Notice what we are seeing together here in these meetings when we discuss with you the importance of Self-awareness, the Truth of That which is You in your Being. This is the Reality of the Supreme, this is a Divine Reality, it is a Reality of God. So, we could call this Supreme Self-awareness. It is not a matter of mere consciousness of oneself through introspection, analysis or making use of some other technique or practice, in search of or attempting to improve as a person. That's not what we're talking about here.
We are dealing with the awareness of Supreme Bliss, your Divine Nature, this Truth of God that You are. That's why here it's about Self-awareness in practice, a direct awareness of the Truth about this internal movement of thinking and feeling, which naturally leads us to action, to every form of behavior and direction in life.
One detail is that we call this “our life.” Notice, this is where the whole mistake lies, in this sense of someone being present, in the belief that they have a private life. When you use the expressions “my life,” “my history,” “my home,” “my family,” “my country,” you are, at that moment, identifying with the experience. This experience is a reference that comes from the past.
So, this experience that comes from the past is the idea of an identity in a direct relationship with everything you have been through, lived through, experienced. This gives formation to this “I.” This “I,” therefore, is a center. Around this center, all other things, as part of your particular experience, are emerging, appearing: “my home,” “my family,” “my country,” “my world,” “my history.”
So, it gives us an identity. There is a sense of someone present within the experience of life. And this someone calls life “my life,” “my story,” “my world,” “my nation,” “my house,” “my possessions,” “my body.” What will be the Truth of That which is You in your Essential Nature, in your Real Nature?
The notion we have is the notion of having been born, of being alive and, therefore, being someone. And here we are figuring it out with you. I said it indeed: this is happening to you. We are together uncovering this, learning the art of approaching this view of who we are, studying ourselves, realizing that this is the movement present within us, which takes us to this or that direction, towards this or that particular way of thinking, of feeling, of doing things. Who am “I?”
Thus, Self-awareness in practice is becoming aware of everything that is happening within you. There is a movement within us, psychological, internal: it is the movement of thought. Thought always moves from one thought to another, from one thought to another, from one thought to another. There is not a single thought in you that stabilizes. Thought arises and then another thought arises, then another thought arises.
So, there is an internal movement of thoughts happening, of feelings that accompany these thoughts, of sensations that accompany these thoughts, because thought and sensation go together, thoughts and feelings also go together. Emotions also accompany this model of thinking, which is this process of movement of thought within us. We don't stop to look at this, to understand how this happens.
So, we have an illusion: the illusion that someone is thinking. See, get closer to it. It is not you who determines thought; it happens. You don't determine the feeling, it happens. Emotion, it happens. Feeling, it happens. So, whatever is happening, it is an internal, psychological, movement present, but there is no one. But we have the illusion of someone in control. Here we come closer to understanding what thought is. Note the importance of this.
People ask how to deal with thoughts, because they want to get rid of the thoughts that bother them, that create problems in their lives, contradictions, conflicts and suffering. This is very reasonable; it is very natural. If suffering is present, it is natural that we want to get rid of suffering. But here there is a misunderstanding regarding this issue, and we investigate this here with you: the issue of the end to suffering and this simple getting rid of suffering.
People want to get rid of suffering in the idea that they can get rid of suffering, without first having a real comprehension of it. It is not an intellectual understanding of what makes them suffer, but it is a real comprehension of that present element that sustains the pattern of suffering. This is not the palliative release of this or that suffering for another suffering to arise. The comprehension of this is the end to suffering, because it is the end to that element in which suffering is based and structured, which is the “I,” the “me,” the ego.
So, we don't understand the truth about it. We believe we have control over our thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations, perceptions, and here the control over suffering or not suffering. All of this we need to examine, investigate. Self-enquiry is, in reality, Self-awareness in practice. To investigate the nature of ourselves, investigate this entire process. Because, see, it's a process.
This sense of an “I,” of an entity present here, in us, is not something static, it is a process. You as a person are not the same person all the time. Every moment you are showing a face, a new face, a new modality of being. So, we are dealing with something very dynamic. This sense of an “I” is something very dynamic, it has this dynamic vivacity.
This vivacity, when investigated, becomes very clear. It is a vivacity that is born from the past, because thought in you – remember, this movement from one thought to another, from one thought to another – comes from the past. The feeling is the same thing, the emotion, the way of evaluating, judging, comparing whatever is happening externally or internally is something that also comes from the past. So, this is the vivacity of this “I,” this center, this ego, this person.
The Divine Revelation, the Supreme Revelation, the Revelation of Truth, and hence the expression “Supreme Self-awareness,” because it is the awareness of the Divine Truth that we bring, but which has not yet been revealed. It reveals itself when there is this approach to ourselves in an experiential, practical way, when we learn to look at this internal movement.
The question here is to discover how to realize That: looking without this center; because, notice this: a thought is something that comes from the past, but you are not bringing that thought, it is just appearing. You are not bringing it because you, as a separate entity, with a center, an “I,” are, in reality, an imagination of thought itself. What is present is a thought.
Become aware of this thought, without liking or disliking, without evaluating, without judging, without comparing, without saying “yes,” without saying “no.” Becoming aware of a thought when it arises is just looking at the movement, which is the movement of thought, of feeling, when it arises, together with thought. See, to look at the emotion when it arises with thought, the sensation when it arises with thought. Just look. This is having an approach to Self-awareness in practice, at the same time as this is contact with the Truth of Meditation.
To look at what comes from the past and, if it is something that comes from the past, it is a reaction emerging at that moment, to some level of visual or auditory, or even internal, stimulus. When this stimulus appears, thought appears with sensation, with emotion. To become aware of this, without placing an identity to like or dislike, to judge, evaluate, condemn, wanting to get rid of when what appears is bad, wanting to cling and hold on to when what appears is good. Just becoming aware of this is Self-awareness.
So, what is the truth of this Self-awareness in practice? How to become aware of the importance of Self-awareness? Becoming aware of yourself, realizing that when you are aware, this awareness of this “you” is something that occurs and this “you” disappears. See how unique this is, but it is something that requires you to approach it in an experiential way to understand it.
Here, all this movement is the movement of the mind, but now, in this moment, the mind is becoming conscious of itself, aware of itself. And when that happens, the mind quiets down to look. This is the awareness of Being. This is the awareness of Meditation, here and now.
People have talked about meditation as a practice, as a technique, as something you do at certain points during the day, or take a moment at night to sit in a quiet place, put on some soft music. People take meditation as something for someone else to do. So, they call it meditation practice. Yes, you can get into this model of meditation practice, but it's you as someone doing meditation.
Here, the invitation is different, it is to become aware of this “me,” this “I.” Then, an Attention arises, a Presence arises, a Consciousness arises. So, now we are aware of the mind, still, silent, and the truth of the revelation of this pattern of identity, which until now has guided your life, our lives. Looking at every thought, feeling, emotion, sensation, when this occurs, the brain quiets down, the mind quiets down and this pattern of repetition, of continuity, of movement, ceases.
So, thought stops this movement of continuity, from one thought to another thought, from one thought-sensation to another new thought-sensation and so on, because this Attention on this entire movement of the mind breaks this pattern. This pattern is the pattern of perpetuity, of the continuity of the “I,” of the continuity of the ego.
So, the real result of Revelation is the realization that the only Reality present is the Divine Reality, it is the Reality of God. That's when this sense of “I” vanishes, that's when that egocentric structure loses its relevance. Then, there is the disappearance of the “I” and your Real Nature reveals itself as Love, as Peace, as Freedom, as Happiness.
This Real Nature of Being is Non-dual, it is what the sages call Advaita, it is the nature of your Being. Advaita means “the One without the Second,” it is the One, Unique Nature, the Real Nature of each of us, it is the Nature of God. Not this pattern, this model of continuity of this illusory identity, in its movement, which is continuing a model of time, something that comes from the past, passes through the present, moves towards the future. This whole time is the time of the “I” itself, the own ego, the mind itself, the own thinking. This is an illusion.
Thought is present, time is present, continuity is present. When thought disappears, this model of continuity of time falls apart, because it does not have any reality outside this pattern of thought, feeling, emotion and sensation, having a continuity in the illusion of a present identity. This is the end of the egoic mind. Then, Something outside the known is revealed: it is the Reality of God. This is what some call Spiritual Awakening, Awakening of Consciousness, Spiritual Enlightenment.
So, this is our topic here with you within this channel. We have online meetings that take place here on weekends. Saturday and Sunday, we are going deeper into this with you, through questions and answers and in this contact with the Silence of Meditation. Here in the video description, you have our WhatsApp link to participate in these meetings.
In addition, we have face-to-face meetings and also retreats. I want to leave this invitation for you. And if this really is what makes sense to you, leave it here in the comments: “Yes, it makes sense,” leave your “like” and subscribe to the channel. OK? And we'll see each other. Thanks for the meeting and see you soon!
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