GC: Hello, everyone! We're here for another videocast, with Master Gualberto again. Thank you, Master, for your presence. Today, I'm going to read an excerpt from a book by Joel Goldsmith called: "Conscious Union with God." In an excerpt from this book, Master, Joel makes the following comment: "The truth is that power lies in recognizing the Presence of God, not in words or thoughts." On this subject, can the Master share his vision of what True Consciousness is?
MG: Gilson, here, when you ask what True Consciousness is, first, before anything else, we have to comprehend what consciousness is; what we know about consciousness. So, here, the first thing is: what is consciousness? So, let's go... when are you conscious enough to say: "I am conscious?" Isn't it when you remember something? Isn't memory, within you, the presence of thought: thought recognizing itself?
When we have a self-recognizing thought, this self-knowledge of thought is what we call consciousness. When you have a memory, you say, "I am conscious of this." When you have a memory, you say, "Yes, I am aware, I remember it." So, what is this "I," this recollection? Isn't it the presence of thought itself? When there isn't the presence of thought, do we have any recognition? When there isn't the presence of memory, is there any "I" remembering? Therefore, what we call consciousness is self-consciousness. And self-consciousness is merely the consciousness of the "I," and the consciousness of the "I" is the thought conscious of itself in that memory.
Therefore, the great truth about consciousness is that we are faced with a process in which we are unaware of what is actually happening. We spend much of the day, for example, having memories, but you rarely become aware that you are having memories-you just have memories. In other words, thought is constantly appearing, but without any awareness of its appearance. Therefore, what we call consciousness is unconsciousness.
When you are angry at someone-let's take an example-your consciousness is the image of that person who upset you, who made you angry. But that person is just a present thought, and it is thought within you, the image you have of who you are, that is angry. This is something that occurs unconsciously. You don't bring awareness to the state; you don't become aware of the state the mind is in. To be aware of the state the mind is in is to be naturally free from identification with the state. This doesn't happen! You are entirely identified with the state of anger. The condition of the "I," the condition of the mind, is of anger.
We are not aware of the state we are in. We are not aware because we do not have true Consciousness of what we are, here and now. You ask: "What is Real Consciousness?" It is the full awareness of the mind: restless, chatty, repetitive, living in states of affliction, conflict, and suffering... but when Real Consciousness is present, the mind is no longer there, because identification with the state dissolves.
This is the Beauty of Liberation in this life: assuming the Truth of Something present beyond the "I," beyond self-consciousness, beyond this egoic consciousness, which is unconscious, carrying a mechanical movement. Our work here consists of becoming aware of what is present here. Thus, when we use the expression "Real Consciousness," we are not talking about a consciousness as we know it, a consciousness of someone, for someone. We are talking about a present Reality, beyond the mind we know, beyond the consciousness we know, beyond the unconsciousness of which we are unaware. Encountering the Truth about Yourself is the Awareness that this "you," you now recognize based on thought, does not exist, because this is what we have.
The person you know is the person thought recognizes, who is present. Your name, your story, your memories of pleasure and pain, of troubles and moments of joy. your memory, the recollection of everything you know, the people you know. All of this is part of the person about you, the person that thought says you are. This is your self-consciousness-in other words: a memory, a remembrance. In fact, a set of remembrances, a set of memories. It is the presence of the person, the consciousness of the "I."
The realization of the Truth about yourself is the Revelation of a Reality present beyond this "you," this person, this consciousness. The way we constantly interact with life, interact with the world, and relate to ourselves and others is within the pattern of this self-consciousness, which is egoic consciousness, which is the consciousness of the "I." When we investigate this, when we learn about ourselves, we discover something beyond this internal psychic condition, this egoic consciousness. We discover the presence of something beyond the mind, beyond time, beyond our notion of space. Then, the present, indescribable Reality is revealed.
This Reality is Real Consciousness. It is not someone having consciousness, it is not individual consciousness. There is no such thing as individual consciousness in the mind. In the mind, what there is, is the presence of an egoic consciousness. A consciousness constructed by memory content. It is not a real entity present, it is an unconscious movement of thought occurring. Therefore, it is not individual consciousness. We are faced with an illusion: the illusion of the "I," the illusion of the ego. We are faced with the illusion of self-consciousness, and this ends in this Realization, in this Real Divine Vision, in this Real Vision of Truth.
GC: Master, we have a question from a subscriber here on the channel. Sofia asks the following question: "Master, my mind is very noisy and I often feel like I'm living on autopilot. How can I begin to cultivate this true Consciousness amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday life?"
MG: Note your question: you talk about cultivating this Real Consciousness. Every movement will always be a movement from an impulse, a desire, an intention, a will. This will, impulse, intention, is unconscious, it is something automatic, because it is something that arises from the center itself, from this illusory center, from this center that is memory, which is the movement of thought itself, which moves from unconsciousness. Therefore, you cannot cultivate Real Consciousness, because you, in the movement, are unconsciousness.
The moment it becomes clear that all your movement is the movement of unconsciousness. Once this becomes clear, there is a withdrawal from the continuation of the movement; there is nothing to do. This is where we face the work of the Awakening of Truth. This requires being still, becoming aware of the movement of thought itself. And when you are still and a reaction arises-be it a thought, a feeling, an emotion, a sensation-because you are still, this reaction doesn't find the impulse, doesn't find the will. This requires the presence of attention on the reactions. Thus, we eliminate this "you," this impulse, we eliminate this automatism.
Therefore, learning about ourselves is becoming aware of our reactions. When you become aware of your reactions, you are learning about yourself. You are not learning how you function. You are learning, here and now, how the mind moves unconsciously, how it repeats itself, how it happens. So, in this learning, this sense of "I," this "you," loses relevance. It's a direct observation of thought itself, or feeling, or gestures, or the way to speak or to feel, but the sense of the ego, which is egoic consciousness, the unconscious movement of thought, loses relevance. I don't know if this is clear to you.
You can't cultivate Real Consciousness, but you can become aware of unconsciousness, of the egoic model of consciousness. And that's all you need to do. Here, "doing" is silencing, being still, observing, perceiving. Therefore, the presence of Self-awareness is the presence of Meditation.
Becoming aware of the movement of the "I" is the end of the ego's movement, the end of the person's movement, the end of the movement of thought. This is what brings the Awakening of Consciousness. It is not the consciousness of the "I," it is Real Consciousness emerging, flourishing, taking over the space, because now there is a new space, a space that opens up because of Silence, because the mind has become aware of its own movement. Then, it quiets, it becomes silent, and the space opens up; and with the emergence of space, there is the presence of Meditation.
The presence of Meditation is the Presence of this Real Consciousness. It is not something you cultivate, it is a reality revealing itself when you, the "I," the person, loses relevance; when the sense of a thinker, of an experiencer, of someone who looks from the past, feels from the past, is no longer present. As for the question of doing this day by day-when you use the expression "cultivating consciousness"-here, all that's needed is the presence of this moment. This is the moment to bring attention to these reactions. Therefore, in each moment, you have the opportunity to become aware of yourself, to notice the movement of thought, feeling, emotion, the suggestion of thought, the suggestion of emotion or sensation. It's just being aware! It's not doing something with it; it's just being aware of the reactions. This is the work! Therefore, here is the Presence of Self-awareness. And here is the Awareness of Meditation.
GC: Master, we have another question from another subscriber here on the channel. He asks the following question: "Master, is Meditation the path to reach God?"
MG: Gilson, the practice of meditation, as some understand it, is not the path to God-because that was your question. You asked if meditation is the path. Some understand meditation as a practice, a practice as the path. Divine Reality is the present Truth. There is no path to this Present Reality except the very awareness of the present moment! We have no awareness of the present moment. So, what did the mind do? The mind created a path, a path through meditation, prayer, prayer, reading books, and spiritual practices and disciplines imposed by reading sacred books and religious doctrinal practices.
Thus, thought built a path. Here, the reality of the present moment, the awareness of this instant, is what reveals the Truth of God. There is a Present Reality beyond the mind, beyond thought, beyond beliefs. beyond everything books tell us, words tell us, thoughts portray. It is the Presence of That which is indescribable, which is beyond the known. And, naturally, it is something that reveals itself when the known is no longer present: beliefs, thoughts, teachings. when all of this disappears. Including mystical, esoteric, and spiritualist practices. Because we are faced with Something that is the Only Reality, and yet, what thought has constructed, it has constructed based on what it knows, what it recognizes, what it has experienced.
But every present thought, with its knowledge and experiences, is something that is within time, because it is something that arose in time. If it arose in time, it is within time, whereas Divine Reality is not part of time. There is only one real way, Gilson, to approach Truth for real, and that consists in discarding illusion, the illusion of the egoic mind, the egocentric mind. When there is [the discard of] the illusion of the mind, when there is [the discard of] the illusion of time, the illusion of the known, illusion of thought with its knowledge and experiences, there is the revelation of That which is present here. Then, This reveals itself when the egoic mind is not.
You ask about the path. There is no path, but there is a work, yes, to realize this Reality. It is not a work that someone does based on effort, but it is a work that happens based on the very Presence of this Divine Grace, when we look at our reactions, when we place ourselves in a disposition to observe, to become aware of how the mind happens, of how the mind works.
This is what we are proposing to you here. The Presence of the Awareness of this Real Consciousness is the Reality of your Being. It is Something that flourishes when there is this looking, this perceiving, when there is this learning about ourselves; it is when Meditation is present. It is not something you practice, it is Something that reveals itself, it is Something that shows itself, it is Something that is present here, when there is this attention.
GC: Gratitude, Master, our time has come to end. Gratitude for this videocast. And, for those of you who are watching the video until the end and have a genuine yearning to live these truths, we invite you to participate in the meetings that Master Gualberto offers. These are weekend meetings that exist online, in-person, and also retreats. These meetings are much more profound than these videos here on YouTube. First, because the Master answers our questions live, directly. And second, and more impactful, it is because, as the Master already lives in this Awakened State of Consciousness, he shares an Energy, a State of Presence, with those around him. And, in these encounters, we end up being carried by Master's Energy field.
And, by being carried along by Master, naturally and spontaneously, we enter the meditative state, quiet our minds, and can gain insight into what lies beyond the limitations of our intellectual knowledge. So, here's the invitation: in the first pinned comment, there's the WhatsApp link to participate in these meetings. Also, please give a like to the video, subscribe to the channel, and leave a comment here, bringing more questions for us to bring to future videocasts. And, once again, Master, thank you for the videocast.
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