164 The Power And Art Of Flowing Into Awakening, A Magic Q&A

Listener comments and questions made this truly a Magical Q&A! We discussed the power and art of Flow as the key to Awakening, Enjoying the Journey, Hurry Sickness, Nature of "Evil", Experiencing Love, Death, Stuck in the Story, Are we the sky or the clouds...or both?, grieving, being pulled into emotions, going slow....baby steps, melting troubles, etc.

This recording of a live Q&A has been edited for clarity, length, and helpfulness.

These podcasts are here to support your personal path of awakening, whatever that might be. I feel they are most powerful when listened to in sequence from podcast one forward because each is built on the last. Though they also all stand on their own. If anything does not resonate, please disregard it and follow your heart.

Though I am a psychotherapist, and these podcasts are being offered to be spiritually helpful, they are not psychotherapy. Please consider reaching out to a psychotherapist if one is ever needed.

Transcript

Hello everybody.

This is William Cooper.

Welcome to Awakening Together Relaxing into Happiness.

I trust everybody's doing well today.

Hi everybody.

It's good to see you.

You all look great.

Hey,

Kate.

Hey,

Katie.

Katherine,

Hi.

So good to see you.

Jennifer,

So good to see you.

Today,

As with all the live sessions,

It's a time for you to ask questions.

Hey,

Therese,

Great to see you.

Susan,

It's a time to ask any questions that you have regarding your path of awakening.

And really,

What does that include?

Just about anything,

Whether it's how to meditate or,

Hey,

I'm experiencing this or I'm experiencing that.

You can ask about it.

Also,

These have been very difficult times.

So many of you have reached out and told me what's been going on in your lives,

And it's difficult.

I don't know if I know of one family that's not having a difficult time.

All of you are either having a difficult time yourselves or know somebody who is.

So if you want to talk about any of that,

It's just hard in the world these days.

That's okay,

Too.

Hey,

Patricia.

But first,

I'm going to start by what we do.

I'm going to talk about awakening a little bit,

Because that centers you in who you truly are.

And when you're coming from who you truly are,

It solves a lot.

You can see clearly and experience clearly.

And it's the solution for almost everything.

Hey,

Jen.

So first,

I want to ask you a question.

What if you're locked in a room and you're very,

Very thirsty,

And you're concerned there is no water,

There's no liquid to drink,

And you're actually so thirsty,

You're concerned.

And you don't know when you're going to get out of this room.

Would it make a difference to you if you discover to your left was this clear glass of ice?

Would that be helpful?

As opposed to not having this glass of ice in the room?

Yes.

Because ice is water.

Problem solved.

But what if you didn't know that ice was water?

This wouldn't mean a thing to you.

And yet,

You have a full glass of water in the form of ice,

All these ice cubes,

Right next to you.

But if you did not know that ice cubes were water,

You might continue to panic.

What if you were in a world where you didn't feel loved?

What if everywhere you looked,

There wasn't love for you?

What if you felt abandoned,

Left alone,

No love,

And really not much hope or thought of love in your future?

It's like your world is a desert without love.

What if that was your world?

Would it help if you found out that everything in the world was love?

Just like if you were thirsty and you found out that everything in this glass was ice,

Which was water.

Well,

Everything in the world is made of one thing,

And that's love.

Everything is love,

Everywhere.

But if you don't know it's love,

It doesn't do you much good.

Like if you don't know this is water,

This ice,

It won't do you much good.

Well,

Awakening is simply about experiencing the world as love,

Experiencing yourself as 100% love.

That's what Awakening is.

And it will quench your thirst.

There's only one thing in the world,

There's one thing,

And that's consciousness.

But in the world of Awakening,

When you're in a sea of love,

But you don't feel it,

You don't see it clearly,

There's only one thing that's important.

And just like it's important to know that this ice will melt into water,

And you know how to do it.

Just put it in a warm oven,

Or put it out on a warm day,

Put it on the stove,

Put it in the microwave.

Because what does that do?

It starts melting the ice,

And there's a flow.

It turns it into water.

The frozen ice,

The immobile water molecules begin to move.

And when they begin to move,

They begin to drip.

And when they begin to drip,

They begin to melt.

And when they begin to melt,

Your glass fills full of water.

That is the Awakening process.

And that is why you do your practice.

Because it helps all the consciousness that's within you,

That you can't feel,

All the love that you are,

All the love that's all around you,

It helps it melt.

So,

When I started to say that as far as Awakening is concerned,

There's only one thing that's important.

And it's universal.

It's very simple.

There's only flow.

There's only melting in Awakening.

Everything in your world flows.

Unless you decide to keep it frozen.

Everything in its natural state flows.

We,

Me,

I'm the one that keeps it frozen inside of me.

Nobody else does.

Nobody else is inside of me but me.

Makes it simple.

If I'm not flowing,

It's because something I'm doing.

I'm freezing that ice,

So I get very thirsty.

I can't drink.

I can't drink in love because I'm freezing consciousness into an object.

How do I do that?

We've talked about it a lot in past podcasts,

But just as a quick review.

Consciousness is free-flowing.

Everything is consciousness in the world.

Everything.

I can take consciousness that flows through me freely and I can freeze it into a shape by applying willpower and an attitude.

I put those two things into consciousness and then I will manifest something.

The easiest things to manifest,

The things that we're good at anyway,

Are manifesting thoughts.

You can think a thought anytime you want.

You can make one.

You can make one right now.

Oh,

I'll think something.

I'll think of an elephant.

And there one is.

The second thing that we do real well is we manifest emotions.

That's another object,

Just like a thought is an object.

You see it.

You can look at it.

You can live your life through it.

It's an object.

So is an emotion.

I can take free-flowing consciousness,

Which is love,

And I can freeze it by using my willpower and putting an attitude in it.

I hate you.

So I put willpower and I put an attitude.

Oh,

I hate.

And I formed out of water.

I formed ice and I formed a nice knife,

One that can stab you with life-giving water.

I can freeze it into the shape of a knife or I can freeze love into the shape of hate.

I can do that.

That's why Jesus went around and said,

Don't judge another because it hurts you.

He said,

Forgive others.

Because if you don't forgive others in order to not forgive them,

You have to keep that object inside that normally would be love,

But it's frozen into hate.

Oh,

I'll never forgive you because you did this and you did that.

And therefore I can never forgive you.

You're a terrible person.

Well,

If that has melted and it's gone,

There's nothing for me to be upset about anymore.

If I let it melt back into love within me,

All there is is love and I can't hate you.

So to let it melt is called forgiveness.

All of these spiritual teachings are about letting things flow,

Letting them melt.

As many of you know,

I've been around a lot of spiritual teachers over the last 50 years.

I've seen Ammaji.

I've been through 200 darshans.

Shiva Shakti,

1,

600 darshans in India.

These are meetings with her.

Bhagavan,

My main guru,

I was with for 10 years.

So I have some experience in the East,

And I've been around vastly awakened teachers.

And who I've just told you is the tip of the iceberg.

Dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of awakened teachers.

And I can tell you if you've never had the experience,

It's like being next to the brightest light.

It's palpable.

And sometimes you can,

You don't feel like you can get off the floor.

It takes your breath away.

They are so bright.

And they show you what you're like,

If you're not frozen,

You are that bright.

That's one of the main values of being around an awakened teacher.

You can feel what you could be,

But for your frozenness,

But for my frozenness.

So,

How do we freeze things?

Maybe we don't want to do it anymore.

Maybe because when everything melts,

Here's how I experience things.

And fortunately,

I've experienced all sides of the coin.

Most of my life has been in pain and depression and anxiety.

Very cut off from myself.

I've worked very hard for 50 years.

I started meditating in 1973.

I've done everything possible.

I've been with every teacher possible all over the world and maintained a job.

I've worked hard.

It's been my main focus because I was in that much suffering.

I say that to use myself as an example,

Because I realize there are so many of you because I've talked to you that are experiencing similar things that I've experienced.

In this group,

Some of you are deeply awake.

Most everybody is awake in at least one area of their life,

Because it's not a flat plane.

We all experience different depths of awakening in different areas.

Eventually they all catch up with each other.

But some of you are far more loving than I am.

Some of you are far more aware than I am.

Some of you are far more,

All sorts of things than I am.

But one thing I know,

Because I know the difference,

Is I know that I'm awake enough.

Everything I talk about in these podcasts,

I experience.

I don't talk about it unless I experience it.

I say that to say as encouragement that somebody like me can experience these things that I'm talking about.

I don't talk about everything is consciousness because I read a good book or talked to two dozen gurus that told me so.

I experience everything in the world as love.

I can touch this desk and I can feel the love in it.

I can see the love everywhere.

I can see it strobing in and out of existence.

I experience myself as both nothingness,

Which is out of existence,

Which is emptiness,

Which is very full emptiness.

It's a paradox,

But that's what it is.

You experience yourself through intuition.

And I experience myself as the fullness of objects of consciousness in the world.

When I've talked in the earlier podcasts about,

I experienced myself as a rainbow.

It wasn't just about me.

It's about you.

It's who you are.

It's who all of us are.

And I say this for you to check in with yourself.

Some of you know this very well already,

But I'll just say it.

On the deepest level,

You experience yourself as beyond vastness because there are no words.

It's beyond anything in existence.

So words can't describe or senses cannot describe who we truly are because senses only describe things that are in existence,

Things that you can touch,

Feel,

Listen to see your deepest level.

You can only know through intuition,

But you can know more than you can know the things in this world.

I experienced that.

And then I experienced myself as I come into the world as a bright light.

That's who you are.

Often in these podcasts,

I start off and say,

You're a bright light because you are.

And as that light slows down,

I experience sound like a deep OM sound.

All those monks,

They're imitating what the real sound of the universe is.

And there's also a high pitched sound,

And I can hear it right now,

And the low pitched sound.

So all of this is happening simultaneously.

And then I experienced myself as love,

Peace,

Well-being,

Joy,

Happiness.

These are the qualities of our being,

All of us.

I mean,

Across all of the literature,

Every awakened person says this,

And you can read it.

Those of you that are Christian oriented,

You can go to Galatians,

Fruits of the spirit,

Love,

Peace,

Joy.

That's what I experienced myself as,

Not because it's in Galatians,

But because that's who I am.

That's who you are.

So,

As that slows down,

It turns into atoms,

Which turn into molecules,

Which turn into all the objects in creation,

Dogs,

Cats,

Thoughts,

Emotions.

That's who you are.

So everything is love.

It's even deeper than love.

It comes from emptiness.

Deeper than love is also light.

Emptiness into light,

Into love.

It's all of these things.

But in this world,

What we experience mostly is love.

We know what love is.

As you awaken,

You start to see everything as emitting light.

That's a little bit higher than love.

It's a higher vibration.

So all of this is happening simultaneously.

I say all this to say it's very real.

It's not just some book.

It's not some well wishes.

So you're on the right path.

Many of you already know this.

So we're back to that question.

What if you were in a world without love?

And it turns out everything in that world was frozen love.

How would you melt it?

Well,

I gave you a hint already.

We create objects when we put energy into consciousness,

Attitude and willpower.

We freeze it into whatever we want to,

Any emotion,

Any thought we want.

And then we start to live life through those thoughts and emotions.

They aren't who we are any more than we're not these ice cubes.

When we put energy into water,

We can turn it into ice.

But we're not the ice cubes.

And ultimately,

The only real thing is the water.

Ice cubes are simply water.

There's only one thing and that's water.

There's only one thing and that's consciousness,

Which is love.

So we know how to freeze things because we do it every day.

We freeze things into thoughts and emotions.

And we live life through those thoughts and emotions.

And just like putting on these sunglasses right now,

Everything looks yellow.

Well,

When we look through our thoughts and emotions,

Everything is colored by them.

It's not really how things are,

But it's how life looks to us.

See,

Things aren't really yellow.

It's just I put on these sunglasses and they look yellow.

Things aren't how they look through my personality.

It's just that I put on my personality and they look that way.

So how do we melt them?

We quit putting energy into the water to turn it into ice and it will melt back into water.

We quit putting energy into the consciousness to turn it into frozen love.

And it will turn back into love.

We will feel ourselves as love.

We will feel everything else around us as love.

And when you emit love,

Guess what you see in the world?

Guess what's reflected back to you?

Love.

If you are love and you look in a mirror,

You see love.

If you are love and you look into the world,

It reflects back to you as love.

Then there's love everywhere.

You're drinking love.

You are love.

You're feeling love.

Everybody around you is love.

There's no scarcity of love.

There never was.

So how do you melt these objects that we've already created that make it seem like we're trapped in a world without all the love that we might like or peace?

The qualities of being,

The qualities of slow down consciousness,

As I was saying just a little earlier,

Are love,

Peace.

So it's peace too.

Joy,

It's joy too.

Happiness,

Well-being.

It's all a flow.

As consciousness melts,

There's only one thing which is a flow.

So how do you melt it?

You quit applying energy.

And how do you do that?

Well,

If I sit still,

That's called meditation,

And simply watch a thought,

I don't jump into it and think it.

I watch it.

I see the thought.

I'm sitting still and a thought pops up.

I see it.

So I watch it.

It thinks itself.

Because I created this thought already in the past,

And now because I'm sitting still,

I can't repress it because I can't distract myself away from it,

Thereby repressing it,

And it pops up.

So there it is.

And it has the energy that I put in it before.

So it sort of starts thinking itself with its embedded energy.

It starts expending this energy.

And as I watch it,

It melts.

How long that takes,

It depends on how much energy you put in that thought.

How many years have you been thinking that thought?

That's a lot of energy.

So it takes that long.

Not years,

But I mean,

It might take a while to melt it.

Might take more than 10 seconds.

It might take more than an hour.

You just watch it.

Now,

That's how it melts.

Emotions the same way.

You're sitting there.

You feel an emotion.

Instead of jumping into it and getting all involved in it.

Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness.

You just sit and watch it.

You feel it.

You experience it.

And it begins to emit its energy,

Which typically,

If it's in a repressed emotion,

Typically that energy doesn't feel good,

Does it?

I don't repress happiness.

I only repress the things I don't want to deal with,

Which are hurt,

Fear,

Anger,

Stuff like that.

And I see your question,

Catherine.

It's a very good one.

Catherine says,

I don't always succeed being the detached witness.

Thoughts are no problem.

So I can watch those easily,

But emotions have a much stronger energy and pull.

Yes,

They do.

And one of the reasons,

Thank you,

Catherine,

Great question and observation.

And it's true for all of us,

Not just you,

Every human being.

But the reason that's true,

One of the reasons is these repressed emotions when they come up.

Remember when you were smaller or when you don't repress happiness,

So it's a troubling emotion.

And when you're in the middle of that emotion,

The reason you repress it,

The reason you push it down is you feel overwhelmed.

You feel like it's not going to end or you don't know how to handle it.

So embedded in that energy is the feeling that you can't handle it.

That's why you repressed it in the first place.

That is part of the emotion or that it will never end or that I have to do something because it's never going to go away.

So when it comes up to melt like an ice cube,

Part of what's melting out is that feeling of it will never go away,

Or I can't handle it,

Or I'm being overwhelmed or whatever that might be.

So when that comes up,

Sometimes we jump into the emotion and rather than feeling the discomfort,

Because when the ice cube melts,

It emits the energy that was put into it,

It emits the cold.

When an emotion melts,

It emits the energy that was put into it.

It emits the hurt,

The anger,

The helplessness feeling.

I can't do anything about it feeling I'm overwhelmed.

This will never end or I need to deal with this.

I need to protect myself.

So I need to jump into it and solve it or on and on and on whatever you felt at the time it first came about.

So when it comes up,

All these emotions come up.

And when they come up,

They hook us again often.

So we jump into the emotion we rather than watching it or feeling it emit all this very painful and uncomfortable energy rather than simply feel it and let it melt like an ice cube.

We think,

Oh,

No,

I am being overwhelmed.

Oh,

No,

I don't know how to deal with it.

Oh,

No,

I have to figure this out.

So we jump right back into it.

And we relive it.

Because if we let it melt,

There's nothing left to jump back into,

It's gone.

So the only thing we can jump into is something that hasn't melted.

And by jumping into it,

We maintain it,

We prohibit it from melting.

Because how can I fix it if it's gone?

The only way I can fix something is if I keep it alive,

So that I can work on it.

I'll tell you an interesting thing that I've thought about.

Jim Carrey,

The actor,

Played a part,

He was playing this comic,

A real life comic,

His name was Andy Kaufman,

He died.

And Jim Carrey in this movie,

The name of the movie is The Man in the Moon.

He was a method actor,

Jim Carrey.

And what that meant was he became Andy Kaufman.

Months before the movie,

He lived Andy Kaufman,

He stayed in character.

If he talked to you,

He was Andy Kaufman.

He thought like Andy Kaufman,

He emoted like Andy Kaufman,

He saw the world like Andy Kaufman.

He put on,

He created and froze Andy Kaufman's filters,

His personality.

And he saw the world through that new set of sunglasses called this new set of filters called Andy Kaufman.

And he even got in fights with people like Andy Kaufman would do at times.

And he stayed in character,

He couldn't get out of character after the movie.

He was stuck as Andy Kaufman.

He wasn't really Andy Kaufman.

He really is Jim Carrey.

But he got stuck as Andy Kaufman.

We get stuck as our personality,

We're really not our personality,

But we get stuck as our personality.

By putting his attention,

His willpower and his attitude into consciousness,

He created the filters to become Andy Kaufman.

He eventually said,

With great effort and with time,

He was able to melt those filters and re-become Jim Carrey.

By the way,

He eventually got out of it,

But he said it was very,

Very difficult.

It took quite a while.

And it wasn't complete for quite some time.

That's where we are in the world.

We really are love.

But just as Jim Carrey was pulled into his frozen character and lenses of Andy Kaufman and kept it alive all through the movie and after,

We are pulled through the lenses of our old troubles and we keep them alive.

It's called our personality.

And our personality is typically formed when we don't know who we are,

And it's formed feeling that there is no love in the world.

Therefore,

I need to get love.

So,

I make a personality that can be cute and becoming so that I can be attractive and you can love me or intellectual or wealthy or whatever your thing is to get love.

We form a personality to do that.

Or we don't know that the world is made of peace.

So,

We don't feel safe.

So,

We form a personality to be strong and protective.

Or we don't know that we're full of joy and fulfillment.

That's who we are.

So,

We feel disgruntled all the time and angry and frustrated.

So,

We form a personality to brutalize and get what we want and not be frustrated.

So,

As these things melt,

As our personality melts and we don't jump back into it,

We do become love,

Peace and joy.

It can be very,

Very difficult though.

So,

You take it in baby steps.

Any little bit of this ice cube that melts today doesn't have to melt tomorrow.

Any little bit of our filters that melt today don't have to melt tomorrow.

So,

Take it in baby steps.

Great question,

Catherine and Katie.

I can see that you're asking a great question.

But first,

Some people have mailed in and made comments and they pertain to what we're talking about.

So,

I want to talk about them first.

In commenting on podcast 29 in the reviews,

Kristen wrote,

And by the way,

These podcasts are designed to be sequential and they're most powerful when you listen to them starting at number one all the way through.

Because each builds on the last,

But they each stand independently.

And what can be very important in these podcasts and very powerful are the reviews.

These podcasts have been downloaded over 90,

000 times on Insight Timer and there are eight and a half thousand reviews.

So,

People like you are very deep and they write such good questions in the reviews or comments or observations.

So,

Just as important as the podcast often are the reviews because they're coming from you and they're quite profound.

So,

I'm going to read some right here.

Also,

It's good to know if anybody's new and you're wondering about these podcasts,

I made them because I felt so separated way back 50 years ago and they're what I found to be helpful over the last 50 years.

And I try to keep them simple and step by step.

They're like colored tiles and an overall mosaic called your awakening.

They're very practical.

It's not don't be attached.

You think,

Oh yeah,

That's good.

But it's the next,

How not to be attached or it's not,

Hey,

Love is good.

It's how to feel love,

How to experience love,

How to be love.

It's the how.

It's not only the good thought,

But it's how to experience that in your life.

Because that's what I've experienced.

And people find them very helpful out of those eight and a half thousand reviews.

They average about 97 and a half percent approval rate,

4.

9 stars out of five.

That's over all eight and a half thousand reviews.

That's the average.

So,

If you're new to this,

I would say people are finding them helpful,

These podcasts.

Anyway,

Equally helpful are the reviews.

So,

I'm going to read this one from Christine,

And I've heavily edited these for the podcast.

She says,

I think in part,

My confusion comes from the Buddhist teaching that I am taking to literally.

And that teaching is you are the sky,

Not the clouds.

When comparing our emotions to the clouds,

They eventually move on.

Whereas our true self is the blue sky that is always there.

You seem to say we are the sensation,

Whereas the other teachings say they are something just passing through.

So,

There's a bit of confusion,

Perhaps just with how a teaching is used.

I understand you to say,

To feel a physical tension in your body,

Allow it to be there and feel it to the capacity you can,

And it will melt back into consciousness.

I think this podcast was another way to talk about interdependence,

No separate self.

Thanks again.

And it's what we were talking about.

Let me clarify just a little bit more deeply.

In the spiritual path,

There are many steps that often work better if you take them in sequence,

I've found.

Because if I just say right off the bat,

You are,

Everything is love,

Feel it.

What does that do?

How do you feel it?

And even if I could,

I mean,

I'm all I'm feeling is pain of all this stuff inside of me.

I don't even know what you're talking about.

So instead,

What I've said in these podcasts,

Like number podcast number,

Probably four or five or six,

Somewhere early,

Is sit still.

Just sit still and observe.

First,

We talk about what you're not,

You're not your thoughts and emotions.

If they disappeared,

You'd still be here and I don't have any thoughts and emotions.

But I'm here,

But they're gone.

So by process of elimination,

You're not them.

Then we talk about what you are.

And we talk about that experientially.

And then I say sit still so you can't repress stuff.

And then it comes up,

You watch it,

It unwinds,

Expends its energy,

And releases and relaxes,

And melts back into consciousness.

You are the one watching,

You're the sky that's watching,

You are awareness that actually is coming from beyond existence.

If you put your attention there,

You'll notice there's nothing there,

Yet there is something there.

You're aware of everything,

Awareness is there.

And what you're watching is in creation,

That's thoughts and emotions.

And those are passing through.

Thoughts pass through your mind,

Emotions pass through.

And if you stay as awareness and don't get involved in the thoughts,

They will release their energy and discharge.

And you are not your thoughts and emotions in that regard in that very first step.

However,

When I started this podcast and said as far as awakening,

It's all flow.

What I meant by that is as you progress in your practice,

Which many of you have,

When you simply sit there in your life,

Without even meditating,

You're just going through life.

And you let everything exude whatever energy it is exuding without getting involved in it,

Without refreezing without jumping into it.

If a car cut you off in traffic,

And you feel anger coming up in you,

You just let it do its thing.

And that is a powerful energy,

Isn't it anger,

You can feel it,

It's full of energy.

Well,

That's the same radiant energy that you feel in those gurus I was telling you about,

That takes your breath away.

That's the your energy.

But it's been diverted into frozen anger.

Now that the car cut you off,

It's coming out,

It's releasing.

And if you just let it release without getting involved,

Oh,

I could have been killed.

Oh,

What a bad driver that guy was,

That's me getting involved keeping it alive.

But instead,

I just feel anger,

I let it discharge out of my body.

And it turns into peace.

If I do that,

With everything,

Everything turns into peace.

Do it with everything inside of me and everything outside of me.

Let it all flow.

It turns into peace.

Let everything flow.

So now I find out that it's all one.

It's not only everything beyond this existence.

It's existence itself.

I am everything.

Because it all melts one into the other.

I am everything.

I've told you in past podcasts,

When I just look at anything,

I see it strobe in and out of existence.

1000s of times a second.

It's like it's pure black.

And then suddenly the thing,

The object and then out and in out and in out and in this computer I'm looking at right now is strobing in and out of existence in and out in and out in and out in and out.

So as I started to say,

We're a rainbow.

And we are all of these things at the same time one turning into the other turning into the other,

Back and forth,

Back and forth,

Back and forth.

Existence is created every millisecond.

It's not like there's a solid thing out there.

It's totally nothing.

And then totally something and then totally nothing and totally something.

So the next step in awakening,

And I'm back to Christine's great observation about the sky and the clouds is that you are both the sky and the clouds.

They strobe in and out.

When you look at your emotions,

And you simply watch them and they melt.

Suddenly they'll merge with you and you'll see I'm that which is watching which is beyond creation.

And I'm light.

And I'm all the consciousness that I've been watching and all the objects that I've been watching.

If you just let them be themselves,

You will feel energy from all of them.

You will feel any angry feelings within yourself,

Any love feelings,

Any anxiety feelings,

You will feel everything.

And as all of that melts,

It all turns into water,

Which in terms of awakening is pure light and love and well being and happiness and radiance.

And that's what these gurus are expressing.

They are melted ice cubes.

I'm just kind of melted ice cubes.

Here's a glass half full of water.

I'm awake enough.

Maybe that's more like me.

I experience ice cubes.

And I experience water.

I imagine many of you are like this.

But when you get clear enough,

You can see the things that I'm describing,

You can experience what I'm describing.

So that's why I use myself as an example.

Because it's you,

You could use you as an example.

And many of you have,

Which brings me to the next observation.

And this is from you,

Katie,

And I've heavily edited it.

So please let me know if I'm not true to what you were trying to say.

But I did it for the podcast,

And it's still going to be a little bit long,

But I think it's so good.

And by the way,

All of these unedited versions are on our group,

Which is on insight timer under awakening together.

You're all free to join,

You're all free to read the comments,

You're all free to post comments,

And other people might jump in and comment.

Anyway,

Katie said this,

And I thought it was so insightful.

She said,

I think so much of what keeps us frantic and worried that we aren't doing something correctly,

Quote unquote,

Is the instant gratification society we live in.

We are taught to ignore our pain,

Pop a pill,

And go on with life.

Just don't feel things.

Our feelings weren't acknowledged.

And then in society,

We're taught to continue not to feel them.

That's guaranteeing that the pain repressed will return at some point,

Once again,

Seeking our attention.

Many teachers on this app,

Including William Cooper,

Teach about,

Quote,

Allowing it unquote,

By allowing it,

Feeling it,

It integrates into our system,

Or passes through us.

And that's what I'm saying.

If you wanted to boil down awakening,

I would just use one word flow.

Just let everything flow,

And it will melt.

Don't keep it frozen.

Don't dive into it.

Just let it flow.

Feel the energy of it.

That's it melting.

Feel the anger if it comes up,

But don't get involved with it.

Feel the hurt,

Feel the pain.

Let it happen.

If you did that one thing flow,

Everything would melt and you would be a radiant guru.

However,

To do that all at once in my I can't do it,

I couldn't do it.

So that's why I tell everybody,

Do it in baby steps,

Let a little bit of the ice cube melt every day.

Let it flow consistent daily practice,

And those ice cubes will melt.

Let it flow.

The opposite of flowing is not flowing.

And in our personal life,

We call that tension.

What's not flowing,

We stop,

How do we stop it tension?

How do we know we're stopping something we feel tension,

What is tension feel like pain,

That's not relaxing pain,

That's tension,

Hurt,

Anxiety,

Anger,

Stress.

You know what tension is.

But tension is a component of all these things which freeze which stop the flow.

Yet they emit energy if you leave them alone.

Anger emits energy,

Anxiety emits energy.

Wow,

That anxiety.

Can you feel it?

Oh,

Yeah.

Does it hurt?

Oh,

Yeah.

A lot?

Yes.

That's energy,

Right?

So Katie goes on to say,

We want to learn things now.

We want to understand it all now.

We want to awaken now.

Instant gratification society,

As well as how school and businesses structured teaches us that we must learn and perform all these things very quickly,

Or we are in trouble.

Awakening is not like that.

It's not rush hour traffic.

It will take a long time,

Sometimes a whole lifetime.

But it is so worth it and get so easier the more you do it.

It took me a long time to learn that thoughts,

Feelings,

Sensations,

Emotions are just visitors for the most part.

I enjoy the process of finding out what shines through the golden light of my being that lives beneath the crust of all that I've learned over the years to survive.

But this takes time.

It's a process.

And I hope that everyone can one day feel and experience and understand that yes,

It's a long process,

But not quote,

Long process,

Unquote,

In the way our instant gratification society defines.

Rather,

It's like being on a road trip where you aren't in a hurry to get to the destination.

Rather,

You are marveling at all the sites you see along the way.

You pull over the car,

You've been driving to get a better look at them.

You smell air that's more fresh than you've ever smelled.

You see colors that are more vivid and beautiful than your eyes can take.

I'll stop here for a second.

Sometimes I too have described,

Sometimes the light is so intense that it feels like I'm going to explode and I can't take it.

It's like your eyes are opening up to light like the sun.

You've been in a dark room and suddenly you see the sun.

It's,

You have to do it slowly,

But it's that beautiful.

That's awakening.

And then Katie goes on to say,

More vivid and beautiful than your eyes can take.

And suddenly you realize the destination is nowhere near as important as the trip.

And then before you know it,

You're there.

So true.

There's nowhere to get to because it's all love.

There's no destination.

The trip is drinking the love.

Just stopping and drinking the love that's been here all along.

I use myself as an example,

Again,

Because it's true.

It's what I'm experiencing.

All those books you're reading are true.

All those people saying this,

They're telling you the truth.

You experiencing it and sometimes doubting it.

It's true what you're experiencing.

I'll just back up because it's so beautiful.

And suddenly you realize the destination is nowhere near as important as the trip.

And then before you know it,

You're there.

And then Katie goes on to say,

The main thing that helped me begin this process,

The plug that pulled out of the bathtub to get the whole process started for me was grieving.

I had to begin letting myself feel everything I had shoved down deep inside all those years of my life.

I had to midwife myself through that fear,

The fear of feeling things that were so hurtful and so heavy.

And the idea that feeling them felt like a kind of death.

And it does.

You know,

Everybody here knows that.

It hurts.

It's what Catherine,

You were talking about.

I was willingly walking into,

Well,

That's exactly what it was.

It was ego death,

Everybody.

Once that process started and I realized that the process wasn't hurting me or destroying me,

But was actually helping me feel lighter and more connected to the light within me.

That's when it starts getting fun.

At first,

It's scary.

Like,

Holy moly,

Scary.

But then it's not.

Grieving is so important,

Everyone.

That's why William says,

Quote,

Baby steps,

Unquote,

Go easy,

Take it easy.

And you'll see it worked for me.

So it will work for you too.

And then Katie goes on to say very graciously,

Thank you,

William.

Your teachings have been one of the main reasons I am here in this clarity today.

Your ways of seeing this process and explaining this process to me in my hours of need,

Parentheses,

I remember having multiple breakdowns in the review sections of your podcast.

I told you they're good in those sections.

And you went out of your way to explain in detail what I was going through and that I was okay.

And that everything was okay.

And that I was doing a good job.

That helped me more than you could ever know.

Your podcasts are top tier,

Some of the most important teachings on this Insight Timer app.

And I wish that everybody would and could listen and learn what they could and experience the information and wisdom,

Not just as words on the internet,

But as real and doable sets of instructional guidance that works because it worked for me.

And I'm more free right now than I have felt in my whole life because of these podcasts.

Thank you again,

William.

Thank you,

Katie.

I remember being in theological school in 1978,

Sitting on my bed.

And everything was so dark and black,

And I had no way out.

And I didn't know which way to turn.

And I would have given anything to hear what are on these podcasts.

So I spent 50 years in bits and pieces finding what worked for me and what seems to work for most others.

I've just boiled it down.

My guru,

Bhagavan,

Who I was with for 10 years,

He said,

When you experience a miracle or a breakthrough,

Share it with other people or your awakening.

So it will become real to them.

Because we're in a world where people don't believe things.

They don't know it's possible.

When I say that you can experience the world as love,

It's true.

When Jesus said,

God is love,

Love your neighbor as yourself.

This sums up the entire Bible.

That's it,

Period,

Love.

It sums up existence,

Love.

These people have been very misinterpreted because of organizations who have misinterpreted,

Often,

Not always.

But the point is,

Trust yourself,

Trust what you're experiencing.

And it's all about,

In India,

They call it direct experience.

You don't believe something because somebody tells you.

I mean,

That's a good start.

But you check it out yourself and see if it's true,

Really.

If it is,

Then that's real.

I could read about water,

But drinking it and swimming in it,

That's a direct experience.

Then I know about water.

I could read about awakening,

But experiencing it,

Then I know.

What is awakening?

It's simply discovering who you are.

You without your troubles.

That's all an awakened person is.

It's you,

The best of you,

Without your problems.

That's awakening.

And then you're a radiant light because you're not frozen inside.

That's what these podcasts are about.

So,

Thank you.

I'm going to go back,

As I promised,

And we're going to go as long as it takes for me to answer whatever you're writing.

Thank you for listening.

If any of this seems a little abrupt,

Just go back to podcast one and work your way forward.

They're all here.

They're all free.

Katie says,

And thank you,

Katie,

For that beautiful,

Beautiful writing.

And I hope my edit captured the essence of what you were saying.

Enough.

Katie says,

Thank you,

William.

You're the best.

Your edit was 10 out of 10.

Thank you.

I nailed it.

Good.

I try to stay true to what,

When I read somebody's stuff.

Katie says here,

I've been curious about karma,

William.

If a person makes a soul contact before they incarnate to live a certain way,

Let's say evil,

And then they fulfill that soul contract,

Then is there any punishment for those evil choices in life?

If it were preordained,

Or is karma just beyond our comprehension as human beings?

And I'm just overthinking and oversimplifying everything because I need an answer.

I think about this a lot,

Especially in these times.

Thanks in advance.

Beautiful question,

Katie.

It's not overthinking it.

I remember when I talked to so many teachers,

More than once,

It was often in the midst of hundreds of people.

And more than once,

I was told to be quiet by people.

They would pick up the microphone and ask the teacher,

Could you tell him to be quiet?

And gratefully,

Every teacher that I was with when this happened,

Said,

No,

He's asking from the heart,

You need to listen.

And when you're not feeling so well about yourself,

I'm so grateful,

I'm getting a little teary.

When you feel so cut off and so black and dark in life,

For somebody to see you and see the sincerity in your question,

Because when you ask a question,

You're in a vulnerable place.

You don't know the answer.

You're asking for the answer.

So,

It's a heart question.

So,

Thank you.

Ask all the questions you want,

Katie.

They're always very good.

And that goes for all of you,

Katherine,

Katie,

Everybody,

Jen,

Patricia,

Therese.

So,

Karma is interesting and beyond the life.

I like the Voltaire quote,

Where he said,

It's no more surprising to be born twice as once.

All life is resurrection.

If you really think about that.

So true.

And that's how I see life.

And right now,

I'm going to tell you how I feel about things,

How I see things.

I'm not making it anybody else's truth.

I'm simply sharing my truth.

I don't see death as a real thing.

I see the death of the body,

Death of things.

They come,

They go,

Everything in creation comes and goes.

And those are bodies and trees and unfortunately,

Dogs and cats.

But we don't go anywhere.

I don't see that.

And like Voltaire was saying,

Nature is a resurrection.

It's not going anywhere.

It just keeps blooming.

You keep blooming.

Jesus said to be in the world,

But not of it.

That's the awakened state.

I'm beyond the world,

And yet I'm in it.

I interact with others fully.

We're having a podcast right now.

We're interacting fully.

It's not otherwise.

That's what it is.

You're in the world,

But not of it.

So,

Our body dies,

That's in the world,

But we're not of the world.

We don't die.

And my feeling is we take our energy with us.

As Einstein said,

Energy cannot be created or destroyed.

We take ourselves with us.

Wherever we go,

We are there.

That's all I've ever experienced.

Wherever I go,

I'm there.

So,

If I've awakened halfway in this life,

And I halfway know who I am,

When this body dies,

Okay,

I'm not in the body,

But wherever I am,

I'm halfway awakened.

Perhaps I'm in a heavenly realm,

And I'm halfway awakened.

It's still a realm,

Just like this earth is a realm.

Who expected earth?

Who expects a heavenly realm?

Who expects,

There might be a million different ways to exist.

Who expects any of them?

But there's only one main,

In my feeling,

One main motion,

And that's to know who we are,

To be true to ourselves.

That's called awakening.

So,

If I'm halfway know who I am,

And my body dies,

I pick up where I left off,

Wherever that is.

When I die,

I still exist.

I'm still who I was before,

Just somewhere else.

Maybe it's helpful to come back onto this earth,

So I reincarnate,

And I pick up where I left off,

Half awake.

If I'm 10% awake,

Then I pick up 10%.

I pick up where I was 10% awake.

So,

What is evil?

Everybody is light.

All evil is,

Is being blocked,

Being cut off from who I am,

Being a pure ice cube.

I am the water,

But I'm so frozen that I don't realize it.

Back to my example.

What if I was in a world where I didn't have love?

How would I,

What if I was in a world where I didn't have water?

I might steal water.

I might try to steal my neighbor's water.

I might beat you up to get your water.

I might do all sorts of violent things because I'm desperate for water.

But water was there all along.

Ice cubes were there.

I just didn't know it.

But because I didn't know it,

I behaved in a evil way.

Well,

What if I think I don't have love?

I don't have well-being.

I don't have safety.

I don't have peace.

What if I feel that?

Just like I feel like I don't have water,

Then I might attack you.

I might form a personality that's violent or that grabs and grasps.

I need love.

I will take love.

I will do all these things.

And that appears evil.

And it is evil.

But I'm using the definition of being blocked off from myself.

In the East,

It's called ignorance.

I'm in a world of water,

But I don't know it.

So I act as if I don't have water everywhere.

I act as if I don't have love anywhere.

But love is everywhere.

So I'm ignorant.

That's all.

I have ignorance.

When I dispel that ignorance,

I can drink water again.

Because I know it's there.

I can drink in love again,

Because I know it's there.

In the West,

That's called sin.

It's the same.

Sin and ignorance are synonyms.

They're the same.

I know historically a lot has been imputed to words.

Words are simply labels.

And the word sin has a lot of baggage.

But in real life,

Remember,

I did learn Greek in the seminary.

I was there for four years.

It means ignorance.

So when people pass on,

And they come back into this life,

Or wherever they go,

If they were totally cut off from themselves,

They are totally cut off from themselves wherever they go.

It's not absolved.

But what doesn't absolve them?

It's nobody else but us.

I'm the one creating the trouble inside of me.

I'm the trouble.

And I get tired of suffering through the eons,

Through thousands and thousands of years.

Eternity is a long time.

I get tired of it.

So finally,

I do something different.

I just stop.

I sit still.

I let it melt.

And then I drink in love.

And guess what?

I'm no longer acting as if I don't have love.

I'm no longer acting evilly.

I am love.

I become Jesus.

Perhaps.

Who knows?

You become Jesus.

You become Buddha in some world.

I don't know.

That part I'm totally making up.

I don't know.

But it's something like that.

And my intuition is pretty strong and pretty right on.

And I trust it.

So let the details go.

But I think it's in that direction.

No,

There's no punishment with this karma,

Is what I'm saying.

The suffering is,

There is no punishment ever.

When I think of punishment,

It's just me being off kilter.

There never is any punishment for anything.

What feels like punishment is the suffering that I experience because I'm cut off from knowing who I am.

I feel fear because I don't know who I am.

I feel abandonment.

That's suffering.

I feel there is no love.

That's suffering.

But it's not punishment.

It's me troubling myself.

It's like me hitting myself in the face.

That's not punishment.

It's just the result of me punching myself in the face.

How do I not feel bad again,

Quit punching myself in the face.

That's basically what these podcasts are about is how to slowly and gently stop punching ourselves in the face and just be who we are.

Catherine says,

Thank you.

Thank you,

Katie,

By the way.

Catherine says,

Rumi,

The wound is where the light gets in.

Yeah.

Because the only reason there is a wound is because the light's not there.

It's frozen.

And when we unfreeze,

We feel the ice cube turning back into light and we soak it up.

And part of,

In these earlier podcasts,

Part of letting things melt is not only watching them and letting them expend their energy,

But then so look around you and notice everything's okay and soak it up.

Let the light in.

Let the water that's come out of the melting ice cubes.

Let it in.

Thank you,

Catherine.

Tatiana,

Hello,

My first time with you and new to your teachings.

Welcome Tatiana.

And Katie says about her compliments and her awakening experience,

She said,

And I meant every word.

Thank you,

Katie.

And Madeline said,

Wow,

I love that review that they wrote.

Thank you,

Madeline.

And look in the reviews.

As I said,

There are eight and a half thousand of them on Insight Timer.

Only the ones that are written are listed under the podcast,

But there are thousands of them.

And to race goes on to say there are over 160 podcasts that build on each other.

So best to begin with number one,

Although any of them are great as a standalone,

If you're interested in the title,

Perfect to raise Madeline.

One issue I see is that so many people don't love themselves because we are taught at an early age in different ways that we are inadequate or even unlovable.

So true.

It's in our culture.

It's thank you.

We do talk about that in our podcasts and work through that.

Also,

We try to touch everything that's major.

And this is front and center.

And we look at it in different ways.

But one way any of these frozen parts can be looked at is that we've absorbed the way that people have treated us.

You're really not unlovable.

You just believe that you are.

If you say something to somebody over and over and over and over and over,

Eventually,

They take in that suggestion and they believe it.

So the trick is to undo that.

That's called awakening to melt it away to undo it.

Jules,

Learning so much and helped by your podcast.

Thank you,

William.

Thank you so much,

Jules.

Jennifer,

Welcome,

Tatiana.

Thank you,

William.

And all with much love,

Jennifer.

Thank you,

Jennifer.

Madeleine says,

So basically,

First to find the gratitude and appreciation for little things,

Etc.

Then for oneself and eventually get to a stage of love for self and others.

Or what would you say regarding the quote to love others as yourself in a world where many people feel rather shame,

Guilt,

Harshness,

Or conditional love towards themselves?

Well,

Madeleine,

Very good observation and question.

The first step is to see clearly.

That's why I have people stop,

Sit still,

And look at what's coming up in them.

So the very first step is just stop,

Because we're caught in an ice cube.

We think we're seeing clearly.

We think the world is the way we see it.

But it's not.

So we need to melt a little of this ice away.

And then once it starts to melt,

We see that indeed,

We are love.

We're not the suggestion that says we are shame,

Guilt,

Fear,

All the other things that people have attributed to us that we believed.

So then,

Or simultaneously,

As we do that,

We start to find gratitude,

Which is a fundamental good thing.

That could be the first thing even.

Whatever works for you,

I would do that first.

But early on,

Sit still and melt the delusions away.

So we could see things clearly.

Once seeing that we are love,

Then we're able to love others.

But before we can experience ourselves as love,

How are we going?

You're right.

How do we love others?

We can't.

It's not full.

It's not complete,

Because we don't even know what love is.

Katie says,

It's like the end of the movie Ghost when Patrick Swayze says,

It's incredible,

Molly,

The love you have,

You take it with you.

I get teary every time I even think of that quote,

That feeling that I get makes it feel like truth,

Even if it's just a quote from a movie.

Yeah.

Quotes are portals.

And when they are true,

You feel it.

I remember in 2 Timothy 3.

16,

When Paul says,

All scripture is God breathed.

You can feel it when you read the Bible and something is true.

You can feel it.

You feel the vibration.

It's God breathed.

If you don't feel that vibration,

It's not scripture.

It's just words.

It's filler.

If you look at it and you quiver,

That's God breathed.

This quote is God breathed for you,

Katie.

So you use that all through life.

Katie says,

Yeah,

My previous question about punishment is probably rooted in the idea that humans created about punishment,

Spirit,

God,

The universe is way,

Way beyond the tiny concepts of humans.

So true,

All of it,

That is a human concept punishment.

Yet,

Spirit,

God,

The universe is who you are.

Ram Dass says it nicely.

He says,

If you use the word me,

That's who you're not.

That's your personality.

It feels very grabby.

Me,

Me,

Me,

Me,

Me,

Me.

Use the word I,

And it feels more spacious.

I is your higher self,

Which when the ice is melted is the same as your personality.

Your personality with work begins to reflect the I rather than the not I,

Rather than the delusion.

Me.

Personalities are malleable.

You make them based on what you know.

When you don't know who you are,

You make them based on who you aren't,

On hurt,

Fear and anger and evilness in terms of your question.

When you know who you are,

That begins to melt.

That's the ice cube that's melting.

And now your personality forms around the love that you are.

And you respond to life rather than react to life,

Which is what you do when you're cut off from yourself.

You only are able to react to life because you're so cut off.

You can't respond.

I'm talking about all human beings.

Madelaine says,

I resonate with that.

My intuition tells me there is no judgment punishment from the universe source energy divine.

No,

Absolutely.

There is no punishment.

Catherine,

When you recognize your own inherent awareness,

It's an important turning point.

Yes,

Catherine,

I spent so many years,

Maybe a decade,

I couldn't find myself my awareness,

Because I didn't realize it was so simple.

When I'm looking at my hand,

I'm aware of my hand.

But if I put my attention on that,

Which is looking at my hand,

That's the awareness.

And it doesn't feel like anything in its pure form,

Looking at something and reacting to it feels like something.

But looking does not feel like something.

Because you're looking from beyond this creation.

And that which is looking doesn't exist,

You can't find it.

It can never be found only through your intuition.

Once you know that,

And then you rest there,

You see there are no problems.

Everything else can fade away,

But awareness will always be there.

That's the awakened state.

There are no problems,

There are no troubles.

In awareness,

Everything else can melt away and then your personality can reform around this new experience of you without problems.

It's a huge shift.

Jen,

Something that helps me is to remember that we can't love others more than we love ourselves.

So true.

This is the work.

Love the darkness in us.

And when the mind goes to thinking of others,

And that darkness,

Remembering that source loves all equally,

And we are divinely itself learning to love deeper.

That is our purpose.

Yes,

Beautiful.

Therese,

Thank you,

William and everyone.

Blessings to all.

Needed this today.

We all did.

Thank you.

Me too.

Madelaine,

I have friends that are very frozen in fear who asked me for guidance,

And been wondering how to support and it's very helpful to hear your perspective and notice similarities to expand my understanding of all of it.

Much gratitude.

Thank you,

Madelaine.

Yes,

What I've attempted to do in these podcasts is I am a psychotherapist.

I was licensed back in 1994,

Private practice,

Lived in India for years,

Came from a very hurt place.

So I know what it feels like to be so disconnected for decades,

Suffered immensely,

Yet started meditation in 1973.

And I won't go through all the other stuff,

But I've melded all this together and what I found works the most profoundly and quickly and deeply.

I've left off the other stuff.

Doesn't mean that there isn't wonderful other stuff out there.

There is.

Use whatever works for you.

If anything I say doesn't resonate,

Disregard it and add anything that feels good to you.

In addition,

This is simply to support you,

But it is designed to be practical how to be awakened.

How to let go,

Not that letting go is important.

Okay,

Great.

Yeah,

I get it.

How?

Because what I experienced in my life,

I was in theological school,

I was in seminary.

I had a lot of resources.

And I got told a lot of things.

But I had to sort it out.

And ultimately,

I was left.

How?

I would hear even the most wonderful spiritual teachers often tell me don't be attached.

Okay,

How?

That was the part that was missing.

How does PTSD relate to awakening?

What if my brain is frozen?

And I could meditate until the cows come home.

But I'm still not awake.

I meditate for decades and still not awake.

How can that be possible?

For me PTSD.

So I talk about it.

Is it exhaustive?

No.

But in these 163 prior podcasts,

We touch on it enough to be a start to get things going.

And if along the way something you need to know more deeply talk to a professional that specializes in these various areas.

But these podcasts are designed to pull it all together to give you a focus and hopefully all by themselves bring you to awakening if you work daily at it.

All right,

Thanks so much.

Take care.

I look forward to talking to you next time.

Bye.

Reviews

Hi William 🌟 I finally had an opportunity to listen to this in full. Although I was on the live session, I love to re-listen. I can usually absorb more. I especially paid intent attention when you talked about your thoughts on death and consciousness after this lifetime. It brought me much needed comfort and deep peace. It's what I believe as well. I keep imagining my sweet stepdaughter moving forward in her journey wherever her soul is now. Tomorrow would have been her 25th birthday.
I just read another listeners review about "knowing things" as a child and I really related. When I was about 7, in Catholic school, I explained my concept of religion as a Maypole, with God on the top and all the different religions being represented by the ribbons hanging down. Each one unique and seemingly separate, but all attached in the same spot. I don't even think I knew what a Maypole actually was. I used to always question the nuns/teachers about everything because I never could take it at face value or be satisfied with "just because" as an answer. Alot more, and now, I think it's because I came here with some thoughts and ideas that were probably from a prior time. I also saw this in my young nieces regarding things they'd talk about before they "forgot" their memories as they got older and the veil thickens. Anyway, thank you for this work you are doing. 😇

Thanks, William, I finally had a block of time long enough to listen to 164. Thank you so much for advising me to skip ahead to it while sequentially listening from 1 on.
The observations resonate with a lot of what I’ve been cobbling together in my own practice. One thing that struck me very vividly was toward the end of this session, when one of your reviewers commented: How are we supposed to love others as ourselves when we have been taught from toddlerhood that we are unlovable? Big light came on for me: the realization why compassion is so important. Even if we can’t grant ourselves or others love, we can get a toehold by giving ourselves compassion. Once we are able to see our inherent lovability through the lens of compassion, we can begin to extend compassion to others and see their inherent lovability, too.
I also resonated with the reference to an evolution of consciousness from incarnation to incarnation. Now, I will tell you I come to my practice and my whole life through the door of science, and when exploring Buddhism for the second or third go-round in my life, I made a firm rejection of the concept of reincarnation. Well, 17 years later, I have to tell you, it is not a stretch anymore to feel it is definitely a component of existence.
Which definitely helps explain perceptions I had as a child, that I had existed somewhere before (oddly, it seemed to me it was England), and that I was being expected to go back on things I already knew and believed to be true, just to live in my family and in this society. Thanks for treating this topic in the context of pan-consciousness of creation.
This is also where physics is going in studies of consciousness and of the cosmos. So it’s all coming full-circle for me.
Now if I can just stop hating my computer long enough to get my taxes done, I guess I’ll be fully enlightened! Hahahahahahahahaaa!
Namaste, have a great rest of the week, and thank you again, William and community!
Donna

I accidentally missed the live and was so pleased to find this recording. What a treat! And to have one of my questions shared during the live - boy, did I feel supported, heard and affirmed to keep showing up with my daily practice, your teachings and to keep showing up in daily life, always inviting an open heart. Your discussion of love and the wholeness of it is so grounding and helpful during a time that feels so addictively polarizing and unhelpful. Such an interesting time to be alive. Building the capacity to sit with that - there’s a lot to help us transform and gain insight. I feel like I am a part of a community that also encourages us to keep our attention focused on goodness - things that are really basic and essential and so very necessary. Thank you for creating this community, this space to support all of us on this path. May peace be with each of you when you read this. Thank you, William Cooper. 🙏