The Sacred: Be Still, See What Is Really Is

The Sacred cannot be grasped by the mind; it must be experienced through stillness. This talk clarifies the profound difference between the noise of your thoughts and the truth of life itself. It's an invitation to stop running around in your mind and simply be here, recognizing the one sacred life force that is available to everyone and is the only path out of suffering.

Transcript

I want to take a moment and talk about something that I think is extraordinarily profound.

But at the same time,

I want to fully acknowledge the futility of talking about it.

Which is that it's impossible to actually articulate fully,

Which is going to make this very playful in nature for me.

Maybe we can call it poetic.

I want to talk about the sacred.

Diving into what the sacred is,

The invitation to connect with that something we call the sacred,

And to see it more clearly in your everyday life.

And it's already funny in the beginning here,

Because I can say the word,

The sacred,

And everyone listening has a different idea of what that even means.

And you know,

Very directly,

That takes us into the heart of the issue.

Because to say it definitively some way,

That which is sacred is beyond any idea that you have in your mind about something called sacred.

And so in the spirit of that,

I really want to invite you on a meditative journey,

Where we're not going to sit here and merely think about something called the sacred.

If anything,

I'm going to invite you to experience the sacred.

And even though it isn't something that we can talk about directly,

I'm going to talk about it.

And hopefully you won't get so much lost in your mind about the things that I'm saying.

But what I'm saying will invite your mind to relax a little bit,

So that you can connect with the reality of what it is,

Rather than simply thinking about it.

And so if that sounds interesting to you,

Then I invite you to somewhat devote yourself for being here for a little while,

A willingness to embrace my long pauses,

And giving yourself full permission to just totally be here.

Can we first acknowledge the inherent challenge here,

Maybe especially related to the spiritual inquiry,

Where there is a sincerity within us that wants to investigate the nature of what is real and true?

Maybe asking the question,

What's really going on here?

And there's a fundamental challenge that we need to see our way through delicately,

Which is understanding that there's a vast difference between life and the mind.

There is what we think about life,

The thoughts we have,

The stories we can tell.

And then there is the reality of life,

Which simply cannot be captured by language.

Meaning,

Whatever you call something,

Whatever you say about life,

It's not really that.

There's such a profound reality behind every name,

Label,

And story.

Can we just acknowledge that?

In the same way that if I take a photograph of you and hold it up and say,

Hey,

Look,

Here you are.

I have a photo of you.

It looks like you.

Do you see the vast difference between a photograph of you and the reality of you?

It's similar to the difference between the name for you and the reality of you.

The name is an identifier.

It's a pointer.

It points to something,

Something real that is not the name itself.

And this is where we tend to get so lost as human beings.

We tell stories about things.

We string sentences together and we think we've defined something.

We think we've identified what something really is.

And it's so far removed from the reality.

You know what?

Case in point,

If we were to ask the deeply sincere question,

What is life really?

Do you see that the most appropriate answer to that is silence?

What is life really?

And you see,

Everything I say about it is to just take a picture and share the picture with you.

It's not the real thing.

And this speaks so much to the topic of the sacred.

What is the sacred?

Well,

Whatever your mind says in response to that question,

It's not that.

And so in understanding that,

We can therefore move forward talking about it,

Understanding that we're pointing to it.

And as a way of pointing to it,

I'm going to say that there is only one thing that is sacred.

We might assume that there are many sacred things.

But for the sake of this inquiry and pointing,

I want to guide you toward seeing that there's only one thing that's sacred.

And therefore,

That which is sacred is your ultimate salvation.

It's the something that will rescue you from all of your suffering.

Furthermore,

Everyone has access to the sacred.

So much so that everyone is breathing the sacred,

And most don't even realize it.

And in the spirit of this,

Related to there's only one thing being sacred,

I can ask you,

Do you know what it is?

And every answer you give me,

I would say,

Not that.

Is it this teacup?

Is it church?

Is it my love for my partner?

Is it this?

Is it that?

It's not that.

Can you be still with me here for a little while?

And just breathe.

What do you notice?

I mean,

My goodness,

Here we are in this moment right now.

Something inside of us opening up to see the sacred,

To connect with the sacred,

To recognize what it really is,

To realize that it's always here.

It's always available.

And all I'm going to ask you to do is just notice the profound difference between this moment and what's going on in your mind.

See the difference.

And it doesn't matter where you are.

It doesn't matter what you're doing right now.

You could be driving,

You could be walking through nature,

You could be laying in bed.

There could be all manner of noises around you.

There could be all manner of things happening.

And yet the one thing that is sacred is here.

What is it that makes it sacred?

That's a good question.

What does it mean for something to be sacred?

That's an interesting question.

And I guess as a way of speaking about it,

We could say once the sacred is actually seen,

In many ways it demands a total reverence.

To the point in some cases you see it and you can't help but bow down to it.

And of course that depends on how deeply you see it.

Maybe you've had experiences like this.

Maybe you've touched upon the sacred and didn't know what you touched upon.

But something inside of you may be a great humility to you.

To recognize that there is something about this life,

Something about what everything is,

That is so profoundly intertwined within everything.

And it is the life force of all that is.

So much so that it demands every ounce of respect within you.

Is there such a thing?

And what I love about this inquiry is that to really get close to it demands a stillness.

You have to stop running around in your life,

Which is really just running around in your mind.

You have to be still.

You have to empty yourself out.

And yes,

Very naturally,

This is in alignment with spiritual practices.

To take a moment,

Be still,

And connect with what's really true or connect with that which is sacred.

And it is quite interesting how vulnerable that can make us.

Which is why it's so interesting we have such a hard time just being still for a moment.

As we watch our world start to collapse.

Isn't that interesting?

In one way it's like,

Oh no,

I can't be still,

I have too much to do.

I can't be still,

I have to keep this illusion together.

I might lose everything I'm holding on to in the world,

It's so dramatic.

And so I think it's safe to say that if you really want to connect with this,

If only for a moment,

Let go of everything or as much as you can and truly just be here.

And you know,

I started this off by saying that there's only one thing that's sacred.

And in a paradoxical way,

When you truly see the sacred,

You see the sacred in everything.

Everything you look at becomes the sacred.

To see a bird singing its song becomes a bird that is sacred.

To watch someone walk across the street,

That person becomes sacred.

To look in the mirror and to see what you really are beyond all the mind's noise,

What you are becomes sacred.

And then to truly see it,

It's almost like all the words are taken from you.

Your entire life,

Everything that is seen becomes the sacred.

For upcoming retreats,

Live broadcasts,

Courses,

And other opportunities to open up,

Fear less,

And love more.

Your life is sacred.

Don't waste it hiding behind an adorable but imaginary fear.

It's time to show up.

Reviews

Thank you. A profound experience 🙏🏼❤️

Thank you Tiger
Namaste

🕉️🌈🙏🏾

Wonderful. The only correct answer to what is the Sacred is love right?

🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

So, so good! Left the words behind and felt from my heart. Thank you. 🙏

Thank you 🙏🏻

Always thought provoking. Thank you 🙏