This model of “our” existence is a model where we are within this continuity; this is the continuity of life with problems. So, talking about the possibility of being free of problems is something very challenging, and yet, we are facing something possible for each of us. However, you need to approach it. It is essential to approach it. This approach is only possible when you know yourself. There is something we don't know about the basis of problems. To us, we are “somebody” in the world dealing with life. Separated from life, life shows itself in a format where it seems to us that this challenge it represents must, necessarily, represent problems for us. This is not true! It is not true!
What we need is a change, a deep and radical change in ourselves. It is not life that has to change the model, the representation of these challenges, which seem to us to be the cause of problems. What we need is understanding ourselves, we need to understand ourselves completely, totally and definitively, an absolute understanding of the Truth about who we are. This understanding of the totality of ourselves – a word that I have been using in these speeches, in these encounters that, in general, people use, also in sociology, in psychology, in philosophy, I use the same word, but with a meaning perhaps a little different –, is Self-awareness.
What is Self-awareness? It is the understanding of the totality of this whole process of being “someone” in the world, of living as “someone” in the world. Understanding the process of wholeness about who we are is Self-awareness So, what is Self-awareness? It’s our tendencies, our inclinations, our motivations, our thoughts, all of which are being seen. It is the understanding of the whole process of thinking, of this format of thoughts present within us, happening here in this instant, in this moment. So, it is the understanding of the whole process of thought, as well as the understanding of the whole process of feeling: “Why do I feel this when looking at someone?”, “Why do I feel that when listening to this?”, “Why does the pain remain when something goes away?”, “What is this feeling?” Do you see it?
Understanding yourself, these inclinations, these tendencies, these reasons, not in an introspective, analytical, intellective, deductive way, here I mean a complete, total understanding, a vision. You don't do that with the intellect –intellect can draw its conclusions, analyze things. In general, we are very, very passionate, believing or wanting to believe more and more in the capacity of the intellect, in the reason for this understanding of what is happening to us. For us, the intellect is a tool, and here I want to say: intellect is part of what still appears as an inclination, as a tendency. So, when I refer to that understanding, it’s not intellectual. It’s an understanding that makes you realize the totality of this whole process of thinking and feeling. It is possible! The instrument we have in our body, linked to this process of direct observation, in this Self-awareness – the most delicate instrument or tool – is this brain, it is generally numb, it is generally sluggish, it is addicted to this model of unconsciousness so common to all, because we lack self-investigation.
This self-investigation is the basis for this Self-awareness, since Self-awareness is the understanding of this whole process, I repeat, this whole process of thinking and feeling. I want to repeat this: you will not analyze it, you will not speculate about it, you will not draw conclusions about it, you will become aware of this process in yourself, see your emotional dependencies. This is seeing the process of feeling, being in direct contact with it and realizing how much this places you in a condition of self-limitation imposed by yourself, by yourself, within that unconsciousness. It happens with feeling and it happens with thinking. There is a lot of psychological turmoil within this brain mechanism. The thought process in us is completely chaotic. So, our thinking and our feelings always carry this condition, sustaining every form of suffering present in our lives. It’s not life, nor is it in life, in these challenges that it presents us with, the problem is, yes, in the way we approach life, because we lack an approach to ourselves.
If you don´t understand yourself, if you don't comprehend yourself, if there isn't this understanding of the Truth about you, every relationship you have, that you may have in the world will always be a relationship based on ignorance; and with that restless brain and lacking that understanding of the Truth of who you are, your whole life is made up of problems. So, the problem with yourself is the problem with the other, it’s the problem with the world, it’s the problem with relationships. The reality of your Being is a new present brain. Once you realize the Truth about who you are, all that chaos, all that condition, all that disorder, all that psychological mess, disappears. Then a new brain comes in, and with a new brain you have a new heart, that’s when all problems dissolve, or rather all problems are seen for what they really are. No problem, what we have is life as it shows itself – some things are nice to “me,” some things are not nice to “me,” some “I” want and some “I” don't want. It is possible to be free of this “me,” this “I”, then there will be no nice things for this “I” nor will there be things that “I” want and things that “I” don't want. Do you understand that?
Our egoic life, which is that life lacking the understanding of the Truth of this totality of our own Being, of That which we are – the lack of this vision of who we are – sustains this “me,” sustains this “I.” This “I” has this vanity, this arrogance, this conceit, this separateness. It sees itself as separate and it sees itself with choices. There is the “like” or “dislike,” “want” and “not want,” the “wish I can fulfill” and the “wish I cannot fulfill” which represents frustration, so we have the problem. The only problem present is this “me,” this “I.” That “me,” that “I,” can dissolve, because if it dissolves, problems dissolve. “I don't like so-and-so": look at yourself, watch your reactions, watch your arrogance in judging her, in comparing her to another, in seeing that she doesn't fulfill your egoic expectations. See, you'll see why you don't like her. Are we together here?
Your problem is not with that person. Your problem is with you, you are not okay with your choices, with your prejudices, with your internal indispositions, and the other seems to be the cause, the reason, and he or she is not. You are the problem of the world, your relationships and life. There is no problem there, the problem is the “I,” it is the ego, it is this “me” that “likes” and “dislikes.” “I didn't like him, I didn't like her": you're not okay! You are not well! Her face is like anyone else’s face: it has a nose, it has two eyes, it has a mouth. It’s psychologically the problem with that face, and if it’s psychologically the problem with that face, no problem is outside, it’s always inside. Looking at the process of thinking and feeling is the basis for the end of all the problems in your life – the problem of relationships with the world, relationships with others and with yourself. The expression “relationships with yourself” is curious. Relationship always implies two, humans live in such a chaotic way, so absurdly stupid that they manage to relate to themselves. How is it possible for you to be more than one within yourself to be able to relate to yourself? There isn't that integrity, that individuality, that Real sense of Being, so you have many characters within yourself, of yourself, and it seems that you want to adjust them, so that they have harmony, and you realize that this is not possible. So, you need someone who says, “You need to be okay with yourself.” Folks, if you are Real, you are not bad either with yourself or with the world, because there is no longer any separation between you and the other, between you and life, between you and the world. Who invented this “you with yourself"?
Most of us don't seem to realize the importance of understanding this change, this transformation in ourselves, so it goes on. You will have another thirty, fifty, sixty, seventy years and you will die – everybody dies. Everyone wants to push the possibility of death further away; nobody likes the word death. Why does this scare us? I'm not stating, I'm asking a question: why does this scare us? Because we want the continuity of a life in trouble, as long as we feel alive, it’s okay. But who is this that feels alive? The question is: “Who am I?”
If you don't have Self-Awareness, which is the basis of understanding the Truth about who you are, there will be fear and you will always try to push this thing called death far away, as if it wasn't going to happen or it wasn't possible, as if it already wasn't coming -– but it’s coming, it’s coming. Let’s see the fact of death, not pushing away through an idea, a belief that you're going to have an immortal life, that you're going to live another life or whatever kind of beliefs we have. This gives us hope that we are not going to die, but we are going to die, and when you die, all your desires and fears can no longer express themselves. Interestingly, that’s your only fear, you're not exactly afraid of death, you're afraid of ceasing to be that person. All right?
So, don't you think it’s important that we discover the Truth of life, here and now? It’s because we don't know the Truth of life, here and now, that we are afraid of death. I already said: it is not fear, in itself, of the unknown, because nobody knows what the unknown is; what you are afraid of is letting go of your desires and attachments, your life of fear and frustration.
Realizing the Truth about who we are is the end of fear, this is the end of death, this is the understanding of life. To understand death, it is necessary, internally, psychologically, to understand the Truth about who we are. And why? Because understanding the Truth of who we are is the end of this psychological “I.” So, you, for the first time, discover what it’s like to be dead, psychologically, free of your past, free of your history, free of your desires and free of your fears. It is when you know what death is that you know what life is. If human beings were really alive and living the Truth about who they are – the Truth of their Being –, there would be no fear of death, there would be no fear of losing what they know. Is it okay? We need to realize the Truth about who we are. OK?
That’s the matter, look at it. Look at this!
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