Here, our commitment together consists in discovering the person, the truth of the revelation of this person. The important point here is the fact that this person, who is the person we believe to be, is what thought tells us about who we are. That's basically it. And everything that thought tells us consists of an image it has created.
If, for example, I ask you to give me a description of someone, describing that person to me means that you will give me, at that moment, the image you have of them. That's how you can describe someone to me; it's like making a spoken portrait - that's basically it, it's literally that.
To make a spoken portrait, you need a mental picture, a representation in thought of the shape of the nose, the shape of the eyes, the type of head, hair, chin, whether they have a mustache or not, and so on. So, describing a portrait is creating a mental image about the one you want to describe, that you need to describe.
When you deal with people, you don't realize something very basic that we've been working on with you here, checking, investigating with you: the simple fact that when you deal with people, you are dealing with representations in thought of what you know about them, which implies the presence of a mental creation, an image in you, established in you, about who they are.
What is the truth of the person you are to yourself? The other person, to you, is also only an image. But what about you to yourself, would it be any different? Not at all! The idea you have about yourself is also a mental creation.
When people annoy you, they annoy you because they disturb that image you have created about yourself. If you have an image of yourself as someone intelligent, and I call you dumb, ignorant, stupid, at that exact moment you feel offended, hurt, angry, furious with me, because I touched that image; that image is being injured, is being harmed.
Notice that all our relations are relations in this level - in the level of images. The image you have about yourself needs to be respected by me, and vice versa, or we'll end the friendship, or we'll become enemies, and we might even resort to physical violence, due to the anger you'll cause me, or I'll cause you. That's how our relations are.
Our relations with people are relations at this level. So let's comprehend the first thing here. The first thing is: you and the self-image. You and the self-image are something so close and intimate that we can say without any mistake that you are the self-image. Everything you have about who you are is everything you know about yourself. Everything you know about yourself is everything thought has to tell you about you.
Now, notice the illusion present in all this - in this condition of life we are living. Because if our life is based on the self-image, this life is not real, it is a life of abstraction, a life of opinion, comparison, evaluation, and judgment. When you agree with me, I'm your friend; when you disagree with me, I become your enemy, or I distance myself from you, and vice versa. That's how human relations are.
What is the truth about you? You don't know! Your name is not you, your age is not you, your story is not you. All of that is memories you have about who you are, about yourself. But about yourself, all you have is a construction of thought.
Is there a truth present beyond this truth, which is the truth of the self-image? Because that's what you are as a person. So much so that you take very seriously everything you feel about what people say about you. If they say good things about you, you feel good; if they say bad things about you, you feel angry, upset, because you are unaware of the truth about yourself, or the truth about yourself is only that. That's what you identify with, that's what you mistake yourself for.
A work toward Divine Realization, toward the Realization of God, is the awareness of what is the Truth of your Being, what is You free from this "you" that thought built, free from this image that thought established. That requires you to comprehend some basic, main elements involved in this issue of this "I," this "me," this "person." One of the basic elements, which we've returned to many times here, is the truth about thought. Thought is the main element in all of this.
So, what is thought? You don't have one single memory without a symbol, without an idea, without a mental picture, without an image. Every memory is basically this - and this is thought. All thought in you, is not something that is going to arrive. All thought in you, is not something that will appear from the future. All thought in you, appears in you from the past. It is not something that is coming from the future; it is something that comes from the past.
So, here we have two things present in this issue of what thought is. Thought is the past; being the past, it is memory, it is a remembrance. The other thing is that thought has a form, a mental representation, it has an image. Then, all thought in you is something that comes from the past, and it has a form, it has an image.
I can only recognize your face because I have an image of your face in that thought format; otherwise, I wouldn't be able to recognize your face. And I can only recognize your face because it was already known - it is part of the known. Thus, the presence of memory is recognition, and it is the recognition of an image, something that is already present inside each of us: this is the presence of thought.
When people want to be free of problems, they don't comprehend that the base of problems is the presence, in them, of this element. You wouldn't have any problems with people if you didn't have images, memories of them.
When someone says: "Oh, I really wish I weren't still hurt by so-and-so, or angry at her, but when I remember." Yes, of course when you remember, it comes back, because without the memory, you don't get hurt. You don't get angry toward someone you don't remember. The presence of thought is the main element in this psychological way of existing as someone, as a person.
It sounds strange to hear this, but there are no people. People exist in memories. Listen to that carefully. They are present in memory; they are present in recognition. When you forget someone, the truth is that they don't exist - they are not part of your field of consciousness, since that consciousness is mental consciousness - that's what we call consciousness.
What we call consciousness is the consciousness of the "I," it is the consciousness in this self-image. This self-image, which is the "I," has its memories; these memories are the psychological condition of the existence of the person that I am. But where is this person when this self-image doesn't exist? When you have no memory of something, where is it? Where is the truth of that which you don't remember?
So, we are facing something very basic and of great relevance to this vision that interests us in these meetings, which is the vision of the comprehension, which is the vision of liberation from this dream, which is the dream of existing as someone, which is the dream of existing as a person, since the presence of the person is the presence of the self-image, and this self-image is what thought has established in you about who you are and also about the world of relations with other people. Therefore, the truth about thought is that thought is memory.
Can we discover what it is to remain free from thought? Free from thought, we are free from this self-image. That's the end of this self-image, that's the end of this person as we know it, this "me," this "I," this "ego."
Is it possible to live a life free from being hurt, offended, free from the illusion of sentimental, emotional dependency on other people we believe we love? Free from emotional dependency on other people we believe we hate? Can we free ourselves, in this life, from this sense of "I," of "ego," to be beyond this so-called love, which is mere emotional dependency in relations? - a dependency linked to the issue of self-image.
Can we discover what a life free from the idea of liking and disliking is? - since this idea is in the thought, in the self-image. If it becomes possible, we are here, for the first time, approaching the end of this self-image and the real approach to Meditation.
When the question is: "How to meditate correctly?" In general, the idea is someone getting involved with the practice of Meditation to find the end of problems. In general, the idea of how to meditate correctly. because this is an issue for some: "How can I approach Meditation?" - since Meditation is the Liberation from this model, which is the model of thought, which is the idea of someone involved in this whole process of thoughts present.
So, how to meditate correctly? The truth of approaching Meditation requires the comprehension of the truth about what thinking is. To deal with the present moment, free from thought and, therefore, free from the image I have about who I am, about who the other is, is to approach this instant in the comprehension of thought.
The truth about thinking is that thinking is what is present when there is no longer this self-image, when there is no longer this pattern of vision based on the image, since this vision based on the self-image is the vision of the thinker, of the experiencer, of the element that comes from the past, which is the "I." So, what is thinking? It is dealing with thought, free from the thinker, free from the experiencer, free from this issue of self-image.
We don't know the truth about thinking because we live inside a context of thoughts from the perspective of the thinker, from the perspective of this self-image. So, we live inside this context of the creation of thought, of illusory thinking, of illusory feeling, of illusory living, because we are within this life of the "I," this life of the "ego," where we have this one who is the thinker with its thoughts, the experiencer with its experience, the one who likes, the one who dislikes, the one who sees from these memories, from these remembrances.
To deal with the truth of thought requires the presence of a look at thought without getting involved with thought. This is the end of this quality of thought that is producing in us this illusory identity, which is the person, which is this "me." Here on the channel we have some playlists, and one of them is "What is thinking?"
Is there a way of thinking free from thought? Is there a way of feeling free from this "I" in the feeling? Is there a kind of emotion free from an identity present, mistaking itself for the experiencer of this experience called emotion? All of this requires an investigation of self-comprehension.
Contact with the Reality of Life consists of thinking, feeling, acting, and getting emotional. Not someone present in this; not this sense of the "I," of the "ego," of this "me," this thinker, this experiencer, this observer, which is the "I," present in it.
If this is your first video, this is very confusing. You need to watch other videos here on the channel to better situate yourself about the topic we are working on with you. But we are pointing out for you something beyond the "I," beyond the "ego," beyond what thought in us identifies as real, and that, in fact, is not.
There is a Reality present, and this Reality is the Divine Reality, it is the Reality of your Being, it is That which is present beyond this self-image, beyond this person, beyond this thinker, beyond this element in feeling. That's what we are working on with you here, deepening with you here.
What is the truth about thinking? What is the truth about feeling? What is the truth of Meditation? What is this Real Meditation? If what you've just heard makes any sense to you, here's an invitation. We have online meetings on weekends, where we're together Saturdays and Sundays. You have, in the video description, our WhatsApp link to participate in these online meetings.
Besides these meetings, we have in-person meetings and also retreats. If this is something that makes sense to you, here's the invitation. Go ahead, leave your "like", subscribe to the channel, and comment below: "Yes, this makes sense." Ok? And we'll see each other. Thanks for the meeting, and see you next time!
