This transcript was made by speech-recognition software, so names and some words may be misheard. The recording is the original: watch on YouTube.
So welcome everyone. So you all know each other. We're going to flip it around and say the name. We have Jane here with us and Tony and Cheryl. It's Daniel. And. All right. 19. 19. Yeah, we're good to go. I guess you hear us all right. So as usually, the invitation is open. Would anyone like to give us a start? Give us a few reminders, put the pointers together, what's clear, what's obvious, what's understood, just to put everyone on the same page. It is really, really nice invitation to actually see what how the life essence, the same life essence in everyone, is going to express through a particular musical instrument of a voice of anyone.
Any takers?Anthony, Loki, Taz, Do, Ben, Jos, Dean. No, thanks. No, thanks. Yep. The privilege is accepted. Yes, so the basic truth of non-duality, you are already that, whatever the that is understood to be, whatever you are looking for, fulfillment, enlightenment, God, freedom, realization, is already here. And you are already here there is existence already present here there is undeniable presence already here and if there is any objections to that we may actually look at those objections rather than look for something that has never been lost and search for something that's already present. So Bob would say, start from the fact that you already are. You already are here.
And this is Mahavakya. Know that you are. That phamasi, that you are. And you are. And now see what stands in the way and obscures it. And see what you're going to find that obscures the awareness of presence.in this moment and in any moment really when you look throughout the day at any moment you see how attention beautifully ignores the most luminous the most obvious the most radiant existence the presence the aliveness the miracle it literally ignores it it gives it no credence we have someone more joining hello thank you yes so instead of ignoring that miracle of essence we are bringing the attention back to the source of attention we are basically acknowledging that which has been ignored and that is the you know the source of all our problems ignorance is just ignored now and the light is shining light doesn't shine on itself but the light is illuminating whatever the reflection of itself it can see around and everything around is only here because of that light because of that light of knowing if you were dead no problem no drama no exist no existential crisis or low self-esteem could even be possible So that light of existence, that luminous,aliveness, which enables everything else to be.
That one is to be celebrated, to be acknowledged. To return to and to realize that it is never absent, is never not here. And what, if not that, could you possibly be? Could you be the idea lurking on the horizon? I'm a person, I'm not good enough. You could not be that idea if the aliveness wasn't present. So the aliveness is always first. The awareness is always first. And now, if the idea is obscuring it, idea can be questioned. Idea can be seen for what it is. It's just an idea. And Bob would say, you know, look at the nature of idea, nature of thought.
It's a mental image. It's a projection. It's a subtle sound or the line of letters. Depends what's your processing preference. You may see mental image or you may connect with like sort of gut instinctual part of the, of, of. It doesn't really matter. It is an obscuration. It is a vibration. It is a movement, whether it's a movement of sound or movement of image or it's the movement of the...the life surging through it is always a movement and that movement is only here because of that stillness of the here of being here and no one can deny their presence here the awareness here you can you can speculate and say that oh yes but and define the here that this is australia or this is europe or whatever But see, this is just more of the clouding, more of the projection, more of the vibration.
And again, stepping back and realizing that even that defining couldn't be here if there wasn't that presence awareness. Ever fresh luminous presence awareness the defined in many many different ways just as a pointer because it is beyond definition it can't be grasped it isn't even it the presence awareness is that pure singularity that I am that isness So you can't even put any definition of it or any circle around it or any mental image, any representation. It can't be captured or grasped. It can't be put in the back pocket or taken out.It is the I am. It is the is-ness. And no one can deny their own existence, their is-ness.
It is right here. And without defining the here or without defining this I am, that I am limited to the shape or the size of the vehicle I'm driving or the costume that I'm wearing, without that mental noise, all I can ever say is just right here. There is a presence, there is awareness. And in that, the language comes and labels and names and segregates and separates and furnishes the whole dream.And you can see that the furnishing, the description of whatever the environment and whatever the costume is constantly changing. As the environment seems to be changing. When I dream at night, there is slightly different surroundings.
When I walk out of this room, there is slightly different surroundings. But what doesn't change, what never changes, is that pure, Here. Wherever I go is always here.wherever the costume, the body, mind, machine, this processor, which converts that infinite mystery into the seeing, hearing, tasting, touching and thinking, wherever it is located, seemingly located, it is always here. That which never changes, the awareness, the presence here. It doesn't change through time. It doesn't change through space. And it is so largely ignored because the distractions are designed to capture attention into the creation. That's how the universe is created. That's how the God, the creator, through this humble projector.
Creates the whole cast out on that 3D or 4D screen, cast out the whole ride. Without that godly creation, creative capacity of aliveness, the projection wouldn't happen, it wouldn't be possible. So now as this creative force, looking at the reflection of my own creativity all around and in here, wow. But if I forget that this is just a projection, this is just a reflection of that isness, of that aliveness. And I take myself to be a separate creature there on the mercy of the separate world.out. Now I'm vulnerable, I'm in danger. I need your approval. I need your sympathy. Or perhaps I also need food and money and shelter and all the other things that the body needs.
But now I'm responsible for it. And I'm going to get it wrong. And if I am to deliver all those things, shit, you know, I'm never going to do good enough job ever. There's always a possibility of doing better. So the low self-esteem, the sense of guilt, shame, remorse, all of that are just bound to be my daily bread. But hey, am I really this? Am I really this costume through which he's got opinion? He's got, oh, there you go. He's got something to say. Yeah. And that's really all that can be said about it. You know, the silence speaks. The idea that I am limited in any way, that I'm an object, I'm the object in awareness, and I have to provide, and I have to, and I'm responsible for this particular object to live its best life.shit, I don't want to live with that responsibility.
I'm going to kill myself because I'm always going to live beneath my potential potential. So the joke is on me. There really isn't any separation. The idea or the appearance of separation is just to up the stakes. It's just so that the game gets a little bit more sophisticated because suddenly the potential for feeling deeply the shame, the guilt, the remorse, the separation, the suffering gets so profound and so yummy. That the moment of respite from that is bliss. You know, this guy here who had nothing to say but meow, he doesn't experience bliss because it doesn't experience the sense of separation. He is forever free.
He was born without the sense of separate self. He was born as a presence here. He didn't have to provide for his body. The nature does because the body is one with nature. The nature provides the hunger and the nature provides the urge to hunt, which in his case is come to the kitchen and meow. But how smart, huh? What an incredible intelligence. Doesn't have to go there.out in the cold and and and chase the birds and rats it comes to the kitchen to the cat ladies and meows very well very well trained yeah so this is this is the intelligence that you can see everywhere the intelligence that runs the whole life the intelligence that moves the planet the intelligence that creates that adaptability.
And part of that intelligence is this ridiculous idea of separation. Even that is not wrong, it's not out of place. Even that, there is an incredible brilliance. Because again, the poor bugger, he doesn't know the bliss. He doesn't know the respite from that identification. He can't play the role that I am a poor, miserable human today. And then I am a fulfilled mother or accomplished writer or performer. And then I am nothing. And everything and just I am and I'm exposed to the mystery beyond comprehension and I am free from need to understand any of it because I am the presence pure presence without identity if I don't have identity I don't have to place myself next toanyone I don't have to evaluate or compare myself with anyone or anything I can just live in that perpetual And there is nothing that is lacking.
There is nothing that is missing because every moment is unique and complete. And if part of that play was to wear that very, very tight costume of not enough, not being good enough, being out of place, being lost, being miserable. Well, there is a brilliance to that too. Because if I was taking it for granted like the cat, there would be no appreciation possible. And then how this creative power, that omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, experiencing itself through the vehicle of that transformant transmitter, how could it ever? Love and appreciate itself to the extent that it can when it is not taken for granted when it is recognized with the due diligence as the miracle that it is not as nothing and yet still the no thing is not a thing is much more than anything could ever be.
Because that's the nothing with the potential of everything. And the everything that is all empty, but the emptiness is cognizing.There is intelligence and sentience and consciousness and everything is made of it. So even though everything is somehow transformation of consciousness, form, emptiness that became a form. So the consciousness that became mechanical, the emptiness that became machine, that machine is made of consciousness, is made of sentience, is still a transformation of that one force, that one omnipotence, omnipresence, godliness. That miraculousness.And this one, when you pause and when you see the attention being spent on solidifying every little piece of the appearance, including the stories and the dramas in the appearance, being fed with attention so they get solid.
If that attention is withdrawn and is brought back to its source, something that Bob would call the core or the heart. And staying in that heart without spending it anywhere.can't help but explode in just this subtle joy of existence, subtle bliss of being. And then it moves again and it asserts every single form. But realizing that behind that form is that one omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience. And it is just another reflection of that which you are. And you don't need to define what you are because that's unknowable. You can never, ever find it out. See, any attempt to define what you are is taking up the identity.
I am space. I am God. I am always limited. If I am space, then I'm not the content. That has been quite. As you just see, I can. It can do anything.You have a few options for the seats. And for Ag and Jane, we have Tony with us. Say something profound, Tony. Yeah, you have to say something profound now. You are so right. Yeah, why not? Why not? Every unique, beautiful, precious moment that will never be the same again. If it has to be evaluated or judged, well, yeah, why not? A good day, a good moment. The appreciation, natural appreciation, put that little lens of goodness.
Like they say, you know, God is love or love is God. That little lens of loveliness, lovability of that goodness, that subtle, you know, in Hindu religion they're talking about a description, Sat-Chit-Ananda. That subtle hint of appreciation for that miraculousness of existence that ananda It is available at any moment.moment when the distraction of those inner voices that inner commentary that judgment that also solidifies the sense of separation that i'm limited somehow i am the person i'm not good enough i didn't get on with all that i you know supposed for today or I didn't fulfill someone's expectations, or someone doesn't appreciate me the way I want to be, or I deserve, or whatever the belief.
If that stuff is not fed with attention, where is it? If those ideas, even the idea of being something or someone, if it is deprived from attention, where is it? Does it even exist? Can it even take place? If you don't know who you are, does it take anything out from the fact of existence? You're still fully here, 100% here. But the mind, of course, comes with anxiety. Like, how can I live without knowing? Of course, I have to know who I am because I'm fearful. The mind itself is the invention of fear. And the mind itself trying to medicate it with more thoughts. That is never going to work.
That is never going to provide the permanent solution. The heart is the fearlessness. When the mind is introduced, the narrativeis introduced and I had really really inspiring encounter with with someone couple of days ago who actually I didn't verify that idea with with anything but it's just plausible enough that this narrative when it came online you know when first the child starts identifying as I. This is not little cat going hungry or little cat wanting a hug. Now this is I. It feels really lonely and it feels very, very isolated. At this point, the inner voice comes online as a companion. And now the imaginary friends come online and a little child speaks to itself and it rehearses language.
You can see when you learn foreign language, you also do that rehearsing. And now this companion becomes the inner voice and soon it calls itself I. Oh, I didn't do what I was supposed to do. Oh shit, you know what's wrong with me? I'm too fat or too small or too short or too tall or whatever. And this is taken for granted. And it is never questioned. And it becomes the reality of who I am or what I am. And then along the way, like Bob says, you pick up more concepts. I am Polish or I'm Australian or I'm whatever the profession or creed or breed or whatever.
Color those things are all concepts where are they how do they really relateto the mystery of existence that is completely ungraspable and unknowable. How even the image of my face that is only existent in the memory can touch the mystery of aliveness, mystery of universe, of that capacity to know, capacity to feel the beingness. What a joke. And yet, because everybody around, as we are growing up, everybody around forms the strong identity and the more loving family and the more self-confidence, the better that they do in world. And then they don't focus on poor little miserable me that is not loved enough and is not good enough.
But they focus on, OK, I'm going to get promotion. I'm going to get another million dollar. I'm going to get another boyfriend or girlfriend or kid. And that will make me complete. And sometimes they live throughout the whole life without much trouble and without much reflection. But the whole power moving them always to future, to what is not, is that fear that installed that I'm not enough unless I prove myself in some way or another. And chasing whatever it is, whether it is enlightenment or whether it is a younger lover or whether it is a money, is still that existential angst making you chase.still sense of No, I'm not there yet.
There have to be more. When? Where? In the future? And when is the future? What is the future? Can you actually grasp it? Can you touch it? Does it exist outside imagination? Future doesn't exist. There is no future, literally. This time now, this moment of aliveness now is the only moment, is the only time there is. Chasing something bigger or better in the future, chasing enlightenment of freedom in the future is futile. It can never happen. There is no future. And what's wrong with right now? It's all here. It's all already here. The aliveness is here. The presence is here. There's nothing missing. You can see the clouds.
Oh, yeah, but there is still a contraction. Okay. What's wrong with the contraction? Yeah, but there is still a belief that I am this limited body mind. Okay, so that's a belief that I'm the limited body mind. Who knows that? Who sees that? Who is witnessing that belief? Who cares? Let it be there.And then you will see what happens with that belief when it starts from attention. When it's not taken seriously, when it's laughed at, how long can that live without that life-giving force of attention? And you can see that there is no separation between attending to a belief and belief itself. The moment attention is rest and withdrawn from the belief, where does the belief go?
Can it even exist? It's like the beautiful pointer that Bob would present almost on every meeting. The seeing. And the seen and the seer, can you separate that? Can you separate the object that you are seeing from the process of seeing? If you withdraw the process of seeing, close your eyes, where is the object?with seeing disappears and then the concept of me see here well take that concept out there's no one here the seeing is not here and the object the the vision nothing's here so the idea of of separating the seer and the scene from the process of seeing itself And either element that are completely interdependent cannot exist, cannot exist without each other.
You know, you can't even have the seer without anything seen. You don't call it seer anymore if it's blind. You can't even see the object if there is no one to look at it or there is no process. There's one thing and see what mind does into that oneness. Straight away, labels, divides, and the same thing with the idea. Idea, I'm not good enough. And then attention. Feeding that idea but take the attention away it's just like take the seeing away and what is that idea without the belief without the attending And you can see that this process of attending and assigning the order of value, this is important, this is relevant, this is about me, this is serious.
This is just.an algorithm running the show in the mind and this algorithm was supposed to be a navigational aid not the captain of that ship the life is running the show it doesn't need anyone to do the god's job It doesn't need the narrative to take credit for whatever is happening by itself naturally, effortlessly. Everything is happening of its own. The cat gets the urge to eat. And it doesn't have the narrative who says, oh, this is I. I am hungry. I decided to eat. No. Nature installs the urge. Nature installs the motivation. And nature provides the food. The cat and nature, cat is the nature.
And so are you. So is everyone. There is no difference. The only difference is that commentary going in. For the poor little abandoned solitary little child to have the companion which later on go wrong and become the inner critic and judge and all that harshness of complainingAnd there's nothing wrong with complaining. That's also a force for good, you know, seeing the capacity for creativity and improvement. But when it is believed, it hurts. And it doesn't have to be believed. Putting the mind in its rightful place as a servant and not the master. And again, who is to do that? There's no one there to do that, obviously.
And yet, the mind itself is the navigational tool. It is the set of algorithm. It is a set of programs. So through the inspiration, the mind training may happen the program may upgrade and the program of bringing the attention back to the point of relaxation withdrawing it from its habits and bob had this beautifully enlightening habits of debilitating alcoholism And he believed that this habit can't be broken. His mind was obsessed with drinking and that was it. He had to die. And his life was a proof that that's bullshit. That's bullshit. Habits can be broken. And this habitual creature of constantly narrating, navigating, and constantly sucking up on that life essence, which is feeding it with attention, that habit, true recognition, can be broken.
And resonating with thethat recognition bringing again back the attention to the heart where it doesn't move and when it does move it moves from that point of groundedness in this moment in this unrepeatable moment the only moment that is alive the context the past the future all that imaginary all that incredible capacity to imagine all the dramas and all the costumes and all the tightness and confinements is lacking that quality of presence, is completely unconscious.It's mechanical. And recognizing it. Brings about that moment of respite and repeated recognizing because it's already here. It doesn't have to be achieved. It doesn't have to be trained, learned. It doesn't have to be attained.
It's here. It's already here. That natural groundedness and appreciation for the aliveness that is only in the present moment here now, not in the story, no matter how colorful the story. Of who I am or how am I not that yet or how afraid I am and what am I gonna get to get myself out of that horrible situation of being poor miserable human who is destined to die and get old and sick shit you know where is it when we don't think about itand how it comes into existence already fully believable and frightening. As soon as the thought comes and the attention, the life essence is given to it and it comes alive.
And people are furnishing their dreams. They're not doing it. Of course, it's the same life doing it. All sorts of demons. While the relaxation is the way. And see that incredible show from the stillness that you are. From the stillness that you can't run away from, because it's always here.and see that incredible show in that screen of stillness, silence, And you are that stillness, silence, the movement. It's not the reality. This is where Bob would come for Hindu description of Sat Chit Ananda being reality and Nama Rupa being illusion, Maya, fiction. That which is constantly flickering and changing is the fiction, is the Maya, is the dream.
And that which is still and stable and solid and silent is the reality. Sat Chit Ananda is the reality. Being, awareness of being or consciousness and appreciation for existence, that's the reality. It's always here. It may be covered up with that dream, with that names and forms and divisions and fears and stories. But underneath that, it's never far away. And the only way in, the only way out is in the only way is to just Stop. Just pause. Just rest. Instead of spending that attention in that craze, justAlways available. And then from that groundedness, wow, okay, it's dancing. But this is not a torture anymore.
Now is the entertainment. Now is the joy. Now the life, instead of being hostile, depressing, scary, it's like, wow, give me more.I think that's enough. Anyone? Add, highlight. I wish she wouldn't stop. Oh, that was just so good. See her and see. Yeah. And see. So last week, or last it came up about environment. And how environment is not me. And then we ask, well, can you find the boundary? Of environment and the seer and seen. So if I'm the seer and I define me by the body, then everything outside my body is the seen and is not me.You can't actually find... A boundary between the seer and the seen.
It's both, it's all happening in the seeing. You are that environmenting, that seeing. Yeah. You are the seeing. Yeah. The knowing, the ing, call it a processing. Processing implies maybe something special that's happening. Yeah, just what's happening. Yeah, happening. Ordinary. Happening yeah yeah see her and seen and yes you can't yeah and it's you know subject and object whatever the language is that you're using that's all built on the concept that I see yes I see you And therefore, you and I are separate because I am an I. I am me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyone?Lucky? Nothing yet? Yes, please. Thank you. Yeah, that was devastating, really.
That's sort of a bit too much for me to take in. But, yeah, I just... What hit me at one point, and then I've sort of lost it since, was that that's the end of me. Like, I'm just realising... Which I've heard a million times, but I felt it. But just a moment, it's just like, Like for 50 years I've been cultivating this human being, but he's going to go. Yeah, it's not necessary. Yeah, but it's full on and it's, I feel such... Grief? No compassion for me, for that person that's been battling away. I don't want him to go, but he probably has to.
But that's what came up for me. So, yeah, I just wanted to say that because I've lost it now, but I did feel it, yeah. Yeah, but yeah, beautiful. But look. No one is going to die, you know, when Santa Claus has been recognized to be a Santa Claus. It didn't have to be murdered. That beautiful, you know,avatar is still gonna be speaking and using I it's still gonna have preferences it's still gonna have its favorite food and favorite music or you know it's a fantastic operational software that helps navigating this particular vehicle through that magnificent dream it's not really killing anything it's just that rather than running the show which is an illusion it's never had any power it suddenly is you know like mind is not a master it's a servant that's what it always has been it's only that inflated illusion that oh i was getting it all wrong So now I'm getting it right.
There's no one there. Mind is, there is no sentience in algorithm. And the algorithm, part of algorithm is to be that poor, neglected child who now is not going to get any love. And it's going to get abandoned and it's going to it's taken the sentience away of it so now it is just like uh it's now the opposite it's absolute opposite because now as you see the brilliance of that show and the brilliance of that sentience you can't help but love it with all of your heart and this is really where the self-love steps in Because you can't.They tell you that you have to love yourself to love anyone else.
How am I going to love myself? How am I going to convince myself that this not enough miserable piece of shit is lovable? I can't do that. But now when you realize that the set of character patterns, defects, traits, whatever, is not who you are, you are the pure existence. You are the radiance, luminous, aliveness, sentience. You can't help but love it because this is love and this is who you are. And now the set of mechanisms that create so-called false personality, the set of the algorithms that help you survive, connect with other people, protect. Wow, how brilliant. All of them, including the horrible mechanism that narcissists or psychopaths develop.
They're not the doers either. And they're still beautiful, brilliant. That's what the environment made them construct to preserve that machine of seeing so the God is not blind. But within that, the aliveness, which is moving, beating the heart, moving the cells, that is what you are. And that is never going to be grieved because even in the moment of dying, as we know from people who report their near-death experiences,Even in the moment of dying, when all the falseness falls away, that radiance is unobscured, never goes. And it dissolves the band that is right into bliss, just like you go and sleep at night. Who doesn't love to dissolve into the nothingness of the sleep?
There is no grief. And yet, you know, that which is grieving, that feeling, isn't that still love, the compassion, the love for that? It's so beautiful. It's, oh, yum.nothing's gonna get killed there's no harm to any creatures animals or any other sentient beings it's the pure recognition that that which is the life-giving force that is beating your heart it's already expressing as you through you that is your essential nature and not the false personality, not the underdeveloped little imaginary friend from childhood who later on become imaginary critic or the voice of harshness and voice of reporting of what's wrong, what's not enough. That voice may still go on.
And the guy who actually inspired me to have not necessarily non-dual approach to that voice. But I remember saying it on Bob's meeting sometimes just for the heck of it. Love the hell out of it. Because that's what the so-called ego can't stand. The complete unconditionality of love. Give it a hug. Give it a nudge. Yeah. No, it can't go wrong with a little bit of warmth.Yeah, you still get to enjoy it. Like, it's, there's some, when the mini-me dies, as you've been saying, never actually there to begin with, never real in its own right, with its own power. And still, you get to enjoy the antics.
It's just to continue. The body's not going to go into, you know, okay, he's found me out. I'm not going to move anymore. I'm not going to do anything because the body will just continue doing what it's doing in this environment from which it's... Not separate from. It is, you know, like, oh, don't kill it. Don't kill the concept of Santa. I love Santa. I love the idea, the myth, the expectation about Santa bringing presents at Christmas. I love that. Don't kill that for me. I love the idea that I'm a good person and a great mother and ready to help people or do this or do that.
I love that about the me.can have concepts about, you know, why things happen the way they are. It's nothing all day long. Seeing through it is part of the game, part of the play. It's not personal. Yeah, yeah, just, yeah, give, you know, like, appreciate the sadness. Because without it, you wouldn't know joy. Sadness is, you know, if you take the label of the sadness, there's a tenderness to it, isn't it? A tenderness of love.everything behind you know like behind the label behind the way it is translated has that has that original blast of love in it because it's all one including hatred including fear including jealousy all of it And I'm going to just read a couple of comments.
Jeff says that he can only see the split screen. And yes, people who are on Facebook with us, they just see a couple of screens because we have Jane and we have Ag with us here on Zoom also, but they have the cameras off, so we can't actually. See them and maybe Jeff will join us so we will have another camera then we'll not have a split screen and Bill says awakening is the end of the one who thought it needed awakening yep that is the beauty there is no one to awaken Awakening is from the illusion of being separate self. But who awakens? Another separate self?
No. It is awakening from the illusion of being separate, of being a person, of being someone.It's not I awakened. It's the awakening, what Tanya was highlighting, like seeing, being, happening. Being is awakened from the illusion of being something or the other. It's just the pure being. So it really isn't anyone that is awakening. It isn't a one that is awakening. If there was a one, well, hello, a separation persisted. If there's anyone who tells you I'm enlightened and you are not, well, that's a very, very well distilled teaching of separation. And non-duality is about non-duality, collapsing any sense of separation. And that collapse can only happen in realization that whatever the concept, whatever the roles are assigned within that presence, it is that presence of happening that is inseparable from the elements arising, including personalities, concepts, ideas, all of it.Anthony, did you want to?
I see your hands up. Maybe that's a call. Oh, that was good. Okay, wonderful. Someone said presence has no debt. So all the things that point to one lacking in this or that, take place in separation. If there's presence, none of that is there. None of that exists. It's just presence and that's everything.So, um, When there's separation, that's the way it is. There's nothing you can do about that. But when there's presence, there's none of that, none of that.Aberration, none of that. Lack. There's no lack. Nothing is lacking. It's all... Just as it is. Just this. With nothing added. One else? You go. Hi. Yeah, well, so.
So far, I guess, we've done a good job of explaining and showing. And isn't it obvious, whoever's here or listening or watching, that it's just a really obvious pointing back to the fact of our own existence, the fact that this reality right now, what this is, present awareness, aliveness, nowness, thisness, And you can't, you don't need to remember it because it's not, can't be forgotten because it's the ground in which everything appears. And it's like the simplest recognition of that which doesn't, I just need to let someone, that which, you know. Can't be unrecognized.in one sense, and yet seemingly seems like the whole talk is about this, imagine obscuration or, yeah, and yet it's still that presence appearing as separation, really, or appearing as non-separation, or appearing as this, or appearing as that.
And, you know, we talked about the environment. What is the environment? Is there anything that is outside the environment? What could the environment be? The environment can be the whole manifestation. Is the environment, the whole of consciousness, you could call as the environment. Is it located in my skull or in my arm or anywhere else? So if the whole environment is it, is the whole manifestation, so an idea that I'm a dean has to be part of the whole environment, the whole system. It can't be outside of it. And then, and how, how localized can that be? Because everything is included. Everything is, is this, is the presence appearing as the whole environment, the whole manifestation.
So the whole manifestation is, is the influencer. So, so the observer, the observed. The observing is actually all of it is made of the same stuff. And what is that same stuff? Who knows? Is anyone'sgot an explanation on that. Good luck with it. So I don't know, there's something so beautiful, so simple, so obvious that if you're, you know, how could you miss, how could anyone deny the presence of their own existence? It's not just being present. It's an absolute miraculousness. There's a miracle of aliveness itself. I think no one has missed it. You can't miss it because it is the ground in which anything and everything occurs.
So it actually can't be missed. It may not be recognised or may not be or may be obscured or you may have attention onto thinking it's something other than what it is. But even that attention, thinking it's something that it might not be or is, is still. Existence and self appearing in that manner. So it's really interesting about, you know, losing myself. Where would I go? Where did I come from? And what am I? I mean, the thought of what I am or the thought or the belief of what I was conditioned to become and the idea of it losing are all the same.made of the same stuff again and and like playing playing around like appearing as all these different things and yet and what are they appearing in and on and as the whole the whole presence the whole aliveness the whole nowness that you sort of you know spent um an hour, half an hour, just describing, showing it, like, and the way it moves and the way it seemingly creates some sort of mechanical system in the interconnectedness of the neuron network.
And makes this voice and this body appear to talk and describe and think and behave and act in a certain way. In one sense, you know, it could be a total marionette, like a total puppet. And in another sense, there's absolute and complete total freedom. Because it can't be constricted to any idea or belief or thought. So there's total absolute freedom. And everyone's, everyone is not saying that there's freedom here. The freedom is aliveness itself. Being alive is the freedom. And not being constrained to an idea. Imagine that, like imagine an idea or a belief, which is what is it, an energy of a thought, is actuallysaying something greater than the whole of creation that's about me being in control or suffering or good or bad.
Like, it's crazy that even how it all works, how the magic show sort of works and how the stuckness and the suffering and all this seems like, wow, what a... What an amazing show. What an amazing show to even create the whole illusion of separation. It's just... But then the... But like you say sometimes, like I never really look at it in those terms, but you need it to see that... The wholeness in a sense, to see the interconnectedness of everything. You almost need to experience the separation. And go for it, Tanya. You can't, there's no comprehending that you are free without the experiencing of being not free.
So the cat will never know they're free. The cat's never been, imagined itself to be anything but what is. Like fish can't know the water unless you take it out. So that is the black and the white, the pairs of opposites. There's no understanding. I am free. I am that.you are not that. And you are something small and labelled and limited and I am an object. And knowing and having that experience. So again, you know, the idea of that lovely story about, you know, God imagining that they're not God. And that they're the pig in the pen with the little piglets and the piggy wife in the mud and the dirt and the limit and with the life.
And then all the gods and all the universe having to come and remind God that they're not a pig.or whatever. Again, it's a cute, sweet, don't take these stories too far. Like, you know, it's just to illustrate. Illustration, yeah. Really. And they can only go to a certain point and then they start to fall to pieces. Point is, the seer and the scene do not exist outside the scene. Yeah. That's it. And they say, you know, the way Buddhists describe the enlightenment to the unenlightened, allegedly one, it's like, you know, walking thousand miles with the stone in your shoe and then taking that shoe off and taking the stone out.
And now this is a natural state. This is not a state of nirvana ecstasy like the druggies are talking about. This is a natural state like this cat on Lucky's lap.It's not screaming in orgasm. And yet... No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, noOh, beautiful.
So from what I heard, and I really appreciate it, is the recognition and the breaking of habits. If I heard you correctly. That from which it all comes. Detach. Relax. Enjoy the show. And while viewing the show in the experience of lifing, I'm seeing the character.shift its habits slowly, but it's happening. And it's a cool thing. Just this morning, I realized something and I shared it. And it was something that I wouldn't have normally shared because it was quite vulnerable. Everything is okay. Because, you know, the protection of that vulnerability of that core of the self is self-centeredness. If you are complete, if you understand that whatever appears in the consciousness here is not personal.
Is the life, is the God shining its own light through lenses that were created by the whole universe? It's not personal. It's what to protect. You're transparently open and free. Your vulnerability is your strength. You are invulnerable. You are invincible. Nothing can touch you. Because what would feel like very, very personal is not. You are free from the attachment to the patterns and owning them as yours. Nothing is yours and everything is you. They are just whatever arises. I loved how Bob would actually makefun of himself or talk and and i do love it you know it's almost like exhibitionism some somehow you know exposing a little bit too much but it is really a demonstration of a freedom from need to defend any of the any of the arising because this is all just whatever shows up in a screen of consciousness none none of it personal none of it you whatever the vulnerable part was it is how the universe the environment shaped this particular body mind machine which is just a lens just a costume for life to shine through not personal and and even seeing the patterns changing and character defects falling away because a lot of that is defensiveness a lot of those behaviors are coming from that you know fear I'm not enough, I'm not good enough, therefore I have to, you know, rob and rape and get more to add to myself so I feel more complete.
Once that urge is gone, because there is no one there that needs defending, it's just pure, pure, raw aliveness that is... Indestructible because energy can't be destroyed then some behaviors naturally drop away and some don't but even thatIt's not that important how this body looks, how this body behaves, how this body responds. It's secondary. And yet, as a byproduct, it's not that, oh, now I'm going to hurt people and not take responsibility for it. Well, taking responsibility is another piece of software. But the fact is that if this one is free from fear and is happy, this is going to spread happiness. It's going to spread joy.
And if this one is depressed and miserable, it's going to bite like the sick dog that is going to just, you know, it's about to die and is so scared and so frightened. So finding that there is no one there, I don't need the identity that needs defending. Complete freedom of absolute defenselessness because there is nothing that can be harmed you may not like the way it appears or it speaks or its accents or its behaviors what does it have to do with me the life the essence the energy absolutely nothing The essence, the stillness, it doesn't even come near any self-evaluation. Go on, Jo.
Thank you. I like what you're saying and I appreciate it. Thanks for the meeting and thanks for having us here. That's lovely. The question just comes up. How do you know which part is the humanness? Whose question is it?All of it. Yeah, beautiful question. All of it. All of it. Everything that wants to know, wants to figure it out, wants to have a grasp and control and understand and is trying to get the head around it. All of it is the pattern, is that messy humanness. Because the stillness, the space, the pure consciousness, it doesn't need to know anything. It doesn't need to understand anything.
It's perfectly content in just absolute mystery of it all. So it is messy. Oh, ah. Completely messy in that messy but absolutely simple on the one hand, if you will, humanness is a concept. Humanness is a concept. Take a look. How is this seeming body which makes up a person, a human, separate from the air that's breathed in? I hear what you're saying. Or the water.that is required by this body that the respiration and the water so it's kind of like a word too absolutely it's a word for language just another word yeah like all tree so a tree is not a tree yeah yeah and when we say humanness and then under humanness there's all this other what we what we say makes humanness You know, it's this, it's this, it's this.
But it's none of those things, is it? It's a combination of all of those things. It is environmenting. It's the humanness in its absolute is just experiencing. But then somebody would say, let's say for an example, somebody would say, oh, but everybody does that. Yeah, that's part of it. And that's not true. What's not true? Everybody does that. Who is everybody? Who are the everybody? Who does anything? Yeah, well, that too. Again, find the doer. Yeah. But then who gets the belief that everybody does that? Do you see how this is like a dog chasing its tail? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like it's just, it's like it's Alice in Wonderland going down.
Oh, there's a rabbit hole. You'll never figure it out. Like trying to separate things into this is known and this is not known. Now I understand this. I don't understand this. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Dead end. They're all dead ends.when confusion seems to arise, just know that you are. You don't, sorry, that's not enough. That's not enough. Greediness. Don't be so greedy, Ross. I'm just throwing the shit out here. Yeah, that's it, darling. It's, you know, people say, let's say, I fancy fish and chips. And I go, oh, your body's calling for salt. No, it's not. It's a concept. It's a fun concept. It's a fun concept that you, you know, it's just a saying.
Who cares? No. If it's, it's just like, what are you going to do about it? Is the question. Somebody said that it serves no purpose, has no reason at all, except that it's to recognise that it's a dream and its sole purpose is...to wake up. It's the only purpose it serves. And even that is just a thought. It's a lovely concept too. It's a beautiful concept too. But you can say like, we were saying before that, to enjoy Enjoy the beautiful blissfulness, which is fleeting, of realizing you're free. You have to have imagined you weren't free. Yes, yes. Take that stone out of that shoe.
Beautiful. It's all inside. And actually, I'm just going to invite you guys, Chris, Jane, Ag and Rohan. Anyone would like to unmute and give us a little bit of a question maybe? Or Jane, you should know that your questions are highly appreciated worldwide. Chris, would you like to add something? Hi, I don't know what's going on with my video. I'm not really used to doing this, but it looks fuzzy, but I don't know if you can see it. Yeah, we can see you. I just want to say it's great to see you all back, and I'm really great that you're having people over again and everything.
I think it's very special. I think it's amazing and I think Kat's doing an amazing job and it's just, yeah, it's really great to see. So thanks a lot. Yeah, that's all I have to say. Good to see you and yeah, come again. We're going to... Yeah, I would have if I'd known it was on probably, although I'm a bit busy at the moment.But yeah, I'm surprised to see it all. So I'm actually still in my pyjamas. Wow, that's a pretty attractive pyjamas, I'll have to say. Yeah, very glamorous pyjamas. Yeah. And also we actually had, that was an experiment really to have, because we had very few people showing up in December and January.
So we transformed to once a month and we've seen you once since then. And there was always one or two people showing up. So, and it is easier for us. To do the exploration within a group whether the group is small or the group is big it's easier to have some interaction it's nicer it's more kind of natural uh so if if you are moved to come any other time and that is for everyone just yeah just email us or text us and most probably someone will be home uh the one the one meeting that we were supposed to have at the end of uh april we are gonna have a week before the end of April because end of April, I'm going to be away and Dean's going to be away.
So it will be a little bit difficult to do the gathering and streaming. It's just a lot of technicalities. So we're still going to show up, but from a different location. And Tanya will still be here. And if anyone shows up, good. But if we can have a bigger gathering a week before, that will be even easier.easier for everyone but we'll just we'll just improvise that's just a little announcement in the middle I forgot what I was going to say. We're just touching on what we were going exploring. We can say you used that word exploring before. It's, yeah, so you come to this meeting as, so all there is is that, all there is is now, all there is is immediate.
Business presence of aliveness, aliveness itself. And then yet you might find yourself coming to this meeting. And as you're coming to this meeting as this separate person, I am this human being. I was born. I lived this life. I became like this and like that and the other, and I'm good and I'm bad. And I'm all these different things. And I'm coming to this meeting. And I'm coming to this meeting to hope that I can remember or recognise or understand that I'm actually not everything that I thought I was. But I'm walking into this meeting as that, you know, like as a fully believed, pledged, You know, this is my solidity and I'm hoping I can dissolve it, kill it, destroy it or recognise its non-existence.
And maybe if I can listen to these words, I can get this and that and the other.Like, it's absolutely nonsensical. Like, how can that work when you are that masquerading as this human being, like fully convinced that this human being has got, and you sort of get a glimpse, yeah, I sort of recognise that. Okay, but now I just have to kill this, this character, because I know this character, but every movement, every assumption, everything is based on the existence of the character, of the reality of the character, of the character to being... Truth or a believed truth or whatever you want to, you can't, how is that character ever going to wake up?
Like, is it even possible that a fictional character, you know, you could call this character Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse coming to this show, coming to this meeting, looking at all these ideas, go, oh yes, or getting a glimpse. Oh, actually now I think I am Mickey Mouse, yet Oh, now I think I'm actually not, I'm actually Walt Disney. I'm not Mickey Mouse. I get a sense I must be Walt Disney because I couldn't be confined to this character, although he is a bit fluffy. So now somehow I'm going to become the creator of this character. I'm going to become the one who drew him and put words to him.
How am I going to do that if I'm coming already from Mickey Mouse? I'm going to discover my own creator, but I am the...I am the product. I am the appearance. I'm a cloud. I'm just a whimsical-like idea of fog and smoke and mirrors. So how can that... Understand or it's not it's not possible so every movement or seeking all all kind of um movement is like ah but isn't that fun isn't that enjoyable to to realize the uselessness of it and then and then what what happened what's going to happen now like there's a
That's the relaxation that you speak about. That's the total relaxation of just enjoying and observing what's going on.
And like the observation isn't some passive meditative state where, ah, now I'm there. That's just Mickey Mouse being a meditative. I mean, really, like there's no way, there's nowhere it's going to go with it. There's nowhere to get from it. It's still just, it's a disguise. If I become a meditative pacifist, and there's nothing wrong with meditative pacifism either, but if I become that in the hope that that's going to actually allow me to see and grow. I can't. I can't get out of it no matter what I do or no matter how I can go about it. All I can do is recognize the Mickey Mouseless of me.
And then it's like, oh, okay. So it's the Mickey Mouse. You've got to love Mickey Mouse because, wow. Who created it? How did it even come to being? Like, it's, oh, this is the whole Mickey Mouse is filled with emotion, is filled with these ideas of like where it was born and how it grew and how it developed and how it became funny and stupid and good and bad. So you sort of fall in love with the whole creation. Of the whole character. Wow, what a show. Like this character is just, how could you not love it? Like there's a softness, there's an absolute melting into Mickey Mouseless.knowing that Mickey Mouse is absolute, how can it be?
It's a fake. Yeah. And loving to be. And that's, yes, and loving to be. And I guess that's what, like, this non-duality meeting is, you know, all about exploring all those aspects, all those facets. And you can go into it in so many different ways. And Mickey Mouse is actually quite, Mickey Mouse has got a lot of party tricks, endless tricks. It's amazing. And I think Rowan might have his hand up now. Hi, Rowan. Oh, hi, Rohan. Yeah. Hello. Yeah, I think just wanted to touch on a couple of those points. So Dean mentioned the killing the character, right? But it occurs that that's actually just the character that's wanting to do that, right?
Absolutely. The character can't do that. And I think... It's always, it's difficult for a character which is used to doing and achieving and, you know, obtaining things to just say, I don't know. And just sit with that, I don't know, right? So there's always this like, oh, I had this experience, even with the non-duality. You know, the pointers, you know, it's like, oh,that pointer landed and the character feels really happy that, yeah, look, that pointer landed, you know, I'm getting this. And that's actually like taking you further away from it. And to be able to just sit with that. And I mean, you know, this is something that I heard at a local Zen center.
Yeah, I think. One of the practitioners there asked me, said, who are you without your name? If I take your name away, what's left? And then I noticed like the mind trying to say things like, oh, I can't say anything. And it's like, you know, I was really happy, like, because, you know, I know this stuff. It's non-duality, right? And then he said, can't you just say, I don't know? It's like, what's that in you that wants to know? And it's like trying to say, yes, I know. What's wrong with just not knowing? And just being comfortable with that and sitting with it, it hit me.
It's like, yeah, the very idea of wanting to know is like the character. And so, yeah, I just wanted to share that. Thanks. Thank you, Rohan. That's beautiful. Do you want to add something? No, that was really good. Yeah, that was brilliant. And that's absolutely one of my favorites. Because yes, and people who actually say, they are, they are, they are, but no, I'm not an individual. I am God. Well, that's the delusion of grandeur. Oh, no, I'm not God. I'm space. Well, space doesn't need identity. And if there is no identity, who gives a shit? Who wants to know? Who wants to grasp? Who wants to understand or see this, that, or the other?
There's no one there.It's just the presence showing up like Daniel says, I love that, showing up for the unfoldment. Not that you have even a choice to show or not to show up because that is the presence already here. And whatever is unfolding is also here. And any sort of asserting the identity, I'm the character, I'm the creator, I'm the space in which the character, I'm the screen, those are all valuable pointers. But they are, again, they can take you that far. And beyond that is not only I don't know. There's no need to even ever figure it out or know. Who is there who wants to know?
If there is just presence, who wants to know who I am? Who wants to know what's my shape, size, definition or character? It's just, wow, it's just this. The ultimate freedom from needing to assert yourself as anything whatsoever need to assert yourself define yourself separate yourself from this and it is already here it is already here underneath that overlay of narrative of commentary It's already here, aware of the Mickey Mouse, aware of the antics and party tricks, looking at it and not objecting to anything, not defining it as good or bad or wanting it or not wanting more of it.There's more of that. No, it's just complete presence, nothing else.
And I have, I think, a couple of things. Oh, did he want to? Well, like what you say, everything you're describing is movement. Is movement. And so how is movement going to be recognised through stillness? The stillness is recognising movement, but yet movement and stillness are actually the same thing. But it's so... Just go, read, read, read, no, that's all right. Beautiful, yeah, inseparable. They are, they can't. They're inseparable. Yes. You can't know one without the other. No. You know, in that same sense that you can't, there would be no, no concept on earth can be conceptualised. That's where I was actually going with it.
Like no matter what kind of idea or you can't be any of it. And yet you're included as all of it. All of it. You have to be all of it. But you can't be fixed to anything. There's no fixed position. There's no place in which one is superior or above. All of them are included and yet... None of them, you can't be any of them as such. Like the real essence can't be any of them, can't be defined by an idea or a thought or any of the movement. And yet you're always in movement. So in that, like what I was trying to say is like there's no more,defining a character.
There's no more worry to define, ah, I'm this kind, I need to get that, I've got to get that, or I'm a good guy. There's actually no place. There's actually no place. There's no place to rest except in Tessa's. She's right. There's no staying still as a something. Just, you've never been a, yes. Go, go, Tess. Just as I've been listening, I'm just hearing, you know, Bob's, words, the realization will dawn that it is always and ever happening quite naturally, though seemingly clouded by thoughts. And so I can't, I can never control that realization. The realization will dawn. When it dawns, as it dawns, and there's nothing I can do about it.
It's just going to happen when it happens in the tiniest, tiniest of glimpses or as kind of one explosion. How about now? You know that you are. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I was in a, it's interesting, I'm looking at a screen right now because I was in a Zoom meeting a few weeks ago. And I'm listening to everyone talking and I'm listening to myself thinking about everyone talking. And it was like a curtain went up and all of that.of dialect and language just rose. And it was like, oh, wow. Everyone was kind of fighting for identity in this kind of meeting. And I didn't make that happen.
It just, the curtain went up and it was a glimpse of, something without all of that. And I could see that my conceptual identity is bound in there. And yet I had a moment of really realizing that I'm not that. Yeah. Yes. And now. Yeah. And now. It's the same. Yes, everything that arises is arising in that presence, in that existence, in that unknowable beingness that is beyond any label, any assertion, any fight for my position in the tribe or whatever. Yeah, just... Every moment, like, you know, the full realization, they say, well, it's down and it stays. But at the same time, it is never not here.
Never not here. It's just that her whole attention is completely dispersed into the content of the movie. So the screen is.completely overlooked but it's never not here it's always here it's the recognition of that comes when it comes like i can yes i can hear that yes you can hear that but it's i can't make myself know it just happens when it happens yeah yeah Yeah. It's always here. Yes. It shines through the dream clouds. When the clouds disperse. Yeah. Yeah. I like Tanya saying Santa brings presence, but I like the spelling of presence as in P-R-E-S-E. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And what you are is the sun.
The clouds don't touch you.Clouds don't hide you. Yeah. The self shining. Always. Yeah. Now we're unknown. Yes, and we have Rohan has the hand up. And we checked on you. Oh, yes. Yeah, so it occurs that any attempt made to grasp this is going to take you further and further away from it. Not that you can get further from it, right? It's what you are. But if you're trying to grasp at it, there's still this sense that, you know, I'm limited. And then by getting this, I'm going to be unlimited when you're really already that unlimited. And so it's that it's like, I mean, it feels like that can only that that understanding, if you want to say all that experience is only there when there's absolute stillness, no grasping, no, no pushing away, no accepting, but just.
Yeah, I can't even put it into words, I guess. You did. You did. That's what you're trying. Yes. And then experiencing goes on all the time, whether they're clouds, whether they're grass, when time can go through clouds, and identification following that identity, that imagined mental projection, that mental image, when that one relaxes, then there is a full realization that, oh,And did you want to add something, Rohan? Because I can't see. No, you are mute. No, that's it. Okay. So I have just a couple of more comments here. And thank you, everyone. Jane, we missed your questions. Hope you're going to do better next time. And Molly says, everything is me.
And Mona says, same hope brings me back every time to hear all your pointers. Thanks for keeping it up. Yes, so notice that hope as just another appearance, another stream of energy arising in that already rested space-like awareness. You are aware of that hope arising. You are prior to that hope. You are already the stillness of existence. And yeah, we're glad to have you here. And thank you everyone for being with us. And thank you to those who were on Zoom. And oh yeah, thank you. And you're good.