Here, there is something that may seem very challenging for each one of us. Maybe we even underestimate it, but listen carefully: our great challenge in life is, as human beings, to remain internally, psychologically, with mental health.
Our psychological formation, what we receive in terms of formation from this life context, from the cradle to the grave, is the learning of continuity, of the permanence of the illusion of an identity present here in life, in this moment, in the experience of living. Notice, just hearing this already sounds very strange to most of us, because we are sure, absolutely sure, that we exist as someone in life.
What we take as a person, as this "me," as this "I," being the person we are, that we believe we are, that we demonstrate to be - to us this is very real, and yet, we are only in an imaginary movement of thought - and we are not aware of it. The person present, this sense of someone I am, who came from the past and is going to the future, psychologically does not exist, it is not real.
What we have here as being you is the image, the self-image of this consciousness, of this self-consciousness, something established in us by thought: this is the person; and the presence of this person - it's strange to hear this - is imaginary. This sense of "I" is a movement of self-image. Therefore, you are the self-image.
There is no "you" separate from the self-image. You and the self-image are one single element; an abstract element, an imaginary element, and yet a very active one, which is moving in life based on criteria validated by this psychological structure, which is the structure of thought, feeling, emotion, and sensation.
This is the life of the ego, this is the life of the person. A life, by the way, that is particular; it is apart, it is separate from Life itself as it happens, however, it interacts with Life from memory, which is thought.
An encounter with the Reality of Life is the end of the self-image. The end of the self-image is the encounter with Life. That is the real encounter with God, the real encounter with Truth, with Freedom, with Happiness, with Love. We have the truth about who we are in the idea of being, and we have the Truth about us in line with Life as it happens. We are facing two very distinct situations.
Our work together, our effort here, is to investigate this, to be fully aware of this, of how we are happening in life; and we are happening in thought, as people. "I love you, but I can also hate you." "I am your friend, but I can become, at any moment, an enemy - and a very dangerous one." "I feel happy at this moment, and in the next moment I can be sad, depressed, anguished, worried, or angry, or jealous, or afraid."
These various psychic states or conditions in us are present due to the presence of the person, due to the presence of this entity that sees itself as apart, that sees itself as separate from the experience when the experience is present. It is part of life as we know it - anguish, sadness, worry, fear, anger, jealousy, envy - but it is part of life in this structure, which is the structure of the "I," which is the life of the self-image. The presence of all this is the absence of sanity, of mental health.
We need a free, healthy, clear, lucid, real mind that knows how to deal with thoughts, and it requires the presence of the comprehension of thought - that is a playlist also here on the channel. All these subjects here are placed in playlists. "What is thought?" The answers we give to people when they ask us questions are answers born from thought. The way we interact with them, we interact from thought. What we feel about them comes from thought.
The presence of thought is evident in everything, in life, in relationships, in experience. The relation, life and experience as we know them, as we recognize them - there lies the presence of thought. So, what is thought? Thought is something that comes from the past, it is something that is born and is the result of acquired knowledge, of lived experience.
Experience and knowledge form thought, which is memory, image, remembrance. By acquiring knowledge, you acquire memory, remembrance. By acquiring knowledge, you acquire experience, know-how, science of that: this is the presence of thought.
Our contact with people, with ourselves, with emotions within us, as well as feelings and sensations, has the explanation, the justification, the representation of memory, which is thought. And we are living in thought. Thought has taken over this whole place in our lives, and here we are questioning this, we are asking if we can, in life, know this sanity, this psychological health, what it represents, at this moment, to deal with the present moment free of thought.
Yes, because thought is needed at times; in reality, in very few moments, because most of the time, during the day, during our hours, in the relation with life as it happens, the presence of thought is the problem, the presence of thought is the element of separation, because it enters with opinions, with judgments, with evaluations, it enters from images it is producing in its imagination within these relations. And when this is present, suffering is present, emotional disorder, the conflict that thought produces within relationships. It is thought that shows us friends, it is thought that shows us enemies; but there is no separation between it and this "me," and this "I."
The person you are is thought. The idea of someone present in the relation with him or her is the image that thought established in this brain. So, this brain there carries the image about who you are; this image is an imagination, it is an action of image that is within these relations.
Here, for example, in human relations, we do not need the presence of this quality of thought, which is psychological thought, which is imaginary thought, which is the thought that distorts, that judges, evaluates, gives opinions, believes, disbelieves in itself, and in the other. An evaluation of life based on beliefs, opinions, ideas - this is within this model of conditioned mind, of egoic mind.
Can we discover life happening at this instant through thinking? Thinking, just like acting and feeling, dispenses with the presence of self-image, once this self-image is an imaginary structure of an identity that is present. This imaginary entity present is the "I." It is the "I" that thinks, it is the "I" that feels, it is the "I" that acts, and all this activity from this "I" is the generator of problems, produces confusion, disorder, it renforces suffering - suffering for oneself and suffering for the other.
That is how thought is functioning, psychologically, in our brains. That is the condition of the absence of health. Can we discover life at this instant, free of thought? We need technical, objective, and practical thought to deal with very simple matters, like the memory of getting a glass of water from the fridge - that requires the presence of thought. If you don't know the address of the water in your house, to drink it, something is wrong with your brain. That is the presence of thought functioning in a precise, technical, practical way.
If you don't know your home address, don't have the memory of where you live, your brain is not functioning well. At that level, thought is needed, but we don't need thought to like people or not like them. This liking or not liking has as its principle a model present in us of mental disorder, of the absence of freedom and internal health - this is the presence of the ego, it is the presence of the "I."
It is the ego that separates, it is the ego that divides, it is the ego that loves or hates, it is the ego that likes or doesn't like, it is the ego that clings, attaches, grabs on and says it loves, controls, possesses and is jealous of that - of that object or that person. It is exactly that - the model of psychological thought in this self-image; and this is the ego, which also, from this "love" - because that's what we call it, this attachment, this possession, control, dependence, this neediness of the other - this same "I," this same ego, this self-image, when it feels betrayed, rejected, this state changes, it is no longer love. Now it's anger, resentment, grudge, it becomes aggressive, violent.
Actually, this is the psychological condition of the ego: it lives in thought and in the model of pleasure and pain. It calls pleasure love, and pain has many names: it calls it anger, hatred, rejection. We are always, psychologically, trapped in classifications, in namings, and the basis, the principle, is the model of sensation - of the sensation of pleasure or pain. Here we are together being aware of the end of this psychological condition of ego-identity. Then Something beyond this "me," beyond this model of thought, of this psychological condition, which is the condition of the "I," reveals itself.
Thus, we need to discover Life free from the ego, free from this self-image, free from this psychological condition of disorder. So, a new brain, a new mind, a new view of this instant, a new view of this body and this mind, and also of the other and of life as it happens - this is the Awakening of Consciousness. And thus, we come across Freedom, Love, Happiness, when the "I" is not present, when this self-image is no longer present.
These meetings we have here on weekends, Saturdays and Sundays, have this purpose: to discover Life as it happens, in this Real Awareness that Reveals the Divine Truth, which is Meditation. You have here, in the video description, our WhatsApp link for these online meetings on weekends. It's two days together: Saturday and Sunday. Besides these, we have in-person meetings and also retreats. I want to leave an invitation here for you. If this is something that makes any sense to you, leave your "like," subscribe to the channel and write here in the comments: "Yes, this makes sense." Ok? See you next time. Thanks for the meeting, and see you soon!