And the very interesting,
Intriguing question that you can ask yourselves is is there an end to the depth of presence?
And what this question does is that instead of focusing on objective experience on thoughts,
On feelings,
On experience we focus on the presence,
On the spaciousness which allows all experience to be as it is and we ask,
Is there an end to that presence?
And of course the answer changes throughout the spiritual path right now maybe you are feeling a feeling of expansion of diving deep into this presence into this stillness what it does is that the first time the first times we ask ourselves this question we are led from the body-mind from the identity that we believe we are to something deeper,
To something that is aware of the body and the mind evolving,
Growing,
Changing,
Learning and that presence itself,
That awareness itself does not move,
Does not change it simply is ever-present knowing experience as it is when we catch a glimpse of this presence a lot of things can shift at first maybe in a very subtle way but we have tapped into something that is real something that is changeless,
Something that is constant and because our thoughts and our feelings whatever we learn,
Whatever we embody whatever we aim to be on the level of the character,
Of the identity changes and this remains constant therefore the experience of it is a lot more true there is something that happens on the level of the body-mind that wants to know more and more and more about it so we go from exploring beliefs trying to change them,
Becoming better people becoming kinder,
More loving,
Etc.
To exploring what is true beyond our beliefs and here there are different levels of understanding of this deeper truth something that is not knowledge something that is not understandable by the mind that is why there are different levels and one example that I want to give in this talk is seeing at first when we are told you do not see what is,
You see your beliefs about what is that's the first step of recognizing projection recognizing that the mind is somehow twisting what you see to fit your perception of the world what you believe to be there,
What you believe to be true then there is a second step which is seeing beyond the label seeing what is actually there with a quiet mind not knowing,
Not labeling simply being with sight but also every experience a thought,
A feeling,
A person just being with them,
Being this presence observing,
Watching and listening,
Being without preconceived ideas of the situation of the person,
Of who we are and that's another new way of perceiving reality and then there is also a further step which is to understand that what we see is not separate it is not out there and I am here but it is actually this one awareness experiencing itself in a wide variety of forms so then we become closer and closer to this truth in any moment of experience because we know everything as ourself and then the last stage going even deeper is being one with everything knowing that you are not only this body-mind but you are what you see,
Literally you are what you see you are this one being experiencing itself and then you can know that nothing is random everything has a purpose,
A meaning that it's almost like a dream which unfolds and every part of that dream is you and it is there for a particular purpose which you can find out by doing this technique this practice of seeing things as in a dream and this is actually the second phrase the second idea that I want to share to see how it changes along the spiritual path Life is a dream,
Life is a play the first time I heard that it was a very nice idea it opened me up to being more playful to seeing things differently to maybe embody different characters see what they would do in different situations and it was a fun,
A playful exploration that allowed me to let go of my learned patterns about what I believe about myself to try different things,
To get into acting a bit and to be more free in general then the next stage of Life is a Dream or Life is a Play is that we realize that our own character our given character that we are in this world,
In this lifetime is also a character,
The character has beliefs has a childhood,
A history,
People that led to certain discoveries,
Exploration,
Beliefs and so we are a character,
It is actually a play it goes from being a nice idea to being actually true,
Actually real and then it is again this next stage where we see that we are not only the character but we are every character,
Everyone that appears within our awareness is there for a reason and they are a part of us,
They reflect something about us not the mind-body but us as awareness,
Experiencing itself teaching this particular character,
This particular mind-body to become more open,
More free,
More peaceful,
More present and seeing things from a true perspective then there is also another stage where there is no separation between you and the others and this is a stage where the heart opens,
You connect heart to heart and heart to heart,
There is no distance,
That is what we call Love we are knowing this one shared being intimately with another and there is the dissolution of other,
It is simply presence it is simply peaceful loving awareness,
Knowing itself through people through individuals in relationships and the last example that I will give for a phrase is the understanding that we are not trying to change what is but we are trying to remove the resistance to what is and again this is a very nice idea to begin with that what is is fine but I have resistance to it and I am trying to change the resistance but somehow it doesn't really make sense,
At least in my case I wanted the things that I was resisting to change so I was like,
Ok,
I will accept this feeling,
I will accept these thoughts but I would like after that the things that I resist to change and then there is a stage,
This comes after the recognition of our true self this beingness,
This presence,
This awareness that is changeless there is a stage where we actually accept what is it doesn't need to change anymore and there is no resistance to it and then again the final stage is when we see that this thing this situation,
This person,
This challenge is us it is consciousness taking form it is nothing to be accepted,
There is no you and there is no thing that are separate things it is all one unfolding,
Like one dream taking place and I also want to say that getting what I am saying is difficult from one event precisely because there is no end to the depth of presence that's why I do multiple live events,
I have a group on Inside Timer which you can join and I am starting another group in October you can find out more about this on my website which is on my Inside Timer profile and I also offer one to one sessions but really the message is that the depth of presence is endless there is no end to how deep into presence you can go and this understanding affects relationships,
It affects mental and physical health it affects actions and behaviors,
It affects every part of life precisely because this presence,
This awareness is expressing itself through all of these different forms that we experience as humans
