Good morning,
Good evening,
Good afternoon.
So when I lived in a retreat center,
In the 2000s.
Along the Lern from was about a mile was another retreat centre.
And they're both old farmhouses,
But this one had a kind of tower,
The West Tower they called it.
And it was leaning.
I think decades and decades ago it started to crumble and fall down.
So they put some scaffolding there.
And it was still there,
Like decades later the scaffolding was still in place,
But it held the tower.
Steady.
You know,
Choose its purpose.
I remember seeing it and thinking that's a good analogy for.
.
.
So what holds the egoic conditioning in place?
Just as the scaffolding is held in place by the knuckles and all the bolts.
Keep it tight.
Keep it upright.
Set.
So believe thoughts are like those nuts and bolts.
They're like,
They keep everything.
But you go with,
Chalut Jokobek calls it the superstructure.
That that seems to run the show,
That's at the forefront,
Me,
This.
And it's our belief thoughts that keeps it in place.
It's created by thoughts.
Belief thoughts.
That's all that's going on.
And all of Joe Corbeck's work is really about seeing that,
Loosening that.
So that there's a bit more freedom,
A bit more sway,
A bit more rest and relaxation,
So to speak.
A bit more give and take.
A bit more flow.
And to see that,
Actually when we're sitting,
To see that,
See what the mind keeps presenting,
But also to come back and to be with our direct experience.
That's the real work.
And you just get out of the way.
Presence or awareness does the heavy lifting.
Transformation is effortless once the conditions are set up.
Once we come back to direct experience,
Which is just feeling the breath.
It's not mystical.
Let's listen to the sound of the traffic.
It's really in there.
Tingliness of the hands.
Listening to the birds.
.
.
The smell of incense.
It's that primary experience before mind makes it into something else.
Oh,
I don't like this.
This is horrible.
I've had enough of this.
Because that's the superstructure.
Then off we go with the superstructure.
So.
.
.
It's Sit quietly.
The chatter of the mind can seem fairly innocuous.
And a lot of it is.
Or it's maintaining the superstructure.
If we believe it,
Thoughts are not the problem.
The fact that we take what they are saying to be reality.
Just feel what's here.
Bodily sensations and breathing.
Just keep it simple.
Lose your weight,
Okay?
Just take a deep breath.
And feel the end of the out-breath.
What's going on?
Mind won't stop presenting you with thoughts,
Scenarios,
Stories,
So don't try to stop them.
It is having a thought.
What they're saying right now is really irrelevant.
If you ever need to use the mantra,
It's there to be used for a few minutes.
You need to study things.
Don't just be too frantic.
But then put the mantra down.
Is being here,
Moment by moment.
Listening to the sounds,
Feeling the sensations.
Where are you right now?
Is all about an undoing,
A slow unravelling.
From years of beliefs,
Assumptions,
Believing your thoughts.
Where is the attention?
Okay,
That brings to the end.
Thank you guys.
