Hello guys! Welcome to another meeting here on our channel. Stoicism and Self-Realization… What is the difference between them?
Some people have this doubt, this question. The Stoicism… basically, what does it say? It says, “It’s not what happens to you that causes your unhappiness, it's not what happens to you that makes you unhappy, but rather the way you react to it."
According to stoicism, it is the quality of your thinking… this quality of your thoughts will determine your life in this contact with unhappiness. So, according to stoicism, the quality of your thoughts determines whether or not you are happy in your life.
Then, what’s the difference of this approach to what we are sharing with you, we are addressing here with you, attending here with you?
Here we deal with Self-Realization. What’s the basic difference between the Self-Realization and the stoicism?
The fact is that stoicism, as a philosophy, deals with exercise, it deals with practice, it deals with thinking, it deals with knowledge, it deals, basically, with a way of thinking and acting, or reacting, to life. Learning to deal with life, changing the quality of your thoughts, having a new psychological approach to others, to the world, to situations, and to circumstances around you – this is basically stoicism.
Whereas in Self-Realization… here we are telling you something different. We are telling you that there is no sense of “someone” present to deal with life, to discipline yourself, to order yourself, to adjust, to understand what happens, and react to life based on thought. Self-Realization is the end of the known, and therefore it is the end of conditioned thought.
Human beings are looking for Love, Peace, and Happiness… So, they are looking for that in philosophy, psychology, and religion. They are looking for what they call Truth. And here we are telling you that this search or this quest is something that takes place in this contact with the Truth of your own Being. Your search for the Truth is to be happy, for Happiness.
The fact is that this Happiness is something inherent in your own Being; it is something innate, even here right now, to what you are. Then, it’s not about a teaching to give you this, an apprenticeship to give you this, specific knowledge to give you this, an exercise, a practice, a discipline… Self-Realization is the contact with your Being. And this is an approach to the Unknown, and you can’t approach what is unknown with this apparatus of the known.
Thought, knowledge, and experience are all part of the known. Every form of discipline is part of the known. Here, the approach to Truth and Happiness is through Self-Awareness. So, Self-Awareness is an approach to yourself… not through learning, in the sense of accumulating knowledge based on thought, experiencing an experience, or exercising a discipline. This learning here is a learning in the sense of self-observation and discovering, here and now, what prevents you from being what you are.
What keeps you from being what you are, is this background of psychological conditioning. Even thought, knowledge and all experience are part of this background, they are part of this knowledge. Therefore, our work together is to move closer to the Realization of the Truth that we are here and now.
So, this learning is an unlearning – unlearning this “me,” this “mine,” this sense of “someone” present to discuss with life, separating oneself to try to adjust life to a model, which is this model of the known, this model of thought, experience, memory, knowledge. Thus, Self-Realization is come closer to Truth, the real approach to the Truth. It is Self-Awareness that brings you closer to the Truth. Only Self-Awareness is this approach.
So, getting closer to the Truth is through Self-Awareness, since Self-Awareness will discard this illusion of the sense of separateness, it will discard the illusion of the sense of ego identity. Then, within this clear vision, which is this acknowledgment that there is no “someone” present in this experience… with this, there is an end to suffering, there is the Acknowledgement of your Being.
For the Indian Sage, for the Realized Being – whether in the East or West – for the one who has realized his Essential Nature, Consciousness is Bliss and Bliss is Being.
Therefore, the closest to getting to the Truth is through Self-Awareness, and not through learning within this culture of books, teachings, lectures, and studies. All of this is still part of a discipline, a technique, a practice of the intellect, an ability of the intellect to understand and, later, to comprehend that, to act from that knowledge.
Here, it’s not a matter of knowledge; here it’s a matter of acknowledgment. We could call that Knowledge, indeed, but that is what in India is known as Jnana. It’s not the knowledge you learn from books, from others, from someone. It is the Knowledge you find present in your Being. It’s not knowledge you learn from the outside, but Knowledge you find present inside, that emerges, that awakens.
In India, this is called Jnana, and accessing that Knowledge is called Jnana Yoga… the practice of accessing that Knowledge. This requires discernment; it requires a true approach to yourself, for a break to occur. Only this approach to the Truth, to be closer to the Truth through Self-Awareness, can give you that. It is the Realization of your Essential Nature, which is non-dual. It is not your Essential Nature and Existence and Life and experience in this present moment; it is your Essential Nature being One with all that is here and now.
In general, thought within you… what it has done, within this psychological conditioning… and it is exactly this psychological conditioning that ends when the Awakening of your Divine Nature, which is Self-Realization, happens. Then, the sense of duality, the sense of separateness, ends.
So, it's not about how to react to life, it's not about the quality of thinking to deal with the experience called life, as happens in stoicism, as is the proposal in stoicism.
Here, the fact is that there is no thinker separate from thought, no experiencer separate from experience; there is no “I” present to live life, to react to life this or that way, to have thoughts; there’s no thinker to have thoughts of such a quality that they would not come into conflict with life, for him to be happy. This is not real.
So, the closest to the Truth, which is Self-Awareness, can reveal this. This closest to the Truth… because I’d say that this is the most practical thing we have for the practice of Jnana Yoga. Thus, Self-Awareness is the closest thing to the Truth there is to realize this.
So, this encounter with Happiness – I mean the Happiness of being Consciousness, of being Presence, and here I mean the Truth of the Unknown, of That which has no name, which is beyond the body and the mind, which is the Truth of God. This Truth of God, this Consciousness, this Reality, is the Unknown and is your Being. This is Happiness.
So, notice, there’s nothing outside. Reality lies in this Consciousness. There’s no “inside and outside.” The Acknowledgement of what you are in your Being – this is Self-Realization. Thus, the difference between stoicism and Self-Realization is that, in this Self-Realization, the Acknowledgement of the Truth is that there’s no such sense of “I” – there’s the Realization of what you are in your Being.
The human being has sought through psychology, philosophy, and organized religion, to have this encounter with the Truth, with the Truth of him or herself. He or she is looking for it. However, the encounter with this Truth, which is the Truth of God, the Truth of Consciousness, the encounter with this is the encounter with What has no name, no form. This encounter is nothing but the Realization of what is already present as Consciousness.
The beauty of this approach to what we have as the closest to the Truth, which is Self-Awareness, is that this Self-Awareness opens the door to the investigation of the Truth of this “me.” And when you approach, you don't find any "me." All you find is the experience.
We are dealing with emotions, feelings, thoughts, sensations, and perceptions in life in a completely wrong way. We believe that these perceptions, these thoughts, these feelings, and these emotions are happening to “me,” to “I,” to this “me”, to this “I” you believe you to be.
So, the expression we generally use is “I'm thinking about it,” “I'm feeling this,” “I'm afraid,” “I'm scared.” These expressions are within this mistaken, illusory principle of duality.
When there is this model of thought within you, there is the idea of controlling thought, of trying to get rid of the feeling, of the emotion, of the fear, so there is this idea of “someone” present in that experience. This is completely false! There is no such duality and only Self-Awareness can reveal this to you, through this self-observation.
We need a new way of approaching ourselves. We have to eliminate this separation between thought and thinker, between feeling and this “I” that feels, between this emotion and this “I” that feels, between this fear and this “I.”
Fear is always something related to something outside. Even if it is a thought, it’s still something outside, when there is the illusion of an “I,” an “I” thinking, an “I” imagining.
For an emotion, there is the idea of an “I” feeling. We have to eliminate this sense of separateness because it is this sense of separateness that perpetuates and continues this sense of suffering, this illusion of duality. This psychological duality, this state of psychological duality, is something connected to this movement of the egoic consciousness, the egoic mind, and all this psychological conditioning. Approaching this is being able to end this.
Let me talk about Meditation here with you. We have a playlist here on the channel dealing with this subject. Meditation is this way of getting closer to yourself and observing, but observing in the sense of eliminating this separation.
When a thought arises, you just look and observe, without any intention of doing anything. It's a thought of pain, a thought of sadness, a thought that brings an image of frustration, of fear; it's a thought... To look at it without the idea of someone to condemn it, reject it, to want to get rid of it…
When you just observe, you become aware of that thought. This requires what I’ve called self-awareness. You have to be aware of yourself, conscious of yourself.
In general, human beings don’t live like this. They live immersed in this condition of identification with thought. In other words, they are always separating themselves from thought, as if they were the thinker thinking it; separating from the feeling, as if there were someone feeling it; of the emotion, as if there were someone in that emotion, feeling that emotion. A remembrance is "someone" remembering - this is not real! And that has been the condition of the human being, and now I am inviting you to just observe what arises, without mistaking yourself for it, without getting entangled with it, bringing self-awareness to this moment, to this present moment.
Ramana called this self-observation or Atma Vichara. This is the way to get closer to what we have closest to the Truth, which is Self-Awareness. This has just opened you to the possibility of Meditation. When that happens, an entirely new space opens up within you, of Silence, of Stillness… there is an internal state of Presence, of Consciousness. Since there is no longer that separation and you are paying attention to yourself now, at this moment, without putting yourself as the one who judges, compares, rejects, and wants to get rid of it. You are just aware of it. It requires that sensitivity; it requires that intelligence to not escape from it, to not run away from it.
At best people facing this psychological pain, these internal conflicts that arise, can only run away. They are going to listen to music, they are going to… in addition to listening to music, they are going to eat, they are going to have sex, they are going to practice meditation therapeutically, like self-hypnosis, to be able to deal better with this, with this emotional pain, with this psychological pain, with this anxiety, with this internal despair, with this depression.
Here, when I refer to Meditation on this channel, I’m referring to this True Meditation, this direct contact with what you are here and now. And when thought is present, you are thought; when sadness is present, you are sadness; when anger is present, notice, there is only anger! That’s always like this! But you don't learn to deal with it. When the anger subsides or has a small space, a thought says “I have to do something,” “I can’t keep feeling this,” “I have to get rid of this anger,” “I have to control myself,” “I have to…” “this way, I’ll have this or that loss,” “I have to change this,” “I’ll end up doing something crazy…” So, it’s a thought that arises, but in the moment of anger, there’s only anger, you are angry. You are fear in the moment of fear; you are thought... There is only that! And when this stays and is acknowledged, there is a breaking of this separation between you and thought, between you and anger, you and fear… there is a break since there is the end to that duality. And, in this attention, a new energy arises and that state vanishes, that thought disappears, that feeling disappears, that emotion disappears, that sense of "I," along with that emotion - because this "I" is that – disappears, the illusion of this angry “me,” this fearful “me” …
So, this is a way of approaching Meditation. Then, a Silence, a Space, something extraordinary opens, beyond this psychological time, beyond this egoic condition. Then, this is Self-Realization. It's not dealing with life, it's Being One with Life. As there is no conflict, as there is no separation, there is no suffering, so you are Love, Peace, Happiness, Consciousness, you are One with everything! This is the difference between stoicism and Self-Realization – the Realization of the Truth you are here and now.
If this is something that makes sense to you, leave your "like," and subscribe to the channel... Reminding you: we have face-to-face meetings, online meetings, and also, retreats.
If this makes sense, we can work this out together, Ok? See you next meeting.
No comments:
Post a Comment