I thought we could begin.
With the sound of a singing bowl.
In a moment.
I'll offer one possible answer to the question of What is God?
What is the universe?
What is reality?
God just to use a term.
But first.
.
.
Think it's meaningful.
To just empty out everything that we're already full of.
For any honest investigation of reality,
God,
The universe,
I think you must be willing to empty out everything that you already know.
And the singing bowl is a good example of this.
When I'm not using it,
I fill it up with quotes,
Little quotes from a daily Zen calendar that I peel off every morning before meditation.
But when the bowl is full,
It can't be played in the way that it was intended to be played.
And of course,
I'm muffling it there a little bit.
You can still play it.
But it's not quite right when it's full.
The only way for it to be played in the way it was meant to be played.
Is for the bowl to be empty.
So here,
Maybe along with a couple deep inhales and exhales.
You could feel yourself emptying the bowl that is your mind and your being as an offering.
Letting go of all these quotes that I love and I do love to use them.
But if I rely on them,
Then I can't really allow the sound.
Of God to play through me in the most pure way.
I'll play the sound of the ball.
If you like,
Your eyes can be closed for a moment.
They don't have to be,
But you could just see.
Would the eyes like to be closed?
And if they would like to,
You can allow them to close.
I think I'll allow mine to close.
Maybe a few more deep inhales.
And exhales.
And then I will play the sound.
All of us together just becoming the sound until it dissolves.
In three.
To 1.
You and then very gradually if your eyes were closed you can just No rush.
Just wait until they might like to reopen and just kind of allow them to do that on their own whenever they want to.
Whenever the eyes close and then reopen,
It's an opportunity.
To awaken.
To experience vision directly,
Not what I think I see,
But what I actually see.
C capital S C.
So.
.
.
What is God?
One way of possibly answering that question.
I was meeting with a therapy client recently in our first meeting.
So our initial consultation,
Seeing if he wanted to work with me.
He said he was looking for the final piece of the puzzle.
That over the past many years he had been meditating and reading all the different traditions and learning and piecing things together and he felt like there was just one piece.
That was missing,
That felt elusive.
And he wanted my help to find it,
To figure out what it might be,
And finally put that piece together,
Complete the puzzle.
And so then I offered a possible answer,
Maybe a disappointing answer,
But a possible answer to what that final piece might be.
And before I say it,
Do you have any guess as to what it might be?
What's a possible solution to that final missing piece?
What might the final missing piece of the big puzzle be?
And so my.
.
.
Offering was that it might be that you are the final missing piece of the puzzle in our situation,
That he.
.
.
Himself was the final missing piece of the puzzle.
And while that could be empowering and liberating,
You have it already.
You have the peace.
You can put it together.
There is a way in which I think that is disappointing or there's a bit of a loss.
If that is the case,
That I am the missing piece.
Because there's probably a part of me that has become attached.
To putting the puzzle together as something that I can stand back from and witness in its totality.
There it is.
It all makes sense.
There's the puzzle.
If I'm the missing piece.
I can never witness it.
I have to willingly enter the puzzle and become a part of it.
And yes,
I complete it.
This missing space is just my size,
But that means I can never stand back from it and see the whole thing.
And I think that is maybe what you might call the spiritual problem.
You are the missing piece.
So feel free to let me know if that resonates with you.
And maybe what might be what might be a barrier.
To allowing yourself to be the missing piece.
It could be different barriers.
It could be the loss of that pursuit.
It could be,
I don't feel worthy to be the missing piece.
It could be anything.
So thank you for exploring with me.
Hope that helps in some way.
And see you next time.
