A direct approach to everything we deal with here, to all the subjects we cover here on the channel with you, requires a new vision of how to learn. Yes, that's right: we need to learn. The question is: how to learn?
For us, learning means acquiring information, knowledge and experiences and, once we have acquired these, we can act from them. In general, that’s our contact with the general learning that we have out there. At least a good part of what we learn, we learn like this.
Now, I've touched on another form of learning, taking a fresh look at how to approach this subject here. It's new because people have tried to find the Realization of God, or Enlightenment, or Awakening, in books. And here I have something to tell you: you can't be aware of the Truth of God in books.
In books we have words. Words symbolize images, images of things, places, people, everything that thought recognizes. But here, when we are dealing with Divine Truth, we are not dealing with something that thought can recognize. Therefore, we can't find the Truth in words, in symbols, and yet, that’s the way we are distracting ourselves.
Yes, distracting ourselves because when we spend a good part of our lives reading books, studying theories, concepts, words, we are wasting a huge amount of time that could be spent observing our reactions. Because this is how we truly learn about the Truth of God: by studying ourselves, becoming aware of how we internally function, in order to go beyond this condition of egoic identity, which lives in this sense of separation from the Reality of God.
We are only cultivating the intellect when we are studying theories and when reading books. Yes, there is great beauty in the sacred books, but these books point to what is You in Your Being. And if you read these books only with the intellect, you are only bringing more knowledge and information, words, symbols, images about this thing, but none of this is contact with the Truth of your Being, with the Divine Truth.
So, it's not enough for us to study theories, words and concepts. We need direct contact with what we are right now if you want to learn about it. And that's what we're doing here, within this channel and in online and face-to-face meetings. We are discovering what it is to learn about ourselves because the basis for the Awakening of Wisdom, which is the vision of God...
Note, Wisdom is not a subject for philosophy, it's not a subject for a theoretical or conceptual doctrine, whether in Zen, the Vedas or the Scriptures. Wisdom is the awareness of the Truth of God. If there is this Truth of God revealing itself, this life is no longer this particular life of the present ego. We have the Truth of Wisdom. So, Wisdom is a possible subject for each of us when the Reality of God presents itself, shows itself, when there is an end to ignorance, this mistaken view that this model of conditioned intellect that we have has of life.
Thus, all the cultivation of the intellect, even within this theological, theoretical, conceptual, verbal formation of words, this is still part of the conditioning, of this conditioned mind, of this consciousness, which is the egoic consciousness. We definitely need to have an approach to God, but this approach to God requires the presence of the investigation of the nature of the “I,” of the nature of this ego-identity, to put an end to it. This is having a true approach to God. This can't come from theories, it can't come from books, it can't come from hearing talks or lectures, it comes from Self-Awareness.
So, the expression “how to develop Self-Awareness” is something of great importance when we understand the real meaning of this word, as well as the expression “develop.” You can't approach something that requires experience, practice, with beliefs, concepts, ideas, theories.
It's like seeing yourself in the mirror. To see yourself in the mirror you have to look at the mirror, you'll never be able to see yourself in the mirror without being in front of the mirror. You can even have a photograph of the mirror, but you won't be there. A photograph, a photograph of the mirror, is just an image of an object, but you won't be there. Someone can tell you about this mirror, give you a photo of it, but you'll have contact with the truth of this look at yourself when you're in front of the mirror, only when you're in front of the mirror. When you face the mirror, you can see yourself in the mirror. A concept of the mirror, an idea of the mirror, a photograph of the mirror, of the frame of the mirror is not seeing yourself in the mirror.
Here we need to be aware of the Truth about who we are, and this is only possible when you learn what it is to learn about yourself. This requires a direct look at all those inner movements present within you, which are those reactions that arise from remembrances, memories, recollections, where we have present feelings, emotions, sensations, perceptions. This is present here, at this instant, when you look at what is happening here, at this instant, with you.
So, that's the book, that's the real learning. Then, your learning about the truth about yourself is at this instant. I've said this countless times. And it's very purposeful to keep going back, and we always need to go back to basics because we have a very complex psychological movement. Here and now, a large part of everything that has been said since we started talking until now, your brain, in this conditioned model that we have, has already edited it. Some things you've captured and others you've disregarded because we don't know what it's like to learn about ourselves.
We don't know how to listen, for example. Learning about yourself requires listening. But listening all the way, following the sound completely. It's like when you listen to the sound – you've probably had this experience – when you hear an airplane cutting through the sky, you follow the airplane, the sound of the airplane, from the beginning, as it passes, to the end. You follow that sound to the end and then silence establishes again. So, first there's silence and then the sound begins faintly and it increases, increases, increases, increases and reaches a point where it begins to diminish, at which point it also begins to disappear, until the silence is present again. That's listening.
When you are ready to listen to a bird singing, it is singing and you are listening to it. It starts to make its little notes and you follow along. Notice how interesting this approach to listening is. We can hear an airplane, we can hear a bird, we can hear a whistle, when it starts and when it ends, but we can't hear ourselves, our internal reactions.
We don't know how to follow a movement of internal thought arising. There's always an element in us that interrupts it. When the thought is pleasurable, this element latches onto and floats on to that specific feeling, emotion or sensation of that thought. If the thought is painful, immediately that element that arises doesn't want that thought, so it starts to fight the thought. We do this unconsciously when we go off to do something else, for example, or when we start humming or looking for something else externally to listen to, to drown out that internal sound of that thought that we don't want present.
So notice, we don't know what it's like to come close to learning about ourselves. We don't listen to our thoughts all the way through. We also don't know how to listen to feelings when they arise, emotions when they appear, the way we perceive, we don't know how to be aware of this. We don't know because we're always putting an element in this experience. That element is the “I,” the one who likes or dislikes what you feel, what you think, what you see. So there's always this element, which is the ego, which is the “I,” which comes from the past, interfering in this listening, in this hearing of what's happening to us. Let's comprehend that clearly here.
Thus, we never put ourselves in front of this mirror of self-revelation of the “I,” this “me,” this ego. Our internal movement is one of escape. When things are unpleasant, or when there is attachment, or fixation when things are pleasurable, the result is the maintenance or continuity of this element, which is the ego, this feeling of “I,” of “me,” of the person present. So there is no Freedom. Get that here.
We don't have a movement of Intelligence, of Presence, of awareness of simply Being. That requires listening, and we don't have that listening. So, the sound of the airplane, the sound of the bird or that whistle, doesn't interfere with this self-centered element, which is this “me,” this “I,” this ego. It has no pleasure or pain in that sound, so it listens. But this element in us, which is the ego, lives within a model of duality; it is always seeking pleasure and always trying to get rid of or get away from pain. Then, pleasure it grabs and clings to, and pain it runs away from and rejects.
Thus, we don't know ourselves, we don't understand ourselves, so we aren't aware of the Truth about who we are here at this instant, in this contact with the other, with the situation, with the event, with the experience. Because, in the ego, we are within this selective model of feeling, thinking and acting. It's all this movement of volition, of wanting, not wanting, seeking more or getting rid of. So, we want it or we don't want it, we like it or we don't like it.
Thus, we live within a principle of duality, of self-centeredness. We don't know the Truth of life as it is, as it happens, because we are always making “our choices” from this center, which is an artificial entity present within the experience of life. Note how delicate this is. This condition of behavior is one of ignorance, illusion and egocentric self-assertion.
“I like people who give me an image of pleasure because they offer it to me, gratify me with pleasure, I like them, and I don't like people who give me nothing or who, when they get close, instead of bringing pleasure, they bring problems.” All of this may seem very reasonable, and from the viewpoint of this center, which is the “I,” yes, it is quite reasonable, but we don't realize that this movement is separatist, it separates me from the Totality of Life and makes me always see myself as a person within the experience of living in relationships. And a detail: a person with fear and also loaded with desires.
This is unawareness of the Totality of life, of the movement of life. This is not awareness of the Truth about who we are because you are not a person. There is a Reality present here and now beyond this model of liking and disliking, of seeing the other and seeing yourself, in this duality, in this separation, where there is you and the other, you and what I like, you and what you like, you and what you don't like.
Here we are, with you, showing you that there is a Reality present beyond this “you,” this “I,” this “me,” this self-centered model of existence. This requires a new way of looking at things, a new way of feeling, acting, thinking, being in relationship with others, with life, with the world around you, but it requires you to get closer and discover how you work internally.
Why are reactions the way they are? Because there is this egocentric model of being, where we live within a pattern of accepting people, concepts, preconceptions, the search for more, this eagerness to want, this incompleteness of being, this whole level of present dissatisfaction and model of relating to others, to life, to ourselves based on this false center. To become aware of this is to go beyond it.
So, the Awakening of your Real Nature is Self-Awareness. The basis is this Self-Awareness. Then, the Truth of Meditation blossoms. Here we are showing you what the Real vision of Meditation is within approaching Non-duality. Thus, the vision of Advaita Meditation, of Self-Awareness brings you closer to the Reality of your Being, which is Non-dual. That's our subject here with you within this channel.
We have online meetings that take place on weekends. On Saturdays and Sundays, we're together going deeper into all this with you. So, in this contact with Silence, with direct Meditation work, we are working on this vision of the Reality of the Awakening of Consciousness or Spiritual Enlightenment. If what you've just heard makes sense to you, here in the video description, you have our WhatsApp link to take part in these online meetings.
We also have face-to-face meetings and retreats. Here's an invitation, go ahead, leave your “like” here, subscribe to the channel and say in the comments: “Yes, it makes sense.” OK? And we'll see you. Thanks for the meeting and see you next time!
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