1: Listening To This Talk With Full Attention Is Meditating
This audio is made from the recordings of Cico's live sessions via Insight Timer. Everything is improvised; that is, Cico speaks directly about what he perceives. The talk covers various topics, and it is impossible to summarize in the title, which allows only 60 characters. The immensity of the deep talk outweighs any keywords that can be placed in the title. This talk demands one's full attention to listen, listening without any purpose or direction, perceiving while listening. Please do it first and find out what will happen. This is the first episode in the year of 2025.
Transcript
Is one willing to drop all one's pleasures instantly?
This is not a question for one to imagine,
But rather to act in the real action to answer this question.
Is one willing to drop all the pleasure instantly?
Why is the mind entangled in pleasure?
That entangling state of the mind is perhaps the factor of various corruption.
It is necessary to make it clear that we don't condemn pleasure,
But rather can we put aside all the pleasure?
And when one is doing that,
Observe what the mind is going through.
Why is it so occupied with various things?
The fact is that one has nothing.
But why does pleasure become something that the mind cling to and seek in various ways?
Why is the mind running away from the fact that it has nothing?
Running away from the fact,
There must be struggle.
Because the mind wants to preserve some illusion,
Wanting to make it permanent,
There is constant struggle for the mind to deny the fact.
The mind is in a state of compulsion,
Endless compulsion.
Therefore it becomes restless,
Seeking its own fulfillment,
Satisfaction,
Gratification.
But in the end,
There is nothing.
And can one see the fact as it is?
See the fact without being sentimental,
Emotional,
Or judgmental.
Just see the fact and stay with it.
So,
That's why it is something very serious for one to study,
Investigate this constant indulgement with pleasure.
One is living in a dreamy,
Illusory state.
The whole society is encouraging and cultivating various forms of pleasure.
If pleasure has no issues,
We wouldn't have discussed here.
When the mind is indulged in pleasure,
There is fear.
One can perceive it.
The mind is trapped in something that is illusory,
Though there is nothing.
And that something brings a sense of possessiveness,
Wanting to keep it,
Making it permanent,
But also has a fear of losing it.
And fear has become a tremendous thing in the world,
Where pleasure is encouraged and cultivated in every way,
Through the commercialism,
Consumerism,
Seeking fulfillment,
Satisfaction,
Any form of instant pleasure makes the mind impatient.
That constant fulfillment gives the mind a false sense of security,
And the mind becomes conditioned to that.
The sense of fear of losing something,
Not achieving,
Not arriving,
Has permeated the whole living.
Fear cripples the mind.
In fear,
The mind,
The whole neuron system,
Cannot function properly.
That's something obvious,
Isn't it?
Rather than dealing with fear,
One runs away from fear by seeking more pleasure,
Fulfillment,
Satisfaction,
And all that.
But fear is always there.
Fear and pleasure go hand in hand.
Fear and pleasure are two sides of the same coin.
The more one is into pleasure,
The more one is into fear.
So the mind thinks that it can escape from the fear by running into pleasure,
Only in actuality bringing more fear.
Please see this very deceptive thinking,
Which is also very convenient.
Running away from something is very convenient.
But here,
We are all dealing with the fact.
The fact is not a product of thoughts.
The fact is beyond any specific way of thinking.
Running away from something is one way of thinking.
But the fact is not that.
So one must perceive instantly the truth of this fact.
Pleasure and fear are two sides of the same coin.
Pleasure is very enticing and attractive,
Isn't it?
The instant fulfillment,
Satisfaction,
Is such a force that one cannot resist.
But one must see the consequence of it,
The danger of it.
When the mind is intoxicated with the fulfillment,
It cannot perceive the danger.
Because the danger demands a silent mind,
A quiet mind to see.
When the mind is pursuing pleasure,
The mind is not quiet,
The mind is very hot.
Can the mind be quiet to see the danger?
When the mind sees the danger,
It has different actions,
Brand new actions.
It's something very natural,
Isn't it?
When one perceives danger,
There is instant action.
What prevents the mind from seeing the danger?
The danger means utter confusion,
Confusion.
Conflict,
Loneliness,
Meaninglessness,
Various issues,
A life crippled by fear,
All in all,
Suffering.
When the mind is so engaged with pleasure,
It keeps deceiving itself and cannot see the danger.
When the mind is pursuing pleasure,
As we said,
The mind has tremendous fear.
And the fear continues enhancing the self-centeredness.
When there's a fear,
There is a self-concern.
When there's self-concern,
The mind cannot function properly.
When the mind has tremendous self-concern,
The mind is paralyzed.
When there's self-concern,
There's worry,
There's anxiety,
Various reactions,
Emotions,
And the person becomes low-spirited.
When the mind can function properly,
There's no self-concern.
Therefore,
There's no fear.
But when the mind is pursuing pleasure,
Craving the experience of pleasure,
There's also self-concern.
It is the me,
The ego,
That is asking for pleasure and experiencing the pleasure.
So the protagonist of the pleasure and fear is the ego itself.
The ego,
The me,
Is the source of all human issues,
Which are not only manifested in human beings in these psychological issues,
But also the great destruction on earth.
So behind this constant struggle of fear and pleasure is the activities of the ego,
The me.
The sense of my things,
My pleasure,
My fulfillment,
My gratification,
My fear,
And all that.
All those things are the abstractions made by thoughts,
Concepts,
Theories,
Ideas.
What place do those things have in one's daily living?
All the ego,
The self,
Has no place at all.
But why has the me,
The self,
Become so dominant?
The whole society is based on the ego,
And that concept has become the dominant concept.
Why has the me,
The self,
Become so entrenched?
Perhaps that is also the reason the consumerism and the commercialism become so preposterous.
The whole commercial world is the activities of the me,
The self.
And why does one accept that?
Why does one accept the ego as something normal?
As we said earlier today,
Pleasure is so attractive,
The instant fulfillment,
Gratification.
And the whole society,
Which becomes so commercial,
Keeps cultivating it.
That becomes the culture.
The culture is quoted,
One is imitating and conforming.
And in that imitation and conformity,
The mind feels this is normal.
Can the brain be aware of this conditioning?
Here,
We are dealing with the fact,
Which is beyond any conditioning.
A conditioned mind cannot see the fact.
Can the mind be free from all conditionings?
A conditioned mind does not know what it means to be down-to-earth.
When the mind is really down-to-earth,
There is no conditioning,
Because the mind is aware of its own conditionings.
When the mind is conditioned,
As most people are,
Thoughts are functioning there in a very deceptive way,
Distorting the perception.
Why do human beings allow this situation to happen?
That is,
Thoughts become so rampant.
Thoughts are everywhere.
Is that because there is constant worship for thoughts?
Thoughts condition the mind,
And the mind worships thoughts.
Please see the loop,
The pattern.
It is one process.
The mind worships thoughts,
And thoughts condition the mind.
And thoughts bring about pleasure.
We do not condemn anything,
But rather,
When we observe this fact,
Pleasure is the product of thoughts.
Seeking pleasure,
Worshiping thoughts are the same thing.
And thoughts condition the mind,
Therefore,
Isolating the mind from the fact.
Lost in thoughts,
The mind is confused in contradiction,
Conflict,
And these issues manifest in the suffering of all human beings.
Can one observe all those for oneself,
Without being influenced by anybody,
Including the speaker?
Can one perceive all the mischiefs of thoughts in the form of pleasure and fear in one's living?
Thoughts,
As knowledge,
Have their places in the living,
But psychologically,
Do they have a place?
If they do,
As most people are living that way,
There is a so-called psychological world.
The me is the center,
And our living is conditioned to that.
That world is a make-believe world created by thoughts in the form of pleasure and fear.
It becomes something,
Though the fact is that it is nothing.
And believing that it is something,
The mind is lost and trapped,
Busy dealing with various issues that never end.
So can one perceive the fact that it is nothing?
Please don't translate the statement made by the speaker into an idea.
Then you are lost again.
Can you listen and find out for yourself?
When the mind listens to the statement,
Can the mind perceive the truth of it?
Can one feel the fact that it is so?
Otherwise,
The so-called fact is merely an idea.
An idea is never factual.
So can one feel it in one's heart and blood that the fact is fact?
All of those demand a mind that is quiet and silent.
Only a silent mind can see nothing as nothing.
Otherwise,
The mind,
Which is conditioned by thoughts,
Always sees nothing as something.
And is that the root of all issues?
Can a mind be free from all conditionings so it can see nothing as nothing?
When the mind sees nothing as nothing,
All is finished.
Can the mind end this continuity?
There is beauty in the ending something.
A seeking mind is trapped in the continuity for fulfillment,
Satisfaction,
Bringing the illusory sense of something which is nothing.
Can the mind break through all that,
The facade of various illusions?
There is something that is nothing.
Can the mind be free of all the burdens?
Don't imagine it.
Act to find out for yourself.
Can the mind break up with the continuity brought about by the accumulative thoughts?
Just be quiet.
There is nothing.
And it is a fact.
When the mind can see the fact,
There is only this moment.
The past and the future are all thought processes.
One can have an appointment tomorrow,
But psychologically there is no past,
No future.
It's only now.
Seeing the fact and perceiving the fact as it is demands one's diligence.
And a full commitment to truth.
Truth is never a product of thoughts.
Truth is the perception of the fact as fact.
