Nothing Is Missing: The Truth You’ve Been Searching For

What if every desire, every chase, and every sense of lack was pointing you toward one thing—the truth of life itself? In this talk, we explore how the illusion of “something missing” fuels our suffering, and how seeing the truth brings a quiet wholeness where nothing needs to be added or taken away. A reflection on presence, surrender, and the freedom found in realizing that what you seek, you already are.

Transcript

That speaks a little bit to the topic that I had in mind.

Let me convince you that the only thing you actually want is the truth of life and all of your problems are created by thinking you want something other than that.

And it's such a fun challenge to playfully convince you of that because in one way if you look honestly and I understand that on your own it might be difficult given all of the conditioning and the assumptions but when we look at it honestly and even logically that's the conclusion.

That we come into this world and we develop this collection of wants which in effect is a list of things that we think are missing.

So that which we want creates anxiety.

Which is also interesting because at the fundamental level of our suffering in some capacity is an idea that something is missing.

And I guess to fast forward it and this would be the super short version of the discourse but it would be to see the truth that what you think is missing isn't missing.

Therefore what you're really looking for is the truth that nothing is missing.

Because that's what you're trying to fill up through the collection of getting what you want is to come to a place in time where that angst of something missing is no longer there.

Right?

We chase after things from a place of anxiety that assumes something's missing and the reason we're chasing after it is to fix that sense that something is missing.

And we're chasing around in a big illusion that thinks that the solution is somewhere out there as if there's really an out there.

And of course as this is seen I wouldn't say there's the complete disappearance of what we might call a wanting mechanism.

But it very clearly transforms into a statement that sounds like I could enjoy that but I don't need it.

That sounds like fun.

That sounds meaningful.

That sounds like a good use of my time.

But I don't need it.

Because so many of our wants as human beings are thought of as needs.

Which I always found quite interesting.

The idea of needs.

Because honestly when I look at my own life and ask the question what do I need but with a deep honesty I see that I don't need anything because anything that is needed I already have.

Therefore it is not needed.

Like we could say oh I need oxygen.

Well you have it.

So you don't need it.

Needs always seem to imply a next moment because we fear some form of survival and so often it's the survival of our ego.

But then of course if you're not alive you don't need anything.

And so I understand the play of things related to need but I think it's much more profound to deeply question is it really a need and to what end.

Like I need this so badly because I want to feel validated.

You need other people.

To validate your existence.

Is that what you want or is that what you need?

Need in relationship to being.

You already have it.

And need in relationship to going on into the future.

Okay but I don't know that that is the way of things.

Meaning tomorrow is promised to no one.

And I can understand how this doesn't sound practical at all but for me it's so profoundly practical because it speaks to the chaos of our internal dialogue which is in a constant conversation about what we want and need.

Which is also a constant exploration of all the things we think are missing.

While really believing that it's missing and it's vital to your worth and value slash the survival of your ego.

Which is also to say my goodness there's just so much commotion in the mind that isn't that relevant to the experience of just being.

Even in the experience of working.

Even in the experience of relating to other human beings.

In fact it's the release or the surrender of all of those things that we think are missing that heals the anxiety that allows you to actually be present.

Look at the experience of being in relationship with another person.

The more you feel like something is missing especially the more you think you need it.

It's so difficult to be present with another human being.

And again all of this revolves around in some regard not seeing the truth of things.

You know what it reminds me of and I don't know it specifically but there's some sort of bible quote that says something to the effect of I shall not want.

And you can read it from one lens that life is telling you that you're wrong for wanting.

But from my perspective it's simply expressing what happens when you see the truth of things.

It's like saying when I see the truth of things I will see that I'm not missing anything.

Therefore wanting disappears.

And to answer the question of how will it feel if we got our need I don't think that's the right question.

I don't think it's about feeling.

In fact I think human beings are obsessed with feeling as if feeling is some sort of indication of what's true.

When feeling is simply an internal mechanism that points to how you are perceiving.

In one way of speaking we can say human beings tend to worship their emotions.

Which also speaks to how much we as human beings are running away from negative emotions.

How much we're hiding from them,

How much we are numbing them,

How much we are distracting ourselves from them because we want a good feeling.

And yet we're going about accessing the good feeling in a way that is completely ass-backwards and out of alignment with the truth of reality.

In the same way of numbing or distracting or avoiding this is the way we go about it but how's that going?

And if we do look at this through the lens of worshiping emotion then we can look at a religious spiritual frame that in some way says you should only worship God.

Which I think if you can get past all of the dogma there's a pretty profound pointer there.

Which is essentially saying seek what's true.

Don't be distracted by your emotions.

If anything your emotions have the capacity to give you information about your perspective and the more painful the emotional experience then the more out of alignment the perception is with the truth of things.

And the more pleasurable the emotional experience then the more in alignment the perception is with the truth of things.

But it doesn't mean the perception is true.

It just means it's more in alignment and what I mean by this if you can first understand and see clearly that your emotions are responding to how you see and they're not responding to circumstance then you can recognize that the more you see wholeness the more you see all is one the more pleasurable the emotional experience.

And likewise the more you see separation which leads to seeing fearful things which is to see yourself as separate from life which it also includes missing something then the more painful the emotional response.

And again what this comes down to is seeing the truth of life.

Which in a way is to say only worship God.

Because if you seek what is true and you see in alignment with what is true your emotional state will naturally shift to what we might call a more positive experience.

And so for me the relationship with my let's call it emotional body is one as an alarm system.

So if I'm feeling emotional dis-ease it is alerting me that I am not seeing in alignment with the truth of things.

Which is an invitation to be still in question what it is I think is happening.

Again you know this is a great little addition to my original playful point which is to prove to you that the only thing you want is the truth.

Because in this list of everything that you want in the world are you not chasing an emotional state?

So on the surface you say you want xyz but why?

Because you think it will give you something internally which we could say is some emotional state of being.

But emotional state of being is not dictated by circumstance.

It doesn't matter what you have or you don't have.

Which brings about why this is so confusing.

Because if it's true as I've stated that your emotions are responding to how you perceive and if you perceive wholeness you experience positive emotion.

And if you perceive separation you experience negative emotion.

If you in appearance get what you want then you will perceive yourself as whole and complete.

It will feel good.

But the disaster here obviously is you are now attaching your worth and value to an object.

Therefore your worth and value is tied to the world,

Tied to something outside of yourself which is why you get the introduction of anxiety that fears losing the thing you just got.

So it's a roller coaster.

I got the thing,

Yay,

I'm excited,

I'm whole and complete.

But oh no,

Now I'm afraid of losing it.

Which is to perceive separation.

And so what do you have to do now?

You have to go and get something else to protect the thing you just got.

Cycle repeats itself.

And this keeps us in an endless loop of chasing.

Until you see for yourself this isn't working.

And then you ask more honest questions.

What am I really looking for here?

This is the question.

What is it that I really want?

And you know what's funny?

I've said this so many times but it's so beautiful.

There's a profound shift that happens in the human life.

It's a transformation of your primary question.

You've been conditioned to ask what do I want?

And this is the driving motivation for the human being slash ego in the world.

And it goes nowhere.

And then once you see it doesn't work,

You start asking the question,

What is really true?

Do you see the difference in,

Let's call it servicehood?

What are you serving?

What are you seeking?

Are you seeking what you think you want?

Which is just a product of your imagination,

Which is to seek something that's not real?

Or are you seeking what's actually true?

Which in some way is a path of understanding yourself more clearly.

Just like this transformation of chasing things that we think we want and then asking the deeper question,

Wait,

What do I really want?

That's asking the question,

What's really true?

And what happens is your wants and desires become more sincere,

More grounded in reality.

And this slowly,

But surely teaches you that what you really want is the truth.

Because again,

What is the truth?

You're already whole and complete.

And what's the driving anxiety that propels you into an imaginary future?

I'm missing something.

I'm not enough.

And so you go collecting treasures on earth,

Trying to prove yourself as enough.

But what you're collecting is a collection of nothing.

You're collecting temporary highs that inevitably come with the fear of loss.

This experience,

This life is so beautifully designed.

Designed by what we will call truth.

And if you're a religious person,

Designed by God.

If you're a spiritual person,

Designed by whatever,

It doesn't matter what you call it.

But it's the recognition and the acknowledgement that there is something that holds this all together.

For a very intentional purpose.

And the purpose of which is the thing that you want most.

So in one way,

It's profoundly true to say or point to that this whole landscape of life and being human is designed so that you can find the real prize.

And then the more you find that real prize,

The next part of the journey is simply sharing that prize with everyone.

And it's so amazing how this gets so twisted through religious dogma.

It's beautifully fascinating.

It's so beautifully fascinating.

Because in one way,

It's so true.

But then in another way,

It can get so twisted by the mind and become something fearful,

Something judgmental,

Which is to only perceive separation.

Which effectively says,

I'm right and everybody else is wrong.

We are adorable creatures.

Do you see this in your experience?

That your whole life you've been in the most sincere way looking for something that maybe you just didn't understand what it was,

But something felt like it was missing.

And you went looking for it in all of these strange places,

Many of which just brought more pain into your life.

And then even if you got what you thought you wanted,

Then that strange sense of something missing came back and sent you off on another anxious quest,

All of which riddled with some sort of fear.

And do you see that this is just the beautiful unfolding of a journey?

Like there's nothing wrong about it.

It's just the way of things.

In one way,

It's like your soul is going into class.

There's simply no judgment needed.

And even though there's no judgment needed,

There's an invitation of radical self-responsibility.

Not as a should,

But because it's true.

And what is radical self-responsibility other than recognizing how deeply powerful is this something inside of yourself that we'll call the truth of life?

And I slightly hesitate because there's a playful danger in talking about how powerful you are,

Which is a super spiritual thing to do.

But my God,

If you want to give the ego some sort of energy,

Tell the ego that it's God.

If you want to multiply that,

Then tell a spiritual ego that it's God.

I mean,

I understand the intent.

You know,

It reminds me there's this meme that I saw once that was a beautiful encapsulation of it.

The meme said,

Yes,

You are made of stardust,

But so is the trash.

So calm down.

You see this,

Right?

Like you could be told that you are made of stardust.

You are so special.

But so is the trash.

It too is made of stardust.

It's all made of stardust.

And again,

It's just all silly ideas trying to communicate a divinity within you.

But this divinity is in everything.

So what is there to feel special about?

What reason is there to lift yourself above somebody else if it's all the same thing?

Again,

For the human being to truly see this,

It doesn't offer any sense of superiority at all.

If anything,

It's profoundly humbling.

And so I don't buy any of the stories.

Not at all.

Because they're just stories.

They point to something that the story can't touch.

So I don't give any truth to the story.

And I know where all the stories point to.

The truth.

And so in some regard,

It doesn't matter what the story is.

Which is kind of like saying it doesn't matter what your story is.

I love you regardless.

And us as human beings,

My goodness,

We are so determined to cling to stories.

Which maybe that's a whole nother talk on its own.

But that's fascinating as to why.

It stems from an attempt to survive the ego.

Because the ego itself is a story.

And so in the realm of believing in stories,

The ego needs story to survive.

And so it clings to story.

It defends story.

It goes to war over story.

Because for the ego,

It's a matter of survival.

The ego needs the story to be true.

Which is like saying that which is imaginary is fighting to be real.

And it'll never work.

Thus is the invitation of surrender once you see that.

There's nowhere else to go.

There is only the truth.

But thank God,

Because the truth is the only thing you actually want.

And it has what your soul really craves.

And you know,

Beautifully,

If the framework of a religion works for you,

Fantastic.

I'm a huge supporter of that.

But I think also there's the opportunity to introduce a flavor of clarity.

That helps you align with the sincerity of the message rather than clinging to the story.

And still participate in your framework of chosen religion.

I think it can be extraordinarily helpful.

Once again,

Just because the story is not true doesn't mean judgment is needed for those who find value in the story.

Because the one who's judging another clinging to a story is judging through the attachment to their own story,

Which is hilarious.

Again,

Once you see the truth of things,

Judgment is impossible.

And of course,

We probably have to clarify the concept of judgment,

Which maybe we'll just do on another video sometime.

Reviews

Brilliant. I always feel like I am sobering up when listening to any of Tiger's talks. So grateful!

🙏🏽✨️

Thank you Tiger 🙏🏼❤️