Destructive Or Transformative - Which Is It?

“When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.” – Joseph Campbell

If you talk to most people, they will either say, "It's the end" or nervously stutter out something like, "Oh it'll be OK."

But really... which is it?

Transcript

Welcome to The Flow from Ohm School Live. The Flow is a profound mix of wisdom and humor as student Lisa Berry asks spiritual teacher G. P. Walsh questions you would ask an elder, A wise man, Or a sage, And receive direct, Simple, Comprehensive, And deeply human lessons and teachings. Step into these conversations with a master spiritual teacher and discover that you are way more than you think you are. You are The Flow. Yes, We made it. Wonderful, Wonderful. Hello everybody. That was close. Yes, Yes. That was me. That was on me. That was actually on my internet. But welcome everybody to The Flow. We are here from Ohm School Live. I love this. I love this. And we kind of got, I got message text crazy here and posting about today's topic because it's just such, It's been an enlightening, That's funny, I'm wearing lightning bolts for my earrings everybody. Yes, Enlightening. It's a lightening destruction week in this whole question of do we even need to discern or decide is something being, Is it destruction or is it transformation? And I was like, How can I best start today's show? Because G. P. , Honestly, The first question I was constantly asking this week was, Oh, Wait a second, I used to think destruction would have a negative connotation to it, Like a bad thing, Like, Oh, You know, It's being destroyed or ruined. But then I kind of, I don't know if I'm pulling back on that. So G. P. , Allow me to begin with, Could you please share it with us about destruction specifically? Destruction, Good, Bad, Indifferent? Well, It depends. You know, If I don't want it destroyed, It's bad. If I want to build something else, It's good. Everything is where you have the point of view from which you're looking at it, Right? You know, A movie is a comedy or a drama, Depending on where it fades to black and you see the end. Because they always contain, There's always comic relief in a drama. And there's always a dramatic moment in the comedy. There has to be that kind of contrast. The thing is, Is that the feeling of something being destroyed is a result of our attachments. I don't want to let go of something. So the feeling is, It's been destroyed, It's been wiped out. The fact of the matter is, Transformation is constantly going on. This is what's symbolized in the Hindu trinity of Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva, Right? The creator, The sustainer and the destroyer. And it's a constant. There's a constant creation going on and a constant destruction. And because of that, We have the experience of preservation or continuity. But nothing actually exists for any sustained period of time. The truth is nothing is ever created and nothing is ever destroyed. I know that's kind of whack sounding. It's like this. Imagine me trying to describe, I'm going to describe Beethoven's, I'm going to try to break Beethoven's fifth symphony down, Right? Now that's part of the symphony. But where the hell is the rest of it, Right? You can't take anything out of context. You can't time slice it, Right? You can't find the place at which it started in the place at which it ends. You can't. It is a continuum. Our minds divided up into creation and destruction. But in fact, It is this constant flow, Right? You know, Try to grab a river. You know, You can't put your foot in the same river twice. You can't take anything. If you take the symphony and you just try to take a slice of it, You don't have the symphony anymore. You take a wave and you just take a little chunk, You don't have a wave anymore. It is the whole of it, Right? And in fact, You can't even know it at all without knowing the eternity of it. Okay. Now, I am glad that you went there because that was for a lot of people who have to go, Okay, I get all of it. So that was a good one. Now I am going to break all that down. I can't because we just said we can't time slice it. So there is a couple of keywords that really jumped out to me there. I think a lot of people will feel is, You said about attachment. We feel things are destroyed or transformed. They've changed. Oh, You've changed, You know, Or things changed. Or when we look around, We go, Something's different about you or we think it just doesn't feel right anymore. Maybe we're in a job, Maybe we're in a relationship, Maybe you have a recipe that you've made the same way for 10 years and then something's just different. You know, One of the herbs was a little bit, You know, Overpowering. But you nailed it, I think, And I really connected with that is it has to do a lot with attachment to thinking it's not going to change. It's not going to transform and it's not going to be destroyed. And I'm going to throw this right in there because some of us even, We want it to change. We want destruction. We want it to like, Let's just start from scratch. Let's just wipe all of it. That was yucky. Let's never do that. And so when I like that you started that off with destruction maybe feels more like when we don't want it to and transformation is when we invite it and embrace it. But what are the similarities then? Because that's the different where we're coming from. What would the similarities be from destruction and transformation? Well you can't have one without the other. Simple as that, Right? I mean, It's simple as that. When I was living in Florida and I had a balcony like on the 11th floor, We did our best to keep the pigeons from nesting there. But one time I failed and there were two eggs and the pigeon was, You know. So what can I do at that point? You just let them be there and then clean the mess up after they leave. But they got to a certain point where it was time for the little ones to leave the nest. And the little ones were walking around looking down from the balcony and the mother was just busy pushing them. She was not going, Oh, No, Wait, Stay. No, I mean, She was there. She kept chasing him until he finally jumped off the side. And you see him falling down. You go, Kids, Stick out your arms, Stick out your arms. And finally out the arms. It's a shaky little thing. And you finally over there lands on the sand. That's it. Oh, Okay. Yeah, That's it. You're kind of dive bombing. And see, The thing is, Is that we think we want things to transform, But not us. Yes. Yes. I want to win the lottery, But I don't want to be any different. Which is why 95% of the people who win the lottery lose it within two years because they aren't. No transformation is taking place. An influx of energy has happened without a corresponding transformation of character, Right? To match the energy that would allow it to be actually sustained over the long haul. So we want our circumstances to change and we remain the same and that's impossible. Oh, That was brilliant. That was so bang on. I feel like I just been caught with my hand in the cookie jar. Oh, That is so true. We would like all the things that we don't enjoy, Like that work for us to be destructed. And we would love all the things that we want to become and experience. We want to transform into so beautifully and effortlessly and perfectly. Yeah. Everybody wants to go to heaven. Nobody wants to die. Oh, Yeah. I'd like heaven on earth here, Please. Thank you. Thank you. I'll take that. Okay. So here's attachment. Which part, What aspect of our, Is that ego? Who of us, What aspect of ourselves is attached? Well that is our ego. It's ignorance. The ignorance that believes that somehow you can stop things from changing, That you can make the impermanent permanent. I mean, That's the fundamental ignorance we all suffer with. And it's really a natural, It's a natural functioning of the mind because the mind doesn't, The mind can't grasp flow, Right? Because there's nothing to grab, Right? It's got to name stuff. It's got to concretize them. It's got to categorize them and contrast them and all that. So the mind forms fixed concepts. Concepts are fixed. They seem very ephemeral, But they're not. They're quite fixed. Whereas life is ephemeral. Life is constantly changing. Nothing ever stays the same. And so what happens is we associate the feeling of safety, Of being safe with things being the same. And so we don't want something to change. We get attached to it. It feels unsafe for it to change. And you know, This is a very natural thing as well. That's part of the physical phenomena as well. But they have to. And especially nowadays we're seeing in our world, The rate of change is just staggering to the point where our nervous systems can barely keep up. And so we retrench, We become fundamentalists. We can, You know, Take very strong points of view. We become polarized because we want to hold on to something to make us feel safe. When in fact transformation is happening and there's nothing we can do about it except surrender to it. If you surrender to it, There's no more suffering. It's the reality, Right? If you fight it, There's suffering. That's what I'm holding on to. But if I realize that what I'm holding on to is vapor, It's going to vaporize. Two things happen. Number one, I stopped suffering and I begin to flow with life. And I stopped judging all the things that are happening. And secondarily, I begin to appreciate this moment more because I realize it's impermanent. Oh, I like that you said appreciate the moment as opposed to be present to the moment. And there's nothing wrong with being present to the moment, But it actually means something to do other than be present. Because you know, At times when your nervous system is so on the fritz going, What? I think that helps people. For me anyways, I'd love to hear from people if that helped. That was a real, Yeah, That was a big helper there. Appreciate the moment and knowing and expecting and understanding that it is impermanent, That it is going to change. Two questions came up for me there. What about the things that we do want to change? So we're inviting it, We're chasing it, We're manipulating and doing stuff, Experience a change. That was my one thought. Well, That's also part of the human nature. And this is why the human being is so unique and so marvelous. Is because we have the instinct towards safety, Which means stay the same. I don't want anything to change. But we also have this incredible impulse for growth, Evolution, Expansion, Right? Which without, You know, Proper understanding and inner reconciliation are forever at war with each other. This is not a phenomena than any other critter on the planet has. We're the only critters that can actually, That we are actually the vehicle of our own change. For every other critter, It's the environment, The environment that takes the change. If the environment doesn't change, The critter doesn't change. That's why alligators and sharks have been the same for 50 million years. They're sitting on top of the food chain. Something has changed about that. So they have not evolved. They're very similar over that period of time. Whereas human, Anytime there's a change in the environment, The adaptation takes place because the form and the environment are one. You cannot separate them. What's unique is because of this expanding consciousness in human beings is we are creating our own environment that we then have to adapt to. This is incredible. So is it fair to, I don't know, Now I'm being really, This is a little bit judgmental. I'm just going with this for a second because I'm a student and I'm allowed to do that. You're allowed to do that. I'm allowed to do that. I'm playing with this. If we look at people, Perhaps we know someone or we know of someone, Maybe they're now in sixties, Eighties, Twenty, Who knows, However long, But they haven't changed. Really old, Old people. But somebody who hasn't changed in a long time because they have, They've made their money, They have retirement plans. So now they're just living days. So they know exactly what amount of money they live in the exact same house. They haven't changed the furniture. They wear the same clothes. They have no stress. Are they the alligator? Are they not experiencing growth or are they at peace and content? They're not ever going to be at peace and content as long as there's a human form that doesn't exist there. There will always be change because that's all the human form is. So no, It is not peace. It is stagnation. They're resisting growth. And I know a lot of people like that. I've seen people on Facebook, When I went to high school with, They still live in the same town we grew up in. They haven't changed their attitudes, Their ideas, Their behaviors. It's all the same. And there's this sense that I don't want things to change. Things shouldn't change. They tend to be right wing in their politics. They think, You know, This is the greatest country that's ever existed and there's nothing in any way. And so they've kind of adopted these ideas that are attempting to resist change, Right? Not realizing that it is a fool's errand. It can't possibly work. And what will happen is, You know, They'll either die and, You know, When they are in an environment that has not changed enough to put the pressure on them, Or there will be a transformation in the environment that will take place and force them into it, Or there'll be an inner awakening that will then allow them to consciously dictate their own trajectory, In terms of the environment. Those are the only things that can happen. Here, It doesn't change and things remain the same. In the external environment, Or something changes in the internal environment, And you begin to awaken, Basically, Or it all goes to hell in a handbasket. You know, The economy collapses, The rug gets pulled out in some way, Which is what's exactly what's happening in the world. The rug is being pulled out. All right. Okay, So that's, Yes, Is that more destruction? Unplanned, Unexpected? Well, It would be from their perspective, And they would resist it. No, It shouldn't be like this. It shouldn't be changing. This is the way it's supposed to be. And can get quite, Obviously, Look around and get violent in trying to maintain that status quo. Because it's, You know, Because they don't want anything to change, Right? But of course, That change is the only thing that brings out the best in us. That's without that you stagnate. Right? Yes. Yeah. We need the stimulation. We are all constantly in an interaction with the environment. Right? And that desire for human growth, Desire for our own personal development and evolution and the like, Is the catalyst that is literally creating the environment driving change. Now, The shark can't do that. So it's completely a function of the external environment. But we do. Right. It's interesting because we can do it so quickly as in one thought. It's a complete, Boom. Oh, Here we go. Onto this one. All right. Yeah. Yeah. You call it the aha moment, Right? Oh, Yeah. Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding. Oh, Angels. Isn't it funny that when we think we have an aha moment, When we are experiencing aha moment, We say it's the angels singing? I wonder what does that represent then to us when we must say the angels sing, Like the angels are just so happy that they're singing. So this is a blissful transformation. Yeah, Always. The angels have always represented the harbingers of the great transformation. They're the messengers from God, As it were. Right. Yeah. I've even heard it described as God's thoughts passing to man. I mean, It's really a beautiful way of looking at it. When they're the harbinger of a change that you don't like, Aka destruction, We call them demons. Same characters, Same message. When we welcome them, They're angels. When we don't, They're devils. So interesting. That's been, I don't know if that's the show, But yes, We will talk more about angels and devils and who they really are. Oh, That's actually that. That should be the show. There was a comment here. I just wanted to, A Facebook user. Where's Facebook user? Who wrote this beautifully? Life isn't about finding yourself. It's about celebrating yourself and you will automatically be found. Is that, What do you think of that? I like that. Yes. As long as you're celebrating you and not who you think you are. That's very true. We try to celebrate ourselves and the self we're celebrating is actually the finite limited egoic mind. Even if it happens to be in a presently happy state, You'll find that that state will change. But when you celebrate you, Your true nature, You find that that is the only thing in the universe that doesn't change. It is the constant. That is the hub of the wheel. And that's what it means to know yourself. To know and to celebrate are one. You cannot celebrate yourself until you know who you are. And the moment you do, It is party time. I like that. It's party time. Get those singing angels over here. They're the band for tonight. That's right. DJ Michael at the head podium. It's funny I can imagine a party in heaven right now. The inquiry, The self inquiry too. I like that. I can't remember. Oh, It might be in four agreements, But I can't remember. And they said to not even take a compliment personally. So whether it's an insult or compliment, Take neither, Accept neither because it's not the compliment or insult isn't to you. It's to that persona, To that aspect, To the ego that could be destroyed or transformed in a second or less. When we do know who we are, You know, Is, Hmm, That's interesting. When we do know who we are, Do we truly never, We are the hubs that truly never transform or become destroyed? It is emerging. You find that the transformation and the permanent, You find that which is truly permanent, That which does not change. But it's not a thing, Right? The essence being itself never changes. It can't change to its opposite, To not being. Truth cannot become falsity. Love cannot become hate. Right? And so it is, It is not a substance like anything else. Right? But yet it is that changeless nature that gives rise to the infinite flow that we see as change. You cannot have one without the other. And this is the, This is the mystery of non-duality. They're not two. The changeful and the changeless are not two. Time and timelessness are not two. The eternal and the moment are not two. It is impossible for the mind to conceive this. So don't even try. It's something that you simply contemplate that. How could you possibly know the change less, Change full, If there wasn't some changeful place from which it was being seen? There has to be a place from which everything else is witnessed. And that place that is witnessing all change must itself be changeless. Yes. Yeah. So the witnessing itself, The seeing itself, Awareness itself is not something that fluctuates. And you can just, You can find this in your own life. If you look at your own life, Look at the, All the experiences you had throughout your life. There was never a moment where anything stayed the same. But now try to put your attention on that very subtle sense of witnessing it. The experiencing itself was always the same. What it was experiencing was never the same. Right. Right. Yes. Okay. I have to write that down because experiencing. Yes. Because you can witness the same thing. Well, You can read the same page of a book multiple times and experience something different. So yes. But who's experiencing it? Is that different? Right. It has to be. The experiencing itself is identical. Oh, Wait, Hold on. Experiencing. Okay. Yes. This is very subtle. Not what is experience. It's extremely subtle. We don't even notice it. It's so subtle most of the time. Okay. I've got my analogy. You get on the same roller coaster and have the same experience. However, The experiencing of it can be different because maybe you're afraid one time the first time, But then you're no longer afraid the next time and then you love it the next time. Yes. But notice, Notice there's something else there though. There's something that was aware of being afraid this time, Enjoying it this time, Bored that time. Yes. There's something that's aware of all of those different aspects. Right. That hasn't changed. Ooh, We nailed it. It's only taken 11 months for me, GP. You're actually a pretty quick study. I really, That was fabulous actually. If anybody would have some comments about that, Cause now I get it. There's the experience of it. And then who is the one experience? That is so, That's so brilliant to be able to kind of wrap your head around it, At least in that situation. Because is it that, Is it the, I don't know now, But is it the one now who is not changing, Who is experiencing, Who will go through destruction or transformation or cause they're just witnessing it? They're just witnessing it. They're just witnessing. They're not going through, They're not going through any of it. It's happening all in front of them. You're sitting there watching the events go by, Enjoying the events, Engaged with the events like you're in a movie, Like you're watching a movie. It's not, It's not a passive sitting back move. You know, I mean, There's, There's a, There's a, There's a deep emotional thing going on, But yet you remain completely inviolate. You've not been touched by any of them. The most severe storm in the sky does not affect the sky. It passes away and the sky is still there, Just the same, Not even a trace remains. Right. Yes. It is quite magical how that happens. You are the sky. That's what you are. But you experience yourself as a form, As a life, As all of these things, As, As you know, As ups and downs and dark and night and all the, All of the polarities that are required because if there aren't, If you don't have them, You have no experience at all. Right. And we want to, We want to experience every, Like so much. Of course. We come with that drive and desire. That's why, That's why this, That's why human life exists. It is for that which is timeless and changeless and formless to experience time change and form. Do you think that we, Oh, This is a deep one. I'll go with it with some things that some people are going through this week. Do you think that if we experience heartbreak, You know, Rejection, Things like that, Because we wanted to experience it or is it, Did that just happen from like all those millions of things that just all come together? Yeah. That's really a slippery slope to go. I wanted that to happen. Right. Yeah. It is. And unfortunately it's kind of gotten, It's gotten a lot of airplay because manifestation and all that, Trying to make it into something personal. Right. Like, Oh, You, You, You attracted that, You know, And now you've got people scared to death of their own thinking. Right. Yeah. No, You didn't, You didn't attract it. This is, This is the inevitable flow of things. Right. And, And who said that that thing that you didn't want to happen, Isn't the best thing to ever happen to you. As a matter of fact, You know, Six months later you go, God, I'm so glad that happened. Yeah. We eat our words usually. Right. You know, Or the thing, Yeah, I got, It's the greatest thing in the world. I got this thing. It's like, Oh God, This sucks. I hate it. Right. I mean, This is what we experienced. What's the problem? Is it life? Is what's life, Is it what's life bringing to you? Or is it, Is it our, Our, Our very narrow idea of what it should be? Yes. Yeah. And this is, This is the great liberation. When I am freed from my idea of the way things should be, I find life is magnificent in all of it. You know, Whether, Whether, You know, I've literally found myself staring at a beer cap for half an hour. Wow. It was the most, The most mundane, Just ordinary thing. And it was just like, This world has opened up. I just saw the, The ink, The invention of the ink, The people are doing it, The invention, The fonts, The metallurgy, The mining, You know, The thousands of years, The Bronze Age. I mean, It was all there. It was all there. Four hours. It wasn't just this one object. It was, It was a moment of an eternal flow. And the entire flow was there. But you have to, You have to be willing to see it. Otherwise I just go, Ah, It's a beer cap. On to the beer. Right? Is there anything wrong with, Not that it's right or wrong, But yeah, Is it, Is it okay if it's just a different path we're on? Or just on a different momentum if we see all that, Feel all that, Or move on? Well, You couldn't live if I did that at everything, Right? Like fingernail. Right? I mean, I mean, I mean, No, It's, It, You know, Just, Just something catches you when you find eternity in the moment. Right? I mean, That's just that, That breath of eternity. We experienced that when we fall in love for crying out loud. Right? That's exactly the feeling. Right? Just time stops. There's just this total absorption. And this is, This is the whole point of life and witnessing the flow. And that is the bliss of life when there is no resistance to it. Right? In the normal state of mind, It's just a beer cap. Right? It serves its function within this, But looking deeper, You find, Well, It's not that. Right? There's this whole history. There's this, There's this wonder that is occurring right here. And yes, It's going to be just popped off and thrown away and off into the recycle bin. It's going to go and hopefully it'll become another, You know, Something else, A hubcap, Right? Or something. Right? And that's interesting. I wonder if there's a fine line between, So when you're talking about this beer cap and now this beer cap has different stories to you, Different, It has a depth to it. And let's say this ring, Let's say this ring, People think, Oh, That's a ring. And I go, Oh, But do you want to know what this ring really means or is? And then I have all my stories. Now, Is there a fine line between contemplating and finding the eternity in the moment and attachment? And how do we, If there is, Because I'm assuming there is, How do we make sure we don't get that ego attachment? Like, Oh my gosh, If I lose this ring, You don't know what it meant to me. Yeah. Because you, Because the meaning is in you, Not in the ring. So and that's just there, Right? You're not neither attached to it or not attached. It's just there. Right? That's the meaning it has to you. If that ring is lost, The meaning is still there. The attachment to the object, Right, Is going to cost you because it will be lost at some point. Right. Right? But the meaning, The value of it, That's not lost. Well, I like that. Maybe that's really helpful to some people. One of my questions I was going to bring up is from my friend who, Actually, Funny enough, I think Danielle is here this morning. And Danielle, This wasn't actually for you, But we'll just throw it in here. I actually have two people that I know in my life and their houses have burnt down. And that's a real like, It could be just, That's destruction or transformation. But loss of things attached. Like there's a lot, Now there's a lot of things. It's not just a ring. Like all the things inside the things in the memories of the thing and all the things is it possible to, How does our nervous system, How can we assist our nervous system to adjust to from destruction to transformation? Well, First to allow to grieve over the loss because it is a loss, Right? But it's not fatal. Everything gets, Everything is lost. You know, When you talk about impermanence and, You know, Like in Buddhism and things like that, It can sound like it's just kind of this philosophical, Spiritual bypass, Right? Oh, It's okay. Everything is transforming and all that, Which is a denial of our love, Right? What we're doing is we're separating out the attachment from the love. Right? I, You know, I love these things. I love the house. I, There's some things that I, You know, I trip over it stupidly and break it, Right? And I loved it, Right? It's gone, Right? I can't, There's nothing I can do, Right? And it hurts. You let it hurt, Right? And this is the beautiful thing about the human nervous system. It is so adaptable that if you allow it to go through the process by which it itself knows how to transform that energy of grief, It will. We postpone this transformation by our stories about it, By refusing to hold onto the grief, By making up things, By reframing, By philosophically saying, Oh, It's God's will, Or everything is impermanent and it's just in the head. It isn't actually, It isn't, You're actually not feeling it in the heart because the reality is in that moment, You are experiencing the impermanence of life and what it means. And if you let it, It will, It will bring you to the point of seeing the utter beauty and value of every moment because you can't hold onto it. That makes it more valuable, Right? Right? This moment will never happen again, Ever. It's never happened before. It's never going to happen again. That is, That's the textbook definition of rare. Yes, I love that. And I think what you just shared is what a lot of parents will experience with their babies who are quickly growing, Quickly never going to be in that moment again, And teenagers and then leaving the home and all those… Well, Teenagers, You kind of want to rush it along. That's different. Babies, Oh, Stay a baby. Oh, Teenager. Yeah. Okay. Move on. Is it time for college yet? Yeah. I love that. Actually, That was so interesting. You said the trend in the grief world, But it's anything, It's transforming the grief. No, No, No. I can't read my own writing. It doesn't matter. The whole point was I was getting to is when we try to postpone, When we're trying to postpone the transformation. But what I want to get back to actually, Because you said this, When we do say it's God's will, It's meant to be, It was a soul sacred contract, It was already planned. Are those… Okay, Bold here. Is that incorrect? Well, If they're saying it to try to kind of anesthetize the feeling of loss, Then absolutely it's wrong. It will postpone it. You won't grow. You're putting off facing the fact that it's not there anymore by glossing it over with some nice idea. But if you really take it in and you go, God's will, It's not like personal. God's sitting up there going, Okay, Let's do this now. You know, This little manipulator of history, Right, You know, Like, You know, Kind of let's throw this monkey wrench in there. It's a recognition. It's not anybody's will. It is the nature of existence. Right. That's beyond the idea of God's will or something like that. This is the way it is. Right. If I accept things as they are, I am in harmony with reality. I'm in harmony with the Tao. Right. And I can't experience anything but the harmony of the Tao if I am completely in accord with it. Right. And that means that and that doesn't mean a glossing over of the loss. That's part of the Tao is to feel the loss fully. Right. And in that processing, The value of it is amplified. And the form it happened to be in that moment is now eventually dissolves and you find that the reality of it was never lost because it was never in the thing. Oh, Yes. Oh my God. It was never in. It was always in you. That's the, Well, You know what they say, Like, How many people have lost their cell phones with all their pictures on it? Right. And I know. I know all the pictures they never looked at in the book. They took it anyway. Yeah. 10, 000 pictures. Yeah. And you think, Oh, But at least I have it. So I know the first time I had lost a cell phone, I put it on the back of a truck and it was going to the dump because I was trying to load the truck and then the truck left with my phone and off it went. And it had my Brinks as baby pictures, Little kitten cutie pie pictures. And I really like it. I was, It was a long time ago. So it was really like freaking out. Like, And then I tried remembering every picture that, You know, I could think of, You know, That I remembered trying to save it. And eventually I thought, Well, I still have the cat. Like like I still get to enjoy the future moments of pictures and I have way more now, But um, But I have the experience that I want to remember anyway. So I want, Is that when we recognize that and we can feel that it is in us, It does soften. It certainly does. Yes. Matter of fact, You take less pictures. Yes, I actually, You're right. You know, When you're taking a picture, You're not actually having the experience. The experience is evanescent. There's nothing, You can't hold onto it. And it's just a big illusion that makes us think that we can take a picture of it and recapture it. If you even do go back and look at it, The only value it has is it's going to spark within you a remembrance of the feeling you had when you were really there. But if you're there and you got the camera in front of you all the time, You're not there. And you're not having that experience. And you're not having the experience if you're not having it in its transient moment. Because that's the beauty of it. It's here and it's gone. Right? Like a good show and a great jazz. It's improvised. Right? It's not happening ever again. Yeah. That's interesting. So we want to be very not present. What was the thing you said? I love that word that you said. Nope, It's gone. Appreciate. We want to appreciate the moment with all of our senses. And I know what you're saying because when we look through a lens or we are trying to like. . . At times, I really do have to take notes because I try to remember and that's what my job is. But for everybody here who's participating and watching it is to. . . I like to listen. Even if I'm. . . I'll pull up a lot of YouTube videos, But really, I'm listening. I'm not watching them because I find it's a different experience. So when it comes to just bring it back to my little fun topic here, Destruction and transformation. I'm going to use this as an example. Say somebody here, Somebody here is maybe not a student of yours GP and they're like, I want to become a student. What? Outrageous. I think it's something new and they're thinking, I would like. . . Is there a. . . Okay, So does a student transform into a master or is the student destroyed and then a transformation occurs? Same thing. It's the same thing. Yeah. So you can't become the teenager without losing the adolescent. Without losing the kid, Without losing the child, Without losing the toddler, Without losing the infant, Without losing the embryo, Without losing the egg. You simply can't do it. It is one. We are seeing the one being in an infinite unfoldment and every time slice is simply another face of that one being and you are that being. So I'm not sure I answered the question. Oh yes. No, You did. Yes. Well, In essence, It's not so horrible to say, Well, The student has been destroyed and now you have transformed into the master. Yeah, That's right. But that is the process. And so my piggybacking question on that is about the word reconcile, To have reconciliation. Is there something that needs to be reconciled of different aspects of us to allow that transformation of destruction of one phase to transform into the next? What needs to be reconciled? Yeah, That's absolutely the case because the various aspects of us, The only reason there's conflict between the various aspects of it is because we have learned to hold on to some certain parts and to push other parts away. So we cling to this little part of ourself, Which makes all the rest of ourselves kind of the inner enemy. That creates the conflict between the devils and the angels. The devils are just those aspects of you that you have disowned and the angels are the ones you like. It's just this narrow thing. When you reconcile with them, You have full access to all of you. And then you find that with the full access to all of these inner resources, That every moment is a constant, Your inner resources are constantly reconfiguring themselves to meet the moment. And that's what it means to show up with no agenda to be perfectly present, Because you are completely present. There's no aspect of you that's missing, Right? And so you're no longer identified with one part of you. You're not identified with any of it, Which means that in any given moment, You can become anything the moment needs. You have infinite, You become an infinite being, Right? But the infinite being is just not this vague thing. The infinite being is the freedom to be very specific in the moment to whatever that moment requires. You can be playful and creative, Or it can be very stoic and firm, Right? Same you, Different aspect, Right? But they're not stuck anymore. It's that simple. They're not stuck. Oh my gosh, GP, I'm going to say this. You know what? If I'm going to go back and I'm going to transcribe the last minute you just said that was the most perfect sales pitch if I could write one. Frank Kern would be proud of me. That is amazing. Everybody, Full access to every aspect of you to pull from the resources, From anything you need at any time, Because you are infinite. Oh my gosh. You know what's so interesting? I'll get on and do a Facebook live and I might start off being all, You know, Chipper happy to you, Yankee doodly. And then, You know, And then I get into my little, My little story or my rant and then I can be very stoic or very serious and then I'll turn into more loving. And you're right because it's so it's full reconciliation of all aspects of you. You have full access. Okay, I'm using this now. You guys are all you. This is, It's all you. It does. This is, You know, That was like the best. And I really wanted to say that because the opposite to me when I, When I heard you say that, You know, To reconcile with something is to not have conflict. So if you have conflict, You don't have full access because you're like, No, No, No, No, You're not allowed in there. You've got an issue. You've caused trouble. Now get out. Okay. You can't have that. So this is a really neat thing that you, That this is your work. And that's if you, If somebody is stuck, Like you just said, You've, You're stuck and you're like, Gosh, I used to have used to have access to this part of me, The gentle part, The loving part, The forgiving part, The adventurous part, The safe part. I used to feel safe and I no longer do. That's something that's saying to you, This would be a really great place to start at least, You know, As a student and to The child has full access. You can look at the child there. They don't show up as anybody in particular. They're, They're just immediately responsive to the environment. Right. Yes. There's no, Yeah, There's, There's no editing. There's no censoring. You know, When they don't like something, You know it. When they do, You know it. Yes. That's brilliant. That's actually so true. Yes. Immediately responsive. They're happy. They're sad. They're cranky. They're, They're, They're in bliss. Yeah. There's no board of censorship sitting in between the, What happens in their reaction to it. It's pure. It's innocent. Yeah. Okay, Ready? So I'd love to say this. Um, A lot of people can get stuck in their spouse just passed away. They've had a loss. There's been destruction in their life. You know, I can use my exemplar out of the house for downs. Uh, They had a breakup, Uh, They lost all their money and then something joyful happens and they kind of laugh or giggle or smile and they go, How dare I not be upset. How dare I. I am such a bad person for finding joy in this very destructive time. And we are so hard on ourselves when we allow that present moment, That appreciation of the moment. And we think, No, No, No, I'm supposed to be over here. Is that something that we were running? Yeah, That's part of the deal because all of a sudden there's that spontaneous joy that happens. That, That's, That's the, That's perfectly natural. That's what, Uh, That's what the whole system was designed to do. Right. It was designed to grieve and move on. Yes. Right. And, And get on with life. And if the grieving is done properly, It's, It becomes the most sweetest memory. All the good is integrated into you and there's, But there's, But there's no more charge to it. Right. And why should there be, This is what happens. Yes. Right. Everything gets lost. I don't care what it is. It's, It's, Everything is very, Is very ephemeral. You know, Even the romance, You know, A week in is different. Right. Right. Yeah. Nothing, Nothing stays the, Nothing stays the same. And if, And if you know that you can experience these wonderful waves of, Of ecstatic bliss, You know, Followed by just the, The, The, The beautiful mundane-ness of life, Right? OSHO used to refer to it as the, As the peak orgasm and the valley orgasm. They're still both good. They're just different. They're both very good. I highly recommend both. Oh, That is so, You know what's funny? Yes. About, Oh, There's just so many peaks and valleys. And if I'm going to run through a couple of these, Because as we, As we do the show here, So this is very different than Satsang, Which is on Sundays, But we're very happy to have all your comments here and all your participation. And I'm just happy to have you, We know you're here. We can feel you and kind of pick through, But I will, I will call upon my wonderful GP here and see if he's got any questions that perhaps that we can, We can get in here. But a lot of just, I saw one right at the beginning. Yeah. Dear GP, I have a question. Yeah. Snezalea, I never can pronounce that right. So I just keep calling her Bob. Oh, Is that Bob? That's Bob. Yeah. Yeah. That's, That's, That's Bob in Serbia. And this is an important question and it really does relate. Did you ever feeling that the most beautiful part of you has died, Triggered by an event? That is what I feel today. And it's very emotional and intense. Don't even know what it is or how to, Or how to approach it. Thank you, Love Bob. Yes, Of course. This what you're feeling is what every child feels when part of you has been disallowed by the tribe. Part of you dies because it's not allowed expression. Right? Now, The good news is it can't die. Right? It's eternal. It's you, You can't get rid of it. Right. But it does get buried in the basement. Right. Because it doesn't have any freedom to come out and express itself because if it does, It is dangerous. Right. This is what happens. This is the existential trauma. We've all been through it. Right. You're just being your pure little kid, Wonderfulness, Innocent self. Right. The tribe doesn't like it. Right. You say the wrong thing. You don't, You touch the wrong thing. You know, You even feel the wrong thing. And it becomes dangerous. The danger being, Right, The disapproval of your tribe. That's all it takes. Doesn't have to be hugely abusive. All it means is that I simply don't get my need met. Right. For whatever it is, It can be a minor diminishment. It can be physical abuse. The effect is identical. Right. It is not safe to be myself. Now, If it's not safe to be myself, I can't be anything other than myself. That is an existential double bind. The only way out of that is that part of you must be kept permanently out of sight. And that's what happens. And in that moment, We have that feeling, A part of me has died. And something inside knows we have let ourselves down. We've compromised. We have abandoned our true nature, But we have no choice. We're powerless. Right. But this is the entire, It is walking back down in the basement and bringing everybody up to the party is the whole point of inner reconciliation. His inner reconciliation is to get through all the layers we've created to keep that hidden, To keep it at bay. And at every step, You're reconciling with all this stuff to eventually open that door again. And so yes, That's what it feels like. And when, And I know the quality of your understanding now, Bob. So I know where you're at. And this is absolutely par for the course. And there'll be many more of these before you're done with this phase of your sadhana, Where there's just another layer that comes up and it'll be filled with sadness. It'll be filled with a sense of loss and grief because the child can't grieve for these things even though they're gone. And so yes, It can be very emotional and intense. Let it happen. This is the symptom of recovery. This is what happens because you have opened the door to the basement. You are feeling that energy that got stuck in the basement. And sometimes it can come out as enormous grief and sadness. Sometimes it can come out as anger, Rage, Sometimes physical, Hot and cold flashes, All sorts of things. But don't shy away from it. You know what to do with it. This is where it means to truly be present with it. It's just you. It's just you. There's no critter out there. There's no nothing. We're not going to have to do an exorcism. It's just you that is integrating back into the whole of you. And the end result is not going to be a problem. Yes, That was beautiful GP. And I'm so glad that Bob asked that question. And if I may share in the beginning, GP, When I started working with you, The word for me, Which I'm not trying to make light of it, But the word is I felt that parts of me were dissolving and I literally felt like the witch that went, I'm melting, I'm melting. It was just going before I knew it and evaporated. And then I felt displaced, Like floating, And not the good kind of floating, More like, Where do I go? Who am I? Then the question was forced, Actually, Who am I? Because I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm not that person or that person or that person or that. So who am I? And I felt not died, But melted and displaced. And guess what? I feel amazing. And let me put Lisa on the spot. And who are you? And who are you? Well, Don't put me on that spot. I truly feel like I'm, Well, I want to answer it in this weird Lisa way, But I feel like I'm absolutely everybody and nobody. And it's okay because I don't feel. . . The serum has taken effect. You know what? Well, You've given me words actually for today. I feel like I have full access is what that is now. And it's more access you guys than you could ever imagine. It's not like, Oh, I want access to all of this. You don't know what all of this is. So to have access. . . You have no idea. I have full access, But I still don't even know what I have full access to because there's so much. It's endless. This isn't the vortex. I want it so it goes into this little place where I can get it out later. You have no clue. You have no clue. It's like, Oh, If you want an advanced program as to what's coming up, Well, You go over there. You want reality? There's no guide. My goodness. Well, I guess we're here at that hour again. I can't believe it. And Tatiana is just excited for so many things. And we had a beautiful message from David and Elaine who are, I'm not sure how long they've known you, But it's been a while I think. And they're so kind and they're new to me and I just love them. And I love when they, I get to see. . . GP actually has VIP days, Retreats where we all get to be on Zoom together and you can, We can, Well, They'll be on the website. So gpwash. Com of what are the upcoming events and such, But in all the courses that you teach, We all come together on Zoom or StreamYard or something. We get to meet and greet everyone and be a part of everybody and this beautiful journey. And so I got to meet David and Elaine a couple of times. So hello. And I appreciate Dave and Elaine giving a shout out to Lisa for making the energy of this show much different than Satsang. I appreciate the opportunity to be a student in public in front of everybody. Funny enough, When I was growing up, I was the student that, The only thing they ever said to me, Lisa never asks any questions. And now look, Look at me now. Look at you now. Yeah. Notebooks, Your stack of notebooks. Yeah. That was funny. That was the first time we had a conversation, How came the notebook? Writing stuff down by hand, By the way, Folks, I want you to know they're actual notebooks with a pen. I love that. It's very helpful too. I wonder how many of you have the notebooks for when you come here. Actually, We would love to hear what your takeaways are. That's what I would love to see in comments because it helps us to choose what the next week's show and what the energy is around. What are you ready for? What are you needing? What is coming up for you? And that's always helpful for us. You know, GP and I have our meetings and figure out what's going to go on next week on the flow. And sometimes it's a couple of minutes before the show. Yes. So we want to say thank you everyone, Everyone. And just for being here, Showing up, This is a huge thing. And we'll wrap it up and say thank you and goodbye. And thank you, GP, For your time here. We always appreciate it. And thank you, Lisa. Yeah, Thank you. You do make it a great show. You make it a show. You make it a show. That's good. Yeah, With my earrings. Which are like. . . And yes. All right. Bye everyone. You've been listening to The Flow from Ohm School Live. Join us each week as we dive deep into the flow of life and self-discovery. To learn more, Visit gpwalsh. Com and download GP's free ebook, Angels in the Basement. This is your host, Elisa Berry. Thank you for joining us. And remember, You are not a thing. You are the flow. You are the flow. You are the flow. You are the flow. You are the flow. You are the flow. You are the flow. You are the flow. You are the flow. You are the flow. You are the flow. You are the flow. You are the flow. You are the flow.