Know Thy Self- I Am Not My Mind

Join us for this series of lessons that takes us through the seven levels of existence toward Self-realization. This is a unique opportunity to shed off false identifications and experience the true nature of the SELF. This 3rd session will focus on the realization: I am not my Mind.

Transcript

We're going to start with a short ceremony just to make sure that we're all aligned.

So let's make sure that our phone won't disturb us in the next hour or so.

And let's sit comfortably or sit and take a deep breath in and go.

Let's close our eyes and take another deep breath in and let go.

And the next breath in we keep in,

We don't breathe out.

Slowly let go.

Let go of all your efforts.

Let go of everything that already happened in the past.

And let go of everything that may happen in the future.

And allow your breath to guide you back to the present moment.

So you could be completely aware of everything that is currently happening right now around you.

Voices,

Noises,

Smell,

Whatever is suggested by your environment.

Just observe as those phenomenas appear and disappear.

Become aware of your breath as it flows in and out of your body.

Make sure there is no tension hiding anywhere in your body.

And if you found any area that is tensed or contracted,

Allow your breath to fill it with life energy.

And breathe out any tension.

So you can sit here comfortable and relaxed.

Become aware of the presence of your body in this room,

A part of our virtual circle.

Let's unite our individual intentions into one unified intention.

The intention to grow,

To develop,

To evolve.

With a smile let's take another deep breath in and relax.

And when you feel comfortable you may open your eyes.

So,

Welcome everybody to this unique opportunity where we give ourselves a chance to reflect on the big questions.

And grow together towards awakening.

But this time not only as individuals but also as a unified consciousness.

Remember that what propels this movement forward is the longing for the truth.

And the tension that lies between the question and the answer.

So,

Carly here is going to be the sound of your voice,

Representing the sincere seeker.

So don't be afraid to share your questions and comments.

And this will be your contribution to the coming hour or so.

So,

We are in chapter 3 of our journey.

Led by the question,

Who am I?

The mother of all questions.

And realizing that this question cannot be answered directly.

We are going the opposite.

We are answering the question,

Who am I not?

Shedding false ideas,

False identifications.

And as we do that,

The truth that lies behind those artificial layers can be revealed.

Not as an idea or as a concept but as direct experience.

This is what we are doing here today.

And in the next few sessions.

So,

So far we have shed two layers.

I am not my body,

Realizing that the body is just a temple in which we are hosted.

So the invitation was to heal that relationship.

Balance it.

The relationship between me and my body.

Learn how to listen to what your body has to say.

And comply as much as you can.

What does he mean to you?

What does it require at any given time?

And for that we have this first meditation.

Which I strongly suggest practice daily.

Me and my body.

Second chapter was about the breath.

The breath is not who I am.

It's the bridge that lies between the body and the inner world of mind.

And learn how to use the two gifts that the breath brings.

First,

Help the body clean itself from toxins and negative emotions that are accumulating through the years.

So your body,

Your temple can be an inviting and healthy environment for you to be.

And the second present was that it can always bring us back to life.

Not just in the physical sense of it,

But also to the present moment where life actually happens.

As opposed to all the movies we have in our head about the past and the future.

Past and future are just segments of our imagination.

Life can only be happening right now.

So is the breath.

So once you use the breath in that sense,

You can always live meaningful lives because you are present.

This is what we've discussed so far in a nutshell.

And today we are going to climb one step onwards in our journey to the present moment.

Onwards in our ladder of seven layers of existence.

And today we're going to meet a very fascinating aspect of ourselves.

I am not the mind.

Even though many of us,

Most of the time,

Are completely identified with the mind.

An awakened consciousness realizes that that's a false identification.

So we're going to discuss this today.

But in order to do that,

Of course,

We need to understand what the mind is.

So what is the mind?

The mind is the collective phenomena that are projected on the silver screen we have in our brain,

In our mind.

The mind is that screen.

Imagine a movie theater with a huge silver screen.

And on the mind,

There is a movie that is being projected.

A collective of various types of phenomenas divided into three groups.

Emotions,

Sensations,

And thoughts.

Usually thoughts about the past and the future.

Or thoughts that have to do with judging the present moment,

Which are inserted by the intellect,

On which we will discuss next week.

So emotions,

Sensations,

And thoughts are being projected constantly on that silver screen.

And that creates a movie for us.

And that movie we relate to as our reality.

This is what's happening now.

What is happening now?

That movie that I currently observe.

Emotions,

Sensations,

And thoughts.

Now there's a few things we need to know about the mind before we move on forward.

One thing to know is that the mind is designed to screen away from the picture that is being projected.

Anything that is not considered to be useful for our survival.

This is done through millions of years of evolution.

So if a lion is chasing us,

The only thing that the mind will show us is the next escape route.

And the rest will be blocked away.

So our survival depends on that capacity of the mind to screen away,

To block from our awakened consciousness anything that is irrelevant for its survival or for the successful completion of a certain task that we are engaged in.

For example,

You know this gorilla test.

Have you heard about that gorilla test that they did in the university a few years ago?

So there is a task that you are invited to look at the video of 10 students in a room,

Half of them in white t-shirts and half of them in black t-shirts.

And they are throwing away a big ball to each other and they are mixing in the room.

And your task is to count how many students wearing a black t-shirt.

How many times do you throw it away to a student that is wearing a black t-shirt?

So really you need to concentrate,

Follow the ball and make sure that you count the exact number of passes from black to black.

And it lasts like 30 seconds or so.

And then they ask you,

OK,

How many times?

And you say,

I don't know,

Five.

And they tell you,

OK,

Now did you see the ball?

And they tell you,

OK,

Now did you see anything unexpected or unusual during this last video?

And you say,

No,

I mean,

No.

And then they tell you,

OK,

So now don't count.

Don't worry about counting.

Just look at the video again.

Same video.

OK,

You press play.

And then in the middle of the video,

You see there is a gorilla coming to the room,

Center of the frame,

Say hi to the camera,

And then goes to the other side of the room.

And you ask yourself,

Is this a different video?

I mean,

The gorilla wasn't there before.

What the hell is going on?

This is how the mind works.

You know,

It screens away whatever is not necessary or it considers to be not necessary.

So if you want to quantify it,

Scientists say that at any given moment,

We are bombarded by two billion pieces of information.

And out of that,

We are aware of 2,

000 pieces of information.

So less than 0.

01%.

The rest is just obscured away from us.

We don't we're not even aware that it exists.

It exists.

So it's a very fine screening machine.

And there is a survival reason for that.

But what we should know is that there is much more happening here that we are absolutely unaware of.

And the spiritual path encourages us to mature our mind in the way that it will be more and more reliable to show us what really happens around us and within us.

And they say that an awakened consciousness is not screening anymore and is completely aware.

To anything that is happening.

So this is one thing to know about the mind.

And how can we do that?

We do that by learning of more and more possibilities.

The second thing,

I'll explain why.

The second thing we need to know about the mind is that it can only screen on that silver screen what it has a pattern already of.

If the concept of a phenomena is not built as a possibility,

Then it will not be able to show it up.

That possibility to us.

You know that story of that person that went to the zoo and saw a giraffe for the first time.

The first reaction was,

There is no such animal.

You know,

Or there is this story about,

It's a folk story about the indigenous Americans that lived on the east coast of what we call today the United States.

And when they saw the ships of Columbus coming to the shore,

They didn't know that they were they didn't know that ship is a thing that something like that can exist.

So they didn't see the ships.

The mind just screened it away.

Until the shaman was investigating those ripples that the ships are making on the water and trying to realize what is making those ripples.

And slowly and gradually his mind allowed him to see the boat.

And then he went to the tribe and explained this is there is something happening there.

Something is floating on the waters.

And then the other people could see it because now there is a concept of a floating device in their own mind.

So the only way we can experience something through the mind is if we have a pre-pattern of that possibility.

So,

Again,

If we want to make our mind more reliable in the way it represents or exhibit reality to us,

We need to add more and more possibilities.

And that's again is done by experiencing and learning more and more and more possibilities about life,

About how to live life.

And again,

It's important to understand that there is no point of us arguing if the gorilla is beautiful or ugly.

If I can see a gorilla and you cannot see a gorilla,

You see what I mean?

So we all have a different view of reality because our mind is maturing in a different pace.

So the invitation here is to allow our mind to grow and mature by adding more and more possibilities of existence.

Expanding the horizons of what is possible,

What is available for us to experience.

And awakened consciousness will never have this attitude of,

That's the only way,

There is no other way.

I don't have any alternative.

Because there is always endless possibilities to experience life and maneuver through it.

Endless.

The point is,

We are not aware of those.

They are not available for us to experience.

How are we so far?

No questions?

Not for me.

If you have questions,

Guys,

Please share those.

So what we learned is that the reality that we engaged in our life is not the reality that we are engaged in.

The reality that we engaged with is a compilation of emotions,

Sensations,

And thoughts that are being projected on our inner silver screen.

And knowing that our challenge is to be able to see more and more,

Experience more and more of what is actually happening here.

Barbara is asking,

Isn't it exhausting to not have some of the data screened out by your mind?

Yeah,

It's a good question.

You know,

So yeah,

It has a survival purpose,

That screening.

And what people try to do sometimes is artificially expand that capability so they can be more and more aware.

They do recreational drugs or some kind of,

What do you call those drugs?

Mind expanding drugs.

Yeah.

And what happens then is that artificially we open that tap and we allow much more to enter into our consciousness.

And we now see,

You know,

Parallel universes and alternative realities and,

You know,

And colors and sounds.

And we are very excited about that.

But what happens is that because that information is projected when the mind is not ready to hold it,

You are taking the risk of a system collapse.

This is what happens sometimes when people take those drugs.

They rise very quickly to realize how complex reality really is,

But they are not ready to hold it and,

How do you say?

Integrate.

Integrate it into their,

Into a healthy experience of life.

So you become overwhelmed by that.

And there is a system collapse.

And then it could take years to recover from,

Maybe never.

Sometimes the damage is irreversible.

So what I recommend is avoiding that,

But grow gradually on the spiritual path.

And I will explain how.

And preferably with a teacher that can hold your hand and walk you through that process.

And eventually,

As you mature,

You will realize how complex reality really is.

And you will be able to achieve those levels of consciousness,

But this time,

Integrate it.

That's the right,

Safe,

Healthy way to do it.

Cynthia is asking,

Does visualization,

Seeing in your mind something you want to have,

You know,

In your life,

Then that thing will be recognized when it comes to pass?

Through meditation as well?

Yeah,

I will explain how it works.

Again,

If you don't have the idea of a possibility,

That possibility will not be available for you to experience.

My teacher says,

You cannot see purple if there is no purple in the picture.

You cannot see purple if there is no purple in you.

So definitely you would need to have that,

How do you call it,

What you made cookies of.

We have this on the wall.

A cutter?

Cookie cutter.

You have to have that cookie cutter.

The mold.

Yeah,

The mold.

If you don't have that mold,

You will not be able to experience that shape.

So adding more molds,

More possible realms of existence would help you to experience that when it happens in real time.

If you don't have that possibility in your head,

When it happens,

You will miss it.

Or you wouldn't be able to call it by name,

So it will be disregarded.

You wouldn't give that a second thought and you will just miss the opportunity to appreciate it.

So what we do on the spiritual path is learn about more and more possible realities that are available for us and means to experience that reality.

Jesse is asking,

What are the characteristics of a system collapse?

You know that maybe even better than I.

When you lose the capability to know between what is real and what is the movie that is currently in your head.

You don't know the difference between an illusion and reality.

And you hear voices,

For example,

And you're sure that this voice is more truth than the people next to you speaking.

That's one symptom.

Or you lose the sense of I,

I-ness.

And you know this line between insanity and enlightenment,

This line was always very obscure.

You know,

I've learned a lot about that.

You know,

If you were born 2000 years ago and you were speaking about your conversations with God,

You would be considered a prophet.

Maybe they would institutialize you.

Institutionalize you.

Institutionalize you.

Yeah,

Because that's not considered to be normal behavior.

But for me,

The criteria that is best used in this sense to know if you are insane or enlightened is that you know that all that is fallotry.

It's a game.

It's a joke.

You know,

All this drama that people are so involved in and that strong identification with their part,

With their role that they're currently playing and with the certain ideas and all this is just a joke.

You know it's just a game.

But you are able to play the game.

Even though you know it's a play,

It's a game.

The ability to be functional and play the game is the criteria you should look for.

People that suffer that kind of collapse are not able to function.

Sometimes to the point where they are not able even to eat and drink.

So if you want to make sure that you are not crazy but enlightened,

Look for that.

You know that everything here is just a joke.

It's a game.

None of this is real in the sense of drama that we are so identified with.

But you are able to play the game nevertheless.

Barbara suggested that you were looking for the word fallacy.

Fallacy.

Thank you.

That's why we need Zoom interaction so you can correct me in real time.

So Cynthia is making the point now they are marketing psychedelics for mental wellness and trauma healing.

So why do those drugs work sometimes for that type of healing and sometimes they make people go psychotic?

I mean it has all to do with the dosage,

Right?

We are talking about micro dosing here for healing trauma.

We don't take people all the way up to God.

Sometimes they do though.

Sometimes that is what they do to treat certain conditions like OCD and anxiety disorders and things like that.

I think there's probably many factors that play into whether or not people have some sort of breakdown or collapse on the use of certain psychedelic drugs and that's why they got a bad reputation in the 60s and 70s when people were doing that in an unregulated and unfacilitated manner.

It can be a complicated process and if you don't have a proper shaman or guide to guide you through that process it can be very difficult to integrate.

Yes,

That's why I recommend avoid that.

I tell you,

You can do that without drugs and I'm going to explain exactly how in a moment and use the help of a spiritual teacher to hold your hand while you progress on this path.

More questions?

I'm just thinking of that line between a mental health practitioner and a spiritual teacher and do we need both?

When do we need each one?

How do we decide?

What are we looking for on both of those different journeys?

For me as a spiritual teacher I try to avoid inviting people to join the path who are not stable,

Who are not mentally healthy,

Because the spiritual path requires a stable personality.

Otherwise it's very easy to take some of what the spiritual path is teaching and use it in the wrong way and this is not helpful.

It could be even counterproductive,

Not to say dangerous.

So people who are not balanced,

I recommend they would go for therapy and if they need a psychiatrist and use some chemicals to help them balance,

Then do that and heal yourself first and then you're ready to join the spiritual path.

And again,

The criteria would be,

Are you able to function in society?

Are you able to play the game by the rules as they are set?

Even though you realize it's just a game.

So you have enough of the development of the observer to see that it is a game and that you can see the light of where you're going to realize your true self.

And still these are vague notions that we use now.

We are going to unveil them as we move forward.

The best that our language can do anyway.

Yeah.

Any more questions or we can continue this discussion forward?

I think you're good to go.

Good.

So the most important thing to know about the mind,

Now that we know what it is and how it works and what it provides,

An image of reality,

The most important thing to know about the mind is that it's just a movie.

It's not real.

It's just a movie.

When you go to the cinema and you watch a movie,

You know the movie can be sad or happy,

It can be a historical movie or futuristic movie,

And it captures you because of the plot and the drama,

And you're lost in that movie.

And after two hours you say,

Wow,

Yeah,

That was a great movie.

I didn't feel that two hours just passed.

I was completely lost in that movie.

And you use that as entertainment.

But when it happens in your head and you're lost in the plot,

You're lost in the drama of the movie that happens in your head,

That's it.

You're lost.

So the most important,

Really,

The most significant breakthrough on our path comes now at this level.

Realization.

You are not the mind.

That movie that is projected is not who you are.

It's just a movie.

Like in the cinema,

It's not real.

It's just a movie,

25 images per second.

That's it.

You know what was the first movie they ever filmed in the cinema?

Have you heard that story?

Late 1900s.

They put a camera on the train docks and they shot like a 20-second film about the train coming to the station,

Steam train.

And when they projected that movie in the cinema,

It created chaos because people believed that this train is coming and it's going to run over them.

So it was a huge mess.

People ran out of the cinema,

It was a disaster.

And of course now we laugh about it,

But when it happens in your brain and you believe it,

It's the same thing all over again.

There is a movie being projected and you are identified with it and you're lost.

That's it.

You are lost.

You're completely dependent on whatever is happening.

Believing it's real.

So it has all the power,

It has all the influence.

So Jesse is asking,

Why do humans constantly consume themselves in dramas and strive for career identities of importance?

Why do we do that?

Why do we believe that this is real?

Or this is the only reality?

Or this is.

.

.

Why is less important.

Why is less important?

The important thing is to realize that this is happening.

And then to ask yourself,

Do you want to be free of that?

We create identities for ourselves because we don't know who we are.

That's the answer to this question.

Once you know who you are,

You don't need to wrap it with identities.

You don't have to have a self-image when you know yourself.

The image is just a way for you to portray something that you don't know.

It's like this,

It's like that.

You have a different subject to relate to because you don't know that.

Right?

What is a pear if you haven't seen a pear?

It's like an apple,

But a bit more sweet.

I don't know.

Same with the self.

If you don't know yourself,

You have to put an image around it.

An identity.

An awakened consciousness has no identity.

So Tommy mentions it's our conditioning that is one of the reasons why we go to that place of believing that this is who we are.

Yeah,

Lack of self-awareness.

Just a minute.

Lack of self-awareness requires us to believe in an idea.

When you know something,

You don't have to believe in anything.

Right?

When do you need to believe when you don't know?

Knowing as a direct experience,

Not just as a concept.

I don't believe in God because I know God.

Intimately.

Why do I need to believe in God?

If God is present in me,

As me,

24-7,

What's the point of believing in it?

It doesn't make any sense.

Right?

Same with the self.

Once you know yourself,

You don't have to believe in anything about yourself.

What other people think,

The stories that you have in your head about yourself.

These are pointless.

Do you see that?

You were saying.

Yeah,

I mean,

I suppose the conditioning comes from the people around us,

Particularly as we're growing up,

Who also don't know themselves.

I mean,

There's some belief that when we're born,

We know all these things,

And as we grow,

We forget.

And this is part of the reason why we don't have a strong memory of being a newborn or whatever,

A small baby.

When my boys came to this planet,

The first words they heard from me when I held them was,

Don't forget.

Don't forget.

And it worked with one of them,

It didn't.

Yeah,

But you know,

What's the word he was using,

Tommy?

Conditioning.

Conditioning is just the way that we were brought to be wired.

So don't worry about that too much.

We will discuss this when we will discuss our story.

It's the fifth level of existence.

We will come to discuss that in detail.

But now,

Just don't worry about it,

You just need to be aware,

Observe that as it manifests as an experience to you.

Now,

There is an idea.

This shouldn't happen.

Okay?

On this level of the mind,

You just meet that idea.

This shouldn't happen.

And realize that that idea has no power.

It has no power at all.

25 flashes of light per second.

The fact that you think now,

This thought,

This shouldn't happen,

Doesn't mean that this shouldn't happen.

It just means that you have that thought now.

That's it.

That thought by itself,

It has no power.

It's just a phenomena that is currently happening.

Like an itch on your nose.

You know?

Or a sense of warmth or cold.

Or an emotion that rises and subsides.

There is a thought that is passing through your mind.

You know,

There is a story about a spiritual teacher who was giving a speech in a university.

And when it was time for questions,

A very attractive student stood up and asked a question.

And he says,

I couldn't even hear what she was asking.

She was just,

Wow!

I was just,

You know,

I was thinking,

Wow,

This is a beautiful woman.

I should find her in the break and see if maybe she would be interested.

And this is a spiritual teacher,

You know?

You think,

Spiritual teachers don't think like that.

And he was telling that as a way to explain that the fact that the thought has come in his mind is not a problem.

He would probably be more worried if that thought wouldn't cross his mind as a man meeting an attractive woman.

So,

It's not a problem that that thought is there.

It would become a problem if he would believe that.

And he would react to that.

Or try to reject it.

You know,

And start having this type of relationship with it.

It should be there,

It shouldn't be there.

Maybe I'm not a spiritual teacher.

Maybe I'm just a hoax because I have that thought now in my head.

No,

It's not a problem.

Think about it as a radio antenna that collects all kinds of transmissions,

You know?

This thought was at this man's head a minute ago.

Now it's in my head.

And it will be in the head of the next man in a couple of seconds.

So what?

The point is that you are not identified with it.

You don't give it power.

And then you realize it doesn't have any power.

That is the trick.

Realizing that any phenomena that you experience on the mind has no power at all.

Once you realize that,

That's a huge breakthrough.

Until you realize that,

You are a captive of your own mind.

So how to overcome that dependency?

How to overcome that bondage?

Meditation.

Meditation is that tool that was designed to help you realize you are not your mind.

Any meditation,

Classical meditation,

Is encouraging you to just sit and observe,

Right?

And what do you observe?

All those phenomena,

Emotions,

Sensations,

Thoughts,

You just observe.

And you see those things happen around you,

Within you.

But you,

The observer,

Are not involved,

Not identified.

You just experience all this.

And then the gap,

The gap between the experience and the experiencer,

Becomes more and more vivid.

And once that gap is there,

Available for you,

You are free from the realm of phenomena.

You can experience anything,

Pleasurable or painful.

You can experience any thought,

Any idea that passes through your mind.

You can experience any emotion without identifying with it.

So it has no power.

Imagine that.

Never being identified with anything anymore.

You know,

I guide silence retreats.

And one of the ladies in one of the retreats gave me a note that said,

What a joy to experience a thought and not believe it.

This is what we are invited to do on this level.

Go to my page,

Look for this meditation called My Mind and Me.

And practice that again and again and again.

This meditation is designed to help you meet all those phenomena.

Not screening between them,

Not judging them,

Just observing them.

Without identifying with them.

Again and again and again.

And slowly this gap will become more and more vivid to you.

Between the experience and the experiencer.

So Tommy says,

It's easier said than done though.

Not identifying with your thoughts,

Feelings,

Emotions.

It's a life's work.

Yeah,

So start working.

You know,

It's one thing to sit in the valley and look at the top of the mountain and complain that it is a very high mountain.

And it's another thing to pack your bag and start walking.

You know,

It might take you a month or a year or ten lifetimes.

But as long as you are heading in the right directions,

That's the important thing.

Jesse says,

Life is nothing and meaningless.

We attach all the meanings,

Attachments,

And stories that we act as the truth.

100%.

It's all about the story that you tell yourself about life.

You need to redefine that story if you want to be free.

Just going back,

Tommy said something.

He asked a question,

What would you say about one of the Hermetic Laws that says,

All is mind?

Do you know the Hermetic Laws?

I don't know.

I didn't either.

I looked them up.

What does it mean?

Number one,

There's seven apparently.

Number one is the principle of mentalism.

The all is mind.

The universe is mental.

This is from the Kabbalion.

Kabbalah?

I don't know if it's Kabbalah.

It's Kaibalion.

The principle of mentalism states that the universe is akin to a mental projection,

Which is all about using your thoughts to shape your reality.

For anything to be,

A thought must precede it.

That's exactly what you just said about the ships on the horizon.

Through this principle,

It's believed that God is consciousness,

Or thought,

And the universe is manifestation of the mind of God.

Just a minute,

Just a minute.

This is something important that we,

At least here on the White Path,

We don't want to confuse.

A thought is not consciousness.

A thought is just one of three types of phenomena that we can experience.

Consciousness is the experiencer.

Consciousness can hold any thought,

Any emotions,

And any sensation.

Don't confuse between the two.

The fact that you are currently thinking a thought doesn't oblige you to believe it to be true.

You can meet that thought,

But choose not to believe it.

And then you are free from it.

People often mistake those two.

A thought is the play that is currently played on the stage.

Consciousness is the theater hall.

Do you see the difference?

It's the theater hall.

Theater hall can hold any type of show.

A tragedy or a comedy.

A historical feature or futuristic,

Whatever.

So,

It's interesting to make that distinction.

The last part of this little paragraph was,

Using this law,

We too can harness the power of our minds to create the life we want.

So,

I've always had a bit of trouble with that idea of.

.

.

Don't!

What is that?

The secret?

This is a terrible translation of spiritual knowledge.

Because what happens in the secret and all that,

You just imagine reality that is desirable,

And that will create that reality for you.

You know what happens is,

The ego takes now a spiritual law and harnesses it for its own agenda.

When will I be happy?

When something else will happen.

And now I have a new technique how to make it happen.

No,

No,

No.

Please understand.

The ego has got nothing to do with this.

You manifest reality all the time.

Whether you are aware of it or not.

But it's got nothing to do with what you want or think you need.

The only thing that you need to be aware of,

Sorry,

Is Are you creating a harmonious reality or a disharmony?

Are you spreading disharmony around you?

And that is the cause of your inner being.

Are you currently being harmony?

Or are you suffering,

Frustrated,

Fearful,

Angry?

And you spread that around you.

This is the reality you create.

Yeah,

Like,

Again,

There's another fine line here.

I'm talking about a lot of fine lines between insanity and and insanity and mental health and spiritual paths.

There's this other fine line where there is no reality.

Because your reality is only what you can perceive.

And make a story out of.

Make a reality out of.

So even you just said that in the present moment,

We can even use our thoughts to manipulate that present moment to believe whatever we want it to believe.

Without getting too philosophical about it.

When we say reality,

The best explanation that we can give ourselves,

That we can hold with our hands is the present moment.

The present moment is real.

The present moment is beyond doubt.

You cannot dispute the present moment if you are sane.

Insanity disputes the present moment.

So if you want to experience reality,

You have to come back to the present moment.

And in the present moment,

Expand your mind to realize more and more about what is currently happening.

On a higher level,

You can say reality is just an illusion.

There is nothing out there.

Only consciousness.

Spiritual teachers talk about that as well.

But this is a bit high.

You know?

Everything we see on the stage is just an illusion.

The only thing you should be aware of and conscious about is consciousness.

This is who you are.

Ramana was teaching that,

If you know him.

And many others throughout history.

Pure consciousness is the only thing you should be concerned about.

The rest is just a folly,

An illusion.

It's not an illusion in the sense that it doesn't exist.

Yeah,

This computer exists.

But it's an illusion when it comes to you trying to identify yourself in it.

Okay?

The only thing you should be concerned about is knowing yourself.

And you can never do that through an object or an experience of something.

You cannot do that through your mind.

So this is where we are invited to do that huge leap.

Disengaging that identification between me and what I experience.

There is all that happening.

Yes,

I'm aware.

I observe it.

More than that,

I'm expanding the capacity of what I can be aware of.

But in the same breath,

I'm not identified with it anymore.

So I'm free.

I'm free of that.

Experience that.

Practice that.

Daily.

Play this guided meditation again and again and again and again.

Guys,

You are here just to ignite your practice.

It's not enough to listen.

It's good to listen.

But now you need to practice it.

Don't be lazy.

Go to that meditation and practice it.

Cynthia,

I think in regards to that was back when we were talking about identifying with the story.

She says there's no need for forgiveness.

The only reason to forgive someone or something or yourself is because we believed a reality or a reality we made or an illusion story we told ourselves.

Don't worry about trying to forgive somebody.

You just love.

Don't spend energy on trying to forgive.

You just love whatever is happening.

Regarding the Hermetic Laws,

Tommy says it's not the secret.

Yeah,

I am really interested to read more about this.

Thank you for bringing it up.

And this,

No,

It's definitely not the secret.

I got that from just reading that first one.

But curious to compare it to what you're saying.

And then also along that line,

Tommy says it depends on how deep you go into the quantum field.

I think what it means is everything manifested in our reality comes from the mind.

That's kind of what he was asking.

So if it doesn't,

If you're saying that consciousness doesn't come from thought,

Do we distinguish between our mind and our thoughts?

And if it doesn't come from my mind,

Where does it come from?

Consciousness?

Yeah,

That's the curious question.

Maybe the unknown mystery.

This is a question that cannot be answered.

It's like asking me,

Where did God come from?

Yeah.

You keep searching.

Maybe one day we'll find it.

And Jesse says truth is all relative.

100%.

If you want to come closer to the essence of the truth,

You come back to the present moment.

The present moment is the easiest place that you can find.

The only place.

The only place that you can find the truth.

Only.

There is no other place.

There is only the present moment.

The rest is just movies in your head.

But within that present moment,

We are working to experiencing everything we can,

The way that we can as a human being,

Through our sensations and emotions and thoughts.

Without identifying.

Without identifying with it.

And that's what makes it the truth.

Yes.

No,

It is truth.

You just wake up to realize it.

Right.

It's already there.

Complete.

Perfect.

Which is why the analogy of stripping away things is easier to think about rather than.

.

.

Building a new structure.

Yeah,

Because it's already there.

It's already there.

Tommy says the problem is there are so many teachings and ideas about what this is or how we experience our reality.

You just have to feel what resonates with your own life.

Correct.

And I'll tell you another thing.

You can dig 100 holes of 1 meter or 1 hole of 100 meters and you do the same work.

But if you are thirsty,

That one deep hole will probably get you to the waters.

So sometimes there is a more efficient path.

Choose one and dig deep.

That's what I'm saying.

Again,

You can sit in the valley and complain about so many peaks.

Which peak should I choose?

I don't know.

It's too confusing.

Just choose one peak and start going.

Going there.

You know?

Surrender to that path.

Surrender to the teaching.

Surrender to the teacher.

And let it lead you to the light.

And if eventually you find that maybe it's not relevant,

It's not useful for you anymore,

And you need to change route,

Then do that.

That's fine.

But once you chose,

Surrender to that choice.

And don't confuse yourself with the fact that there are many other choices that you can choose from.

So what?

You chose this one.

Walk on it.

That's true about your spiritual path.

That's true about your personal relationships.

That's true about your career.

That's true about anything.

It doesn't really matter which path you choose.

What does matter is that you do it 100% full-heartedly.

Surrender to it.

It leads me back to Barbara,

I think,

That was asking about the amount of energy it takes to.

.

.

Like,

She asked something about isn't it exhausting to see.

.

.

To increase the realm of your realities.

But it's actually extremely exhausting to hold on to all of these ideas and layers and pile all of this on top of yourself.

It's so freeing to let all that go.

And then all of a sudden you realize how much energy you actually have to be in this moment and to radiate all of that outwards from yourself.

Let me tell you a secret.

Experiencing life on all its magnitude is never exhausting.

What is exhausting is arguing with life.

Rejecting life.

Manipulating life.

When the ego is involved,

This is very exhausting.

When you wash the dishes full-heartedly with a full heart and a willing soul,

This becomes your prayer.

This becomes a divine experience.

When you wash the dishes and believe that somebody else should have washed the dishes,

This is when you suffer and this is exhausting.

Do you see the difference?

Don't worry about how amazing in magnitude this is.

You are here to experience it.

And you are fully capable of doing that.

So come back to the present moment.

Expand your consciousness in it.

Expand your mind.

And remember never to identify.

Practice that again and again and again and again.

This is your sadhana.

Next.

More questions?

Yeah.

Jesse says he just got a dishwasher so he doesn't have to play the game.

Jay is asking where is the meditation my mind and me?

Go to my page and you will find in my tracks.

I don't know exactly.

It's in the track list.

It's like my body and me,

My breath and me.

And now my mind and me.

So you can keep on practicing my body and my breath.

But this week we focus on the mind.

We go again and again.

Make sure that we realize that whatever I am experiencing,

It is not me.

And it's not real.

It's just a movie.

It's not real.

It doesn't have any power.

Unless I identify with it.

Then it has all the power.

Barbara says I need to go back to the basics.

I got lost in the philosophy discussion.

I'm keeping my heart open but I do not understand.

I don't think those things are meant to be understood.

Don't understand.

Don't worry about it.

Next week we are going to,

Next meeting I think it's going to be Tuesday evening,

Our time.

We are going to discuss the intellect.

Intellect is that facility in us that tries to understand.

So don't worry about that.

We will meet next Tuesday and we will discuss intellect in details.

And we will see how in the intellect our suffering is born.

You just keep your heart open.

That's the best thing you can do.

So Chari tried to explain it.

The thought is not the mind and without the mind there is no thought.

Consciousness is aware if the observer is of the thought.

It's all consciousness experiencing itself.

Jai Gurudev.

So thank you for your time,

Your beautiful questions,

Your donations.

Give back something.

Don't just take in these meetings.

Keep yourself balanced.

Give back.

And we will meet you again Tuesday evening.

Thank you very much for your time.

Jai Gurudev.

Reviews

Excellent. He made a complex and allusive insight... Clear. With genuine gratitude, I say thank you.