This is a sangha,
Spiritual gathering.
We all have a similar intention that brought us here,
Awakening,
Self-realization,
Enlightenment.
And that's a good desire to have,
Right?
It's a good desire for enlightenment or to wake up,
To be at peace.
And there's lots of things that we do on this path,
On a spiritual path,
Meditation,
Sangha meetings like this,
Learning the wisdom teachings,
Trying to understand the nature of reality,
How everything is impermanent,
Interconnected,
Interdependent,
How we are arising in each moment,
Interconnected,
Interdependent,
And that we're not our thoughts,
We're not this little ego that's always living in the past,
In the future,
And is always afraid and small and helpless in some way to learn to trust the present moment.
And it's a lot,
It's a lot,
Like it's a lot of,
Um,
It's a completely new way of seeing ourselves in the world,
Different than how we have perceived it to be.
And yet,
As we follow spiritual paths,
Or a spiritual path,
And we lay out the things to do,
There's no guarantee of when this is going to happen,
When you get just even the little insights that we get along the way,
Like,
They really are just,
There's no planning for it,
You can't make it happen,
You can't make it happen,
Make it happen,
You can do all,
You can set all of the conditions for it to happen,
And we do need to do that,
Barring having a sudden enlightenment like what happened to Eckhart Tolle.
But his enlightenment was an accident,
Or an accident,
Grace,
Um,
You know,
He didn't have any spiritual background in this.
And anyone would tell you on this path,
You can't plan for this,
You can't make this happen,
You can do all of the things that will,
Again,
Set the conditions,
But there does have to be,
Or it's helpful to make sure that in our,
In the desire for awakening,
That we let go of the grasping of that too.
That we recognize,
We trust the process,
We have faith in the process,
And do the practices that lead us to greater peace,
To feeling,
To being more compassionate,
To being kinder,
To being wiser,
Like to trust and also keep getting that evidence as we do these practices,
And we do become wiser and more compassionate.
But there is this,
This,
This letting go,
You know,
Of the grasping of enlightenment,
Or when is it going to happen?
Every time we do that,
It gets,
We get further away from it.
And it really is,
It just comes,
You know,
It can be in your darkest moment,
Or,
You know,
In the darkness,
You are closest to the light,
Right,
Where we feel so far from the awakened state,
From that state of peace,
From that state of ease and connection and belonging.
And you just,
It can be one little thing,
Then all of a sudden,
It's just,
Oh my God,
How did I not see that?
How did I miss that?
And I think it is just really important for us to remember that you're not controlling the awakening process.
And this is what we're trying to see is that we're not controlling any of this.
But the more that you can let go of the awakening process,
Still trusting that there is a process,
That we're not going to wake up by being on social media all day,
Being on social media all day,
Going out and partying in bars,
Or,
You know,
Always,
You know,
Distracting ourselves being busy,
Like,
You know,
I'm actually,
I will take that back.
Doesn't mean that someone couldn't wake up in those conditions.
But it is far more likely to wake up,
That you are more likely to wake up from the illusion,
To see that this is all an illusion of who you have taken yourself to be,
By dedicating and being disciplined about our meditation practice,
About being mindful,
Compassion practices,
Studying the teachings,
But then also understanding that there's a time and a place for the,
For space and stillness,
Right?
There's the yin and the yang of our practice,
The yang of the action of the knowledge,
And then the yin of the stillness and the silence that we need in order to absorb the teachings,
And again,
To create the space,
And not just the silence in our meditation,
But really finding time throughout the day for silence,
For stillness,
Right?
Because those little moments too,
While we are present in those moments,
Right,
And we're here and now,
We are really,
There is so much happening in that stillness to create the wisdom that supports the waking up.
And so,
I just wanted to offer that as something to remind everyone like,
And I know because we all go through rough times,
And I know on the last call,
Because we had a few people that had lost their pets,
And just others that are having struggles with family,
We're sick,
We've got COVID,
And it can sometimes feel like you're so far away from it.
It can feel like it sometimes when we're feeling a little bit down,
Or just things are going a little bit sideways,
Feels like they're going backwards,
And really in those moments to just,
Again,
Just surrender.
This is all happening.
It's all happening.
Trust the process.
Let go,
Because it always comes out of left field.
It always comes out,
Whether it's a deep insight,
An awakening moment,
Right?
We have lots of awakening moments,
Lots of those moments of satori,
And then eventually they start to become greater and greater,
Where you spend more and more time there,
Trusting it more and more,
Right?
Not getting so lost in the illusion,
But it's this surrender to all of this,
Which is such an integral part of being able to wake up.
And every time each of us has had an awakening,
Right?
Not that there is something here to awaken,
But there is an awakening in and a seeing of all of a sudden,
Oh,
I'm not that.
I'm not that what I've taken myself to be this whole time.
The picture just,
It's like zoomed,
Everything just widens out.
And it's like,
Oh my God,
I just completely,
I was so focused this way.
I didn't even see what was going on.
I didn't see how I was arising in each moment.
And we can never plan for those moments.
They will never happen on your schedule.
It happens at the most unplanned moments.
You don't have to,
You know,
We always think,
Oh,
I'm going on the retreat,
And this is the retreat that's going to do it.
I'm going to become enlightened on this retreat.
I'm going to wake up,
Right?
There's a lot of pressure to put ourselves on to go on a retreat.
And not to say that retreats don't do really good things for us and really,
And really set the groundwork.
Absolutely,
Absolutely.
It's not to say people don't set the groundwork.
Absolutely,
Absolutely.
It's not to say people don't wake up in retreats either.
But it's,
It's a grasping mind.
We do have to have the desire for awakening.
But we want to have that desire in check.
To make sure we recognize,
Okay,
Trust the process,
Do it,
Do the practices,
Day in and day out,
Begin again,
Begin again,
Begin again,
Forgive yourself,
Every time you have a little moment,
A mindless moment,
Something happens,
Lots of forgiveness along the way,
Right?
And just trust in the process.
That is part of our practice,
Trusting the process and surrendering,
Because it happens when you least expect it.
And when things are at their darkest moment,
You are at your closest moment to it.
Don't grasp at it,
Just trust that whatever it is that you're going through,
If you can surrender into it,
That surrendering can create the conditions that can be the condition,
The cause for either some deep insight,
Some awakening,
Some unveiling of reality to you.
So trusting the process,
Trusting the process,
Surrendering to it.
