(Advanced) Practical Exercise To Recognize Nameless State

Audio recording of Truth Serum Cafe with Jac O'Keeffe (February 20, 2022). Practical, Guided Exercises To Recognize Nameless State. Key points from the session: Knowing how you create your own movie of your life; Fear will show up if you let your attention focus on 'personal I' thoughts''; Letting go of thoughts that create a personal identity, and Useful pointers prior to what can be named.

Transcript

Awaken me,

Awaken me,

Awaken me,

Awaken me.

Good morning,

Good afternoon,

Good evening from Kaua'i,

Wherever you are on our beautiful planet.

And so the first thing is give some gratitude to yourself for showing up.

Self-criticism is way too rife in our brains.

And let there be self-gratitude and endorsement of our personal eye.

It's like,

Yeah,

I made the priority to give myself this hour today.

See how your body is doing.

What are you sensing in your body right now?

If there's tension somewhere,

Unravel it.

Give it permission to let go,

To relax.

If there's pain somewhere,

Send it some love,

A blessing,

Softness.

So that the urgency of that message about pain can calm down a bit.

There can be pain and it's totally okay.

I want you to find that place,

Not as a concept to suppress a pain signal,

But there's pain there and it's okay.

Can you find where it's really okay?

Let there be softness rather than urgency if you're getting a pain signal in your brain.

Can your nervous system calm down even more?

Slow exhales do the trick just fine.

Long,

Slow exhales.

Nothing you need to do now.

Nothing you need to think about or deal with.

The world is just fine,

Whether you engage with it or not,

It's going to do its own thing.

So let's bless that personal I who might be entangled a little bit in its own stories.

Let there be love for that personal I who participates.

Let's bless that beautiful mind,

That story making mechanism that creates personalized stories.

That creates the right and wrong paradigm.

The good bad.

The opposing viewpoints.

Just bless that mechanism because it creates contrast.

Creates experience.

Gives us the beautiful idea that we're having a life.

But we have free will.

Gives us all these wacky doodle ideas that we actually can believe.

That one still amazes me that we can believe that we have control,

Free will,

Autonomy.

That we have agency.

And we do from the point of view of the personal I.

But where we're going today.

Gosh,

If I didn't have the thought about having agency,

I actually know that I don't if I didn't have the thought about having control or not having control,

Do I don't I have control if I didn't run that thought.

There is no control.

If I didn't have the thought,

Am I getting it right or not getting it right and what should I do next?

Then there is no opportunity to decide anything.

Without these ideas.

Those personal I ways to participate.

Don't exist.

They exist as a thought,

And our mind believes the thought,

And then they exist.

It's a very dependent existence.

And living an awakened life means honoring that part of the movie.

Honoring the innate pull to be a better version of yourself.

While you can stand and rest in the full awareness that it's a story that you're playing for yourself.

That's a story you're setting up and creating and.

Believing.

That light of integrity,

That light of love,

Clarity,

Truth.

It shines through the hallway,

The hallway,

Whether we're stuck in drama or whether our personal eye has stepped out of the way.

And we know it's tricks and games.

The light still shines through.

However,

For us to have an awareness.

Of that which is shining through.

That's what the awakening piece is about.

Having the awareness of what's really going on,

What's really moving all.

And the beauty of it is,

Is that we as pure consciousness can recognize that.

As well as we with human brains,

Seeing how consciousness interfaces with my human brain.

Somehow,

There's enough,

A lot more harmony in our body,

Mind and spirit.

If there is a bowing down,

If there is a yielding from the personal eye towards the light that shines through.

Somehow,

It's more harmonious.

Somehow there's less suffering.

Somehow,

The truth that all things are interconnected and that there is simply one one energy,

If there is an energy.

Becomes much more obvious.

And the lens created by our personal eye brain that says,

Knows all.

It's like this.

There's right and wrong and good and bad work to be done and karma to be burnt off.

Yes,

And.

And it's a big and.

So there's an exercise I want to walk you through today.

It requires you to name two objects that are in front of you.

I'm going to use my laptop in front of me and I'm going to use.

My mug,

This mug.

Beautiful logo,

Truth serum mug.

So these are my two objects I want you to find two objects in front of you.

There's no right or wrong.

It could be a pen,

A book,

Window,

The room,

The curtain,

The clock.

Anything your phone,

Anything.

Two objects named two objects.

So let's look at the first one.

OK.

Someone's looking at a piece of art and a clock.

Great.

Two items,

Two objects.

And so I want you to look at have your eyes open and look at the first one.

So for me,

I'm.

Looking at my laptop.

It has a name.

It has a function.

And your mind has lots of ideas about it.

Likes dislikes usefulness.

Maybe the age of us.

The condition that it's in lots of ideas about it.

Get some distance from these layers of labels.

The name of it,

Its function.

Ideas about us.

And together,

These.

Create an object that we're in relationship with.

Pull back from an idea you have about this first object,

Pull back and see.

Yeah,

My mind has this opinion about this object.

Pull back.

And see that your mind has that opinion.

Pull back and see the function.

My mind has this idea about the function.

Purpose.

Of this object.

Pull back another little bit.

Shift your perception.

And see the name of the object.

Pull back from where the object has a name.

Pull back.

There is an empty state within.

That doesn't compute what that object is.

An empty state where the name for it is not arising.

Find it.

But let the object be there.

You're still looking at the object.

See,

It's very easy to do this when you're just disconnecting from the world.

Your eyes are closed.

You have no stimuli coming in.

And you're dropping it.

All right,

You go to that other state.

And very often then it's an either or.

I'm either inside or I'm in the world.

Ideas.

The function.

The name.

Which creates the subject object.

Pull back to where there's no name.

And yet the thing is in front of you.

Prior to any labeling of that object.

One more step.

See if you can taste a zone where.

Nothing can be known.

Where knowing what this thing is,

It is not possible.

Prior to labeling.

Do you have a felt sense of that zone of where I think cannot be known.

The label cannot arise.

Yet your eyes are looking at it.

And we're going to look at a second object.

Put your eyes on your second object.

So we have ideas about it.

A usefulness purpose.

Do you like it?

Do you not like it?

Your relationship to it.

How long you have it.

If you didn't have it,

Would you have an emotional response?

These are all ideas about an object.

They don't exist if you're not thinking them.

So withdraw your attention to where you can.

Yeah,

They are ideas that I've projected that my relationship with this thing have created.

So let's drop the ideas.

It's a bundle of thoughts.

Another person might see the same object and have none of those thoughts.

Or the opposite of some of those thoughts.

Recognize that those ideas don't have value unless you're actually running them.

So pull back from your ideas about the object.

The raw function of it,

Purpose of it.

There's that idea too.

There's less of a personal eye on that one.

It's subjective.

It's a purpose.

Function.

Pull back from that.

Pull back from the idea of function.

And the label.

What that object is.

Dropping deeper.

To where the label of that object.

Is seen to be simply a word.

A concept placed upon something in order to make it look like it's separate.

That's what that mechanism is about.

Labeling something so that there's me looking at it.

Go deeper to that than that label.

Labeling system.

Prior to where the name of that thing arises,

Yet you're looking at it.

Get the felt sense inside you.

Of your eyes are resting on an object.

There is nothing that cranks up a label.

Sinking deeper to the felt sense that it cannot be known.

It cannot be named.

Knowledge of what something is,

Doesn't make any sense.

It's a very blank,

Empty,

Still,

Peaceful.

Infant.

Non state of mind.

There's no mind there.

Where that second object,

It can't be known.

There is no cranking up of a name,

A label for it.

It cannot be known because there is no capacity to have two me and the object there.

It can't be known.

State where nothing,

No thing can be.

The next layer of this exercise.

I want you to see a thought.

So now we're moving a little bit more into the internal subjective reality.

So a thought,

You know,

I've got to do my taxes or I need to whatever.

Or I should have for,

You know,

Just a thought,

Just a normal thought.

Today is Sunday or Monday if you're in Australia.

Just a thought.

Find one thought.

And observe the thought.

The observer won't have an idea around whether or not the thought was good or bad.

Just observing the thought.

See if there's a function to this thought.

Or maybe it's just the mind.

Recycling something for the gazillion time.

What's the function of that thought?

Maybe it just has a function.

Once.

But maybe the thought requires way more often than what it's usefulness would be.

So there's the function of the thought.

Now,

Naming the thought itself,

It's just a thought.

Move out of the content of the thought.

It's simply a thought.

And the function of thought itself.

Movie making,

Story making.

Usefulness for the personality,

Maybe.

So function of thought itself.

We see that from a bit of a distance.

Go prayer.

Pull back.

The word thought.

Because everybody knew when I said we're going to pick a thought.

Everybody knew what the thought,

What a thought is.

Pull back from where,

Oh,

That activity internal in my own brain is called thought.

Pull back from the word thought.

The label thought.

Pull back.

Let yourself feel the felt sense.

Of.

The word thought cannot arise there.

The label thought cannot arise.

There is nothing that shows up there that can be called.

Thought.

No labeling at all.

Nothing can be.

Known.

Objectified.

Nothing.

Notice the view from.

From that zone.

Maybe it doesn't see anything at all.

Maybe nothing at all is seen.

Maybe.

Nothing ever happens.

Unless we crank up some kind of labeling mechanism to name and create.

A thing.

Get a sense of.

No thing on knowable.

Nothing is known.

Nothing is known.

And we have one more example to work with.

I want you to find an emotion,

The feeling of an emotion.

The personal emotion,

The personal emotional reaction or.

Something that you're able to feel right now,

Your body mind mechanism.

Do you have ideas about it?

I like I don't like.

Its purpose is usefulness.

I'd like more of less of us.

What ideas do you have?

Don't change anything.

Just notice ideas that you might have about the emotion.

The ideas about the emotion that ball of thought about an emotion.

Let's pull back.

Let's see the function of the emotion.

Let the function be recognized.

What function does it have?

What role does it play?

Where is its usefulness?

Did it stop being useful a long time ago?

And park that part in the ideas.

And see its function.

For what it is.

Without the ideas attached to it.

Function of that emotion.

And so the name of the emotion.

Let's pull back.

Drop deeper within.

And notice the label of that emotion.

Not the feeling of it.

The label.

Drop deeper.

Emotion can be there or not there.

That is not where our attention is going.

Our attention is withdrawing from the mechanism that made it show up as your experience.

Withdraw.

Ideas about it,

Its function,

The name of it.

Prior to where the name of it can arise.

Go back.

It can be before the name of anything arose.

For some that pointer is useful.

But really it's an empty.

An empty state that's not created by mind.

It's in the absence of mind.

In the absence of labeling.

And is there anything seen from back there?

Prior to labeling.

Can you hang out there?

Does your attention scoot into thoughts,

Really quickly.

So the pulling back could also be called withdrawing your attention,

Pulling your attention back to where it originated from.

Kind of like,

You know,

Retracting back to,

You could say source,

What source is full of potential.

Labeling can arise from there.

And I'm saying go back to where labeling can show up.

To where there is nothing,

No thing.

That the idea of separation is not.

Whether you can barely smell it,

This state of no thing.

Or whether it's full,

Totally felt sense in your,

In your beingness right now.

Whatever you can access is totally fine.

I want to introduce the idea that maybe it's enough.

To,

To stay in this state,

Have the capacity to create the label.

And to be aware of its function.

That's the state that I'd like you to anchor in.

There's way too much mind in our ideas about things.

There's way too much personal preference.

And it's not needed.

What's required is a capacity to label and to recognize the function of an emotion,

A thought,

An object.

A relationship with a person.

Can you stay in that blank,

Empty,

No thing.

And if some part of your attention is available to label an object and softly recognize its function.

Period.

So bring one of the first objects back in,

But only,

Mug,

Usefulness,

You know.

Usefulness is a given.

Here's my object,

A mug,

And usefulness is obvious.

No further thought is engaged.

No ideas,

No personal preferences,

Nothing.

I remain as emptiness.

And labeling is picked up and set down and recognition of function is picked up and set down.

Kind of makes it a bit clean,

Doesn't it?

Is there a sense of that state where there's no thing,

No labeling?

Can you notice a label arising?

Your brain recognizing its function.

Period.

As though you,

You,

You,

You.

In the recognition that there's no need for more of your attention to go into the ideas and the right and the wrong and the story,

Story,

Story about a story.

Can you look at the second object we started off with?

The label,

The function,

Nothing else.

And can the label,

The name,

The name of it?

An understanding of how it functions,

Of its usefulness,

Without any thought,

Nothing.

Just let the function come in.

It kind of slides in with the word.

No more.

And can you activate the word,

Recognize the function,

And you stay as that blank,

That emptiness,

Just kind of what you are.

You stay as that.

Can your eyes fall on somebody on the screen or?

My face.

Just another person and go,

OK.

Label.

Function.

Or purpose.

But no more.

No more.

Without going to ideas.

And can you stay as that blank stillness?

You might have the ability to see that the labeling mechanism is creating Jack and your objects and the thoughts and the emotions and that.

Can you see the next layer?

Can you see that they actually might not exist unless you're making them real by giving them attention?

Is that possible that they actually might not exist without attention,

Without being believed to exist?

Maybe you've seen that for yourself,

And if not,

Just consider it as a possibility.

Maybe there is no Jack or no computer screen.

We assume it's there because we like to have,

I don't know,

Solid reference points.

But it's our mind that's making this world seem like it has a timeline and it's going somewhere.

And we all have agreed on that this is the movie,

You know,

A shared movie.

And then we have our own little subjective opinions on this shared movie.

But together,

We're creating it.

We're creating this,

You know,

This now where everything is happening.

We're pulling it into a timeline where,

You know,

All of these ideas come in to make something appear as real and we make the assumption that,

Well,

Life goes on,

Whether or not I think about it.

No,

It doesn't.

There is no life without Source creating the capacity to imagine it to be here.

There is no world unless Source is cranking up its own system to believe it into existence.

Rest in that emptiness without any ideas of what emptiness is.

The felt sense of the state without the idea of it,

Because if the ideas are coming with you,

Whoa,

You're dragging that full,

Long,

You know,

What's the purpose of emptiness?

And that's the idea of emptiness.

There's the label of emptiness.

And there's my opinion about emptiness.

That is the opposite direction of where we want to go.

So if that's happening far,

You go,

Ah,

I've brought my mind with me.

This isn't actually the felt sense of the state.

It's an idea of the state of where Jack's pointing to.

And to this itself doesn't have an idea that it's nice or not nice,

Doesn't have an emotion attached to it.

These things are labels.

That are created when we buy what we really are cranking up a label,

Giving it a function,

Giving it form if it's an object.

Giving it a more nebulous form if it's a thought.

And,

You know,

Off we go,

Off we go.

We've left the stillness.

The invitation.

Is to get really familiar.

With.

The zone where you know there is nothing that can be known.

There was nothing that can be known.

And source can crank up a label and an object and a name.

And a function and ideas and bingo.

There we have me,

Myself,

I.

That me,

Myself,

I can function beautifully without any identification.

Resting outside of the movie,

Recognizing that it is a movie.

Naming and recognizing function is quite enough.

It's quite enough.

I suppose it's,

You know,

Some clarity comes here when there's a recognition of how things operate.

But it is the operating system itself that creates,

You know,

The ideas,

Subjective ideas about something,

And the raw purpose and function of it so that we can still function.

That's why that layer is there is so that participation in the movie can still happen because I'm all about kind of embodiment like the the outside of all of it and the movie.

Can we do both?

Can we have an embodied awakening?

Where it's,

Yes,

Where it's both.

I've forgotten where I was going to go.

I've forgotten where I was going to go.

That thought just disappeared.

Thank you.

I know you're giving me pointers here,

But I've completely drawn a blank.

Can you abide?

You as pure consciousness.

You without the label.

Of identity at all.

That emptiness.

Let's not even label us.

Pure consciousness,

Pure awareness,

My true nature.

Not even that.

That's how we can be known.

Not even itself.

We're already in movie land,

You know,

It started to crank up when it labels itself as even as emptiness or pure awareness.

If it labels itself like,

Okay,

Off we go.

Now we have one.

The unit is labeled.

We have one.

Sure,

There's the unified field.

There's only one.

It's all love,

It's all energy,

It's all emptiness,

It's all space.

Whatever.

We have one.

That's one label too many.

Drop the idea of being pure consciousness,

Pure awareness.

Brahman,

Any of it.

Parabrahman.

Drop all labels.

Where itself cannot be known.

So the non-dual layer has,

Has the label of oneness,

Of true identity,

Of beingness.

There's,

There's,

There's still a,

It's a solid recognition,

You know,

And it's a foundational fundamental ground of beingness.

Very useful.

But today we're actually going a step prior.

To where it can't even name itself.

Because the labeling mechanism has already cranked up to say that is what I am.

That's my true nature.

I am that with a capital T.

Like,

Hmm,

Hmm.

Deep in that prior to that,

Nothing can be known.

So nothing can be known.

I'm inviting you to have a felt sense of that.

And,

And notice the labeling and the function.

Nothing else.

And see what happens.

Nothing else.

Nothing else.

And functioning kind of takes care of itself.

If we,

You know,

If there is that kind of awareness.

I'm kind of contradicting myself now,

I realize,

Because I want to give you a tool of how to use this in the world.

Yet the world is only a creation of,

Of your thoughts.

So functioning in the world with the recognition that that is that is arising because of a concept,

A label,

A naming,

A function,

An understanding,

A comprehension of it.

All right.

Yeah,

You're doing that.

If we engage the non-dual layer,

What you are is doing that.

What you are is creating that,

Is manifesting.

And it's always what you are.

And it's the one substance.

All right.

So there's the non-dual story coming in.

All right.

Stay outside of all of it.

Recognize,

You will recognize that this is a movie all the time.

You can recognize 24 seven that this is a movie all the time.

We have to practice in order to break the habits of placing so much attention on our ideas,

On our thoughts,

On our.

Me,

Myself,

I story.

Pull back,

Withdraw,

Bring your attention home,

Bring your attention prior to any roll out of labeling,

Naming,

Function,

Ideas.

Pull it right back.

Put it right back.

Chris popped in a quotation from Nisargadatta Maharaj in the absolute,

I do not even know that I am.

I can go with that.

No labeling at all.

No naming at all.

Let there be usefulness.

Naming and function and abide and rest in a state that is deeper and recognizes and sees the labeling mechanism arise.

We we tend to.

Do the labeling and naming and having ideas on everything tends to be endorsed.

The movie has all kinds of mechanisms set up in order to keep itself going.

It has to because it's only believing itself itself perpetuating know consciousness,

The absolute self perpetuates the story making mechanism.

It has no existence apart from itself believing itself into existence.

And Rosa has offered,

There is a fear that I would not be able to function without thoughts,

I would not have a memory of my life.

Let's have an experiment,

Rosa.

Let's see if you can function.

Let's see what happens.

Take a chance.

Take a chance.

What's happened is that an emotion has arisen with ideas to support the emotion.

And that's pulled your attention away from outside of all of it.

So stay outside of all of us.

And let that fear be seen for what it is.

It's like,

Yeah,

My labeling mechanism went there.

Some habitual pattern cranked up.

I didn't spot my my attention leaving that emptiness to create the label of I won't be able to function without a memory.

I won't be able to manage in life to create the emotion to support that thought.

That's all that happened.

But you missed it.

We all miss it because that's,

You know,

It's so autopilot to be at the other end of the labeling mechanism until we start to do deep spiritual work to recognize thought is creating all of this.

Belief systems are making all of this seem,

You know,

Turn into a story,

Turn into me,

Myself,

My story and my experience.

You know,

There's a lot of surrender asked of us on this path.

And all we're surrendering is what we're not surrendering the movie making mechanisms that we crank up by where we put our attention.

That's all that happens.

Take a high jump.

Stay in the stillness.

Notice labeling functions like I see you fear I see you.

Yep,

That's how you got created,

But I'm going to withdraw my attention from you now.

Because that what do you want to feel fear for like,

You don't need to you're in the same place that you were an hour ago,

Physically sitting down,

But now this fear being felt.

It's like,

This is what we do.

It's changed the scene in the movie and feel something different and have a story around it.

And this is how it works.

This is how it works.

And so,

No matter what's thrown up.

No matter what's thrown up.

Pull back.

Prior to ideas function labeling pull back.

Go back.

For nothing is known.

We have to jump into me myself I to have a problem with us.

We have to stay in that blank.

Prior to any story zone,

Which is much more authentic.

And then,

We are familiar with it in our physicality within the movie,

Weirdly enough,

That blank stage can be felt within our body within our body it's extraordinary.

How there can be a crack in the movie.

And the recognition that it's all movie can be here 24 seven.

It means that the personal I isn't looking back at the Oh yeah I I must remember to do this it's like no no no no go outside all of us,

And now just don't dive back into the me myself I story.

It's faster than like peeling back every trick,

Which is what we do as a seeker.

Sometimes we have to do that.

It's like peeling back what has me believing me myself I,

But if you practice this one.

If you practice this one,

Then the outside of all of it becomes your new normal.

It's the normal that was there before you incarnated.

It's always been there.

It's kind of new though to your body mind mechanism I'm expecting.

Probably not the norm.

Yeah.

We have lifetimes of habits of giving attention to,

You know,

Not noticing a label,

Assuming a function and giving loads of attention to then the stories about it,

The ideas about everything.

Before we know the ideas is what we're like yeah but I'm like,

All you're doing is telling me there's an idea you're validating the idea the idea,

Stop unplug from it.

It doesn't exist,

It really isn't there unless you give attention to it really isn't.

The one that I find really entertaining.

I don't know if somebody says,

But Jack,

You know,

If you knew how serious this issue was.

You'd see that I can't do that.

Like,

Wow.

And the fact is that,

You know,

The,

The ideas part of this journey we're talking about today has such believability that it's going to resist everything is like,

All right,

Then let's,

Let's go in and hang out in that zone.

It really is a resistance to letting go of the me myself I story,

And giving it more value than being awake,

You know,

And you as the absolute has a good laugh at that really.

That's all it can do is just have a giggle at it.

You know,

But these are the mechanisms to keep the movie going,

They'll always be there.

You've got to see through everyone.

Wherever you've hypnotized yourself into hanging out in ideas more than the blank.

Prior to anything that can be known.

Whatever ideas you've convinced yourself of.

See through them.

So,

Here's the idea is one.

Another practical here it is it's the same idea coming up again huh,

I'm new at this but I don't know how I can stay in that zone where nothing has a name and still get my kids to school in the morning see there it is.

So there's the idea,

I won't be able to get the kids to school in the morning it's like okay so now we're going into that idea.

So drop that idea.

And function happen.

Not the idea about if it's going to be good or bad,

Don't go near the idea.

The labeling Monday morning.

There are my kids,

That's the time on the clock,

Like labeling and kind of function,

Just that just that happen.

And then your mind might say,

Yeah,

But I'd be like,

In human,

Actually you'd be full of love,

Actually,

With everything else cleared out you'll be extremely present and love will go through.

That's what will happen.

But,

But you have to do it with like,

Okay,

Fear will come up about it the need to surrender is is huge and I'm having problems with it it's like okay you're back into another idea you're back into another idea.

So I don't want you to grab the idea that love will gush forth,

Because then you'll be in the personal eye and the idea of that will just keep you stuck.

And that's not what I'm talking about.

Spiritual practices for the brave sometimes.

You can do this.

You can do this,

Practice.

See how it goes.

Being really present.

I'm in that zone.

And kids lunches need to be made.

And let's see how this works.

Let's see how functioning happens from here and stay there.

Stay there.

Your mind has a vested interest in keeping you in your own movie.

It has.

Have a good laugh at it.

It has to be abandoned at some point.

And so dear ones.

I catch you downriver.

Reviews

Excellent pointing to the no-thing of it all! Thank you.