How Sincere Are You Really?

Led by the eternal question "WHO AM I?", we dive into self-reflection, encouraged to face the level of sincerity on our path to liberation. This talk is not for everyone. If you are not afraid to face the truth, you are welcome to enter the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Join Yaron on this inquiry, and let us grow together.

Transcript

So,

Welcome,

Dear people,

For another opportunity we give ourselves to brush all the ends and walk the path together,

Not just as individuals,

But also as a united consciousness that is asking and answering itself and evolving during this process.

So that's how you contribute to this conversation today,

By sharing your question,

Being involved,

Putting yourself on the spot.

The more you ask,

The more relevant it becomes for you.

The potential to grow,

Increase.

And the excuse we gave ourselves today to gather is the question of who am I?

This is considered to be the mother of all questions.

So,

Before I give the stage to your questions,

Just a quick introduction.

The mother of all questions,

Meaning from which all other questions are born,

Give context to any other aspect of our lives.

And it belongs to the family of questions that are not designed to be answered.

This question was not born in order for you to find an answer for.

Rather,

Keep on asking it,

Completely hopeless,

Forsaken,

In advance,

Realizing that the quest for an answer is futile.

So you just remain with the question,

Who am I?

So the homework for last week was to spend 20 minutes in front of the mirror and asking yourself this question.

Who am I?

Remember?

Or is there anybody here who did practice that and would like to share?

Now is the time.

Barbara is saying,

I did it,

But would like to give others the chance to share.

You won't want to bite,

I promise.

Come on,

Barbara,

You start them up.

They will join.

There's always one brave soul who's marching in front of the herd.

I think the first five to seven minutes was very awkward because of my crazy thoughts.

Then I smiled at myself and those thoughts disappeared.

And then what happened?

Without thoughts.

It was easier for me to recognize I am not the image of my body in the mirror.

Then I let the idea go too and asked again,

Well,

Then,

Who am I?

And on and on I went for 20 minutes.

That is giving you A+.

The wisdom of your white path approach of observing who I am not.

Who am I without the ideas that I have about my body?

This is essential for anyone on the path.

Confront this question,

Even though it's scary,

It might be terrifying.

You know,

Those ideas that I hold about myself,

They create a self-image,

Self-identity.

And without them,

Who am I without them?

What is left when I've allowed myself to drop the ideas about myself?

This is existential.

Of course,

It's terrifying.

You know,

The ego is facing its own elimination and it won't release easily without a fight.

Barbarai is saying,

I observe that some of my ideas recirculate and appear over and over.

Habitual.

Setting them aside for good is a challenge for me.

Yeah.

So,

You remember one of the rules of the game was when you receive an answer for the question,

Who am I?

You put it aside.

You say thank you,

You put it aside.

And you go back to the question.

And you are not allowed to repeat the same answer.

So,

If the same answer comes again,

You ignore it.

Keep on confronting this question.

Who am I?

Who am I beyond concepts,

Beyond ideas,

Beyond opinions?

What is left when I've let go of my task,

When I let go of my attachment to a role,

To a position?

This question,

Who am I,

Will take you beyond all that.

If you are sincere in your quest.

Take you beyond everything you hold on to.

And the invitation is to be willing to float in that void,

Free of any attachment,

Any reference,

Any anchor.

That's the true meaning of awakening.

When we're talking about a journey towards freedom,

People ask,

Freedom from what?

Freedom from that.

Any opinion,

Any idea that we have about ourselves and we hold on to is an anchor.

Who would you be without it,

Without that opinion,

Without that attachment to the idea about yourself?

And if that sounds crazy,

It's because it is.

Enlightenment and insanity are very close in that sense.

They say that in monasteries,

The monks used to keep one insane person amongst them,

Just to have a constant reminder.

Hmm?

What do you say?

Now is the time for you to bombard me with your questions.

Did anybody else do the homework or do we have only one diligent student in this class?

I'm guessing Barbara only,

I missed quite a few.

So Barbara,

You're the winner.

Instant enlightenment is yours.

Meh,

That's just another idea.

Good,

You're paying attention.

So,

Your questions are in order now.

Don't hide behind your keyboard.

Get involved with yourself on the spot.

It will be worth your while,

I guarantee.

Barbara is saying,

I also looked in the mirror as I listened to your talk of me and my mind.

Ask yourself,

How sincere are you?

Spending time on this platform,

Listening to this teacher,

To that teacher,

Practicing this meditation,

That meditation,

Whatever.

This challenge,

The other challenge.

How sincere are you in your quest?

This is not entertainment.

This is not a shopping list.

This is not a way to kill an hour.

How sincere are you?

This is not a way to make your life joyful and pleasant.

Or to learn effective tools to deal with your.

.

.

Destruction.

At least the self that you are identified with.

How sincere are you?

Are you on this path to make sure it will never end?

Are you on a quest?

But with no intention to achieve your goal?

Realizing the price you have to pay.

How sincere are you?

Every now and then we have to ask this question.

I'm not the kind of teacher that will find new ways for you to beat around the bush.

That's why I'm not popular.

If you want to walk on the right path,

Look in the mirror,

Ask yourself,

How sincere are you?

Otherwise the right path is not for you.

Baba is saying,

I'm not my body was very evident.

Yeah,

It starts there.

The first identification we have is with our body,

No?

Me.

And when you do that,

You pound on your own chest.

This is who I am.

And to realize,

No,

No,

I'm not the body,

Is the first step.

So you see,

We are on the path of elimination,

Eliminating false ideas.

And the less we hold on to false ideas,

The more free we become.

Because there are less weights tying us down.

And we found ourselves to be more and more free,

More and more available.

Like the book I wrote,

Available to Love.

So first level is,

I'm not the body.

Then I'm not the breath.

I'm not the mind,

Emotions,

Sensations and thoughts.

I'm not the intellect,

The bunch of ideas I have about my experience.

I'm not my memory,

The story I tell myself about myself.

I'm not the ego.

What is left when I shed all these false ideas about myself?

What is left?

And nothing of that can provide an answer to this question.

Who am I?

But I do observe in myself the desire to feel good rather than the desire to grow,

Evolve,

Mature.

It's easy to find distractions that feel good.

Yeah,

So beautiful.

There is a whole section of spirituality.

I call it feel-good spirituality.

It's very popular.

Many people revolve around that,

Feel-good spirituality.

Spirituality can provide you very effective tools how to improve the sense of feeling good.

People go to retreats.

People apply tools that they learn and their lives become more peaceful and easy going and less stress.

It's easier to feel good.

Fantastic.

But do realize that's not the end result on the spiritual path.

If you compromise on that,

You only scratch the surface.

There's nothing wrong with that,

But you can do much,

Much more than that.

You know,

Like they say,

The ocean is there.

Some people just like to sit on the beach and watch the waves.

Some people like to roll up their pants and step into the water,

Ankle high.

Some people go the way up their knees.

Some people take their clothes off and jump heads first,

Whatever.

Dive into the deep of the ocean.

Other people just drive along the shoreline on the way to work.

They don't even know that the ocean is there.

Doesn't matter.

The ocean is there.

Same,

Ask yourself,

How deep do you allow yourself to dive?

What are you here for on the spiritual path?

Why did you come to this meeting?

What were you hoping to achieve?

A nice way to kill an hour?

Yeah,

Chad is saying.

Good,

I hope this will be entertaining.

I tell you,

Rare and far between are the disciples that are ripe to hear that invitation and answer it.

Surrender,

Truly surrender.

Render all self-identification.

I much rather be naked in front of this question,

Who am I,

Than wrap myself in some false idea.

Sorry if I sound a bit rough today,

But this question,

Who am I,

Is the mother of all questions.

There is no beating around the bush.

This is the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Are you brave enough?

Chad,

There is so much dumb stuff,

Dumb rules,

We all abide by.

It's just nice to listen to people who get it.

Remember,

It's not about what you can do or what you cannot do.

What you allow yourself to do and what you don't allow yourself to do.

It's not about the doing at all.

Don't look for freedom in doing.

And don't blame the system for not allowing you to do whatever you want to do.

It's not about the doing at all.

And I can tell you more than that.

If you are looking for a teacher that is telling you what to do and not to do,

You missed the point.

It doesn't matter if the teacher is very firm in what you should do,

Or is very lenient in telling you,

You can do whatever you want.

Don't listen to other people,

Just do whatever.

Secret is not in the doing.

Secret is in the being.

That's why a true teacher is not interested in what you do.

Or don't do.

Search deeper than doing.

Search for your motivation to do whatever.

Or to refrain from doing whatever.

What is your motivation?

Is it guided by an agenda?

Is it restricted by fear?

Then you know you're not free.

You see what I'm saying?

How sincere are you?

This is not a hypothetical question.

I want to be free.

I want to be liberated.

How sincere are you?

Assuming that this is of your intention.

Come on,

Spill it out.

Whatever is in your mind right now,

Just put it on the keyboard.

Don't overthink it.

Verbally saying,

I hear your words,

Set them aside and be in silence of unknowing.

Yeah.

I tell you,

It takes courage.

When there are no ideas to protect you.

Anymore.

The beautiful,

Terrifying silence.

Isn't it?

Allow yourself to float in that.

Mystery.

Mystery.

With no reference point at all.

Nothing echoing back to you as a possible answer.

And the louder you shout,

The bigger the void.

There's nothing echoing back to you.

Mystery.

A silent mystery.

Are you sincere enough?

Shadi is saying,

I avoid people like the plague,

So it's governed by fear.

100%.

I don't know you and it's not just about people.

Anything that we avoid intentionally is because we are afraid.

And awakened consciousness doesn't know the word avoid,

Doesn't know the meaning of it.

How can I avoid life?

If life is offering something,

Why would I?

Who's avoiding to begin with?

And then why would it avoid anything?

Pleasant or unpleasant?

100%.

There's always fear guiding avoidance.

100%.

So then ask yourself,

Do you want to be free?

Do you want to grow beyond that fear?

And that's not only for Chad.

This is for every one of us.

Doesn't matter which fear you recognize that governs your interaction with life.

Do you want to grow beyond it?

Do you truly,

Sincerely want to grow beyond it?

Or is it just more comfortable to be surrounded by the walls that you've built throughout the years?

To be identified with a story that you've been telling yourself.

For decades.

About yourself,

About life.

This is who I am.

How do I know?

Experience.

Years of experience.

What would you be without that story?

Without that identification?

Are you sincere when you say that you want to be free?

That you want to grow beyond that fear?

Are you willing to pay the price?

The price is going back to the question.

Who am I?

And letting go of the idea that you already know.

Walls and stories are nice.

I'm taking steps.

Good.

Take those steps.

And let go of the idea that you have a journey ahead of you.

Baby steps towards some idea about liberation.

Somewhere in the future.

Somewhere.

Next life.

Take those steps.

And let go of the idea that they are leading you to a better place.

The place that you are hoping to arrive to.

You've already arrived.

Your destination is your origin point.

Just wake up to realize you already arrived.

You see what I'm saying?

It's not about getting the point.

It's about remaining in the origin point.

Clueless.

Helpless.

Exposed.

Available.

Even if one person hears that invitation.

And sincerely answers it.

One person in my whole life.

That's worth it.

Time for one more question.

Who is going to seize the moment?

Be brave.

Put yourself on the altar.

As a present.

As a gift to the divine.

You should be more popular.

It says something.

That more people aren't into this.

Yeah?

Feel good.

Spirituality is much more popular.

Any specific homework for this week?

Yeah,

What comes to mind is confronting this question.

How sincere is my acknowledgement of this invitation?

How sincere am I on the path?

How far am I willing to go down the rabbit hole?

You know,

Life flows in its harmonious path.

Regardless if it meets our expectations and our demands.

Or if it contradicts them.

Life flows.

You can either swim against the current.

Or you join the flow.

You know,

Some people jump into the water.

But they hold on to the branches.

The side of the river.

And this is like me holding on to my self-identity.

Is that.

Holding on to the branches.

Trying to create some sort of sense.

Some sort of stability.

To save myself from life.

I tell you,

You're going to lose.

There's no way you can hold on forever.

It's inevitable.

Life is stronger than that.

Either you die or you let go.

Whatever comes first.

Life will continue to flow.

How sincere are you?

Joining the stream.

Letting go.

Surrender.

Allow life to carry you.

Defenseless.

Ruly and fully engaged.

That's the homework.

Ask yourself this question.

How sincere are you?

When you hear this invitation.

Just relax.

Let go.

Allow life.

Be available.

Nothing to do with the doing.

Yes?

It's not about what you allow yourself to do.

And what you refrain from doing.

Don't search in the doing.

It's about the being.

Your intention.

Your agenda.

Your motivation.

The set of fears that guides your decision-making process.

The land of the free and the home of the brave.

The true north star.

Thank you,

Dear people,

For having the courage to survive this hour.

Even though it might not be pleasant.

Looking at the mirror is not always pleasant,

You know.

But it's essential.

If you want to stop lying to yourself.

Sincerely,

Look at the mirror.

And we will reassemble next week.

Keep on reminding ourselves.

AJ is saying,

In the mirror you will see everyone.

And you'll realize everyone is just one.

So thank you for your time,

Your attention,

Your beautiful questions.

Looking forward to our next meeting.

Bye-bye.