There's something I want to draw your attention to here, in this meeting. Note that, as time passes and we grow older, our mind-because it has already experienced various situations such as incidents, accidents, and experiences-ends up stuck in a condition where our internal life is a routine.
Thus, we fulfill some desires and not others; we achieve some goals and miss others. And throughout life, we situate ourselves, in life, within our relationships and contacts, in a very limited, very narrow way, because we see life based on these models that are already predetermined within us.
Here, we situate ourselves, in the mind, within a pattern of behavior, action, and feeling already predetermined by this mind we know, which is the conditioned mind. Thus, we end up positioned within a routine, a pattern of behavior, in this contact with life as it happens, already based on what thought within us is determining.
And thought present in each of us is the continuity of memories, of recollections of the past. Therefore, this prevents us from connecting with life in this moment from the viewpoint of a new, free mind. This is the condition of the conditioned mind, of this consciousness, which is egoic consciousness.
The Reality of this Being, of this Divine Truth we carry, is neglected. So, we spend an entire life without the awareness of Divine Reality, without the comprehension that this Being that we are, this Being, is Consciousness.
We have the consciousness we know, in this mind as we function-a busy, preoccupied mind, burdened with all the scars of the past. This is the presence of this consciousness we know. Here we are working with you on the end for this consciousness, as well as the end for this mind.
It is contact with Divine Reality, contact with the Reality of your Being, the presence of this new Consciousness, this new mind. Our mind has been shaped, adjusted to everything we have heard, everything we have learned. There is no complete freedom to look at the present moment without the past. We look from these scars, these memories, these recollections, this format of conditioning we have received.
Thus, what we are, what you are, based on these scars, this conditioning, is the self-image. Therefore, you and self-image is the presence of the consciousness of the "I," of the mind present and known within us. We need to have contact with something beyond the mind, beyond this known basis, beyond this pattern of worldview from this old structure.
We need to have real contact with the presence of Reality, with Divine Truth. And this Reality is something unknown. It will never be comprehended within this structure of mind that we know, which lives within this continuum of memories, of remembrances, which is always wounded, hurt, offended, experiencing moments of fulfilled desires and, after these desires, frustrations, disappointments.
This is the condition of an old mind, of a consciousness that is within this psychological condition that is familiar to us all, trapped in all forms of contradiction, conflict, problems, and suffering. It is, in fact, contact with the Unknown, contact with the Reality of this Being, beyond egoic consciousness, beyond this mind, which is the mind of the "I," it is this contact that is the Flourishing of Divine Truth.
Therefore, we need to go beyond this routine. We need, in this life, to Awaken to the Reality of That which we carry, of That which we are in our True Nature, or we will always be trapped in what we are based on what thought tells us we are; we will be operating within this routine until the end of our days, as it has happened to most people around us.
It is this contact with Divine Reality, this contact with the Truth of your Being that is Liberation in this life, Liberation from this construct of thought, from this construct of conditioning, which is this self-image, the person as you see yourself. Here, together, we are investigating the end of self-image, the end of this routine, continuity, the permanence of the "I," the permanence of this egoic mind.
It is the emptying of all this internal content of this consciousness, something new present, which is no longer the mind as we know it. Verifying this, becoming aware of this, requires looking at all this internal movement within us. Becoming aware that we are constantly, day after day after day, adding new experiences to past experiences.
This entire process of accumulating experiences is the presence of the formation of this old structure repeating itself. Each day, from experiences, this experiencer is constructed, maintained. Thus, the continuity of this experiencer is the continuity of this old consciousness.
What we've just discussed here is the process of thought, the basis of all experiences, the basis of every peculiar, particular way of looking at what happens, at life unfolding. This particular vision arises from thought.
So, what is thought? It's something we need to comprehend, because it's based on thought that we have this entire structure of continuity and routine. This explains this entire internal state of frustration, of boredom, it explains all these internal states of emotional conflict. These are scars that are constantly opening within each of us.
The situations we've experienced in the past-the element present in this experience is this self-image. Therefore, this is the result of the experiences stored within us by this experiencer, by this person that thought has constructed, which is the self-image. When these scars open-and they open because they are indeed scars that haven't healed-this is the continuity of thought.
Thought within us is something that is incomplete, something that never ends, just like all the experiences we go through. That's why these experiences are constantly remembered, they keep returning.
Note that with old age, the insistence of these scars that haven't healed is constant. At every moment, you have a remembrance, a recollection, a memory, and with it, a present pain, something that comes from the past. This is because the presence of thought within us never ends. Thus, we are always trapped within the circle of the known, of the model of the past.
We don't know what it's like to live this present moment, allowing it to complete itself and, therefore, having no continuity and not returning again, again and again, from the past. We don't know what it's like to die for each moment. Thus, not only does the body age, but this experiencer, this self-image, this experiencer, this thinker maintains its continuity, and thus, thought sustains itself within us-it is the constancy, the permanence of the scar on this tree, which is the egoic mind, which is this consciousness of the "I."
The work of Realization or this encounter with the Divine Flourishing, which some call Awakening, is the end of the past, of the continuity of the thinker, which means cessation, the end of thought, of this type of thinking, which is psychological thought-the basis for this experiencer, for this thinker, for this one that observes from the past, who is this observer.
The presence of a new mind, of a new Consciousness, is the presence of the Unknown. Looking at this moment without the past, dealing with this moment dying to everything that occurs here and now, is maintaining a brain free of these remembrances, these memories, recollections, free of these scars that never heal. Basically, this is the life of ego-identity, it is the life of self-image.
Therefore, contact with the presence of That which is the Truth of this Being, the Reality of this Essential Nature in each of us, is the end of the "I," it is the end of the ego. It's when contact with the present moment requires the presence of an Intelligence capable of dealing with this instant, yes, with the Freedom to deal with feelings, emotions, and, especially, thoughts, without making them a basis for continuity, for the permanence of ego-identity. This is what we call thinking.
When we explore the question with you here, the question "What is thinking?", we are talking about this contact with thought free of the thinker. When, in this contact with thought, we lack the presence of the thinker, dealing with thought is a matter of Intelligence, of the presence of a vision of life free from the past. This is the answer to the question "What is thinking?"
Note that we didn't learn this; they don't show us what thinking is. Society, the collective, our parents, teachers, the world around us-they gave us what to think, how to think. There was no clarity about what thinking is. You can't learn this from someone else. You discover this by looking at your reactions and freeing yourself from all forms of continuity, routine, repetition, and the formation of experiences for the experiencer.
When we learn to observe the movement of thought, we free ourselves from it. This is the space we need; the space that allows us to see life as it happens, without ideas, opinions, evaluations, conclusions, or choices, since all of this stems from this background within us of conditioning, repetition, routine, the continuity of the "I," the continuity of memory.
Can we have a contact with life, allowing life to occur in every moment, and with life, the presence of this death to the past, to the pattern of memory repetition, of remembrance? When you have a contact with the present moment, and it is complete, in that instant you don't need thought.
Observe this clearly: when there is full attention to what is present in this instant, thought does not enter. Note that this is an experience common to all of us. When you are attentive, this attention is simply the interest of looking at it in that given moment, and in this attention there is no thought, idea, opinion, conclusion, like, or dislike. It is simple Attention.
When a thought arises about it, in that moment there is no longer any attention, because you are situated in thought. When you see something, you are with it, without any separation between you and it; there is no space. But when a thought arises in you and you internalize a phrase, such as: "How beautiful that is, I like it," or "I want it for myself," or "How interesting it is"-any of these phrases, when they arise, in that moment there is no longer any attention, because, in that moment, a separation occurs between you and that thing.
Finding it interesting, despising it, wanting it for yourself, or having the idea that something is special or beautiful is a curtain. Then, you appear, and between you and that thing, we have the curtain of thought. But every contact with the present moment is a contact free from the past, unless thought arises. With thought, the presence of a thinker arises, and then there is a separation between that thinker and what they are observing, because there is a separation between that thinker and that thought. Then, there comes the presence of the past.
It is with the past that duality is present, division, separation, inattention. But every moment occurs without the past. Can we learn to deal with the moment without the past? Just looking, perceiving, feeling, becoming aware, but without this "I," without this element that is the thinker, who judges, compares, evaluates, chooses, likes, dislikes. This, in life, is the presence of Meditation.
When there is the presence of a gaze without choice, opinion, evaluation, or judgment, this moment reveals Something outside this consciousness of the "I," this egoic mind, and then this experience is complete. It is not, therefore, an experience for the "I." It is when we no longer have a scar that will later return, that will later open, because the experience is complete. It is complete because there is no room for thought.
When there isn't the presence of thought, we lack the reinforcement of this experiencer, this thinker. Yes, we do not need, in life, the presence of the "I," the presence of the ego, the presence of this experiencer. Your contact with your husband, with your wife, with life as it unfolds, can be, and must be, in this moment, only what this moment represents. We don't need to place this sense of someone present and, therefore, maintain this separation, from the thinker, from the experiencer, which is the presence of thought.
Therefore, contact with Meditation, with Real Meditation, is the direct looking at this moment, in this Attention. So, there is no such thing as the years go by. Dealing with the present moment without the past is dealing with the new. It doesn't matter if the body ages, here we are facing this Real Consciousness, this Divine Consciousness, this Awareness of Life as it happens, without the presence of the "I," without the presence of the past.
Living life in this moment is assuming the Reality that there is no one to be the experiencer, to be present, alive, being the thinker-we don't need this. We can give the entire answer to the present moment, without the past, when this new perspective on the moment is present, when we are aware of the beauty of Meditation. So, there comes the Truth of Real Consciousness, of the real response to this moment, before the challenge, the stimulus that this moment, which is the very Mystery of Life, represents.
Your contact with Reality is the presence of the Unknown, it is life in its expression, this encounter or discovery of Reality about You without any image. If there is no image, if thought does not establish an image of who you are, there is no image of who the other is, of what life represents. Contact with the present moment is the Reality of this Real Presence, this Real Consciousness. Your Natural Divine State is one of Wisdom, Love, Bliss, and Freedom.
Here, in these weekend meetings, we are working on this with you. We are together for two days: Saturday and Sunday. You can find our WhatsApp link to join these meetings here in the video description. In addition to these online weekend meetings, we also have in-person meetings and retreats. If what you just heard resonates with you, here's your invitation. Give your "like," subscribe to the channel, and leave a comment: "Yes, that makes sense." Okay? See you soon. Thanks for the meeting and see you next time!
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