Psychological Freedom | Psychological suffering | Psychological conditioning | Psychological prison

We keep talking to you about the importance of psychological Freedom. Not from external freedom, of the external world, but of this internal world, this psychological world, which is the world of the “I,” of the ego. That’s the Real Freedom we need, the only Freedom that means the end of suffering – I refer to the internal, psychological suffering. We have different forms of fear. These various fears, for example, are representations of this internal suffering. An approach to yourself, to the Truth of your Being, represents the end of suffering, because that’s the end of the “I,” the ego.

Here on this channel, we are working with you to end the illusion of being “someone,” of placing yourself in the world as an entity, a person, an “I” living a separate life, moving in the world in an action of desires and fears and therefore sustaining and establishing, as a model of living, the suffering, the contradiction, the conflict, the internal, psychological misery; this misery that finds in external life all kinds of situations of representation, appearing in this life externally as a prison that, in fact, is not there but inside each one of us. A suffering that, in fact, is not there but within each one of us. A confusion that, in fact, is not external, not there, but it’s inside each one of us.

Observe what we are saying: all the confusion, all the suffering, all the human problem in the world is something present because of this approach we have, internally, in this life, in this relationship with the world. We are not people or creatures separate from each other, from life and the world. All our contact with the world and the other is shown in this way because of this internal confusion we carry in each of us, which we are living here, inside each of us. This fear, anxiety, confusion, and internal disorder present are what we see in the world, but the world is an external representation of this internal condition of imprisonment and suffering in which we find ourselves. And all this is present due to the lack of the understanding of the Truth about ourselves.

We don't have a vision of who we are; we mistake ourselves for ideas, beliefs, judgments, opinions, and a set of things learned due to this wrong format of learning, which is to accumulate information within us, taking this information for real, for truth. We do this, for example, by constantly dealing with all forms of advertisement. We are today, psychologically, the result of propaganda, concepts, ideas, beliefs, and everything we've heard and are constantly listening to. So, our brains have constantly been bombarded by ideas, beliefs, and suggestions. We have been living within this model of internal conditioning I’ve been calling the psychological conditioning. That has been the psychological condition of our brain, and our behavior is all based on this model. Thus, what we have in the world is what we are. We are, psychologically and internally, what the world is. All the envy, ambition, violence, fear, complications, and problems, all that is present in the world is also present in what we believe to be, in what we identify with, and naturally, we assume to be ourselves. All this is happening because of this lack of the understanding of the Truth about us.

I've been talking here on the channel about the value of Self-Awareness. Self-Awareness is this contact with the Truth about what you are, here and now. The awareness of psychological conditioning is what you are here and now. Becoming aware of this is to approach Self-Awareness. Self-Awareness makes you realize the internal conditions you are in – and we want external freedom. When people use the expression “freedom,” they are idealizing it, so we are constantly dealing with the idea of freedom. And for us, freedom is the ability to externally do what we want, when we want, to go where we want, and to have the strength and power to express ourselves without being inhibited, restrained, or prohibited by anyone. So, when people use the expressions “freedom of speech,” “economic freedom” or “freedom to do what you want or desire,” they are always talking about external freedom – as if the real problem were outside. Actually, the problem is what we are because of this lack of understanding who we are, of living inside an internal prison. And this prison is the one that has been built by thought in us, by all these images, symbols, and ideas that are present here, in this body-mind – and we don't know how to deal with it.

We have never investigated this issue of thought and we are talking about freedom; of freedom as an idea, as something we need to have and always referring to this external freedom. As long as we don't understand this issue of thought in us, of how we function, of what goes on inside each one of us, there will be no Real Freedom. Real Freedom is the Freedom to deal with the Truth of what is present here. In that sense, the external and the internal are one. When there’s not the vision from that space I call Freedom, there will be confusion externally, because confusion is already within each one of us, and it’s present because we don't understand what thought is and how we function.

Life requires a new approach, a new view, not like the one we've had so far, based on thought, on this set of ideas and beliefs about who we are, what the world is, and what life is. So, this external disorder is present because of this internal disorder. After all, what is thought? How do we function? What is this “I"? What is the ego? What is the Truth about the person I believe I am? The question is: who am “I”?

Looking at all this internal movement in us and realizing that thought is basically a recollection, a remembrance, a memory. As we go through experiences, that is registered and becomes an idea present, engraved in the brain; this idea engraved in the brain is what we call memory, and basically, this is thought. Life is happening here and now, and we are, based on thought – which are remembrances, recollections, and memories, which, in fact, are the past present in us – trying to attend to what is present here and now.

So, our psychological life, based on thought, is reflected in our external life as the past trying to suit, to adjust itself to this moment, to this present moment. When that happens, the problem, the conflict, the absence of freedom is present. It is very simple for us to verify this. When you deal with people, you believe you are dealing with the truth in dealing with them. At that moment, dealing with them, you are not dealing with the Truth; you are dealing with a projection, an image, a psychological conditioning, a memory in this relationship with them. You're not facing something alive, you're facing an image, a set of beliefs coming from the past, and that’s what we're dealing with the person in front of us. Naturally, there’s no Truth in this relationship, and if there’s no Truth, what is present is the illusion, the trap, the lie, and this is what has sustained all forms of conflict, trouble, and suffering, for example, in our life of relationship with the world and others.

“The idea I have about who you are” and “the idea you have about who I am,” this is what we are dealing with in this relationship. We don't know who the other is. We have an idea about who he is, but it’s very simple, we don't know who we are. How can we know who the other is if what we have of ourselves is also an image, an accumulation of remembrances, memories, and recollections of the past about who we are, about who the other is? So, there is no Love, no Peace in our relationships, why? Because there is no Freedom, there is no Truth – and here, I am referring to Freedom in Itself, to the Freedom of being Intelligence, Consciousness, and not to external freedom, to freedom as we understand, to outside freedom, but to the internal, psychological Freedom.

This psychological Freedom is the absence of this model of past, present, and future that thought has preserved, present within each one of us. This format of past, present, and future is the idea of time that exists only in the imagination that thought sustains – I have called it psychological time. We live in the psychological time, in this illusion of identity present within experience, for example, in this relationship with the husband, wife, children, the employees, or with your boss at your work. Our world of relationships is based on the illusion of thought that we don't understand, so we don't know what thought is; we are not free from thought. If we are not free from thought, there is no Real Freedom.

Real Freedom is not external freedom. I'll say it again: it’s not the freedom from something, but it’s the psychological Freedom, it’s Freedom from this illusion, this sense of separate identity, this illusory “I.” That’s what we're dealing with you here, pointing out the beauty, the importance of a life completely free from that sense of separate identity and, therefore, of conflict and contradiction. It is when Love is present due to the absence of this “I,” this ego, this person, this illusory identity – where the sense of this psychological prison lies – then, the end of thought – and here I am referring to this thought I have called “psychological thought.”

We need thought at a certain level in our lives, only at a certain level. Logical thinking, non-emotional, non-sentimental thinking, for example, knowing your home address, going to your home, dealing with something from a technical point of view, you need knowledge, which is memory, remembrance, and thought. Only at this level is thought important. But there is a level of thinking in us that is the level of psychological thinking, which sustains conflict, contradiction, suffering, and fear, sustaining this condition of inner contradiction and problems.

So, I want to invite you to a life free from this sense of “I,” the sense of ego-identity and, therefore, a life free from thought, this psychological thought that is creating and sustaining in us all forms of complications, of suffering, anguish, fears, desires, and so on.

Is this possible? Yes, it is possible when you become aware of the Truth about who you are, here and now, and these patterns of thoughts cease. This psychological thinking format disappears; you are with only technical or functional thinking. Knowing your name is a thought, a memory; knowing your home address is a thought, it’s a memory; how to work in a profession requires thinking, a memory. That is non-emotional, functional, practical memory. Apart from that memory, we have the psychological memory, that psychological thought that sustains the “I,” the ego, the illusion of the sense of separateness and, therefore, of confusion, suffering, and complications in our lives. Thus, our work has this purpose: to become aware of the Truth of what we are. The awareness of this is the Real Freedom of Being.

So, this is the subject we deal with you here within this channel. If this is something that makes sense to you, leave your like and subscribe to the channel. I want to remind you: we have online, face-to-face meetings, and also retreats, where we work with those who approach. We have our WhatsApp group in the description of the video. Ok?

See you. Thanks for the meeting, and see you next!

May, 2023
Gravatá-PE, Brazil
Further information

New Consciousness | Psychological Conditioning | Closer to Self-Awareness | Psychological time

After all, what are we working together with you? We are working to end the illusion of the sense of an “I” present, here and now, within this experience. We are working with you to end a separate identity, the presence of “someone” here and now. The idea you have about who you are, the concept you have about yourself and others, about the world, this is something that is based on this illusion. This illusion is the ignorance of the Truth about you.

You have not looked, you have not observed, you have not seen the Truth about yourselves, because there is no investigation into it. It is common for all of us to maintain our lives in a mechanical, unconscious way, unaware of who we really are. The contradictions, conflicts, dilemmas, problems, all the different fears and complications, the different forms of unhappiness that we have in our lives are present because of this lack of knowledge.

Although, if we have a real interest to approach it, interest in a real change, in a real transformation in ourselves, in our minds and in our hearts, for an entirely new life, free of conflicts, problems, dilemmas and suffering, we need to understand the Truth about who we are. It is necessary for us to understand this question of this content of consciousness in us. After all, what is this consciousness – this human consciousness in us?

We all have differences from each other. These psychological differences have very particular aspects within each one’s history, however, basically, psychologically, this human consciousness, this state of consciousness, is something common to all of us. We are here referring to the same consciousness in everyone: it is this egoic consciousness, it is this consciousness of the “I” – that is what we have called this model of consciousness that we know.

If there is a change in our mind, in our heart, something entirely new will be present in this experience of living, that is what we are interested in within this meeting. We are spending a lot of energy trying to solve problems – physical problems, intellectual problems, emotional problems, financial problems, different problems that we have in our lives – and these problems are present because of this lack of Real Consciousness. This Real Consciousness is this New Consciousness, which I have been dealing with here within these meetings. The presence of this Real Consciousness is the presence of Intelligence. And when there is Intelligence, because of this New Consciousness, what we call “human problems” is something completely different – we are facing something entirely different. All the problems in us, or present in us at the psychological level, are present because of an illusion, because of a mistaken identification with that “I”, with that ego – that is the so-called consciousness present in all of us, that consciousness common to all of us.

Here I have been dealing with the possibility of a New Consciousness due to this transformation possible for each one of us, in our minds and in our hearts. The Realization of this is the Realization of the Truth of your Being, what some call the “Awakening of Consciousness”. And why the expression “Awakening of Consciousness”? Because it is about Real Consciousness. What we have called consciousness in us – this consciousness common to all, this human consciousness – is in a state of sleep. In fact, all the psychological insanity present in us is due to this human consciousness – what we might call unconsciousness here.

The condition of the mind in us, linked – as it is – to the psychological conditioning program that we have been bringing for millennia, this psychological condition of consciousness, which is the consciousness of the “I”, which is the mental consciousness, is a consciousness of insanity. We do not know the Truth about who we are and, in this insanity, in this unconsciousness or in this egoic consciousness, what prevails in us is fear, envy, jealousy, anxiety, all forms of complexes, traumas, and anguish. All this is present because of that common state of unconsciousness or egoic consciousness in all of us, which is this so-called “human consciousness”.

Here the proposal is the understanding of the Truth about your Being, the Truth about your Real Nature. The Truth about it, is the end of this human consciousness as we know. In other words, it’s the end of this view of thought, experience, and time as we know. We have a model of thought, experience and time. For us there is the past, the present and the future; for us there is thought and these thoughts are born of a thinker in us; for us, the experience we live, that we experience, is very real for this thinker who, in fact, is just a stored thought, accumulated as part of a memory, and all of this is within this conditioning of the egoic consciousness, of the human consciousness, of this mental consciousness.

Our approach to thought, experience and this so-called “time” is completely wrong. Our notion of past, present and future, psychologically speaking, is an illusion. Our notion of a thinker producing thoughts and dealing with life from those thoughts is an illusion. And this search for experience to acquire more ability to get it right, to do what suits you, to do the right thing, this also constitutes an illusion. All action in us that is based on the past, that is, on memory, on remembrance, which is thought, you see, all this is the result of past experiences and we are trying to adjust life in this present moment to a vision of a past experience, of a remembrance, of a memory, always within the idea that there is “someone” responsible for it, which is the “I”, the thinker.

We believe that we can perform in life an action free of complications, problems and dilemmas, based on what this sense of “I” carries. So, this mental consciousness is what we have valued to be the truth about who we are, and it is not real. Self-investigation brings you closer to Self-Awareness. Self-Awareness is the approach of this observation of this “I”; it is this “me” that is present within this illusion that he is “the one who is thinking”, he is the one who is always, based on experiences, looking to get it right.” It is not in a conscious way that we are looking for unhappiness. I said this: it is not in a conscious way that we are looking for unhappiness, but all of our actions, everything that we are doing with our lives is towards that unhappiness, and it is not in a conscious way, because in a conscious way, we would never be acting as we are acting, saying what we are saying, relating to the world, to the other as we are doing.

Our conflicted actions, which are based on all this thought already programmed in us, already conditioned in us, something that comes from the past, this behavior, these actions, this model of life, of existence, is something that is producing suffering and unhappiness in our lives. We are not consciously looking for this unhappiness. Our search is for happiness, but a search for happiness based on this unconsciousness about who we are, puts us within this self-centered pattern of behavior and egoic action, of pure egocentrism, and this produces in our lives the unhappiness we don’t want. So, it becomes very clear: the human being is not looking for unhappiness, but everything he has been doing or what we have been doing from that center, which is the “I”, which is the ego, from that mental consciousness – which, in fact, is pure unconsciousness – has led us to this mess we, as human beings, are in today, in which each of us is living in our relationships with each other today.

So, our meeting or work together is about understanding the Truth about who we are, and this understanding is what will work this fundamental transformation in our minds and hearts into the emergence of this Reality, which is the Reality of your Being, which is the Divine Truth that you Are. This is the Truth of God – some call it Spiritual Enlightenment or the Awakening of Consciousness – a completely different life, a new way of living, feeling, acting, speaking, and thinking, totally free of this sense of “person”, this sense of being a separate individuality. This individuality is an illusion. Yes, the illusion of individuality. We carry this illusion: the illusion of a sense of “I” present within living, within experiencing, within thinking, within time. The Reality of your Being, the Divine Reality that you Are, the Truth of your Essential Nature, is not in time – here I am referring to the psychological time, which is “I-time”, where there is this notion of “I”, I was, I am and I will be”.

Here, when we talk about this transformation, this change, it is not based on this illusion “I was, I am and I will be”. Every idea we have about change or transformation, in general, we always put the illusory notion of that time, which is the time of the “I”. There is no Truth in this psychological time, and therefore this sense of “I” may undergo reforms, peripheral changes, but that is not what we are talking about here. We are talking about a radical change and it is not the change of the “I”, it is the change in this brain, physical structure, in this body-mind. It’s the end of that psychological structure. That’s what I've been calling “real possible change” for each one of us. A change that is present when the sense of ego is no more and therefore the sense of time is no more, this whole notion of “I was, I am and I will be” is no more.

Here I have signaled to you the importance of an approach outside of this idea of “I will be”, “I will get there”. After all, what is this “me”? What is this “me”, this ego? Something becomes fundamental here – really necessary and fundamental in our lives – and that Something is the Realization of the Truth of God, which is the Truth of your Being. This is the end of the “I” and the beginning of something entirely new and unknown to this model of thinking and feeling, to this old model of thinking, experiencing and acting based on this false ego, this false “I”, this false identity.

The Truth about you is the end of the illusion about who you believe you are, it is the end of the illusion of that individuality. That sense of individuality is all the confusion in each of us. True individuality is something completely outside of anything the mind can conceive or idealize. It is a life free of psychological time, a life free of the sense of “I”, of that “I am today, I was yesterday, and I will be tomorrow”; a life free from this idea of becoming, of achieving, of becoming “someone different”. We are talking here about the end of all this illusion. If fear is there, that’s what we have, if envy is there, that’s what we have. Envy will not change into something else; it will always be envy; fear will always be fear. When you observe fear and envy closely, there is an end to that “I”, and when that “I” ends, psychological time ends. You don't need time to go beyond fear or envy, you need to become aware of the illusion of this “me” with its envy and its fear.

So, this is our work together and this is what we are dealing with, here on the channel. If what you're listening to is something that makes sense to you, I want to invite you to leave your “like” and subscribe to the channel. I want to remind you: we have online meetings and face-to-face meetings, where we are working on this with those who approach us. OK?

If that makes sense to you, we'll see you in the next one. Thanks for the meeting!

May, 2023
Gravatá-PE, Brazil
Further information

Joel Goldsmith | A Parenthesis in Eternity | The internal dissatisfaction | Master Gualberto

GC: Hello everyone! We are here for another videocast. Once again, Master Gualberto gives us the opportunity to ask questions, bringing a deeper understanding of these studies on Spiritual Enlightenment. Gratitude, Marcos, gratitude, Master, for yet another opportunity.

Today I am going to bring you a very interesting excerpt from the book “A Parenthesis in Eternity,” by Joel Goldsmith, where Joel says: “It is not only by trying to change ourselves into better humans that we prepare ourselves for the acceptance of our spiritual identity. Being humanly good has nothing to do with dying every day. Dying daily is a realization that we are dissatisfied with our current lifestyle, dissatisfied even if we have economic sufficiency, good health or a happy family. Yet there is dissatisfaction, a sense of something missing in us, an inner restlessness, a lack of peace, an inner discontent. Without that hunger and that inner urge, there is no ‘dying’.” Master, could you talk a little more about this inner restlessness, about this desire that burns in the heart for God?

MG: OK, let’s go then! This inner restlessness or disquiet – what is it really? In general, Gilson, people are resigned to the condition of life in which they find themselves. There is a certain “unsatisfied satisfaction” within people that they are completely unaware of. They are satisfied, they are not really aware of the present dissatisfaction. There is dissatisfaction present in them, within that satisfaction. The behavior of humans is very curious, seeming to be looking, in fact, for something beyond that condition common to all.

First, when we grow up, we create goals in life: professional, marriage, family... and, little by little, this starts to happen. But along with that there is, within the human being – and this is the great truth of which we are not aware, until we really are… there is within the human being a dissatisfaction, an existential void, something that nothing on the outside, externally, can fill. However, the condition of the human mind is such that, little by little, we get used to, or get accustomed to, or conform to this internal lack. And we are not aware of this lack, because with the passage of time we are resigned to external achievements.

So, actually, most people carry this pain, the internal dissatisfaction, this existential void; most people carry this in a very unconscious way. And they have many things in place of that void apparently occupying it. So, they don't become aware, until some of them have a very great loss, a very great pain, which is when, at that moment, they realize that there is something that is not right in their lives. But, in general, most people go a lifetime without any awareness of their inner unhappy state, because they are so full of external things taking the place of that unhappiness that they are not even aware of how unhappy they are.

What I have noticed is that sometimes I say to people, “Have you noticed unhappiness? Do you realize how unhappy you are?” They look at me in astonishment. They say, “No, but I am happy! I have a good marriage, my daughter is going to college…” and they start to describe their external world, as if that was really happiness for them. They don't even realize this pain, this present existential emptiness. Until, for some, because this dream of this apparent happiness changes – they have the loss of a loved one, a difficult situation – they begin to realize that they need to turn to something outside this world, to this search for something outside, beyond this known. That’s when the search process begins.

If you're here on this channel, something has probably already started to happen to you. An attraction to something out of this world. There is a natural disinterest in these external accomplishments, and you don't even know why you aren't as interested as the people around you in these external things. You don't even know why you have such an inclination for something internal, even if you apparently don't feel that pain so much, that emptiness so much, but there is a greater joy in you in the search for something outside the known.

I'm speaking from my experience. I didn't carry this pain of depression, none of that when I was a child, but I had great joy in getting involved with the things of God. So, I felt, as a child, that there was something beyond simply getting married, having children and everything else – although all of that also happened here in Gualberto’s story, but there was this greater inclination towards this search for the Divine. And we need that search. Without that, if we're not really burning for It, we're sure to be distracted by all sorts of external things and that Realization in this life won't be possible.

It’s that simple, Gilson. Realistically, the Realization of God, which is the Realization of Truth, requires this greatly applied energy – this energy of Life, of Existence, of Consciousness – all the energy of your Being directed towards this Realization. If you are not really burning for It, It will not burn you, It will not evaporate that sense of ego, it will always have something to fill itself externally and continue in this unconscious suffering, unaware of how much it lives in the lie and illusion. And that has been most people’s lives.

So, it is necessary to burn for God, it is necessary to have that fire burning inside, until that fire consumes the illusion of this false “I,” which is the person you believe you are, with the things you believe you have, or that you may get or that you may lose, or that you dream, or that you idealize, or that you try to hold on to. All this within the ego needs to disappear with it. And only the fire of that Presence burning inside and that energy available for that surrender to the Truth, for that total involvement with It, for that Reality to show itself, that Reality of your Being, that Reality of God.

So, without burning for God, you are not in the moment to really go beyond this world, this dream, this illusion, this false “I” with its problems. And the biggest problem is one’s own sense of identity separate from God, in this emptiness, in this existential pain. And, again, most are not even aware of the pain they bring until they start to lose things and realize... And they begin to realize that there is no psychological safety in fulfillment in objects, in people, in ideas, and beliefs. When that starts to become quicksand for that ego, then really the quest or the search for something beyond that starts to happen. That’s it.

GC: Master, this existential void, this pain, I remember since childhood there were moments when this void came. But what happened in this story – and this is common in this human activity – [was] running away. Pain comes, we run away in pursuit of pleasure; and then comes the pain, we run away in search of pleasure. We run away from pain and seek pleasure. And then, the pain, this emptiness, is camouflaged, and life goes on. But there’s a moment when, as Master just said, things get a little tighter, and then we see that really in the world, in the human world, as Joel himself states and Master too, there’s nothing, no external accomplishment that will bring that Real Happiness. And then we see that it is really about going beyond this world. And then, by Grace, I found Master, and the Master shares, gives this direction: not to run away from pain, but to get closer to it, to this existential void. Master, may you talk a little about this approach to what is presented? For example, when existential void presents itself.

MG: We have several ways to approach this issue of approaching pain. Why this approach? We do not understand what we are not very aware of. We cannot understand something that happens to us that we are not aware of. We need to become aware of what is happening to us here and now, in order to truly perceive the illusion or truth of it. Without coming into direct contact with it, it is impossible.

So, what happens, in general, Gilson, is that our conditioning – and this is from childhood – is not to experience pain. So, since childhood... when a child falls, the father or mother, whoever is very near, goes there and lifts the child and starts to caress the child so that the child does not cry, tries to comfort the child to avoid him feeling this pain from the fall. People, understand this: children fall! When they are learning to walk, they have to fall and get up. This is how they will learn to walk. So, we have a very illusory idea of ​​what compassion, care, appreciation, and affection are.

And the worst: these words that I just used, we also make them deceptively identify with an imaginary idea that we call love. So, for us “love” is exactly that: affection, care, protection. But this kind of protection from pain has nothing to do with the Reality of Love, it has to do with our conception of what love is, because when you protect a child from crying, you're not letting them get in touch with the experience of pain, of learning from falling and getting up.

I'm using this example here, physically, but psychologically it’s much more serious. We were not taught, Gilson, since childhood, to approach the experience of psychological pain, the pain of frustration, the pain of losing or not having appreciation, or rejection… They tried to shield us, to spare us the psychological experience of this frustrated, suffering “I,” in contradiction, in suffering, and they always came to comfort us. And that made us little creatures very addicted to the search for consolation, comfort, and made us become little people very much in need of not suffering. With that, we learn to run away from pain without looking at it.

Suffering puts you in touch with the experience of an identity present in suffering. Guys, this is something wonderful: you realize that you are an identity present in this suffering and this present identity is a product of self-image, created by the illusory “I” itself; realize that this illusory “I,” who is always saving himself or herself from suffering, seeking shelter in external appreciations – which in reality only gives continuity to more suffering, in the short, medium and long term, for this “I” ... Until we don’t realize that contact with the experience of suffering shows that it is the sense of someone present with a wounded image, psychologically speaking... When you, for example, are not appreciated, when you are not praised, when you are not applauded when you do the right things, this causes you suffering, because your ego is always looking for this appreciation.

We have become creatures psychologically, emotionally, totally dependent on this self-image we have of ourselves, and we want others to recognize this image and always applauding our good deeds and turning a blind eye to our bad deeds. And even worse: our own self-image is always looking to protect itself from this pain for ourselves, about what we think we are or about what we think we should be and about what people think about us.

We don't come into direct contact with the experience of that ego, that “I,” and pain makes that possible. But how are we going to get in touch with this pain if we weren't taught from childhood that looking at what is happening here and now, without that self-image, without that self-complacency, without that self-compassion, frees us from the ego? They never taught that to us. Quite the contrary, they keep trying to protect us from falling so we don't cry. I say “they,” the whole world.

We have a behavior of deep psychological dependence on the opinion of others, on what people think, say, feel about us, in addition to what we ourselves think, feel and believe about ourselves. This is all grounded in this ego-identity, the illusion of an identity, which is the “I” – a personality, a completely false identity, completely illusory, the result of a psychological conditioning that has been present for millennia in humanity and that is now for decades in us. If I'm thirty, forty or fifty, that’s fifty years identified with everything that exists in this complicated, afflicted, suffered, unhappy humanity: envy, jealousy, anger, fear, desires, incredible afflictions, different forms of suffering. This is present in this sense of the ego, that illusory entity that sees itself separate from the other, the world, and God.

So, if we don't get in touch with this pain of this “I” – because this “I” is the reason for this pain – we won't become aware of the lie to live in this illusory identity. So, having a direct contact with what I am here and now, without running away, is essential for us to discover something beyond that, outside of this “I,” of this “ego.” There is something in you that is not in the world nor in this model of human culture, illusion and suffering. There is something in you outside of fear, anger, envy, jealousy, ambition, the desire to conquer, the desire to possess, the fear of suffering, these different fears that we have.

We have different fears, Gilson. The state of psychological unhappiness in human beings is terrible! We are afraid of everything! It’s fear of old age, it’s fear of illness, it’s fear of the husband, fear of children... Afraid of everything! We live psychologically trapped in the illusion of security that the ego seeks in things, people, objects, beliefs... and none of that solves it! To make matters worse, there are religious beliefs, the search for protection. So, all this has to do with the illusion of “someone,” which is the fearful ego, and that ego is not real. The only Reality present is Divine Reality, which carries none of that; it is the sense of ego that carries it. And if we don't look at that, we can't go beyond that. If we don't approach to discover this, here and now, this sense of separation, of illusion and what it represents... without this Self-awareness, it won't work.

That’s why the various meditation practices that are done don't work. Because you are meditating, but who is meditating? Your Real Meditation is to become aware of the illusion of this “I” here and now, in what happens, in what goes on, and to go beyond this illusion, this mind trapped in this model of belief, self-image and everything else. All good? That’s it.

GC: Master, you touched on a point that is quite interesting. How humans are unaware of all the suffering they carry, of all the contradictions! Because I remember that when I, by Grace, met Master, and Master in these speeches – because Master’s speech repeats itself in different ways – was talking about this approach to suffering, to contradiction… and this naughty thing of this ego will say: “No, but there aren't many contradictions, there aren't many problems.” I think the term even Master used was “problem.” And then in complete unconsciousness of all the wallowing that the mind, that the ego does… full of conflict! Then I remember that in a Satsang the Master said: “When I say ‘conflict’, I'm not talking about the war, I'm talking about a conflict of thinking about something and wanting to think about something else.” So, I remember, as soon as I approached this work with the Master – my God! –, all this wallowing that the human mind is, by the Grace of the Master, I began to see all this confusion, all this disorder, which was sneakily hidden by practices, reading, and studies. All this contradiction remained in the background; it was not seen. And then by the Grace of Master... the contradiction is hilarious, because the mind is always bringing thought and judgment... And to be able to observe this, like the Master says, is to see the present illusion, and then it is to do nothing, simply to see, this “look.”

And even at this point, Master, I want to pick a question from Augusto Moreno Viena Pestana, who speaks about this: “What is looking at the movement of thought?” If you can talk a little about it...

MG: Looking at this movement of thought – which is, in reality, a movement of the mind – looking at it, Gilson, is fundamental. And I will explain why. By looking at the movement of thought, we have here a key that opens an extraordinary door for you, because by looking at the movement of thought, you become aware of the illusion of the observer. What is that? What have I been calling an “observer”? I mean the illusion that you are someone who thinks, someone who thinks thought; thought is an experience and you are someone who is producing that experience called “thought.” So, there is an illusion here: the “I-thinker” illusion producing thought as an experience.

People, understand this: when you're in that condition, which is the ego condition, you're stuck in what I've been calling psychological time.

Let me put this straight for you here. The notion of someone present within thought... Note: thought is the result of the past. You don't have a single thought that isn't a memory. Show me a thought that isn’t a memory. Every thought is just a memory, and that thought, because it is a memory, is an experience lived in the past, recorded in the brain and now incorporated into that consciousness that I call egoic consciousness or mental consciousness. So, when this thought arises and you put an identity, which is the belief of an identity, by thinking this – you think you are thinking this thought – you are introducing an illusion into your existence: the illusion of psychological time. This illusion of psychological time in your existence is the illusion of the “I,” of the ego, because you are the one thinking that thought. So, you are the observer of the thing that is being observed, which is thought.

Here is the presence of psychological time: it is precisely the presence of the observer, it is precisely the presence of the thinker, which is the presence of the “I.” If you take away, eliminate, the presence of the observer from the thought experience – listen to this, I am giving you the secret of Meditation here – if you eliminate the presence of the thinker from the thought experience, eliminate the experience of the observer who is observing the thought ... if you eliminate the observer, eliminate the thinker, eliminate the experiencer from the experience, you are left with only the thought, only with the experience and that does not imply time. That’s something here and now!

You only put time in when you put in the thinker, who says “I don't like that,” or “I like that,” “No, I want to think about it more,” “No, but I don't want to think about it.” When that happens, the thinker has entered. When the thinker enters, the illusion of psychological time enters. This is where the ego lives. Your ego, the person you believe yourself to be, is either in the past or in the future, and this present only interests it to occupy itself with the past or the future. That’s the key point.

The ego, Gilson, is nothing more than an illusion created by thought itself, which separates itself as a thinker, creates an identity and says: “I.” There is no “I”! There is no “I” other than thought using the pronoun “I” to name someone within experience, which is thought itself. It is a great move of thought to continue in psychological time, because it is the creator of psychological time. It created the “I” to say, “I don't like this” or “I like this.” So, we live, Gilson, as human creatures identified with this thinker, this “I,” this observer. We live as human creatures trapped in this idea of ​​becoming somebody. “I'm not happy as I am, I need to be happy.” And “will I be happy” when? In time, tomorrow! “I was that, I am that today and tomorrow I will be something else.” All this is in the illusion of a psychological identity here and now, which is a fraud. That is the presence of the ego, that is the presence of the “I.” If you sustain the illusion of that identity, you don't die.

I have been talking, Gilson, about the importance of accepting death, death of this illusion, which is the illusion of a psychological identity. If you accept the death of that “I” within experiences, that “I” disappears. You are left with the pure experience without the illusion of somebody in it, so there is no more separation. If a thought, a feeling, an emotion, a sensation arises without the “I,” there is no psychological time. You are here and now, and that “You” is the Reality of Real Consciousness itself. It is here that I call your Being as Real Consciousness, That which is You. OK?

GC: Gratitude, gratitude, Master! Gratitude... Our time has come. I'm just going to comment quickly. I think I even commented on some other videocasts too, on an intensive weekend Satsang, even online, I think it was the fifth or sixth... I've been participating for a long time. I only know that Master, pointing to this reality that thought and thinker are one thought... and soon something became very clear: how this “I,” which thinks of itself as “I,” is a thought. It’s slavery, the human is a slave to a thought, oh my gosh! So, it is being close to the Master for this Grace to clear all this lie of thought and be able to look at it all.

So, here’s the invitation for those who have been following the videocasts and Master’s channel: so subscribe to the channel, if you haven't subscribed yet, leave the “like,” make a comment with questions. And anyone who feels something beyond what is being said by Master Gualberto, here’s an invitation to this approach in this deep investigation that takes place through Satsangs in person (much more) and also online weekend intensives.

So, Master, gratitude... gratitude for this opportunity that you give us. Big hug!

MG: OK, guys, see you soon!

May, 2023
Gravatá-PE, Brazil
Further information

Understanding Thought. Psychological disorder. The understanding of feeling. The basis of problems

This model of “our” existence is a model where we are within this continuity; this is the continuity of life with problems. So, talking about the possibility of being free of problems is something very challenging, and yet, we are facing something possible for each of us. However, you need to approach it. It is essential to approach it. This approach is only possible when you know yourself. There is something we don't know about the basis of problems. To us, we are “somebody” in the world dealing with life. Separated from life, life shows itself in a format where it seems to us that this challenge it represents must, necessarily, represent problems for us. This is not true! It is not true!

What we need is a change, a deep and radical change in ourselves. It is not life that has to change the model, the representation of these challenges, which seem to us to be the cause of problems. What we need is understanding ourselves, we need to understand ourselves completely, totally and definitively, an absolute understanding of the Truth about who we are. This understanding of the totality of ourselves – a word that I have been using in these speeches, in these encounters that, in general, people use, also in sociology, in psychology, in philosophy, I use the same word, but with a meaning perhaps a little different –, is Self-awareness.

What is Self-awareness? It is the understanding of the totality of this whole process of being “someone” in the world, of living as “someone” in the world. Understanding the process of wholeness about who we are is Self-awareness So, what is Self-awareness? It’s our tendencies, our inclinations, our motivations, our thoughts, all of which are being seen. It is the understanding of the whole process of thinking, of this format of thoughts present within us, happening here in this instant, in this moment. So, it is the understanding of the whole process of thought, as well as the understanding of the whole process of feeling: “Why do I feel this when looking at someone?”, “Why do I feel that when listening to this?”, “Why does the pain remain when something goes away?”, “What is this feeling?” Do you see it?

Understanding yourself, these inclinations, these tendencies, these reasons, not in an introspective, analytical, intellective, deductive way, here I mean a complete, total understanding, a vision. You don't do that with the intellect –intellect can draw its conclusions, analyze things. In general, we are very, very passionate, believing or wanting to believe more and more in the capacity of the intellect, in the reason for this understanding of what is happening to us. For us, the intellect is a tool, and here I want to say: intellect is part of what still appears as an inclination, as a tendency. So, when I refer to that understanding, it’s not intellectual. It’s an understanding that makes you realize the totality of this whole process of thinking and feeling. It is possible! The instrument we have in our body, linked to this process of direct observation, in this Self-awareness – the most delicate instrument or tool – is this brain, it is generally numb, it is generally sluggish, it is addicted to this model of unconsciousness so common to all, because we lack self-investigation.

This self-investigation is the basis for this Self-awareness, since Self-awareness is the understanding of this whole process, I repeat, this whole process of thinking and feeling. I want to repeat this: you will not analyze it, you will not speculate about it, you will not draw conclusions about it, you will become aware of this process in yourself, see your emotional dependencies. This is seeing the process of feeling, being in direct contact with it and realizing how much this places you in a condition of self-limitation imposed by yourself, by yourself, within that unconsciousness. It happens with feeling and it happens with thinking. There is a lot of psychological turmoil within this brain mechanism. The thought process in us is completely chaotic. So, our thinking and our feelings always carry this condition, sustaining every form of suffering present in our lives. It’s not life, nor is it in life, in these challenges that it presents us with, the problem is, yes, in the way we approach life, because we lack an approach to ourselves.

If you don´t understand yourself, if you don't comprehend yourself, if there isn't this understanding of the Truth about you, every relationship you have, that you may have in the world will always be a relationship based on ignorance; and with that restless brain and lacking that understanding of the Truth of who you are, your whole life is made up of problems. So, the problem with yourself is the problem with the other, it’s the problem with the world, it’s the problem with relationships. The reality of your Being is a new present brain. Once you realize the Truth about who you are, all that chaos, all that condition, all that disorder, all that psychological mess, disappears. Then a new brain comes in, and with a new brain you have a new heart, that’s when all problems dissolve, or rather all problems are seen for what they really are. No problem, what we have is life as it shows itself – some things are nice to “me,” some things are not nice to “me,” some “I” want and some “I” don't want. It is possible to be free of this “me,” this “I”, then there will be no nice things for this “I” nor will there be things that “I” want and things that “I” don't want. Do you understand that?

Our egoic life, which is that life lacking the understanding of the Truth of this totality of our own Being, of That which we are – the lack of this vision of who we are – sustains this “me,” sustains this “I.” This “I” has this vanity, this arrogance, this conceit, this separateness. It sees itself as separate and it sees itself with choices. There is the “like” or “dislike,” “want” and “not want,” the “wish I can fulfill” and the “wish I cannot fulfill” which represents frustration, so we have the problem. The only problem present is this “me,” this “I.” That “me,” that “I,” can dissolve, because if it dissolves, problems dissolve. “I don't like so-and-so": look at yourself, watch your reactions, watch your arrogance in judging her, in comparing her to another, in seeing that she doesn't fulfill your egoic expectations. See, you'll see why you don't like her. Are we together here?

Your problem is not with that person. Your problem is with you, you are not okay with your choices, with your prejudices, with your internal indispositions, and the other seems to be the cause, the reason, and he or she is not. You are the problem of the world, your relationships and life. There is no problem there, the problem is the “I,” it is the ego, it is this “me” that “likes” and “dislikes.” “I didn't like him, I didn't like her": you're not okay! You are not well! Her face is like anyone else’s face: it has a nose, it has two eyes, it has a mouth. It’s psychologically the problem with that face, and if it’s psychologically the problem with that face, no problem is outside, it’s always inside. Looking at the process of thinking and feeling is the basis for the end of all the problems in your life – the problem of relationships with the world, relationships with others and with yourself. The expression “relationships with yourself” is curious. Relationship always implies two, humans live in such a chaotic way, so absurdly stupid that they manage to relate to themselves. How is it possible for you to be more than one within yourself to be able to relate to yourself? There isn't that integrity, that individuality, that Real sense of Being, so you have many characters within yourself, of yourself, and it seems that you want to adjust them, so that they have harmony, and you realize that this is not possible. So, you need someone who says, “You need to be okay with yourself.” Folks, if you are Real, you are not bad either with yourself or with the world, because there is no longer any separation between you and the other, between you and life, between you and the world. Who invented this “you with yourself"?

Most of us don't seem to realize the importance of understanding this change, this transformation in ourselves, so it goes on. You will have another thirty, fifty, sixty, seventy years and you will die – everybody dies. Everyone wants to push the possibility of death further away; nobody likes the word death. Why does this scare us? I'm not stating, I'm asking a question: why does this scare us? Because we want the continuity of a life in trouble, as long as we feel alive, it’s okay. But who is this that feels alive? The question is: “Who am I?”

If you don't have Self-Awareness, which is the basis of understanding the Truth about who you are, there will be fear and you will always try to push this thing called death far away, as if it wasn't going to happen or it wasn't possible, as if it already wasn't coming -– but it’s coming, it’s coming. Let’s see the fact of death, not pushing away through an idea, a belief that you're going to have an immortal life, that you're going to live another life or whatever kind of beliefs we have. This gives us hope that we are not going to die, but we are going to die, and when you die, all your desires and fears can no longer express themselves. Interestingly, that’s your only fear, you're not exactly afraid of death, you're afraid of ceasing to be that person. All right?

So, don't you think it’s important that we discover the Truth of life, here and now? It’s because we don't know the Truth of life, here and now, that we are afraid of death. I already said: it is not fear, in itself, of the unknown, because nobody knows what the unknown is; what you are afraid of is letting go of your desires and attachments, your life of fear and frustration.

Realizing the Truth about who we are is the end of fear, this is the end of death, this is the understanding of life. To understand death, it is necessary, internally, psychologically, to understand the Truth about who we are. And why? Because understanding the Truth of who we are is the end of this psychological “I.” So, you, for the first time, discover what it’s like to be dead, psychologically, free of your past, free of your history, free of your desires and free of your fears. It is when you know what death is that you know what life is. If human beings were really alive and living the Truth about who they are – the Truth of their Being –, there would be no fear of death, there would be no fear of losing what they know. Is it okay? We need to realize the Truth about who we are. OK?

That’s the matter, look at it. Look at this!

April, 2023
Gravatá-PE, Brazil
Further information

What are we seeking? Psychological conditioning. True Meditation. Egocentrism. Psychological time

Let’s talk to you today about that encounter with Truth or Happiness. This represents an encounter with God. God is Truth. God is Happiness. Now, there are some things here that need to be seen. The first of these is the idea, the belief, and the concept “God.” That’s not Truth or Happiness, it’s just a concept. So, let’s explore with you the Truth, the happiness of God, free from an idea, belief, or concept.

Let’s talk to you about this important matter of the search. In fact, what are we seeking? What are we looking for? The idea, concept, and belief of Happiness, Truth, or God is an imagination on our part because it’s a concept. Let’s talk to you about this Real encounter with God, this Real encounter with Truth and Happiness. Is this processed through seeking, a search? What is implied? We have some things within this search; one of them is the issue of choice. We make choices of methods, systems, or practices that we need to apply to have this encounter, so we have a choice: religion, spiritual practice, the certain exercise within this model of spirituality that we choose, and, naturally, this will be chosen due to a background we already bring inside. This background is our own psychological conditioning and will determine our choices regarding this search. This search now implies a choice, that choice is linked to that background of personal conditioning, that particular background of conditioning. Then, we are still within a project that thought itself idealizes about Truth, God, or Happiness. Thus, that can't be real, that’s one aspect of the search.

What we have been saying in these meetings is that the Truth “God” or Happiness is not revealed in the search, but rather in an encounter. This encounter is an acknowledgment of Reality. God, Happiness, or Truth is a Reality present. So, this movement of choice in the search based on this background of conditioning, concepts, and beliefs that we have, can’t approach us to this Reality.

Another important factor here, in addition to choice, is exactly the effort factor. We have as a principle the idea that we need to make an effort: the effort to achieve, to get there. If we have some human goal, we apply all our energy towards that goal and use the systems, the methods we know, available through an effort to accomplish this. Here, we have been saying that if we deal with God, Truth, and Happiness, it doesn’t require effort because it’s Something that is verified as being the Truth already present. This Truth present is innate in all of us. This whole model of effort for execution, for carrying it out, is something that also presupposes the presence of another factor within this process that doesn’t fit, which is the time factor. So, we have one more thing present within the effort: the time factor. We have within this search, these three completely meaningless things, then this whole model of seeking or searching for the Truth, Happiness, and God is always based on this choice, this effort, and this notion of time.

Here we work with Something that is not part of time. Naturally, it can’t be within the effort to be achieved, let alone within a choice of principles we choose to accomplish This. So, we have to pay attention to that. The Truth of the Reality of our Being is the Reality of God and this is innate. It’s not because of effort, not because of choice, and not even in time that it takes place. Here on our channel, we work with you for the end of choice, effort, and time. The quality of mind we know, what we call “mind” is something present within that time – here I refer to the egoic mind.

Our whole pattern of inner restlessness, dissatisfaction, desire, and fear is something present because of this mind, which is the result of time. The mind that is the result of time is this egoic mind. I invite you to discover a mind free from this model that is this egoic mind – the mind that is the result of time, of all this background of experiences, remembrances, memories, and conditioning, that we have cultivated throughout this entire life story we have. This has placed us within this condition of personal, egoic identity, because of this egoic mind. It’s this mind itself that is present, because of its dissatisfaction, its restlessness, desires, and fears, within this search.

The Truth of God is the Truth of Happiness, so Truth is God and God is Happiness, but it’s not part of a belief, a concept, not Something achieved by choice, by effort, or by time. An entirely new mind – I could call it a “divine mind” –, a deeply religious heart turned towards Truth, is a mind free from this model, which is the model of psychological time. The psychological time is the one that affirms within you the illusion of identity present, here and now. That identity is “the one” you believe you are now. You did it yesterday, you are doing it today, and you will do it tomorrow. This “I,” which is “this one” within this doing, is an idea you have and formulate about yourself, about who you are. “I was this yesterday, I am this today and I will be this tomorrow”: we are dealing with an idea, a belief, a concept, one more formulation of thought.

Within this model of internal dissatisfaction of life centered on this illusory “I,” we are within this project idealized by thought itself that we could find the Truth by searching. Here, this “finding” is not a search, it’s an acknowledgment that’s present here and now, at this moment, because only at this moment is this new mind free from this entanglement that is the psychological time, free from this confusion the egoic mind is. Here, I refer to this new mind, a mind capable of silently perceiving whatever is appearing here and now, becoming aware of every movement of this “I,” which is based on the past, on remembrances, memories, which sustains this time that is the psychological time, the time of identity present, this “me.” Looking at this in that silence, without getting entangled with it, is possible when the mind is silent, still, just watching the movement of thought, the movement of remembrances, memories, and recollections arising.

When the mind is in that silence, the mind is in a whole new quality, able to observe the movement, to become aware of that movement, which is the movement of the “I,” then we are already in direct contact with the end of the search. See the beauty of it, and it’s a matter of perception, Real perception. It’s not perception with effort, with an interest in achieving something. It’s perception without any model of interest, a silent perception, a silent mind, which hasn’t been obliged to be silent. The very attention on the movement of the egoic mind, on this mental restlessness, reveals this mind in silence, which is the perception born out of this attention. In this attention, there’s that perception; in that perception, we have the mind in silence; then, the search ends.

We're talking to you about the end of the search. The end of the search is the end of the effort, the end of the idea of the Realization of God, Enlightenment, and Awakening within time. So, we have the end of choice, effort, and time here and now, when the mind is psychologically free from all that movement, which is the movement thought has been cultivating all this time in our particular story – the particular story of this body-mind, if you are thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years old – or this whole history, which is human history. Thus, we are before this silence, this new mind, this mind free from the “I” and, therefore, free from the search.

When we deal with self-observation on the channel, about the Truth of Self-Awareness, it’s not in the sense people use the word “self-awareness” out there. It’s not this “I” being known, improved, perfected, straightened out, corrected; this “I” acquiring new virtues and abandoning old vices, self-improvement. It’s not about self-improvement, about personal development for this “I” through self-knowledge. Here, Self-Awareness is the acknowledgment of the Truth that this “I,” this illusory identity, doesn’t sustain itself in this self-observation. In this self-observation, there is true Self-awareness, so we come closer to that contact with Reality, with the perception of Reality that I’ve just called “encounter” – the encounter with Reality – which is an acknowledgment here and now, of What is beyond time. That’s why we don’t place the search as a real factor for Realization, but rather the acknowledgment as a real factor for this Realization. The real factor for this Realization is the acknowledgment, here and now, of that which is beyond the mind, beyond the “I,” beyond the ego, beyond this sense of an identity present. That’s the Reality of your Being, the Reality of God.

A true approach to Truth is the true approach to Happiness when God takes His place in that body-mind. The direct approach to this is, of course, through Self-Awareness, through the True Meditation here and now. There’s no more searching, so we are before the Reality of your Being. This is Love, Peace, and Happiness. That’s the end of this dissatisfaction, suffering, this emotional disorder, all forms of psychological suffering, because the sense of “I,” the illusion of separateness is no longer there. Yes, I mean that separateness between you, here and now, and the Reality of God. This Reality of God is the only Truth here and now, there’s no such “I.” Thus, all this dissatisfaction, suffering, and fear, disappeared, because it was rooted in the illusion – in the illusion of an identity that separates itself from life by making choices, rejecting, resisting, fighting, seeking in its egocentrism to do something its own way. There’s no more of that. When the sense of “I” is not present, there’s no more choice, no more time, effort, contradiction, conflict, and no more suffering. This is what some people call the “Awakening of Consciousness,” the “Awakening of God,” the Truth of the Revelation of your Being. Ok?

This is our subject here within the channel. If this is something that makes sense to you, leave your “like” and subscribe to the channel – indeed! I want to remind you: we have online meetings – you can also participate in these meetings – face-to-face meetings and also retreats, where we work with you.

Here’s the invitation and see you soon. Ok? Thanks for the meeting and see you next time!

May, 2023
Gravatá-PE, Brazil
Further information