GC: Hello, everyone! We're here for another videocast, and Master Gualberto is with us again. Thank you, Master, for being here. Today I'm going to read an excerpt from a book by Joel Goldsmith called "Consciousness Is What I Am." In an excerpt from this book, Master, Joel makes the following comment: "If we live every day in meditation and contemplation of the word of God, we will be nourished from within." Regarding this subject of meditation, can you share your vision of the art to meditate?
MG: Gilson, approaching life without the past, encountering the present moment without the presence of the thinker, the experiencer, the observer... since this observer is an element that separates itself in order to observe, this experiencer is an element that sees itself present in order to experience, and the thinker is an element that sees itself present in thinking. You see, we are confronted with a model, a pattern of duality, of separation. Therefore, approaching life as it happens, without this duality, without this separation, is the presence of Meditation, the art to meditate.
You can look from the past and you can look without the past. The point is that, when you are present, your gaze will always be the gaze of duality, where there will be an observer, an experiencer, a thinker. The meditative mind is like the meditative gaze: there is no one in it, just as there is no one in this mind. The good news here, for you, is that we can indeed approach life as it truly is, without someone present as an element that is separate from life. This is the Awareness of seeing God. It is not someone seeing God, it is the Reality of God being seen.
When God assumes Reality, this present Truth of this Being-I refer to the nature of your Being, the nature of the Truth about you-in that moment, God sees God, looks at God, witnesses God.
We are talking about something that is beyond thought; naturally, beyond the image you have of God, beyond the belief you have about God, beyond imagination and the idea you have about God. The encounter with the present moment without the past, where life is now, here, happening as it is, the presence of the Reality of this moment, is vision without the observer, it is perception without the perceiver, it is experiencing without the experiencer. This is the presence of Meditation. A life free of the ego, a life free of the thinker, a life free of the observer is life as it happens, where the past is no longer present.
Look at yourself: everything you have about who you are, everything you think about who others are, about what life represents, this is a complete alienation from the Reality of life, from the Reality about yourself, and from the Reality about others. Here, we are investigating what Meditation is not, to comprehend what It truly represents. We cannot describe, or write, the Beauty found when God is the present Reality of this Being, which is the Presence of Meditation, but we can investigate what Meditation is not.
It is the investigation of what Meditation is not that allows us to discard this illusory life of "I," the life of the ego, life of separation between you and God. It is the Real comprehension of the Truth about ourselves, about who we are, who we express ourselves to be, who we demonstrate ourselves to be. It is the comprehension of this psychological condition, which is the condition of "I," the discarding of this "I"-the emergence or appearance of That which is already present but does not reveal itself, due to the presence of ignorance, illusion, of this mind with its illusions.
There is nothing more important in life than the Awareness of Being. Culture, society, the world, which lives in the mind-and we were educated to live this way, conditioned to live this way-in this format, in this pattern, the intention of this "I" is to be, achieving something to be someone, achieving something to be something. In the mind, in the ego, we want happiness, we want love, we want peace, freedom, a life of wisdom, without suffering. but everything we've just stated is presented as a projection! It is thought that projects all of this into an ideal to be, to become, to happen for this being that thought imagines.
Here, our work consists of becoming aware of Happiness, here in this Being that is present. It's not about becoming, it's about the awareness of Being. You don't need to achieve, obtain, or accomplish. You simply need to become aware of Being, of this present Reality, which is present when illusion ends, when mental conditioning, when the way thought operates in each of us disappears. This is the art of Meditation!
Meditation flourishes when there is Self-awareness. This Self-awareness is present when we, in this moment, pay attention to these reactions, to each and every movement present in each of us. All this movement will, naturally, come from the past. Thought is something that comes from the past, as well as feeling, emotion. The response we give sentimentally, emotionally, and from thought to life as it unfolds in this moment, all of this is part of a movement within us, which emerges, which has its origin in the past. This is the life of the "I," of the ego.
Thought has constructed a story about itself and placed a character present, the one who tells the story and the one who listens to the story. This image that thought has constructed is the person, it is this "I," this ego. Human beings live forty, eighty, ninety years without the slightest awareness of Reality about themselves, because they are living in ignorance, because they are living this self-image, they are living this story that thought is telling. It is a complete alienation from the Beauty of the Truth of Life; from the Truth of Love, here and now; of Happiness, here and now; of Freedom, here and now. It's not about achieving something to "come to be," it's not about achieving something to be someone; it's about embracing the Reality that is present in this Completeness. We are facing something beyond thought, beyond the ego, beyond the mind. This is the presence of Meditation, this is the presence of Truth about you.
GC: Master, we have a question from a subscriber here on the channel. Cíntia asks the following question: "Master, do Meditation and self-inquiry have the same meaning?"
MG: So, why do we cling to expressions like "Meditation," "self-inquiry," or "self-observation"? And why do we link these expressions? My recommendation to you is: let it go, don't get caught up in words. Here, contact with the Reality of Meditation or self-inquiry, or self-observation, will show you something beyond words. So, this relation between Meditation and self-inquiry, or self-inquiry and mindfulness. I use these expressions in these talks these days. Obviously, this has some value, some importance, but in reality, it's very small. What we need is direct contact with Silence, with the absence of the thinker, the experiencer, this "I" that looks, this "I" that feels. Thus, we have a Real contact with Meditation. However, we are faced with something beyond words.
Our inclination, in general, is toward intellectual, verbal understanding, through words. We often confuse understanding with comprehension. I've been emphasizing this a lot: there's a difference between real, direct, experimental comprehension and theoretical, verbal, conceptual understanding. We need to go beyond words, beyond ideas, beyond books, theories, concepts, and beliefs. Learning to look at your reactions is the basis for Meditation to flourish. Learning to observe our reactions is self-inquiry, but it is also attention, but it is also Self-awareness, but it is also Meditation.
We try to place this event, which is Meditation, as steps being taken, step by step. There is no step by step! The presence of this gaze on the moment is the very presence of perception of Reality - which involves attention, self-inquiry, Meditation, and, of course, Self-awareness. What we truly need is not an intellectual understanding, not a step-by-step guide to this Awareness of Being. What we truly need is the power of this Grace. We have invited you to participate in online meetings on the weekends. There is Something present in these meetings that is Something greater than a speech like this. It is the Power of this Grace, it is the Power of this Presence, it is this mysterious Divine Power that makes possible the vision, the presence, the realization of Meditation, this encounter with the Truth of this Being. It is not someone having this encounter, it is this encounter revealing itself due to the presence of this gaze, this perception. Okay?
GC: Master, we have another question from another subscriber here on the channel. She makes the following comment and asks: "Master, isn't there a meditation technique, but is there a learning about self-awareness?"
MG: Yes, of course there is a learning-that's her question. If there is learning, in reality, the only real learning is learning about ourselves. This learning requires, at this moment, attention to our reactions. It's not like learning a language or a profession. From knowledge and experience, the learning we know reveals itself. So, you learned to speak a language, you learned a profession, it's from knowledge and experience, while this learning here consists of discovering what it means to look, discovering what it means to perceive your reactions.
It's not a technique, because it's not something you can say, "I've learned." It's something you are, at this moment, learning. It's learning, moment by moment, about yourself, about how thought happens, here, in this moment; how feeling happens here, in this moment. You don't take this experience with you; you are becoming aware, at every moment, of this movement that emerges, appears here, that comes from the past.
We are dealing with life at this moment, and it is at this moment that we are learning about ourselves. Everything you are, as a person, is what thought has established in you, as being you in a model of belief and also of feeling, emotions, sensations, and ways of perceiving. This learning about ourselves requires, in this moment, this looking. Looking at your words, your gestures, thoughts, emotions, feelings... What do you feel, what do you perceive, what is this perceiving? It's about looking! It's not about changing it, it's not about altering what is being seen, but about seeing, perceiving, realizing, being aware. So, something happens in this looking, in this perceiving, in this being aware.
All this psychological content that has formed and sustained this "I," when seen... this psychological condition undergoes a profound change. This is the emptying of this internal psychological content of this "me," this ego-identity. So, we are faced with this attention, this attention to our reactions, this attention to life as it is happening, internally and also externally. There is great beauty in this encounter with this learning. We do not carry this into the future, because there is no future; we simply become aware of this moment, and in this moment, this past ends.
The continuity of the "I," the ego, into this psychological future requires the presence of this psychological past. When we eliminate this psychological past, because of the presence of this attention, this learning about ourselves-which is Self-awareness-we eliminate the psychological future. Thus, we end this idea, this model of psychological time that this sense of "I," the ego, uses in this belief of this tomorrow, this future. Therefore, this encounter with the Reality of Life requires the presence of Meditation; and Meditation is the awareness of dealing with this moment without the past, without this "I." It is the pure, direct comprehension of the Truth of the present moment, without any adulteration, motive, reason, or intention to do something with what is here and now revealing itself, which puts an end to this continuity of this mental conditioning, this model, which is the model of the "I," which is the model of the ego.
This learning about ourselves is the Awakening of Intelligence, the Awakening of Wisdom, the Awakening of the vision of life, free from the past. The comprehension of this moment, the vision of what is present here in this tone of voice, in these gestures, in these feelings, in these words used within a conversation. this looking, this perceiving, puts an end to this continuity of the "I," puts an end to this continuity of the ego. Thus, we are faced with the Presence of Meditation.
I have said that Meditation has two aspects. This one we've just described is the practical aspect; it's Meditation in a practical way. Another aspect of Meditation is the awareness of this revelation of this Natural State of Being, free from the "I," free from the ego, where this Divine Vision, this Vision of God, is present. Thus, there is the Presence of this Silence, this Freedom, the Presence of Bliss, Happiness, and Love, when the ego is not.
Meditation is the absence of the meditator, the absence of the "I," the absence of psychological time. The Reality of this Being, the Reality of this Divine Consciousness, this Reality of God, is present as Meditation. And thus there is Meditation as your Natural State of Being, which is true Consciousness, real Consciousness, true Happiness, true Freedom. This is what we are working on here, looking at, here, together.
GC: Thank you, Master, our time is over now. Thank you for this videocast. And for those of you who are following along and truly want to experience these truths, we invite you to participate in the intensive meetings that Master Gualberto offers. These intensive meetings are available online, as well as in-person and retreats. These meetings are much more profound than these videos here on YouTube. First, because Master Gualberto answers our questions live. And second-and more impactful-is that because the Master already lives in this Awakened state of Consciousness, He shares a field of Presence, a field of Energy around Him. And in these meetings, we end up being carried by this field of the Master's Presence. And carried along by the Master, spontaneously, effortlessly, we enter the meditative state, quieting our minds, and gaining insight and comprehending into what lies beyond all limitations of intellectual understanding. So, here's the invitation: in the first pinned comment, there's the WhatsApp link to join these meetings. Also, please give a like to the video, subscribe to the channel, and comment here with questions for us to add to future videocasts. And, Master, once again, thank you for the videocast.
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