Welcome,
Welcome,
Welcome,
Welcome.
All right,
I'm going to invite us into this moment.
You know,
I have to laugh at my human and be so incredibly thankful for these moments where I get to see beyond the noise,
Where I get to see the beautiful difference between who I think I am and what is actually here right now.
And for me,
Really,
This is the essence of a deep dive.
And seeing what you really are,
Which is also seeing the enormity of what you're not.
And so this is what I'm going to invite right now,
That regardless of where we think we are in life or even in this moment,
Regardless of what we might be feeling,
To just take a moment and zoom way out and ask ourselves,
Wait,
What's really going on here?
Again,
Not as something to think about so much,
But just an opening.
Because recognize this,
That as we engage our human experience,
Our awareness becomes so narrow,
So focused in on tiny little narratives,
Little stories that we're telling.
Where we got to be,
What someone might be thinking,
What we thought went wrong,
What we hope will go right,
Yada,
Yada,
Yada,
Yada,
Yada.
And that's all fine.
But for this moment,
We're just going to zoom out.
And we can begin with that simple but very practical discernment.
Yeah,
I can see the difference between all the thoughts swirling around in my mind.
And then there's this moment right now.
There is to just be.
And I can see that my thoughts that are swirling around aren't even looking at what's here right now.
And that's fine.
Which is really beautiful to see,
Because then you recognize that,
Oh,
This isn't about looking in the mind.
The mind can't see this.
So we're going to acknowledge that,
And then we're just going to take three deep breaths,
And really just gently invite ourselves to more and more fully just drop into the present moment.
Let's just breathe here.
I love the question,
Who am I?
I love it because it's hilarious.
What a silly question.
Because if anything that comes out of my mouth can really touch what I am.
It's like no matter what I say about myself,
It's like,
I'm not really that.
Can you recognize a part of what you are that's completely untouched by anything you might say about yourself?
Can you see so clearly that anything the mind says,
You see that you're not that?
It's like no matter what name you give the tree,
It's not that.
Oh,
It's an oak tree.
Is it?
Is that what it is?
It's Thursday.
Is it?
It's Thursday?
That's a real thing?
You see all these ideas that we put on things.
It's not that.
And if I say I'm Tiger,
Well,
That kind of doesn't make any sense.
That's a weird name to begin with.
You see,
There's something just so much more real.
In the same way,
Like looking at the tree.
Even to say it's a tree creates a very restrictive limit.
To really see the tree,
You see how deeply integrated it is with the wholeness of life.
It's not just there on its own by itself.
It's an expression of everything.
And you know,
Just to say it so directly,
Because I just want to invite you to see it.
Maybe you're looking out a window right now and you can see trees.
Can you see that what you think is a tree is just God pretending to be a tree?
Can you see that birds are just God pretending to be birds?
You see these names that we give these things.
They're not that.
And if they're not that,
Then what are they really?
Do you see this veil that comes up when you put a name on something?
And you think you see it,
But you see the name.
You see your idea.
It's like the moment you put a name on it is the moment you stop looking at it.
And what a beautiful mystery to walk up to a tree and be like,
I don't know what you are.
I thought I knew you.
And then you get real close up.
What is this?
This is alive.
You see,
There's this same sort of veil that happens when we look in the direction of what we are.
We're so quick to assume.
We're so quick to believe the mind's commentary.
And yet that commentary is so far removed from the reality.
Even our commentary about other people,
We think we know who they are.
And yet the only thing we're seeing is our mind's content.
We're not even seeing what's real.
And again,
It's fine.
It's fine.
But let's just be honest about what's going on here.
And in the same way that we look at ourselves,
Let's be honest.
Do you really see yourself?
Or are you seeing that veil?
And I'll tell you this,
And you can take this to the bank.
If you're ever disturbed emotionally,
You are not seeing yourself.
You are seeing the veil.
And to just peek behind that curtain,
I'm just going to assume it's as obvious for you.
But when I really,
Really look,
It is so obvious that all of my emotional disturbance,
All of my worry,
All of my concerns,
All of my fear,
They are inescapably wrapped up in the veil of who I think I am.
And this is one of those profound things that I am blown away by how much I find myself coming back to this truth over and over and over again.
Because in the forest of the mind's noise,
It's so easy to believe the narratives that say it's about something other than that.
It's about something other than me trying to protect the character that I think I am.
And you know,
Comically,
And I do mean this comically,
If we rewind 20,
30,
40 years,
Maybe you might have heard that insight,
And you would say,
I can see how that's true in some cases.
And then you get some more experience,
Oh yeah,
It's true in a lot more cases.
And then you get some more,
It's true every time.
And of course,
This doesn't mean that that's wrong or misplaced forever and eternally.
It'll always just be an innocent misunderstanding.
Because I'll tell you this,
The veil of who you think you are doesn't want you to see that.
And I really invite an openness to see that,
To see that this character of you really wants you to believe that the problem is out there somewhere.
Even out there is yourself,
Meaning that it's a problem with you somehow.
You're not good enough.
You don't look the right way,
There's something wrong with you.
The ego that is identified with does not want to see that the real issue is the identification with the ego,
With the belief in the ego.
Because if you see that,
Then the ego is out of a job.
In the same way that as we live our lives and we tell these stories,
We are so incredibly crafty,
Crafty in the stories that we tell,
That build up evidence about what we think is happening,
How things should be or shouldn't be.
And yet underneath it is this subtle attempt to keep the character alive,
To avoid the stark reality of that ego's disappearance.
And also,
Innocently,
It makes perfect sense why the ego would do that.
So there's a tremendous amount of compassion.
If the truth of life is the end of the ego's self-importance,
Then it's like a form of death for the ego.
Of course it's going to do everything it can to avoid that death,
Of course.
So there's no need to judge it or condemn it,
It's just of course.
Of course you're playing that game.
But so blessed we are to have a moment to pull back that curtain and go,
Ah,
I see you.
I see what you're doing here,
Taking it personally,
Making this about you.
I see what you're doing here,
Putting thoughts in other people's minds about you.
I see what you're doing here,
Trying to be worshipped by other people.
I see what you're doing here,
In your effort to survive.
It's okay.
You see,
This awareness that sees all of this happening is not concerned by it.
It's not worried.
It's really important to see.
Or else you'll end up with an ego that's concerned about another ego,
Which often looks like a spiritual ego that's trying really hard to get rid of the ego.
You see,
The ego is having a dream.
That's the veil.
It's imagining something into existence,
And it believes it's real.
It looks real.
It feels real.
It's just like when you fall asleep at night.
You have a dream,
And you think it's real.
Could you imagine waking up and saying,
Okay,
You can't do that anymore.
You can't get tricked.
No,
Go to sleep.
Have your dream.
Because when you wake up,
You see that nothing happened.
You go,
Wow,
What a ride.
It got me.
And you wake up and you see,
Oh wow,
I'm okay.
It's like right now,
We'd be still for a moment,
And you see that,
Oh,
I'm whole.
I'm complete.
And isn't that the big concern?
As you travel through this life,
Somehow you're not whole,
Somehow you're not complete,
Somehow you're not enough.
That is the dream of separation.
I dream myself as separate from God.
I dream myself as separate from life,
Which is just like the tree that thinks it's all alone.
And the tree wakes up and realizes,
Oh,
I am life.
I am God pretending to be a tree.
And so as you wake up from your dream,
And you see that you are not that,
And you realize,
Oh wow,
I'm God pretending to be a human,
And then life whispers to you,
Yeah,
Go play.
Go be a human.
You'll be okay.
Go have your dream.
