Awakening Mystical Knowledge

This talk and meditation explore how to awaken mystical knowledge. While conceptual knowledge is based on duality and arises from the mind, nonconceptual (mystical) knowledge arises from direct experience of the divine unity. As we drop below the movement of the mind, we experience our true nature of love, compassion, and wisdom. We awaken an innate access to mystical knowledge and experience reality as it is and ourselves as we are. This is a 20-minute talk followed by a 20-minute guided practice.

Transcript

Hello everyone,

And thank you for joining me today.

I'd like to start today with a poem by Rabia of Basri,

Or Basra.

She was an Islamic saint and a Sufi mystic that lived in the 8th century.

So this is a poem by her.

In love,

Nothing exists between heart and heart.

Speech is born out of longing.

True description from the real taste.

The one who tastes knows.

The one who explains lies.

How can you describe the true form of something in whose presence you are blotted out,

And in whose being you still exist,

And who lives as a sign for your journey?

For me,

This poem is a beautiful description of the journey of the mystic.

And there are mystics within all various different religions across the world.

According to the mystics of different traditions,

Our existential pain and suffering,

As well as our fear,

All is a result of feeling separated from God,

From the divine,

From the beloved.

And so,

The aim of the mystic is to enter into union with God,

With the divine.

To have a direct experience of the divine.

In this perspective,

God can be thought of as the ever-present unfolding of the totality of reality,

As it occurs in each moment across both space and time.

That literally,

The divine is everything in existence.

Everything that we experience,

Including ourselves,

Including the air around us,

The earth,

And that all that we see in manifest form is various coverings or costumes of the divine.

It's the myriad ways in which the divine manifests.

And so,

Before we started,

There was a little bit of discussion about losing our minds.

And for the mystic,

From one sense,

This can be said to be the aim,

Because usually it's the mind that keeps us from the direct experience of the divine.

It is the conceptual knowing,

The patterns of the mind,

That abstract us and keep us from direct experience.

It's the mind that creates separation.

And so,

If we are able to lose our minds a little bit and let go of that need to grasp on to believing that we know,

We can actually move closer to having a direct experience of reality as it is,

And ourselves as we are.

As many of you know from the classes,

A lot of meditative practice is geared towards focusing and concentrating the mind,

Honing it,

And then eventually moving beneath the mind to experience the stillness that is always there as an ever-present ocean of awareness.

And so,

This interplay between conceptual knowing and direct experiential knowing can be considered the paradox of knowledge,

Because being human,

Part of how we grow and how we move closer to knowing ourselves and understanding reality is through opening to complexity and the presence of so many different paradoxes that we have to contend with,

Make sense of.

And so,

The paradox of knowledge could be said to be that the mind craves knowing and our soul craves knowing,

But they are two different forms of knowing,

And they are in direct contradiction to each other,

And yet they cannot exist without each other,

And they are interdependent with each other.

As we exist as individuated beings in a world of self and other,

In a world of duality,

And yet we are always continually immersed in the oneness of unity,

Our soul or spirit or consciousness is always connected to that unity,

And yet the mind is the filter that allows us to relate in the realm of duality.

And so both are necessary,

And in balance there can be a movement between those two ways of being and experiencing,

Those two ways of knowing.

This can be said to be the difference between conceptual and non-conceptual knowledge.

So conceptual knowledge is of the mind,

And it's dualistic.

It's based in words that create distinctions and definitions that create separations,

So that we can say,

There's a table and a chair,

I am Thomas.

There's an ocean,

There's a mountain.

All these words are conceptual abstractions.

They're a way of communicating something and distinguishing it from something else,

So it's not just all a blob of indiscernible stuff.

And so conceptual knowledge is based in definitions and based in distinctions and separations,

Labels,

Groups,

Roles.

Whereas non-conceptual knowledge is ineffable.

It cannot be put into words because it's precognitive.

It's before intellection.

It's prior to the mind and the filters of the mind.

And so non-conceptual knowing cannot be told.

It can only be experienced.

And when you have an experience of non-conceptual knowing,

It is extraordinary.

It's mystical.

It's magical because it transcends the bounds of individuated self and other,

And it becomes an experience of being immersed in and with the divine without separation.

These concepts of conceptual and non-conceptual are themselves concepts.

They're words that are intended to bring us beyond the words,

Like the finger pointing to the moon.

Or sometimes conceptual and non-conceptual knowing are described as the,

Or conception,

They often use the metaphor of rubbing together two sticks to create a flame.

And so the conceptual knowing is the two sticks rubbing together.

And then eventually that gives birth to this flame of non-conceptual knowing.

And so we need the conceptual knowing to guide us to something that transcends and goes beyond the conceptual.

It gives birth to the flame.

What we have to be careful of is that the mind,

Such that it is,

Can very easily get attached to conceptual knowing.

Because the mind wants things to be clear cut,

Right and wrong,

Black and white,

Good and bad,

Yes and no.

And so the mind itself doesn't want to go beyond the conceptions because it likes pigeonholing.

It likes the definitions and separations.

It likes to be able to put everything in its place.

And so that attachment to the conceptual knowing of the mind often prevents us from having what we deeply,

Truly crave,

Which is that experience of being immersed in the divine,

Of pure experiential awareness,

Of non-conceptual knowing,

Which is a very different knowing than the conceptual knowing of the mind.

And it can be very vulnerable,

Which is another topic we've talked about.

Because having the conceptual distinctions of the mind gives us a sense of safety.

It's an illusion.

We aren't actually safe by having these conceptions,

But it makes us believe that we are.

And so when we start to work with letting go of that,

It can bring up a lot of fear and a lot of vulnerability because it's entering into the unknown.

And this is often one of the challenges we encounter in meditative practice.

To let go of the conceptual framework and move into that space of stillness,

Of direct experience,

It's a process of letting go.

And it can be very hard for the mind to let go.

Sometimes it makes us think that we are losing our mind.

And so it takes trust and gentleness to slowly move towards opening,

Releasing that grasp towards knowing,

Of believing that we know,

To open to the unknowing,

Which leads to a deeper form of knowing that is direct,

Experiential,

And beyond the capacity of words to describe.

There was a text written by a Christian mystic in the 14th century.

I believe it's anonymous.

They don't know who this individual was,

But the text is called The Cloud of Unknowing.

And the primary message of that text is that in order to know God,

We have to let go of holding on to particulars about God,

Of trying to define God in a specific way,

Of believing that God is good or God is an old white man with a long beard.

Because those are all particular conceptions that we,

In our limited selves,

Place onto something that is unlimited.

And so in The Cloud of Unknowing,

The mystic discusses the importance of releasing our attachment to placing those limiting beliefs and attributes onto God,

Which is ultimately unlimited and cannot be put into any kind of box or definition.

And that we have to be courageous enough to surrender the ego and the mind in order to have that direct experience of God.

Or as Rabia says in the poem,

One who tastes knows.

We can talk about the divine at length,

But it's not through talking that we actually know the divine.

It's through tasting,

It's through direct experience that can only occur when we let go of our conceptual constructs of what the divine is.

And as I said,

It takes trust.

Just to offer another short quote in Psalm 34 verse 8,

It says,

Oh,

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the man who trusts in him.

Taste and see.

And the second part,

Blessed is the one who trusts in him.

So trust.

We have to trust that it's okay to let go,

To surrender,

To let the mind rest for a while and trust that while we might lose the mind for a little bit,

The mind is always there and more than happy to come back.

And this is a practice.

We don't get there simply through wanting it to be so,

Because even the wanting is a facet of the mind,

The desire,

It's a form of grasping.

And that's why even in this process,

It's a paradox because we have to decide with some faculty within ourselves that we crave this experience and yet we cannot be attached to having the experience because the attachment prevents us from it.

As long as there is grasping or attachment,

It means that we're still operating in the realm of duality,

Believing that we aren't already there,

That we need to get somewhere else.

When from the mystical point of view,

We already are there right here in this moment.

We already are in union with the divine.

We don't have to get anywhere else.

And so it's just a matter of opening to that space and experiencing it as it is already,

That nothing needs to be changed,

Not within us,

Not within the world around us.

This is also the basis of tantric philosophy and practice.

It's about using the experiences of duality to transcend duality and experience the underlying unity that is always present.

And the key is non-grasping,

To let it be what it is.

And even though when you have a mystical experience,

It might be greater ecstasy than you could even imagine.

You have to allow it to be what it is without trying to hold on to it.

So let's try and have a taste and see what happens.

If you will,

Find a comfortable position for meditation.

You can lie down if you need to or prefer.

Or you can be seated in a chair on the floor.

However your posture is,

Make sure that it's stable and allows you to move towards a place of effortless effort,

Of letting go of any unnecessary holding or tension in the body.

If you are seated,

Find a stable base,

Feel the chair,

The ground beneath you.

Allow your torso and spinal column to rise with its natural curves up towards heaven.

Allow the shoulders to relax back and down,

And the crown lifting up.

Sometimes we may need to gently tuck the chin a little bit and move the head posteriorly.

Many of us in modern society end up carrying the head a little bit forward from working on computers and driving and so forth.

Bringing awareness to the breath,

Gently following it as it flows in and out.

It may be long or short,

Choppy or smooth,

Just allowing it to be as it is,

Observing without judgment,

Without wanting it to be different.

Relaxing the scalp and forehead,

Relaxing the eyes,

The cheeks and the jaw,

Relaxing the neck,

Shoulders,

Arms and hands,

Relaxing the upper chest and back,

The stomach and the lid back,

The lower abdomen,

The lower back,

Relaxing the hips,

The thighs,

The knees,

The lower legs,

Ankles,

Feet,

All the way down to the very bottoms of the feet.

There's nowhere to go,

No place to be.

The body can completely relax and let go.

Checking in with the breath.

As if in the course of relaxing the body,

The breath has changed at all.

Begin to observe your thoughts.

Notice as they arise like clouds,

Just observing them,

They begin to pass away.

Another thought arises,

Another cloud.

Without attaching to them,

Simply observing the natural rhythm of the mind,

Like watching a river flow.

Notice the tone.

Notice the tone and rhythm of the mind,

The flavor,

If you will.

Not rushed,

Anxious,

Worried,

Sad,

Angry,

Or combination.

Simply observing like a river.

It rushes around bends and curves,

Forms into pools of stillness as little water falls.

There's any background noises.

Notice the response of the mind.

Observing.

Notice if the mind is grasping,

Wanting to try to control or to know in a conceptual form.

There's ever something Checking in with the breath as you observe the flow of the mind.

Now,

Allow this awareness of the mind to move to the background.

In the foreground,

Focus on the faculty of awareness itself.

That which has been observing the mind now turns to observe itself.

Become aware of the stillness that underlies awareness.

That which has been observing the mind now turns to observe itself.

Allow your awareness to surrender into the stillness.

The stillness.

The stillness lies beneath all movement,

All physical sensation,

All emotion,

All thought.

It is boundless,

Ineffable.

The stillness.

In the stillness,

There is no separation.

Simply,

Moment to moment experience.

Moment to moment experience of being.

All sounds,

All sensations are merely outer expressions of this underlying stillness.

That is ever-present.

Moment to moment experience.

Moment to moment experience.

Moment to moment experience.

Bring awareness back to the breath.

Observe its natural flow,

If it's different than it was before.

Become aware of the felt sense of the body as a whole.

Experience the solidity beneath you,

Supporting you and holding you up.

And the air around you,

In which you are immersed and never separate from,

Like a fish in water.

And when you are ready,

Maintain a connection to this still,

Spacious awareness within.

As you gently and slowly begin to open your eyes,

Allowing the world around you to wash over you and through you.

As we allow space for unknowing,

We gain access to the unlimited potential that is present in every moment.

The mind likes to believe that it knows.

And so it will tend to grasp onto facts and news,

Beliefs and opinions,

So that it can validate itself and feel right.

As we soften the grasping of the mind and open to the uncertainty of not knowing.

We open ourselves to receive many gifts and blessings that arise from the place of non-conceptual knowing.

The incredible gift of feeling completely connected within ourselves and to the world around us,

Immersed in the unity of the divine.

Thank you all for joining me today.

Reviews

i’m glad i found this talk on mysticism and meditation. and i always enjoy finding a talk of yours i haven’t heard before. i’ve read teresa’s interior castle, some meister eckhart, lots of richard rohr and am currently reading about thomas aquinas. any readings on the mysticism you enjoy?

This an excellent meditation and philosophical talk reflecting a vast understanding of multiple lineages and the wisdom they can offer us in connecting to true self and to God. Very accessible to the Western ear while upholding the themes of ancient stories.

I’ve been studying gnostism for years and this was a beautiful reminder of the teachings: to gain experiential knowledge of the divine. “Be still and know..” Thank you 🙏

Thank you Thomas for suggesting this class. There are no accidents or coincidences! I resonate so much with this! I feel as though I am being drawn to the process of letting go of the conceptual strong hold- to trust and surrender and release my grasp. It’s as if I am realizing all the illusion. I feel open to trust and these tastes with your gentle guidance are so helpful! Truly grateful. Thank you 🙏🏼 💗

Love this discourse on nonduality & presence thank you Thomas, will be relistening to the end meditation regularly
✨💛✨

Thank you for this conceptualization and experiential “knowing” of the non-conceptual, the Union with the Divine.

Wow!! Thank you dear Thomas, this was just what I was seeking for today - without knowing before. The stillness we all come from.... where everything comes from.
Many blessings to you 🙏🌺🙏

🙏🏻🕯️🌬️❤️‍🔥🌌

Thank you Thomas

Excellent. It was exactly what I was craving to hear.

Powerful. I need to soften the grasping and surrender to the experience. Thank you, Thomas 💚🌟

Amazing. Thank you!!

Loved the talk!!
Struggled with the meditation (as usual). Still not sure what I'm supposed to be doing... or not doing / thinking / feeling... while "observing the stillness".
But I keep trying to figure it out.
☺️🙏🏼💖💫

That was exactly what I needed to hear. All in divine timing. Thank you so much ❤️🙏❤️

Peaceful discussion about inner peace.

🙏 thank you

Immersed in the unity of the divine. So grateful for your guidance 🙏🏼

Incredible meditation!!!!!!! Thank you .
Blessings with love from gift.

Lovely talk and meditation. The poems were beautiful and thought provoking. Thank you, Thomas. ❤️😘🌎

Grateful for this talk and meditation. Just exactly what I was looking for 🙏🏼❤️☀️

At last after 283 days on insight I’ve found what I seek... Thank you
As Rumi says What you seek, seeks you...
Love and Light always
Sue