So, what I'm saying here is that there is a sufficient degree of presence in
you, now, for you to choose to dwell in the state of presence rather
than the state of mind identification.
You only need to remember that you have that choice, of being identified
with mind, or stepping out of mind.
I can hear one mind here asking the question, "Who is choosing?"
The answer is of course, it's not really you who is choosing.
Presence is choosing to emerge through this form. From the perspective of
this form, it looks as if this form were choosing.
But that is a helpful perspective...that is why I say you can choose
presence.
Don't try to work that out through the mind. (laughter)
Very often, the truth, the deepest truth, can only be expressed through
paradox...not through some neat, logical statement that says this is
how it is, and
that's how it is not.
That's the fragmentary way that thought happens.
When you create thought systems, they may look spiritual, but they may be
belief systems...then you have very neat ways of putting it..."This is
how it is and there is no contradiction here."
Everything is logically explained.
Be suspicious when you encounter a teaching that is totally logically
consistent and has no contradictions.
It's a mind-structure (he laughs).
Here we are using different pointers to take you beyond
mind-identification...and whatever pointer is helpful will be used.
The pointers are not there to contain or convey the truth...any absolute
truth.
They are only temporary means, that's all.
So, you can choose the state of presence.
That is a helpful perspective, and all you need to do is remember that...
that you have that choice and then you exercise that choice.
At that moment presence has chosen you, one could say.
Ok, it doesn't matter. (he laughs)
So there come these philosophic questions when you listen to different
teachings.
There is a 'doer'...there is no 'doer'.
And then people identify with one of these perspectives...they go to
one teacher, who says there's no doer, and they repeat that
perspective mentally.
And they start to argue with people who say, "No, no, there is a doer."
(laughter)
And the mind loves that because then the egoic self has reincarnated into
some new belief and has adopted a new mental position...
"This is me now, and I'm telling you there is no doer." (laughter)
And you're doing a lot while you're saying that.
loooooong pause
When questions arise, you're welcome to write them on a piece of paper and
tomorrow or the next day we will look at questions.
I don't promise there will be an answer, but we'll look at the question.
Avoid questions that are speculative, because they are not all that helpful.
Avoid questions that are too comparative, comparing signposts.
But ask vital questions concerning your own practice.
Avoid questions that try to catch me out in some contradiction. (laughter)
"This morning you said this, and in the afternoon you said that...which one
is true?"
I had a question, not long ago, a very powerful mind, she wrote a very
elaborate question...and said in your book you say: "You are here to
enable the divine universe to unfold.
That is how important you are."
And then on page so-in-so you say that "no form is important." Which one is
true.
They can't both be true."
But they are.
So, if you asked me "do you consider yourself important?"
I would have to say, "not at all...not at all, this form."
This teaching only happens because this form knows its own nothingness...
its complete unimportance.
That's why the transparency is there and the teaching can come through.
When you think you are special, the transparency isn't there...it can't come
through.
It's completely unimportant.
That's why this teaching is so important!
(laughter) looong pause
Just a suggestion....close your eyes for a moment and listen to the sound of
the bell.
Allow the sound to arise and be aware of the field in which the sound
arises...and the field into which the sound subsides.
Then the sound subsides and the field of awareness is left.
And even while you listen to the sound, you listen to the sound...
and at the same time, you're aware of the awareness, the underlying field.
Form and formless...one.
Close your eyes......chimes (3)
The reason there is silence and I don't speak for a while...one way of
putting it...is because I don't know what to say.
Potentially that could be a very uncomfortable state.
If I don't know what to say and I'm looking for something to say it becomes
uncomfortable.
When I don't know what to say and think I should know...that's
uncomfortable.
If I don't know what to say and feel bad about not knowing what to say, it's
very stressful.
But to be comfortable with not knowing is a state of creativity and depth...
and then you have access to a deep knowing.
That's not just the case with a spiritual teacher...it applies to you.
You are also a teacher. Become comfortable with not-knowing.
A deeper knowing arises when the not-knowing is not resisted.
You surrender into the state of not-knowing.
And it is the most beautiful state...deep inner connectedness.
Then, whatever needs to be known in this moment truly needs to be
known...not to satisfy mental curiosity.
What truly needs to be known or done, is known...right now, when it
needs to be known.
And there's a lot that does not need to be known.
But what is truly needed is always there...out of that state, in which you
seem to have disappeared as an existing entity.
And then you realize that all 'thought knowledge'...all knowledge that is
derived from thought...is a kind of pseudo-knowledge.
In thought, when you call it something, you think you know.
When you have a label for something, you think that's what it is...
not realizing that every label is an abstraction.
very very looong pause
The state of not-knowing causes another state, as we talked about yesterday,
when you walk around or sit and perceive without interpretation,
without labeling.
And again that's the state of not-knowing.
And yet it's a state of a deep knowing that is beyond mind.
As the awareness or the unconditioned consciousness arises, separative
knowledge which is of the mind, (because every label separates you
from that which you label...it becomes a barrier), that separative
knowledge is replaced by a unitive knowing, which doesn't separate you
from that which is known.
And you can see how that transforms your relationship with nature, and how
it transforms your relationship with other human beings.
So far, 90% or more of human interaction has been through
separative...attaching labels on to people...interpreting, judging.
Not realizing that every interpretation and judgment is no more than a very
limited perspective...one standpoint, one small perspective, no more.
Once you know that, you no longer get deceived by the mind and believe that
one perspective contains the truth... that one thought that you express
could ever contain the truth.
It is a small perspective, no more. It is a fragment, no more.
So the recognition of the relativity of all thought...and we are moving
toward a different kind of knowing...a knowing in which the sense of
separateness does not arise.
That knowing is also loving...it's one...because love is obscured
through the delusion of separateness.
Love as the realization of your oneness with all that is, is obscured by the
labeling, the interpreting, the knowing mind.
Whatever you look upon in that state of not knowing (from the point of view
of mind), is looked upon with love and compassion.
They are all aspects of that state of deep knowing that to the mind looks
like not knowing at all.
And you can imagine how that changes human relationships, when you can be
with another human being in the state of not-knowing.
This either means you are totally present, totally still, allowing this form
the form that this moment takes, the form of this human being to be
completely...or it could mean that certain thoughts still arise about
that human being - 'who they are...what they should be doing...they
should be doing this or that, should know better, they are this, they
are that' - that thought is recognized as
thought and you don't believe in it totally anymore.
And you recognize that it's a fragment, it's only a thought.
You allow it to pass, and you re-enter the state of not-knowing. You don't
get tricked anymore by the mind.
There is, continuously, that dimension of aware presence that may be all
there is, or it may be the undercurrent...on the surface of it there
are mind movements.
That's fine.
All sense perceptions are surface phenomena.
Ultimately, in themselves, sense perceptions are not all that satisfying.
They are never satisfying for long...nothing here in the world of form
satisfies for long, even if it's beautiful initially.
From Now2 transcribed by Jani
No comments:
Post a Comment