GF Live 8-6-22 Discover The Treasure Hidden In Your True Self

Attending to, and completing what the present moment asks of you is the business of Real Life. In the silence of this relationship is revealed and received, at once, a faith no fear can shake, an innocence no temptation can break, and a freedom that no unwanted moment in life can ever take from you.

Transcript

I have a couple of stories to go through today with you.

Parables,

Really.

Because our topic,

And I trust that if you've come here for that,

That you'll understand,

Has to do with discovering what we call an unimaginable treasure that's hidden in our true self.

And the key lesson that I wrote for this morning's Insight Timer reads as follows.

Attending to completing what the moment asks of you is the business of real life.

And the silence of this relationship is revealed and received at once.

A faith no fear can shake,

An innocence that no temptation can break,

And a freedom that no unwanted moment in life can ever take from you.

Now,

It's quite the task,

Isn't it?

Moving from this intuition,

This sense that we have,

Otherwise I'm sure we wouldn't be joined here together this morning,

That there is so much more to us than we presently understand.

Or for that matter,

That we've been able to actualize in this world,

No matter how successful we may have been.

One must become at least an upstanding householder,

Someone who has assumed the responsibilities of this world and given themselves,

In some extent,

What they thought would make them happy before we begin to realize that if we were going to find in this world what it was that we need to be whole and happy,

And I don't mean just momentarily,

I don't mean like sitting in a nice restaurant and eating good food or packing your bag for a long-awaited vacation.

It's great and nothing wrong with it,

But it's not the same as a living sense of self that goes with you wherever you are and under all circumstances.

Is there with you in the very moment when it is most needed as opposed to what we are told we need after we find ourselves shaking or worried or nervous?

And every true religion speaks of this in the New Testament,

Somewhere in Matthew,

I think.

Christ was talking to the disciples and a crowd of people,

And he was telling parables,

Teaching stories,

Little analogies,

Metaphors,

To give a person an idea,

As it may be,

Of this unimaginable kingdom.

He said,

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field,

That which when a man has found it,

He hides it,

And for the joy of having found that,

He goes and he sells all that he has and he buys that field.

And then right on the heels of that,

He said,

Again,

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls,

Who when he found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and bought it.

So in this Christian teaching,

But in all the teachings,

East and West,

Is constantly pointed out that there is something that we are capable of finding and of possessing,

But only after we have de-possessed ourselves of all the things that have prohibited us from being able to see this field,

From being able to recognize that pearl of great price.

And really that's where,

If you're an aspirant of any kind at all,

That's where the rubber kind of meets the road,

Because if it's true that within you and within myself,

There is something divine,

It isn't just there here and then,

It's there all the time.

And I think this is an important point to make,

That what good is it to,

You know,

And I'm not saying it's not good,

But what good is it to have these brief moments where in one way or another something happens and we can call on our faith,

We can do whatever it is that we do.

You much prefer that in the moment of need,

That you have what you need in that moment,

Not a tag on,

But the actual awareness of an order of your own being that in that moment where there is suddenly some registration,

A threat,

Some sense of loss,

That in that exact same moment,

There is that which,

As Christ would say,

Goes before you,

Meaning it's there in that moment and transforming not just the moment,

Because the moment doesn't exist independent of the consciousness that's experiencing it.

So that in that very moment,

That process is taking place where the awareness of a consciousness that is suddenly threatened replaces that threatened consciousness with an understanding that that threat,

That moment can be used to produce in that human being something that is intended to be revealed and experienced in that moment.

That kingdom within the human being wherein that treasure waits and that only awaits us to find it,

And I promise you this,

If you are diligent enough and have any intuition at all,

You understand that there is going to have to be some kind of exchange,

Because we want what we want in this world.

Let me tell you a story to highlight in some measure that we're talking about a treasure of a completely different order,

Not the treasure of a sudden possibility that's come into our life where we're going to be enriched,

Not the treasure of a new relationship,

Not the treasure of winning a basketball game or some competition,

A treasure that is irreplaceable.

I'll explain.

Here's the story.

Imagine for a moment a young princess,

And we'll give her the name of Constance,

And Constance is the daughter of the queen,

The great ruler of a marvelous,

Distant,

Content country,

And the queen knows that it's time for Constance to gradually take on the realm,

The helm of that ship,

That she will inherit the kingdom.

These stories are all about you and I,

So that every person,

Every character,

Every plot is part of what it is that you and I are here to learn.

So we are Constance.

We are the queen,

And we are the country you'll understand.

So the queen summons Constance and says to her,

Listen,

My love,

It's time to start preparing you for ascending to the throne so that you understand the breadth and depth of your responsibility.

She said,

And because it is your birthday that's forthcoming,

I've decided to give you an immense gift.

Constance,

She hears this and she just goes bonkers.

She leaves her mom's throne room there and she's walking back to her place and she's thinking about all the stuff.

I'm going to get a birthday,

A special birthday present from my mother.

And her mind just runs wild.

So many possibilities.

Am I going to get a castle of my own,

You know,

Where I can entertain my friends and they'll know how special I am?

Am I going to get a key to my father's treasure room so that I can go in there and take what I want when I want it?

I love the silks that they've been bringing in from those other countries.

Am I going to get all the beautiful new clothes?

And you can understand,

Will I be given the army?

And her mind just was going on and on and on,

Unable to do anything.

She was like lifted off the ground.

And then,

Sure enough,

Two days later,

Mother summons her to the room again.

Constance thinks she's going to get the special birthday present.

And her mother says,

I want you to go to your room and I want you to pack your bags.

We're going on a trip.

And Constance said,

We're going on a trip,

You know.

But she doesn't say,

I don't want to go on a trip.

I want my present.

Okay,

Mom.

She goes and she packs her bag.

Together they get in this beautiful coach.

And off they go.

Now,

I have so much to say,

I can't take the time to paint this picture properly.

But one day the coach is riding through the beautiful fields and plains,

The vineyards,

All the beautiful wealth that comes from participating in the wealth of the country.

And the coach,

Two days later,

Through the mountains,

Looking at the mines,

The silver and gold and diamond mines that belong to the kingdom.

Then another two days and they're going around this massive beautiful lake.

And there's a cottage there and a cottage on the other side,

East,

West.

And they go to each of these colleges.

The whole time Constance is losing her mind.

Because where's the present?

But she can't come out and say,

I trust you know what that means.

She can't come out and say,

Look,

This,

Thanks for the trip.

But let's get down to business.

Where's my present?

So on the seventh day,

They're rounding one of these lakes.

And Constance can see by where they are that they're almost headed back towards their original starting point.

And she basically starts to get very upset,

Because all this time,

Her mother has not given her the presents she wants.

And at that point,

She kind of erupts.

Constance does.

And she has a little breakdown.

Mom,

Come on.

You're killing me here.

She said,

Where is,

You promised me a present for my birthday.

I don't understand why you're dragging this out.

Come on,

Mom,

Where is it?

And then,

Because Constance has Constance,

She realizes how wrong that was.

Mother taking on a beautiful trip.

And all Constance can think about are the things that she was hoping that she was going to get,

Whatever those things were.

And she says to her mother,

You know what,

Never mind.

I'm sorry.

Forget it.

I don't know.

Something came over me.

The queen looks at Constance and says,

Look,

Sweetheart,

It's okay.

Let's not talk about it.

It's all right.

And besides what she says,

In some respect,

I have to assume some responsibility for what's taking place right now.

I could feel this pressure building in you.

But in truth,

I was wanting you to start experiencing certain things.

And I was confused by that.

Mom says,

Listen.

And so the coach comes to a stop.

They get out.

And Mom takes,

The queen takes her daughter around and down to a certain part of the lake.

And they ascend another part there where they can see not just the lake,

But quite a bit of the country,

The mountains in the background,

The vineyards in the fields,

All of it spreading out.

And she puts her arm around her and starts turning her daughter in 360 degrees.

And she says to her,

I know that you haven't understood this yet,

But let me now show you the gift I have for you in a way that cannot be mistaken.

And with that,

The queen sweeps her arm out in this broad gesture and says to her daughter,

Listen,

Constance,

For the last seven days and nights,

You have been riding through your gift.

Only you couldn't realize what you had been given to see because it was too big for you to see.

You couldn't see the gift you were being given because it was too big for you to see.

Constance looks up at her mother and not quite registering what she's being told,

But then it kind of sinks into her.

She realizes that what her mother was basically saying is that her mother was showing her all that she had.

Not this,

That,

Or the other,

But the entirety of a kingdom that was hers.

And even as that dawned on Constance,

She could see how small had been her imagination,

How painful it was because of the things that she had imagined would be her.

And in the pain of that trivial mind trying to possess small things,

It kept her from seeing what had been right before her eyes the whole time.

She looks up at her mother and smiles.

Her mother looks back and recognizes that Constance has understood.

And she says,

Yes,

Daughter,

That's correct.

Everything you see around you not only belongs to you now,

But it has always been yours from the moment you were born.

Everything you see around you not only belongs to you now,

But has always been yours since the moment you were born.

And what does that mean?

Because and you may have to reach a little bit to understand this so that you can tie together the exposition that's about to follow.

You and I have been created with the possibility,

Not the guarantee.

You and I have been created with the possibility of experiencing directly anything that we attend to.

And what does that mean?

Experiencing directly anything that we attend to.

And we have to go slow because there's a parting of the ways in one respect.

You wake up on a beautiful early summer morning.

You wander outside on a cloudless,

Moonless sky.

Late November,

Everything is so bright in the stars.

And I've touched on this in innumerable ways.

What is it that happens inside of us when we are drawn to something and give our attention to something?

And in giving our attention to what we do,

We experience directly within our own consciousness the quality,

The character of what it is that we're attending to.

So this is an example and I use it all the time.

I look outside here in this early morning in Oregon and it's a beautiful day.

Temperatures are still very sweet.

The light is perfect.

The skies have cleared of the smoke.

And that impression,

That moment where my attention goes and is given,

As goes my attention so comes my experience.

And I am given in that moment the realization that everything that I'm seeing and feeling has a counterpart in terms of a physical body and a time and space.

But the real place and the real experience of what I am looking at is not outside of me,

But it is contained in my own consciousness so that in the end,

If you're following me,

Everything that I am capable of giving my attention to is the same as giving myself an insight,

A realization of my own consciousness.

Because no matter what it is that you and I will ever see,

Ever hear,

Ever taste,

Ever feel,

Ever know,

It already exists in the kingdom of this consciousness that you and I can be aware of if that is our choice to be aware of our consciousness instead of being presently drawn to attend to what our consciousness tells us.

If we could have this or add this to ourselves,

Then we would be whole and complete like constants in the story.

Her mind was fashioned on little things,

Single things,

Things that as she imagined possessing them gave her the feeling of being someone who had been enriched.

But we're not looking for the feeling of being enriched,

We're looking for a relationship with an order of our own consciousness that already contains the totality of the wealth of the universe,

Of the divine itself,

Because that's what we are made in the image of.

It's difficult for us because our minds are so divided.

We as human beings,

For us,

We always think in terms of rewards.

And when our mind thinks in terms of rewards,

By the fact that we are identified with and want the sensation of what we've imagined is powerful or good,

Because we're identified with that,

The very movement of the mind towards the reward that it imagines is the same as punishing itself with the fear of not getting what it has imagined is its reward.

It is constantly drawn out,

Always rushing,

Always anxious,

Trying to acquire what the reward of life it imagines it should be.

And all of this encountered distinction to the fact that we don't have to go looking.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with having a career if you love music,

If you love science,

If you love math,

You love plumbing.

Great!

But who and what we are is not found in things.

It is found in all that we are given to be moment to moment.

Because all that we are given to see is in fact all that we are given to be.

Now you have to see this for yourself.

And the problem is,

And I get it,

I go to the ocean,

I go to the mountains,

I'm standing by a small pond with a beautiful,

What are those trees that droop down,

You know,

A weeping willow and it's reflected in the pond.

I go outside as I do every morning and feed the girls,

The deer and my young,

Not my,

But I am identified with tada,

This young buck.

Who doesn't want to spend time with things that for spending time with them bring us an experience of ourselves that we can't have any other way?

Because we are being awakened in every last one of those moments through the relationship with the countryside or the weeping willow or the young buck,

That we are being awakened to what resides within ourselves.

The pearl of great price is not a thing.

It is a state of being.

And we are,

You and I,

Meant to live in that state of being,

Which is for the longest time almost impossible.

We get flashes,

But we must understand and use those moments where we have these fleeting split seconds of stuff.

Last night,

My wife and I were sitting here in this little office and we were talking about some stuff.

She was struggling with a little calculator and she wanted to know what,

And as we were walking,

My eye went outside the little kind of front door,

It's a glass window in front.

And I tell you,

And I didn't even want to talk about it,

Whatever was going on,

It was like this little frame,

The window framed the most precious,

Sensitive light I've ever seen.

It was extraordinary.

And you and I know that when we see things like that,

We want to give our attention to it.

And the more that we can give our attention to something like that,

The more we are,

In quotes,

Rewarded,

But not by a thing,

Rewarded by our own willingness to give our attention to something that in giving it completes us.

You can't be any more complete.

Constance could not own any more than she had already been given.

You and I cannot have more than we are already given.

In fact,

It's kind of ironic that the more we try to give ourselves things,

The less we have,

Because the more we try to give ourselves things that we're identified with,

The more fearful we are that we're going to lose what we gave ourselves and therefore lose our self.

Who you are can't lose itself.

It's impossible.

So now the question is,

As we get to the last third of this talk,

If that's true,

What's going on?

If the ultimate form of knowledge would be the disappearance of the one who knows.

What's the ultimate form of knowledge?

When I look outside and see a beautiful day,

What's the ultimate form of knowledge?

Is it knowing why the weather is that way?

Why light bounces off leaves?

Why the wind is doomed from.

.

.

Is that the ultimate form of knowledge,

Or is the ultimate form of knowledge the unity of oneself with what one sees,

Where the observer and the observed are a singularity?

That is the ultimate form of knowledge,

Because the knower isn't there.

There is just the relationship between heaven and earth,

Between what's active and what's passive.

That's it.

A singularity.

Reflection and reflected one thing.

Seeing and being one thing.

That is the ultimate knowledge.

Now the problem is that if you seek this knowledge,

You're already apart from the thing you're seeking and it's one of those kind of conundrums,

But we can look at this and understand it in a certain way,

Which I intend to do with the last 10 minutes of this talk.

What's going on?

So here's a young monk.

And the young monk is us,

And he comes to the master,

The abbot of the monastery,

Where it lives in us.

This is the monastery itself,

The whole setting again.

And he's telling the abbot,

He's saying,

You know,

This is pretty tough stuff.

He said,

This isn't anything like I thought it was going to be like.

I mean,

First of all,

Everybody else seems to be getting it,

And I don't.

I know I'm not stupid.

My mind was looking at the face of the young monk.

When he said,

I know I'm not stupid,

He was actually looking to the master to confirm that he wasn't stupid.

And when the master just kept his face and looking,

The very pursuit,

The very fishing for the compliment turns out to being him being hooked by a pain.

The monk goes through the iteration.

He's not getting it.

He feels like he's being left out of certain things.

How come others get to certain study he doesn't get to do?

And he's going on and on and on like that.

And the master tells him,

Look,

I understand what you're saying.

And I also understand what it is that you seek.

And so he said,

I'll tell you what,

If you really want it,

Do you really want that?

Oh,

Yes,

I do,

Master.

All right.

I'm going to show you where it is that what you're looking for waits for you to get there.

It's another temple up in the mountains.

All you have to do is just spy it through this telescope.

And once you spy it,

Mark it in your mind,

And then you're free to leave here and go get the lessons you want.

Now,

It confused a little bit because he wasn't getting the lessons where he was,

But that doesn't matter to us.

All I want is more.

He says,

All right,

Master,

What do I do?

Go get the telescope.

And so the young monk runs off and he grabs the master's telescope.

So when they sit down together,

They're on that parapet looking out over these beautiful mountains.

The monk says,

Okay,

Where do I look?

And the master hands him the telescope and the young monk puts it up and starts and the master grabs it out of his hand.

What's wrong,

Master?

Nothing.

The master turns the telescope around and he hands it back to the monk.

The monk's confused.

That's the wrong end to look through.

And if you've ever looked through a telescope or binoculars,

Turn them around,

You know what happens.

Everything gets smaller and further away.

And so he,

The young monk,

Turns the telescope back around and says,

Point me in the right direction and the master grabs the telescope again and turns it around and hands it back to him.

He says,

Use this.

Monk doesn't understand.

He starts to get ready to argue.

He knows he can't argue with the monk,

The abbot.

Then he turns it around one more time.

The master snatches it back,

Turns it around.

The monk's thinking that the master may have lost his mind.

But when he turns it around one more time,

The master gives it to him in reverse.

The master says,

What happens when you look through the wrong end of this telescope?

What happens when I look through the wrong end of the telescope?

Everything is further away.

Everything gets smaller,

More distant.

That's what happens.

And the master says,

Yes,

That's exactly right.

And so is it true,

Young monk,

When you look at your life through the small end of those thoughts and those feelings,

The small end of those individual desires that are always focusing in on the one thing,

The next thing that you're going to get or do to make you whole.

You and I don't understand that we look at life through the small end of our own consciousness,

How dominated we are,

Not just by the things that we want,

But not even knowing so many times what it is that we want,

Feeling a certain fear or a dread or an apprehension of some kind.

That we have as a gift this right that I described,

In essence,

To turn the telescope around,

In essence to finally,

As Constance did with her mother,

Recognize that it was too big to see.

And that's why she couldn't see it,

Because she was looking for things instead of an understanding.

She was looking for an outcome instead of a realization.

That's the way our mind works now.

It is forever apart from all that it sees,

And because it is apart from all that it sees,

It wants to claim and seize all that it sees so that it can feel whole for at least the moment or so.

Now in the last few minutes,

I'm going to touch on something I started to say.

I hope you'll listen.

Most of us don't want to know where,

Even though we say we do,

Where the real spiritual path takes us.

For us,

And you see it all the time,

Phony baloney teachers and gurus and masters all advertising and promising this immensity,

This love and all that.

And all you have to do is pay $1,

000 or $300 or whatever it is,

That absurd cost.

And we swallow it hook,

Line and sinker because we're so hungry to have this image that we have of ourselves confirmed.

And so we seek the reward of that confirmation in the world around us.

We seek the reward of that confirmation in the thoughts of others,

Failing to understand that the moment our attention takes us outside of ourselves,

Away from the direct relationship we have to the moment,

The moment that happens,

We've wandered away from the field and we'll know nothing of that great pearl.

And I said that there's something in us that doesn't want to know a certain truth.

And yet here it is.

And I'm not afraid to say it.

I mean,

I realize most of us just don't want to hear the following.

Our life takes us through this journey where our mind imagines one reward after another,

After another,

After another.

And when we get the reward we've imagined and it doesn't prove to be the enrichment that we thought,

Meaning the end of the fear that we have.

When we go on that trip and we come back and within a day or a month or a year,

We can't stand to be where we are again.

So we've got to get out and go do something new.

All that constant ferment in this consciousness that is in essence,

The constant reversal of that telescope showing us all the time,

Something that is at a distance from ourselves,

Something that seems small.

But if we can just get close enough,

Then by God,

We'll be able to bring it in and it'll be ours.

And then we'll be decent human beings.

We won't be impatient.

We won't lose our temper.

We'll be kind.

We'll be generous.

And all that nonsense that this consciousness fills itself with and that we swallow hook,

Line and sinker because it allows us to postpone what will ultimately be the revelation that is the same as selling all in order to buy that field,

In order to possess that pole and what that pro.

And what is it that this selling all,

What does it mean?

It means I finally understand as difficult as it has been,

The task isn't to go get awards,

Rewards.

The task is to transcend the consciousness that seeks them.

Because in transcending the consciousness that ceaselessly seeks these rewards,

This confirmation of self,

This obligation to get people to like us and us to respond in kind so that they see us as we want to be seen,

All of that sickness,

It finally laid out right there in front of us.

Well,

No wonder we always ask,

Is that all there is?

Because in that kingdom,

That is all there is.

Is the temporary satiation of the appetite when the reward has been imagined and pursued at even one?

And the thing turns to dust,

By the way,

Just as our bodies will turn to dust and it won't matter what you've put away.

What matters is what we can become and see as always having been within ourselves,

Because like Constance finally recognized,

Oh my God,

She was showing me not just all that I have,

But what I was given at birth.

And that's what these moments represent,

But not just the highlight moments where we look out and see the beautiful things.

No,

By God,

Those moments where we're sitting and getting ready for a meeting,

Those times we have to have a conversation with a loved one or somebody that we know needs some kind of correction and we're filled with trepidation.

The moment where our mind is telling us,

You know,

There's no way I'm going to measure up here to what it is that I pretended to be or that I want people to see me as being.

It's not going to happen.

And our mind is filled with that fear.

In those moments,

That's part of our kingdom.

The awareness of that consciousness is larger than the consciousness it is aware of.

The awareness of that level of consciousness is greater than the consciousness it's level it's aware of,

Which means there is something that is encompassing.

There is something greater than.

But we never see the greater than because we're always seeing the smaller than and hoping that will make us greater in some way,

And it can't.

So our responsibility,

And yes,

In a manner of speaking to each other,

Yes,

In a manner of speaking to the world,

Because you see the world that we live in is a direct manifestation of this consciousness that can't stop running after its own tail,

Hoping finally to get a hold of itself and it can't do it.

Because what it imagines doesn't exist outside of the consciousness in its incomplete state,

Constantly imagining the next reward that will finally release it from the pain,

The sense of insecurity,

Its doubts,

And we've done it.

So the point being that eventually we have to recognize maybe the whole point of this is to start understanding.

Maybe it's the,

I don't want to use the word conquering,

But maybe it is the final transcending of this expectation of rewards that releases us from the consciousness that can never achieve what it imagines and to discover,

Thank God.

I know how this is,

Not only can't I give myself what I want,

But the one that wants what it does isn't I.

This consciousness wants what will make it feel whole when it gets it.

It has the pleasure of imagining how it will feel and takes the pleasure of the time to come for being the possession of itself.

There is no time to come when we'll be complete anymore.

There was a time when Constance wasn't already the one given the entire kingdom.

But in order to receive the kingdom,

We have to give up all the things that we believe make us kings and queens in this world,

Because they don't.

They make us paupers.

Who is more impoverished than a fearful man who believes that unless others see him the way he wants to be seen,

Something is wrong with him?

Who is poorer than that?

Who is poorer than someone who becomes enraged because something has been taken from her that she thought made her special?

The real riches are within us.

We must learn what it means to turn the telescope back around.

We must learn what does that feel like?

Because we have to make this down to earth.

What does it feel like when instead of recognizing that I'm being given something,

I want something?

Please just for a moment because I'm going to end the talk.

You will see if you'll attend to the feeling of wanting itself instead of the pleasure of the thing wanted,

This is settled.

If you'll attend to the actual moment of wanting something,

I want people to like me.

I want to pull this off.

I want to succeed here.

I want,

I want.

If you attend to the actual moment of wanting,

You'll see it's like telescopes turned around.

There's a constriction.

There's actually a palpable kind of pain in wanting to add something to yourself to make yourself whole.

And the more you want that,

The more pain there is.

The more pain there is,

The more you think and imagine what the rewards are you need to get rid of the pain.

It's an unconscious loop and a dark part of our consciousness we don't see,

But we can.

And that's the point.

It's the point of all the teachings,

Not just the teachings that I give.

They're not my teachings.

These are the teachings that have been handed down for millennia.

You and I,

It's our task to understand what's that like?

Am I anxious?

Oh,

The telescopes turned around the wrong direction.

Am I angry?

The telescopes turned around the wrong direction.

And to take that moment of resistance,

That fear,

That reaction,

To be aware of oneself and turn,

Turn around the original meaning of repent.

Turn around and use your attention and give it to the part of yourself that can receive what you're being given in that moment,

Which is the realization that you had been attending to the wrong thing in yourself.

And the understanding,

The awareness of that is the release from it.

And it is the realization of that kingdom within that you've already been given everything since the moment you were born.

I hope that you understand this.

We'll study it more.

I'm going to talk a little bit more in detail tomorrow.

Find me,

Go to my,

Whatever it is up there,

An Insight Timer,

My profile,

Search me online.

I'll see you tomorrow,

Maybe.

Be safe.

Turn the telescope around.

Bye.

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