We compound the problem by fearing our fear,
Worrying about our worry,
Judging our judgments.
Do you see this,
How fear distorts our perception?
Just like with the unknown,
If you're afraid of the unknown,
You fill the void with all sorts of scary stories.
You're not really seeing the truth of the unknown.
You know,
I'm deeply grateful that you're here today.
And of course,
This is.
With the assumption.
That you are here with a deep interest.
That relates to opening up,
Fearing less,
And loving more.
Where something in your heart understands.
Or recognizes.
A sacredness to this life that we're living?
Within you is a gentleness that is.
Willing to meet yourself however you show up.
Like when you show up in this space,
Some people might be super happy and excited.
Some people might be.
Hurt and down.
And I hope that.
.
.
This space.
If anything,
Is an encouragement to.
.
.
Keep going?
While also seeing a deeper truth of what you are in this life you're swimming in.
And of course,
As you see a deeper truth,
Recognizing an undercurrent of love that holds it all together.
Which is kind of like saying.
.
.
The more we deeply understand what actually is.
It naturally leads to a more peaceful heart.
And so this is what this space is for.
Is to take a moment and be still.
And be with a profound openness to see what's actually going on.
In this life that we're living.
In this human experience.
Often.
Not always the case,
But.
.
.
If we are with you.
Emotional pain,
Than seeing the deeper truth that is trying to point towards wellness.
Can be frustrating.
Can be irritating.
Because so much of our emotional pain is.
Wrapped around what we want to believe is true.
But isn't really true?
And so as we encounter a truth that fundamentally just makes sense or is obvious,
It sort of threatens what we're holding on to.
But of course.
There's a beautiful invitation to.
Just be open.
You know,
That might be a good place to start.
And we will call it the total embrace of what is unknown.
And I want to start here because There's this fascinating thing that I keep encountering in my own life.
And that is.
The profound difference between Would I actually know?
In what I'm pretending to know?
Or what I think I know but I don't really know.
And also notice how your internal state of being is responding to what you think you know.
Whether you're irritated or even whether you're happy.
Can you see how that happens?
Like what moves inside of you.
Responds to our assumptions.
About what is known.
And what I find fascinating about this.
Is in my experience of internal drama or conflict,
Some flavor of emotional disturbance.
Underneath it.
I think I know something.
That upon a deeper investigation,
I see that I don't really know that.
And sometimes it's difficult because you can really convince yourself that you know something that you don't really know.
Case in point,
As a playful,
Silly example.
I have a meeting on my calendar.
For tomorrow.
And I could say that.
I know that I'm going to have this meeting tomorrow.
But then there's the question of,
Well,
Do you know that you're going to be alive tomorrow?
No.
It might be likely.
It might be part of your plans,
Which is perfectly fine.
But do you actually know that?
What I know is that it's on my calendar.
And that might be a good way of illustrating rather quickly.
How that which is actually known becomes more and more present.
Whereas what is really known can only be known here and now.
And furthermore,
There's so many things we think we know because somebody else told us so.
And again,
The question is,
Well,
Do you really know that?
Another way of asking this is,
Do you really know that or does it just look that way?
From where you're standing.
And these are important because.
.
.
Even with regards to the way that things can appear or the way that they seem.
That is very different from knowing the truth of something.
Where I can go through a particular experience.
And I give it an interpretation.
And then I think my interpretation is the known.
Is the truth.
When there are literally.
.
.
Millions of different ways of interpreting it.
And I don't know if you recognize this,
But I see it definitely for myself.
When I see that my interpretations are not the known.
Are not the truth,
But rather a particular way of perceiving something.
It relaxes the intensity around it.
But of course,
In order for such a thing to happen,
I must.
Embrace the possibility.
That I don't really know.
And that can be difficult for people.
In fact,
We can say one of the great fears as a way of illustrating is the fear of the unknown.
And if we deeply fear the unknown,
Then we don't want to see the unknown.
And we fill up that empty space.
With all of the things we pretend to know.
To offer us some sense of security.
Albeit a false security.
Which is perfectly fine.
But the deeper question is what's really true.
And what is beautifully playful for myself as it relates to embracing the unknown.
Is that when I look at my whole human journey,
It's always been unknown.
And so this isn't new,
Right?
It's like,
Oh,
It's always been this way.
And somehow,
Here I am.
I can see all of the pretend.
Knowing,
Whether it's,
I thought I knew what I was doing,
I thought I knew where I was going.
I thought I knew what things meant.
And that might have inspired some flavor of confidence.
But deep down,
Did I really know?
And yet somehow I'm still here.
Which effectively is sane in some way if one is open to see it.
It's okay that you don't know.
Which is funny because.
.
.
Maybe in the society in which we live.
It's not appropriate to not know.
You're supposed to have it all figured out.
What do you mean you don't?
Know the future.
What do you mean you aren't certain about tomorrow?
What do you mean you're open for life to be life?
You're supposed to take charge and be in control.
And there's a certain playful element of that where we.
Participate.
But again.
Related to the intensity that we carry.
The restriction around our heart that essentially says it's not okay to be at peace yet.
So much of that.
Tends to circle.
This need to know.
Which is a need to know something that you can't actually know.
And again.
You know,
This isn't about.
.
.
You should be at peace with the unknown.
Or you shouldn't fear the unknown.
It's not about any of that.
It's about the question of what's actually true.
And as it relates to the truth about what I know.
Beyond this moment right now?
In this particular.
Space I'm in.
I don't know much.
And that's just true.
And furthermore,
It's always been that case.
So it must be okay.
It must be that the unknown is supposed to be the unknown.
And I can play in that unknown.
Because the unknown is almost like a field of infinite potential.
All things are possible.
Which is actually interesting.
Now,
Look at what happens here.
Man,
This is fascinating.
If I am afraid of the unknown.
And I'm facing the unknown,
Which is really a realm of infinite potential.
But yet I'm in this moment with fear of the unknown.
How does that not lead to a creation that stems from fear?
Meaning,
Would I fill the gap of the unknown,
The potential of all things possible?
How does that not lean?
Toward fearful creations.
Fearful thoughts.
Furthermore,
If I'm at peace with the unknown,
If I'm okay with the unknown.
Do you see the openness that allows for more loving possibilities?
It's not even a train.
To see loving possibilities?
It's just a natural consequence,
Because there's no fear.
And of course.
This natural movement towards loving creations within the infinite field of possibility becomes possible because you are acknowledging the truth of things?
Which is kind of like saying,
The unknown is the unknown and that's okay.
Which is kind of like saying,
I don't need to be afraid of it.
But if I resist the truth of things,
If I don't want the unknown to be the unknown,
Which is silly because that's impossible.
Then I'd become afraid of it.
And it kind of speaks to the way that we move through life or the way that we move into unknown places.
So often if you move into the unknown with a fear,
Then you are projecting all sorts of creations that are fearful.
Which is some version of.
Attracting those experiences.
But I don't want this to.
In some way sound like a prescription of how you should be.
Because if you're afraid,
You're afraid.
And it does no good to pretend like you're not afraid when you are.
Just in order to get what we might think is a spiritual prize of some kind.
Because again,
It comes back to honoring what's true.
And in the same way that we can see that the unknown is okay.
We can see that the fear that you have is okay.
Because what happens if you are afraid of being afraid?
And likewise,
What happens if you are okay with being afraid?
It's the same sort of mechanism.
And we as human beings in our innocent misunderstanding that resists what is.
That fundamentally thinks that we are a mistake,
Our life is a mistake.
We compound the problem.
By fearing our fear,
Worrying about our worry.
Judging our judgments.
Being angry that we're angry.
Do you see how this compounds and makes it worse?
Which is such a beautiful invitation to let the truth be the truth and see that that's okay.
And for me,
This is the whole invitation of spirituality.
In one way of saying being at peace with what is.
Another way of saying being at peace with your own humanity.
Which is beautiful because.
.
.
In a relationship setting or dealing with other people.
You can be at peace with other people.
Like for me in my experience,
When my partner's irritated,
It's okay that she's irritated.
Whatever is going on in the world,
If that's what's going on,
It's okay that it's going on.
Because just like the things going on in the world,
Or the things going on in yourself,
Or the things going on in those that you love,
If you fear it.
You're approaching it.
In a way that is bringing with you those projections of fear.
That doesn't see it clearly.
And if you can't see it clearly.
Then how are you actually going to address it?
Do you see this,
How fear distorts our perception?
Just like with the unknown,
If you're afraid of the unknown,
You fill the void with all sorts of scary stories.
You're not really seeing the truth of the unknown.
Same with yourself.
If you fear your own fear,
You don't see the truth of it.
If you fear the irritation of someone you love,
You don't see the truth of it.
And then we encounter these sort of WrestleMatches where we are essentially just wrestling with their own fear.
You know what it's like as an illustration.
It's like wrestling with the unknown.
Because we are afraid of the unknown.
We're trying to gain some sort of control over it,
As if the unknown is a problem.
But yet,
If we saw it more clearly,
It's not a problem.
Same in relationships.
If my wife is going through a difficult time.
And I'm afraid of it.
Then I see it as a problem and then wrestle with that problem when it's not really a problem.
Thus is the invitation of spirituality.
To see the truth of what is.
And furthermore,
You know.
.
.
And I say these things and I'm just sharing what is so obvious in my own human experience.
And you can take and do with it whatever you do.
As long as you understand that I'm not trying to tell you how to live your life.
In my experience,
It's so obvious that when I'm.
.
.
Restricted on the inside when there's conflict or drama or some sort of emotional experience that is negative.
I'm not seeing the truth of what is.
And so that internal alarm of disturbance.
Is inviting me to see what's true.
It's inviting me back to stillness.
Wait,
What's really going on here?
Wait,
What do I think I know that I don't really know?
What am I pretending to know because I'm afraid of the unknown?
Do you see that these questions,
They're seeking to understand what's true?
And they're not seeking to get what I want.
There's a big difference.
And that speaks to a really dramatic shift in the human experience.
When we Transition from this life is about me getting what I want.
To this life is about seeing what's true.
Because there is such design in life.
Whereas the more I see what is true,
I see that I have what I really want.
Which of course is the foundation for being at peace.
Nothing's missing.
And I understand how difficult it is sometimes.
And I would say that difficulty is intentional.
It's okay that it's difficult.
I responded to an email this morning from someone.
They were talking about.
How seeing the truth can be so scary sometimes.
And I said something to the effect of.
.
.
And that's okay.
Because in a way it's important that.
The truth pushes the boundary of what we fear.
So that we have the opportunity to make a choice.
Where we will choose what is true rather than choosing what is false.
The fearful images in the mind that we worship.
And that's.
.
.
Most of the human experience for people chasing images in the mind.
Which are inspired by a fear.
And the truth invites you to let go of all of that.
And of course,
Letting go of all of that looks like letting go of what you want.
But the more you see fundamentally and so deeply in your heart.
That what it is you most sincerely desire in this life.
Is x,
Y,
Z,
Whatever you call it.
But related to the truth of life.
Some people could call it the love of God.
Some people could call it.
The wholeness of what is.
Truth beyond the mind?
But really what it is,
Is.
.
.
The truth of what is.
Meaning the truth of what is,
That in reality,
And we won't dive too deeply on this as I have many times before,
But in the truth of reality,
There's nothing to be afraid of.
We are only afraid of the content in our mind.
NF as a human being.
We are living solely in our mind.
We think what is in our mind is life,
And that's just not true.
Which is often the first real.
Spiritual insight,
At least it was for me,
That,
Oh my goodness,
There's this world I'm creating in my mind.
That is completely different than the world that is.
And I am lost in this dream of.
.
.
This life that I'm living,
This dream of who I think I am,
That isn't what I really am.
And so I became deeply curious about what actually is.
Beyond all of these thoughts that I'm having.
And the more I looked,
All I could see was God.
As a way of saying it with silly words.
And so now I can't stop talking about it.
And it's so much fun too.
Connect with other human beings.
Who recognize the same thing,
Even though,
Like,
As I talk,
I might not be totally speaking your language.
But there's something that deeply resonates.
Where you see what I'm pointing toward with the words that I'm choosing to use right now.
And sometimes I choose different words.
It's like I can talk about these things through the lens of a Christian.
I can talk about these things through the lens of a Buddhist.
I can talk about these things through the lens of a scientist.
Which are all like different types of languages.
Some resonate more or less with other people.
And that's part of my great joy in doing what I do.
Is talking to people from all different walks of life.
Finding their language to communicate these things more clearly.
So that they can see it for themselves.
Which only leads towards the natural consequence of a heart that is much more open.
And a life that is lived with less fear and more love.
What a beautiful way to play through this life.
And there's unending things to talk about and explore.
Thanks for hanging out with me.
