I want to talk to you about something today: the question of death. Here at the channel, we've investigated several fundamental questions about life, and one of these is the question of death itself. If we don't have a real vision of life, we will never have a direct comprehension of what it means to die. We're going to work on this here, in this meeting, with you.
What will be the truth of this dying? If that becomes clear, we have the end of fear. So, let's partly put it to you here. But we need, first of all, to put aside all those ideas we already have about this question of death. The ideas in us, note this, all ideas, without exception, are mental concepts, they are forms of approaching images, frames that thought is producing.
Thus, when you have an idea, in fact, an idea can be made up of various concepts, that is to say, various forms of thought, that form an idea. Therefore, observe the truth of it. Every thought in you is within the context of an idea. An idea can be a set of thoughts; this idea or thought in you involves an image, a mental picture. So, our approach to this question of death involves these frames that thought establishes in us as our experience.
Throughout our lives, from an early age, we all come into contact with this question of death: someone we know, a relative, parents, grandparents, we have always witnessed people dying throughout our lives. So, the idea we have, the thought or image we have about death is the end of this physical existence. We know that the body dies, but for us it's not simply the death of the body, it's the death of someone we know or someone we love, and that death is the disappearance of that person, of our contact of relations, of relationships.
So, when you see your grandfather dying or your grandmother dying, it's already clear to you, inside you, that feeling of separation. Then, let's see something about that here. Despite all the contact we have with this experience of death, it's always the contact of the experience of the death of "someone." We don't know what it's like to deal with ourselves within this question of the end of what we are, the end of what we are; we don't know how to deal with the very idea of the end of ourselves.
So, throughout our lives, due to the presence of religious, spiritual or philosophical beliefs, we always have an idea about not only death as a disappearance, but the idea of the afterlife, as a continuity or as a possibility of continuity, and yet all of this is within us in a thought format. What is the truth of this real encounter with death? It's not about this physical death, which at some point, inevitably, we will all have. Either through an accident, or because of old age, or because of illness, in these ways, or in some other way, death will occur for all of us. So, that's not what we want to talk to you about, here.
Here, we want to show you the beauty of this encounter with death itself. It's not the end of the body, but the end of the continuity of an element present in us that sustains the presence of fear. This element present in us is this "me." this "I." Can we realize here, in life, this awareness of what death is for this sense of "I," this "me"? And when we become aware of this, will we still have a continuity of fear? Will we still have a continuity for this sense of "I," sustaining this abstraction, which is this form of thought, of idea, of separation with these losses?
When you fear, you fear losing. Notice, you don't exactly fear something else, it's just this. Your fear is of losing, of losing contact with that loved one, of losing someone, of no longer being able to have his or her presence. Your fear, in this particular death of yourself, is also of losing, of losing what you have, what you have obtained, the relations of pleasure, satisfaction and joy that you have in this contact with objects, with people, and with situations.
Therefore, all this pleasant, satisfying, happy, fulfilling and pleasurable feeling you have is exactly that, and it's only that which you fear will disappear, that it can no longer be enjoyed. This is what we call love of life. What we call love of life - that's quite an interesting expression too - what we call love is always associated with one form or another of pleasure within relations. This is what we call love.
Thus, what is the truth about the fear of death? We're not exactly afraid of death. Contact with death is contact with the disappearance of what we have, of what represents part of "our life" for us, that is the fear. It's the fear of losing what we know, of no longer having it, that's the fear of death; of no longer having this or that person, of no longer having this life of "me," this "my life," to enjoy all the forms of pleasure that I've had up until now.
Thus, the truth about the fear of death is the truth of having to deal with a new condition, where we won't have anything of what we already know. So, it's not about contact with the unknown, it's about the end of what we know. Therefore, we are always sustaining this continuity of what we know, we do everything we can to not lose what we have because our life consists of this, this continuity of pleasure, what we call love in relations.
Our love in relations, associated with pleasure, is relative to the satisfaction that it gives me, that it brings me. As long as it brings me satisfaction, pleasure and joy, I love it; if it stops bringing me that, I don't want it near me anymore, and I can start to hate it too. So, what we call love is something circumstantial, it's relative to the fulfillment, pleasure and satisfaction we get from that object, or that place, or that person.
Then, here's the first point: we don't have a problem with death, but we do have a big problem with losing things, losing everything we've gathered and accumulated. This is because all of this is now part of the psychological context of the existence of the "I." Thus, the fear of losing all this is the fact that without it, who am I? These things, these people, That's what brings meaning to my life.
So, what is "my life"? "My life" is the continuity of thought about all this. Notice what an interesting thing we have here when we also investigate this issue of what thought is - that's another playlist here on the channel. Everything you have is inside you, as an image that thought is sustaining, as an idea that thought brings.
When you talk about someone, you're talking to me about a thought you have about him or her; when you remember someone, your memory is of an image you have about him or her. Note, it's not about the person, it's about the thought about it; it's not about them, it's about the idea you have about them. That's how all the things we have are; all those things we have are only within thought.
And what is thought? It's the presence of the memory, the image, the mental picture you have. Then, what do we have here as the truth of everything we have? The truth is that we have absolutely nothing, and everything we have consists of an image, a thought. Your car is an image inside you, your husband, your wife, your family, your name, your history, your memory, all this is part of thought. Notice, this is the truth of thought. So, it's thought that gives continuity to this "me," and this "I."
What is Real Life? Real Life is where we have the awareness of death. This awareness of death is the awareness of the end of thought at this instant, at this moment. It's when thought ends, here and now, that we have a real encounter with Real Life, with the Reality of Life as it happens. This is death, death to this psychological condition of egoic identity, which is the identity of the "I." Follow this calmly.
What we call "I," "me," is a set of thoughts. So, these thoughts are giving identity to this feeling, thought and sense of possession, of control, of life. You may not be able to see it straight away, but here we are faced with a challenge. The awareness of this encounter with Real Life, which is life free from thought, which is life in this contact with the awareness of the truth about the end of all things, is also, simultaneously, the truth about how to find God.
The Reality of God lies here; it is not a movement into the future to be realized at some point in time. This encounter with God is the realization of this Reality at this instant. This Reality is the Reality of Life itself, free from the "I," free from thought, free from everything that thought has given form to and created an identity in these things. Look at yourself, you have absolutely nothing, not even this body is yours. If this body were yours, you wouldn't let it get sick, you wouldn't let it grow old, you wouldn't let it die - it's not yours.
There is Something present, above and beyond this body, and, of course, beyond everything thought represents there, including this idea of this "me," this "I." The truth about this is that this one Reality is the Reality of Life, it's God's Reality, it's the Reality of this "not me." So you ask: "How do I overcome the fear of death?" Abandon the illusion of seeing yourself as someone in life by having things from thought, from the images that thought constructs.
Thus, letting go of all these sensations and experiences and thoughts, which give shape to this identity that is the "I," is the encounter with the Truth of God. The Reality of your Being is Life; that is the Reality of God. So, the only real thing you have is the Reality of That which is You, and yet you don't even have that. This Reality that You are is not someone's reality, it's not something of yours, it's something of God's, it's God's Reality.
This is the truth about death, this is the truth about Life, this is the truth about God, this is the truth about You, That which is unnameable and indescribable and which is present beyond this coming and going, this being born and dying, beyond this body, this mind and this world. Human beings spend a lifetime accumulating goods, furniture and real estate, possessions and possessions, and this movement is an acquisition movement of this "I." We are inside an illusion because none of it is real. The end to this condition is contact with Reality, which is beyond the known and therefore beyond thought.
Here, in these encounters, we are investigating this, becoming aware of the truth of it all. To have the revelation, the truth of That Which Is You, which is the awareness of God, what the Sages call Advaita, non-separation, non-duality, the truth of this present Reality, which is Real Life, which is Divine Life. So, here in the description of the video you have our WhatsApp link to take part in these online meetings on weekends. Apart from these, we also have face-to-face meetings and retreats. Thus, if this makes sense to you, go ahead, leave your "like" here, subscribe to the channel and say "Yes, this makes sense" in the comments. OK? And we'll see you. Thanks for meeting us and see you next time!
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