What Stands Between You And Enlightenment?

Join us to discuss the nature of the Self and the journey towards realizing it. Share your path, your questions, and your doubts, while we harness the power that lies between the question and the answer to grow. Let us grow together by a united longing for the truth. In this session, we touched on the ideas and opinions we have about the obstacles between us and an awakened version of ourselves.

Transcript

Hello again,

Good people.

Thank you for joining us this evening for this unique opportunity we give ourselves once a week to meet,

Hold hands,

At least virtually,

And walk the path together,

Guided by the mutual longing for the truth.

I'm sure if I recognize the people here you already know that I am activated by your questions.

So you are welcome to use this opportunity to share your questions,

Your doubts,

Your fears,

Anything that you feel that stands between you and an awakened consciousness.

Anything you feel you need to resolve,

Or any other wonder you have about life and living,

This is your opportunity to share it and to offer it,

Offer it to the divine.

So who would like to be the first one to jump into the waters today?

I'm sure you had a reason logging in this evening.

What was your reason?

What did you hope to achieve?

This is not a theoretical question,

It's a real question.

What did you hope to achieve tonight?

Perhaps fear stands between me,

Consciousness,

However I prosper with fear as I grow and learn from it.

The only thing you can learn from fear is how to stop being afraid.

What can you learn from fear?

You can learn what makes you afraid,

And how you react to it,

So next time it happens you can be free of fears.

You're not afraid,

So what's the problem?

So I don't understand,

If you're not afraid then what prompts you to grow and learn?

I understood from your previous comment that fear does that,

But maybe I was wrong.

You see fear only serves you when it protects you from a clear and immediate danger.

Then it's good that you're afraid.

It keeps you on your toes and helps you to survive,

And stay healthy,

And protect the secrecy of life,

Which is the fundamental law above any other laws.

But when there is no clear and immediate danger,

Which is the vast majority of cases,

Fear doesn't help you.

It actually prevents you from fulfilling your potential here.

So it's good if you use fear to learn about those aspects of life that intimidates you,

And grow beyond it.

So in that sense you can use fear or opportunities where you experience fear as a leverage to grow,

If you are honest about your journey to come closer to an awakened consciousness.

Because we need to agree that an awakened consciousness is not afraid.

It cannot be afraid.

The whole nature of an awakened consciousness is love,

And love is the opposite of fear.

It cannot be love and be afraid.

It doesn't work like that.

So if you really want to come closer and closer to manifest awakened consciousness in you,

As you,

Then going beyond your fears is the most important journey you can make.

Isn't it?

Barbara is saying,

I am afraid,

Terrified at times.

Sometimes this path feels very lonely.

I go back to the four pillars you have taught us.

Yeah,

Good,

Good,

Good.

Very good.

Do you feel how it brings stability and keeps you on the path?

Yes.

Good.

What are the four pillars?

Seva,

Satsang,

Sadhana and Sadguru.

Seva is the attitude of service.

Sadhana is the practice,

The daily practice.

Satsang is that community of people you surround yourself with that promotes your growth and inspires you.

And Sadguru is that teacher that you follow,

Hopefully surrender to.

And that relationship between you and your teacher is a beacon that lights your path.

And you mentioned that you are afraid,

Terrified at times.

It's okay to acknowledge that,

You know,

And learn from that.

Don't miss this opportunity.

You know,

When you feel afraid,

When you feel terrified because of something,

Make sure that you note that this happens in real time and mark it.

Okay,

This is an opportunity.

Let's see.

What did I forget in this moment?

How did I come to be terrified of life when I remember that life cannot truly destroy what I am?

How irrational it is.

But don't try to rationalize it.

This is not an ideology.

It's not a concept.

Nothing to be rationalized.

Actually,

The opposite is the truth.

It's not something for the intellect to conquer.

Ah,

Yeah,

Yeah.

I remember Yaron told us that life is this or that.

Whatever you hear is just a suggestion.

You take it and test it in your life.

See if you can experience that,

Not as an idea,

As a theory,

As a philosophy,

But as a direct experience.

When you find that you are silence,

No noise can terrify you ever again.

When you realize that you are the background of all the things that happens and experienced,

Then you realize that nothing that is happening and being experienced can truly destroy you.

The space is not threatened by whatever is happening within that space.

Consciousness is not threatened by anything that happens and being experienced.

Do you see that?

So when you wake up to realize,

Oh yeah,

I was terrified.

This terrified me.

Stop that.

Make a mark.

Put it in your notebook.

Make sure you don't miss the opportunity to learn what happened there.

You can use this technique,

You know.

You can ask yourself,

Why was I afraid of that?

And when you receive an answer,

Then ask yourself,

Okay,

So why was I afraid of that?

And then why was I afraid of that and that and that,

You know?

So you start digging deeper and deeper as you use this question.

Let's say,

For example,

I'm afraid of,

I don't know,

Dark places.

Okay,

Okay,

Why am I afraid of dark places?

Because I don't know what's in there.

Okay,

Why is it so scary to not know what's in there?

Because if I don't know what's in there,

I cannot protect myself.

Okay,

Why is that so scary,

Not being able to protect myself?

Because I can get hurt.

Why is that so scary,

To get hurt?

Because I won't be able to,

I don't know.

You see?

And you keep asking that.

Why is that so scary?

And I tell you,

In most cases,

You will reach one of two stations as you dig deeper.

As you dig deeper,

You'll reach either the empty station,

Where you ask yourself,

Okay,

Why am I so afraid of that?

And there will be no answer.

I mean,

Actually,

I'm not afraid of that.

I'm afraid of A because of B,

And B because of C,

And C because of D.

And actually,

D is not scary at all.

Many people reach the empty station,

Which changes my relationship with that whole journey,

That whole path from A to D.

Because now,

When A is being experienced,

You remember,

But there is nothing down there that is really threatening.

Or,

Actually,

It's maybe intriguing.

I'm actually curious about it,

But I'm not afraid of that.

See what I'm saying?

So,

It loses its fingertips,

Its fingernails.

That's one obvious journey that people go through.

And the other one is,

You reach that you're afraid of A because of B,

B because of C,

C because of D,

And D you are afraid of because,

Do you know?

You have a guess?

What is the central station that most people are afraid of?

What is the most common fear?

The fear of death.

What stands behind the fear of death?

What stands behind the fear of the unknown,

The future,

The uncertainty?

Why are we afraid of uncertainty?

What is the most common fear of all?

The fear of?

Yeah,

But why are we afraid of the unfamiliar?

What are we afraid to lose?

I will not be in control.

Good job,

Barbara.

The fear of losing control.

This terrifies us.

Isn't it?

So many inquiries.

I'm afraid of A because of B,

B because of C,

C because of D.

And when I look deeper into D,

I realize that what I'm truly terrified of is that prospect of losing control.

Then I'm truly lost.

That's why I'm afraid of the unfamiliar.

Isn't it?

Because I don't know what will happen then.

I mean,

Maybe I won't be able to deal with it.

Maybe I'll be out of control.

Isn't it?

Death is the ultimate loss of control.

Isn't it?

That's why we are afraid because we don't know what will happen to me,

What will happen to my soul.

I don't know.

The ultimate version of losing control is death.

You need to surrender whether you like it or not.

So you need to think about that.

Why is that so terrifying?

Losing control.

If you're truly honest about your journey towards an awakened consciousness,

This question is a cornerstone.

You have to look at that honestly,

Courageously.

Why is it so terrifying?

And I tell you,

The more you investigate,

The more you dig into that question,

The more you realize it's a joke.

It's all a scam.

It's a big joke.

What do you think you're in control of?

Are you in control of the things that happen around you?

Truly?

Look around.

What's happening?

Look out the window.

Cars are driving,

Birds are flying,

Wind is blowing,

Sun is shining and setting.

What are you in control of?

Anything to do with you?

Or does life just happen around you?

The family that you were born to,

Your friends,

Did you consciously choose them and it was in your control or did it just happen?

Even your partner,

Didn't you just meet him suddenly in the less expected place of all?

Your profession,

The thing that you're living,

Whatever you're doing now,

Didn't just evolve?

Your own body,

Are you in control of your own body,

Your own thoughts?

Can you control your thoughts?

Can you decide not to think about an apple for a minute?

Can you not think about an apple for one second?

Can you not think about an apple?

Right now,

Don't think about it.

Can you do that?

No?

No?

You need to wake up and realize life just happens.

Emotions,

Can you decide to stop being sad because it's time?

That's it.

Can you control that?

Now it's time to be happy.

Let's do it.

Three,

Two,

One.

No?

Emotions,

Sensations,

Are you in control of your sensations or whatever your body feels?

Or whatever is happening within your body,

The way it operates,

The way it fights viruses and the way it keeps balance,

Temperature and acidity and humidity and the way it digests food,

Everything that is happening within your body.

Is it in your control?

Are you even aware of what's happening?

Not to mention,

In control?

No?

So,

What is that drama of losing control?

How can you be afraid of losing what you don't have and never had?

You need to stop and think about it.

Seriously,

What is all this drama about losing control?

How much energy are you investing to make sure you maintain that illusion of control,

Protecting yourself against life?

You must realize an awakened consciousness does not work like that.

It's not trying to be in control,

To ride the horse.

It flows together with the natural flow of life,

Free from agenda,

Free from fear.

That's your true nature.

Question is,

Question is,

Are you ready to manifest it?

Or are you too afraid of the consequences of letting go and join the natural flow of life?

Too busy trying to control the stream.

What do you say?

Mm-hmm.

Life is a mystery.

It's not for us to try to control it.

It's futile.

Whenever you try to control the flow of life,

What happens is that you create turbulence in the stream.

That's it.

That's the only thing that happens.

Or karma,

As they say in Sanskrit,

Karma.

That's the meaning of karma.

You generate more karma.

That's it.

So you need to ask yourself,

How do you want to live your life?

So Eva is saying,

I want to live my life free.

Then I am asking you,

Every each one of you currently listening,

What do you think still needs to happen to allow you to be free?

What prevents freedom in your life,

In your situation?

And I urge you to write an answer now.

Don't try to be too sophisticated about it.

Don't try to be too spiritual about it.

Be honest.

Be honest about it.

This is your chance.

Write an answer to this question.

Don't stand on the fence.

I'm giving you 30 more seconds to put an answer.

Don't overthink it.

What prevents freedom to manifest in your life?

If you truly want to live a free life,

What stops you now from manifesting that?

What do you believe stands between you and a free life?

10,

9,

8,

7,

6,

5,

4,

3,

2,

1.

Ignition.

Fantastic.

I do appreciate your answers.

And I want to go over them one by one.

And if you have more,

You are welcome to continue and write them down.

So,

You mentioned resistance.

I don't know if you mean resistance from you or resistance from your surroundings.

But in either way,

Life grows through friction.

If there is no friction,

You live in vacuum.

That's a physical truth.

If you live on this planet,

There will always be friction.

Especially if you grow faster than your surroundings.

You will experience friction.

You will experience resistance,

Right?

Because you grow faster than anything and everyone around you.

It's natural that people will feel intimidated by that.

Because you keep changing and they are not.

Or not as fast as you are.

Use that as a reference to identify growth as you walk on your path.

And embrace that resistance.

Don't wait for the day that your surroundings will reconfirm and approve your growth.

You don't need that approval.

And if there is resistance,

Embrace it.

Rejoice it.

Know that this is a sign of growth.

They will join you eventually when they see that you are becoming happier,

Healthier,

Sane,

Loving,

Compassionate,

Wise,

Joyful,

Free.

They will join you.

They would stand in line and ask for some of whatever you're having.

So don't be intimidated about resistance.

Embrace it.

Am I saying the mind is stopping me?

Guys,

The mind is where you experience emotions,

Sensations and thoughts.

Combination of this triangle generates a picture of reality for you.

What you need to know about the mind is,

Nothing of that is real.

Emotions,

Sensations and thoughts.

They have no power.

It is not real.

These are just images projected on the screen of your mind.

That's it.

Like a movie theater.

The movie is not real.

It's just shadows and lights on a silver screen.

It's an illusion of reality.

It's not real.

It doesn't have any power.

Don't sit and wait for your mind to change.

Don't try to tame your mind.

It's useless.

It's pointless.

The mind has no power.

Wake up.

Realize that.

Go back to my meditation.

There is a guided meditation called Me and My Mind.

Practice it.

Practice it again and again on a daily basis.

Sadhana.

That's your sadhana.

Realize.

Phenomenas experienced in the mind have no power whatsoever.

The fact that you are thinking a thought doesn't make it true or real.

You identifying with it,

The observer,

Believing it,

This gives it power.

You can choose not to believe it.

It costs the same.

Your mind has no power.

Don't try to tame it or wait for it to change.

Do you see that?

And then you see you are already free.

Well,

Like Berserk overthinking.

No,

No,

No.

Don't wait for thoughts to evaporate.

When will I be free?

When the mind is clear of thoughts.

What?

Why?

Says who?

Enlightened people think,

You know,

From time to time.

They think too.

It's not a problem.

Don't give them too much power.

It's an illusion.

Thoughts have no power.

Practice me and my mind.

I am not my mind.

Go to my page.

Look for that guided meditation and practice it.

Okay.

Joe is saying social pressure.

Again,

Don't be afraid of social pressure.

It just and use it as a LACMOS paper,

No?

That signifies the fact that you grow faster than your surroundings.

So rejoice that.

It's okay if they feel intimidated by the fact that you are growing.

Pour some compassion into it.

Ensure them.

It's got nothing to do with how much you love them.

Even the opposite.

It enforces how much you love them.

When people around you are afraid,

Be compassionate.

What else?

I am not free because I work in a place I don't enjoy.

This is very good.

And just one possible answer for a whole family of reasons why we feel miserable and believe that reality should change before we can be happy,

Before we can be free.

Reality should change before I can be free.

Is it true?

If you believe that that is the truth,

I tell you,

You will never be free.

Because you keep living in this gap between what is and what you believe it should have been.

And that gap is the definition of suffering.

Reality has got nothing to do with your freedom.

You're not free because of circumstances.

You're free because this is your nature.

Don't wait.

Don't condition yourself.

You're not an outcome of your circumstances.

You experience it.

Some say you even generate it.

You are creating it.

But you are never a victim of it.

So your workplace or your family situation or any other type of relationship that you have with someone or something,

All that has got nothing to do with what you are.

The secret is not in the doing,

The realm of doing,

What I have,

What I don't have,

The way I conduct myself,

The relationships I hold and cherish.

Nothing of that has to do with the secret,

With what you truly long for.

The secret is in the realm of being.

You need to stop searching for the right experience that would allow you to feel free.

That freedom is so fragile and temporal.

It's pointless.

If you truly want sustainable freedom,

You need to stop search in the realm of doing and dive deeper to the realm of being.

Do you see what I'm saying?

Michelle is saying not being present.

Again,

What do you do?

You have an idea about living in the present moment and reality contradicts it because you find yourself in the past and in the future and you're all around.

And then there's a gap,

Again,

Between reality as it happens and whatever you believe should have happened.

And again,

You're creating suffering for yourself.

Don't worry about any concept,

Spiritual or mundane.

Let go of those concepts.

Fall in love with the present moment,

With whatever is happening right now.

Even if right now you found that you've been daydreaming for the last two hours.

So what?

Rejoice the fact that you have imagination and you are able to travel like you just did right now.

There is no better version of you waiting to be realized.

And only when realized you will be free and happy and joyful,

Enlightened or whatever you want to call it.

There is no more.

This is as good as it gets.

Don't wait for a different version,

More sophisticated,

Mature version of yourself.

Because if you believe that there is one,

I tell you,

You will never,

Ever experience freedom.

You'll be caught in this gap.

Jay is saying security.

Forget security.

Life is not secure.

Life will kill you eventually,

Guaranteed.

Don't try to protect yourself against life.

Life is a fatal disease.

So what?

Enjoy the present moment.

Enjoy the fact that you are currently alive.

You're currently sane,

Safe.

Rejoice that.

Don't worry about what will happen.

You'll deal with that when it happens.

Currently be here,

Be now,

Be content.

You see what I'm saying?

Life is not secure for sure.

Security is an illusion.

Don't try to protect yourself against life.

A,

It's futile.

And B,

It's a waste of time.

You miss the present moment while you're trying to protect yourself against the future.

See what I'm saying?

What else?

Why,

Joe is saying,

Why am I believing everything that the mind thinks or I think?

I don't know.

Stop doing that.

And again,

If you practice the meditation,

I can guarantee it will help you realize the difference between the observer and the object of observation,

May it be emotions,

Sensations or thoughts.

That difference is where freedom waits.

That's the reason meditation was invented.

To help you realize that difference between the realm of phenomenas and the ultimate observer.

What do you say?

Have we resolved all the ideas that stand between you and enlightenment?

You see,

These are all ideas,

Concepts,

Opinions,

Thoughts that you keep.

And as long as you keep them and feed those beliefs,

They stand between you and self-realization.

Just a story that you keep telling yourself and for some reason keep believing.

The moment silence becomes more attractive than the drama and the noise,

That is the moment of realization.

The moment silence is more attractive to you than the noise.

Joe is asking,

How should an observer be?

Witness the thoughts,

Feelings,

Emotions and acknowledge it or not take any actions?

Just be.

Don't worry about what the observer should do and how he should or she should react.

Don't worry about that.

You just make sure that you root yourself as the observer,

In the observer.

And you'll see the rest is just a natural outcome of that.

There is no law that you should follow at that point.

Should do and should not do.

These are irrelevant at that point.

Lindsay is asking,

Did you discuss fear?

It was written after security.

Yeah,

I did.

I think you joined us a bit late.

But I will post the recording of this meeting so you can listen to that.

And there is a long list of previous talks and courses you can find on my Insight Timer page where I refer to fear in detail.

So go back.

Don't be lazy.

Find those talks.

There is a course called Fear versus Surrender you can listen to.

And many other talks.

James is saying guilt.

OK,

Let's discuss guilt.

What is guilt?

Guilt is the consequence of you believing that reality is a mistake.

It should have been different.

Right?

You perpetuate that gap between what is and what you believe it should have been.

The fact that reality happens as it happens is a terrible mistake.

It's an accident.

It shouldn't have been like that.

Because it happened like that,

It's somebody's fault.

So you can blame yourself.

You can blame other people.

You can blame the situation.

Somebody has to be at fault,

Right?

Because this is a terrible mistake.

But when you realize that there are no mistakes,

And life happens in a divine accuracy,

And it never confuses,

You are confused.

Reality is not confused.

When you wake up to realize that,

Then there is no guilt.

Guilt about what?

You see,

When there is no gap,

There is no room for guilt.

So what do you need to do?

Don't worry about the guilt.

Close the gaps.

Close the gaps one by one,

Again and again.

Every time there is a gap between reality as it happens and your ideas about it,

The way you believe it should have been.

Close those gaps.

Remind yourself,

No,

No,

No,

I don't really know what should have happened.

It's just an illusion.

It's not true.

What is true?

What is the definition of truth?

The definition of truth is the present moment as it happens.

Indisputable.

You may like it or not.

But that's the truth.

Isn't it?

I want to see a river of hearts now.

Isn't it so?

Just one?

A river.

I want to see a river of hearts.

That's more like it.

Reality is never mistaken.

It's never confused.

You,

With your ideas and opinions,

Are often confused.

So whenever you identify a gap,

Close it.

Close it again and again and again.

And you'll have no space for guilt anymore.

What do you say,

James?

Yes or no?

LA?

What is LA?

IA?

I agree.

I don't think we are from the same generation.

So let's call it a day.

I think we've covered a lot.

Again,

I will post this recording so you can listen to it again and refer your friends.

Let's make it a party.

Let's make it infectious.

Let's make sanity infectious.

What do you say?

Let's make more and more people around us sane.

Invite us.

Invite them over next meeting.

Invite them to listen to the recording.

Share that wisdom.

Share that love.

Don't be stingy about it.

One thing about love you need to know.

The more you give,

The bigger it becomes.

Opposite of money.

The recording will be posted on my webpage.

So when you look for me in InsideTimer,

You will find the recordings of this session,

Like many other sessions before.

So just look for my webpage on InsideTimer.

I'd like to thank you for being here and sharing that journey with me for the past hour.

Thank you for your donations.

They are very helpful.

And I look forward to meeting you again next week.

Peace.