GF Live 11-26-22 Learn To Relax And Realize Self-Liberation

Our suffering isn't because of the unwanted moments we meet along the Way; over such things, we have no say. Whereas peace of mind is the realization that all things created have their own time and place and, when allowed to fulfill their given purpose, will move on without any struggle on our part.

Transcript

Glad you're here.

Always glad,

Actually,

Whenever we can have some time together and,

You know,

If nothing else,

Just agree to use our time that is so valuable to learn something new.

But when I say learn something new,

I'm not talking about learn as in monkey see,

Monkey do.

Which I guess would make me a monkey if you attempt to do what I talk about instead of trying to see the truth behind it.

I don't know if you've seen this at all as I spend a few moments here waiting for everybody to log on.

I'm glad that those of you who are here on time that we have this extra time to just share a couple introductory ideas.

But isn't it amazing how little tolerance we have with one another?

And we never question the source of that intolerance that we might suspect that so much of it is because we are intolerant with ourselves.

And when I say we are intolerant with ourselves,

I mean we are intolerant with anything that we can't tolerate in ourselves.

And that's conflict.

That's a form of unseen,

Useless suffering.

And we're going to examine that a little bit today together.

And I do appreciate it when you let me know that you're understanding what I'm talking about so that we can all more or less stay on the same page in this difficult digital world.

While it's a blessing to be able to share this time through some miracle,

It is important that we understand each other as we go along.

So let's take a nice deep breath,

Kind of relax a little bit,

Which is,

By the way,

The working title of our topic,

Which is Learn to Relax and Realize Self-Liberation.

You know,

When you hear something like that,

I can't help but think of the stupid things.

And God help,

I don't mean disrespect if it falls across you that way.

I hope you weren't one of those people who bought one of those pillows that helped you lose weight while you slept.

Or any of those other insane sales pitches that got you to believe that it was possible for you to change your life without entering into the cause of whatever that conflict or addiction may be.

It's impossible.

And anybody that promises you a silk road has their hands in your purse.

So with that in mind,

Let's dig in a little bit into this idea of what it would mean to relax and realize self-liberation.

I'll read you the key lesson that I wrote for this talk,

And then we're going to get into some material.

Our suffering isn't because of unwanted moments we meet along the way.

Over such things we have no say.

Whereas peace of mind is the realization that all things created have their own time and place,

And when allowed to fulfill their given purpose,

Will move on without any struggle on our part.

And when allowed to fulfill their given purpose,

Will move on without any struggle on our part.

So I was thinking,

Because it came to mind,

Something that I had come across a long time ago,

And by a long time ago,

I mean probably,

God,

I'm 73,

Over 40 years ago,

I was reading something by Bohem,

Jacob Bohem,

And I went and dug it out.

It's called The Conversation Between a Disciple and His Master.

And you'll see why I read it after I do,

And then we'll dig into it.

And this is for anyone who will ever see or hear this talk,

Who realizes that their life is being used by something that doesn't care what it does to the person that it's using.

That's a pretty good definition of this lower level of consciousness,

And its relationship and ours to the negative states that it is constantly occupied with,

And trying to escape in one way or another.

So let me read this.

The disciple comes to the master,

Sir,

How can I come to the super sensual life so that I may see the divide and hear God speaking?

The master answers,

Son,

When you can throw yourself into that where no creature dwells,

Though it be just for a moment,

Then you will hear what God speaks.

The disciple responds,

Is that where no creature dwells at hand,

Or is it far away?

And the master says,

It is in thee.

And if you can,

My son,

For a while,

But cease from all your thinking and willing,

You will hear the unspeakable word of the divine.

But how shall I hear him speak,

Master,

When I stand still from thinking and willing?

The master responds,

When you stand still from the thinking of self and the willing of self,

When both the intellect and will are quiet to the impression of the eternal word and spirit,

When thy soul is winged up and above that which is temporal,

The outward senses,

And the imagination being locked up by holy abstraction,

Then the eternal hearing,

Speaking,

And seeing will be revealed in thee.

I remember when I read that a long time ago,

It was like so many of the things over the period of time that lit a little fire in me,

But I didn't know how to add any wood to the flame.

I didn't understand.

I knew that Boehm and the other masters,

God bless their souls,

I knew that they understood something that I didn't understand.

And I so desperately wanted to understand,

But I didn't have a clue.

And so what I want to do is help explain that writing,

This place where no creature dwells,

And that if one can remain there long enough,

That one then might begin to participate in this relationship with the divine that perfects everything that falls under its domain.

So let's get started.

Take a nice deep breath,

Everybody.

I want to build a basis of context of understanding.

Imagine for a moment 500 little intricate wheels in a fine Swiss pocket watch.

Every last one of them is connected to each other,

And all are in concert,

Produced by something that brought them together in order to essentially track the movement of the sun.

And by that I mean to know that sun rises at a certain time,

Sets at a certain time,

And that you have some measurement of time that roughly corresponds to the grand movement of the sun.

And then for a moment,

Imagine how the sun,

Though we don't see this part,

Is itself part of a grand series of wheels.

Wheels within wheels within wheels,

As all suns and stars,

Galaxies,

Planets,

They are all as interconnected as those 500 little tiny wheels moving on that Swiss watch.

And all of them,

All of these individual parts,

Something like imagine you walk into,

I think it was Hoover Dam I went into,

You go on one of these tours,

And you see these immense turbines and all of these levers and gears and wheels and all of them moving to the force of the water being poured through the dam,

Producing electricity.

And you see all of this relationship between all of what seems to be these individual parts,

From the wheels of a watch to the wheels of a turbine to the great wheels that turn the universe itself.

That all of them are under a certain form of guidance,

And all of them are brought together for a purpose of creating something to reveal in time,

If you will,

The principle that's timeless,

By which all of these things are brought together,

So that we as human beings can begin to represent in our physical world some of these things that are invisible and yet are provable in the spiritual,

Invisible world where no one dwells.

And if you can understand that analogy,

The metaphor,

If it's true in this world,

Because it's true above,

Then why wouldn't that hold true with all things?

Doesn't it feel like when you're negative,

You know,

You get up,

And there's certain things that you either are driven to do or that you know are part of your daily responsibility.

And if the heavens were to shake,

You can't find the stuff to get going and doing what you want to do.

All of us have felt like that,

Let alone when somebody sets themselves against you,

Or you get some kind of a phone call or an email that rubs your precious ego,

You know,

In those moments,

You know,

In that moment,

It's like the the main spring on the Swiss watch pops off,

And all the gears go flying.

Because in that moment,

There's no sense of connectivity,

There's no sense of unity.

I'm on my own,

I'm apart from the world,

It's not giving me what I need to be prove myself successful.

And it's terrible.

Yes or no,

Please let me know you're following me from time to time.

Use the moment when you post as a moment to bring yourself back into your body.

The reason I asked yes or no,

As a student recently wrote in and said,

Why do you say yes or no?

Or what are you angry about?

If you're not involved in life,

You're dead.

And most of us are dead.

And the sensation of resentment,

Or regret,

Resistance that we have seems to be life,

But it's not.

So how are we to understand why it is that we want to be connected,

We love the connectivity of looking out at the beautiful fall day.

But when we fall under the hands of a dark state,

Suddenly we're on our own and all alone.

And we don't know what to do,

We feel like we're a victim.

So here's a story.

Take a nice deep breath.

I tell a lot of stories.

I like to use stories because they allow all of us to experience through not just principles,

Words,

Insights,

But relationships between certain masters and students between different people,

Because they're all parts of ourselves.

And every story I tell is,

In fact,

A representation of certain moving parts,

The place of them,

Their relationship to each other,

In a much broader scale in a world that we can't see yet.

So here's a student,

And he comes to the master after breakfast one morning when all the other monks have gone away.

And he says to the master,

I'm,

I'm,

I'm beside myself as try as I may,

I can't shake off this resentment that I feel towards some of the other monks that seem to be making greater progress than myself.

And if I may,

And I,

I kick myself for even saying it,

I'm jealous,

Master.

Why is it that you spend time?

Sorry,

I had a flashback.

I don't have time to share it.

But actually,

This actually lived the very thing I'm speaking.

Long ago,

I was over in India.

Oh,

Wow.

Anyway,

Why do you spend time with the other students?

I want to spend time with you.

And the master says,

You know,

Come with me.

Come with me.

And master's okay.

Student says,

Okay.

And the master walks out of the place where they're having their breakfast out into the gardens.

And the gardens are replete with beautiful flowers.

It's,

It's the beginning of fall and some of them are starting to show the signs of that the leaves on the maples and the various trees in the in the surrounding the area are beginning to show color.

And then the occasional leaf drifts down.

Master says sit.

Student says,

Certainly,

Master.

And the students expecting the master to start speaking.

Now he doesn't understand yet,

God willing,

One day,

He meaning these parts of ourselves that are still so anxious and jealous and worried,

Trying to make something happen spiritually.

Student doesn't understand that as they're sitting there,

The master is speaking.

But he's not using his mouth.

He's not using anything other than the place they're in a place where no one can enter into save for temporarily,

And only see in moment to moment what's possible.

So they sit there for about 30 minutes,

40 minutes or so.

And the student finally looks at the master,

He knows not to say anything,

But his eyes asked the question.

And the master responds,

He says,

Tell me something.

What have you noticed since we've been sitting here?

Throws the student off.

I'm gonna fail another test.

I don't know,

Master,

How beautiful everything is,

Because it is beautiful.

And the master says,

Yes,

It is beautiful,

For sure.

But is that beauty,

A static beauty?

What is it about the beauty?

Students kind of stumped the master understands that he's throwing him something to chew on to live with to work with.

And he says,

Look at the roses here.

Some are still buds,

But most you can see the petals are starting to fall from them.

And even as we sat here,

A few petals fell off.

Did you not see that?

No,

Master.

And how about the leaves on the trees?

Can can the trees do anything to make the leaves remain on the branches?

Did you not notice how some of the leaves were falling from the trees,

Some faster than others,

How they were turning color and the turning of the color meant that they would soon be falling to the ground?

No,

Master,

I didn't.

But now that you're saying it,

I can see that.

He said,

Master,

All that's part of the beauty.

The bud comes into a bloom,

The bloom opens up.

And a few days later,

Whatever the time period may be,

Depending on the season,

The petals will fall just as the leaves have to fall now to allow the tree to rest when it prepares itself for the coming winter.

All of that is taking place as we're sitting here.

Did you not see it?

No,

I didn't.

But now that you say it,

I can see it.

And the Master says,

That's good,

But that's not the same.

Now just to break into my own story here.

Why didn't again,

I pray one day that you might be in this situation,

You're in it anyway,

But just more deliberately.

Why didn't the students see it?

Because he was,

He was too busy wanting to hear the Master tell him something that he could think he understood or long to understand,

So that he wasn't seeing anything other than his own interior agitated state,

Wanting to take something from the moment that he might do something with what he takes,

So that he might become something.

Yes,

Tracy,

Too concerned with himself.

Camila,

Yes.

So he couldn't see that.

He couldn't see what now you and I are going to look at together.

It is the nature,

Quite literally with a capital N,

But in this instance,

It's individual creatures.

And though it's hard to see in the greater scheme of time,

Time with a capital T,

In the greater scheme of time,

Everything is created to come into being.

In this instance,

As above,

So below,

We look at the bud of a rose.

It is created to come into being,

Being brought into being by the invisible turning the wheels,

Not just of the soil and the roots and the nourishment and the sunlight,

But everything that's moving the sun through its period,

All of that acting together,

So that they come together and bring forth that simple rosebud.

Imagine the whole universe conspires to produce a single rosebud that opens into a flower and that the petals fall from that petal,

From that rose.

These are things we don't see because our eyes don't see much,

But we have another set of eyes,

One day,

God willing,

They will open up wide enough to start realizing that if that's true,

That all of that movement is to produce that single impression,

All of which,

By the way,

Are wheels within wheels connecting and showing a much greater intelligent system of divine of divine operation,

That that means that all of that that's taking place,

Including that everything must fall,

The petals have to fall to the ground,

The leaves have to leave the trees.

Why?

Because they're on their way,

Having completed their temporary purpose in that movement,

In the next leg of their journey,

Which in this instance is to become the food that will feed the next bud,

The next flower,

And the next leaf that grows and the fruit that follows it.

And none of these things do this as a separate creature,

As some separate expression,

But all are working in an invisible,

Celestially coordinated manner to ensure that that great balance between all things is kept in place,

So that everything's the purpose of all things are fulfilled in their time by being a participant in the greater movement of their own existence inseparable from the bigger picture.

The young buck just walked by my window here.

This is their ordinarily in the morning,

This is the time that they like to come,

They like to come.

They like to get the little cob or whatever little treat I bring out to them in the morning.

It makes me feel the pressure.

Let me go on.

Now,

Take a deep breath.

So some balance is being maintained.

And the balance that's being maintained cannot be separate from everything that comes into that balance and everything that departs that balance.

And that all of that movement is the balance.

All of that movement is the balance.

To see this timeless relationship I'm describing,

The fact of this eternal underlying principle as true,

If you can see it at all,

Mustn't it apply to all things created?

Yes or no?

All things created,

It must apply.

How can there be something outside of this beautiful celestial wheel of life?

And if that's true,

Take a nice deep breath.

If that's true,

Then why wouldn't that same principle apply to our negative states?

To the appearance of the suffering that seems to come with them?

If everything appears for a purpose,

And everything fulfills its purpose by being in relationship with a much broader plan,

That that individual movement is a part of,

Why wouldn't every single thing under the sun take part in that movement?

And everything does.

But this presents a kind of a conundrum.

Because for you and I,

When we get negative,

There's no such thing as participating in it,

Other than seeing it as a punishment,

And doing everything we can to escape,

Stop,

Change or control the moment blamed for that pain.

Which means in the moment that we resist the negative state,

Ostensibly something in this consciousness steps outside of this broader relationship that it is the mirror of,

And then wanting to see in the mirror of itself what it imagines it must have and do and be,

So that it's not suffering,

Literally drops into another world where there is another set of wheels.

But these are all the wheels of dark dreams and imaginations,

Fascinations,

Fantasisms,

That produce and keep in place the negative state.

Instead of allowing it to do what it is intended to do,

Instead we fall into a world where we are used by a consciousness in order to keep its wheels,

Those big wheels of turning.

You fill in the blank,

A regret,

Some doubt,

Some fear,

How about some simmering resentment,

Or anger at someone,

Or rage over something,

An event that took place,

And the event's gone,

The season of that moment,

And what brought that moment into existence temporarily,

The forces that be,

That bring that into existence so that in some scale,

The purpose of that moment can be brought about and perfected.

Every last moment in life is like that,

Only with us,

The moment that that happens,

We become,

Instead of complete through our participation in that broader purpose of being perfected as all things are in this grand scheme,

Actually having their innate perfection revealed.

God is perfect.

We experience what we call imperfect because his perfection brought into the scale of time and passing conditions only allows us to see one moment,

One section,

One part at a time,

Because of the way this consciousness and its senses operate,

So that we're always apart from what we're seeing,

But in the grand scheme of things,

As is intended by what Bowie was talking about,

When we can step back and apart from,

When we can learn to relax,

So that instead of being suddenly in the state of restriction,

Brought about by what?

The instantaneous resistance to any moment in time that threatens who and what we imagine ourselves to be.

And you cannot separate the negative state from the resistance that is at its root,

And when the resistance is not understood,

Then that resistance gives rise to a self-created reality,

A mind that begins to describe to itself why it is feeling the pain that it's feeling,

And it always does so by separating itself from that moment.

Whereas peace,

True liberation,

Real freedom,

Whereas that state is the same as realizing in that moment,

Not outside of it,

In that moment,

The recognition that all things in time have their time.

All things in time have their place,

And nothing appears in time,

And nothing is given a place that doesn't have a purpose broader than the condition that we see,

But rather as part of a whole creative movement.

But we don't see the appearance of these negative states in ourselves as part of a broader participation we're intended to take place in,

Because why?

Because we don't understand that when that moment comes and suddenly,

Now listen,

Because I know this is difficult language,

And I intend to go into this so deeply tomorrow.

I don't ordinarily utter,

As I will do now,

This strong wish,

Join me tomorrow online for free.

You can find out,

Go search me,

Or you can do it right here at Insight Timer.

I speak for free on Sunday mornings.

But when these moments come,

And they come all the time,

We think that's a problem,

Maybe a curse,

But it's not.

When these moments come,

There is,

Through the movement of this interconnected intelligence and the awareness of it,

There is the sudden action of a certain energy on a kind of seed that sits in this unconscious nature,

Waiting in one respect as surely as does the mustard seed,

The light from the sun that makes it develop and grow.

That in that moment,

The stirring of that seed is intended to produce the flowering of whatever has been and remains incomplete,

Meaning not connected,

Still outside of,

Yet capable of being acted on,

This broader intelligence ceaselessly balancing heaven and earth.

And that seed that we experience,

The first experience of that seed is its resistance to what stirs it.

The first experience of this incomplete part,

Is it trying to shake off,

Is it resisting what would bring it into its first form,

Its first flowering?

But we don't understand that,

And we don't want it,

Because we're so psyched out,

We're so conditioned to believe that somehow or other,

That we're not,

We're supposed to be some other kind of person who has no fear,

No anger,

No worry,

No doubt,

In spite of the fact that it visits us every day.

We've been told,

We've been brainwashed,

Beat over the head by mechanical religion,

Filled with all these ridiculous stereotypes,

So much so that when anything appears in this consciousness that doesn't match the conditioned image,

The gods that have been created in this unconscious nature by itself,

So that it can worship itself as something by the way that it's not,

That when those happen,

Instead of understanding our purpose in that moment is to allow that,

Just like the young monk couldn't see the flowers,

The petals falling,

The leaves coming,

Our purpose in that moment is to allow that state to do what it is intended and created to do,

Which is to reveal itself,

Fulfill itself,

And fall away,

Because it would,

And it does.

That's the,

You want to know what the spiritual magic is?

It's seeing who you thought you were fade into nothingness,

Because you know,

Understand now,

And are willing to work at allowing that very distinct sense of self that's produced when suddenly there's a pain and it doesn't want it,

So that instead of trying to push that pain away and flower according to our idea of what a beautiful person we are,

Instead,

We let that whole thing take place,

We relax,

We relax into the resistance,

Instead of trying to release ourselves from it,

We relax into the resistance,

Instead of trying to release ourselves from it.

And yes,

Tony,

The word surrender is accurate,

But not if I'm identified with surrendering,

So that the sense of surrender then becomes the new becomes the new state I'm in.

And instead of allowing that resistance to move through its entire,

Instead of allowing the wheels of that consciousness and its unconscious resistance,

To reveal the presence of itself,

And in that revelation to release us from our identification with it.

If we do that,

Then we start to see something that no one can possibly understand until they do so.

To even a small degree to see what I'm saying,

I'm sorry,

I'm deciding whether or not to correct something I see on the board.

You all of you,

You need to see that there is something in this consciousness that cannot wait to relate what it is experiencing to something that it is known.

That's called death.

Because to relate the present moment to something in the past is to experience the past and the consciousness that's producing that impression,

So that you're literally eating psychological swill in that moment,

Feeding on it instead of understanding you're in the garden and everything is unfolding within you in this moment,

So that you can see that who you are and who you have mistaken yourself to be is not who you are.

That task,

That work once understood is not to overcome what seems to be overcoming you.

This is not about the domination of some temporary unwanted condition,

Regardless of how you achieve that,

Whether by going into imagination,

Relating it to something from your past,

All of that is to step out of this broad,

Beautiful circulation of the divine,

Bringing everything into constant balance and perfecting it accordingly,

Or actually revealing its perfection through that balance,

Which is more accurate.

We're after not domination,

But the total illumination of the consciousness that produces this resistance of the whole of ourselves,

All of its moving parts,

So that in its ensuing,

Growing understanding follows the transformation of your relationship to that moment.

That's why I entitled this Relax into Liberation.

I think I'll end this with,

And I'm paraphrasing this,

But I just love it so much.

I've been talking about this for some time,

I think.

It's Eastern,

I don't know whether it's the Tao or Zen or what,

But there's this saying,

Again,

I paraphrase it,

Don't let it drive you insane.

Or maybe I should say,

Let it drive you insane.

When there's nothing to do,

Nothing is left undone.

When there's nothing to do,

Nothing is left undone.

That is so magnificent.

When you resist a negative state,

The very fact of identifying with it,

By the way,

Is doing something,

Is it not?

Not you doing it,

But the consciousness.

If I actually get to the point where I can understand the real task is to allow this natural circulation to produce this natural flowering,

And in the natural flowering to participate in the beginning and the end of all things,

The Alpha and the Omega that live within me already,

That's reflected in the world outside of me.

I really understand there's nothing to do,

Which there isn't,

If you could see this,

To be an impersonal witness,

Then there's nothing left,

There's nothing to be undone.

Nothing's left undone.

How many times,

Acting from a negative state,

Have you done something and then had to undo what you did to get out of that dark dungeon you were in?

That was a lot of Ds,

But the way my mind works.

Nothing left undone.

Nothing's left undone.

That's the truth.

It is all done.

We're just too far outside of it.

But by the grace of God,

We do have some insight into it.

And that insight is not a path.

It is another order of time.

It is another place and another possibility altogether that remains in this,

By the grace of God,

In this being.

And our task,

The prodigal son,

Is like the young monk in the master's garden to return there and sit there and watch and realize as best we can.

And it's always a little bit at a time.

I don't have to answer this negative state.

It has appeared not as an adversary,

But as part of a complementary set of conditions,

Literally brought apart,

Just as surely as the whole universe conspires to produce a rose.

So literally,

Does the whole universe conspire to create that moment of illumination by which we can be released from this unconscious relationship that we have with an unconscious nature and enter into a conscious relationship,

As Bo Wim was saying,

With the divine?

Hope you can join me tomorrow.

Relax.

There's nothing,

When there's nothing to do,

There's nothing left undone.

See what happens.

Experiment.

Don't think you know.

God help you.

Experiment.

Find out.

Nothing else is valuable.

Bye.

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