Step Into The Silence The Soul Needs To Grow GF Live 4-11-26

Key Lesson: Learn to silently watch the sound of thought; if you are quiet enough you can observe it stumble over itself as it tries, in vain, to escape the fear of its own shadow. Now you know what not to follow.

Transcript

The title is, Step Into the Silence, The Soul Needs to Grow. Step into the silence, The soul needs to grow. Our time together is going to be a kind of a mixed bag. I have a rather long story to tell you, So there'll be a certain fantasy element to our study, But it will be poignant in that it will point to some very important facts that we need to know and that we are not presently aware of. And in that revelation of those facts and our relationship to them, A glimpse of freedom. So we've got fantasy, Facts, And a glimpse of freedom. That's our intention today. I will ask, As I always do from time to time for you to acknowledge or otherwise agree or disagree with what I'm saying. It's important that you remain as, How shall I say, Passively active as possible while listening so that you are listening and taking in and what you take in produces in you what it will. There's no intent on the part of the speaker to try to convince you of anything whatsoever. All I do is ask you to see that what I'm saying is true. And if it's not for you, Then neither am I. So let's get started with this story. Nice deep breath as we like to do. There was once a wood, The son of a woodsman, His father and his father before him hacked out their livelihood in the forest, Cutting down small trees, Creating firewood for themselves and for people in the village. And this woodman's son was a kind young man. He loved his mother. He loved his father. He worked hard cutting up wood in the forest, Splitting it, Chopping it, Bundling it up. And then from time to time, Putting it on the two horses they had. And if it was a successful venture into the forest, He would take the horses and their packings down to the river where he would get on a ferry. You've seen those ferries where the person pulls that raft across the river. And he would take his wood into the town and sell it. And he would come home and he would give the money to his parents, Keeping a small portion for himself, And then relax as he was entitled to do, Having spent a productive, Hard, Labor-filled day. Now one day, This young woodsman was out in the woods doing his work, And a little later than usual, It happened that he was kind of on a knoll when all of a sudden he looked up. And maybe you've had this experience, I'll break into this story from time to time to make sure we are still all tracking. And there above him that he hadn't noticed the whole time because he was so busy hacking away. He noticed there was a gorgeous, What would you call it, Like a patchwork quilt sky. Different colors, Shades of pinks and blues and whites and grays. And as he stood there, The sun was just settling behind the back of the mountain where he was. And the sky continued to turn these unbelievable colors. The trees, The leaves become backlit. And it was so beautiful, It took his breath away. And he closed his eyes, If you will, For that moment to take it all in. Now just, Let's not skip over important ideas. Have you ever closed your eyes to take all of something in? Maybe listening to music, Maybe hearing a truth, Maybe reading something in a truth book. And it was so filling that all one wanted to do was to close one's eyes to take it all in. I know if you've been here, That has to be true of you. But now I pause for a moment in the telling of the story and I ask you, Take it all into what? Here I am, I'm taking it all in. Into what am I taking it? And please leave the question unanswered. Just see that there's a relationship between a certain kind of physical moment of creating a solitude that is more one than what we are looking at or thinking about or hearing. Something that is inclusive. Anyway, At that moment, As all of that was happening, And he opened his eyes because he felt like suddenly he wasn't alone. And he looks over, Maybe 200 yards away, Barely perceptible in that forest. He was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his life. And he didn't know whether the sun had lit up her flaxen hair or whether it was just actually shining that way, Because everything about this vision, This girl, Took his breath away. He wasn't naive, He wasn't innocent. But here was something that was so new to him, He didn't know what to do. And he didn't want her, This is part of our nature, He didn't want her to think that he was really staring at her, Because that would give away how much he was interested. But it did occur to him to put down his axe and turn slowly because he did want to talk to her, But he didn't want to be too presumptuous. I mean, After all, What was she doing out there in the woods? Was she lost? Maybe he could help her. All of these sort of fantasies flashed through his mind. But as he walked toward the spot where she was, Where he had seen her, She wasn't there. And then he began to look around furtively for what? Anything, Even footprints. He thought was somebody there that was maybe visiting someone who lived in the woods, But he knew nobody lived out there and it haunted him. Who could this beautiful woman be? That's how taken he was with her, But no sign. Anyway, He went back because he still had work to do to gather up the wood and bundle it, As he always did. And then he would stack the parts that were too heavy or that he couldn't carry, And he went back to the cabin with his parents. But that evening, His father noticed that his son had passed the meal in quiet. That wasn't common to him. And later, After the evening had passed, The young man went and talked for a few moments about things that it was evident he was just making conversation. He didn't even bring up the beautiful girl, Not that they knew that he wanted to. So about two weeks later, He had taken the ferry to the other side of the river because there was a festival, Like a carnival, In that town where he lived. And he wasn't an isolationist. He had friends. He wanted to go partake in it. But every year at this festival, At least in this particular festival, There was a competition between, Amongst the men and women, For various feats of mental and physical skills. Maybe you've seen some of that axe throwing or wood chopping or, I don't know, They climb up this pole, And he had skills like that. But he, Up till that point, He was always kind of afraid to compete. And the truth is, While he did like having the social activities, He wasn't involved in that whole business. He wasn't a terribly ambitious young man. But on the other hand, He did feel the need to prove himself. And so in this particular instance, After a certain amount of time letting these festivals go by, He decided, Because he was a master woodchopper, That he would participate. So I don't know if you've seen it. They put these logs out, And these men with these axes, Immense axes, They just flail at this wood, Trying to get through and chop through the log before anyone else does. So there he is. Woodchips are flying everywhere. And he's so engaged in this that he has no awareness of anything else. When out of the corner of his eye, It looks for a moment that he sees that beautiful girl. Now, He did not want to lose the competition. And on the other hand, He didn't want to lose the opportunity to maybe go and meet this girl. So he was torn for a moment. But he wasn't torn for long, Because his longing to make the acquaintance of this beautiful woman overcame his wish to excel and be seen as successful. He threw down his axe. He jumps off the stage. And he winds his way through the crowd that was gathered there watching to go where he had seen this beautiful woman, This girl. But when he got there again, She was gone. And he asked some of the people, He said, Did you see that? There was a beautiful girl here, Flaxen hair. She was standing right here. But absolutely nobody knew what he was talking about. Just let me break in for a moment. Other than the few people that might know, Be able to feel something of an epiphany that you've had, Something beautiful that you saw, That was by its nature indescribable. Other than that, Have you had those moments where you wanted to talk to somebody, But they didn't know what you were talking about? That's what he felt like. How could they not see what he had seen? So it really started to bother him. And at that point, He started asking around the town, Even as it was getting dark. And he knew he had to get back to the river to be able to go across the river again. And the ferryman didn't work at night. So with no luck talking to anybody, He went home. And this time at the dinner table, He mentioned it to his parents, Told them a little bit about what had happened, Not going into too deep, How drawn he was to something that he couldn't find. His father said he knew of no such girl. The mother said, I don't know anything about her, But she sounds lovely. Anyway, That night, Our young woodsman spends the whole night thinking about her. And increasingly, His days are spent kind of seeing in his mind this beautiful creature and wondering who she was and where she could be. And the days go on. And if we could do one of those fast-forward things, You'd see day and night, Day and night. And he goes into the woods and back again. But this one particular afternoon, After weeks had gone by, He's thinking about this girl. And his mind suddenly flashes a picture of this other man that lives in town, This fairly successful man who owns the store that sells the wood that he brings in. And he's had some skirmishes with this man. I guess you would say they have a kind of unspoken competition. And the thoughts of this man replace the beautiful woman, And his thoughts begin to prey on him. They begin to talk to him about this person that he's known since he grew up or whatever, And who was, For all intents and purposes, After an incident or two took place where he felt like that man humiliated him in front of others or whatever it might have been. That man, Who had been a friend of his growing up, Turned into an enemy, Someone who he knew no longer ever said anything nice about him and that did everything he could, As far as he could see it, To trip him up. And as this gathered in him, And let me bring you into the talk, Have you ever been sitting someplace, Hang up the phone, Read an email, Maybe not even related, And some account that you have with someone starts to add up all the numbers and you're looking at all of this, And as you do, You begin to take on this feeling like, That's enough, I'm going to do something, I have to get into it with this person, They can't do that to me, They're not right, I am, All of that. His mind is crowded with this, And he's thinking to himself, I'm strong enough to take this guy on and it's time that I do so, So everybody sees the truth and I finally get to be who I'm supposed to be. I'm going to give him the beat down that he deserves. And as he's going through this, And I'm asking you if you've seen that in yourself, Your mind isn't just in that particular moment, It's going through, And this will be germane to our study on Sunday, It's pulling all of these momentary flashes, These images, These strange memorized, These sensations, It's pulling them all in and it's literally weaving together the context under which this conflict is growing in this man. Can you see how that happens? What they said, What they did, What they didn't do, Why they didn't, All of that business. So he's right in the middle of this growing brouhaha within him and the bitterness that's mounting, And all of a sudden he has an experience he's never had before. And I can only pray that you have had this experience before I go on with it, Because it marks a certain level of development in your spiritual life. And here's the experience that he has, Right in the middle of this argument, This conversation. Suddenly, He realizes that he's all by himself in the woods. There's no one there, Just him. And the sudden sense of solitude versus the sense of being in a throng of thoughts and feelings and images of people, All of whom support him or support his enemy, Suddenly all that's gone, And he literally almost falls over. It's so quiet. Now, I want to tell you something before I go on. Do you know that when you're having a fight with someone or something in your mind, Whatever it may be, Whether you're going over what they said or what they didn't say, In that moment, Do you understand that you're alone? And I know the answer, You don't. No one who knows they are where they are and experiencing what they are being given to experience as a reflection of their own consciousness gets involved in a conflict that only exists in imagination and peppered by tormenting thought. So that's the first thing. When you're negative, You don't know yet that you're alone. It's a phenomena. Even when something's telling you, Oh, I'm so alone and I'm so lost and nobody cares, Even then you're not alone, Are you? You're in the company of thoughts and feelings conspiring to create a condition in which you see yourself as those thoughts and that nature want you to see. Can you see that with me? That you're engaged in an argument with someone, A moment that doesn't even exist at all, Save for being drawn into and upon a stage where the suffering you're involved in is convincing that you have to struggle with what? With what these thoughts and images are perpetuating and perpetrating as being true. Important. Now, Back to the story. So here he is and the silence is deafening. And it's deafening because suddenly he's alone. And this is a massive moment in his life because in that split second for the first time in his life, Though that particular condition and the conflict that's born out of it has appeared, He actually, In that moment, His rage was just resolved. He wasn't trying to resolve the rage, The anger, The fear. It was resolved in the realization that it was only existing in a world that wasn't real. Just like that, All that rage resolved. And he knew in that resolution that he was never going to fight with that man because now he knew he never needed to do it. He knew he didn't even think about that man again in the same way. And do you know what happened in the moment, Right in the moment of that revelation? I hope you're following me. He looks over to his right, To a field just beyond the spot there in the woods, And there's the beautiful girl again. And he's so filled with the oppressions. But he goes, Hello, Miss. Wait, Wait. And he puts down his axe to run over to her. But by the time he looks up from where he put his axe down to where she had been, She was gone again. What a mystery. Who was this woman? And why couldn't he stop thinking about her? That night, As he was taking the ferry back from the village, He thought better of it, But he decided he'd ask the old ferryman if he knew anything about this girl because everybody in the town knew that this old fellow, This ferryman, Was wise. Kind of like the doctor in our stories with Christine. And everyone knew that if there was a question that you couldn't answer, You could go to the ferryman and at least he would be able to put you onto something that would give you some insight into whatever the problem was. So he decided he'd risk it. He didn't want to be foolish, But he said, I'm troubled. I got to ask you. I'm looking for this beautiful girl. She's appeared two, Three times, Maybe more than I count. And I would just add, Because in retrospect, They were all in certain pivotal moments of my life. And I have no reason to think so, But it's as if somehow that girl knew what I was going through before I even knew myself and was there to watch me go through it. And as soon as I turned, She was gone. And I can't explain it, But I have a feeling, He said, If I could just talk to her, Maybe it would explain some of these things I'm going through. I think she knows something I don't. Please, He said, Please tell me where do I find her? Do you know who she is? And the old man is sitting there, Not even acknowledging the young man pulling on the ropes across the river. He said, Well, I'll tell you what. As a matter of fact, I do know her and I know her quite well. And since you've asked, I would be glad to tell you her name. That is, He said, If you can answer me a riddle. What? Hold on. You're saying you know this girl and you'll give me her name, But only if I can answer a riddle? What's with that? And the old ferryman, Not disturbed at all. Do you want to know or not? And the young man knew this was a wise man, But he's also thinking to himself, This is the kind of stuff that goes on like in stories and movies. But nevertheless, He said, All right, All right. What's the riddle? I'm going to ask Kate to put it up so you can follow along. Ferryman says, This substance cannot be held, But holds all there is. It can neither be swallowed nor inhaled. Yet without it, You waste away. And though you cannot see it, He said, Within it is found all that nourishes what is beautiful, Timeless, Innocent, And true. It is there with you at birth and it will attend you in death. This substance is transparent yet perfectly reflective so that nothing can enter into it unannounced. Now, We don't have time to repeat this. That's why I had Kate put it up. But the young woodman said, Do it again, Please do it again. And he did. And then he said, If you want to know the answer to her name, You'll know it when you answer this riddle. And by the way, When you answer this riddle and know her name, She will be yours. Well, The young man took the ferryman at his word and wanted to know what this could be. Now, I don't know if you're interested in riddles. This is a deeply spiritual one. So the young man spent weeks mulling it over, Laying in bed, Going over the individual points inside of the riddle, Trying to figure out what in the world it could be. And finally, He couldn't solve it. So he went and asked some of the town's leading authorities, But none of them had a clue. And anyone who did have a clue didn't make any sense to him at all, Given the riddle. So we're still all together on this story because we're coming to the end of it. And then we're going to get, This is the fantasy part. Then we're going to get into the factual part. So there he is. Having been sleepless, He's out in the woods and he had just fell a pretty big tree that crashed down and snapped branches. The birds flew up in the air. And it was that time in the early evening when the forest-filled light lends its magic to basically every shape, Giving dimensions to things that ordinarily don't. Even the dust particles from the tree slamming into the ground, Even those are floating in a light that seems to capture their dance. So he's there, And he literally feels as if he's in a kind of a magical kingdom for a split second. He's taking it in all quietly, The sounds, The smells, The colors of the wood. And for a split second, He forgets everything other than being wrapped up in a kind of gratitude for being shown in that moment. Something that you couldn't see looking just at one thing at a time, But had to be taken in, In its entirety. And again, He began to close his eyes to take it all in when off to his right, A movement caught his attention. And there she was again. And this time, He smiled a little bit to himself and didn't even start to move toward her. Because what he wanted to do in that moment was run back to where the ferryman was because in that split second, He knew the name of that substance. He knew her name. And he got to the ferryman, And they're going across, And the young man says, I think I can answer the riddle. In fact, I'm almost certain I know the nature of that magical substance that you put to me in the riddle. Why it is the same as her name. The ferryman, As you would see it in one of those older films, Gets that kind of wry smile on his face. He says, All right. He said, What is it? And the young woodsman says, Its name, Her name, Is silence. And when he got to the other side of the river, In fact, She was waiting for him there, And they lived happily ever after. Now let's look at the facts so they can be practical, And not just practical, But through their actualization, Serve as a kind of liberating force, Not liberating us from a world that is causing problems and that we have people in it that trouble us, But liberation in the sense of entering into another kind of world that we can use facts to discover the truth of, And that entering into the truth of that fact find for ourselves this freedom. So I've been speaking recently, If you've been joining me, About seeds. And how much there is to learn from them. So we're going to look at a lowly seed again. The mustard seed that Christ spoke of, As a matter of fact. Because everything about what Christ was trying to convey in that instance about the nature of faith, But in this instance, The nature of freedom, As I'll discuss it, We can study that little seed and realize what? A seed, For instance, Cannot escape the limitations of its birthplace. It can't escape the limitation of what it puts its root down into. Can you see that? When that seed lands and it puts its root there, That seed cannot get up and walk away. So the seed falls into place and it puts its root down, And that root, And that rooting is, Depending on the nature of the place it has been tapped into, Creates a certain limitation or a certain possibility, Depending. Now what does it mean? So here's the little seed and it puts its root down. Why does the seed put down the root? The tap root, I believe it's called. Because the seed can't go and can't grow any further as it is. It needs, Requires, Must have something that doesn't just nourish the kernel, But that nourishes what will grow itself out of that kernel. So that seed putting down the tap root is seeking a substance that the seed itself, As it remained itself, Is incapable of using, But that becomes utilitarian to the seed that has put the root down into it. Can you see that with me? Seed by itself can't grow. It has to put a root down, And it has to put a root down so that that seed can receive nourishment that it can't give itself and that it requires, If it's going to transcend, Its temporary limitation. So down into the ground, That dark ground goes that tap root, Seeking another level of nourishment. This is important to understand, But equally important to understand is when that tap root goes down, What other purpose is that tap root accomplishing? It's anchoring that little seed so that in the darkness it's sitting in, Even though the creatures may come and walk around and disturb it, That anchor is there, And that anchor and what it is anchored in will determine the success, The development, The possibility of that seed fulfilling its purpose as it goes through these iterations of exploring and using its environment. Please, Do you see this? Now, Further, Either what that seed needs there to grow is there or it's not, And if it's not, The seed will perish. But if it does grow, What does the seed, Now with a tap root and beginning to put up that little stalk, Breaks the ground? If you watch those time-lapse things, Breaks the ground, And as it does, That little seed opens up and now there's these two little petals. What's going on in that moment as we watch the development of this seed in the dark? This is, To me, So interesting. As it develops, It is doing what? Its development is it is growing into ever more developed forms of itself. Everything that breaks the surface is part of what was in the ground, But what breaks the surface is in a different form than what was buried in the ground, And because it's in a different form, More developed, It is also growing into relationship with other essentially infinite levels of forces that were not accessible in their form to that seed laying in the ground. So, Its earlier form couldn't use these forces the way the new form that has come out, The new conception, And that as that new form enters into this new world, Which it is a new world relative to the seed, As the seed and the husk are dying, Something is being given life. By what? Something that's waiting to act on that new conception, On that new form, So that that new form can continue to go through being actualized by the world that it is growing into, So it's outgrowing one world and growing into another that as it does, The seed and all of its possibilities is being actualized. Can you see the. . . I don't mean this about me, But can you see the poetry in that? Line by line, Rhyme by rhyme, Stage by stage, Each one flowing into a freedom that the other stage couldn't know and that freedom being given by the broader source and state of the level that it is entering into. Now, Take a nice deep breath. That is exactly what the human body is. It is a seed, Just as within the human body, The soul itself is a seed. And within that, A seed and a seed again. This is the nesting dolls. I was always fascinated with nesting dolls. I knew what they were trying to tell a story. And we can use the words, Yeah, It's levels and scale. One thing, Something coming out of something smaller, So that without the smaller, The larger can't exist. But now we're looking at this idea of nesting dolls, Of being the revelation that within the seed of the human being, Within the seed of the soul, Exists everything that feeds that seed, That feeds that soul, So that it can continue to outgrow the limitations of the world that it's in. We live under the exact same laws, Only slightly different because, As I continue here, Unlike the flowers and the trees who do not have a choice into what they are anchored, We do. It's a funny thing to look at the idea of free will as being I am free to choose what I will depend upon for my existence, For my well-being, For my sanity, For my development, And my ongoing liberation. Because that's exactly what it is. If we anchor ourselves into anything other than what awaits us so that from that relationship, A new relationship, A new conception, Another relationship, A ceaseless state of revelation that was all within the seed that the seed didn't know, And that it can't know until it breaks the ground of each subsequent level of itself. But if we anchor ourselves as we are now presently anchored, And don't you dare lie. Don't you argue this point. What am I anchored in? I'm anchored in thought. I'm anchored in a state of urgency. I'm anchored in one distraction after another, Providing me the sense that things are changing when nothing's changing other than my dependency on being anchored in that which gives me some sense of escaping the world that I have unknowingly been anchored into. Human beings, When we come into this world, Whether we know it or not, We are anchored in time, And we are anchored in a nature that fears the time it's anchored in, And so creates another anchor for itself called the future. And that's what this nascent, Ignorant nature, It anchors itself in anything that promises to relieve it from whatever it fears that it need not fear at all, Making us, If you will, A human tumbleweed. You know what a tumbleweed is? You see them blowing across the desert. So what I'm saying here is that we have a saying. We have a way within us to determine what we take in by seeing that what we take in is what we give ourselves to. And what we give ourselves to, What we anchor ourselves in, Determines what grows out of that, Much like that Native American Indian story about the young granddaughter of the chief or the medicine man saying to him, I've got a good wolf and a bad wolf, And they're fighting inside of me. Which one's going to win? And he tells her, The one that you feed. How? How do we begin to understand the need for something that the presently dominant nature at large within us has no need for at all? In fact, It abhors solitude. It avoids silence, Running, Rushing, Distracting itself endlessly. You want to know why that the suicide rate has become what it's become in the world, Particularly for young people? Because they have been deceived and not just by the world that creates the distraction, But by the nature in them that is responsible for creating that consciousness and its content. They enter into increasingly shallow worlds where their sense of self is as fleeting as the thought they have generated by the image they're looking at. It is exactly the same with us. And if we are going to grow in this garden of the soul, If we're ever going to understand the possibility of getting to know silence so that it becomes our constant companion, So that instead of eyes actively looking everywhere for something to be drawn to and then distracted by, We have silent eyes. Here's a young girl Her father is a, What, Owns an orchard or a nursery of some kind. And this little girl admires, Loves her father, Loves the garden, Loves to see things grow. And she says to her father over and over again, Please, Please, Please, Please, Let me, Let me, Let me. And he knows she's too young. Finally, One day he says, Okay, Sweetheart, You know what? And he gives her seven little seeds. And he says to her, These seeds are yours. Let's see what you can do with them. So without going through the whole story, Because we're going to run out of time too quickly, I need to get to a certain key lesson and something. He notices over the next week, Two weeks, Three weeks, Four weeks, The little girl is first excited and then she's a little bit despondent. Next, She's just down and out. And he says to her, What's going on, Sweetheart? And she doesn't want to talk. You know how that goes. He says, Come on. He said, Show me where you're, Show me where your little seeds are, Where you planted them. And he walks over with her and there's a little spot, Looks like a little garden bed. And she turns to him with a little face, Kind of crying that nothing's growing. And he knows what's going on. He says to her, Tell me something, Sweetheart. Is this the first place you put them in? No. So you move them. Yeah. Well, Is this the second place you put them in? No. So you move them two times? Uh-huh. Why? Because I kept seeing a better spot for them, She said. And he said to her, Sweetheart, I want you to understand something because this will be important not just in your life if you want to become someone who loves and grows flowers and trees. But seeds need to be left alone. They need solitude or they can't germinate. They need something that only the world they are in can give them. And if you are moving them around, Then they don't have solitude because it is in stillness that they take their birth. Now, She couldn't understand that, But he helps her plant the seeds and together they watch it. And sure enough, A week, Two weeks later, That little thing buds up. She's happy. And she's learned a lesson that she'll spend her entire life learning. Let's get into that lesson and then possibly, If we have time, A little bit of a practice connected to it. Kate, Can we bring up the key lesson for today's talk, Please? Read along with me and don't read it quickly. Learn to silently watch the sound of thought. If you are quiet enough, You can observe it stumble over itself as it tries in vain to escape the fear of its own shadow. Now you know what not to follow. Now you know what not to be anchored in. Learn to silently watch the sound of thought. What does that mean? To watch the sound of thought. You are created with a yet explored, Let alone realized capacity to be, If you will, As the old metaphor goes, The old analogy, The sky relative to the cloud. To be so quiet inwardly that nothing can move through you that doesn't tell you itself, That doesn't tell you something about itself. This is the secret in the story of Adam and Eve. They knew everything about all the plants, The flowers, The trees, The animals, Everybody conversed. Why? Because they all lived in a certain kind of atmosphere, A certain level of being where everything that could be known was known as it was needed to be known in that moment. So here you and I are and we know nothing at all about how we are anchored in thought, Let alone what grows out of what we are anchored in, Which is more thought, Which is a bigger, Greater, More important thinker, Which increases the urgency as it can't save itself from the content of its own thoughts. Learn to watch the sound of thought. If you're quiet enough, You can observe it stumble over itself. You know when you're anxious and your thoughts are running, That's thought stumbling over itself trying to escape itself. And now you know what not to follow. Remember in times of trial, Which we have every day, The one option, The one option that thought can never know. And you know what the one option is that thought can never know? Go silent. To grow the seed, To grow the soul requires a certain amount of seclusion. And it is a seclusion that is required that at first is very uncomfortable, But gradually that seclusion actually grows into a kind of unassailable solitude that is with you everywhere you go. So it isn't that you're not receptive, But you know what to anchor yourself in as life feeds you what it does in those moments. And if you want to pin a purpose on this talk, It's this. Take time to be alone. Not time with a book, Not time even listening to a speaker if you think he or she knows something. You will learn more in some form of dedicated solitude than you will learn listening to the preachers and the priests and the rebbes and the rebbes of this world. Because what you have to learn about yourself can't be taught, It can't be given in language any more than what I'm telling you is going to change you, But it can set the stage through the fantasy, The fact, And then the actualization of those things to realize I need, Here I am, Just like a tumbleweed, The moment comes, He said this, She said that, Away I'm rolled by the winds of what I think are misfortune. Did you know there's no misfortunate wind? Because if something's properly anchored, That wind strengthens the route, It anchors it more deeply, And as that anchor grows deeply, So does that which comes out of it that can participate in all of the relationship of these forces that are acting on them. The seed is a gathering place as is everything that grows out of the seed. The task for us is to understand we are intended to gather into us that which reveals to us our true role, Our true nature. So remember, If you want to use those words, The only option there is when really thought is assailing you is to understand if you're going to grow this seed, It's going to require some kind of solitude. You cannot. What grows in noise is noise. Take time to be alone. Take time to be in deliberate solitude. And you can do this at your desk. You can do this in your car. But to do that requires seeing that what you have been anchored in is what you are attracted to. I'll say it again. What we are anchored in is what we are attracted to. And what we are anchored in is a world of imagination, A dream state that is always imagining a time when this life will flower and there will be all the fruits of your work. No. You are already anchored in freedom itself. But you'll never know it until you deliberately see, You know what, What I'm looking at, Running for, Doing out here is the effect, Is a conception of what I'm anchored in. Change what you're anchored in. And that requires a certain kind of, Listen, Not effort, But a certain kind of realizing and then denying properly what it is that's trying to drag you back down into that world so that it can extend itself further in the world you're in. Anchor yourself in silently seeing what only silence can reveal to you about the nature of this prison that we don't know that we have a choice whether or not to live in. Do you understand that? Go silent and see. If you go silent and see and you practice it, Not because you want to, But because you see the futility, The pointlessness of what is growing out of what you have given yourself to. You were, To use words, And I don't particularly like them, Somehow the story doesn't seem to make sense without the sense of how did I get, Was I betrayed, Was this fall, All that stuff. You don't need to know any of that. You will see the truth of it, But only as you exit the noise of thinking and enter into that solitude that is holy.