GF Live 12-17-22 Replace Judgment Of Others With Compassion

The Divine first intervenes in our unconscious identification with useless suffering by the advent of an interior Light that reveals a shocking truth: most of the familiar solutions we rely on to free us from our suffering...are secretly complicit in its continuation.

Transcript

I don't know where you are in the country, But I live in southern Oregon, And this morning is a quite the foggy, Foggy morning up here on this mountain. Isn't it interesting, As I begin to set the stage for our study together today, Isn't it interesting how every last one of these impressions, For instance, I wish I could turn my camera around and show you this gray day with almost no light piercing the sky so that the trees, And I don't know if you've ever noticed this, That as the light disappears from the sky, Whether it's because of the fog or maybe just the setting sun, As light disappears, So does color. Of course, It makes sense when you think about it, But there's this relationship, And I don't think there's a moment that we are in where there isn't some kind of story being told to us by the surroundings that we find ourselves in, But not because the exterior, The foggy day with the dark trees highlighted in the gray of it, But because of something else, But because of something else. So let's get started, Shall we, And then we'll see where it takes us. I want to get everybody on the same page, Spiritually speaking, So that we have a good basis for something that when we finally get to the main point is going to be probably a little bit shocking, Certainly something that most of us have never considered, But let's just take any great scientist. A scientist, A good scientist, Is what? An explorer, And a good scientist, A real scientist, Not somebody working to make money or to find fame for their research. They are drawn to something that has caught their interest. They are, For all intents and purposes, We could use the word, Having a kind of an affair with a certain idea that maybe it was triggered by the work someone else had done, Perhaps it was something as many discoveries have been proven to be, An accidental discovery of a relationship between something or other. But we can see, And this is what I want to get on the same page with you about, That every discovery is essentially a realization of what we could call a lost relationship between the principle that was being sought by the truth seeker, By the scientist, And the fact that in the awakening of that relationship with what it is that they were interested in learning about, The only way that that exploration and the fruit of it came to pass was that that scientist, He or she found that what they were looking for, The principle, The power, That possibility was already, It pre-existed the consciousness that went searching for it. Here's a scientist, He's drawn to something, She's drawn to something, And they go searching to reconcile this disparity between something in them that feels the existence of something and wants to understand it, And then finally when that realization, That revelation comes, The fact that the scientist can then begin to expound upon it or put it into mathematical formula or do whatever's necessary to make what is intangible into something tangible, Where is that found? And it's found in their consciousness, So that that consciousness went looking for itself. The scientist, Whatever his or her name may be, Is actually incidental, And any true scientist, Any true mystic of any form or fashion would tell you the same thing, That who they are is absolutely incidental to the experiences they're the experiences they're given in life and the relationship they have with it. So let's get that settled. Can you see to whatever extent I'm hoping is possible for you to see that we are drawn to the experiences, We are drawn to the discoveries we make, Because there is something in our consciousness looking to realize the fact of itself, And that that fact requires at first something outside of itself that it seems drawn to, But in the end the discovery is self-discovery. In the end, Every discovery is self-discovery. Are we still connected? Can you send me a word or two along these lines? There we go. Did you know, I've often, I don't think I've ever spoken of this, I ought to. In some of the older religious traditions, You can see the men and women, Eastern and Western, They do this thing, And I think in the Judaic tradition it's called Babban. They sit when they're reading the scripture or they're listening to someone speak of truth. It's pretty mechanical now, But originally it wasn't that. The reason this happens is because a person inwardly is moved by what they hear, Moved by what they see, And so this is a way in which the body kind of affirms what the experience is that's passing through it. This is why when I speak so often, And I often speak, As you would know if you've been joining me, I ask yes or no so that we can begin to coalesce in an agreement, Not to satisfy the speaker's need. I understand that what I'm telling you is true. I'm wanting to know if you feel the truth of it or not. Yeah, The Babban is the continual reception reception of a realization, So we can understand that, And thank you for the deal. It's actually good for you to be in direct relationship with the speaker while he's talking, So that's number one. Now, What does that mean? How can we validate in our own experience, Which is critical, Not the speaker's experience, How can we validate a truth like that? So let me take you back a little bit to when, God willing, You were a child, And although unfortunately most of this has been lost in us, Which we'll discover why, There is a kind of an innate mystery when you're a child. If you can remember how early on how you were drawn to the least of things. I can remember as a child being drawn to just looking down into the grass or a leaf, And I'm not talking about a child of the 60s, You know, Where you did some kind of hallucinogenic and you could stare at your own hand for an hour and see all the truth that's in it, Although it's not too severely disconnected from that kind of a chemical opening, But nevertheless, That there was a mystery in in almost everything that you looked at. Have you ever watched a baby, You know, Laying in the crib and it's kind of throwing its hands around and stuff like that, And all of a sudden it notices a hand? I know that's what, What do you think that's so extraordinary for that child? Because until that child, Until that eye was able to fashion on that hand, That child didn't know there was a hand, And honestly, The child actually didn't know that it was, Meaning the body was connected, Its consciousness was connected to that hand. That takes time. An elephant, And did you, A baby elephant has something like 1900, 2100 muscles in its trunk, And it takes like a year for that elephant to learn how to use all of those nerve endings in those muscles to move that trunk around. The child discovers a hand, And gradually as we grow older, We start to realize, Well, The hand actually is connected to this arm, The arm is connected to the shoulder, So forth and so on, And then this connectivity is discovered in the simplest form. But back to this mystery, First I'm drawn to this hand, But we can see that we as children are drawn to certain things, And we're drawn, Incidentally, To the extent we're drawn, Because we do come into this life bringing with us certain qualities or characteristics that by their nature, By their essential nature, Are somewhat incomplete. They are not conscious, They're not explored, They're not understood, And we're drawn to these things, Whatever they may be in life. Maybe it's a child of four or five years old, Here's somebody play a piano, A child sees a bird fly through the sky, It could be anything, And we can see in that moment, If we can see in our own life, That there's a kind of an invisible attraction that takes place in that moment, And that invisible attraction seems to be, In this instance, In the beginning, Between the observer and what the observer is attracted to, The observed. So the observer is attracted to what he or she is drawn to. They're drawn to it, But we have to see that in that same moment that we are drawn to something, Something has caught our attention and is drawing us to it. So we are drawn to something, And something is drawing our attention to it. You see what I mean? You understand? With male and female, That's pretty obvious, You know, You get to be older, And there is this mutual attraction. And interesting enough, And not for today's topic, This is what they call the attraction of the opposites. The opposites are attracted to one another, Because when at last they are brought together as they're intended to be, Something is made from that relationship of these opposites. It really holds true when it comes to the things we're drawn to in this world. Why, For instance, In those moments, Are we drawn to, And then let's just pick anything, Why am I drawn to music? I'm drawn to music because as I'm drawn to it, I'm experiencing a kind of a mysterious longing. There is something in me that is trying to understand what that music, Not that particular song, What is that music trying to convey? And yeah, That's right, Seeds. Ying Yang, Baby. There is a mutual attraction, And there is, In that mutual attraction, Although it hasn't been formalized, There is a story in it. Something is trying to tell me something about me. And the nascent soul, This consciousness, It wants to know about itself. Do we not want to know about ourselves? If we haven't been buried and destroyed by this world, And we haven't been broken and made bitter by all the betrayal, I want to know something about it. I'm drawn to those moments because without knowing it, I am being educated by my relationship to that moment in a way that no other condition can bring about. And gradually, We discover this relationship is in one way or another, The purpose of it is to awaken in us qualities or characteristics in our consciousness that are momentarily reflected in that consciousness by something that seems to be outside of that consciousness. But the gradual realization and the recognition, Which is the heart of all true spiritual teachings, Not religions, But true spiritual teachings from out of which religion has come, That in the heart of that, There is this moment in which a person begins to realize that what I am experiencing, Whatever it may be that I'm drawn to, Is already in this consciousness. And that's what the experience is. The meeting of the observer and the observed and their discovery that they are not separate, That they are not two different things at all. And that the whole point of being drawn and that which was drawing me to it was to make that realization, That discovery. For instance, Here in Southern Oregon, Late in the spring, Early summer, Patricia, My wife and I, We go, We have a little golf cart that we take the, I live up on top of a mountain, We take our trash down and the recycling down to the street. And we often go for rides in this golf cart around the neighborhood. And in part, So we can see all the things that are happening, You know, The wildflowers, The horses, All, Anyway, You walk by, You drive by a wildflower and it's dressed in that late afternoon sunlight. Or you can see, As I love, One of my favorite things, A field of grasses that is moving in time, In tempo to the breezes that are moving across it. And at the same time, The breezes are moving across those grasses, The breezes are bringing the scent to you. So that in those moments, If we're truly present to that, There is this unbelievable story that is being told. It's not the story of the grasses, Because without Gaia as the observer, Are there grasses? Is there movement of wind without something that appreciates and experiences it? No, There isn't. Like Buddha said, If a tree falls in the wood and no one's there to hear it, Does it make a sound? It requires this mutual dependency, A mutual receptivity. So there is this discovery, Gradually, Of this unity in all of these things. And even if we don't go out to seek these moments, We do relish them when they come along to us. Everybody still tracking me? Because I'm about to make a shift here. Good. You might want to write this down. I'll go slow enough so you could put in so you can get it on a piece of paper. If not, Come back and catch it because it's the heart of this. And then we're going to move from this idea into the true nature of compassion, Which is the real intention of this talk. If it's true that we have, You and I, That we are created as we are for this reciprocity, Isn't it true then you and I are created with an infinite capacity for realizing similarity? An infinite capacity for realizing similarity. Haven't you ever felt in some way when you're out in nature, You're looking at the ocean, You catch the light coming at a certain time of the day, I call it the magic hour. You see some kind of maple tree and it's literally like the end of a candle flame and it's reds and yellows. An infinite capacity for realizing similarity. This is why we're drawn to what we're drawn to is because in our infinite capacity for realizing similarity, We are given the infinite capacity for discovering that you and I are not separate from what it is that we are drawn to. That there is no such separation. This is what this infinite capacity for realizing similarity means. What I see, What I experience outside of me, To whatever extent, Whatever depth or breadth that's possible, Is the same as this consciousness having reflected in it something that brings up in this consciousness a quality or a character that was already there. And if that's true, I've got to move on. What is the real nature of that message? I put it in three words and I only put it in words because we have to, We're exploring this. I don't want you to, Although it might be necessary, But the word is not the thing. I look out and I, I don't know if you ever follow me on Instagram, But you know, I have a wonderful relationship with all the deer that live on this mountain. So here comes Big Dog, This beautiful, Actually eight point now, Beautiful buck and Big Dog come up. I can't stand, There's not enough time for me to be in the presence of this magnificent creature because in that moment, Experiencing his patience, His nobility, This confidence that the buck has, You know, What is it so compelling about that? Watching a puppy run around in the snow or try to catch the snowflakes, Some of these viral video, You just, You can't drink them up. A dog running through and leaping into a pile of leaves and then suddenly popping out on the other side. What is that? What is that joy? And that joy is the realization of a certain similarity between the power and the principle that's powering that creature and going through all that. So we experience it, But the experience isn't out there. That's the visualization. The experience is the realization that all that's being stirred and awakened in me is the same thing and you can't get enough of it. The infinite capacity for realizing similarity. So what is the divine saying? I go outside, I hear beautiful music, These words, Just like me. Emerson said, Job nods to Job. He was talking about, He's having casual conversation. He said, I can't help but think that some were overwatching our conversation. Job nods to Job. God nods to Job. That there is this reciprocity in all of these relationships whose intention is revelation. A reciprocity in all relationships that is the very heart of revelation itself. The very heart of discovery is through our relationships with everything that seems to be outside of us because if we can be present enough and realize that unspoken, Invisible similarity with what we see, Then in that moment we are realizing our similarity with the divine life that sits behind what seems to be the separate observer and observed. We begin to understand a singularity. Yes, Janice, We need each other, But not, But we'll just leave it at that because I'm going to explain that. So where am I? 23 minutes in. If what I've just described is true and everybody pretty much on board, Yeah, Just like me, You know, Those moments, You see that, That, That, That baby's face light up, You know, Just like me. Yeah. That's why I'm drawn to it. Okay. We're going to putting on our diving gear. If that's true, Just like me, Then why wouldn't that hold true with everything, With anything that appears in our consciousness, Not just the moments that we affirm through our pleasure or the consolation. But how about those moments when I'm standing there in the supermarket and someone is grumbling about how long that line is taking and you can see people being drawn into that negative whirlpool, Those moments when, Unfortunately, And you and I know it's true, Over the holidays, These so-called family gatherings where people are sniping at each other, Or maybe we don't want to see some particular sister or brother or relative because they are so adept at triggering us. And so we avoid them at all costs, Or we go with preparations for some clever witticism, Something to defend ourselves with, Or we go with a story to try to prove that we're better or different than those we're with. We, We know these things in every sarcastic remark. There is an attempt to prove that I am other than you are, That we have nothing in common. And I want to look at this with you through eyes that begin to understand certain facts that if we can begin to recognize them can change our life in a way that can't be measured. The story of the Good Samaritan in the New Testament, But there are parallel stories, Other scriptures. Good Samaritan, He finds a man laying on the road, Beaten and robbed. And ostensibly lots of people have walked by on this road and not one person has stopped to help this man who is lying there beaten and robbed. Only the Good Samaritan does. And it's quite the point because the Pharisees and the Sadducees, The so-called wise, Rich, And religious people of the time, They didn't, They didn't stop. Only the Good Samaritan stops. And why does the Good Samaritan stop? First, We have to understand why the others don't. And we can understand why the others don't by seeing the fact of it in ourselves. I have enough pain on my own to deal with. I can't, I can't bear adding anything more to my plate. It's too much for me. We all know that feeling. And whatever that line is between, And now I want to really differentiate this idea, I'm not talking about trying to be a compassionate person. Maybe it's better to try to be compassionate than it is to just out and out deny the fact that there is a similarity between us in that. How do I know another person's pain if I actually know it? I know another person's pain because if I'm actually present, There is an absolute similarity between what that person is radiating, What their life is, What they are going through, What is coming through them and out of them in that moment. Here's the sunlight coming into and through a tree. The tree radiates its branches, The crown of leaves, And I'm drawn to it because of my infinite wish to know my similarity with that natural creature, With its strength, With its majesty. And yet you put me in a world with other human beings, My brothers and my sisters, And when I'm around them and they are, They are not radiating this majesty, But they are the infinite expression of some form of self pity or misery or complaining or all of the things that we human beings do when we can't find a way to get through the moment. Instead of accepting what we are being shown about ourselves, We're resisting it tooth, Hand over feet, Whatever that expression is. We don't want anything to do with it. Sometimes when I'm working on ideas to share with you, I stumble upon certain possibilities that when I do, I realize how unbelievably beautiful is God, Is the divine, That he would create inside of a human being the infinite capacity for that human being to know the pain of another human being directly, The infinite capacity to realize the other person's suffering, Because in that infinite capacity to know that other person's suffering, I enter into the infinite capacity that I have been given by God to know that suffering as my own, That is my own. When we stumble upon a beautiful moment in nature, We didn't stumble upon a beautiful moment in nature that was created on the spot in that moment. We stumbled upon something that was beautiful waiting for us to enter into that beauty so that we might realize our similarity with it. It's the same when it comes to our human relationships, But there is something, And there's no question about it, That blinds us to this. Isn't that really the story of Christ when he said that the people are getting ready to stone? I've been talking about this over the last week. I've given a whole series of talks on how we can begin to turn this unconscious suffering into a completely different order of understanding, Of growth, Of compassion. They're getting ready to stone this woman because she has missed the mark. She sinned. She was an adulteress or something like that. And in the Jewish tradition, Back in the day, If God helped the poor woman who sleeps with another man, She's stoned on the spot by their law. And here's Christ, The epitome of love. And by the way, The epitome of love is our ability to suffer for something greater than ourselves. And here he is, And he says, If you're without sin, Go ahead, Throw the stone. And not one person could throw the stone. And why couldn't they throw the stone? Because in that moment, They realized their similarity with that woman. Now, What does a man have in common with a woman? The fact that interiorly, They are the same. They're constructed different. They're attracted, Drawn to, Resist other things. But inwardly, That woman is in pain. That man is in pain. It is out of our unconscious pain that we do the things to ourselves and to others that we don't know that we do the evil we would not, Instead of the good we would. I'm just trying to get to this point. The people put their stone down because they knew something of the pain that that woman was in. They knew something of the way in which she had gone through what she had gone through to bring her to that place in life. If I knew at any point that I was in a conversation with somebody and I was aware of their suffering instead of resisting their suffering because I didn't want to realize the reciprocity in that, I didn't want to know the similarity. Maybe I need a sitar. It's an Indian instrument. I trust you know it. It's been made popular in the 60s, 70s. Ravi Shankar. A sitar is an instrument with roughly 18 to 20 strings on it. It has seven main strings, Five for melody playing and two that are kind of drone strings. They simply hum in the background. And then there is the remaining, Anywhere from 10 to 12 other strings. They're called sympathetic strings. And they sit underneath the main strings. And when the main strings are plucked according to the vibration of the main string, The sympathetic string will pick up that vibration and it will begin to sound out overtones. So that the overall effect of the instrument as it's played is that you're not just hearing the melody, But you're hearing all the tones that are connected to that melody. So you're hearing this rather remarkable instrument that is for all intents and purposes a physical representation instrumentally of our capacity, Infinite capacity, Inwardly to not just sound out these main strings and their overtones, But to have an infinite capacity to realize our similarity with those tones. So though we don't see it when we're with other people, All these notes are being played. You look out in nature. I've often spoken of this. And the reason that we see the colors and the forms, All of them are more or less a kind of light tone, A tone in light, A tone in form, Something that is speaking, Telling a story. And our gift as a human being is that, And the miracle of being a human being, And the freedom of being a human being, Is that we are meant to be perfectly touched by all of that, Because we understand that all that is touching us isn't separate from what it touches, And that what it touches in us was there before the condition that began to make us conscious of it. So we enter into this immense field of possibilities where we discover this infinite similarity, Except for it just comes to a dead stop the minute somebody's impatient with us. It just ends just like that the moment we see somebody's face or we hear the tone of their voice, And you can hear the whine in it. You can see in their eyes the pain they're in, If you can. Most of us don't see it. And the reason that we don't see it, There's two main problems. First, Anything I don't know as me from the get-go, Anything I don't know as me or anything that I'm not attracted to in terms of recognizing as something that I want, I don't recognize it. I don't recognize anything that doesn't serve me, And I'm quick, Automatic to resist anything that challenges what I happen to be identified with as being something positive. And please try to see this. When we're growing up in this sick world of ours, God help our mother and father who didn't know any better, And their mother and father, And this culture so conditioned as it is, Where the smallest things somebody can say to another human being sets them off. And then by God, You better be careful because you're going to be on somebody's, You're going to be off of somebody's, Or say, You're going to be on somebody's list then. Why? Because you somehow or other offended them. Did you know that real intelligence can't be offended? And do you know why real intelligence can't be offended? Because real intelligence is this mutual capacity to realize that whatever it is that someone is radiating is revealing to me the similar strings that I have. I'm not the same as that person that's so hateful. I'm not the same as that person. We're not saying that. What we're saying is that every note, Every sound has a reciprocity to every other note. And that as human beings, By some miracle made in the image of God, We are created with this absolute, Difficult at times, Divine capacity to know directly another person's pain. And in the direct realization of that, The understanding that I wouldn't add any pain to myself. Why would I add it to you? I can't. I can't. Imagine, See, We're talking about compassion. And I don't know if you can see this because I'm running out of time here. What do you think the real nature of forgiveness is? Just like me, Just like me. The end of my resentments. I see it just like me. Not that what you did is just what I would do. But the character and the energy and the consciousness that was moved against itself, That produced this relationship, Suddenly I understand that it plays in me too. Who doesn't feel that? That's what in a way, What temptation is. Have you ever been at the market and been given the wrong change? In that split second, If we're not aware of something, We tell ourselves, Well, You know, Yeah, The golden rule, Do unto others. I mean, Everything I'm pointing to, How can I do unto others until I know the other is I? I can't do unto others unless I know the other is I. And I wouldn't do to others what I do to others if I knew the other was I. I would learn as we are intended to, To be able to explore and discover this immense gift of this capacity to realize infinitely my similarity. And just one more point here before I close this. I hope I don't go too far off the deep end for you. If I have, And I do, And you do, Because it is the divine in nature. If I have, If infinite suffering is not the thing I fear, But instead the possibility of being free of suffering, Because I know it completely. And when you know something completely, Whatever it is that you know completely, You are free of. Because what is it that I'm drawn to? No, Other than that, Which I don't know yet about myself. But instead of resisting as we do, The person who's suffering over whatever it may be. And I got to break into my own notes here. I'm going to go a couple minutes over. In fact, I'm glad I took this. By the way, I don't think, Check for next Saturday. I'm not sure. It's the day before Christmas. I'm not sure I'm going to do the Insight Timer a week from today. I'm not sure. It's the day before Christmas. Lots of people have lots of things, Lots of opportunities, By the way, To explore what it is that we're talking about right now. So do check. If I'm not here next Saturday, I will be back next Saturday, The following Saturday. So here I am. Here we are. How can there be something that I have been given to realize that wouldn't be part of the fulfillment of everything I've been given to know is true about myself? And if everything I'm given to know is true about myself, Including this capacity that I have, It sounds like such a paradox, Doesn't it? The more I know about my own suffering, The less I'm afraid of yours. And the reason I'm less and less afraid of your suffering is because I'm no longer afraid of my own. And I'm not afraid of my own because I see the good in it. I see the divine in it. I see what happens when instead of resisting or punishing someone because I don't want to know anything about the pain they're in, I see that out of that same revelation and that capacity for similarity comes compassion, Comes the ability not just to bear him or her, But to bear myself, To bear myself. And I bear myself because I'm given what I need to be able to do that because I see the beauty in it. I see the goodness in it. I actually see the love in it because in order for that to take place, One must give themselves up to whatever it is that they are being sounded out to play, Whatever it is that is moving through them. Yeah, I'm a little over time. So if I don't see you next Saturday, You'll have ample opportunity. We all will as we gather with friends and family. You look at your brother. Don't look at him through eyes that already know him. Look at him through a willingness to realize what is it that I'm feeling? And if what I'm feeling is judgment, How will I ever know that my brother is sitting there in some kind of pain? How will I know anything if I'm a walking machine resisting everything that stimulates and shows me my similarity with another human being? On the other hand, If I'm willing to accept, Not imagine, Not hope for, Not pretend, God not pretend, But if I can be present enough, I'll hear the story. I'll see the story if I'm present enough. And that's all you have to do. And then you let that start to sound and the strings will get free of the crud on them. And they'll vibrate more and more freely and you will find yourself freer and freer as a result of that. Gotta go. Bye.