A very big aloha.
My name is Reverend Cindy Palos and it's very good to be here with you today.
And I wanted to talk about nothing.
Now I could just stop right there,
Right?
But in Zen practice,
Nothing is a very interesting subject.
There's been a lot based on the simple precept of nothingness.
And in some cases,
Something to attain is nothingness.
Now,
Here's the question.
It's a very Zen-like question.
How do you attain nothingness,
Right?
How do you attain nothing?
You can't,
Right?
So part of Zen is one hand clapping.
How does one hand clap?
Nothingness,
What is no thing.
And there's so much you can delve into when you break down the word nothing into no thing.
Now,
Because there's no thing doesn't mean that there's nothing.
There's no thing.
There's still energy,
Right?
There's energy of sorts.
And there's still life,
Right?
There's still this beingness,
Right?
Even with no thing.
And the amazing thing is you can exist.
You can exist in this beautiful array of no thing and still be able to experience everything.
And nothing is everything to a degree,
Right?
And you get to that point where you're not attached to one thing.
You're no particular thing,
But you are everything.
And then you go beyond and you go beyond and you go beyond till you get to no thing again.
It's a fascinating subject.
And it's so much has been really practiced about no thing and nothingness.
I wrote a poem about no thing and nothing just the other day,
Because it is something you can delve into that goes very,
Very,
Very deep.
You can imagine,
Right?
With no thing,
How deep can you go?
You can go very deep.
So let's try to experience no thing.
And I have to admit,
It's hard to talk when you're experiencing no thing and or nothing.
But even in the nothingness,
There's the breath,
Right?
There's the awareness,
There's sounds.
Even in no thing right now,
I can hear birds singing outside.
In nothingness,
There's still something.
So you go into different levels of nothingness.
And you can go into the deeper levels of nothing deeper and deeper and deeper.
But as you do,
You'll find that the mind seeks to attach to whatever in that state of nothingness,
Whatever it can attach to.
And so it will drift,
You know,
From sound or perhaps some thought.
Even if you think you're in nothing or no thing,
These clouds,
These thoughts can drift by.
And if you've been meditating,
You're aware of this,
You learn not to get attached to the passing thoughts or the passing clouds.
And one of the best ways to do this is to go to that state of observation,
The observer.
Now the observer isn't the regular thinking mind.
The observer is a higher,
Higher state of mind,
A deeper state of mind that goes to a higher level of your awareness that can be the watcher,
The observer.
Very interesting state that goes very deep as well.
Now,
Is the observer that nothingness state?
Well,
You probably answered no,
Right?
Because in the observer,
There's still impressions being taken in and passing through.
So there's still that awareness of that.
So what would go beyond the observer state?
Where would we go beyond the observer?
Well,
There's the soul or the energy state.
Now the energy state is a wonderful state.
I love that soul state,
The energy,
Where it's all energy.
Now in the energy state,
There's still the existence that can come into that state as well.
So you have levels of just the energy state as well.
And where does that energy state go to?
Or is it just there?
Is it just existence?
So that could take you,
If you were following it,
Some destination that you had set to go to,
To go to nothingness.
What an interesting destination to set.
And then there's just the energy of beingness.
Now the best way to experience this is to really go into meditation,
Because at some point in beingness,
In the energy state,
The words get in the way.
The words disappear.
But let's just travel with our breath in meditation state.
Let's follow our breath.
And bring that breath sweeps mind,
Just breathing,
Being comfortable,
Sitting abrectly,
Letting the energy flow from your head to your toes.
And just let the energy be aware of that to give it something to do,
Right?
Be aware of your toes,
And your ankles,
And your feet,
And your calves,
And your knee,
And your thighs,
And the base of your spine,
And the whole spine,
And all of the chakras,
All the way up,
All the way through you,
Up to the top,
Up to the top,
Through the heart,
In the neck,
Into the head.
And just be aware of that energy that is outside the aura.
And make sure that aura and that energy outside has got a beautiful protective white light surrounding you,
Head to toe,
Side to side,
Front to back.
And be aware of that wonderful field of protective energy light.
And now allow yourself to just let go,
Just letting go.
Allow that energy field that you are to travel to the source of its energy field,
Like attracting like energy,
Returning to source of energy.
And see where and how that takes you.
Allow that journey of energy to be present.
And see how far that energy will lead you with your eyes closed.
And feeling that beautiful,
No-thing state.
How precious,
Beyond preciousness,
Is.
Now,
I'd like to suggest that there is in no thing or nothing,
That there is absolutely everything.
This very amazing connection.
High energy,
Low energy,
Front,
Back,
All energy.
How amazing is all energy,
The source of all.
And the source of all energy.
How do you observe nothing?
And allow yourself to just be aware.
Come slowly back to your breath.
The breathing pattern you have right now.
And maintain that thread of no thing and everything as you come back to your conscious mind.
And be aware of being aware.
As you come back to yourself and your personality and your body and your presence and everything that you are.
See if you can remember to write down what your awareness was of nothing.
It's a beautiful,
Great gift.
And I thank you so much and bow in gratitude to you.
For journeying in that inner space that takes you to who you truly are.
Deep blessings always.
