In this talk I want to share with you the difference between relative reality and absolute reality.
Now thoughts and beliefs,
Thoughts about things,
About objects,
About people,
About events,
Past,
Present,
Future,
Imaginations,
Memories,
These have relative truths.
You have had some experiences,
A memory of it or you're imagining some future things.
Memory can't really even be truth.
Memories are distorted in many ways,
Beliefs as well,
Limited by culture,
Perspective and so on.
So thought,
Just I want you to have the awareness that thought is not fundamental.
However,
Recognition that you are thinking,
The awareness of thinking is fundamental.
The fact that you're aware that there are thoughts and there are beliefs,
That is more fundamental than the thought and the belief itself.
Now let me repeat that.
The thought that you're having about something or someone,
Could have been an event that happened yesterday or a year ago or 10 years ago,
That has some relative importance than reality but the recognition that you are thinking of that is of higher order.
It's a metacognitive quality that is closer to truth,
To reality than the thought itself.
Another example is awareness of sensations in your body.
Whatever sensation that may be,
Whether it's warmth,
Coolness,
Tinkling,
Pain,
Pleasure,
Whatever is just awareness of that is of higher order than the thought that says,
Okay,
I am in pain or some story that you could generate,
The thought that you generate about the sensations.
That thought has relative reality whereas the awareness,
Pure awareness of that sensation is of higher order.
Essentially all awareness is of higher order than what is being,
What you're aware of because you're rising above thought,
The fundamental level.
Awareness is more fundamental than the experience.
The awareness of an experience is of higher order and closer to reality,
To truth,
Than the experience itself.
To understand this,
Let's look at an example.
In particular,
Let's look at an example of you having a problem with someone and you generate a mental concept of that person.
You make them wrong,
You make them bad,
You make them whatever and you become so absorbed in that mental concept of that person that you completely get lost in that thought,
In that argument and this could be something that's happened in the past,
That you become that thought.
You are so identified with that thought and so identified with that story that you have completely lost yourself.
What I call object consciousness,
The object is that thought about that person.
You have turned them into a concept,
To a mental concept and you are interacting with that mental concept in your head.
You have lost touch with reality at that moment.
However,
When you recognize that you're thinking and you have turned that person into an object of a mental concept and you rise above and observe that mental process,
You have detached yourself,
De-identified from the thought itself,
Then you have risen above thought.
You have once again freed yourself from this object consciousness and you have risen above thought.
You have become awareness,
Awareness itself,
Consciousness.
You have become the space for which thoughts arise and pass away and you recognize that and you recognize thoughts for what they are.
Their relative importance drops,
The relative reality is recognized and the reality of pure awareness emerges by itself and you recognize that reality,
Fundamental of higher order itself,
The mental concept that you generated.
There's a sense of freedom that arises from this,
A sense of peace and freedom,
A sense of spaciousness.
And as you practice this,
You free yourself of identification with thought and thinking process as well as beliefs,
Imaginations,
Past memories.
So your level of anxiety,
Regret,
Discomfort,
Negative emotions,
All of these start to diminish because your thoughts are no longer intense,
They're just light.
They still come and go but you have become this spaciousness for them that allows them to arise and pass,
The judgments,
Judgments of people,
Yourself,
Events,
Thoughts about the past,
Imagination about the future,
All these may still take place but the level of intensity and frequency drops.
You become more still and spacious.
Out of this practice,
You begin to become closer to reality,
To truth.
But this must be experienced,
It must be done by yourself.
Just listening to these words won't make it happen.
These words are complete guidance for you to experience it for yourself,
To go there.
And one very simple practice that will cultivate this awareness,
This metacognition,
This rising above thought is simple awareness of your breath,
Of your body,
Sounds around you.
This concept of course is often known as mindfulness,
Presence,
Awareness,
Non-judgmental awareness for that is a quality.
And why is it non-judgmental?
Because the moment you judge,
You have generated thought and you have identified with that thought.
Now,
When you begin to observe whatever you're observing,
The object of observation,
Thoughts will arise but when you allow these thoughts to arise and pass away without holding on to them or entangling yourself in them,
Then you are freed,
You are free and you allow the arising and passing of thoughts and emotions and experiences without being identified with them.
Again,
You can only experience it for yourself to know this for your own reality,
To make it real for you,
Not just make it another belief.
What I'm saying here is not something you can just learn and believe in.
It is a pointer for you to go there and experience it for yourself.
When you experience it for yourself,
It becomes truth for you,
Not just some mental concept or a story you heard,
No longer a belief,
But an experience,
First-hand experience of being spacious amidst the arising and passing of thought.
So a simple practice is to become aware of your breath and your body anytime,
Anywhere that you can remember to simply observe,
To become still.
Each time you begin to have an argument in your mind with someone,
Step back and observe the thought,
Recognize that you are the spaciousness from which those thoughts arise and pass away.
Every thought arises and passes away,
Every sensation,
Every emotion arises and passes away and the simple awareness of this reality puts you in the higher order of reality,
The higher order of reality beyond thought and emotion,
Beyond memories,
Mental concepts,
Beliefs.
That spacious awareness that is of higher order reality will set you free from the shackles of the mind.
It will set you free from the shackles of judgment,
Of yourself,
Of others,
Of life,
Of God and you enter the sacred space that allows all things to be,
Allows the arising and passing forms.
This is your spiritual journey into truth.
Thanks for listening.
See you next time.
