Here on the channel, you've already noticed that we work on these different questions, which are common questions people ask within this search format they have. One of the questions is: “How to meditate correctly?”
Here we have to see this very closely, this issue of Meditation, because the presence of Meditation in our lives is the most important thing that we need to fully comprehend. There's another issue here, which we're going to address with you, which is: “How do we achieve Spiritual Enlightenment?”
Notice that our questions begin with this expression: “how to achieve it,” “how to deal with fear,” “how to get rid of envy,” and so on. It's interesting to say that here. It's natural for our questions to start with this “how” because we want to find out the form, the way to do it. And it's natural for us to think that we need to learn. So far, so good.
Yes, we need to learn, we just don't know exactly what learning actually is, thus we don't know what the difference is between having a direct comprehension and merely understanding a certain subject. So, let's start here by talking about this difference between understanding something and having a mere understanding of something, or a direct comprehension.
So, let's see the difference together. What's the difference? You can know a certain subject intellectually because you've read about it, studied it, listened to lectures and been taught about it, so what you have now is, in fact, knowledge, you have knowledge. This knowledge differs from comprehension. And what is the difference?
When you understand something or know something, it doesn't mean that you comprehend it because comprehension is experience, it's experiential knowledge, it's direct knowledge, whereas understanding is at the level of words, ideas and concepts.
For example, you can study aviation mechanics and thus not be a mechanic. A mechanic is someone who knows, or knows from experience, how to solve a breakdown in an aircraft. So, you have theoretical knowledge, you've learned about it, you've read about it, but you don't know it experientially. That's the difference. In general, people are overwhelmed with understanding because they've read a lot, studied a lot, but they haven't lived it. Then, let's comprehend that here.
Perhaps you've already asked yourself: “Why is it that, despite knowing so much, it's still not real here?” It's because this knowledge is intellectual; it's verbal knowledge: what you have is an understanding. So, let's investigate this with you right now.
How is this issue of the Truth of Meditation? For us, meditation has worked, at least what most people understand by meditation, is to have a theoretical, conceptual, verbal approach to the subject because they've read books, or, at most, they get involved with some meditative technique or practice and believe they are in direct contact with the comprehension of meditation. And what also happens, along with this, is the fact that the practice of this so-called technical meditation or through a method, is done from an intention to get rid of internal, conflicting, distressing states of suffering.
So, people seek meditation as a therapeutic tool, as something that can help them temporarily rid themselves of stress, anxiety, fear, guilt, and depression. Then, there's an illusion here clearly, because there's no real comprehension of what Meditation means.
So, because people understand or are in this theoretical knowledge, they believe in meditation as a technique or a therapeutic tool. Let's understand that here. When we talk about the Truth of Meditation, we're talking about something that has nothing to do with a technique, a practice, a system or an aid for temporary solutions to psychological and emotional problems.
You see, we're not saying that what people call meditation and practice doesn't work. Yes, it does. But it also works as a means of escape or to run away from a distressing condition. So, notice: this is part of what is understood as an escape in psychology.
So, we have, in meditation, for most people, an escape or a run away from pain. Now, have patience to listen to what I'm going to say here. Some people escape into drink, others into food, others into theater, cinema, sex, and some escape into a meditation practice. This is something entirely different from our proposal for you here.
We are working with you on the awareness of the Revelation of your Being. This Revelation is the Truth that blossoms when suffering is comprehended. So, the truth about how to meditate correctly requires the presence of vision, of self-comprehension, right now. Notice we are dealing with inner states that arise. They need to be, note, comprehended. Either we comprehend the state or we escape from it.
In general, human beings are trying to escape these states. We don't know what it's like to have a direct look at what is present here, such as anxiety, anguish, the pain of loneliness, fear, the conflict that the contradictory inner desires in us establish.
Observe that we want one thing, but at the same time we want something else, because we know that the first thing could cause us problems. So we're afraid that that first thing will cause us problems. Then, notice, our internal states are contradictory. You have two desires that contradict each other and you still have the fear behind the desires, these contradictory desires.
Notice, this is how we are functioning psychologically. And to escape from it, we use escape devices. These are the escapes known in psychology. Every movement in us is not towards an approach to comprehension, and therefore an end to this psychological condition, but rather to escape from it. And then we ask the question: “How to achieve Spiritual Enlightenment?”
We need to take a real look at this condition, at what is shown here. As long as there is some form of conflict, of suffering, due to all these inner states that arise and are not visible, not looked at, not comprehended, we won't have a real basis for Meditation. And if we don't have that basis for Meditation, we don't have the Truth of the comprehension about ourselves.
When there is a true, deep, real interest in us to Realize the Truth of That which we are, thus we approach Wisdom. So, Wisdom, for example, is another question: “How to acquire it?” Notice, the person who wants to discover how to acquire wisdom, how to achieve Spiritual Enlightenment, how to meditate in the right way, how to meditate correctly, all this requires that we first of all have a look at what is present here, appearing to be our life, this particular life of the person.
The person present, this “I” present, this “me,” the ego, carries conflicts, contradictions, desires, fears, and all of this is present at this instant. So, we're dealing with what is here and now, with what shows itself here and now. First of all, we need to look at what is without running away. Then, we lay the foundation for Meditation.
Meditation is the Revelation of Silence, of Something that arises when the mind becomes still, when the brain becomes silent, so a present Reality arises that is beyond the egoic mind, beyond that which is, all the conflict, desires, contradictions and problems that arise because of the presence of the “I,” the presence of the ego.
You may have everything in your life, you may already live in the house of your dreams, you may have acquired everything you've ever wanted in life, but if you're honest and look, you'll see that something is still missing. There's a present feeling of dissatisfaction inside you, despite having achieved everything you've ever wanted, everything you've ever desired. Looking closely, looking at yourself, you'll realize that you still want something, you're still in the movement of desire.
People achieve everything in life, but they don't understand the Truth of That which they carry within themselves, beyond this mind, which is the mind of the “I,” which is the egoic mind. So, there is a pain, an incompleteness, an internal insufficiency, a dissatisfaction.
People who become very successful in the world continue to be active. If they stop for a moment, they become aware of themselves, of the affliction they carry within themselves, of this state of boredom, of dissatisfaction, of insufficiency, of lack. So, they remain very active. And all this movement is the movement of escape.
The truth about human beings is that they carry this psychological condition because of their sense of “I,” their sense of ego. We always have some form of psychological condition of pain, of suffering, because we lack the awareness of Being, the art of stillness, the absence of Divine Truth. Then, there is a psychological condition of dissatisfaction because suffering is present in some way.
So, a direct look at life at that moment, learning what it is to observe the movement of the “I,” the movement of the mind, the movement of thought, feeling, emotion, sensation, the way of perceiving experience. To look at what arises at this moment, to know what it is to look without the “I,” to look without this “me,” without this ego, is to discover Something that is beyond this distressing, disordered, conflicted and problematic psychological condition, which is the condition of egoic identity, of the illusory identity of the “I” present at the moment, at the instant, here, in living.
This, Meditation takes place when there is an emptying of all this content. So, how to meditate correctly? By emptying ourselves of all that content that gives identity, that offers an identity to this sense of being an experiencer, a thinker, an observer of life. This gives us the illusion of the feeling of being someone.
Meditation is the emptying of this content, it's the end to this internal, psychological, personal condition, it's the end of the “I.” So, when This is present, we have the Truth of Spiritual Enlightenment, the Truth of the awareness of Being pure Consciousness, which is Meditation.
So, here we see the Reality of Life, without the sense of separation between you and God, between you and the other, between you and what happens, between you and the experience. So, experience, what happens, the other, life and God are one single Reality because the sense of the “I,” of this “me”, of this someone, is no more present.
Here on the channel we have several videos exploring this subject with you and also on our other channel, called “Marcos Gualberto” – you can find our link to our other channel here in the video description. And more than that, we have online meetings that take place on weekends. Saturday and Sunday, we're together, going deeper into these subjects, working on them with you. So, it's a weekend together, looking at all of this up close. Here in the video description you have our WhatsApp link to take part in these meetings.
Apart from that, we have our face-to-face meetings and also retreats. If what you've just heard makes sense to you, go ahead, leave your “like” here, please, subscribe to the channel and say “Yes, it makes sense” in the comments. OK? We'll see you. Thanks for meeting us and see you next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment