How To Find Inner Peace Through Spiritual Awakening

A light-hearted and informal talk designed to introduce some of the basic principles of spiritual awakening, delivered in a digestible and accessible way that guides gently towards a true spiritual experience. The main principle outlined and proposed in this talk are Presence and Nonduality and the intention is to guide listeners to inner peace, happiness and serenity. This talk contains brief meditative practices that one can learn and practice outside of the talk.

Transcript

First, Become very aware of the present moment. Whatever your experience of the present is, Simply be very aware of it. Everything your senses are receiving, The sensations in the body, The environment around you, All of your thoughts, Feelings, All of the narratives and stories in your mind, The sense of there being an outside world and an inside world, All of this is an experience in the present moment. There is no next moment. Have you ever noticed that? There's no next moment. It never actually begins. We can imagine that there is a next moment. We can predict or anticipate or think about the future. But when we really focus our attention into the present and keep it there, We realize that all of our imagination about the future is just that, Imagination. We're so used to thinking about life in terms of time, Endlessly ruminating on the past, Worrying about the future, And it's very rare we have an opportunity to simply stop, Focus on reality, And see clearly that this thing we call time is actually an illusion. As an experiment, So that you can really experience this for yourself and not just take my word for it, Bring your awareness entirely into the here and now, Whatever the here and now contains, And see if you can pinpoint the exact moment that now becomes next. Really pay very close attention to the present and really look for that thing called the future. At what point does now become next? Is there a ticking over? Do we go somewhere for it to be the future? What actually happens? When does this start? So what if, Upon this realization, We could decide that actually, From here on, The experience of life is going to be much more simple, Much more peaceful, And much more serene, By simply devoting more attention to the present than to the future, Now that it's clearly seen there's no such thing as the future? What's all the worry about? Why the anticipation? Why the prediction? Some planning and organization might be necessary for the functioning of life, But only a small amount. With the majority of attention focused on the here and now, Life becomes far more peaceful, Far happier, Far less cluttered by psychological material. Enlightenment, Really, Is the removal of that which was endarkening experience, And that which endarkens experience is the noise and clamor of the mind. When attention is focused entirely into the present moment, The mind begins to fall silent. It starts to evaporate, Revealing, Shining brightly underneath. Consciousness itself. With attention still in the present moment, See if you can pinpoint the exact moment that the now becomes the previous moment. A huge amount of our psychological turmoil results from this phenomena of something called memory. And as we spend so much time thinking about the past, Why not see if any such thing actually exists? So when does the now become the previous? This may leave us, However, With memories in the present moment, Which results in something of a paradox. Isn't it curious that even when thinking about the future or thinking about the past, It's happening in the present? It has to be. Your experience is always in the now. You cannot have an experience that isn't now. Even if you're thinking about the future or the past, It's still now. Memories, We could consider to simply be evidence of experiences. But memories are not evidence of the past. They are evidence of experiences, And that's different. Whether experiencing something in the present or remembering experiences both happen in the present. Allow yourself to feel the remarkable relief of this. This is the relief experienced through spiritual awakening. It is simply seeing reality as it actually is. To remove all of the illusions of the mind. To drop our delusional concepts about reality and about ourselves. True spiritual awakening is simply seeing reality clearly. That's why it's called awakening. You wake up from the dream. This is not a concept. This is not an idea. You are experiencing this now. Although you can read about spiritual awakening and inner peace and meditative practice in books or listen to talks or watch videos, The important thing is to have an experience yourself. Because you can doubt what you hear. You can even doubt what you think. But you can't doubt your experience. So let's examine experience itself and see if we can't nudge ourselves a little closer to this true awakening. Become aware of your current experience. We've already allowed ourselves to drop away any of these thoughts about future and past. And this leaves us with the raw, Unprocessed experience of now. And allow yourself the entirety of the now. A sense of inclusion. Everything you can see, Hear, Touch, Taste. What is the temperature in the room? How does the body feel? What are the sensations of breathing currently? What is your perception of the environment and external world? You can even allow all of your thoughts, Imagination, Narratives to simply be in the mind. Just don't really get so involved. The mind has had enough of our attention. And now we have an opportunity to pay less attention to the mind. Although we can still allow it to be there. The mind is not a threat. It's not a problem. It's just annoying sometimes. Allow the mind to be there. Just don't be so involved. And let's cleanse the lens of perception of the present experience. By recognising very clearly that you can observe the present moment without analysing it. We have been taught and conditioned to believe that to observe something is to analyse it, To label it, To categorise it, And to interpret it. But if we remove that conditioning, We find that actually it's possible to simply observe without any of this mind activity added. It's possible to simply be conscious of your experience without trying to decide if the experience is good or bad, Right or wrong, Comfortable or uncomfortable, Preferable or not preferable. We don't have to collect our experience and organise it into some kind of narrative or story. None of that is necessary. You were taught that you have to do that, And you don't. All of this mind activity has got us tied up in knots, Causes us a great deal of suffering, And it's utterly unnecessary. Rediscover your power. Rediscover your ability to simply be consciously aware of experience without adding any analysis, Without attaching to anything, Without collecting or storing anything. Simply let things be as they are and just remain as a very impartial, Neutral witness A good metaphor for this is to become like the audience member who previously was incredibly invested in the play on the stage, But now becoming less and less interested in the play. So all of the narratives and stories in the mind, While it's still going on, In the same way that a play on stage can continue, It can unfold, Play itself out. But as an audience member, You can choose whether to be invested or not. Just a sense of checking out of this, Just for now, Just for now. And instead, Taking this moment to rest a little. Finally, An opportunity to step out of the exhausting stream of thoughts. The endless need to analyze and control everything. Just let that go. It's not necessary. It never has been. And we're not trying to rush anywhere. This can be a very gradual thing, Gradual process. That's fine. Just gently, Gently lose interest in the content of experience and beginning here to become more interested in consciousness itself. This ability to observe is not mind activity. It is not the mind that is conscious of experience. Consciousness is aware of the mind. And that's what we're noticing now. We're not creating anything or even learning a new concept. Instead, As an experience for yourself, Begin to notice consciousness, Meaning the awareness of experience. What is the awareness? We're often very interested in the experience. What is the awareness? Before we explore pure conscious awareness any deeper, One final thing about how the mind interprets reality. One of the first pieces of conditioning that the mind receives in our life is this idea of separation. The mind perceives the world as a multiplicity of separate, Divided things. Recognize that this is not inherent to reality. The idea of separate objects is simply a mechanism that the mind overlays over its perceptions. It does this in order to better understand things. The mind likes categories. The mind likes to divide things up so that it can break it down to digest in chunks. That is why the mind does this. It is innocent in doing this. It's just doing its job. The mind is very good at its job. We have to recognize this. The mind does its job perfectly. Our suffering begins when we make the mistake of identifying with the mind. We think we are the mind and we assume the mind is accurate in all of its perceptions. But this is not so. The mind has created this concept of separate objects and we have assumed that this perception is correct. But now we are re-examining that assumption because that assumption is the one that is causing all the suffering on earth. I mean it. It might seem harmless, This belief in separation, Separate objects, Until we recognize that the mind, Being a genius, Also wants to understand its own nature. And so when the mind analyzes itself, It applies the same division, Separation and categorization that it does to the external world. Therefore, The mind considers the body and brain to be a separate object, Something outside of the universe, Something divided and categorized. The mind then ascribes qualities and properties to the body and brain and it's this activity that is the origin of the vast amount of our suffering. Because the mind can see that all of these appearing objects are always changing and are temporary. And applying this very same understanding to itself, The mind then becomes terrifying of its own inference. The mind becomes terrified of its own inference, Meaning it suddenly believes itself to be mortal. Because the mind is always looking for threats to keep itself safe from and problems to solve, It begins to see the entire world as a threat or a problem. This is why we feel so anxious and stressed. We have identified with a mind that's primary job is to analyze, Avoid and mitigate threats and recognize, Understand and solve problems. By identifying with that very small element of our experience, We have come to believe that the universe, The world, The body and mind is both a threat and a problem, And it's not. The reality is that you are not the mind. You are consciousness. Consciousness is aware of the mind. Without the mind present, Consciousness can clearly see that there is no division, There is no separation, There are no categories. Everything is one single unified whole. And because the entire universe is a single unified whole, A process unfolding, Consciousness can clearly see there is no threat and there is no problem. Existence is not a threat to itself. Existence is not a threat to itself. And you are this existence. Because the mind has created the illusion of time and space, We feel as though we are a tiny, Tiny little thing in a vast universe and that we exist for a split second, A split second of time. But the mind has forgotten that it created the illusion of time and space. So it's now terrified of its own delusion. Again, This is the mind doing what it naturally does. The mistake is our identification with it. We have forgotten our true nature. It's the forgetting of our true nature that is causing suffering. This is why the Hindus speak of self-realization. It's a realization of your true nature. Waking up to your original, Accurate being. Again, The important thing isn't to read about this or hear about this or even think about this. The important thing is to experience this. So let's take a look at how we're going to do that. We have already begun to unravel and detach from our identification with experience by first bringing ourselves into the present moment and then noticing the awareness of the present moment. So be very aware of the current experience, Including the mind activity. And do not be frustrated if you can't help but still see things as separate, Temporary, Ever-changing, Finite objects. That's simply how it appears. As a side note, It's incredibly important to recognize just how fallible our perceptions are. And we know this if you simply think of optical illusions, Visual illusions that look like one thing until somebody points out there's multiple images in the same picture. And you can see that, Yes, Perception can be fooled. It is fallible. It's not always accurate. That's exactly what happens during spiritual awakening. It's the same experience, You're just seeing it now from both perspectives. You can see it from the perspective of the temporary, Finite mind, Which is what we have been doing. Or we can witness experience from the position of pure conscious awareness, The neutral, Impartial observer. And the experience appears much the same, Except the energetic charge has completely shifted. Simply by altering the position of identification. You're no longer identifying with the mind, The body, The brain, The narrative, The story, And instead identifying as pure consciousness. Simple, Yes, Easy, Well that's another story. You might find it remarkably easy. It does happen. Many seekers just spontaneously get it. It happens all the time. All the time on planet Earth. I just have this theory that the vast majority of people who truly awaken simply never speak about it. A true, Full, And complete spiritual awakening is very quiet. Silent, Even. And so you only hear about the few instances where people decided to talk about it, Or were discovered in some way. So to really feel this for yourself, As the disinterested, Impartial audience member witnessing experience, Become more and more interested in this awareness itself. What is it to be conscious? This can be quite similar to noticing the canvas on which the painting is painted. It can be almost impossible to see the canvas because it's covered in paint. But all you have to do is look closer and alter what it is that you're focusing on, And you become more and more aware of the canvas. So what if you could become very aware of the awareness that is facilitating experience? Just as you couldn't have a painting without a canvas. You can't have experience without consciousness. I'll say that again. Just as you can't have a painting without a canvas. You can't have experience without consciousness. Again, The important thing is to have this experience for yourself. So if you take any element of your current experience, Whether it's a perception, A thought, A sensation, An image in the mind, Whatever it is, Simply be aware of it, Recognize it as an experience. Don't go any more complicated than that. We are not trying to analyze anything, Categorize anything, Not interpreting things or labeling things. We're just aware of experience and keep it simple. Just notice it's an experience. And the experience you could think of like paint and the awareness of the experience you could consider to be like canvas. Notice the canvas. Now, Recognizing that all of our experiences feel very separate. For example, You might look at a blue sky and notice the sensation of the socks on your feet, Whilst also hearing the sounds around you and feeling the temperature on your skin and having a thought in your mind about what to have for dinner tonight. All of these experiences feel very different from each other. But notice that each of these experiences are like strokes of paint. They might be different colors, Different textures, Different sizes. But they're all paint. And they are all on canvas. Meaning every single one of your experiences takes place in awareness. Awareness has to be present. It has to be in order for there to be an experience. It is simply not possible to have an experience you are not aware you are having. And you are demonstrating this to yourself. This is undeniable. This doesn't require practice, Doesn't require faith, Doesn't require even meditation. You are experiencing it for yourself. You can go to any element of your current experience in the present moment and see very clearly that the experience is a modulation of consciousness. All that has been happening previously is that you're so focused on these elements of experience that you have completely forgotten the canvas underneath. Just as many people, There could be thousands and thousands of people visiting an art gallery to see a beautiful Van Gogh painting every single day. And day by day by day, Not a single person notices the canvas on which the painting is painted. They just see an image, Beautiful as it is. They see the image, Not the reality. The reality is paint on canvas. All we are doing here is seeing reality clearly. All experience is awareness. Now, If you can, Allow all current experience to merge together into a single experience. You could consider this to be like a collage on the canvas. As though you're zooming the picture out so that everything just blurs together. Meaning we're no longer trying to separate or divide experience up. So do not consider your vision to be any different to your bodily sensations. Do not consider the thoughts in your mind to be different to what you can hear. Do not consider your emotions to be different from the temperature on your skin. And realize in order to do this, All you have to do is withdraw the activity of the mind. To see things clearly, To see reality as it actually is, Is not an action. It's actually the ceasing of a previous action. The action of the mind to divide, Categorize, Label, Analyze, That's an action. It takes effort. It takes a huge amount of effort. Give yourself a break. Let go. Let go. Let everything be. Let everything hang out. Remove these frameworks. Remove these concepts. Remove these illusions and delusions. Remove this chaos, This frantic nature of the mind. And open yourself to the beautiful texture of this single collage. One singular unified energy. Give the mind a holiday. It's done enough work. And the Lord knows it's exhausted. So give the mind a holiday. You don't need it. Simply sink into this consciousness that is aware of this unified experience. Even removing this concept of internal and external world. In reality, No such separation exists. In the reality of the universe, There's no inner and outer. It's one space. We share this. So this entire collage now, Nice and simple, Vivid, Colorful. Even if your emotional world at the moment is less than ideal, That's okay. Just notice that as a texture in the collage. All is well. Now this is a powerful step into awakening. But why not complete this now? The true peace and bliss that arises from this new perspective is by recognizing that awareness itself does not suffer from experience. The mind suffers from experience because it analyzes everything. And once it's decided something is unbearable, Impossible, Too much, Too difficult, Unacceptable, That's when suffering occurs. But when the mind is not present and consciousness is simply aware of experience, There's no more resistance, No more avoidance. There is just a total, Serene acceptance of what is. When J. D. Krishnamurti was on his deathbed, His followers gathered round and said, Is there one final teaching you have for us? What's the secret? He said, I do have a final teaching, Actually. And they all gathered round very intently. He said, My secret is this. I don't mind what happens. As simple as that. Don't mind. The qualities of consciousness are that it allows all things. It is not disturbed by anything. Just as the canvas doesn't have a preference about what is painted on it. It's just neutral and simply receives the paint. Sorry to mix metaphors here. But another very powerful analogy is like the sky as it relates to the weather is exactly how consciousness relates to experience. Often we look at the sky and we only see the weather and we assume that the weather is the sky. But the sky is actually the space in which the weather appears. And the sky doesn't mind what weather is present. The sky is simply the empty, Open space in which everything is free to pass through. Light clouds, Dark clouds, Stormy weather, Clear weather. The sky has no preference. You are like this. The consciousness that is aware of experience doesn't actually prefer one experience over another. The mind does to a massive extent because it's doing its job to try and mitigate threats, To try and solve problems. This is why it gets itself tangled in knots. Because the ultimate reality is that there are no threats. There are no problems. These are things the mind has conjured into existence and now suffers from its own projection. Simply be the sky, Be the space, Be conscious awareness. The more you can disengage from the frantic busyness of experience and simply be free and open to witness and observe experience unfold, The happier you will be. You will be peaceful. You will be liberated. Knowing that you have discovered your true nature, Regardless of what happens. Just as the sky is not permanently coloured or damaged by whichever weather has occurred within it, It's exactly the same with consciousness. You are not damaged. There's nothing wrong with you. Nothing has gone wrong. Everything is perfectly managed in this empty space. You are not the story that you have assumed that you are. You are far greater than that. Far greater. The initial mistake was assuming that you are confined and constricted within this claustrophobic body and brain. That's the only error. I can't help but wonder if the story of Adam and Eve biting from the tree of knowledge, The fruit of the tree of knowledge, Is essentially that. Is that not the fall of man? We were perfectly serene and peaceful until we got overly involved in our knowledge, In the mind, In thinking. Everything was fine until the mind came along. There were no problems on earth before the neocortex. That neocortex has a lot to answer for. Oh dear. Oh dear. So each of us at some point assume, Assume that we are the mind. So each of us bears this. The original fall. We were tempted, Were we not? Tempted by the mind. Maybe I can figure things out a little better than anyone else. Maybe I can get ahead. Maybe I can get an advantage. Maybe I can make myself permanently safe forever. That's the temptation of the mind. And how ironic it is that eventually we find the peace and happiness that the mind was seeking outwards is actually found inwards. Peace and happiness is not something that the mind discovers and creates. We simply recognize that the mind was actually obscuring our peace and happiness this whole time. In trying to resolve all of our problems, The mind inadvertently has created all of our problems. What if we could just let it go? Return to source. Return to the original nature. Return to self, Which is this pure, Empty, Open consciousness. Spit the fruit from the tree of knowledge back out. We bit into it, Gave it a taste, Chewed it and decided blech. Nope, Not for me, Thanks. Not for me. And therein regain your divinity. I mean it. That's your soul. The pure, Empty, Blissful, Conscious awareness at peace. Immortal. Not fragile. I mean, If you look at it clearly, There's always been an intuition, Hasn't there? That there's something else, There's something greater. It seems so clear that what we see, What we perceive, This world, There's just something off, Right? It doesn't quite make sense. No matter how many billions of dollars and pounds are put into science, They never quite reach a satisfactory conclusion about what all this even is. And when we observe our own experience of life, Try and figure it out, For all of our philosophy, We find the mind never comes to a satisfactory answer. But there is a deep intuition, A knowing. A knowing that there is something in you or about you that isn't necessarily the body. I mean, Many religions or philosophies or doctrines might conceptualise that the soul is something that is housed within the body. But it's not, Is it? If it was, We'd have found it by now. It's so clear, It's so obvious. The soul is all around us, The spirit, It's the unseen world. Only we've been trying to perceive the spirit and the unseen world through our limited faculties, Through the faculties of the body and brain. And naturally, It can't be found like that, In the same way that a magnifying glass can't look at itself. Like a microscope can see anything to its very essence, But a microscope cannot do that to itself. It's exactly what's happening, It's why we never find it. We never find the meaning of life and we never find what reality is. We never find an end to our problems, Because we're looking in the wrong direction. You return, You actually pull your attention back to source. Do you find that it was there all along? It's why so many gurus and teachers have very famous phrases along the lines of what you are looking for is where you are looking from. That's Saint Francis of Assisi, But there are many, Many examples. Meister Eckhart said, Inside each of us is a great silence that beckons us into itself. And if we listen to this silence, We might learn the language of heaven. That's all I do. I simply listen to this silence. Naturally, The mind isn't going to like this. And this is why so many spiritual practices and processes in order to awaken and enlighten actually begin once you've already had this realization. It's as though you have a realization, You have an intuition, You have an awakening, You experience a brief glimpse of enlightenment. And then the mind then sets about trying to find a way to make it make sense. And a lot of spiritual seeking is just like that. A little bit like a thief dressing up as a policeman and then joining in with the police task force that's looking for the thief. Very clever. Very, Very clever. Only at some point, The thief then forgets he's the thief and actually believes he's one of the policemen. And if that happens, Well, It's almost as though we have to begin the entire process again. Thank you for listening to the first of my talks on this subject. I hope some of it's been useful. I hope some of it's been helpful. But after this talk is over, Don't be so quick to go and rush back in to the mind, To all of the stories, All of the narratives, The idea of consciousness being generated by the brain. Test it for yourself. Go for a while just examining, Am I the experience or am I the consciousness that is aware of the experience? And if I am this consciousness, What is this consciousness? Therein, You will find your answers. Thank you so much for listening to me. Take care, Be well and stay present.