GF Live 7-16-22 The True Direction When The Going Gets Tough

The Divine always has our back... as long as we agree to face in the Light direction. Listen as Guy shows us that we're already connected to the summit of every moment. As goes your attention so comes your experience.

Transcript

The topic that I selected for this Insight Timer is the one true direction to go in when the going gets tough.

And I think I'll cut through some of the earlier remarks I intended to and just ask a simple question.

Because,

By and large,

Most of us have spent our life struggling in one way or another to control the direction that our life takes in a moment where something deflects our aspirations or our wishes.

And at a certain point,

And we mustn't be afraid to look at it clearly,

To realize that as many times as we have been heading in a certain direction,

Whatever it might be,

Whatever that goal,

That intention is,

And along comes something and knocks us off that path and we're deflected and then we have to regroup and refigure,

That we're still doing that.

It's still going on all the time.

There's still those moments where all of a sudden there's that,

Oh my God,

Now what?

Look,

The deadline is here.

The moment has come.

What am I going to do when this or if this happens?

And at a certain point,

And may it happen for you sooner than later,

You realize that I have to stop being,

How shall I say,

I have to choose whether I want another form of consolation in this moment or do I want this moment to be one of transformation.

Consolation or transformation.

Do I want the promise of a better time to come,

Which is what I always am involved in every time I get deflected or moved offline and then have to regroup?

Do I want the promise of a time to come when I'll finally reach that point I've imagined or do I want freedom from the whole idea that the peace that I seek,

The peace we seek depends on the conditions as they unfold outside of us?

It's hard for most of us to consider,

Imagine that we can have an unconditional life.

Not that conditions won't continue to impact us because they must and they do.

I've been speaking recently and I hope you've been able to join me online.

I speak free two or three times a week.

Where we realize that while it's not possible to change what we experience,

Meaning my husband,

My wife,

The weather,

The global conditions,

The sudden set of conflicting experiences that I don't want.

I can't change what I experience because what I experience moment to moment is literally what this consciousness,

This particular being has brought with him into this moment as a result of all the choices that consciousness has made.

So I enter,

You and I enter into every moment with a certain kind of body,

With a certain kind of content,

Character and quality.

And because we enter into something with that is set in us as all of these things are.

The very action of life itself in nature,

You can see it quite clearly and I'll touch on this in a moment.

It is the action of what is intelligent and good seeking to perfect itself,

To perfect all that is a part of itself and that includes our character,

Our quality,

Our soul,

Our consciousness.

And when that action,

That activity,

That intelligence,

That timelessness touches this body that is in time,

These thoughts and feelings,

They are going to have a certain experience.

I can't change what I experience.

It is justice.

It is karma for me to experience myself.

But I can begin to change who experiences that karma.

I can begin to change what,

I can begin to change who it is that responds to that revelation of the content of myself.

That's where our power as a human being,

And I use that word carefully,

Lies.

Because when I can begin to change who experiences what is inevitable for this object moving through time and space,

When I can begin to change who,

Then I can begin to understand another kind of freedom.

You've heard the expression,

Know the truth and the truth will set you free.

All of us have heard that.

But have you ever noticed that it doesn't say it will set you free from X,

Y or Z?

Know the truth,

The truth will set you free from him,

From her,

From your sense of inadequacy,

From your fears.

It doesn't say what it will set you free.

It just says it will set you free.

And what it sets us free from is a misconception,

A deeply seated,

Misconstrued idea about who and what we are in this world,

Including our role in it,

Our purpose in it.

Because from out of this mistaken identity,

From this misconception of what our time and place is and what we're meant to do,

Out of that comes every possible sorrow,

Every mistake,

Every doubt,

Every sense of inadequacy.

And then all of the ensuing struggles that come up every single time,

Life seems to challenge who and what we are and that identity that can't be separated from,

From what?

From the direction that we're headed in,

Where when we arrive there at last,

We will know the peace of being a complete human being,

Of having a whole life.

So,

Nine minutes to set up a story.

And I'm kind of going on on a limb here with a story to make a very specific,

Broad example of what it is that we're talking about.

And then I'll talk about some specifics.

So take a nice deep breath.

You and I are going to participate in this story.

There's going to be a riddle.

When I go through it,

I'll give you a chance to think about it.

And then the riddle leads into the resolution of the story.

And then we'll have some explanation and how we can work a little bit to implement what we've learned together through the story.

So here it is.

Once upon a time,

There was a great school of truth,

A monastery that sat way up in the mountains.

And that even though it sat way up in the mountains,

Sat at the foot of even a greater summit called Mount Liberation.

It's hard to imagine these things if you've never been to some of these places.

Years and years ago,

I had the great fortune to trek through the Himalayan mountains on a kind of a pilgrimage of a sort.

And where we started,

The place where we began was a valley that was almost 11,

000 feet in elevation.

And the peaks above us all the way to the biggest peak at 26,

000 feet.

So we were at an elevation that most of us have trouble breathing at just to get started.

So that gives you an idea of the perspective of this height.

So Mount Liberation sat above this school that sat itself at a great height in these mountains.

Now people wanted to reach this particular school because they had heard that the teacher there,

The master that taught himself,

Had a way in which he could help the aspirant reach the place called Mount Liberation.

And it was quite magical because there was no known path that led from this school to the summit of that mountain.

And so many,

Many aspirants struggled just to get to this particular school.

And the fortunate ones,

They would get there and you could see from time to time along the mountain trail,

As you would if you were trekking sometimes,

Men and women spread out along that path,

That very narrow path.

And so that's where our story takes place,

Our hero,

Which you and I represent.

And by the way,

All of the aspirants that you'll learn about in this story,

Including the master,

Are also parts of our consciousness.

So our hero is making this trek.

And as he's going up,

And I know this is kind of hard to understand,

Suddenly he would see this man or this woman come sliding down.

Do you remember that game,

Chutes and Ladders?

It was a board game or a water slide.

You know,

You slide on a water slide.

All of a sudden you'd see one of these,

Some man or woman come sliding down the mountain and they'd be going,

No.

And then another would be going,

It's a trick.

Another one would be going,

He's a false teacher.

And so over and over again,

As our aspirant,

Along with the others,

Were moving up this mountain path to the monastery,

They would see other aspirants come shooting down the mountain.

It was very difficult to understand,

Not to mention how negative they were as they went flying by decrying the teacher and saying,

It's a setup,

Don't believe it.

And of course,

A lot of men and women making the climb because it was so difficult,

Actually wanted to believe those who defamed the school and the teaching and turned around.

But our aspirant and a few others did not.

And they kept going up the mountain until they reached the great gates and walked into it.

And there there was a dozen or so other aspirants and they were all standing around,

Apparently waiting for something.

At a certain point,

Out walked what was assumed to be the master,

But it really wasn't.

It was an assistant to the master and he introduced himself to the aspirants.

And he said,

Those of you who have made it to this point have gone through some significant difficulties,

But now you have asked to understand something that is,

That can only be understood through experience.

There is no teaching,

There is no book here.

There is only the possibility of you being introduced to something that you must be introduced to at a certain point if you wish to be transported to the summit of Mount Liberation.

And they all leaned forward,

They're quite interested.

One of them wanted to ask,

Well,

What was going on with those other aspirants who were sliding down the mountain?

But she didn't,

She held her tongue.

And the assistant said,

I'm going to give you a riddle,

I'm going to read it to you,

He said.

And those of you that can answer the riddle properly,

You will be transported on your way to the summit of Mount Liberation.

And those of you that don't,

He said,

You will find out that wherever you're standing,

When you have the wrong answer,

The ground will open up beneath you and you will be one of those men and women who you saw sliding down the mountain.

He said,

You mustn't worry,

Nothing bad happens to them.

It's just that they have to begin again.

They did not understand and they must begin the ascent again,

Hoping that they have learned something from the experience that takes place.

Now,

Just so you understand,

It isn't because the teaching or the school is cruel.

The master has some kind of bone to pick with his parents.

It's that again,

That we can only learn directly what it is that we need to know if we want to be able,

As the talk title says,

To know the one true direction to go in.

Just ask yourself for a second,

How many times has the going got tough?

And because something got in our way or we change direction or decided we're going to double down on the direction.

Only to find out over and over again that we find ourselves suddenly being set back and set back.

And this world,

It insists,

It tells you that the way to achieve is to just kind of push that rock up the mountain one more time.

At a certain point,

You realize the task is not won by pushing the mountain up the rock over the rock up the mountain over and over again.

So the assistant says,

Here's the riddle.

Take a nice deep breath,

Everybody.

What you are.

Sorry.

Here's the riddle.

What you seek cannot be found in any time or place.

It lies in no direction,

Nor has it a familiar face.

And when your eyes can see what can't be shown,

You'll have found the path that can't be known.

So what is always in movement yet perfectly at rest?

A sanctuary of peace beyond any test.

Now answer this riddle where response is request and be perfectly guided for the rest of your journey.

I'll read it one more time.

What you seek cannot be found in any time or place.

It lies in no direction,

Nor has it a familiar face.

And when your eyes can see what can't be shown,

You'll have found the path that can't be known.

So what is always in movement yet perfectly at rest?

A sanctuary of peace beyond any kind of test.

Now answer this riddle where response is request and be perfectly guided for the rest of your journey.

Just for grins,

Anybody want to take a shot at answering?

Because where you are,

The ground isn't going to open up beneath you.

Heidi says,

I love that riddle.

Be in the moment as it is.

Chantelle says the heart.

Terry says surrender.

Be present.

Real life.

The now.

Okay,

Yes,

These are good comments.

And in one respect,

All of these answers are correct that you're putting up here.

But the task is to take the what understanding we have.

And apply it.

Not look to understanding after we meet a moment where what we have misunderstood has punished us.

But in the very moment where we are feeling this consternation,

This conflict where we are feeling the sense of inadequacy,

Where fear is moving over us,

Where the direction we've been gone in has been knocked down again and we feel ourselves helpless.

That the task in that moment is to actually live something,

Not think it.

So one by one,

Back to our story,

The aspirants step up to the assistant and they whisper in the assistant's ear what they think the answer is.

And you and I'll be privileged to what the aspirants are whispering to the assistant.

The first man steps up and he says to the assistant that the direction is always to somehow or other make an adjustment when the moment comes so that you can have another direction based on the one that didn't work.

And as soon as he told the assistant that,

The ground opened up and down,

He went sliding and of course feeling rejected as if he had been turned down by the school instead of misunderstanding the school was doing him a favor by letting him know he had the wrong answer.

He goes sliding down the mountain blaming the teacher.

Another one steps up and says to the assistant,

Well,

I know the right direction is to have found the right master.

That's why I've come here.

Ground opens up beneath him,

Down he goes.

This happens a dozen times and finally our hero steps up and whispers into the ear of the assistant and the assistant's quite stunned.

And he turns and he smiles at the aspirant and in the moment he smiles at the aspirant,

The aspirant just kind of begins to fade out and while he's fading out because he's being transported,

If you will,

Up the way to Mount Liberation,

Some of the other aspirants go wait,

Wait,

Wait.

What's the answer?

Now the truth is that the aspirant can't really tell the other aspirants the answer.

I'm going to tell you what the aspirant said.

But then we have to investigate what it means because just to know something in our mind is useless.

God,

How many of us can say it,

You know,

Recite scripture,

The Dhammapada,

The Bhagavad Gita from the New Testament,

The Old Testament,

We know so much and yet we suffer so very much.

Here's what the aspirant whispered into the ear of the assistant that gained him passage to Mount Liberation.

The right direction is always to remember I am already and always have been connected to the summit of each moment.

The right direction is to remember I'm already connected to the summit of each moment.

Now what does that mean,

I'm connected to the summit of each moment?

Every single moment of our life is in fact a kind of revelation born of the unfolding of an experience that we have given what life touches in us in that moment.

Now we're not terribly aware of this honestly because what happens when we have an experience now,

The reaction that we have to that experience becomes our experience.

The reaction we have to that moment of something being stirred in us points to a condition outside of us that says that's what has brought up this experience.

And then we try to deal with the person,

The problem,

The situation,

Hoping that if we can deal with it we'll be able to stay on track feeling that whatever that moment has brought has somehow stymied or stopped us.

Every moment of our life,

I'm going to slow down for this.

Every moment of our life is the sum of our possibilities up until that moment.

Because in that very moment where we are given to see ourselves as we are,

Meaning as we are revealed to ourselves by what has stirred what it has stirred in our consciousness,

In that moment the whole thing sits there in that light ready to be transformed.

Being transformed by the light that has revealed that character or quality in that moment.

And each of those moments is the summit.

Each of those moments is the possibility of liberation.

See,

Liberation isn't something that we achieve.

Liberation isn't an achievement.

Enlightenment isn't one and done.

That's part of our problem,

Part of the misdirection.

Because what is it that you and I are trying to follow other than a thought we have,

An image,

A belief,

Some religious ideal,

That if we could just finally get to this place,

If we could just achieve this thing that we have imagined,

Get there and stay there,

Then we will ourselves finally be liberated.

And liberation is not something that is static.

It is part of the fluidity.

It is part of the current of life.

It is creation itself.

Creation liberates the created.

The created is static.

The created is a form in time and place.

Creation,

That which acts on the created,

Liberates it by revealing in this instance,

As only we are capable of realizing,

That our consciousness is something that has been created,

But it is in flux and it can be liberated the more we are willing to allow the moment to reveal to us the consciousness that is created.

The moment to reveal to us the content of what we brought with us into that moment.

Because in that same instant,

We are,

And what did I say,

The direction is to remember I'm already connected to that grand current.

I'm already connected to the divine.

Let me simplify this,

Show you something.

Most of you who have studied with me know that I'm a nature buff.

I love,

I learned more watching nature than anything else.

More than in some ways any book.

How is that possible?

For instance,

You've all seen here in southern Oregon,

We see it quite often.

There are these hawks,

The occasional eagle,

Vultures,

Turkey vultures.

All these massive creatures,

They know where to find the updraft if you've ever watched it.

They're still and you can see them circling and you'll see them circling higher and higher and higher.

No effort to ascend.

Now the reason they ascend is because it serves the purpose of their life,

Which is to be able to see or otherwise sense or smell that which they need in order to sustain and fulfill the purpose of their existence.

But the purpose here that I'm trying to explain is the eagle knows where to find the updraft.

Even though the updraft is always shifting,

The thermals are always changing.

And it knows where to find these things to assume its view because part of its nature is the understanding of these thermals.

Part of its nature is to be able to take command of those thermals and use that ever-changing environment so that it can change with the environment it's in and thereby enjoy a certain relative authority over the conditions it's in.

The eagle doesn't go out looking for thermals.

It's experiencing the environment.

Its experience of the environment is inseparable from its nature that remembers without taking thought,

So to speak,

Where and what it must do in order to achieve what it requires in order to ascend.

That knowledge,

Its actualization is part of the eagle nature.

It's part of the eagle nature.

Can you see this?

And it holds true for us.

What we seek,

What we long for,

What we want to be a part of in an ascension is already a part of us.

We go looking for ladders in culture,

In our society.

Financial ladders,

Prominence ladders,

Ladders to safety.

Never understanding that the base of that ladder sits in a world where anyone who mounts that ladder looking for power,

Possession,

The thing that's looking for direction is the fear,

Is the inadequacy,

Is the worry.

So it looks for a way to lift itself and fear can't escape itself.

But fear can be transcended when we understand our relationship to it is because we are wrongly connected to that consciousness instead of remembering as we're intended to that we're already connected to something that knows exactly where and what and how to be in the moment without taking any thought at all.

The eagle has a thermal,

There's a divine thermal,

A divine current.

Something that is not already,

Not only already a part of us that we,

But that we are created with the capacity to enter into.

And this is where I suppose a certain amount of understanding is necessary.

How am I to find in quotes this divine thermal,

This updraft,

This place where freedom is built into the very movement of life itself and my relationship to it.

So let's take another example.

Personal perhaps for you,

I hope.

I assume that all of us have a love of something,

Obviously we have a love of some form of spirituality or we wouldn't be here together.

But let's bring it down to earth.

How do I,

Let's say I love the ocean.

How do I explore the ocean?

Why do I want to explore the ocean?

I want to explore the ocean because even though I may not have the actual understanding of this yet,

What I bring my attention to,

Anything I bring my attention to connects me to the thing I attend.

So when I bring my attention to the ocean,

I am without having to take thought,

I'm in a kind of exchange with that which I'm attending to.

Attention is connection,

Is it not?

We talk about this often.

So I give my attention to something to connect to it.

And when I connect with something that I give my attention to,

There is an inevitable exchange between the observer,

Me,

And the observed,

The ocean.

Ordinarily there is just the thought about the ocean,

I like it.

But if I want to know something of the ocean,

I want to give myself to it.

I want to have it teach me,

Not about it,

But about the corresponding features in this consciousness that are drawn to that ocean.

That exact principle holds true when it comes to remembering that we're already connected to the divine.

We're already connected to something that has actually brought about the very moment where suddenly it feels to us,

And does it not when we have an oh my God moment of fear or a worry?

Doesn't it feel like suddenly,

God,

I've just something has disconnected me from life.

Here I am and I've got this duty,

This responsibility,

This pressure,

This point,

I've got to go,

I got to get,

I got to do.

And when something's in the way of that,

Then suddenly we feel like we're disconnected and have to reestablish a connection to the direction we were headed in.

But what I'm trying to get across to you is that when we find ourselves feeling disconnected from life,

Instead of finding that moment as something terrifying to realize it is by an act of grace that we have been shown.

That if we can be disconnected from what we love,

If we can be disconnected from real security,

Then what we had and loved wasn't secure at all.

Don't you want something from which you cannot be disconnected?

What is the onset of any fear or worry,

Doubt?

It's a sudden sense of something impending,

Something's pushing,

Something's punishing.

And our reaction to that response is always to allow that consciousness to tell us,

That's right,

That's what's happening here.

You've lost control.

And now you have to regain it.

So our direction in these moments is always to allow thought to try to tell us what we have to do,

The direction to go into regain control.

And I know it's hard to understand,

But any life where our success as a human being depends upon being in control of our life,

Control of the world,

The people and the conditions around us,

We are already set up for a disconnect and we will hit that again and again and again.

And at some point,

A man or a woman has to say,

You know what,

I'm tired of trying to lift myself above my fears.

I'm tired of trying to rise above this world by my own means.

Because me trying to rise above this world through power,

Possession,

Authority,

Puts me in competition with every other human being on this planet,

Each and every one of them asleep and going through the same iteration of experience,

Because the belief is that somehow of myself,

I must connect myself to something that can never be disconnected,

That will give me that security and the peace I long for and it'll be everlasting and nothing in time is everlasting.

No image,

No condition,

Nothing that consciousness tries to create for itself will ever stand the test of time.

And by the way,

That's by the grace of God,

Not because not the divine trying to punish by taking something from us.

See this is where words,

And I get this so often I know when I'm working on some material,

I'm going to come to this place where I have to take away the ladder of thought,

Have to strip in the whole idea of thinking about how this fits.

How many times are you going to sit at home or be at your work or in your car and be visited by a thought,

Have the past come and reclaim you and drag you into the world of pain that lives there,

And then go through looking for a direction to take in so that in taking that direction,

Finding that thought,

That feeling,

Finding something that's part of your consciousness,

Meaning part of the content of this,

Look,

Looking to the past to elevate you above a fear,

When the fear and the worry is the result of the past and identification with it.

You can remember that you're already connected.

It takes courage of a sort.

In one respect,

I tried to make it clear in the story,

The reason that our aspirant,

Meaning the eye,

The intelligence that awaits us and waits for us to enter into it,

It arrived at that answer that helped it on the way to mount liberation because it had been through all of these things I'm describing.

It had tried this,

It had been there,

It had gone that,

It had this thought,

It adapted this discipline,

It tried to follow that religion,

It tried to be a good person,

It just tried,

Tried,

Tried all of these things.

And eventually,

Even though it is impossible to escape,

The very things that we try and then find out do not help us,

Do not lift us above.

Look,

This consciousness is this world.

This world is the effect of this consciousness.

So how can the content of this consciousness that has created this world that believes in all of these directions and paths that lead to peace,

How can that consciousness liberate itself?

It can't.

But within that consciousness dwells this spiritual nature,

This other order of self that's already connected.

And it doesn't,

When the downdraft comes,

Do you think for a split second,

And I just have to exemplify,

Do you think when that downdraft comes to the eagle,

The eagle's running,

Do you think when that downdraft comes,

The eagle goes,

Oh no,

My God,

What's going to happen,

I'm going to crash,

It's all over for me.

Do you think that they worry about the downdraft?

That fear,

That worry,

That doubt,

That sudden onset of something that you seem to have lost control of,

My flight controls are gone.

No,

The eagle doesn't lose fear of the flight or how to rise again,

Because the very movement of the downdraft awakens in the consciousness of that eagle.

The very movement of that fear,

The very movement of that worry,

Of that doubt,

The very presence of that pain,

Produces instantaneously in this higher consciousness the awareness of it and the simultaneous movement that allows it to rise above that downdraft and to be lifted again back into this consciousness,

This divine intelligence that we are already a part of.

It does it effortlessly.

We have to understand the following and then I'm going to end this talk.

Our experience follows our attention.

Our experience follows our attention.

I've phrased this in different ways before,

As goes our attention,

So comes our experience.

So what happens in the moment where a downdraft comes?

Where does our attention go?

It goes on to the downdraft,

Doesn't it?

Our attention is immediately gravitates to that thing,

That person,

That problem.

It goes,

Our attention goes to the problem.

Our attention needs to be in a natural place where instead of the attention going to the problem,

It goes to the part of this consciousness that doesn't know what to do other than to resist the condition and the moment that you start resisting that,

You are sunk.

Instead,

Our attention,

Instead of going on to the downdraft,

Needs to go back into remembering the truth of ourselves,

The whole of that moment.

To understand as best it's possible for us to understand that all of these moments,

All of these movements,

The downdraft,

The downdraft is inseparable from the updraft.

The updraft is a continuation of the downdraft,

Just as the downdraft is part of the updraft.

They're inseparable.

You and I are intended to live in a level of consciousness that is not separated into,

Oh no downdraft,

Where do I find an updraft?

Our capacity to attend completely to the moment gives us this capacity,

John writes,

How does one become aware of the widest context of consciousness?

Not by trying to find the widest context,

Johnny.

It's present.

You,

This is why it's so hard,

You see,

You are already part of the widest context of being.

It's already there.

We're not there because our attention is trying to figure out how we can achieve what we already are.

Only the problem is what we imagine we need to achieve is an image that we have and with the identity connected to it,

Anything that threatens the image,

Threatens the identity,

There's the downdraft.

Because all downdrafts are to something we're identified with and when you and I,

As we begin to work,

Get past that,

Begin to understand,

We mustn't fight the downdraft.

Our nature knows exactly how to use it to move us into the updraft.

We will find our way when we give our lives over to what,

How do I say?

We know the way when we get out of the way.

That's the challenge.

Get out of the way.

Fear comes,

I want to step in between the fear and what it threatens in me.

This person is disrespectful,

I want to step right into that moment,

Challenge that person and reestablish dominance.

Our task is not to step in between that which frightens us and the self that is frightened,

Our task is to step above that moment and see the moment and what it has elicited inside of us and to explore that moment with our attention as fully as we can.

Then what we discover is that what seems to be in the way is part of the way.

And that's what freedom is.

That's what fearlessness is.

I've tried to touch on something.

Do your best to remember that you are already connected.

Don't let,

And your thoughts will tell you,

No I'm not,

This is,

What am I going to do,

What am I going to do?

You see,

When your thoughts wants to drag you down into that dark cave,

You're going to experience the denizens of that cave,

The denizens of those thoughts.

It is not your responsibility to follow some downdraft into some dark place where you figure out how to escape.

Your responsibility is to realize that that moment has come to you so that you can understand,

Yes this has happened,

But it has not happened to who and what I can be in the moment when I realize the truth of myself.

I've got to go,

44 minutes,

I don't want to go longer than that.

I'll see you next Saturday.

In the meantime,

Find me,

Go to my profile,

I speak several times a week,

We explore this endlessly so that we can discover what is endless in ourselves.

Be safe.

Reviews

Thank you 🙏

He is getting through to me, and only he can. God bless you Guy. You are a God send. Xoxoxox Michelle