Elevator Mind (What Is Now? Podcast)

What lies behind the door of consciousness? Saqib and Charles explore this question through the metaphor of an elevator. Each of these sessions begins with one minute of silence followed by an unplanned interpersonal exploration of the present moment and finishes with a short guided meditation based on the themes of the session.

Transcript

Welcome to the What Is Now experience.

We begin with one minute of silence and then explore whatever arises.

So please join us for this one minute of doing nothing.

We begin with one minute of silence and then explore whatever arises.

One thing that was standing out to me was the sound of the music.

And that was the sound of my heartbeat in my ears because I have headphones in so there's this pressure there.

And so I can feel and it seems like hear my heartbeat and might have said this before that I was noticing it kind of sounds like a drum beat,

Because I'm not really the source of it.

I'm not making it happen.

I'm not really the source of listening to it.

There's something kind of nice about that,

Something very real and true that's happening through and from me that I have no,

At least egoic ownership over.

So I was noticing that being kind of nice.

It's fascinating.

And I was thinking about not thinking maybe,

But feeling the same thing.

Maybe because we were discussing something about that before our session.

I don't know if that came to you because of that.

But I also focused on the heart and for me it was like this elevator that was moving between my brain and my heart.

So I would like bring it down to my heart,

This elevator and start feeling okay,

How do I feel here?

But then this elevator suddenly kind of shoot up and go to the head and I'll start thinking and again bringing it down and feeling it.

And then I realized that kind of when I bring this elevator down to the heart again and again then I do become more what you call mindful maybe and in the moment and feeling because then my,

It's like I'm not in my head anymore.

So that was my experience.

Have you thought of that elevator visual before?

Yes,

I have actually.

I was guiding a meditation once and this was the session that I did on heart centered living.

So it came to me naturally,

You know,

In that.

Because I think I had this at that time I had this vision of an elevator moving between my head and my heart.

Yeah,

I love that.

At any point it seems there's the possibility of pressing down or like going towards the lobby or something and there might be a tendency to like you're up on level 176 and you keep trying to jam it up to go higher.

I was just thinking if also if I'm that high maybe there's something scary about going all the way down or it feels like so far away or that just popped into my mind.

And what's that feeling of like what's the scary feeling?

Well A,

I thought of a sort of free fall.

Then that would be you know you just sort of drop and then maybe out of control or I lose my balance where I'm standing or even like you know float up off the ground a little bit.

And another is that I'm so far away I probably couldn't even get there.

I would start to go down and then would just maybe go 10 floors down and pop back up or even just find myself back on floor 176 without even knowing how I got there because I was trying to go down.

And that's very interesting because for me it's the opposite.

Like my scary feeling is moving upward towards my head because it is like going down is something that I can control.

It is slow going through this elevator down to the heart but going up is something which I cannot control.

You know it's like shooting off from the ground like a rocket and out of control totally.

So what's what's and what does it feel like is in control there?

So the control is like that the control is the intention and you know the will to be in the heart and to feel the present moment.

So I like for example when I'm making this intention okay I want to be in this moment and feel my heart.

So that is a controlled intention but when I am in my heart when my when this when does this elevator leave the heart that's not in my control because suddenly after some time I'll find myself thinking about something.

So I'm already in my head before even I realize that.

Yeah interesting.

So would you say that you like the deepest you ever intends to go up or you just find yourself up if that makes sense?

Yeah that's a very good question.

You know because I think what you are asking about is intentional thinking and unintentional thinking.

So I would say that most of it is unintentional,

Automatic but like at times it is intentional when I'm like okay you know what should I do about this?

So I'm like kind of rationalizing and thinking about and exploring possible options.

So that is intentional but that is very rare.

Most of the times it is like automatic and that's the scary part.

Does intentional thinking and unintentional thinking do those feel like they're within the same elevator or in the same place?

If you go up and you're in the realm of intentional thinking does it feel like you would be in the same space as if you found yourself unintentionally thinking?

That's a good question.

So to give a context to that and just to tell you like how I felt before about this.

When I was guiding this meditation earlier I had this visual that my heart is you know I had this visual that my head my brain is a room and I am entering that room and in that room I'm finding this version of me which is kind of very scared and which is into fear and which is kind of ruminating you know on thoughts and thinking about and think about about all the possibilities how things can go wrong and it's like a very cold and scary kind of a room.

There are ghosts in this room but then I had this visual that I'm going into the elevator I'm pressing the button of the heart and going to the floor of the heart and the room of the heart opens up and this room is like a lovely room which is decorated with red color and red hearts and you know all those decorative items and then there is this version of me in the heart which is which is like very happy joyous in the moment flowing and dancing and singing and doing all these things.

So this is the visual that I had but now that's a good question if the room of the intentional and unintentional thinking is different and yes I can see that now it is different because the unintentional thinking is more of that scary room because you know fears are there but the intentional thinking is more of a kind of a library where you know there is this intellectual version of Satyabh sitting and you know talking philosophy and all those things.

Right yeah yeah so then so in each of these situations in this visual that has unfolded for you it's like you open the elevator door on that floor and then you sort of find a version of yourself there and so in the first one is this scary space and you're I assume scared there's a scared sakkah that's there and then this other one that's on a lower level is just the sort of joyous dancing version of you and then now there's another one that's in the library or is maybe having a reading or is having a discussion about philosophy or something like that.

Yeah yeah yeah yeah this profess kind of a professor version of me was wearing these huge specs and you know this intellectual.

What does it feel like is well I'll respond to that and what does it feel to you like is the one that is entering each of these rooms or is observing them is that also a version of you or is that sort of beyond any of these individual versions?

It is like that observer you know pure observer like which is kind of beyond any perceptions which is like kind of just observing you know maybe what you call pure awareness or consciousness or you know soul whatever we call it but it is it is beyond any like concepts or perceptions or emotions or thoughts.

I always or generally find there's quite a bit of relief in that space in the space of whatever you might call that the observer or the one who is opening each of these elevator doors and looking at a version of you in a certain room like if I can just remember that me and just kind of rest in that me like it frequently feels like the answer to everything or like any question just that so that's feeling this might be responding to the question you were going to ask me but I was as you were describing these different rooms I was just noticing something relieving I don't know what the word is for me of also this other room I can't I can't see it and I can't walk in and look around at what's happening but it's like I walk backwards or close elevator doors and just come back into this space out of which I would go into each of those different rooms.

Interesting yeah.

And this space to me feels like it's a space that's so easy to forget about because of because it can't be grasped or it can't be seen it can't be conceptualized it's only this it's this thing that's always here but if I'm doing something or thinking about something or engaged in something that I can't really remember it in that moment.

Yeah yeah that's I think that's becoming aware of the awareness itself like the observer itself like till now you know and that's a wonderful you know vision that you have like whatever experience that you have because till now I was like I had only these three options in my mind you know like the heart the scary version of me and the intellectual version of me but what I didn't realize was that there is an observer which is observing these all these three versions right so maybe you know the visual that's right now coming in my mind is maybe again this is a concept but which is coming in my mind is that this observer is like you know has a has a room which is like a pure white space in which you know there is like silence and like this observer meditates in that room you know the vision that comes to my mind.

I really like that.

I'm just sort of resting in that space for a moment it was just making me think like any time that I might speak or so there's one way of thinking about that potentially of maybe I could really cultivate it or get in touch with it or drop into it in like meditation or something more or I have maybe more time or space and there's a kind of a cool notion to me is that it can be dropped into on a micro level before I say a word to you or before I stand up to go to do the next thing that I do like at any moment I can even for just a second or a half second I can sort of close the elevator door and like maybe take a breath there and open it back up and re-engage into this world that I see from from that space.

Yeah and so if like what I'm curious about is how like if you want to give a room like let's just assume that if you want to give a room to this observer how would that be for you?

Like what the room for my observer would be like?

Like yeah like the way I said that you know for me that observer is you know has a room which is and I will tell you why I'm asking that there is a reason why I'm asking this and I'm putting you on this part because you know I want to understand something.

So this observer I see this observer is as having a room which is like you know again as I said like a quiet silent meditation room but what is it for you?

Like what if you would describe the room of this observer how would that be for you?

Yeah would you be interested in like maybe this could be the the space of practice or silence at the end for for this period of time and we could take maybe a couple minutes and just you and me and potentially the listener if you're interested could maybe just if you want to close your eyes and become aware of what this space for you is like.

Like what do you imagine this space to be like popping into all the different rooms out of your elevator of consciousness?

You see there's maybe the one that's scared or overwhelmed thinking there's one that's like for example for you this philosophical one in the library or this one that is just kind of dancing and joyous and in touch with the moment.

What does it feel like is behind each of these or when you close the elevator door what's that space that's maybe the same that opens up and looks at each of them?

So maybe just take a couple minutes here and sit and get in touch with what it is like what does it seem like or what does it even look like or feel like in that basic observer room?

You know it's funny.

The feeling or visual that came up for me I don't know what this means or if it really represents my observer self or whatever.

I like the idea also of just trusting whatever visual comes up not that it has to mean something but just to go with it and that there's some meaning there it's the thing that arose out of this unconscious space to just stay with it or experience it or take it further and like try to flesh it out.

So the feeling that came up for me was that I so I closed I was you know out looking at some conscious experience and then closed the elevator doors and then I stepped back and it felt like this kind of vast room and I noticed what felt like the presence of a bunch of other people there and then I noticed that it was the feeling as if it was sort of the cast and crew of a tv show or of a movie and we had just closed the scene and then I dropped back into all these other actors,

Directors,

Producers,

Camera people like all the people that are working on the show but when we you know say cut and come back the show is all made up and it's it would I guess that feeling takes complete kind of seriousness or I don't know if that's the right word or pressure or whatever that I feel in looking at that scene and just kind of vanishes and this is this like kind of shoulder dropping feeling but also kind of a funny I had the urge to laugh I was just sort of laughing at myself in a way like dropping back into that.

The same feeling that we have after ending the episode.

Yeah yeah kind of like that okay cut all right just sort of like sit back in your chair sort of feeling but also and maybe it is similar but it was also a feeling of I don't know if embarrassment is right but like the one that was looking in there was very caught up in the role of that thing or that scene it's like very taking it very I don't know seriously is the right word but just like is in that role and it's it's everything and it's stressful feeling the stress of that role the suffering whatever however it might look and then kind of like you know closing the door and I almost feel embarrassed in in front of these other people that are working on the show that are like are you okay you thought that was you realize this you're just acting here right so that was yeah interesting visual that came up for me what came up for you before that I think that reminds me what you saw that reminds me of that quote by I think it's by William Shakespeare that all the world's stage and everyone is an actor something like that right yeah interesting yeah for me it was also interesting because it was like plain total darkness like it was falling back into like as soon as I you know shut those doors of the rooms I was falling back into this void this darkness and you know this is the very reason why I asked this question to you in the first place is you know in one of my previous meditations I talked about and I think I mentioned to you this before you know I did that on Saturday where I talked about I had this feeling in my meditation that there is there is a world which is manifest and there is a world which is unmanifest and this what you are talking about you know that stage where the the movie is going going on or the act is going on of thoughts you know emotions and and all these things but if we if we kind of shut that off then there is total darkness then there is a void so like the and I had this feeling and it was kind of scary in one of my previous meditations that I am you know why I am creating this world and why I am manifesting this world and why I am bringing thoughts emotions and all these body and this external world into picture is because this is the world of manifest and the world of unmanifest is so scary and so dark it's like void that to avoid that I have to kind of build this false reality for myself that I am experiencing something I relate to it through my visual anyways at least in the that version of me that's the actor that's that's that's really in the scene or it's taking it very seriously maybe out of you know the actor doesn't make any sense outside of the world of the movie or the the show or whatever it is when I drop back into that other space that me that's the actor is you know it's it's not even real and I'm something else so it maybe makes sense to have this pull to really be you know in this world and this is the reality versus being back in that space and remembering that it's just a show.

Interesting.

Thank you for sharing this visual I feel like that's going to be one that will stay with me and be on my mind is just kind of helpful for me in this moment of working through that and coming up with that feeling of the actor and dropping back into the stage with the other people working on this show so thanks for that.

Thank you and thank you for like I think opening up my mind to this other possibility of you know the observer that is observing and I never I never you know it's funny we use these words but I never thought about you know that observer observing these thoughts and you know what is that space for it yeah.

That's the power of exploring it in this interactive way.

Yes yes absolutely.

Well great I think we can leave it there for today.

Yeah.

I'll see you next time.

See you soon take care.

Thank you for joining us in the what is now experience.

We hope that you liked the episode.

If there were any insights or ideas arising for you as you were listening to our conversation then you can share those ideas through your comments.

We would love to know.

Stay tuned for the next episode.

Namaste.

Reviews

I’m so pleased to have been connected with this observation today. When I retreated into my observation space, it transformed instantly into a cocooning capsule that felt very much like an iridescent white control center. I had a viewing window, and a comfortable captains chair from which I could simple observe anything outside the elevator doors. I sensed this capsule was intuitively connected to everything else external of the control center. Inside I was safe and still. Whatever I chose to view would align before me and should I choose to engage I could exit the capsule (which was actually the elevator itself), and step out of the observer role into the creator/engager role.
This elevator was able to travel everywhere the net connected as micro or macro as I chose to explore. Quite simply within my own chakras, more complexly through an access point in my heart center that connects energetically to the entire universe. This elevator moves every way, like Charlie’s Great Glass Elevator that bursts free of the chocolate factory and knew no limits.
I like it in my observation room. It’s a marvelous place to retreat and separate.
Thank you deeply for the guidance to find this inner truth.

Hey guys. I’ve joined Saqib in quite a few Lives lately, and previously done so with Charles—I’m really beginning to enjoy both of you and your work 🖤. This was the first of your podcasts that I’ve listened to. I loved that minute of silence at the beginning. Also, I am wow’ed by the dynamic you two have with one another.. that respect is visceral! Thanks so much 🖤