Knowing Oneself Deeply: Exploring The Inner World

The outer world draws the mind, the inner world is the realm of the soul. Often we look for happiness outside of ourselves, by trying to change our circumstances or the world around us, yet true freedom and happiness can only be found within. As we cultivate dispassion and practice mindfulness of our bodily sensations, emotions, and thoughts, we begin to realize that everything is impermanent and interdependent, and that we are part of something greater. This is a 30 min talk and 15 min practice

Transcript

In previous classes,

I've talked about letting go of unnecessary suffering and letting go of resistance.

As we move towards letting go of unnecessary suffering and resistance,

We naturally begin to soften into the inner world.

We all have an entire universe within us.

In my perspective,

This is the little piece of the all that is our responsibility.

As we get to know ourselves more deeply on all levels,

We realize how complex we are,

How impermanent and changing.

As we get to know ourselves more deeply,

We naturally gain an insight and wisdom and have a greater understanding of everyone and everything else in the outer world.

This is true wisdom.

I'll share a quote from Hazrat and Ayat Khan that speaks to this.

Wisdom is that which is learned from within,

And intellect is that which is acquired from without.

The source of wisdom is above,

The source of intellect is below,

And therefore it is not the same method,

It is not the same process one adopts in order to attain wisdom,

Is that which one adopts in order to attain intellect.

There is a saying,

One who knows oneself knows God.

There is a reflection between within and without.

In one perspective,

Our individuated being is seen as a microcosmic reflection of the all.

We all have everything within us.

It's already there,

And so to get to know the inner world,

We have to turn our senses within.

We have all of our sense organs,

The eyes,

The ears,

And so forth,

That allow us to perceive the world around us,

And yet everything that we perceive,

We are perceiving within.

We see mountains in the distance,

But that perception takes place within us.

We hear sounds in the distance,

But we perceive that sound within this being.

Our bodies are designed as perceptual tools or instruments,

And so everything that we experience,

We experience within the context of our body through our senses,

But it's experienced within.

In one perspective,

Our bodies can be seen as processing centers.

Everything that we experience,

We process,

Integrate,

And let go of that which is not needed.

In Chinese medicine,

The individuated human being is seen as a coming together of heaven above and earth below,

Of body and spirit,

And once the spirit is grounded within the physicality of the body,

It is then able to take in and interact and experience everything that is present at this level of manifest reality,

And as we take in and experience everything around us,

There is an exchange at this horizontal level,

And when we take that in,

It's kind of like the process of digestion.

We're digesting all that we experience within the context of our body,

And it fundamentally changes us as there is this continual interaction between within and without.

In order for our bodies to function effectively in this manner,

We have to continually be fully present to everything that we're experiencing within the body.

As we become more present to experiencing it,

It naturally processes through us and moves through.

When we don't create this space of stillness,

Of simply being with our experience,

Whether through meditating,

Walking in the woods,

Staring at a fire,

Watching the stars,

To simply being with our experience as it is,

When we don't make time for that,

We accumulate more and more experiences within the body that are not being processed and released.

This can create stagnation,

Which impedes our sensitivity and our ability to experience fully.

Our bodies are like musical instruments.

They need to be regularly and consistently tuned,

And we have the ability to tune our bodies so that we can feel and experience reality as it is in each moment as fully as possible.

You know,

A good way of looking at this is to compare kids and adults in general.

When we're young,

We haven't taken in as much as we have when we've lived on this earth for 40,

50,

60,

70 years,

And kids are so fully present,

And they're extremely sensitive,

And it's because their bodies are still more pure and clear,

And they experience things in the moment as they are.

As we go through life,

If we do not make time to be present and clear the inner world,

We become more stagnant,

And our instrument becomes out of tune.

It becomes less sensitive to all that we experience,

And so moving towards the inner world is taking responsibility for this little piece of the All that is ours.

It is allowing ourselves to process,

Integrate,

And be fully present with all that is happening within this limited finite space,

And as we do so,

It opens us up to the infinite.

It allows us to experience the All more fully and completely.

You know,

In yogic philosophy,

Everything that is present at this level of manifest reality is seen as God or consciousness,

And all of the physicality that we perceive is a covering over of that oneness that is always right here,

But if we didn't have this seeming separation between self and other,

The All could not experience itself.

They say that God created the world so that it could experience itself.

We need this illusion of separation in order to have the ability to experience,

For if the All,

God,

Was wholly involved in experiencing,

There would be nothing for it to experience,

And if it was wholly involved in being experienced,

There would be nothing to do the experiencing,

And so the All separated into the myriad things as a way of experiencing itself,

And so by getting to know the inner world,

We come to know God.

We come to know the totality of reality,

And we move beyond the illusion of separation and realize that everything we perceive is a reflection of ourselves.

This is a process of self-study,

Which gives way to self-knowledge,

Which gives birth to wisdom.

It's a process of observing our body,

Mind,

And emotions in each moment.

Interestingly,

As we turn the gaze within and we observe all of those aspects of self,

We become more present,

And we also become more grounded.

It grounds the consciousness,

The awareness,

The spirit within the body when we turn that gaze within.

What makes us ungrounded is letting our gaze be out too consistently and not returning within,

Because that draws the consciousness in the mind out into the world.

When we bring the awareness within the body and observe with detachment the various sensations,

The thoughts,

The emotions,

The desires,

The aversions,

It actually can be very deeply healing,

Because as we bring awareness to those areas,

It releases them.

In Chinese medicine,

The natural state is when the Qi flows freely through the body,

And it's the stagnations that impede the smooth flow of Qi and create a separation within us between the body and the spirit.

Simply guiding our awareness into those areas of stagnation brings movement.

It starts to release them,

And the Qi begins to flow freely.

We release the blockages,

And we move closer to that natural state of experiential awareness,

Fully grounded within ourselves and fully connected above and below and within and without.

This leads to inner peace,

Harmony,

And ultimately the experience of freedom and happiness.

It's a form of deep listening.

Each and every one of you have this ability.

At some level,

We all know the truth,

The truth within ourselves,

The truth of reality.

It's already in us.

We just have to remember it.

It's a continual practice of remembrance,

Because as I said,

We have these veils of separation that cause us to forget the underlying unity that we are always a part of,

That is always right here.

In tantric philosophy,

They talk about concealment and revelation,

That this truth,

This experience of oneness is concealed from us,

But it's concealed so that we can have the experience of revelation,

Because if it wasn't concealed,

We wouldn't be able to have the experience of revelation.

The experience of unity,

Of oneness,

Can actually only occur when there is the perception of duality.

In order to move towards this state,

We need practice and dispassion.

We need to let go of attachments to our sense of self-identity,

Of our opinions,

Of who we think we are or think we should be,

Of how we think the world should be.

That's the dispassion.

It's detaching from those reified conceptions,

And we need to practice.

We need to continually,

Consistently return the gaze to within,

To this inner world,

To experiencing ourselves fully as we are in each moment,

Without judgment,

Without wanting it to be different,

With a sense of detached observation.

In some traditions,

They refer to this as the witness consciousness,

Where we step back and simply witness all that is occurring in this universe within,

Because there is always so much occurring when we pay attention to it.

And of course,

When we start this process,

And at many points along the journey,

There can be very uncomfortable things that we witness,

Painful sensations within the body,

Painful emotions,

Judgmental thoughts,

And that's okay.

And that's usually the most difficult part,

Is bearing witness to our own suffering,

Without trying to change it,

Without wanting it to be different,

Simply allowing it to be as it is.

What helps is knowing that all of these experiences are impermanent,

And that the more we allow ourselves to witness them dispassionately,

Hold space for them,

They will change.

It's when we fight against them,

When we repress them,

Or try to escape them,

Or ignore them,

And distract ourselves with things in the outer world,

That's what causes them to become more solidified and concretized.

And it creates more of a dissociation between ourselves and the reality as it is.

It's a form of radical accountability,

Of taking complete responsibility for ourselves,

For our experiences,

For all that we feel within the finite space of our being.

If we feel angry or irritable,

Impatient,

Sad,

Worried,

Anxious,

Afraid,

We are feeling that within ourselves.

And the easy thing to do is to look for a reason out there,

And say,

That is why I'm feeling this way.

But the truth is,

Is that we're feeling it within,

And that's our responsibility,

Is to experience that within ourselves.

As we bring this level of dispassion and detachment and observation to ourselves,

Over time we become more self-compassionate.

We begin to see how all the dots are connected.

We begin to see that so many of our conditioned and habituated feelings and responses come from past experiences that were not processed.

We dig down to the roots of those obscurations,

And they begin to dissolve,

And our emotions become more harmonious.

We become more grounded,

And that allows us to have more harmonious interactions with the world around us.

As we become compassionate and gentle and spacious with ourselves,

We become more gentle and compassionate and spacious with others,

With the world.

We realize that the way others act towards others is almost always a reflection of how they relate to themselves,

That it's an expression of their own unprocessed emotions and traumas and fears that they're projecting out into the world.

It becomes easier to not take things so personally,

To observe with calm detachment how others act,

Just as we observe with calm detachment all that happens within us and all of the moments when we have strong reactions that arise.

Another quote from Hazran Anayat Khan,

Our thoughts have prepared for us the happiness or unhappiness that we experience.

Our happiness is our responsibility.

We cannot blame anyone else if we are unhappy.

It's entirely our responsibility.

It lies within our thoughts,

Our feelings,

Our bodies,

And how we choose to relate to all of those feelings that arise.

It is a choice.

It can be easy to conflate comfort and happiness and think that happiness is an absence of suffering,

And yet this is inherently untrue.

And many times those people that have the greatest true happiness are those that have gone through extraordinary suffering,

And yet they've come through it and they've allowed themselves to experience it and be with it and let it go.

To realize that we have a choice in how we choose to relate to all that we experience.

We can let those experiences define us.

We can attach to them and make them part of our sense of self-identity,

But in so doing we imprison ourselves and we prevent ourselves from attaining that happiness which we have a right to.

As we become more detached from the moment-to-moment experiences within the body and within the world around us,

We gain in wisdom because we start to see how all the different pieces fit together.

It can be easy to judge our experiences within ourselves as good or bad or right or wrong and apply the same to the world around us.

But when we step back we begin to see how each moment is a culmination of every moment before it.

That there is this continual interdependence and the things that might seem horrific or negative in the moment might actually give birth to some of the greatest beauty.

There's a parable that I've shared before that I love and for me it's a continual reminder and it's the story of the boy and the horse.

There was a farmer who was pretty old and he had one son and they had one kind of mangy horse and they had a little plot of land that wasn't much but they would work it and the old man was reaching a point where he couldn't really work the field much but the boy was able to work it with the horse and provide enough for them.

And one day the horse escaped from the corral and all the people from the town came out and said oh you're so poor and you've lost your only horse and how are you going to survive this is so bad.

The farmer said how do you know that this is bad?

They were disgruntled okay whatever and they went back to the village.

A few days later the horse returned with three wild horses following it and they followed it into the corral and they closed the corral and now they had four horses.

When people came out and said oh this is so good you had lost your horse and now it came back with three more horses this is so good.

He said how do you know that this is good?

A week later the boy was trying to break in one of the wild horses and he got bucked off and broke his leg and without him to work the fields they might not be able to harvest enough food to survive.

The people came out and said this is so bad.

He said how do you know that it's bad?

A few weeks later a great war broke out and the army came through and conscripted all able-bodied young men.

It was a very bloody war and most of the young men of the village never returned but the farmer's son was unable to go because he had a broken leg.

There is always this flow of life and the mind always wants to make sense of it and place judgments on limited occurrences but it takes practice and dispassion to step back and take a more macro view to see how all the pieces begin to fit together over time.

The more we turn to the inner world and take responsibility for our experiences one moment at a time as they arise we gain a greater wisdom and we begin to see a bigger picture.

We begin to realize that everything is impermanent and interdependent and that we are all part of something greater and that while we inhabit this physical body it's a temporary abode and it is an instrument,

A gift for us to experience the all in each moment and through knowing our instrument through knowing ourselves more deeply we come to know God and we come to experience a connection to everything in existence.

So let us practice.

If you will please find a comfortable and stable posture for meditation.

You can be seated or lying down.

The important thing is that you have a stable base beneath you.

You feel supported so you can let go of any unnecessary tension.

Begin to observe the natural movement of the breath.

Witness the movement of the inhalation and exhalation allowing it to be just as it is in each moment.

Begin abdominal breathing.

With each inhalation allowing the abdomen to gently expand.

With each exhalation allowing the abdomen to gently contract.

And with each exhalation let go of any unnecessary tension of any holding or guarding.

Let go of the thoughts and just observe the movement of the breath and the abdomen.

As you continue abdominal breathing allow your awareness to gently scan through your physical body.

Observe any area of tension,

Discomfort,

Holding or guarding and simply witness them.

Allowing them to be as they are without judgment,

Without trying to change it.

Allow your awareness to relax into a state of simple observation.

Observing your inner world.

You may inwardly ask yourself the question,

What is this that I'm experiencing without looking for a verbal response but an experiential one?

If emotions or thoughts arise,

Simply witness them.

Observe them.

And return to the following of the breath and the movement of the abdomen.

Exhale.

Now guide your awareness to rest in the lower abdomen.

Focus your awareness within this physical space of the body.

Allow the awareness to flow from your head and torso,

From your arms and legs,

Into the lower dantian,

This energetic center situated in the center of the lower abdomen.

Exhale.

Notice the stillness and quieting that occurs throughout the body as you focus awareness in the lower abdomen.

Focus on the stillness.

Exhale.

Exhale.

Observe the stillness with this witness consciousness.

Exhale.

Exhale.

Become aware of the movement of the breath.

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

Observe the universe within.

This little piece of the divine expressed as you.

When you are ready,

Maintain a connection to this sense of detached observation as you gently and slowly begin to open your eyes,

Taking in the world around you,

Realizing that everything you perceive is within you.

Experience the sense of non-separation like a fish in water.

We are all expressions of divine consciousness.

We all have the truth within us.

We each have exactly what we need in each moment.

And it is our responsibility to guide the awareness within to experience ourselves and the world fully,

To listen deeply,

To learn to trust ourselves.

As we do so,

Our trust will grow,

Our fear will naturally subside.

We'll begin to experience the beauty of ourselves and the world as we are in each moment.

And we will find greater purpose and fulfillment and meaning in life.

Thank you all for joining me today.

Reviews

By doing this particular meditation, I am led to see the love that lies naturally within all of us. This gentle guidance is helping me. All I can say with sincerity thank you for helping us go back home where we belong. Thank you

Thank you for this beautiful and powerful talk and meditation🙏🙏🙏

Another profound and beautiful talk; things I’ve heard in my gnostic teachings and meditations, Kabbalah and Sufism..Thank you Thomas 🙏☀️

So incredibly powerful time and time again This is one to repeat regularly So much incredible wisdom and insight I am deeply grateful Thomas! 💗🙏🏼💗

God created separateness so each of us can learn to experience oneness, experience God. By dividing into myriads of beings, each being can experience God within and connect with the All God outside of us. I don’t know why this concept from your talk striked me so much as being true for me this morning. I’m so happy to be choosing to go within and lift layers and layers of veils keeping me away from experiencing that truth and slowly feeling more free, more content, happy for what is. 🙏

Thanks for suggesting this talk. It was exactly what I needed right now. The meditation was great also. I plan on listening to it several more times and look forward to the other talks of yours that you suggested. 🙏

Very enlightning and calming meditation too.
Eager to learn more.
Thank you.
🙏✨️

This talk and meditation is so grounding, even when I'm facing life situations that make it seem impossible to do so

Thank you Thomas.🙏🏻

Accepting the invitation of my soul for radical responsibility. 🙏🏻

Witnessing the suffering and the peace. Allowing softening to access the deepest and truest intention. Living in reality. 🙏🏻

Gassho. Peace of Christ. Toward the One.

🐢🕯️

Wonderful talk now thinking of my perception as truly internal, it seems so obvious, I was blind to it 😆 thank you Thomas, you shine lights so beautifully ✨

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Thank you. Observing in stillness 🙏

Thank you Thomas for all your profound and excellent talks & meditations. They are beautiful and life-changing, they touch the heart, the soul. Thank you to share your wisdom, your gifts and to contribute to make the world a better place. Namaste 🙏✨💛

Thank you for this! I felt a wholeness. Sending gratitude.

Great to hear your audios! Such a soothing voice, thank you! 🙏✨