Welcome, everyone
Lovely to be with you
and to have nothing to do.
Because in essence
nothing is happening.
When the mind is at rest
tranquil, peaceful
not arguing.
The universe is unfolding
as it unfolds
images on the screen.
You perceive
a variety of thoughts
memories
various bodily sensations.
But you are this
still aware presence.
That which we seemingly seek so far
is our true Being.
Our true nature
is what we already are
what already is.
This understanding
pacifies the mind
pacifies the body
freeing it
from generations of contractions
and retained attitudes in the body.
So we invite ourselves
Body and mind
are invited to the freedom.
We don’t need to wait
We can in this very moment,
let it all go.
Why not?
Why hold on to anything?
What for?
What’s this
meaningless holding on
which maintains the illusion?
this sense of danger
that there is something we need
something we must attain
or we must become
or we must have in order to be free
in order to be happy.
Happiness when?
To be happy when?
To be free when?
Maybe we don’t need to continue
this habitual tendency
to seek and resist
to look outwardly
to look somewhere for something.
For whom?
To free ourselves from past issues
and fix the past and secure the future.
How troublesome!
An impossible, momentous task.
While all along
this effortless presence is available
this ordinary shining awareness
which does not exist in time
which is not subject to events.
It’s your true self
but somehow habitually
we refer to ourselves
as somebody with problems
someone with issues
with a sense of failure or inadequacy.
We drag on the past
every step we take
we are carrying
pulling the cadavers of the past.
So much effort
exhausting!
Is it possible to
for a moment
simply be this open listening space?
This effortless being?
Effortless perceiving
effortless knowing
effortless awaring?
Without anybody at the helm
without a personal doer.
There is freedom
in not being somebody.
Because in not being somebody
you are That which we all are
which everything is
this freedom.
It is said that in being nobody
you’re everybody.
In being no one
you’re everyone.
In being nothing
you’re everything.
These are not empty words.
But somehow
we’re enamored with being
somebody in particular.
Our stories
our narratives
our past
are seducing.
We identify
with some imaginary character
which we sometimes love
and sometimes hate.
We don’t realize
that in this identification
we already have doomed ourselves.
We’ve limited and
contracted ourselves
to suffer
to experience the sense of limitation
the sense of lack
worries and concerns
fear of death
hopes for the future.
Habitually, we build this shell
this cocoon around us
separating ourselves from the totality
separating ourselves
from the light of being
from joy
from freedom
from causeless peace and happiness.
And we engage in struggling.
How to break through this cocoon which we are weaving?
Weaving it and at the same time struggling against it.
These two go hand in hand.
We hold on to the me-entity
to the me-narrative
and at the same time we seek freedom from it.
Do you see this?
And so we
we want freedom and happiness
for me
for the me-cocoon
that we are weaving.
So we’re encapsulated
in this impression
that we exist in time
while we seek eternity.
We seek eternity as a character in time
that is bound to fail
You are not an entity in time.
This is a contradiction
you cannot have it both.
So why wait?
Why wait?
Can we die right now?
Just die to all those notions
narratives
beliefs
structures
ideologies
ideas we have about me
beliefs we hold on to
we identify with
we defend.
Sometimes it may seem to be scary
but again
scary for whom?
We hold on to a structure
to a personal self
meaning to fear.
Because it’s not possible
to believe in a personal self
without the experience of fear
worry, and concern.
It’s not possible.
Whenever you experience fear
and I’m not talking about
a bear chasing you.
Whenever you experience fear
you’re holding on to the me-belief.
You are maintaining the me
the sense of personal limitation
the belief that I am a limited consciousness.
But what is it
when we’re not holding on to any notion
or any belief about consciousness?
This freedom
this open effortless being
not-knowing
this effortless awareness.
Sometimes
we are waiting for a savior.
Maybe the guru will say something.
Maybe God will appear
and save me, help me.
We wait.
We maintain the me-waiting
living the personal burden of time
hoping for something in the future.
Somebody will come to save me.
There’ll be somehow a saving grace
but the saving grace is already here.
You are that.
You are this invisible
transparent
aware presence.
That is God’s message
already delivered.
Not to be delivered later.
Delivered!
And then you say, yes.
Yes. But, but…
But what?
Are you something
some object that you perceive?
Are you a set of feelings
and sensations
that you strongly identify with?
Or are you that which is holding on to stuff
holding on to the imaginary past?
You already are that freedom
playing the game of limitation.
You are already saved
waiting for a savior.
This is a way of speaking
because there is no nobody
to save and no savior.
It’s all done.
It’s a done deal.
All is well in God’s kingdom
and there is no other kingdom.
The human kingdom is your imagination
God’s imagination.
There is no personal imagination.
Everything which appears to you
appears to you from beyond
not from a personal doer or subject.
And yet, here we are
enjoying this gathering
enjoying the peace
enjoying being
enjoying whatever is appearing on the screen.
Who and what is the enjoyer?
It is that enjoyer which enjoys
the game of ignorance.
Oh, yeah.
The game of what happened to me?
What happened to me in the past?
Why they did this to me?
Poor me.
How can I be free
from blah blah blah, dot dot dot?
Sound bites
sound bites
sound bites.
Spinning
spinning
spinning.
We love it. Come on.
Fess it up. Fess up.
You love it.
Your story
your narrative
the gossip about the neighbors
about your friends
self aggrandizement
identification with the tribe
the stale family narratives
playing the game of being angry
being upset.
Playing the game of being a victim
or being the judge
the one that knows it all.
All these different personas
these different facets
which we love to play out.
The complaining.
Oh, yeah.
The complaining.
I’ve been at it for so long
and I still haven’t reached it.
Games.
You are not the images
which appear on the screen.
You are the screen
and you are the artist
the artist that is creating
all these images
composing images.
You are that.
Recognize yourself as the screen
the invisible
formless
aware presence.
So many words
to point to that
which is beyond language
beyond mind
beyond words.
That which is
and has never not been and cannot, not be.
Don’t play the dangerous game
of being somebody until you grow up.
Grow up now.
And then you may not be interested
in playing that game
the personal me-game.
We start and end
right now, right here in this moment.
It’s always this moment.
This moment of discernment
where we can discern
between the personal me game,
and none of it.
It is the peace that you seek.
It’s not the me game.
This full stop
this total inner stillness
in the core of Being.
The eye of the storm.
But there is no storm.