The conditioned mind | The psychological conditioning | Self-observation | True Meditation

OK! The question is, “How can we get rid of the mind?” See, the mind is the closest thing we have; however insignificant, however narrow, however limited it may be, however problematic it may be, it is what we have closest to ourselves, and we cannot separate ourselves from it. We need to become aware of it – here I refer to the mind.

We are not going to create the illusion of separating ourselves from the mind. We are going to become, here, aware of the movement of the mind. So, this is the instrument that we have to observe ourselves. So, when the mind becomes aware of itself, of its own movement, there is a clarity, there is a Truth unfolding there. That’s what we're interested in working together here.

Self-awareness is that which arises because of direct seeing. When the mind is silent, the entire movement of the mind can be observed. It is when there is this space of silence, tranquility, serenity, stillness.

In space, in the mind, in that space that opens up in the mind, the sense of the egoic mind – this dualistic mind, this separate mind, the conditioned mind – it is seen, and when it is seen, it is undone. So, we need an entirely new mind. That narrow mind, that limited mind, that conditioned mind, if it is seen, it falls apart, it disappears.

The nature of your Being is pure Consciousness, and that Consciousness reveals itself when the mind becomes quiet, when there is this Real stillness. Then, that new space opens and the Reality of your Being reveals itself. This is the end of this egoic mind, this is the end of this conflicted mind, this suffering mind. So, the work is to observe the movement of the mind, to become aware of it, conscious of it. It doesn't separate itself to do this, it becomes aware of itself. Realize what is being said here: if the mind separates from itself, in this separation, we have division, we have conflict, we have, once again, still the illusion of a present identity to observe the mind – it is the mind itself creating this illusion of separation, it is the mind itself splitting into the observer and the observed, into the thinker and the thought. In fact, this is how we have been living our lives.

The fundamental belief in you is: “Me and my ideas,” “Me and my memories,” “Me and my feelings,” “Me and my stuff,” “Me and my emotions.” So, this “I” is the illusion of “someone” present, it is the illusion of that thinker who separates himself from thought, of the one who feels that he separates himself from emotion, of the one who sees separating himself from what is seen; then, there is an observer and there is a thing being seen, there is a thinker and a thought being thought, there is a feeling and a present “somebody” feeling: this is an illusion.

This duality, this separation is created by the mind itself. The mind separates itself and creates that division. Here what we need is to become aware of the entire movement of the mind. It is the mind becoming aware of itself, aware of its own movement. There is, yes, an observation, now, without the observed object, without the observer; there is a feeling without “someone” in that feeling separating from the feeling itself; there is a look without “someone” looking at what is being seen, so we have an end to this duality.

It is important to say: here, duality is a psychological aspect, it is an internal aspect, a psychological illusion. The sense of separation in us, in this “me,” in this “I,” constitutes a psychological illusion, a complexity produced by this condition of psychological conditioning. There is no duality, there is no separation that is real. All this can be seen by self-observation. When there is this self-observation, there is the perception of pure observation, without “someone” in this observation. So, to look at what is shown here, without rejecting it, without fighting it, without comparing it to anything else, also without self-justifying what is being seen, creating thus an internal agreement; that is, you neither agree nor disagree, you neither accept nor reject, you neither say yes nor say no to what you see, to what you observe, to what you perceive in yourself here and now. This is the approach to Self-awareness, this is the approach to Real Meditation in an experiential way, in a practical way, moment by moment, taking place here and now.

Looking at what is happening without placing oneself as the “author” of the experience. Thus, envy, jealousy, anger, anguish, resentment, desire, any form of fear, can be observed in this way, since all these are just presentations of that moment, that inner psychological moment that thought is producing, is bringing, is showing. This is something that results from an idea, a belief, a concept, a particular vision of the “I,” and if this is seen without that element, which is the ego, the “me,” the “I,” as just an experience without the experiencer, as something arising only as a phenomenon of the egoic mind itself, without “someone” to intervene, to interfere, to reject, to fight against it, or to identify with it in that agreement, if it is seen in this way, it falls apart.

The work is to become aware of the movement of the ego, the movement of the “I.” We become aware of this by looking, taking a non-personal approach to the experience. Yes, non-personal experience, folks. It’s not easy. Understanding this is very basic, it’s very simple, but it’s not something easy, because the psychological conditioning in each of us is very strong. We don't know what Meditation is. We don't know what learning is – here I am referring to learning about ourselves, and here I am referring to Meditation in that look where the Truth is revealed, because Meditation is the Revelation of the Truth of what Is.

There is always this tendency, there is always this inclination, there is always this motivation of the “I” to interfere with what is shown, so there isn’t Meditation, because there is always this game of duality: “I and this experience,” “I with this experience,” “I with fear,” “I am sad,” “I am with anger,” “I am anguished,” “ I am worried,” “I am unhappy,” “I am very, very happy,” “I.” That “I” is always present saying: “I like it,” “I don't like it,” “I want it”, “I don't want it.” So, our conditioning is always to interfere, it’s always to be present. There is always this sense of “person,” of personhood in the experience. So, looking at it without the “I” is something that requires the sense of Being, of Pure Being, and that is something impersonal, there is no person in Being. So, it is not so easy, although basically the principle is simple: there is no sense of separation, there is no sense of duality, there is no sense of “I.”

Working with it here and now, in that instant, moment by moment, whatever appears, whatever presents itself, being seen this way, being seen this way, without the element that is the “I,” there is a vision of Reality where the sense of “person” is not, where the sense of the ego is not: that is present Truth, that is Meditation.

There is no real Meditation, that’s why I have always emphasized the expression “True Meditation.” There is no True Meditation when there is no Self-awareness, and there is no Self-awareness when the sense of “I” is present within an experience, separating itself to judge the experience, to condemn the experience, to criticize the experience, to reject the experience or to identify and get confused with that. This is the absence of Self-awareness, which is the absence of Meditation, because there is no Truth there, since Meditation is the Real approach of the Truth of what Is, of What is shown here, of what is revealed here. Understand what we are saying to you here: in the Reality of your Being, in that Reality that Is your Being, there is no confusion, no disorder, no suffering.

Your Being is Love, Happiness, Peace, and Freedom; your Being is Truth. In that sense, Meditation is the expression of your Being. So, there is nothing more natural than Being. However, our life has not been so natural in Being, because throughout all these years, all the conditioning is to confuse ourselves with the “I,” with the sense of being a present identity, which is always separating itself from what Is, from what is shown, from the Truth.

The understanding of what Is reveals That which transcends even what is, or what is shown here. This is the Reality of God, of That which I have called the Limitless or Unknown, the Divine Reality. Words and names do not matter, Truth matters, Reality of What really Is matters, the Truth of What really Is; that is, yes, Real.

Thus, this approach of ours here is the approach of the revelation of your Divine Nature, the Truth of your Being which is the Truth of God. Working on yourself is possible, working on yourself is achievable, working on yourself is real. You were born to do that, you were born to work on that, you were born for Happiness, you were born for Love, you were born for Freedom, you were born to live your Being, which is God.

The Truth of That which is your Being is not in time. A life free of this notion of “I” is a life free of this idea of ​​time, because time is an idea, it is thought as an idea that sustains time; without thought, there is no time. Everything you can tell me about the future, you will report to me as a created image, constructed by thought that is time. Everything you can tell me about the past, you will tell me based on an idea, an image, also constructed by thought. Here and Now there is no time. There is nothing you can say about this instant, this moment, because this moment is not in time.

The sense of “I,” the sense of the ego is the one that turns this present moment into a memory to talk about later; later it will talk about that as something that happened, but that something as it happened is now just part of a belief, an image, an imagination, a thought, a memory. So, the past is memory and the future is memory. The memory that has not yet come is the future, and the memory that has occurred is the past, but both what has happened and what will come, here and now, have no reality, it is just a thought, it is just a belief.

So, our egoic life is established in this psychological time, in the illusion of a present identity, because there is no identity here and now. So the beauty of God Realization, of Self-realization, of the Truth of who You are is in the realization that the only present Reality is the Reality that Is, now, here, God, your Divine Nature, your Essential Nature.

Thus, our work consists of looking at what is now, arising here, in this instant, moment by moment; not to confuse ourselves with the sense of an “I,” of an egoic identity present within that experience. This is what constitutes the work of Self-awareness, of Self-realization, of the awareness of the Truth of the Being that we are, here and now. So, we are working with you on this, making it more and more clear in this direct experience, and the basis for this direct experience is the recognition of the illusion of the “I” present, here and now, within this experience.

So, what makes this possible is the vision of Self-awareness – I've been calling it True Self-awareness – we have a playlist here on the channel talking about it. The Truth of Self-awareness reveals to you that there is no “I” present, here and now.

This is our work together here on this channel, and this is our proposal to those who approach us. 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 meetings and face-to-face meetings, where we are also working with all those who approach.

April, 2023
Gravatá-PE, Brazil
Further information

Psychological disorder. Self-inquiry, Self-awareness and the True Meditation. Anxiety and depression

How to deal with thoughts? In general, thoughts are restless, repetitive, continuous, and out of control, and we want to learn to deal with them. But, after all, what is thought? How to deal with these thoughts?

It’s very common for people to want the freedom of being free from this process, which is the process of thought. When it repeats and shows itself, it’s distressing. So, negative thoughts or unwanted thoughts – these thoughts that are repeated – have this profile, and people want to get rid of them, but when you look inside you realize that it’s not so simple to deal with thoughts. Notice, for example, at bedtime, when an insistent, persistent thought is present and not allowing you to sleep. After all, what to do with a thought, what to do with these thoughts? What is actually “dealing with thoughts"?

First of all, you need to understand how this movement of thought takes place in us. I’ve been calling this “the egoic movement,” since this thought, in general, in most people, is the thought of a present identity – here I mean the illusion of “someone” thinking, “someone” producing those thoughts, “someone” trying to get rid of those thoughts, “someone” looking for stillness or peace and getting rid of that thought pattern. Then, this is the egoic movement, the movement of the mind. Thus, what is thought?

Life shows itself at this moment to all of us and it requires a response, this response, in general, is born in us from thought. Life shows itself this way to all of us, here and now. So, what actually is thought? An answer that is given to this moment. This is something that happens automatically and mechanically.

We believe we are the ones who are determining these thoughts and the response we are giving. There’s no truth in it. What we have as an answer, which is based on thought, is an automatic, mechanical response that is born from a background of memory and remembrances. So, our answers are always based on what thought has to say. It’s not us who are saying it, it’s thought saying it. However, thought pretends to be us when it creates in us the illusion that we are responsible for that thought, that is, “we are the thinkers of those thoughts.” Then, life is shown as a challenge and the response we give to that challenge is a reaction that is born from this background of thoughts, remembrances, and memories. As this is something automatic and unconscious, it is born of conditioning. Becoming aware of the truth of this movement of thought in us is being able to eliminate this condition of a reactive response based on this conditioning. This is something that becomes important because all the responses we are giving to life at this moment are not complete.

Life is a new, unprecedented movement, always present here and now, while the answer we give, the answer we bring, as it is born from this background, it is being born from the past, then it is the attempt to adjust to this challenge of the present moment a response that comes from the past, which represents an inadequate response. Thus, we don't know what a free action from that model is, which is the model of thought. And to make matters worse – in an unnecessary, disturbing, conflicted way – we have this incessant thing going on inside us, this pattern of ideas, beliefs, images, memories, and remembrances going on inside of us all the time. Then, not only when action is needed do we have an inadequate response based on this background of conditioning – which is a thought that comes from the past and doesn’t represent what is needed here and now – but also we have this internal chatter, this unnecessary inward movement of thought when thought is not needed.

If you are sitting busy with some intellectual task, that is exactly what your occupation is, and yet you are constantly being bombarded with thoughts that have absolutely nothing to do with that action, with that task. This happens all the time. So, thought is appearing all the time, it’s restless, it repeats itself, it’s intrusive, it represents images from the past, it brings feelings along with it, while you are busy doing something. It’s there intervening, interfering, producing internal states of conflict, annoyance, discomfort, some level of suffering, thus, there’s no Peace, no Stillness. This happens during your day, and at night, when you go to bed, thoughts come back and then they delay the arrival of sleep. They also occupy a place, once again, unnecessary, because the objective is to lie down and sleep and, however, thought is there popping up, repeating itself, bringing images of the day, that day, the day before. Some of these images create an internal state of emotional discomfort, of feeling, of agitation, the body doesn’t quiet down and sleep doesn’t come.

So, the fact is that we live, psychologically, in an internal disorder. This restlessness, this psychological disorder moves you away from Peace, Silence, Freedom, Stillness, our own Being – here I mean our Essential Nature, the Truth about who we Are. That is, we are living a life molded, grounded in thought, based on this egoic movement – which is the movement of the “I.” It’s this feeling of “I” with the thinker thinking, with “the one” who feels, feeling. Then, the inner states bring reactions every moment. Thus, the answer for this moment is based on those reactions. Hence, there’s no Truth of your Being revealing Itself.

What we are saying here is that restlessness, dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression, anguish, fear, and loneliness – I mean the pain of loneliness – the sense of dissatisfaction of present existence, all of this is arising, appearing as an internal reaction showing itself in your life, in your living, and this is something completely outside the Reality of your Essential Nature, of your Divine Nature.

So, why is unhappiness present? Why all these frames or representations of internal states of anguish and unhappiness, why is this present? Because thought has taken over, it takes over in the name of an identity, which is the “I.” Yes, that’s what we are saying: there is no “I” present, except the egoic movement itself, which is the movement of thought. Therefore, the movement of thought, which is basically the reaction of memory, the afflictions, the concerns, the frustrations, the images of rejection, the thoughts of pessimism, of defeat, all of this, is assuming a present identity which is the “I.” Actually, all of this – these thought patterns – is creating an identity that is the “I” assuming this identity, which is an illusion: “this ‘I’ is afflicted.” So, the feeling you have of being “someone” in this disorder, this confusion, this suffering, unhappiness, produced by thought and feeling, is not real.

There is no “you” in this experience, what we have is this experience passing as you. You identify with it. Our work is to perceive the “truth” of what we are, here and now, of what we assume to be, here and now, of what we mistake ourselves for being, here and now. The vision of This undoes all that, destroys this illusion, vanishes this sense of identity present in this experience. And when the sense of this identity present in this experience dissolves, vanishes, disappears, the experience itself, which is grounded or supported by this belief, this illusion, disappears.

There is no afflicted thought without “someone” afflicted. There is no thought of anxiety without “someone” anxious. There are no thought representations of frames of fear without “someone” in it. So, it’s always the “I” that sustains the experience. Therefore, it is about looking at what we are, here and now, without rejecting, without fighting, without trying to change it, but looking, just looking, looking at this restlessness, at this chatter, this model of repetition of thoughts.

What I’ve been saying is that we are responsible for this, we want to get rid of it and this “wanting to get rid of it” is sustaining the situation itself, the unhappiness itself. What “I want to get rid of,” this “I” sustains. Understanding the movement of the “I” is the understanding of the movement of the ego, then, to bring Consciousness, Real Consciousness, is to bring Presence – Consciousness is Real Presence – and when this is present, all illusion vanishes.

You don't bring awareness and add it to what is here. You become aware of what is here. To become aware of what is here is to open the door to this Real Consciousness, this Real Presence. Then, the investigation of the false reveals the Truth. It’s not effort that makes you free, it’s not discipline that makes you free, it’s not a practice – an esoteric practice, a practice that we hear so much about out there – that will make you free, but it’s becoming aware of what is here and now. What makes you free is the Truth. Truth and not effort. Truth and not some technique, or practice, or spiritualistic, esoteric, mystical, or meditation discipline – this so-called “meditation practice” doesn’t work.

You may have some temporary relief from frames and representations of internal suffering when for a few minutes you dedicate yourself to a certain technique, then the mind is forced into silence; but when the mind is forced into silence and apparently thought is no longer present, you have temporary relief, but you are still present being the thinker, only the thought and the thinker are quiet, but soon, a few minutes later – ten or fifteen minutes, or an hour later – everything is still there.

You don't get rid of this sense of a present “I” – which is the sense of the thinker – by using some practice or technique, some mystical, esoteric, or meditative system. An understanding of this movement is needed, an approach to the movement of the ego, of the “I.” Self-inquiry, Self-investigation, True Self-awareness, and the True Meditation in Practice, is what we have that really works to end this model of restlessness, struggle, suffering, and unhappiness, due to the presence of thoughts.

Understanding thought, perceiving this instant here and now, free from this reaction of memory, this reaction of the past, absolutely free from this movement of the ego. Then, the Truth of your Being shows itself, which is Consciousness, Presence, your Natural State of Consciousness, of Being, of Presence, of Consciousness, your Natural State of Being.

So, the understanding of the movement of the ego, of the “I,” of the “me,” the understanding of the movement of memory, of psychological conditioning, is the end of the thinker, the end of the “I.” Then, this condition of separateness from that “I” and the experience dissolves, because now What is present is the Reality of your Being, Consciousness, Bliss. This is Presence Consciousness or the Presence of Consciousness.

So, this is the subject we work on with you. Some people have called it Spiritual Enlightenment or the Awakening of Consciousness. Here the Truth of your Being reveals itself; this is the end of thought and naturally the end of that reactive response of thought, regarding life going on, here and now, at this moment. This action is the action of Love, of Freedom, of Intelligence. It’s the action born of Silence, the action born of Peace and Freedom. It is the action of this Consciousness, which is God’s Consciousness.

If this is something that makes sense to you, leave your “like” and subscribe to the channel. I want to remind you: we have face-to-face meetings, and also retreats, where we are working on this with those who are approaching – in addition, we have online meetings.

So, if that’s something that makes sense to you, we can work it out together, ok?

Here is the invitation and see you next meeting!

March, 2023
Gravatá-PE, Brazil
Further information

Get rid of suffering. Suffering and psychological conditioning. The end of the illusion of suffering

After all, what is suffering? And why do we need to get rid of it? Let’s start with the first question: what is suffering? We don't know what suffering is. We know the effect of suffering, not the reason why. So, there are some things to clarify with you.

We want to get rid of suffering because it’s painful, uncomfortable, it hurts, and doesn't seem natural to us at all. So far, it’s perfect, there’s really nothing natural about suffering and there’s nothing comfortable about suffering, but trying to get rid of something without comprehending it, will it work? This is where this misconception lies within each one of us. What is this idea? It’s the idea that we have to get rid of suffering. No, we don't have to get rid of suffering, we have to remain in what we are, that’s the true way to approach the end of suffering.

So, it’s not about getting rid of suffering. It’s about comprehending the Truth of who we are. Notice that it’s something a little different here, we're putting it differently. The comprehension of what we are is the comprehension of suffering, of why we suffer. What is this why? What is this reason? What is this cause of suffering? Intellectually understanding the cause of suffering will not get rid of this effect that is suffering. It’s not understanding this intellectually, but rather understanding where suffering is structured in us – and here, of course, I refer to this psychological suffering, which is the harshest suffering present in all of us.

Fears, the various fears, are forms of suffering. Anger is present in human beings because they are in pain. Have you ever noticed that it’s when you are suffering that you are angry? This emotion of anger is closely linked to some internal suffering in us. To understand is not to understand the cause; to comprehend is to see what it represents, and when you see what it represents – not intellectually, but when you see it – it disappears.

We want to work with you here, in the next few minutes, on the Truth for ending psychological suffering. We want to get rid of suffering, and we want to get rid of it by getting rid of what makes us suffer. For us, what makes us suffer is external, outside; it’s always something external being the cause of that suffering. We believe we understand this cause and we want to eliminate this cause to get rid of suffering; and here I’m telling something else to you. I’m asking you: is it possible for us to have a comprehension of what suffering is?

The comprehension of what suffering is shows us that it’s rooted in the sense of a present identity that resists that instant, that moment. At that instant, at that moment, there’s a resistance to what that instant, that moment presents as a challenge for that “me,” that “I,” that ego, that “person” I assume, at that instant, to be real in this experience.

However, here we are touching on the issue of comprehending suffering. The comprehension of suffering is the end of suffering; it’s not the liberation from suffering, not “someone” getting rid of something, but rather the end for that “someone”: that’s the comprehension for the end of suffering. I want to emphasize this a little bit more to you. Notice how fascinating it is to investigate this in a real way. So, we have liberation from suffering and when you free yourself from one suffering, another appears. Life is imperative in showing us challenges, we are continually facing challenges, and while we don’t comprehend this issue of suffering, these challenges will be showing themselves and one suffering will replace another one. That’s why we spend our whole lives fighting against suffering and never really get rid of it, because to get rid of suffering you have to comprehend what suffering is.

The comprehension of what suffering is shows you that the sense of a present “I” is what truly sustains suffering. So, the intellectual understanding, the verbal understanding of why we suffer or what causes us suffering – the intellectual understanding, the verbal understanding – doesn’t work, doesn’t put an end to this continuity of suffering. What puts an end to this is the comprehension of suffering, and the comprehension of suffering is the vision of the “truth” of this “I,” which is that resistance to life. There’s no clarity and there is no silence; if there’s no clarity, if there’s no silence, because the “I” is present interpreting, translating, trying to correct, resisting, fighting against this moment – what this moment represents, what is present at this moment, arriving as a challenge – in this movement of resistance, struggle, comparison, rejection, suffering sustains itself; it’s sustained by the illusion of a present identity, which is the “I,” “me,” the ego.

We need to comprehend this experientially: if someone offends you, he is using verbal expressions and hitting you. These words harm, hurt, offend, sadden, annoy, and make you angry, then you are suffering. The cause of the apparent suffering is the offense of the other, but the truth of the comprehension of suffering, that is, intellectually, you can have an understanding that the other is the cause; but when there’s the comprehension that, in fact, suffering is present because this “I” is present, resisting that moment, that experience – which, in this case, is a criticism, a negative comparison, an abusive word, a curse –, when there’s the comprehension that it’s the sense of the “I” present resisting that experience – trying to defend or attack, or counterattack –, when this is seen, this is the comprehension that this “I,” this “me,” this ego, here, is the reason for suffering. The true reason for suffering is the “I.” It’s not the other that makes me suffer. It’s not life that makes me suffer, not the circumstances or situations that produce suffering in me. This “me,” yes, when it judges, compares, rejects, fights against, defends itself, interprets experience, this “me” is suffering itself.

So, there’s no “I” and suffering, there’s only suffering, and suffering is the presence of the “I.” Alright? That “I” is suffering, without that “I” there’s no suffering. Thus, notice, there’s not the “I” and the suffering. The “I” is the presence of suffering itself. It’s not two phenomena – the suffering and the “I” –, the “I” is the suffering. This has nothing to do with what is here, at this moment, at this instant, presenting itself as a challenge. This is something completely different from getting rid of suffering. Our inclination to get rid of suffering leads us to run away from suffering, and we run away from suffering when we resist the present moment, this experience. It doesn't matter what it is presenting, it can be painful, difficult, and complicated, but if there’s no resistance, no struggle, if this answer here comes from clarity and silence. Clarity and silence require the absence of the “I,” the “me,” and the ego. Is that clear?

We don't have this way of approaching life. For all these years, for all this life, our whole model is the one of struggle, resistance, self-protection, self-preservation, of sustaining this “I.”

For our whole lives, we have sustained the idea of this “me,” this “I,” this ego, which is always trying to protect, preserve, and defend itself. We’re always trying to sustain this “me” so as not to be hurt or offended, because we don't want that pain, that suffering for this “me.” For this “me,” this “I,” all we want is pleasure, satisfaction, recognition, applause, praise, acceptance of our conclusions, our opinions, our judgments; the ego needs it to strengthen itself, to be “someone,” to sustain its identity.

This sense of “I” is nothing more than a thought, a memory, an image it has of itself; and it’s this image that it doesn’t want others touching. This sense wants others to praise, give applause, give acceptance to this image. So, we always live in that fear, the fear of being hurt, being harmed, of suffering; and we always live in this desire to be appreciated, recognized, praised, accepted, so suffering is sustained in this “me,” this “I,” this ego.

Thus, it’s not a question of getting rid of suffering, but rather comprehending the sense of an “I” present in that experience, and this ends suffering. We are no longer in the game of getting rid of suffering for the next suffering to arrive and take its place.

The ways we have to get rid of suffering are diverse. There are several mechanisms of self-defense, of escaping from these psychological pains, these different forms of psychological pains. Here, I mentioned one, but there are several ways for us to be offended, wounded, suffered “people”, suffering and victimized basically by whom? By ourselves, by our sense of “I,” of ego, of separateness, of the illusion of a present identity. All of this comes from psychological conditioning, something we've been cultivating, conserving, and preserving in ourselves since childhood.

We can put an end to all this to live the Truth of God, of our Being, which is Love, Peace, Happiness, and the absence of the “I.” If this is present, the Reality of your Being is Happiness, Peace, and Freedom; this is the absence and the end of this illusion, which is the illusion of suffering. It’s not the liberation from suffering; it’s the end of the illusion of suffering, when there’s an end to the illusion of this “me,” this “I,” this sufferer.

This is our proposal here on our channel; we’re working on it with those who approach us. If this is something that makes sense to you, leave your like, and subscribe to the channel. Reminder: we have online, face-to-face meetings and also retreats, where we work with those who approach. Ok?

If that makes sense to you, see you next meeting!

March, 2023
Gravatá-PE, Brazil
Further information

Psychological disorder. Awakening of Consciousness. Spiritual Enlightenment. Free of ego. Egoic mind

The human being has been surviving to what he calls “life”. Here we emphasize the Beauty of life and how narrow and limited it is to live within this pattern of mere survival in illusion, in deception, in not knowing the truth of who we are. Our life in this existence is a survival, there is always this struggle, all this despair, and all this confusion. The word here is psychological disorder, we are living in psychological disorder, that is the condition of human life when there is not this Truth, this Reality, this understanding about who we truly are.

We are living under a belief about who we believe we are. We have an idea about ourselves, a particularized view of ourselves, a view, by the way, that is merely a copy of the context of culture, society, and the world. This is what I have been calling here psychological conditioning. What is conditioning? You take a small animal and teach it a few things, it will learn and will respond to those commands within a conditioning principle, so it is educated within a conditioning principle. What we don't realize is that our lives run from the cradle to the grave in the same format. We respond to what we learn because we have been conditioned to give those responses. The whole condition of psychological life in us is a programmed response. Everything we learn in life we learn by repetition, by fear and pleasure, just as animals do.

We carry a psychological conditioning, and this conditioning is the result of a culture that has educated us in this way, that has given us this conditioning, that has given us this programming. So, there is no Truth in us: the Truth of Self-Awareness, the Truth of Reality about who we are, and that is what we are here with you studying, investigating, and deepening. We have to go into this direct understanding of the Truth about who we are, and for that we have to investigate this illusory identity that we present ourselves to be, that we show ourselves to be, that we appear to be, and that we are within this context of culture and the world. Are you with me?

This is our work here in this channel. We have online meetings and face-to-face meetings where we investigate all this, where we deepen this, where we discover this art of looking at ourselves to get rid of this repetition, this continuity, this programming, this conditioning. The Realization of That is something possible in this life, otherwise, life will go on as a mere survival. The psychological condition, the emotional, sentimental, intellectual condition of our lives, as well as all this programming in this mechanism, in this organism, and also the physical aspects, all this has been learned over the years. This pattern of information that we acquired throughout all this time has formed this memory, this psychological memory that we manifest today in our lives in a relationship with the other, in a relationship with objects, with people, animals, and places. Wherever we are, there is this learning being expressed, and this learning is merely conditioning.

We are investigating here with you what this represents, what this means, because psychologically, in this format of psychological conditioning, this mental conditioning has given us a condition of egoic consciousness, and this has put us in this existence in a life of survival. There is no truth about you until there is the awakening of Intelligence there. When there is this Intelligence, no longer this pattern, no longer this format, no longer this internal conditioning of the mind, then we have a new brain, a new mind, a new life, a new way of feeling, of thinking, and therefore a new way of acting. Are we together?

This is our meeting here, to study ourselves, to look at all this that we have acquired over all these years. If you are fifty, seventy, eighty years old, what you are carrying is a pattern of culture and psychological conditioning that is actually with you in these few years, in these few decades, but all of this is already the result of a millennial conditioning within humanity. Our programming makes us react to life from this inner background. We are living in a psychological prison, in a condition of separate identity, egoic, conditioned, programmed to always act from a background of reaction, from programming, conditioning, and repetition, that is the condition of an internal prison. This is what clearly explains the internal unhappiness in most of us.

Most human beings live completely unaware of the silence of the mind, the stillness of the heart, the vision of Non-separation – that separation between “me and the other,” “me and God.” Most of humanity, in this context of humanity, is completely unaware that the only Reality is the indescribable, unnamable Divine Truth. If It is present, there is no form of misery, no anguish, no pain, and no psychological suffering. This is what we are dealing with here in this channel. Some call this the “Awakening of Consciousness”, it is the Truth of your Being outside this world scheme. This is the Awareness of the Truth of God, the only Reality present when the ego, this “me” that is actually this set that we have acquired from this culture, this set of ideas, beliefs, opinions, proposals received and assumed in this life that is so common to all, where we have conditioned brains already programmed to react within principles that not only produce suffering for ourselves, but also for others.

We are living in envy, fear, jealousy, ambition, and various forms of conflicting desires, in a state of internal contradiction. We desire what we know is not good for us because it will create suffering for the other and for ourselves, but we can't, for example, get rid of this desire, so there is a contradiction between what “I” desire and what, in fact, “I” can have, get or obtain because there is this conflict, there is this contradiction. I desire something and thought shows me that it will produce suffering, and yet this impulse is there. This is just an example of psychological conditioning in this “me”, this “I”, this ego. That is our condition, we are loaded with ambition, with contradictions, this yearning for more in the illusion that happiness will be found when this or that pleasure, this or that form of fulfillment comes. All that is part of this program.

The work on ourselves makes us see, within this Truth of Self-Awareness, that our psychological condition is not the Truth about who we are, but the supposed truth that we assume to be because of a program that has been given to us, that has been taught to us, instilled in us. Sometimes people ask, “What is Spiritual Enlightenment?” Spiritual Enlightenment is the end of the “I,” it’s the end of the ego, it’s the end of this “me and the other,” “me and the world,” “me and God” idea, it’s the end of the sense of separation. This is not possible as long as this conditioning pattern persists, as long as this way of thinking and feeling is not deeply investigated; it will sustain itself, it will maintain itself. You have all the energy available to Realize the Truth about who you are, to discover a new way of feeling and thinking, to live a Real life, not a life of survival where you carry this so-called “existence” for forty, fifty, seventy years, and when the body stops breathing and the heart stops beating, when this so-called “death” of this body, this organism happens, all this is left behind; a heavy life that has been lived within principles of envy, fear, desires, ambitions, contradictions, and conflicts, an unhappy life. The psychological condition of the mind is one of unhappiness. This is something natural in the egoic mind, which is the mind of “I” that lives for itself, focused, always centered on itself, within a unique egocentrism, and when this so-called “death” occurs, you pass through the so-called “life” without actually having lived, but only survived in this psychological condition of unhappiness within the egoic mind. Here we are investigating with you, exploring this deeply.

All the videos here on the channel point to this possibility, to a direct, effective work towards the end of the “I”, of the ego, of this life of survival, the end for this psychological suffering. Our meeting, our work is in this direction. We need to know what this free action of the “I” is, what is this thinking working inside each of us in an objective, direct, functional way – I mean thinking free of this sense of identity of the “I,” thinking free of envy, of jealousy, of possession, of the illusion of control, objective thinking. What is this thinking without this “I” that is the thinker, that is the ego? What is this action free from the illusion of an agent, of “someone” being the author of the actions, being this doer? What is this action free of the doer, free of the agent? What is thought free of the thinker, of this contradictory and afflicting “I” that lives restlessly in a projection of the future and always reminiscing and searching for the ancient and old impressions of past memories, producing in you states like anguish, guilt, and feelings of rejection and hatred – which are internal states of unhappiness? What is thinking free of the thinker? What is the feeling free of that particularity of an “I” in that feeling, stuck in, identifying with that feeling and confirming the illusion of an identity? So, what is thinking? What is feeling? What is acting free from the ego, free from the “I"? What is a life free of the ego, an existence where what is present is God’s Truth?

Here I use the expression God in a very clear way, it’s not something that can be imagined, it’s not something you learned in catechism lessons. I don't mean this concept of God, this conditioning, this particular conditioned view, programmed by organized religion about God. Here, for the expression God, in general, I use another expression, I call the Unknown, the Nameless. Here I refer to That which is indescribable, which is outside the mind, and, therefore, outside imagination and all the teaching that has been given to you by organized religion. It is not a belief, but an experience. There is a difference between believing in God and experiencing God. The sense of Being, Consciousness, Presence, without the ego, without that “me,” is the simple expression of the Reality of God. That’s when that living is Real Life. It is no longer a survival of the “I”, the ego, this “me” for forty, fifty, seventy years – a life that is actually an illusory existence within a dream world where ignorance is all that the ego knows, that this “person”, this “me” has. Here, the Truth you were born for is revealed as the Reality of your own Being, which is the Reality of God.

So, these meetings have the purpose, once abandoning all the beliefs, all the teaching you have learned up to now, all the studying you have done up to now, to look inside ourselves and discover what this “me”, this “I” is. Learning to look at it means getting rid of the illusion of this thinker, this “I,” this “me,” this identity that sees itself as separate from the other, the world, and God. The life outside of the “I” is what we are working on here with you, investigating, exploring, deepening, and having this as a possible Reality here and now. Here I am not sharing with you a theory, a concept, an idea. I am sharing with you a direct experience. Our work together is from this experiencing, so you verify for yourself the truth, the veracity, the reality of these words.

This is our subject here with you. I always ask at the end of the video if this makes sense to you. If this is something that makes sense to you, leave your “like” and subscribe to the channel. I want to remind you: we have a link here in the description of the video to our WhatsApp group, because we have online meetings and also face-to-face meetings, and I invite you to come closer and discover this in a direct way. in this work. Okay?

If this makes sense, if this is real, if this touches you in a certain way, that is the invitation, and we will see each other, ok?

Thanks for the meeting. See you next time!

June, 2023
Gravatá-PE, Brazil
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The last lecture of Joel Goldsmith | The Illusion of the seeker | Master Gualberto | Satsang

GC: Hello everyone! We are here for another videocast. Once again, Master Gualberto was willing to be here with us to answer questions, to deepen this study, this experience towards Realization, this Natural State, as the Master already lives in. Master, I want to read an excerpt today, an excerpt from the last lecture Joel gave before his passing. He died on June 17, 1964, and this lecture was on the 15th, two days before. I'm going to read a small excerpt for the Master to comment on. In this excerpt, Joel says: “As long as you are trying to get to know yourself here, you will fail. As long as you are trying to know God up here, in your mind, you will fail, for God is not a goal for you, God is your ‘I'! The seeker and the Wanted are one.” Master, can you tell us a little bit about the illusion of the seeker?

MG: The idea you have about the search is what we project in any other accomplishment. We turn the search or quest for God into a project of achievement, a project of conquest, a target to be reached. And that’s why it constitutes an illusion, because when we deal with God or this Reality... This Reality that we call God, Presence, or Truth is not something attainable by us, it is not something achievable by us. And why? Because this “I” that we are, or that we believe we are, is not real. This accomplishing project, in the sense of this “I” finding, this “I” attaining, this “I” reaching “there,” in this encounter with God, is completely illusory, because this Divine Reality, which is God, Truth, the Presence, this Real Consciousness, as I have called it, is the One Reality.

The encounter with Reality I have called Realization. This is not a meeting, but a direct Verification of the Truth, of the Essential Nature of each one of us. This Essential Nature is not what we believe it to be. So, this expression “I,” this pronoun “I,” is very complicated when we use this pronoun in the sense of this Reality that we are, outside of belief, outside of the mind. In general, when we use the expression or pronoun “I,” we are designating an entity present here, in the idea that, inside the body, we exist as someone; and that “someone” in imagination we believe to be God Himself, Reality itself. This is completely false!

The Reality, which is the Reality of your Being, is not the personal or particular, something living within the body, being an entity or having a separate identity, that one day may meet God and unite with God. That’s why he said it’s not possible for you to believe that God is findable – he’s placing it in his language, I'm placing it in mine here. It is not possible for you to find Him here, within you, as knowledge to be acquired in this realization process, as something that we achieve like anything else within time. Divine Reality is the Reality that is out of time.

What I've been saying, Gilson, is that it’s not an experience, it’s not something attainable, because it’s not part of time. It is not an experience, because you cannot register it as something within your model, within what is known, within what is recognizable by that “me,” for that “I,” for that ego, for that “person.” So, the Reality of God is not in time and not reachable. It is not experienceable by this “me,” by this “I.” This is a very common belief.

People talk a lot about the importance of having a contact with God, having a connection with God, having an experience with God, and all of this is completely false. It is not possible for a person to have a contact, a realization, or an experience with That which is outside the experienceable, the attainable, or any possibility of connection, because you cannot connect what is not, which is this illusion of “I,” with That which is beyond the known, with That which is beyond time, with That which is unnamable, with That which is indescribable.

So, you cannot have contact with God, a communion with God, an experience of God. The present Reality of God is the absence of this “I.” If He is, the only Reality is that Reality. Here, this God-realization is the end of this “I.” So, expressions like “communion,” “contact,” “realization,” have to be understood, because if we put it in the intellectual sense in which we use these words, we fall into an illusion, a projection. And that has been the problem: we are projecting an achievement, projecting and idealizing a contact, projecting and idealizing a communion. But who is doing this? It is the intellect, and the intellect is part of the illusion of that “me,” the ego-identity. So, this is not correct. It is completely false.

It is necessary to discover the Truth of your Being, but it is not this “I” discovering That, it is this Reality that reveals itself, and when It reveals itself, that is the end of this “I.” Our work consists of investigating illusion. This attention on the movement of illusion puts an end to that illusion; this attention on this movement is an approach to the investigation of the false, which is this “I.” We investigate the illusory nature of the “I,” we do not investigate the Truth of God. Who is this that can investigate the Truth of God? So, what can be done here is to verify the “non-Truth,” which is the illusion of this “I.”

So, this approach is a different approach than what we do, than any other approach out there. We didn't put ourselves in a positive way to get there, we investigate illusion here and now, and this is an action of this Intelligence, of this Presence, which is not this particular egoic consciousness, it is not this particular “I”-consciousness. So, in fact, it is Reality that finds you; and when It finds you, It undoes that “I,” It ends that illusion, It takes over Its space. That is this God Realization. It is not the realization of that “I” in God. It is the end of the illusion of that “I” in the Realization that God is the only Reality, and it is that Reality that shows itself. That’s it!

GC: Master, this subject is very interesting, and in the way... in this approach that Master brings – I even want to give a comment for Master to go deeper ... How interesting it is this approach that you bring of not investigating this Divinity, this Presence of God, but to investigate this illusion of someone present. And – as I say – how the naughty ego, in the intellect, stays in this projection of finding God or living an experience with God, an experience of peace, an experience of “love.” And the ego registers that experience and registers it in a story, registers it in the mind and perpetuates itself in that experiencer. That is, there is someone there experiencing the peace of God. But who is this “I,” as the Master says? Can you talk a little more about this experiencer who is always within experience.

MG: The whole point is: we have to investigate the nature of this experiencer. What is the structure and what is the nature of this experiencer? This experiencer is the one who lives on experiences. Every experience, Gilson, that we go through in life is registered in us, and when we report it, we report it as an experience. The word “experience” means what you went through and recorded, and now you are just reporting, talking about. An experience is always something that once was and that is now spoken as a remembrance, as a recollection, as a memory. Every experience is like that. You can only report what has already happened, and what has already happened to you, to be reported, is only a memory. How can this be the Reality of God?

This is what fuels this experiencer. That experiencer is the “I.” It lives on experiences. In other words, it lives on remembrances, recollections, things that happened and that it reports today, it talks about today. God can no longer be an experience for this experiencer, cannot be another memory for this thinker, cannot be another idea kept in memory and shared in a spoken language. Divine Reality is outside the mind, outside the “I,” outside the experiencer, outside that thinker.

It’s very interesting. We need to investigate that structure and nature of that experiencer who is the “I,” who is the thinker. And when we approach and look closely, we see that this experiencer is only made up of experiences. There is no experience that can be reported without the experiencer reporting that experience. So, these are two things that cannot be separated. It is experience being reported by an experiencer. That experiencer and the experience are one phenomenon, and that phenomenon is called “memory,” “remembrance,” “recollection.” That is in time, in that time of the mind itself. So, whatever that experience was, however sublime, however wonderful, however extraordinary, it is now just a memory here, a recollection that this experiencer has recorded and is now reporting as something of its own. This cannot be the Divine Reality.

That which is the Divine Reality cannot be something of yours, of this “I,” this experiencer, this thinker, this memory, this remembrance. So, Gilson, it is important that we investigate the nature of the “I,” of the experiencer. And we have to find out exactly what the end of the experience is for that experiencer. When we figure out how to deal with experience, which is just memory, which is just the past coming back, without putting the experiencer in it, that experience falls apart. If that experience dissolves, because the experiencer cannot continue that experience by reporting, telling, sustaining it, the experiencer disappears along with his experience. Then, yes, we have the opportunity for that Reality, which is the Divine Reality, to reveal itself, and It reveals itself when there is no longer that experiencer.

So, our work together here is to undo the illusion of this structure and nature of the experiencer. It’s not about achieving an experience. It’s about discovering the end of the experience, becoming aware that this experiencer is an illusion, with an investigation approach of this illusion, of this thinker, when his thought appears; of that experiencer, when his experience appears; the one who is looking, seeing, being the observer, when what he is seeing appears. We have to discover the structure and nature of this thinker, this observer and this experiencer, the illusion of the “I.” Just investigating, just getting closer and looking closely, and being aware of how it stays in continuity, because, exactly, it’s not seen.

That’s why I've been talking, Gilson, about the importance of this approach of self-observation, which brings Self-Awareness, which is the recognition of this illusion. This is an approach to that Meditation, which is what I have called the True Meditation. So, there is nothing more direct than to become aware of the illusion of the false so that what is false, being seen, disappears; aware of the illusion so that what is seen here as an illusion falls apart, disappears. So, we do have this real approach to the Truth of That which is beyond name, which is beyond form, which is beyond time and all definition, which is the Divine Reality, the Reality of Being or God, whatever we want to call That.

GC: Master, it is interesting: before meeting Master, before the Master found me, I had been practicing for many years techniques and, later, with Joel – a meditation practice. And it’s funny, because there was the meditator, who eventually had an experience of great peace, tranquility, and “love.” And then, today I see the total “flight of fancy” the “I” was in that experience, very present in the experience, because I remembered that moment of peace and I could repeat that moment later too. And then, the Master brings this True Meditation approach, and, in reality, when there is True Meditation, there is no “I,” so there is no record, there is no memory: “Ah, at that moment I practiced True Meditation.” Yes, because if I were actually practicing True Meditation, that experience wouldn't be in my memory, because there would be no experiencer. Is it right, Master?

MG: Yes, exactly! You cannot have an experience when the “I” is not. The record of an experience is the sign of the presence of an experiencer. As long as the experiencer is present, it will separate itself from the experience to record the experience. Every event takes place here and now without the experiencer and without the experience. Look how interesting it is: it’s just the “experience.” Life is something that happens here and now, but we have a mechanism in us, which is the mechanism of this “I,” of this supposed thinker, of this supposed experiencer of experiences, that lives recording this. So, it records it and it becomes part of its identity. After that, it talks about what is happening here and now as an experience it had. It is very funny, because at that moment there is no one present in the experience.

So, it’s not really an experience, it’s an “experiencing.” Life, Gilson, consists here and now, in What It is. The sense of “I” is the one that preserves itself as an entity, a truth, in a time that it idealizes, which is the time of thought, memory, recollection, and remembrance. So, what does it do? It registers that moment as its moment to, later, in half an hour, in two days, in five days, thirty days, talk about this experience as if it had lived it.

So, you see, the illusion that you are here and now present in this experience is a fallacy. This experience is an “experiencing” without the experiencer – it becomes an experience when the sense of “I” registers it. Look, this may seem, for you who are listening here for the first time, something very strange and very crazy, but I am saying exactly that: every moment is unique and, in it, there is no one present, it is just a Reality happening in a unique way, in a direct “experience.” When the recording takes place, the sense of “I,” which is this illusory sense of someone present recording… that’s when the ego appears within the experience. It turns this experiencing into an experience; it records it and then speaks of it as something of its, that it lived. That thought has to be a remembrance, a recollection of something that this “I,” this thinker, this experiencer lived through.

Every thought in you is just a remembrance, it’s just a memory, it’s just a recollection. No thought deals with this instant, with this present moment. In this present moment, there is no space for thought. This thought that appears here and now, in the present moment, says nothing about this present moment. It is not an apparition dealing with something happening here and now. It is an apparition reporting things that have already happened or things that it, which is thought, projects to happen in the future. So, Gilson, the ego, that sense of “I,” which is the thinker, which is the experiencer, is present only producing a future based on thought, which comes from the past, or reproducing the past based on all the remembrances it already brings. This is the illusion of the “I,” this is the experiencer’s illusion, this is the illusion of an “I,” of ego, of an entity present in that experience.

I'll say it again: there’s nothing here like an experience, it’s just an “experiencing.” This will indeed become an experience when, afterwards, thought brings it back, the next moment, twenty minutes from now, two hours from now, two days from now, as a memory. This is the sense of the “I,” of the ego, that is: an illusion created by thought that lives within time, always in that time, dealing with the past, which is remembrance, memory; or with the future, which is imagination or dream, appearing in this present moment as an intruder... because there is no space for it here, because it has no reality. The only Reality is still the Reality of Absolute Consciousness, of That which is beyond the “I,” beyond the mind. This may sound very strange and crazy to you, but we have several videos here on the channel explaining that to you. Slowly and little by little, you will have perceptions of what we are saying and you will realize that this is not nonsense or crazy. Crazy is the condition in which, in the ego, we position ourselves, in that illusory time that thought creates, giving us the idea that we are present in life as entities separate from this instant, this present moment, this “experiencing.”

GC: Master, it’s interesting, in meetings with you, in intensive weekend satsangs or retreats, that this field, let’s say, this energy field of Consciousness of the Master... we end up entering it. And we enter it and we empty ourselves, then thought disappears and there is stillness. How graceful it is to be with the Master in meetings, because, in a little while, when the mind or thought appears and wants, in some way, to capture that experience... but it’s an emptiness, it’s really beyond time.

MG: It is the Nature of Being, it is the Nature of Real Consciousness, it is the Nature of Truth about You; not what you seem to be, what you show to be, what you believe you are, this image you have of yourself, this idea you have of yourself, others, the world, and God.

The Reality of That which You are, is not in time. We believe, Gilson, we were born, are living and walking towards death. This is a process of appearance of this body, this mind, in this world. We are dealing with a dream! But we don't see it as a dream, we see it as our own real life. But there is no real life for each of us. What we regard as life is an apparition of that dream, that Divine dream, that Mystery, which is the Divine Truth. Everything is happening or showing up, or seeming to happen, like this!

That’s why the work consists of Awakening. Awakening is becoming aware that the One Reality is the Reality beyond this “body, mind, and world” phenomenon. Thinker, thought, experience, experiencer... All of this is within this singularity, this apparition, this body-mind. And the problem consists of the illusion of “someone” to whom this is happening, which is this entity that separates itself to see, hear, feel, and live what is happening, which is this illusion of the “I.”

What we are producing, in this illusion of a present entity, of someone present in this dream, all we have been doing is creating confusion for this “me,” for this “I,” for this ego, for this illusion. Awakening is discovering that there is no such thing as “I.” So, Life flows without the sense of a present identity. And without that present sense of identity, It flows with Beauty, a Uniqueness, with a Harmony, Bliss, an indescribable Freedom, because that is the Nature of Being! In India they say that your Being, your Real Nature, is Being-Consciousness-Bliss.

Being-Consciousness-Happiness: that is the nature of each one of us. In reality, it is the Nature of that Being which is the only Reality of God. This “each one of us” is a fraud, it is an idea, it is just a sort of expression, it is just a statement without any importance within that real context, which is this Truth that goes beyond this so-called “my life,” “your life,” “his life,” and “her life.”

GC: Master, as always, I have to say: these words by Master are very revolutionary, because, really, only someone who is no longer “someone” can have this vision, the life that Master has, in that complete Freedom, because it is a Freedom where no one is there to be free. So, it is this flow, as the Master said, this Being, Happiness, Joy, Peace, and Love. So, it’s a Grace to be able to be close to you, Master.

Thank you for your presence. Our time has come to an end. For those who are watching the video, leave the “like,” tap the “thumb up,” make a comment, whether it’s a question or any comment. This helps YouTube recognize that the content is relevant. And anyone who feels something deeper when looking into Master’s eyes is invited to come to the weekend intensive online meetings, or also, and with even greater impact, are the face-to-face meetings at the ashram in Gravatá city, in Pernambuco [Brazil]; both meetings and retreats. So, Master, gratitude for this videocast.

June, 2023
Gravatá-PE, Brazil
Further information