it is needing more warmth it will communicate there is no need to distrust the mechanism and if there is a movement towards learning skills or finding knowledge that also belongs to life The whole mechanism of taking credit for whatever life is offering, for whatever life is doing, can be very easily seen through and therefore discarded. It may still go on, but without the energy of belief, without being believed, it won't be reality anymore. Just like Santa Claus.

You know it's not real, it's a dressed up man. You don't try to...letter to Santa anymore. Just like the flat earth. Nobody is taking it seriously anymore. We can swim towards horizon as much as we want to. In the same way, if you see the taking credit mechanism, oh, this is my fault. I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have said that. Oh, what's wrong with me? Why am I thinking this way? You are not. You're not. There are sets of habits. Habit of thinking, habit of experiencing guilt. They're all the same thing, taking credit mechanism. I, I am the doer. I am greater than the life essence.

I am grander than God who designed this moment and this body and this capacity, but he's got it wrong. I know better how things should be because I can decide and I can change. I can change my thinking. Thinking can change, of course. Everything's constantly changing. But it is no I that does it. It's all movement of energy. The movement of energy that inspires a new thought. You may switch on the radio and then some words will just inspire a completely new way of looking at the world. Who's done it? You? Oh, I switched the radio on. No, even the thought to do that, where did that come from?universe as one is bringing up the impulse to switch on the radio then the thought might inspire and might not the inspiration to change to learn to do to not do all of it is just the whole universe moving as one as whole And that universe, that wholeness, that content of the experiencing or the content of consciousness is inseparable from the consciousness itself.

And that consciousness, as far as you can say in your own experience, that's more you than anything that you can objectify in it. What are you? Are you the conscious being? Are you consciousness itself? Or are you maybe your arm or your leg or your thought? Obviously, you more primally experience yourself as the consciousness than the body or the thinking. That's experienceable. That's not something that you learn and believe. To experience the body, you have to have mental image of the body. You have to remember the body. Unless you are in a huge pain, but even then you don't experience the body. You experience pain.And then the mental image of the body or location of the paint follows.

But knowing, the knowing of existence, the being conscious, that one doesn't have a limitation of the body. That one doesn't end when the skin ends. Look at the capacity for seeing, where the seeing ends. You can look out the window and say, oh, I can't see further behind those trees. Well, potentially, the seeing doesn't end. You go to the desert and you see open space. The seeing and everything that it contains is appearing in you. The whole gaze is appearing within that consciousness that you are. The hearing. You can perhaps hear even further. And you can imagine that there is yet further. Like you can imagine on the other side of the world, there are sounds that you can't hear.

But even that imagined worlds are appearing in consciousness. Everything that is ever experienced appears in the consciousness that you are. So the whole world, the whole universe is appearing within you, the multiverse, the universe including the multiverse of imagination, imagining other places, other planets, other beings, some cosmic beings or some...UFO, whatever it is imagined, it all appears within that sphere of knowing, within the consciousness. And it all appears right now, right here, in that beautiful, unique present moment, which will never be the same again. So bringing back the capacity for experiencing and recognizing that it is there only because you are. Before the Abraham was, I am.

I am is primal. Before the religion, before God, before the universe, is I am. Without that I am, there couldn't be a religion, science, there couldn't be a body, there couldn't be anything. And the same I am appears in a dream as you go to sleep and this world disappears. And another world appears. And another body in that world appears. Because your body is sleeping. And the eyes are closed and the lips are not moving. But in the dream body, you may be interacting in that dream world. But the I am, the sense of presence, the same sense of existence, the consciousness, that one doesn't go anywhere.

Different world appears in it.The appearance is constantly moving, but the consciousness is the same. And that sameness, that consciousness, that awareness of existence is in which there is no separation. Because it doesn't have any flavor, it doesn't have any form or shape or limitation. All that appears in it, the concept of limitation, the concept that, ah, but my body is separate from this body or that body, that's just a thought appearing in consciousness.as far as the experience goes, everything within my gaze is within the consciousness that I am. So how is it separate? And then your experience of presence is equally neither sweet nor bitter, neither hot nor cold.

It doesn't have capacities, qualities. It can't be divided. It can't be limited. It can't be described. It is beyond words and it is... pre-sensory, prior to senses.And that we share. Or we can't even say share. We can't even say we. Because even the we and the sharing implies the division. And it is much, much, much simpler. It is just really bringing it back to the fact of existence and rejoicing in it. And being open and seeing what's the next expression of that existence is what's the next scene is going to be what's the next thought next feeling and just hmm show me oh okay and just living in that perpetual state the natural state of loving to be or appreciation for whatever appears Even if there is a pain appearing and the attention goes straight away to it, there is a room for the appreciation of a brilliance of that movement appearing right now.

Because I have a little bit of a pain. Yeah, so I think that's enough for the introduction. Would you like to add a word? There's not much more to say other than what you said. It's all about bringing it back to the fact of existence. You could all just take a moment right now. Can I not be?Wow. Wow. Wow. We have all sorts of words for it, existence, life, consciousness, whatever. They're just words. They're just sounds, symbols, whatever. But there's nothing that supersedes or replaces that which you can't name, put your finger on, that I am. Even that's too much when it's said. Just wow, wow, there's stuff going on.

Wow, what the hell? That is just amazing. That's amazing. Why aren't we, it's just, every moment is wow. Yeah, it's so, so, it's conditioning too, taking it for granted, all of that, you know. It's boring, it's ordinary, it's everyday. It's really so simple, so simple. And some in the dream seemingly spend their entire life searching for something, you know, that's never left. They've never been anything else. Yeah, just wow. That's a beautiful, energetic, additional, complete completion to it because it has an energetic component. It is.It has this loving to be part of the component, which is just really joy. Just wow. Just wow. Yeah. Add some more.

Okay, I have a couple of comments here. Some good morning comments and Ben says I get everything you understand everything cut and we are neither dumb he says and Tanya says how could you look at fear there is no me but a fear of dogs and weight gain which are old conditioning not seen as just life unfolding. Yeah, fear is fairly easy, Tanya, isn't it? Fear is such a love of being. You know, fearing, fearing whatever it is. I mean, of course, it may be the whole machinery may be a little bit dysregulated or misprogrammed because, you know, sometimes the phobia is still a fear, but it's unreasonable.

It comes from just like a glitch a little bit in the line of coding, you know, the way that the biocomputer is programmed. Most of the situations, you know, there isn't really any reasonable justification for fearing dogs statistically.much of a danger come or weight gain you know that's again if you go back to the heart you see there is a love of being which wants the body to be safe that's a desire for safety that's a love of being appearing as the heartfelt loving care wish for safety Same with the weight gain, of course, you know, we all know that the moment there is an obesity, there is a potentially a lot of discomfort starting from being less mobile for having all sorts of medical conditions, societal judgment.

You know love of being of course brings the wish for the body to be optimally healthy as good-looking and wealthy and and and as well taken care of as it is possible so this in the heart the intention of loving care translate through the mind as the negative narrative of complaining. Oh, look at you, you stupid bitch. See, you're eating again. You shouldn't. You look ugly. You should exercise. You should stop. Again, this is a translation. This is a machine which is supposed to look after the way, look after, it doesn't.It goes on autopilot. It just narrates the loving care and translates it into the language of symbols and words.

So, yeah, watch it. Watch it. Learn how the mind functions. Learn how quickly the beautiful loving intention is translated into a complaint and judgment and criticism. And laugh at it. Laughing is the best exorcism. Go back to the loving to be, to the heart, to the intention. Stay with that intention and draw it. Enjoy it oh of course i want my body to be the best it can be ah yes that feels good and then you go to the mind oh shit you know it's ugly stupid no don't go there don't go there just stay in the love of being and ben says oh no no comparison just be said angel and gilbert says the illusion is that we can describe everything and the actuality is that the word is not the thing a great quote from bob what are you trying to describe now Beautiful.

And that which Bob would give countless spills trying to describe so skillfully and so beautifully. Yes, it is beyond words, it's beyond mind, it's beyond description.Thank you, Gilbert. Though it offers particular frequency because the description is really to bring back the long forgotten tune because everyone was born into the pure existence, unadulterated and uncovered by thought in that unborn Buddha mind, which later on gathered all the rubbish on it. And got covered and the conceptualized framework of the cage of myself and me and whatever so it is really just a just a reminder that's what the pointers are and jay says good morning and kim when this integration comes the suffering is life is not organized the way the mind likes it to be or wants it to be that tsunami of consciousness wipes out the mind made reality that's beautifully said that's really lovely thank you yeah that tsunami of consciousness wipes out the mind made reality and and you can actually see the reality the seeming reality the mind made reality the constructed reality the imagined reality the reality of of thoughts that isn't really a reality.And Martin says, lots of love from love.

Yes, lots of love to you, Martin. And Biden says, way too much talk. Don't you feel it? Very simple solution, Byron. Just click that end and put the phone down. You can't not realize it. I'm sure you do. All the irony. Yeah, yeah, yeah, beautiful. And Kim says, derealization and depersonalization, you feel that I don't exist. Meditation can bring it on strongly. Yes, it can. Or sometimes walk in nature. Or sometimes looking in the eyes of a pet. You know, that life is unlimited. Anything and everything. It's not one size fits all. And Biden says, but what drives all this talk? This is a good question.

There you go. Does it have to be something? Yeah, it's only life. Life drives all the talks. Life drives the breathing, the heartbeat. What is the feeling below all this talk? Yeah, the feeling is if you look down, down.The bottom is always Sat Chitananda, being, knowing, loving to be. How to express, Byron also says, how to express the true feeling, that heart, without all this talk. Yes, Byron, you have to ask yourself a different question. Do you have a choice? Or you just get out of the way and let life do it the way it does. And it will do it through singing if it is the bird.

And through talking if it is cut. And through maybe clapping the hands if it is a little Johnny. Who cares how life does it? It's none of your business. See how life is going to do it through you. I see it is doing it right now through typing. So, yeah, wonderful. And Tanya says, thank you, Kat. And Biden says, isn't it nice to come together in a nice and wise community and have a bite to eat? You are most welcome to join us after the meeting. We usually go for lunch to a restaurant. If you are nearby, you are most welcome. We're going to have a bite to eat.

And that's it for the online comments. So now, you guys. Anyone? I'll just block it.I think. Just like on something you were just talking about, I've already forgotten exactly what it was, but there's that, again, I've been noticing lately just that kind of that longing, like that, I don't know, it's a cliche, that kind of deep longing for something. And it's like, if I tried to name it, it's for, you know, I don't know, freedom, whatever you want to call it. And seeing that express itself in my life, in, you know, in thought, in ways that are... Ultimately kind of frustrating like thinking about oh you need financial freedom or need like freedom in the space and where i'm living or you know all of these all of these expressions that are ultimately futile in thought of trying to satisfy this underlying longing for whatever it is which is driving me to be here and recently I've kind of just been sinking like sinking back from that the long longing for freedom from something or just back to like the pure sensation of longing.

And it's not by any means an un-unpleasant feeling when you think back from it

kind of degenerating into thought when you sink back into that source feeling. It's what you were talking about, Kat. It's like that love of being. And that's what that feeling is. Like it's just love of being, but it's kind of... It's almost degenerating the further, the more you let it sink out into thought and the further it gets away from itself, it's then the thought becomes as though it's trying to get back to that. But it's continuing to go in the wrong direction, which is away from itself, is what it seems like.

And lately I've just been sinking back into that feeling. It's very much in the chest feeling. And then from there, I've been kind of inquiring, like, who is who is the or what is the one that's longing or who or what is the one that is doing this? And there's just a beautiful collapse. Into it's there's no oh there's no one there it's just there's just a collapse and there's that energy is kind of pointing directly in on itself almost i don't know how to phrase it but it's um that's what the you know all of these like thoughts are attempting to do but they keep pushing in the wrong direction the more you identify with them or attach to them And just this simple looking, it's like the love is turning back on itself in a sense.

It's not really, but that's...The closest I can describe it as. And yeah, because I've been practicing self-inquiry for ages and what I realized almost was that a lot of the time if I'm feeling negative emotion, I'd be like, okay, well, who's feeling this emotion? And I'd look and I'd see there's no one there. But almost like within a heartbeat. there's me that's looking to see that there's no one there. And so there's still a subtle two, even though it was quite like, you know, the charge is gone and the emotions seem to just be like patterns of energy. There's still a subtle two that was going on.

And something now seems to be happening with... Using this or observing this longing where there's not even a, oh, I see there's no one there. There's just, just collapse, just longing, just like that beautiful energy. Yeah, it's lovely. And it's just everything seems to stem from that, as you were saying, Kat, like the fear, anger. It's all just a like, yeah, it's just a love of being kind of expressing out away from, I don't know, away from itself, it seems. But yeah, that's all. It's lovely. There's nothing unpleasant about the sensation when you get to the root of it. Yeah, it's lovely. Thanks. That was beautifully.articulated, ah, that was just so heartfelt.

It was just beautiful. And, you know, describing this longing, seeming lack of or need to get something or change something, it's just really when you take a close look, it's just love. Yeah. It's exactly as you said. Yeah. And there's no, it's not, you know, the thought comes, oh, it's painful or it's uncomfortable. When you look, it's really not. It's no different from love. It's just, yeah. And the illusion of being further away, not that. I'm not that. I'm out here somewhere. I'm not where I want to be. It's, you know, fooling itself. The illusion is self-generated, self-generating. Beautiful. Thank you. Really, really lovely. Yeah.I had a look up Google for what such ananda means.

And the word ananda, that was another alternative meaning that they reckon is contentment. Is that what it is? Yeah. Able to be content then your mind won't be thinking that i should be this i should be there i love it right yeah that's that's a brilliant brilliant word that's actually better better words than any of the alternatives you know even a stillness Yeah, thanks for that. That's a really good, I'm buying it now. Contentment is what Nisargadatta would say, you know, nothing is wrong anymore. That was his description of Sat Chit Ananda, nothing is wrong, because it's only the mind that comes up with what is wrong.

It's only the mind, the mind again, it's just a capacity to think. Yes. You don't go searching. That's it. Yeah. Contentment. Yeah.We're talking about this. What Longchamp I called this precious treasury. Of the basic space of existence. So we're all here now in this basic space of existence. And it's a treasury. All the treasures are in this space.And it's amazing too because If we're not cognizant of what's in this space, What appeared a moment ago disappears. It's gone. And there's space, although it doesn't have any boundaries, clearly things disappear from the view that whatever the view is, it's appearing naturally, the natural view.view through two eyes merges into one and the boundaries are very vague.

Zoran's gone. What's happened to Zoran? He's disappeared. And things are disappearing all the time. They just come and go. It's amazing the treasures that appear and disappear. It's magic. But it's also clearly a dream as well.And how we can look back at it as the Buddha suggested, as dreams, illusions, shadows, bubbles. Just appear and then disappear. And the ananda, the bliss of being. Yeah, the content of it all is the... As was... Contentment. Yeah, contentment. That's the whole lot, the contentment.not wishing to be anywhere else, but in this precious, treasury of the basic space of phenomena. That's beautiful. Beautiful. Good going.The contentment is like the absolute, like, the complete acceptance of everything as it is.

And that's like the contentment. It's not like being having content thoughts. It can be any thought. It can be any experience, any feeling. Contentment is leaving it as it is, unmodified, uncorrected, unaltered. It is the treasures, as you just said. The treasures is this moment and everything that appears as this. And everything that appears as this is also, I think you used the word exorcism before. Laughter is an exorcism. Exorcism, yeah. I thought that was a funny word. And then everything that you ever thought you are is exercised, is diminished, because the treasury is this, thisness, the nowness, the presence, the immediacy. Like there's nothing outside of this.

So anything that you thought you are, a history, a story, a big bang, whatever you want, is exercised completely. And all there is is the treasury, and the treasury is the treasures, the adornments in the space or the phenomena, as you said.So clearly, and I think you started off the very meeting with talking about the meetings about presence awareness. And that's the same word, the same description. It's really, it's the same, it's pointing to the exact same this. There's no other this, there's no better this, there's no way out of this, there's no one to get into this, there's no way. So what you're longing for, like as you're describing the longing, is for what already is.

And what already is, is completely whole and complete. So isn't it vile to believe an idea that appears as longing has some sort of truth, that the longing is going to take you somewhere out of this, where all there is is this. And that's not, all there is is not a limitation as if, oh, all there is is this. It's this has no limits at all. No edges, no boundaries, no... No centers, no directions or distances, and it's limitless. And it's so immediate that it's not even confined. You can call it space and the treasures of space, but it's also... So you can even exercise that and all you're left with isAnd just a very, very simple.

So it's almost like you exercise language, you exercise feelings, you exercise emotions. And what's left? You exercise the ideas of all these things and all that's left is just absolute immediacy. And it's like aliveness or light that's enabling this to appear the way it does, if that makes any sense. If it doesn't, well, good. It doesn't make any sense to me because there's no one that can make sense of stuff. Someone before talked about that. True feelings, someone mentioned, maybe it was Byron mentioned true feelings. And, you know, like a true feeling implies a false feeling. You know, it just does. Just the implication, it's there.

It's like everything has its interrelated opposite. And there's no solution in terms of the mind, in terms of finding it or that longing, back to the longing. Longing for something in some sort of, it can't, the whole manifestation is dualistic. And the mind, it's amazing to actually see it functioning in these opposites because eventually there's no one doing it and there's no oneNo, what do you call it? Peace, contentment that can be attained in any way, shape or form in the oscillation because it's always oscillating. So there's no one perspective that's the right perspective in a series of eight billion perspectives. Which one's mine? Or me?

It's ridiculous. I mean, and all these oscillations are fruitless in that sense. And all that's left, even the oscillations are exercised and eliminated. And all that's left is this again. And the treasury is everything in this without the labels in a sense. It's just another way of describing it. But I think I'll just stop now. If anyone's got any disputes, any questions, any arguments about it, well, send it to management.No, that was beautiful. I love the additions, all the, yeah, the contributions are always the greatest joy. The adornments of space, precious treasury of basic space phenomena. So that was one of the last books that Bob would go through.

He absolutely loved it. There's ancient texts that he would sometimes just entertain himself with, just for the vocabulary, because there's nothing that he could ever learn from it. He was leaving the truth so beautifully. And Simone says, bliss of being. It's a capital B, capital O, and capital B. So bliss of being. It's like an anagram for Bob. And a lot of hearts and smiling faces. And yes, Simone, it's just so true. The bliss of being is like Bob was bliss of being, a demonstration of bliss of being. And can we see him actually? Yeah, it's a bit glossy. Yeah, I wonder if we can have...

Okay. Well, he's here. And I was actually having a little conversation with my mom today. And that is maybe going to be relevant because she's been through absolute hell of her second marriage, being incredibly abusive physically, emotionally, financially, and all the levels. And she had a cat that kept her alive because the...life of a cat was the exchange of love the responsibility and all that so and the cat got cancer the cat got opened up inoperable so the cat is on its last legs and she is in a point of devastation cat cut her alive she would probably think of check checking out if not for the cat and now the cat is on its last legs because of the cancer so i was just trying to inspire her with the way you can actually experience the presence without experiencing a concept and bob the bliss of being Bob never experienced cancer and neither did I.

He was dying of cancer, that's the technical term. His cancer was discovered nearly three years before he died and he was diagnosed with stage four and he was told to get his affairs in order quickly. Because he's got four maybe six months three years later he was lying on the hospital bed when we had the really small groups and he still neither did he nor could i experience cancer cancer is a thought it's a concept so i was reminding my mother that look You know, your beloved kitty is still here. You can experience love of presence. You can enjoy every moment of her.being here. Cancer is a concept, it's a medical term, it may be helpful in particular circumstances, but it's not the truth.

The truth is direct experience. And experience that of Bob and Tanya and I, we were hanging out with Bob every day, laughing, telling jokes. He was already expired like two years after his, or two and a half. Nobody, the palliative couldn't believe that he was not only that he was alive, but he was in a good spirit. He was on the amount of drugs and painkillers so high that the fact that he was even conscious, less alone, engaging, recognizing everyone and having a quality life was beyond comprehension. And he did not experience cancer. Every morning I would wake up and he would wake up and our eyes would meet and that would be bliss of being.

Ah, gratitude for every day that he was still here reflecting that love and that connection and being able to cuddle and get the cats who knew nothing about cancer also. So those things, the bliss of being, if you are in the present moment, if you are in that state of contentment, when there is nothing wrong with right now, unless you think about it, because when you think, oh my God, the cat is dying.She's not going to be there. Well, of course she's not going to be there. In 20 years from now, well, the cat is old, so it's probably more like... But who cares? Why exchange unborn Buddha mindful thought?

Why trade that bliss of being and sense of gratitude and love and connection of that one, of the loved one that is present right now? And go for the dark scenarios of what is going to happen, how it is going to happen, and when it is going to happen when this is taken away. Instead of living to the fullest, this moment, to the fullest, and especially if you are with someone who is quite evident that it's not going to last, there is no next decade on the menu, that is even more, even louder of the bell ringing, just now, now, now, this is the reality.

Don't overlook it. Don't exchange it for a dark scenario of what am I going to do? You'll see. And this is again when the miracles continue unfolding. If I was to exchange the last, Bob was supposed to have four to six months, I could just torture myself with imagining dark scenarios for those four to six months. And then I would be dwelling in the darkness for another nearly three years. And the irony, because you miss, you're missing it. In the worry and the projecting and the fearfulness, you're missing it.You're actually creating that which you wish to try to avoid. Yes. In the doing that very thing.

It's just, yeah, it's totally, absolutely spot on just now. And, you know, everything else is in the imagination. Projected into an imaginary future or an imaginary past and you miss the now. And all that stuff you fear, it may come, it may never come, you know, not how you expected, but hey, cross that bridge when you come to it, if it ever arrives. And enjoy what's now. That's it. I'm curious about free will and the veils that are there to create the apparent duality and whether While on one level there's nothing other than the oneness, whether on another level there is free will in reference to the veils that are there for most of us on earth, whether that is a way of, whetherthat that is a reality on one level.

So I'm just trying to grapple with that perspective, if that makes sense. Totally. I hear you. There is definitely an illusion of free will. There is definitely an illusion of control. There is definitely an illusion that I can choose my thoughts, for example, that I will from now on, I'm choosing to only think of blissful, loving, kind thoughts, or maybe only enlightened thoughts. But because it is illusion, This reality will verify it very quickly. I don't have... I don't have that illusion, but I did live in a persistent illusion that everything that happens to me is my fault. I've deserved it. I've earned it. There is a karma, maybe past lives.

This is all like universal justice. If I screw up or I don't get what I wanted, that means, you know, maybe I didn't manifest it properly or all that stuff that puts everything in the relation to a center called me. But is there a center called me? Because if there isn't, then who is there to have the free will? If there isn't a little human there, then who is to have the free will? Life has absolutely free will to express itself through every vehicle. That life and it expresseditself through this one as well but is there any separate one who has a will like for example if you look the way choices happen let's say there is a choice when yes Bob was lying on his on his hospital bed and the bed was very narrow so I would sleep on the sofa and then in the morning I would hop to the bed with him for a couple so is there a choice at some point for example he is not quite awake I'm getting off the sofa getting his morning medication or something and the thought comes up hmm should I wake him for the morning medication or should I give him another half an hour or should I perhaps put the light on or maybe light music on or maybe an incense or something what what should I do and now the I in every of those thoughts presume that there is a choice and there is a choice maker and now the processing mental processing are happening which I'm not causing I don't even know how those processes happen some apparently science will say the electrical impulses are going between synapses I'm not doing any of it I have no idea how to do that The body is doing it just like the body is beating the heart.

So those mental processes are happening there. And then a thought is discovered. Ah, okay, I'll do this. For example, get his drinks ready and his pills on the table. Ah, so this is the decision. Now, where is the will?free will in those options and one of the options standing out of the others. Where is the will of a person who chose between the options? Is there a choice maker or is just simply one of those thoughts more emotionally charged that causes action? Now, four different options and one of them, oh, suddenly, and the body gets up and it puts the pills in the drinks. How did that happen?

I do it. If I did it, how did I do it? And who is that who did it? Because in the experience, it's really just, you know, the eyes are opening. The room is showing up in the field of seeing. The thoughts are showing up in the field of thinking or the cognizing. And then some of those thoughts is charged enough to get the body up off the bed and walk. There may be another one, maybe sensation showing up, like the full bladder, and it gets body right to the toilet. But now the narrative, the program in the mind will say, oh, I've done it.

I have decided to do this. Therefore, I'm doing it. And I am responsible for my choice and my decision. And obviously, that proves that I. Is real and that I has free will. I have decided to go to the toilet. I have decided to prepare those pills. And that proves that this I is real and this I has free will. But, okay, let's look again. He says there is no one there. Hmm. If there is an I, where is it? How is it? What is it? Is it like a ghost? Are we looking for, what even, what are we even looking for? Thoughts are there, yes, but thoughts are not I.

But the thoughts.says the thought says I so within the structure of the thought there is an I there is a presumption of of I what is it referring to let's look okay I'm gonna get out of bed aha so it's referring to the body aha so I'm the body Does it really explain the mystery of aliveness to say I'm the body? It kind of doesn't. And the body, does the body actually have any choices or any will? The body, if it is unconscious, it doesn't even it might be hearing but it doesn't even move or when the body is dead it can't even breathe so and we see the corpse and we know that there is something more that is missing So now, even though the thought says, I'll get up or I'll do this, and the thought refers to the body, deep down I know that this is not, this is not I, I'm not this body.

I'm not the corpse. I'm more of that animating essence that makes this body capable of jumping out of bed. But what is that essence? Is there anybody there that is separate from the essence appearing as everything else, as appearing as the light coming through the globe? Through the electricity moving. That's the same.energy just through this body it appears as thought feeling emotion seeing hearing tasting touching smelling and through the body of a globe it appears as light So where is the I that could have the free will? If there is just the body being animated by that essence, which is moving the blood, which is moving the lungs, which is beating the heart, which is growing the hair, which is generating thoughts, which is interpreting the perception.

There really is no one there to claim the free will anymore. The illusion of free will, absolutely, in the language, totally. And of course, responsibility for actions, totally. It's all programmed. Like, you know, when Tanya and I, we were looking after Bob here, there was... Always we would brief and debrief for example you know if the pain level would go up one of us would you know we would always take the decisions together and see if he needs more medication the more medication may mean that the threshold levels will just go go go up and and soon he will be unconscious none of us wanted it at the same time of course we don't have him in pain that's out of question so there was always some mental processes going on and some evaluation going on and of course the responsibilitywould be taken.

If there was a mistake, there would be an incredible sense of like, I can't even imagine, I don't imagine things anymore. But this is all happening within that illusion of control, because that body has already been designed and programmed. To look after it's been already installed that huge amount of loving care to just do the very best it can i wasn't any of it wasn't my doing i wouldn't know if i knew how to do it i would be There's no one to even know. I was going to add to, you know, have you ever noticed a thought?Have you ever noticed a thought? So even if you're noticing a thought or you become aware of a thought or it appears to you or there's a recognition, You didn't put in process, you didn't put in play a process to create that thought.

It's just appearing. You're not even, there's not even a controlling of the thoughts. You're not even creating your own thinking. So how can you possibly have free will?But I do understand. I've never really experienced free will, like that illusion. But I'm going to actually ask you why you think it's there, because I need to understand people better to get the other side of it. But I guess in my 20s I just sort of had this notion it was a mechanical universe and there was mass going at different rates and whatever got there first would happen. Now I wouldn't, you know, that's imaginary, that's an imaginary thought, that's a thing.

There's no way of proving that. But I'd backtrack on a couple of things because, and like Kat knows the name of one of the experiments that shows that, I see the thought pop up about here actually because I'm quite spatial. It pops up, a thought pops up. I don't see any of these other background processes that cause it to happen, so I can't actually say anything about it. Nothing really said about that. The node so far, there's just thoughts pop. And apparently there's an experiment that says the body moves and then the thought pops when people try to measure it. And I would also say that I backtrack on the sensation one as well.

That probably is a package, you know, and who knows when the body moves to the toilet and when the sensation occurs, what occurs first. And if there are any connections in there or not, you know, any cause causality. In there we don't know it's just not something that is ever really witnessed and i suspect by anyone or even with the machinethat are attempting to measure these neurological processes and everything like that. I doubt very much any human actually has that ability to really spot how any of that is happening. And every time when it's looked here, there's just, yeah, yeah, and I don't see any Tony organizing this.

Or I don't see any Tony there at all. And that just took three or four lookings after I came here and somebody said, look, or okay, where I went first, you know, somebody said, oh, check. And yeah, yeah, you're right. You know, took me two or three times and yeah. And then every time it never got mentioned in the room, there'd been automatic checking because there's always a checking here constantly for a lot of stuff. And so, never got seen a Tony or an instigation of the thought that was going to arrive. But it does be seen to pop. And sometimes when it was seen to like pop up, there would be like sometimes a boredom, like, oh my God, there's a rip.

The notion had already popped up without it being worded. And then it'd be a pause and a wording would start to happen. And then there would be a boredom about that process. So all of these are thoughts that pop up and they come at the same time as... Just feeling not being at peace, not being empty. And that got spotted too. And sometimes then the thoughts would stop being worded out about halfway through the phrase. A couple of words would come up and then it would disappear. And it would just be, it would be happening, it would be happening. So I don't even, noticing doesn't even matter.make sense really here because someone would have to be noticing and it just doesn't that's not been witnessed either a noticer um the idea of going back to watch the witness it doesn't make sense here because really all there is is when no no you really when you really really look there's just like an oil painting here, some might hear sounds or feel sensations, but here's an oil painting or words popping or sometimes a voice is heard, but if a thought doesn't pop up laying claim to where that came from, it's disembodied, you know?

It's just popping, stuff's just popping, popping, popping, popping, popping. Yeah, so, and then, you know, in the past, like, people would, you know, I studied philosophy at university, and people would say, oh, you know, if you didn't have free will, you wouldn't get out of bed in the morning, so, you know, it'd be time to get out of bed, and I'd go to, okay, so if I don't have free will, I won't put my foot down, you know, and I'd be, like, looking around for the free will, and then I'd just give up, and, you know, it was too hard, nothing was showing up, you know, definitively the way, so I was just, yeah, whatever, carry on.

So, um... Yes, I'm curious, what makes free will so, the illusion so strong to you, like in particular? I'm not saying that I know that there is free will. I'm just describing a perspective that the world...the true nature of the world is veiled and that there is grace and there is free will. I mean, Muktananda said that. That is how we become enlightened. That is one perspective and there are many. And I guess what I was curious about is the notion of layers of understanding and whether like the ultimate understanding is that there is non-duality and but there are perhaps grosser layers of understanding that that will fit a particular perception because different perspectives or different representations of the nature of reality have have certainly been manifested and i'm not saying that i know i'm just i'm just curious to try and just look at some of the breaches that are there.

That's all.And it's, there's absolutely nothing, there's nothing wrong in being curious. It's all part of the fun, the wow. And to want, you know, to play with concepts and stuff, that's all fine. The trick is, I guess, if there is, to hold no concepts. To not hold to them, attach to them. Because ultimately, who is there to care? Find that mini-me who cares. Who cares? Just, you know, one of the things that really stuck with me that Bob said in his last couple of weeks is that you do nothing and you know nothing. Full stop. Ultimately. Yeah, I just want to write something about this free will from my perspective because often there's a lot of people that I think understand it but then they say act or say something contrary to it and I'm like, oh, you know, I'm back at square one like, oh, I'm not on the same page with you.

I just, yeah, I'm just going to start asking different people what feels real about free will to them. Some people say there's a sensational sort of sensorial sense of it, and others have said some other.the things which I've already forgotten. So yeah, I'm just curious to get, because I don't think I can write something very well if I don't understand the audience. Yeah, that's the main reason. And also on the layers, I do like, what's the chap that you did those studies of? I can't get his name. Benjamin Liebert. Pardon? Benjamin Liebert? No. Jeffrey Martin. Yeah, I like the fact that he did go around and just like, you know, look at a ton of people and then he came up sort of quadrants of the different levels, so to speak, of, or the different amount of illusion, not to use illusion as a kind of, you know, pointy word, but, you know, And I did like the fact that, you know, some of the in-depth descriptions he gave also sort of terrified quite a bit about where the different people saw something is actually still a thing or not.

And it seemed that in one of them, people thought there was something called consciousness. And if they let go of that, they thought there was something called awareness. And if they let go of that, there was just kind of no thoughts about it. And that's kind of where I've always been. But Having said that, most of the time there's like discomfort, life is happening here, but there's not a belief in it, but it's always showing up. There's not just no thoughts here because there's more of an interest in letting go of triggers and patterns going on. But it's not an A.an interest that anything's having it's just that's what's going on here a lot of a certain amount of um pattern release and um um and very there's no post-its everywhere saying just empty the brain which i can do so if someone says do that it happens it empties the drive is not to put the posters everywhere so that happens more and more the drive seems to be to it's not even a drive you see it's whatever's happening is about release of patterns and um so i'd probably been as quadrant four for like world view and probably always have been but then for um not being in the moment, I wouldn't even be on zero, you know, I'd be back in zero or one, you know, a bit of one, if you know what I mean.

So it's just, I think it's been very helpful here to sort of see how these, you know, these different perspectives that people have and what maybe moves or drops some of them and I think all of that is very fascinating and fun. Yeah, keep writing, Tony. We have a couple of comments here from online community. Julia Marie says, love all of your talks. And Kim says, divine intelligence is there. I am divine intelligence. Absolutely. And Byron says, There is the experience and the feeling of free will. Rational investigation of the universe seems to show it is indeed illusory in an absolutesense yet fear and confusion can compel us to deny the actual experience of free will and actual experience of illusory self also yes so and James says thank you cut for keeping both legacy alive and Kim says I am stillness when the chatting mind ceases emptiness is bliss and thank you everyone