GF Live 1-07-23 The Freedom To Face Any Fear

Allowing any part of (your) self to act in such a way as to deny you a new awareness of yourself – whatever its quality – is the same as refusing your right to realize the limitless depth and breadth of your True Self.

Transcript

I have no axe to grind,

Meaning I'm not trying to put a point to anything.

All I'm interested in,

And all I hope that you're interested in,

Is whether or not you and I have to live the way that we do now.

And that takes some honesty to evaluate that,

Because it's not really a question of comparing.

It's a question of what is my interior life like in any given moment,

And particularly in those moments where suddenly I'm filled with some kind of resistance,

An event unfolds,

Whatever it may be.

Someone says something,

I get some news.

Maybe I've agreed to take a leading position in a meeting as a supervisor,

Or I'm hoping to take the next step.

And whatever it may be that I want to take the next step in,

The point is that,

And I'll put it two ways,

What if it was possible for me,

For you,

I know it's possible for me,

To meet every one of those moments when suddenly there's this flood of thoughts and feelings,

Mostly of the fearful kind,

Saying,

Oh no,

This isn't right.

What are we going to do?

How do I handle this?

And then if we're honest,

Which again,

I just hope that we can be,

Then what's the next thing that happens?

And I'll summarize it.

I either decide that this thing is bigger than my ability to deal with,

And I have to find some means around it.

I have to figure out a way to get through it.

Or I muster myself again,

And I'll say it again,

I muster myself again.

And somehow or other,

I don't know exactly what it's going to take,

But I'm going to go through this fear one more time.

I'm going to override this thing one more time.

I'm going to mount up and I'm going to charge into the battle.

And this time I'll succeed.

And look,

It's your life.

But I can tell you that this idea that over and over and over again,

I have to pick myself up and put on that strong chin and gather myself and go into that battle and overcome one more time,

That's actually hell.

And the reason it's hell is because as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow,

The conditions will appear given another set of circumstances,

And I will be facing that same,

What I believe is a fearful moment again.

And by God,

It is wearisome to always want to prove somehow or other that I am superior to the condition that I'm facing.

And why is it so exhausting?

Because the condition that we keep having to face has nothing to do with the circumstances that present themselves to us.

Rather,

The thing that we keep trying to overcome and why we have to keep trying to overcome it is because innate in this consciousness that first imagined what strength is,

What first came up with this belief of what it means to be a superior human being built right into that image and its according identity is this almost endless sense of inadequacy.

What do you think?

That wasn't an earthquake.

What do you think this fear is of any given moment?

Have you ever thought about it?

How many times a day from the simplest thing to seemingly the most important of all?

What is this fear?

And I'm telling you what it is.

It is the fear of an unseen sense of inadequacy,

Meaning that I don't know that I'll get through this.

I don't know if I'm able to.

I'm tired of trying to get through these things,

But I'm afraid not to try and get through them.

So that what we're looking in that moment is something that has painted the picture,

Pointed out here is what we have to do if we want to feel whole,

Safe,

And secure.

And that by the very idea of here's what I must do in a time to come,

Please.

Here's what I must be in a time to come.

Here's what I must become in the very idea of something that I must become if I'm going to overcome my fear is the fear itself because it's innate.

It's in this consciousness that first pictures itself as being someone or something that requires and depends upon certain circumstances to continue to play out.

It's in that consciousness itself,

The very idea of what I call strength and what I must do to constantly prove it.

That's our weakness.

That's where our inadequacy comes from.

And now if you want the good news,

It is impossible for an awake,

Interior,

Working human being to ever be inadequate to the moment,

Ever.

What has failed us and failed us miserably is our idea of strength because our idea of strength requires that it be proven by an act of will.

And it is the very act of that will that continues to try to prove itself that I am somebody,

I know something,

I have something,

This is what I.

.

.

It's the very act of that will that presents itself as the pounding force that it does.

I must,

I have to.

It is right in that consciousness itself that this weakness rests.

Real strength,

If you want to write something down to consider,

Real strength does not have to be proven by an act of will.

Real strength will prove itself when we put ourselves on the right side of where that strength lives from where it comes to us.

So I have a,

I've never tried this before in our Insight Timers,

But I've asked Kate to post something.

I'm going to read it to you.

Let's see,

Kathar,

Why can't we just acknowledge the fear,

Except that we have that fear and release it without having.

.

.

That's a guess,

Because you see,

Because we don't acknowledge it.

See,

Acknowledging fear for most of us is this idea of being identified with it.

And the identification with fear,

Which,

Listen,

Kathar,

Resistance is a form of identification.

Not wanting this fear is the same thing as the fear I don't want,

Because my attention is in the opposition to my own consciousness.

Instead of the revelation that that level of consciousness is not really mine at all,

I've been conditioned,

I've been dropped into it.

I've accepted it.

So let me go with what I wanted to say here.

I've written a little something and I'm going to read it,

And as I do,

I've asked Kate to post it as best we can.

Real strength is not the power to overcome.

Rather,

It is born of an awakening relationship with a new order of understanding,

A higher awareness that allows us to not only transcend fear,

But to literally transform it into the realization of another order of freedom,

One that can only be increased and that cannot be decreased.

Let's go over it.

Read it with me.

Real strength is not the power to overcome.

Rather,

It is born of an awakening relationship with a new order of understanding.

Let me take that first part.

An awakening relationship,

Not an awakened relationship,

Because all relationships are ceaseless awakenings.

Everything that is awakened,

Everything that belongs to the past,

Belongs to the past.

We belong to another order of relationship to passing time,

That all of that passes through.

So it is born of an awakening relationship with a new order of understanding,

A higher awareness that allows us to not only transcend fear,

But to transform it on the spot,

By the way,

Into a realization of a new order of freedom that can only be increased and cannot be decreased.

If you want that and you didn't get it off of the board,

I think you can go back and copy it.

I'll ask Kate to put it up.

I don't know how we'll do it.

It'll be repeated Sunday,

Tomorrow.

I'm speaking tomorrow.

I'm going to go further into this topic if it means something to you.

So where are we at?

A freedom that can only be increased and that can't be decreased.

A freedom that goes not just with me,

But before me,

Meaning an understanding,

A relationship with another order of consciousness that is already given to us,

That we are already a part of,

And that it is a part of our possibility.

So that when I meet a moment,

And it can be anything,

Maybe I got to have that talk with my 14-year-old rebellious teenager,

Or that seven-year-old that would rather scream than listen,

Or my husband or my wife or someone at work.

It makes no difference.

I have to give a presentation.

Can you see how there's always,

Instead of something that goes before us,

To assure us that any sense of inadequacy that wants to block any of our wish to understand belongs to a consciousness that has no interest in you and I ever realizing that the real inadequacy in the moment is in its level of consciousness,

In its being.

The real inadequacy is in a consciousness that believes it knows what real freedom is,

That believes it knows what strength is.

That's the real inadequacy.

And therefore,

That inadequacy sows itself into everything we do because it has to in order to sustain the identity so that our freedom isn't somehow overcoming the nightmares that come every time that consciousness is challenged by something that says,

You can't do this,

You're inadequate.

This is something to be afraid of.

In that moment,

The real solution is to wake up from the dream,

Not to become something,

Not to try and do something.

See,

I don't know where these talks fall on the men and women who join me.

I know some of you have been studying with me for some time,

And God willing,

We can,

This body will go on and we can continue to explore these things.

But sweet God,

In every proper meaning of the word,

Who wants to live every day thinking that another day is coming where I'm going to have to deal with something that seems bigger than my ability to deal with it?

My anger,

My depression,

My fear,

My regrets,

My resentments,

The questions I have about tomorrow and how it's not shaping up the way it's supposed to.

And now I've got to find a new way to deal with tomorrow.

There is no tomorrow outside of a consciousness that paints it black,

That has fear in it.

And then the consciousness that paints it black,

And that we look at the content of that consciousness,

Deriving our identity the only way we know to through that reflection,

Then that becomes our reality.

And then we wind up serving through the rest of our life,

This level of consciousness that cares for nothing other than the continuity of itself.

It is incapable of caring for another human being.

Did you know that if you're afraid,

If you have any dependency at all upon another human being,

You can't love them?

Did you know that?

Because out of that dependency is a sense of security,

And out of that security,

The fear that if that person's not there doing and being what I need them to be so I can feel strong,

Then in that is the weakness that destroys relationships,

Because they're colored with motive all the time.

Can't say this,

Can't do that,

Now they've got to be on eggshells here.

Freedom isn't like that.

We may not know yet what freedom is.

And before this talk,

Certainly I'm not going to tell you what freedom is.

That's impossible.

I would never try to tell you what freedom is,

Because the next thing that happens,

Anytime someone listens to someone as an authority,

Then they make what that person says is freedom into the next image that becomes their next prison.

Freedom doesn't have images.

Freedom can't be imagined.

Well,

It can be imagined,

But in the imagination of freedom is prison.

That's the nature of the things.

You cannot serve two masters,

You'll love one and despise the other.

You cannot love the idea of freedom without being imprisoned by your own identity every time some condition challenges that image.

It's impossible.

So where do we go from here?

The true teachings on this planet,

And they are few and far between.

And I would even go as far to say that the true teachings are not the fragments of insights,

The presentation,

The principles that were found by others who perhaps went on to find and have a relationship of real freedom through their relationship with the divine.

The true freedom is a very personal experience of our relationship to the moment that we're in.

And that's where we have to begin our exploration,

Not in what we want,

Not in what we hope,

But in the fact of what am I?

Who am I in this moment?

Because if we can even begin to realize,

What was that?

I saw some quote.

Can I remember what it was?

In the most obscure places.

Oh,

Yeah.

I think it was by Thomas Merton.

I could be wrong with that.

He said,

If you believe you know all of the answers,

Then you don't know the question.

I just love that.

Don't look,

You may say,

No,

I don't believe I know all the answers.

What do you think fear is other than an answer to a moment that challenges you?

Where you think you know the answer is you have to somehow overcome that moment.

You know the answer.

Every reaction that we have of a negative order comes out of an order of consciousness that believes it knows what just happened.

And when it knows what just happened from the content of itself,

It will pull out what it knows it needs to do.

Failing to see that everything it knows it needs to do just keeps in place the consciousness that lives in that fear of everything challenging its identity.

So I want to touch on the basis of all two teachings and then explore it with you,

Which is what Christ called it metanoia.

Bhagavad Gita has its own terminology.

The scriptures,

Every last scripture has the same thing,

And that is that somehow or other we need to see that our present view,

The way we see life,

Is not a creation of our own,

But that we have fallen quite literally into a creation of a consciousness that itself has fallen into a divided state,

Or that actually never escaped the transition from high to low into becoming this divided mind.

And that as long as we live from a mind,

A consciousness that looks out and sees everything as separate from ourselves,

By the fact of that we will always be in opposition to whatever life brings to us,

Because one side of the equation is us,

Is that we know what it's supposed to look like.

I shouldn't have to do this.

Why do I have to go through that?

So everything begins with first,

As difficult as this is,

I call it the divine dissatisfaction.

How long am I going to fight to be right?

What's right doesn't have to fight.

How long am I going to fight to get over my fear?

The light doesn't fight with what is dark.

The darkness exists in the absence of light.

That's a philosophical and physical truth.

So I need a new picture,

A bigger understanding,

And that's what we're going to look at for the next 10 minutes or so.

Then I have a story to tell you to kind of wrap everything up.

Take a nice deep breath,

Everybody.

I'm going to grab a drink of water.

How many of you are still here?

I'm just reminding you that you're in a body and that you're looking at whoever,

You're looking at this screen,

But let's be here together.

That means I'm aware of myself.

I can see myself and I see myself seeing myself.

You can see me.

Can you be aware of you seeing me,

Of listening to me?

And where are you listening to me?

I'm in you.

This is in you.

This is the beauty,

By the way,

Not just when you see something in nature,

You hear beautiful music.

The resonance,

The reflection is in my consciousness.

I'm actually experiencing my consciousness.

I am aware of my own consciousness.

This is a big step.

Let me go on.

So we all know this idea.

We've heard it a thousand times.

I touch on it quite often,

Especially when I start speaking of how we can use nature and our relationship to it to understand something about our own present consciousness.

We know the idea of hermetic teachings as above,

So below,

That what we call below this creation in passing time is a reflection of a creation that is timeless.

But we don't live in this timeless kingdom yet.

We're intended to,

Or at least have one foot inside of that world so that we're no longer afraid of what takes place in passing time,

Which is part of what we're talking about.

As within,

So without.

What I see outside of me,

And I've taken,

I've been speaking of this for years.

What you see outside of you is a reflection in your consciousness so that you don't see anything outside of you that isn't in your consciousness,

No matter what it is.

Whatever you see,

Hear,

Feel,

Take in,

Taste,

Touch,

Whatever moves you is in your consciousness.

The world outside of you,

With all of its phenomena,

Are simply ways in which this consciousness is introduced to the content of itself so that it works as a great system of mirrors.

That's why the Eastern teachings talk about parting the veils,

Polishing the mirror,

Because the more the mirror is polished,

The more clearly we see there is not this duality that our present consciousness produces,

Because that's where fear lives.

Obviously,

If I'm dependent upon something that I believe my life requires in order for me to be who I am,

Then the moment something challenges that image that I believe is the world or someone or something in it,

Then the more I start to shake,

Because now my entire identity is threatened.

And there's no such identity to be threatened other than an illusory one,

A false self.

So that idea,

What I see out there is really just a reflection,

And it is just reflected in the consciousness that,

If you want to use those words,

Is a priori.

The mirror is before the object reflected in it.

The consciousness comes before the content that it has within it.

Something has to hold all of that,

Doesn't it?

Something has to reveal all of that.

So,

Continuing.

We can look out,

I don't know where you live.

I live by a certain grace,

I suppose,

Up here in the mountains in southern Oregon,

And spending as much time as I do,

For sure a gift with nature and the creatures in it.

It is indisputable.

And of course,

All the scriptures speak of this,

East and west,

That all of creation is integrated.

Christian terms,

There isn't a leaf that falls,

A bird that dies,

That the divine isn't aware of it.

And by the way,

That doesn't mean that somewhere there's some god sitting on a cloud,

Feet dangling over,

Who goes,

Oh my god,

A sparrow just fell.

That's childish.

It means that there is an integrated intelligence that is the expression of an awareness that intersects all that exists.

And all that exists is,

In fact,

Part of this matrix,

Part of this awareness that oversees and governs the relationship between all of the individual creatures in it.

And it is a forever balancing,

A forever harmonizing intelligence that this awareness brings to it,

So that all that which exists in terms of what we see changing,

Is being changed because something is acting on that creature.

And as that force,

That intelligence,

As that acts on that creature,

The creature responds.

It has no choice.

And as it responds,

It responds because the creature as it was,

Has been brought into a new relationship with an energy that's transforming it.

So there is a ceaseless process of transformation taking place,

Where everything that is being transformed then becomes the next body,

The new conception of that continual creation and its perfection.

It's quite beautiful,

If you can see what I'm describing to you,

That there is an endless intersection where life,

Let's use the word light,

The living word,

Interjected into a ceaseless but invisible process of transformation.

In every level of creation,

And then in the beauty of these bridges of intelligence,

Of creation,

Every last level that is constantly being brought into this process of transformation,

Into its next possibility,

Every last one of those levels,

In turn,

Acts on the level that it is connected to,

Above and below.

So there are these wheels and wheels and wheels,

And everything keeps turning,

Because creation keeps giving birth to itself by an act of love,

Because it is love.

But here's the main point,

Because I got to move on.

Is there anything in that description I described that isn't taking part in that constant reconciliation,

Realization,

And rebirth?

Obviously not.

The only thing that could conceivably exist outside of that would be the illusion of someone or something that we believe exists independent of that movement,

Which,

By the way,

Is why it was said you should not worship graven images.

How can you worship a graven image without there being a worshiper of that image?

And by the very fact that I have an image of something outside of the whole,

Predicated on my preferences,

Proves that whoever's dreaming that is sitting outside of the whole,

Or they wouldn't have to dream it,

Because they're already whole.

Let's ask a question quickly.

Can you see what I'm pointing to?

This is important.

Just quickly on the board.

Do you see it?

Please.

Okay,

Good.

I don't see anybody saying no,

But even if you don't,

It's okay.

You can feel it.

You'll see it.

So here's the point.

So if we can see there is a continuous creation through a ceaseless act of what?

Love,

Unification,

Transformation.

And if that creation is continuous,

Now listen,

Then is there any part of that creation that isn't undergoing that same new birth?

And the answer is no,

There's not.

And here's the thing now we're sewing into this.

If that's true,

That there is no creation that isn't constantly being reborn and being brought into the fulfillment of its next highest possibility,

Its perfection,

Why wouldn't that hold true for our consciousness?

Our consciousness is a creation.

Did you create your consciousness?

You created the present matrix that has the misery in it,

But the consciousness itself wasn't created with misery.

It wasn't created with fear in it.

It was created with the possibility of producing this divided perception.

And out of that,

The constant sense of punishment.

But the fact of the matter is that the consciousness that perceives creation is a part of the creation that perceives.

The consciousness that perceives creation is part of the creation that perceives.

And if that's true,

And it is,

Then we can see this bifurcation,

This place on the path where my consciousness perceives the creation that it has made for itself of this world and then suffers from its own creation,

Or of consequence and relative to what we're talking about.

If I know that what I've said is true,

That means my consciousness is never not being brought into this fold in which something never stops acting upon it,

Revealing the content of itself.

And in that ceaseless movement,

That stirring is the ceaseless revelation of the content of that consciousness itself,

That you and I are intended to be the witness of,

Not the one who bears it,

Not the one who has to try to figure out what to do with what was just revealed.

There is nothing to do with what was just revealed,

Except to allow the revelation to produce in that consciousness,

Its intended consequence,

Which is the reconciliation of that consciousness.

Again,

I,

You know,

I'm just doing the best I can to try to show you something.

But if that's true,

Where's the fear?

Does any part of a river have fear in it?

You see the clouds,

We're all covered right now,

And clouds and I call it dragon breath,

These beautiful white wisps that move across the mountains.

Is there fear in that movement?

Or is that movement part of the expression,

Part of the revelation of an intelligence that brings about in ways that are beyond our comprehension,

This beautiful,

Constant change,

Where nothing remains the same.

And that's a problem for you and I,

Because who you and I believe ourselves to be requires that certain things that were identified would never change,

Which is why we avoid any moment where the change seems bigger than our ability to deal with it.

Because suddenly,

I feel inadequate to overcome that moment.

Yes,

Sarah,

But it isn't we who write our own story.

We're asleep in a level of consciousness that in order to continue its sense of self,

That strong,

Familiar identity,

Produces chapter after chapter of conflict with what is so that it can look at what is and since it doesn't match what should be,

Then it can go on and solve that problem.

And oh my God,

What if life isn't an endless series of solving problems,

But rather discovering that in the presentation of the problem itself is the possibility of realizing an order of ourselves that uses every last one of those problems in quote,

For the further perfection of this consciousness.

So let me get to the point.

And I don't think I'm going to have time to tell you the story,

But I'm not sure that I need to tell you the story.

Because I'm going to I'm going to give you I'm going to show you an idea about a change that's possible in our relationship with the moments where we suddenly feel afraid or inadequate to deal with them.

And you know that that do you understand that can be just you waking up in bed in the morning.

Here.

As you wake up,

And something goes,

I can't get that no,

I can't.

I don't want to get up.

What's this reluctance to get out of bed?

You know what it is?

I got to push the stone up that hill again.

And I've been pushing that stone up like Sisyphus punished by Zeus for his betrayal.

I got to push that stone up the hill again.

And I know sure as shooting,

It's gonna roll back on me.

I don't want to do it.

But I got to.

That's the funny thing,

Isn't it?

I got to do it for fear of what will happen if I don't repeat and reincarnate the very life I don't want.

You got you start to see these things as God would have a sea that creates a real,

Real earthquake inside.

So here's what the idea that I would like I just,

You know,

I look sometimes at what people post.

If what I've described to you is true,

And it is a ceaseless act of love,

Then you tell me what in the name of God can one find that is dark or pessimistic in the discovery that I have been a participant in the creation of a world that is set against myself,

And that I continue to create.

And in that conflict set the world against itself.

Here's the question,

The idea,

Just something I would put out for you to look at,

Given what we've looked at together to see if whether or not it's true.

I can't do that for you.

If Christ himself were on this planet,

In a physical form,

Why do you think why couldn't he just snap his fingers and all of his disciples wake up?

Why did he have to tell Peter,

Get behind me,

Satan?

Why was he forever and always correcting his disciples,

Because they could not see,

They could not understand and it is seeing that faith is born,

Not faith born of a worship of an image,

Or some belief in oneself,

Because I know all the teachings.

That's ludicrous and crud.

No faith,

Because I have seen the truth and in my willingness to understand and explore it,

I've entered into the moment in which those truths are revealed to me.

And yes,

It's sobering,

But far better to become a sober human being than one who keeps suffering from the drunkenness of living in a dream that never ends and a dark one at that.

Here's the question,

I've got to bring our time together.

We've looked at this big picture,

What is timeless and perfect manifests and express itself in passing time.

And all of the seeming disparity of the creatures that occupy this space,

That in spite of the fact that they seem so different and disconnected,

They are by the fact that they were born of that same light and woven into that relationship through it.

Everything is constantly connected and everything is being tested and proven time and time again,

So that nothing can fail in creation.

And the truth is nothing dies in creation,

It just changes its form.

And if that's true,

And that's a fact of everything in creation,

Then for a moment,

Just for a grin,

So that I can make this transition,

It's going to be somewhat challenging.

Here's this tree,

We had a big windstorm up here this week.

Here's the tree I've been talking about,

Wind and trees.

Here's this wind and it comes and it's knocking all the dead stuff off the trees,

Knocking some trees down.

But let's just for a second,

Imagine that that tree has a certain sentience,

Meaning that it at least has begun to understood or somewhat suspect that it isn't apart from the ground that holds it.

It's certainly not apart from the wind that strengthens it,

Or the wind that knocks it down so that it can take a new form.

It's not apart from that.

What would that tree in that moment of that storm,

What would that tree be thinking?

I know this is kind of anthropomorphic,

But just go with me because you'll see.

What would that tree be thinking?

Five words,

For this I was created.

Why does the creature surrender itself to the predator after the struggle?

For this I was created.

Why does the predator pursue the prey to sharpen and hone the skills of a species so that the nature can continue to perfect that level?

For this I was created.

So I bring this to you now as a closing thought.

What if every moment where suddenly a fear comes,

Some sense of inadequacy?

Hold on,

Hold on.

I can feel it.

God,

I don't like it.

I don't want this.

Oh,

Nevertheless,

Not my will,

But thy will be done.

My words,

For this moment I was created.

I was created for this very moment that I don't want.

Imagine,

And then think to yourself,

What would happen if I actually understood that?

Because I participate in this broader understanding,

Which you are not just created to do,

But as the crown of the creation between these two levels,

You're intended to be the instrument of that relationship.

For this I was created.

And for every moment that I'm here,

If I'm awake and present,

The fact that I can be awake and present to everything that is passing through me is for what I was created.

Because if I'm present to everything that's passing through me,

Then I'm at the same time bringing that into this light of an awareness that first is stirred,

And then becomes new substance,

And then becomes a new order of self.

Okay,

44 minutes.

I'll be back next Saturday at 8am.

And then we'll experiment a little bit.

It will throw a different time in once a month,

Just to see what happens.

For this I was created.

Let us remember that,

And apply it.

Perfect love casts out fear.

That's what we described here.

And we're intended to be a part of it.

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Thanks

Thank you 🙏

I’d give this talk a hundred stars if I could! I am so grateful to have recently found Guy Finley. My life is becoming clearer because of this talk and one other. Last night I fell asleep listening and awoke at 5:30 am and listened the entire talk. Nothing short of profound! On December 29, 2922, my husband of 63 years passed from this earth to what I now realize is another plane of being (words are sometimes inadequate). Although he appeared to have left his body, I was lying beside him speaking words of comfort to him, telling him how much I loved him and that it was okay to go and that I’d be okay. The nurse had arrived and was in constant contact with the palliative care doctor. It took another 45 minutes for the heart and respiration to stop. The nurse washed him and put on clean clothes. The doctor told me that I shouldn’t be alone but I knew I wanted to be. I spent the rest of the day in ‘a peace that passes all understanding’. I felt a kind of bliss and strength and knowing. I was no longer an agnostic. I know now that there is a Presence/Universal Love/God. I’m 83 years on this planet and thought that I’d have figured out everything by now! What a joke! The next day I awoke with a serious case of Covid which quickly took away the blissful feeling of the day before! I want to express my sincere gratitude to you for your talks on Insight Timer. I will listen again to this talk and make some notes. Covid has affected my memory. 🙏❤️🙏