Emotions & Blocks: Pathways To Peace (Live Replay No. 10)

Emotions and perceived blocks in life get a bad press and it’s easy to get triggered into suffering, feel confused and lost. Philip clarifies the fundamental cause and the pathway to peace in all situations. Philip answers many questions from participants in this process. Guided meditation/exercises included.

The cover image is a Fibre Optic Lamp and this is a simple and powerful metaphor for Self Realisation and inner peace.

Transcript

Okay, So welcome everybody. Anyway, So tonight's stream is number eight of 11 in 2022 of the Self Realization program here on Insight Timer. Welcome wherever you are. We've covered many different things. This particular stream, Dealing with emotions and blocks and pathways to peace, Is really the height of the streams build on the previous streams, But also that they stand alone in their own right. But this particular one has particular relevance to the live stream. For those of you who are on that one, Which is the transmuting fear into love process, Using the power of awareness to help dissolve the emotional body. And I'm going to sort of go over some of that again tonight because it bears a lot of repetition. But also look at specifically the emotional and block elements that people experience on the pathway to self realization. You know, Where does that come from? What does it mean? And what is it showing us? And turning all of that from the challenge that we can experience and trauma indeed with emotions, Through to it being recognized as an invitation to a deeper peace. So that's what that's all about tonight. Just also to say thanks once again to the Insight Timer team for allowing us to do these live streams. I think I've streamed on many platforms before and this is the most distraction free one I've come across and I think it's really beautiful. So thank you for that. And any donations that anybody's made to date, They're really welcome because it helps both Insight Timer and myself. So let's just dive into it then, Emotions and blocks. I think it's important to understand from a spiritual self realization perspective, You know, Emotions can get a bad press in the kind of human domain, But actually, Spiritually speaking, They're neither bad nor good. They're actually packets of information that is being presented to us in our body. And yet they can feel overwhelming and challenging for sure at times. But when we have this change in perspective and actually understand the root of what is driving them, Then we can start to make some progress in dissolving the emotional body. And that is really a central plank of self realization because many people actually had the deepest seeing, A real seeing of whom they truly are, As the infinite awareness or infinite silence, As I call it, But very quickly get pulled back into suffering. And the reason for that is because of the unresolved and undissolved issues in the emotional body. So really what I want to start to point out first is why is the root of that? Where is that coming from? And what can therefore, Having got that understanding, Can we do about it? And I'm going to go back, As always, To my trusty fibre optic lamp, Because it's so useful. This is a metaphor for the whole self realization journey. And start to give you some more insight on different facets of this which I've not covered to date. So you'll remember, For those of you who've been on the previous streams, Typically we think of ourselves as one of these points of light at the end of the fibre optic here. And we spend most of our lives looking outward into the world. And it looks for all the world, Like not only are the other people separate from us, But everything else is separate from us too. And the meditative journey and the self realization journey, As I've explained many times, Is about actually turning within, Looking into the inner infinite dimensions, Down the fibre optic filament, First to recognize universal beingness, Or that I call spheres of light, The pure state I am. The pure state I am, That's not personal. This is an infinite I am. And then recognizing that even that is a phenomena, And it's seen or witnessed from the power of the infinite awareness, Which in this case is the battery, And everything in life appears in front of awareness. Awareness is before I am. And that's also the infinite silence. And unlike the physical thing I've got here, It's actually everywhere. It's not just located at the base. Everything flows forth and it appears in front of this on the green screen of consciousness. Now you might think, Well, What's all this got to do with emotions? Well, What's key to understand here is that the source of the emotional body and this build up over life, It actually comes from the belief in separation. If you're looking outward and perceiving everything as separate, That sense of separation has ultimately come from the sense of separation that emerges when we believe ourselves to be separate from that which unifies and indeed connects everything. What that does inwardly is create an inner sense of separation that something important is missing in our lives. And that sense of separation creates a split, A polarity. And the two poles of that polarity are love and fear. And the emotional body is thus built up from being identified with and believing that one is the case of mistaken identity up here, And actually is in fear as a result of that polarity. The identity is always on a journey of small self-preservation. And there's always some fear in the system that comes from this sense of separation from the source, From the true essence, From the awareness. That's a consequence of that belief in that separation. And whilst that belief is still there and active, And that's true for a very high percentage of the population of the planet, Then there's always going to be suffering present because one is identifying with the identity, With the emotional body that comes with that. And that's always going to perpetuate, It's going to be like a self-fulfilling prophecy whilst that belief remains in place. And it's the dissolution of that belief in the case of mistaken identity that is key to dissolving to the realisation of the self, But also key to the dissolution of the emotional body. Because once that energy of fear, That polarity, Is in the system, Then what happens as you progress through life from a small baby through your infant years into the years of childhood, And you have certain experiences and all of these messages keep getting sort of thrust upon you, Whether it be from parents, Siblings, In school, Society in general, Teachers and so forth. All of these, All of these challenges and experiences that we have serve to reinforce and add weight to a bit like layers of an onion, To that initial flawed identity and the fear that comes with a sense of separation, Something missing, A lack of completeness that we have. And indeed, What's sometimes referred to as a core sense of unworthiness. All of it is like layers upon layers get built upon, Built upon, Built upon, Built upon as we go through life and experience many different things. And that belief in the case of mistaken identity is thus therefore the source of the emotional body and indeed the source of all emotion and all of the emotional challenges and they can be considerable that we experience. They can go from quite mild to extreme. And the reason that you get triggered by certain events in life is that each one of these events and emotions has an energetic signature or frequency. And when an event occurs in your life that is of similar vibration to that energetic memory, Then that creates a resonance with that and one minute everything's okay and the next minute there's emotion everywhere because some event or some situation has occurred that has a similar frequency to that and now you're triggered by it. It's all a matter of these vibrations and resonating with one another and then bringing up from the emotional body which is also locked into the cellular membrane of the physical body up into awareness and suddenly the world was okay one minute and the next minute you're completely lost in that trauma and that emotion and you wondered, You know, What on earth has happened here? Well that's why that happens. It's because all of these are vibrations, They're resonating with one another, We go through experiences and life will continue to present situations and opportunities for this to happen actually. And that's not as a challenge to you but actually it's an invitation to you. You see whilst emotions get a bad press and are triggered by events in life, Actually that trigger when it occurs, If you can understand why it's occurred because there's something unresolved internally, Energetically and being locked into the cellular memory of the body. If you can see that then as not as a challenge but as an invitation, We're now well on the way to starting to resolve that. Now you remember if you were on the Transmuting Fear Into Love live stream and we'll do that again tonight, I spent quite a bit of time getting you to recognise that actually one moment, Emotions not there and then some event occurs and like a wave, It may arise very rapidly and suddenly it's there and it's in your face. And if you identify with that emotion, I am extremely unhappy or whatever labour you want to get it, Feeling shame, Guilt, Whatever that emotion is, Then you become that and that will perpetuate and reinforce that and you'll go deeper into it until really the identity gets tired of that and eventually it might start to fade away or subside slowly. But if we can see that one moment there was no emotion, Then an event occurs, Emotion appeared and is felt in the body, Then what is it that observed that? What is it that observed that? And can report it changing over time, So one minute it might be quite mild, Then it's intense, Then it changes to another emotion, Then it maybe increases intensity again, Always changing over time. And it's because it's a phenomenon that's appearing. What is it then that can see that, Report that? That's awareness. And what we can also begin to recognise, And we'll do a little exercise on this shortly, Is that actually it will be seen eventually with enough practice that that awareness, That witnessing presence that I call the silent witness, Is actually untouched and unmoved and indeed unblemished by the appearance of the emotion on the body. On what I call the green screen of the consciousness that you can feel in your body. Everything is appearing, If you can imagine it, In front of awareness. And it's like a screen, It's like you're watching from this space, Infinite essence inside and everything, Every phenomena, That includes your physical body, The breath and all of the sensations and all of the emotions are appearing in front of that. And they're all there because of the belief in the case of mistaken identity, That all you are is this body-mind which creates the polarity, Which creates a sense of fear and the identity's greatest fear is the fear of death. That's where all emotion comes from. All emotion. Now we may give many labels, Many different names to emotions and you could probably reel off a list very very quickly and most people have experienced the full compliment so to speak. But all of them really are different, We're just giving different labels to different aspects of that polarity between love and fear. Or fear and love. Now those labels at some level can be useful in being able to articulate where we are at in the human domain. But also can actually be a block in themselves to moving through them because when we use the words I am and the instant that we put anything after that word, A woman, A man, Sad, Unhappy, Guilty, Feeling ashamed, Whatever emotion is here, Distressed, Angry, You be instantly I am and then whatever's after that means that you are identifying with and becoming that and so you will have the experience of being that. Instead the way through this is to recognise that whatever has appeared emotionally, Energetically is simply that, It's an appearance, A wave that has appeared, It has been observed, Been seen. It is neither good nor bad, Take away that labelling from it for a start because that's going to bring relief in itself, Taking away that labelling. And then in terms of whatever label you've given that emotion, It's also helpful spiritually, Energetically speaking in terms of moving through this to take away the identity label you've given it, Whether it's angry, Whatever, Guilty, Shameful, Whatever. And just simply see the appearance in the body on the green screen of consciousness as an energy, Emotion, Energy in motion. And when you take away I am that and then take away the label and it's simply an energy that's appearing, Being felt, Not judged, Next important one, Not judging it as good or bad or whatever, It just is. Then now we're well on the way to dissolving and resolving whatever it is that's here. And the key then is to feel it fully without any judgement of yourself or anything that's appearing or indeed anybody connected with it and simply watch from the unchanging power of awareness and let whatever needs to happen, Happen and that awareness and that awareness alone will naturally and effortlessly dissolve that emotion. And like I was talking about on the stream, It's simply a vibration that's here in the body and all vibrations will return to silence. All vibrations will return to silence and that includes the vibration of emotions. So it turns out emotions are actually not meant to be challenges but instead a spiritual indicator that there is something inside that is as yet unresolved and this is okay, It's neither good nor bad, It is what it is. And that it's simply a pointer that's come up in awareness to say look, This that you've been carrying around no longer serves you. And if you trust the power of that witnessing presence within, It will simply and effortlessly be dissolved and resolved. It's as simple as this. Now granted, If this is new to you, This is probably going to take a bit of practice and that's okay too. But the more that you can go with this and open to this, The more effective you're going to be able to get at it and eventually you'll be able to get to the point where you can simply do the dishes and let this happen. Let this happen. So this way we can start to see the appearance of emotions and triggers not as challenges but as invitations because, And I've seen this hundreds, Thousands of times now with many, Many people from all over the world, But as they allow this process to happen and it's dissolved and resolved through the power of awareness, Behind and before that appearance of the emotion there's a deeper peace. A deeper peace. And Jesse's put the feel it to heal it and that's true Jesse. But not only feel it, But recognize you are not it. It is simply a piece of information that's appearing. And that which you are is the untouched and unblemished presence. So it's much more than just feeling it to healing it to heal it. You have to trust that you are, In fact, Not the body mind. That you are the infinite awareness. And this way, This energy, This vibration will naturally dissolve and resolve of its own accord without actually any effort on your part. Did you catch what I said there? Without any effort on your part. People often talk about work in relation to these kinds of things. And I can understand why people use that term. But actually what I'm pointing you towards is to moving this in the direction of it being effortless. Because it's in that effortless space that true resolution, True dissolution and true realization will unfold. And yes, At first there may be some steps, Some processes and there are many tools that could be used for this. But every single one of those tools, And you don't need to believe me on this, Is a stepping stone to the realization of the power of awareness. The tools are fine, But ultimately they are a stepping stone to the power of the awareness within. I'm just going to pause for a moment and say thanks to Jeremy for the donation and then look at Ruth. She's saying I still get confused between allowing and bypassing. Wouldn't doing the dishes or another activity whilst experiencing a strong emotion constitute bypassing? If you're using it as a distraction, The answer to that would be yes. If however, You're fully embracing, I'm not suggesting that you do this in the first instance, That this is much later in the process. But if however, All of this is happening, It's being seen, It's being felt, It's not being judged. And there's complete trust in being placed in the power of awareness. Then you're not using doing the dishes as a distraction. You're just simply allowing the power of awareness to do the work. It's going to take some time, Probably for most people to get to that point. The phrase bypassing is quite in common use these days. There's a phrase that some of you may have heard of called spiritual bypassing. I looked into this because the term didn't come into my awareness until about three or four years ago, Which is well after the realisation took place. And I looked into it and it was coined by a guy who I think was in some kind of Buddhist teaching. I forget his name now. And basically what he was referring to, Which you can come across in some spiritual circles, Is a process whereby purely saying one is the absolute and then ignoring everything else and saying things like there is no emotion, There is no this, There is no whatever. You don't go through the process of feeling, Recognising, Embracing, Witnessing. You simply use what is referred to as a spiritual bypass. But actually, The idea of a spiritual bypass is a delusion. There is no bypass. There is no such thing as a spiritual bypass. None at all. If you're using absolutist terms, What I call the extreme non dual approach to spiritual self realisation, Then you're basically going on a blind alley and eventually the emotional body will catch you up. You do have to go through it. But you do not have to absolutely suffer in that process. You do not absolutely. You can simply allow it to be there, Feel it totally, Utterly, Fully, You know, Right between the eyes kind of thing. But in the totality of that, Still simply trusting the power of awareness and letting the power of that awareness do the work. And anything that emerges in that process is to let that happen. So going back to Ruth's question, If you're using an activity as a distraction from whatever's present, Then that's no good. Absolutely none at all. Far better would be to sit or lie down with it. Feel it fully. Trust the power of awareness. And then let the process get on with itself. People use all sorts of distractions. And what I'm talking about there, Ruth, Is not using the activity as a distraction, Like going to watch television or some retail therapy or whatever, Or alcohol. Or drugs. These are all distractions. I'm not talking about that. What I'm talking about, The point is being able to get on with your life, Recognizing this permanent, Unchanging awareness, Letting whatever is here to be there. And continually watching that process unfolding. Continue feeling whilst that process is unfolding without any judgment. And then that's what I'm talking about. Now this is probably for most people going to take a bit of practice to be able to get to that point. So the difference, Ruth, Is using an activity as a distraction. And that's not what I'm talking about. So hopefully that clarifies it for you. There is no such thing as a spiritual bypass. It's complete and utter nonsense to believe that there is such a thing. You may attempt to do that, And people do. But ultimately, And I've seen this with people who go down what I call the extreme non-dual route. And then I can see they're heading for a fall. Because eventually the emotional body will catch up with you. A trigger will occur, Often in a surprising way, And suddenly you're lost in that. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about facing, Feeling, Not judging, Taking labels away, Witnessing, Allowing the process of moving through this with the power of awareness. And then a deeper peace will be realized. So hopefully that clarifies it for you, Ruth. Embracing the onion, Debbie says, And that's certainly one way of putting it indeed. So, Key point is emotions, Yes, They can be challenging and very traumatic for many people. And what I'm talking about here as an ultimate putting could probably be quite a lot, If one is, For some people, If you're deeply lost in that. And you may need other tools first, Other processes to bring you to the point where there's a kind of more stability in your general beingness. But if you've got a regular meditation practice, You're meditating daily, Using awareness-based meditation, Then what I'm pointing out here is totally and utterly within your grasp. And it's within your grasp because that power, The infinite power of awareness, Is always here. Always here. Never not here. So rather than emotions becoming a self-perpetuating and fulfilling challenge in life, We can see them as invitations to that deeper peace. I pointed to say, Whoa, Something being carried here that no longer serves me. So what's Ruth saying now? OK, Thank you. It's physically painful sometimes. Yeah, Absolutely it is. And hard not to want it to go away quickly. Need to recognise the underlying awareness in the moment exactly. It is undoubtedly physically painful sometimes. And that's because it's been built upon layer upon layer, Compression upon compression. And typically we're conditioned in life to run away from emotion. To run away from that inner suffering. And so the more that happens, The more painful it is when eventually it does come to the surface. So completely accept and recognise that. So that's OK. But if we can take that when it arises, Not to try to run away from it, Not try to force the situation, Try to make it go away quickly, Instead accept fully what's here. Without any judgment. Of you or whatever it was that was the cause of it. And then that underlying power of awareness, The more deeply that's trusted in the moment. Interestingly, The faster the resolution will take place. So it's not by forcing it, It's actually by allowing it. Big difference. Big difference. And that's also, Ruth, Why I talk at length about using the Who Am I meditation, Which we'll go to in a moment for recognising this awareness again. In the moment. In the moment. It can move you from identification with the appearance for which will only deepen the suffering and make it more painful and more challenging to allowing it to be felt but witnessed. The difference is vast. Going for distraction and wanting it to go away quickly, That's what's referred to as essentially trying to bypass. Say that again, Please. Is what Ruth is saying. So the moment it arises. And let's say it's very uncomfortable and challenging. If we can get to the point of recognition, It's here. In that moment. Accept it fully. If you're struggling to get to a place of awareness, Use the Who Am I meditation, Which I'll remind everybody of in a moment. To bring you to that witnessing presence. And then from that point, Feel it, Allow it. To unfold and trust in that power of awareness. Then the resolution by that process of allowing and witnessing will actually be the fastest way to this. That's in complete contrast to trying to force it to go away or create some distraction. So let's get into some of the practicalities of this. Let's do an exercise together now to remind ourselves to recognise the power of awareness. And for that, It's good to close your eyes right now. You can actually do this with your eyes open eventually. But if you're new to it. Let's close our eyes. And I'm going to walk you through now that recognition process, Which is everything the Infinite Silence Meditation is based on. But I'm going to take you through to the first part of that. But using the Who Am I approach. So close your eyes. And simply, Silently recognise the phenomena here in your body. Whether that's breath, Physical sensations, Emotions, Thoughts, Feelings. Just knowing and noticing they're here. And have no judgement about any of them. None. Just neutral. They are neither good nor bad. And in that watching, Witnessing. You may see that whatever phenomena are here. They may change over time. They may get higher in intensity. Or lower. They may change form. Like an emotion moving from one to another. All the phenomena are coming. Going. Increasing. Decreasing. Changing. But being watched. And if they're all being watched. And there are many of them. Can you be the phenomena? The emotion? The appearance? Or is it more likely you are simply the witness to them? The watcher. Or is it more likely that the phenomena are simply appearances? That are changing over time. That they're simply different expressions of energy. And you begin to see that the phenomena appear in front of this silent witnessing presence. And that that witnessing presence has no judgement about the phenomena. It is untouched by them. Unmoved by them. Unblemished by them. So which are you? The phenomena? Or the awareness that sees the phenomena? Surely it's the awareness. So now continuing to witness. Asking the question inside. Who am I? Who am I? And just be with that. And then let's deepen it further. Who am I? Without emotion. Who am I? Without emotion. And rest with that. See if anything emerges. If it does, That's great. If not, Just be completely okay with that. Who am I? Without emotion. And one further step. Asking inside. Who am I? Without blocks. Who am I? Without blocks. And resting with that. Seeing if anything emerges. Being completely okay with what's here. Who am I? Without blocks. Good. So if you haven't already done so, Just gently opening your eyes. And I can see that Tracy's already shared what she got. If anybody would like to put in the comments anything that came up for them, Then we'll have a look at that. So use that time to do that now. So Tracy got peace and free, And the free one was in relation to without blocks and the peace one was in relation to without emotions. And Vicky got enlightened. Exactly. We become so identified with the appearances that we forget that which is before the appearances. And that which is before the appearances, The phenomena, Is in fact the infinite awareness, The enlightened, Using Vicky's words, Essence. And we are that. Non-personally, We are that. And there's never been a time when we're not that. Jerry's got its me. Now the me here could be two different angles to that. One is the personal identity me, Which is the suffering and the cause of all the problems or depending on how it was energetically inside for you, Jeremy, It could be me as the true essence, Which is not personal. There was a word open awareness somebody put there, And that was Patty, I think. And Joyce put stillness, Open awareness is also infinite awareness. And Joyce put stillness and again, This is an OK word, A good word for this. Ruth is saying she saw a river flowing going around rocks. Good. So this is a river is a good metaphor for self-realization because it represents the flow of life. And of course, It will just simply, Eventually, Effortlessly move past the apparent obstacles. And rivers always end up with and up at the ocean and the ocean, Spiritually, Metaphorically speaking, Is the ocean of infinite awareness. Water is a very good metaphor for consciousness because consciousness takes up whatever shape or vessel it's in. Eventually, The infinite vessel is the ocean itself. So this is pointing you towards the more flowing sense of reacquaintance with the awareness that you are, Ruth. Alan is saying a warm tranquility. And I'm guessing that was with the first question, Which was without emotions. And that's good. That tranquility again is pointing you towards that deep ocean. And then without blocks, He puts connected and the infinite silence is infinitely connected. Just seeing your donation come through, Ruth, Thank you very much for that. And everything stillness and calm and words like stillness and calm and peace and love are like the perfumes of the infinite awareness, As a felt sense in the body. And even the sense of stillness and calm is seen. But you are that presence that sees it. Tobias has got without blocks, Feeling endless possibilities. Perfect. So endless possibilities because the absolute awareness, The infinite silence is indeed infinite. And that means infinite in every possible way. Infinite possibilities. Infinite possibilities. So good. And then Pauline's got divinity and we can certainly use that word. It's been used commonly in reference to this infinite silence or infinite awareness or source or true self. So this would be the divinity. This would be the divinity. Nit Siseng, I'm confused if that was encouraging to feel the emotion more than absorb. The exercise, Nit, Was about first recognising that the first part of this exercise, Which I'm going to go into a fuller meditation shortly, Is get you to recognise that witnessing presence. And certainly a lot of the comments have been put up here. In fact, I think every one of the comments have started to recognise that presence within. Now that's key because then in the process, And you will experience it as a process, The emotion is here. We're going to feel it fully. We're not going to run away from it. We're going to accept it totally. But we're not going to identify as being it. Instead, We'll place our trust in that presence. And then the feeling can take place, The allowing can take place, And it can get as intense as it likes in the body. All the labels are taken away from it. But our trust is totally in the power of presence. And that way, That way, The emotional energy will naturally gravitate towards, Because it's a vibration, To silence. So hopefully that clarifies it for you, Nit. So the first part of the exercise was responding to Ruth's question about, In that moment, How do I get to awareness when the emotion arises? And this is how, This is one way you can use this, Who am I exercise to get to presence very, Very quickly. You'll notice I always use the word without something, Whatever it happens to be. And that's to get you to before the phenomena. And then the phenomena can appear, Can be felt, In this case, An emotion or a block. It can be seen. It can be embraced totally, Felt fully. All the while recognizing that you are the untouched awareness. This is the pathway to the realization, To the dissolution and resolution. So hopefully that answers it for you, Nit. David is saying silence. He got to silence and he's very grateful for that. So that's good. A nice little rose there from Pauline. Sophia is saying, It's amazing to listen to you all become much clearer. It was my first time. I will try to follow you. Thank you from my heart. Well, You're very welcome, Sophia. I'm glad that you've managed to join us. I'm glad that it's resonating with you, Because as I've said many times on these streams, When this material is speaking to you and resonating with you and making sense, It's not because I'm telling you something new. It's because inside you actually already know this. What's happening is that it's percolating up through awareness. One of the great powers of the Who Am I meditations, Of which I've used many variations of in these streams, Is to bring you to that awareness very, Very quickly. Then from that point, There's only one outcome. That's a deepening into that awareness. The dissolution of the emotional body and the blocks. The blocks that we experience, People talk about feeling blocked, All of these come from that case of mistaken identity belief. All of them. None of them are true about who you really are. They may feel very real as an experience, But as we've just seen, Who Am I without blocks, People started to see that there was limitless, Endless, Infinite power behind and before that. These emotions and blocks aren't who you are. They're certainly undeniable experiences and very challenging for some people. Undoubtedly, It's important to recognise that. But through your regular meditation practice, Coming back to awareness is your pathway through them, Feeling them, Witnessing them, Allowing them, Not judging them, Not judging any of the circumstances associated with them, Whether it's through yourself or others. This way, You will eventually realise the deepest source of peace within. It's not about believing what I'm saying, It's about realising that which is already there. It's always about realising. Sophia is saying, I haven't been so far from the deepest Who Am I, I realise it now. Okay, It sounds like you've had a shift there, Sophia. And that's why I'm taking baby steps and going through this step by step and keep on repeating this in different ways through different streams. Because everything I'm saying over these 11 streams in 2022 and the two in 2021 and any future streams that I might do is simply this, That which you are seeking, You already are. And it's not personal. That which you are seeking, You already are. And it's not personal, It's infinite awareness, Infinite silence, Essence, Source, True self. So Blossom, Plain, I was saying, Hi, Philip. First time here during my meditation, My authentic self spoke to me and I was reminded of who I am. I need to continue to practise mindfulness, Which I tend to forget about during my wake down. Okay, Good. I'm really pleased to hear that first part, Blossom. That is a very important experience that you've had there. Take that as a very strong spiritual indicator to continue. Now, You used the word mindfulness there and I just need to sort of unpick something there because it's not a word I'm a fan of, To be honest. I'm not saying I have anything against it or for it, But the reason I'm not a fan of the word, And in fact, Not that long ago I saw a lengthy article pointing out that it was actually a mistranslation of, I think it was an original Buddhist teaching. The reason I'm not a fan of the word is mind tends to point to human mind and that's not where you want to be. I'm not a fan of the term before mind, Before phenomena. So I'm not a fan of the term mindfulness for that reason. I can see Blossom's clarified. She means, I'm assuming, Sorry, Blossom is a she, Sorry about that. I meant awareness and that's much more accurate, Blossom. Awareness is much more powerful. So I just want to unpack that a little bit. Pauline's saying very well to understand the Who Am I meditations. I think that means you understood them, But maybe there's a question there, Pauline. But if there is, Can you perhaps clarify that for me? Blossom's saying, I love your life following you. Thank you. Good. I will be here on Saturday 29th 8 p. M. Says Sophia. Good. I'm pleased to hear that. Alan said once I had a kind of insight that consisted of realising that there was no one to liberate. It was a big one for me. Perfect, Alan. That is also true. You see, I'm going to say something here that will sound really radical. But it's to make a point and then unpack the pointing after I've said it. So if I said that there is no person that is enlightened on this planet. There are no enlightened people on this planet. That might seem like a radical thing to say, Because you might say, Oh, What about what about whatever. The point here is personhood and self-realisation or enlightenment are not bedfellows. There isn't a person that's enlightened. Enlightenment is that which you are and it's not personal. It's not personal. And that relates to Alan's column. There isn't a me to liberate. The idea of the me is the cause of the suffering. Yet it's still expressed in the form of Alan and that's very important because the universe has chosen to express itself in that form. But the realisation itself is beyond personhood. Before personhood. So hopefully that clarifies that for you, Alan. And Bellassa, As I said, Already confirmed she meant awareness. Can I explain that a bit deeper? What you said about mindfulness and the mind. From my understanding, From some research I came across a while back, The term is probably actually a mistranslation of what I think might have been an original Buddhist term. The reason I'm not a fan of the term, I'm not saying it's good or bad. The reason I'm not a fan of the term is that when we use the term mind, Small m, We're typically thinking human mind. And human mind, A metaphor for human mind is thoughts plus belief equals mind. Now the term is actually pointing ultimately to that which is before and beyond the concept of mind. Using this metaphor, The infinite awareness that sees the state I am, That sees all the phenomena appearing in front of it. So awareness is a much more effective word for what meditation and self-realisation is about. Now mindfulness has been used as a term and it's been used very broadly now. But in a lot of cases, I'm not saying every case, Without really understanding what it's pointing to, Which is before and beyond mind. So hopefully that clarifies it for you, Nits. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm not saying it's good, It just needs to understand something a bit deeper than the term mind. And therefore I'll typically not use that and much more frequently use the term awareness because it's not associated with what's going on up here. Thank you for the donation by the way, Blossom. Pauline's now clarifying. No, I never really understand the who are mind meditations into this life. Thank you, Amazing. OK, So don't worry about trying to understand, Until now I think is what you're about to say, Pauline, What I'm pointing you to here and everything that I'm saying and sharing, I'm not actually inviting you to understand. That might sound a bit strange, So let me unpack that. What I'm actually inviting you is to do it this way, To inner, Inner stand. And the inner stand is the inner version of understanding. It's a knowing, A realisation of what's already here. It won't come through the mind, Inner standing. It will arise naturally from awareness. And then interestingly, With that natural flow from awareness, Inner standing will also manifest as understanding, But it won't have come through the process of the mind or the intellect. It will have come from awareness directly. It will have come from awareness directly. So I'm glad that seems to be working. Good. OK. Yes. Explanation best yet. Good. Thank you for that, Pauline. I'm glad that that's getting there for you. Alan's very happy with the explanations. You're welcome, Alan. I'm glad that it's resonating for you. Jeremy is saying also mindfulness, Sati and awareness are quite different. That may well be correct, Jeremy. I'm not a student of any of the Eastern traditions. It has to be said, Everything I'm pointing out is from direct realisation and direct experience, Which I appreciate may be a little bit unique or unusual. But that's the way it was. And that's the way the awareness is guiding me to share it. And that's why I use the term again from the silence, Because I don't typically use these terms, Western mystic as distinct from traditions that are thousands of years old and are very powerful and beautiful. But everything they're saying is exactly what I'm saying here. Just expressed differently. You don't need to learn a new language. We can use this language and the language of awareness to come to this. Debbie is saying my head or busy mind often tries to block or get in the way, Must practice more. Yeah, So it will always do that because of this belief in the case of mistaken identity, Debbie. And the identity always wants to be front and centre stage. And this is why regular meditation practice using awareness based meditation, Awareness based meditation and awareness for sake of repetition and clarity is not phenomenal. It's before and beyond phenomena. So it doesn't involve visualisation. Or any phenomena of any kind. It's about coming back to that which is completely still. And that's why I continuously recommend and point to the infinite silence meditation, Not because I share it, But because it came through from that space of awareness. Which reminds me to say, And I put this in the group, There's a group called Nothing Special exclamation mark, Which sits alongside these live streams. And the invitation and opportunity I've put on there. If you want to get involved in this, Then just take it upon yourself to do this. I'm inviting people for at least seven days between now and the final last stream, Which is on I think it's the 5th of February, Saturday the 5th of February, To use any one or any number of the ones of the infinite silence meditation on my profile. There are seven of them. In fact, There's eight in total, But there are seven labelled one of seven, Two of seven, Three of seven, Four of seven. Use those. They vary in length from 15 minutes to an hour and a half. So choose the one that's right for you. Use them every day. Make a note of where you are before you start. Maybe keep a note of what awareness is you come to in those meditations. And then if you can provide me with a summary, One or two sentences, Not an essay, Of your experience over that seven days or longer in the group, Ideally, Nothing special exclamation mark. Or on the live stream, It's better in the group because I can prioritize it that way. What I will do in that final stream, Which is called living meditation, Making your life a living meditation. I'll be sharing some insights, But I'll use those experiences to help make it more real for you about using these awarenesses to become the living meditation, To become the realized essence. So anybody who wants to take part in that, I'm inviting you to use those meditations on my profile. They're all there, Freely available. Use one of those, The one that's right for you. You can use the 15 minute, You can use the 22 minute, The 29. You can use any combination of them for the next seven days or longer. And then report back, Ideally in the group, But if not on the live stream. And I can then use that, Integrate that into the stream to point you more deeply to this realization. Because it's through people's questions, As I explained at length in one of the streams about spiritual inquiry. It's through people's questions and inquiry that we can start to see this from deeper angles. So any number of people, And it'll be first come first served in terms of whoever makes the comments, And I'll prioritize them and I'll integrate them into the stream so that I can unpack that. And that will make that final stream in this present series much more powerful for you. So use those meditations every day for seven days at least. The group is nothing special exclamation mark. Nothing special exclamation mark. So anybody who feels called to that can take part. And then if you can report your one or two sentences in the nothing special group, It'll just make life easier for me and for you. Because keeping up with the comments can be sometimes tricky when there's a lot coming through together. I noticed that somebody commented about hearing the term effortless. So that's the invitation. That's the opportunity. You've got over seven days to do that. You can do it for it. You can start straight away. Know where you are now. Know where you are as you progress. Do a couple of sentences summary for me and I'll prioritize those in that stream and we'll unpack what that points us to. So the effortlessness, The effortlessness. I'm talking about here is the effortless awareness. It is ultimately effortless. Spiritual practice at first feels effortful. Until and it's like a bridge until the effortless essence. That's what I mean by effortlessness. I can see various people saying they're going to try. And just to remind you, Pauline, The group is nothing special exclamation mark. So that's the name of the group. I've got that I've listed written out that I've just said that I've written out in two of the posts. But the actual meditations themselves are on my profile. Use the ones one of seven, Two of seven, Whichever ones you want of those. Each one of those has the same guidance, Just with more silence. And that guidance is all about recognizing that awareness like I was pointing at earlier. It does it in a slightly different way, Which is about recognizing that awareness. So that's an invitation. That's an opportunity. And we'll unpack that further. But obviously we've got three other streams before then. So you can be using that as you're going along. So various people sounds like they're going to give that a go. Philip, I think Nits is it and think about working positively on your identity can also benefit in life, Aside from connecting with awareness. I'd like to hear what you think of that. For sure, Nits. The. Moving from this case of mistaken identity as the body mind. That all you are. As that. To. Awareness will affect every area of your life. Every area, Whether it be in work, Family, Relationships. And in fact, I've got a stream coming up on relationships. The more deeply that you move away from that identity to awareness. Every area of your life will be touched positively by it. Granted, You may have to face some of the emotional baggage attached with that identity. And that's what this stream is about. As well as the live stream, Transmuting Fearing to Love, Which will be available. As an audio replay soon. But this movement from identity to awareness is going to impact ultimately positively on every area of your life. It will improve your connection, Your presence, Your peace. It will improve your expression. It will move you from trying to be normal to being natural. It will move you. Did you hear that? From trying to be normal to being natural. It will improve your relationships. It will improve your compassion. It will improve your capacity to actually physically function better, Better and more effectively. More energy. More clarity. More inspiration. You will find learning easier. The number of benefits are phenomenal and limitless from this movement. Very important. And that's why I keep on emphasising, Use awareness based meditation. Awareness isn't visualisation or all sorts of nice things. It's about before and beyond phenomena. And that's why the Infinite Silence meditation and the guidance in it is all about. There's nothing wrong with all those other tools. They're absolutely fine and they're all great. But if you truly want to come to peace, Then awareness is the key. Awareness is the key. And you are already this awareness. You don't need to believe me. I'm not asking you to believe me. It's about realising. It's about realising. That's why it's called Self Realisation. And this self is not personal. It's awareness. So Pauline's had a bingo moment. And it's clearly resonating for a number of people I can see. Joyce and Tracy and Blossom. So you are here for this. Not just on this stream, But in this life, You are here for this. This is your purpose. This is your meaning wrapped into one. And as you deepen into that space of awareness from identity. The true natural expression in your form will blossom. And how that then manifests in your life will become clearer. If you'd have asked me 23 years ago. What I'd be doing in 23 years time. It wouldn't have been this. It wouldn't have been this. Those days I was a chartered civil engineer. Very focused, Working long hours. Why Pauline says? Well, Because I absolutely loved my career as a chartered civil engineer. It was a great career and it was definitely something I wanted to do. But as I started meditation, Things started to open up. And at that time I would have thought I would end up in a very senior position in the business. And in fact, I did do that. And that would have continued for whatever. But actually, The meditation opened me up, Completely changed the course of that and ended up leaving that life behind. It will manifest differently for different people. That's just how it happened for me. But 23 years ago, I wouldn't have said it would have been this. So it's surprising. Surprising. But there you go. So that's why. So that was the invitation. I can see that. Quite a few people are going to take up on that. And as I say, If you do put your final one or two sentences. I mean, Keep a longer notes for yourself, Journal or whatever. But if you can kind of summarise it in a few sentences before that final stream on the 5th of February, Then I can pick those up and prioritise them. And it's easier for me if I can do it that and easier for you rather than trying to read them all off here. So Blossom Plano is saying, I totally get it. Being aware brought me back to playing the piano after 37 years. Fantastic. I'm delighted to hear that. Blossom. Thank you, Tracy. Guest is saying, Is it normal to feel a bit guilty that you can enjoy this experience while others haven't and seem to be struggling in daily life? How to enjoy this others whilst knowing whilst others can't? There's a few things here, Guest, And it's a very important question. So is it normal to feel guilty? Well, In a way, I would say yes to that. But you need to understand that energy of guilt isn't coming from awareness. It's coming from identity. It's coming from mind. It's coming from conditioning. And whilst it's certainly a real experience and therefore normal, It isn't actually true about who you really are. And so that guilt, Guest, If it appears, Is like I was saying earlier about all emotions, Is an invitation to move beyond the guilt, Feel the guilt, Fully recognize the guilt, Do not judge the guilt, Witness the guilt from the space of awareness. And it will simply dissolve. So absolutely embrace and enjoying this awareness. Because if you choose to live from the space of awareness and live joyfully, For no reason, For no reason, No external circumstance, Then that resonance of that frequency of joy will not only make your life peaceful, Joyful, Loving, Graceful. It will impact without any effort on your part the lives of those around you. And some will say, I would like to have what you have. And that's your opening to share that. Others, However, May run away from it. And that's OK, Too. Ultimately, Everybody comes to this. So hopefully that clarifies that for you. Apparently I'm very original. So thank you for that. I think it was Nitz. Thank you for that. Alan Singh, Got to go. Great talk and meditation. Thank you for living, Everyone. You're welcome. Alan, Thank you for joining us. Pauline's very happy, Obviously. Various others happy comments. Vicky's saying, I am heightened awareness through this. Indeed, You are already this awareness. Pauline's saying, How does this differ with self actualization? Well, Depends what you mean by self actualization. If you mean enlightenment, Self realization, Then it is the same. It is the same. That's exactly what I'm pointing out. But this self, It needs to be understood. I cannot overemphasize this. It is not personal. Yet it is made manifest and expressed uniquely like the facet of a diamond in each and everybody. But one is still the whole diamond. So hopefully that clarifies it for you, Pauline. My guest appears to be very happy. Debbie is saying, So powerful, I can really see and feel the difference in how I experience challenges and emotions. Well, That's the whole purpose of this stream. Indeed, All of the streams to get you to recognize this infinite power of awareness within. It's already here and you, Non personally, Are it. That's all the Buddha ever meant. That's all every realized being has ever said since time immemorial. They only ever say this. A million different ways they say this. And that's what's realized. It is ultimately so simple. It's beyond the concept of simple because you are already it. But it's OK if it doesn't feel like it's here now. Following the calling of your heart, One of the streams we just did will lead you to this. And you're here for this. So let me just say, Because we've been going just over the hour and a half and I usually like to do a meditation as well. We've already done one, But a more traditional version of the infinite silence meditation. So we'll do that in a moment. Just to say the next stream is this Saturday. And I'm going to be looking at relationships this time because we all experience relationships, Whether it be in friendships, Family, Personal relationships, Intimate relationships. If we can, You bet your bottom dollar that everybody's experienced a challenge in relationships. So I'm going to be looking at that from the perspective of self realization on Saturday. And I'm pointing out what they really are. And how they can also, Just like emotions, Are deep invitations to this realization. So that's the Saturday's stream. So very important. OK, So let's have a meditation time 8 p. M. UK time. And if you're overseas from the UK, Look at the website timeanddate. Com. And that will translate it into your local time. So if you're still with us, I know a few people have had to go. Let's finish with maybe 10 minutes of meditation. And this time I'll use the more traditional version of the infinite silence meditation, But it's all about recognizing awareness and then we'll close. And once again, Thank you. For the donations. And I'll just say before we get yourself comfortable now, Get ready for your lying down or sitting down. And just in response to nits there, You are the wisdom itself. So closing your eyes now. And just like before, Becoming aware of your body. Noticing the phenomena. The sensations. The feelings. The emotions. Without any judgment. Simply, Silently, Observing. That's all. And as you witness. Whatever's here. From your heart. To the experience. Of the spheres. No need to visualize. Just be open. For spheres of light. And know this energy. Of spheres of light. Is the same as the pure state. I am. I am. Pure being. The infinite I am. Just witnessing this I am-ness. And knowing. As subtle as this may be. It too is seen. Or witnessed. By the silent witness. From this silent witness. That sees the I am. And all of that phenomena. It too is like a slipper of ice. In an ocean of water. And it dissolves. Effortlessly. Silently. Merges with the water. Underwater is an ocean. Of infinite silence. Infinite awareness. Be still. And know. In silence. You will realize. Your truth. In truth. You will realize. You are silence. Infinite silence. Be still. And know. This. Just this. This rarified atmosphere. Of silence. Transforms. Transmutes. Dissolves. Effortlessly. All that you are not. All returns to silence. Infinite silence. Infinite awareness. Always this. Eternally this. Be still. Knowing one rests in this. As this. Through this. Always. All the challenges and emotions and blocks will simply, Silently, Effortlessly dissolve. When touched by this. Be still. And know. For you are the knowing. The awareness. Infinite silence. In a moment, I'll ring the Ting Sha bells three times. And there's the sound of the bells as gently faded away. Aware of your body. The chair you're sat in. Whatever you may like, Be lay on. Keeping the attention rested in and as this awareness. Whenever the moment is right for you. Gently opening your eyes. Good. Good. So that was a more traditional version of the infinite silence meditation. The Who Am I exercise is like a precursor to that. But it's all about recognising that unchanging awareness that's always here. Jeremy is saying, Thanks, Philip. Question if I still can, What should I do during the meditation if I don't experience spheres of light unless I imagine them? Jeremy, Don't try and do anything at all. Don't try and visualise them. Don't try and look for something. Just simply remain open. No effort, No trying required. Effort meditation is ultimately effortless. And that's why I say once again. There's nothing wrong with things like visualisation. But if you really want to get a space of awareness, You need to leave that behind and drop into effortless awareness. So all of the pointings, As you will see, And this is one of the benefits of repeating the meditation over the next seven days or more and longer, Seven days, Seven weeks, Seven months, Seven years. The first step is to get you to recognise that unchanging awareness, All the steps and all of the words in there are carefully selected from that awareness. To bring you to that awareness. The shortest version, By the way, Of the infinite silence meditation. And for some people, It's had a profound effect on this. So be ready for this. If the openness and readiness is there in you. I find some people report to me just on first hearing the term infinite silence. And I turn them to that deeper space of awareness. So the shortest version of the infinite silence meditation is just be open to that. In my experience, Most people need a few more pointers than that. And that's okay. So all the other pointers about getting you to that point. If I did a meditation said just be open to the experience of infinite silence for some, This would work. For probably most, It wouldn't. Exactly. Yeah. Don't reach. Don't have expectations. Let go of all of those. No trying, No effort. Just watch. And watching is not a doing. It's an allowing and allowing is again not doing. Okay. So I think that's probably it from me. This is Philip Wade here from the Universal Studio in North Yorkshire in England. Thanks so much to you from all over the world for joining us. Thank you for all the donations. Thank you on behalf of myself and Insight Timer. I'll see you all again soon. Namaste. Good morning. Good afternoon or good evening. Wherever you are. Have a great day or evening or afternoon.

Reviews

Thank you so much, this took me into such a deep peace after awakening with such a busy mind this morn 😇🙏😇

Really interesting, will definitely ponder on this, thank you🙏

Your teaching makes so much sense to me 😲 and I like the way you put attention to some little pointers that makes us believe that we are this mind/body because we ignore a lot of this little things that unconsciously enforces us to believe that all we are is this mind/body.

Thank you so much, Philip, for making the teaching so clear and simple.
🙏✨🌟✨🙏

Going from “trying to be normal to Being natural.” “ It”is happening to me and it feels so much better in my body and mind 🙏🏼☮️😊💗 Thank you for choosing to upload your teaching on a free platform!

Hi Philip
Re-listening to this live replay has helped me to "remember" and
"re-connecting" to
** WHO I REALLY AM ** (my true SELF! )
So great to be returning to HOME again. 🥰💃💞👍
Great appreciation and huge THANK YOU to you.
Many blessings🙏🙏🙏