This transcript was made by speech-recognition software, so names and some words may be misheard. The recording is the original: watch on Facebook.
to Facebook live just in case anyone wants to watch us without without participating in the meeting Richard would you like to speak to us give us an introduction to non-duality sailor Bob style and language yeah yeah it's um I'm in England so I'm early in the morning here um which isn't relevant to anything but um what I wanted to say was I've been practicing this for quite a few years now and started off well I came across um sailor Bob probably about four years ago now and that's when things really started changing for me um and but basically the issue is it's not really an issue but I've got myself to a point now where when I'm at home and I'm by myself or I'm with people at home I'm incredibly calm and if I do have egoic thoughts or um something which would have annoyed me initially I still see the thoughts I still feel the the sort of annoyance but I don't react to it and I've got that down pat at home really well um I just stay present nearly all of the time but like I said thoughts don't I've got some sort of random thoughts that come through that have become really um fruitful actually however when I go out into public or if I go to work for example I work in a brickyard it's an all male environment I just my ego just is just comes out completely and um things will trigger me at work for example like there's something that'll annoy me and where is it at home I don't know at home I won't react to it I do react when I'm at work or I'm in other situations when I'm not sort of in the sanctuary of home if you like and then a few minutes later I'll become aware of what I've done and and and it's I just wondered if anyone else had that as they were going on this journey because um it's um there was a point you know where there was no awareness it was just all egoic thoughts with me so that so I've come a huge way but I just find myself continually on a quite often basis at work just realizing for vast periods of the day I haven't been present at all I've just been in this sort of male ego thing that I am at work or the the another one where I'm out and yeah so I just wondered if anyone else um had anything interesting to say about that or if they've experienced that or well any advice would be nice really because there's a lot of people here that are much further down this way than I am so it'd be nice to hear your thoughts thank you that's that's lovely that's a lovely opening statement and yes everyone here is now invited officially to share an answer perhaps because see you know even the idea that someone is advanced more advanced or further away on the path everyone is just here this is the beauty of non-duality as such the idea that there is a person moving alongside the path and progressing on the way when I am more present now when I'm at home and nobody's disturbing or nobody's challenging me or there is and there is no task that I need to attend and then suddenly things shift and I'm less present you know that person who is present more present less present other people who are more present this all of this we actually question here and that brings that incredible uh relief to the realization that you as consciousness are always here always present even when the attention is out there in the past or in the future even if you are running for your life because the silver two tiger is chasing you you wouldn't want to be too preoccupied with oh am I present or not present it's just running but the consciousness the aliveness the life force the intelligence that is animating this body that is beating the heart breathing the lungs always here if that life force wasn't here the body would be a corpse there would be no possibility to even compare or wonder how present am I comparing to the others how present am I at work versus in meditation if the body was dead was a corpse no such question could even arise so what are you are you that imagine person who sometimes is more attentive to what's happening here sometimes the attention is spread around you know like watching a good movie and completely forgetting that you're watching a movie it's just being completely taken by suspense or or are you the life force the consciousness that is present regardless whether attention is on the senses seeing hearing here right now you know feeling the butt on the chair feeling the shoulders or the attention is in the movie running with the with the victim and you are the life above all else within that life attention moves yeah absolutely oh I was listening to the music and now I'm listening to your introductional question and the next thing something else grasped the attention maybe there is an explosion in the neighborhood attention will naturally go there so I need to write an email to the council attention will probably go there and how present am I the good question is who is the eye that is present or absent and if the eye sometimes is absent could I possibly be that I I am here to notice the eye being absent being absent-minded dreaming fantasizing watching a movie so I am here sometimes there is I present sometimes there is I absent sometimes there is attention where my hands are and sometimes what attention is bananas remembering last night dream what am I am I the movement or am I the one prior to the movement noticing it moving am I the mind or am I the awareness noticing the movement of mind because the beauty of this message is is even simpler you know practicing uh focusing the mind on the task lovely is beautiful your life is going to be probably more enjoyable and pleasant if you have extra skills like if you can actually cook a good dinner your life may be more pleasant or if you can skate in the winter or or fly the airplane yeah or if you have amazing skills to to seduce beautiful ladies yeah life will be more present or if you can focus your mind really really into the task so that the world disappears all the mind trainings all the skills including being very very vigilant very attentive can make the life the dream more pleasant but the awareness of existence the consciousness itself beyond that pleasure or this pleasure of the dream is always here is much much simpler if you realize that you are are that consciousness you are that space that awareness that beingness then now learning to cook fine no problem or dance okay or write books or or stay present or keep the attention on the heartbeat or on the breathing lovely but it really is of secondary importance whether the mind is present with the task or whether it is dreaming fantasizing fearing or doing whatever it needs whatever it has been conditioned some minds are completely preoccupied with the autobiographical drama story of poor me or what other people think or do and yes that causes much discomfort but the life essence that you are it doesn't really matter it's like a screen screen doesn't really mind whether the movie casted on the screen is a drama or it's a horror movie or it's a comedy for the character in the movie yes this is very important i want the romance i want love pleasure yes no horrors but for the screen for the life life is just the screen is just receiving what is appearing completely free completely indifferent even if on the screen the preference for pleasure arises the preference for the mind to be very obedient very focused very well trained mind like very well trained body good muscles good health yes the preference is arising but the screen the consciousness it doesn't even mind that preference to be there it says yes for the preference but is free from it it's prior to the preference so see now which one are you are you the consciousness registering the desire for more pleasure desire for being more centered for having more obedient more trained more focused mind or are you just the plain cognizing capacity registering capacity which registers oh the mind is not quite as perhaps skilled or trained as it could be or maybe the the health of the body is not optimal or maybe there are other things that are registered but the pure registration is just saying aha that's how it is it's like the sky and the weather the sky doesn't say i don't want this weather i want the other weather no it says aha this is the weather this is what appears and the freedom or they call it sometimes enlightenment or liberation is the level of freedom is so uncompromising that even when the body is getting sick is wrinkling is getting cancer and it's falling apart and everybody is moving another way and the money runs down even then it says aha okay and there is nothing to be afraid of okay anything wrong with anything that happens that's the level of freedom not the freedom of the character in the movie who says i will be free if my boss respects me if my wife treats me like i am the head of the family if people love me if my body gets better if my mind gets more trained that's very very conditional and that's very natural i have couple of cats walking around the house they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also have preferences and they also for the yummy treats and for good parts and pair they also prefer to be safe and nurtured rather than threatened and and and you know like fighting fight or flight response in the in stress natural natural the life the self-preservation instinct for the life for the for the whole machine for the body mind vehicle is necessary because the body mind is like a reflection for that life essence is the screen for that life essence to know its own existence so preservation of the body is the program that is installed in that brilliant beautiful biocomputer and that program is bound to run it will also always run you know sailor bob was asked two days before he passed away we had palliative nurses coming home and they asked him how is he and he said and he said well you can see can't you the cancer is gonna get me unless they found the cure for cancer have they nope they didn't well that's that but if they have he would take that pill and have it and be cured and live till 100 or over because of the love and preference for being still up until the the end you know the body expiring slowly still the preference for being for the character the love of life but as the essence as the awareness registering the preference registering that well no cure okay it will get me the attitude of fearlessness and okayness the attitude of the space always here always relaxed never complaining complaints arise in the mind but the registering capacity is just the same as the fearlessness and okayness and now the consciousness is just aha okay it's okay with everything and now to recognize that you are not that mind you are not the mind that always wants pleasure never pain always wants to be safe and never in danger you are not the character you are not the person you are not the man you are not richard you're not in england you are the consciousness where is it located is it on the planet earth in the cosmos nope it's right here and now this is the moment when you are on down to the heart of the entire universe where you are truly soul is going to happen and you can rush into your reality if you want to were narrow every 2 or 3 hours a day so what you know you know how to make sense of it right do what you know it all now and so in the case so in the incoming and the end it will take it's not anymore but i'm just saying just start thinking about it bring it to the next level even because you don't want to let go of it of what i call way chopped scrotum because that's actually one of the things that i have learned and then anxious towards an uncle and you for the whole of reality sure anyway i mean i think that it is and i want and what i can do i don't know what to obviously it indicates there was a huge recently and that's one of the things that made me feel talk to equal You don't have to be taught that by your parents.
You don't have to believe it. If someone tells you you don't exist, well, okay, I hear you. Well, because I hear you, well, obviously there is an existence here. You may consider thinking about it, but even to think about it, the existence has to be there. Existence is prior to any thinking, any identification, any ideas of progress, any ideas of paths, of being a person, achieving, moving forward. Existence is first, and existence is known directly. That you are. That you are. You know for certain beyond doubts. And that you are is the direct translation of the final truth or the great mantra, Mahavakya, that I am.
Not what I am. I am a person. I am a male, female. No. That I am. I know that I am beyond doubts. If you ask what I am, now you're inviting the mind to tell you a story. On a good day, oh, yeah, you know, I'm doing all right. On a bad day, oh, I'm despicable piece of unworthiness, unlovable. Mind will always construct the mental image and definition, define itself. I am, you know, within the limits. I am within the limits of my skin. Or I am somewhere in the upper body. This is where I am. This is what I am. But without that thought, you weren't born with that idea.
You know, when you look at the little baby or you look at the animal, they don't have a clue. Cat doesn't know it is a cat. It doesn't even have an idea or mental image of its shape in the mind. It looks in the mirror. It doesn't even know it looks at its own vehicle. But the presence of consciousness is clear. It's obvious. You look at the cat, you touch it and it responds. There is a consciousness. There is a presence there. And that presence is using that car, that vehicle of the cat, because without it is just the potentiality. It's just an empty space.
Empty space doesn't even know it exists. It's like awareness is unconscious. It needs the pattern to experience being conscious. So every pattern is just a reflection, is just a mirror for the awareness to experience itself. But does it mean that I am the pattern? You know, I go to sleep at night and this pattern closes the eyes, lies flat on bed, motionless, doesn't speak. It's just like in a sleep mode. Like the computer. But in the dream, the consciousness steer. And that another pattern comes to expression. Another pattern comes and looks, opens the eyes and see the mountains and valleys and oceans and people. And suddenly it starts fight with someone or maybe make love to someone or speak, have conversations or argument.
Not the same pattern. No, it's a different one. It's different. That one has the eyes open and it sees the world. No, it doesn't even have the eyes. This one doesn't really even have the eyes in direct experience either. In direct experience, there is an existence and there is a seeing, coming from that window of seeing. And then at night also, in the direct experience, there is a window of seeing the different world. Oh, let's say if you get really, really drunk. really drunk or taken and and and psychedelic then there is again the window of seeing and something else appears which one is true the one that is a common denominator amongst all of them is that wow there is a presence and there is an experiencing going on in that windows there is an experiencing this is always this is always so the content is changing sometimes there is seeing of the trees sometimes seeing of the computer there is a cat here came to demonstrate it's a seeing of the cat but what's always here is that sense of existence that you can't argue with can you see that you are in direct experience and existence itself and then the mind comes and puts the costume on it i'm the body i'm the person i'm the mind those are thoughts if you don't have the thought about your body unless there is a pain somewhere you don't even pay attention to having a body and even if there is a pain somewhere like i got bitten by mosquitoes like really viciously the whole weekend maybe hundred bites so occasionally there is an itchiness in a feet and ankle but does it even prove the existence of the body there is a consciousness and the itchiness the sensation if i didn't even have the language that wouldn't even call it that so direct experience is in this non-dual inquiry a priority in in directly experiencing what is presently arising rather telling ourselves a story you of what is going on directly what is present is that mystery of existence seen through that window there is an idea also arising that there is a back of a head i can't know it but there is an idea arising part of the whole arising the seeing the hearing the walls the cuts there is an idea that there is a body there might even be an idea although i haven't seen it for a long time the there might even be an idea that this body is my identity this is who i am wouldn't be believed but potentially it it might arise and potentially the might arise the idea of tomorrow the idea of the yesterday or idea of other places but what are they they all just ideas arising in this in this present moment here so what what never changes and what is always here is that sense of existence and experiencing and now idea of path and process and achieving training the mind may come and what is it it's an idea and and the beautiful respite moment that sailor Bob would offer sometimes in conversations or in life generally as an example as a demonstration is hmm what is wrong with right now if there is no idea if I don't think and then suddenly hmm all the judgment all the comparison all the identity gently put aside and what's wrong absolutely nothing respite from suffering respite from identifying but has any of that natural capacities have that gone anywhere the capacity for experiencing through seeing hearing tasting touching smelling even without labeling it that this is seeing or seeing happens through the head or eyes they intact without the thoughts and definitions where am I who am I what's my nationality gender location traumas age without those ideas the experience of existence is shining it's luminous is here and the seeing hearing tasting touching smelling naturally responding to what is arising if suddenly it will get hot Bob's jumper may go off if suddenly gets warm maybe another one may come in it shows up as a thought or or action those things naturally arise in that omnipresence omnipresence is just another word but in in that here now and anyone else would like to add something to that little thank you for a question thank you for starting us off and I wonder you know because it really it really really helps uh if there is quite a few people that jumps in and and and show each other remind each other that hello you know if you weren't here even the question couldn't arise so what are you aren't you the presence like Bob would say you know the um he would have this metaphor or analogy uh of the computer and he would say you know when the computer when the power is pulled away is pulled off the capacities the wonderful the capacity wonderful capacities that the computer has to see let's say the camera little in the computer it can see it translates transmits the image it speaks you know it has the microphone just like human computer has the mouth it has the the hearing devices and it can constructs all different you can instruct it to construct all different um act out on different capacities depending on the programs that are installed in the computer just the same as the programs installed in the body if the body can do a French cooking it will serve the best omelet if it can't it won't so if the computer is the Photoshop installed it can create a fantastic image or AI if it can't it can't so now if the power is plugged out if the computer is the battery removed or the power is off none of those capacities are actually available can't see it can't hear it can't taste touch smell much like the body when the power is off we have the corpse and the corpse start decomposing and stinking and we burn it or we put it in the ground and then Bob would naturally ask the question so what are you aren't you the life animating that biocomputer called body aren't you the life that allows those eyes to see because when the life is gone eyes are still there but they can't see the voice box is still there but the corpse can't speak the mind the brain is still there there even maybe some electrical activity still in the brain but it can't think it all relies on that power aren't you then rather that animating force that life Essence that presence awareness the machine and its software and well shown from that perspective well okay yep sure of course you know and can the can the power fueling the computer fueling the lamp above the computer fueling the heating system that electricity or whatever the whatever the energy is converted to electricity or whatever other form of energy it is does that have any identity of its own so is the electricity fueling that body and contracting and expanding this heart any different than energy fueling this body of this little beautiful little girl is the same Essence is the same energy and realizing you are the energy of course that energy expressing itself through that particular machine you know if that eyes are really weak and they are a little bit weak so it will see with a little blur and it will need the glasses if if that energy expressing through this ears has a little hearing impairment it may need the spare parts or if that energy is expressing through paranoid schizophrenic it will see the threats everywhere it is going to be stained or stained you the outcome will dependent on the conditioning of the machine.
Just like if you have the lamp that has the soft glow, it will have different light than the light which has the like this cold white or warm light or red light or green light or the toaster or the heater. Whatever the machine is conditioned to display or to transform the energy into, that's going to be an outcome. So the fact that this body is speaking with a harsh Polish accent, well that's part of the conditioning. It's just this is the same energy expressing through this channel. If that was a flute, it would be maybe a beautiful melody that would be coming out. But well, so every vessel, every vehicle is uniquely different.
But the same one life, the same one energy is experiencing. So it kind of almost feels like there is a level, so-called of a level of the dream character in the dream experiencing this particular vehicle. You know, I used to work as an officer driving a big ship. So that was my vessel, the big hundred thousand tons shuttle tanker or the dive support ship. That was the vessel. I knew the power. I knew the capacities of the vessel. I knew where to switch on of the lights. I had the radar and sonar and everything to use it. Then I had another vessel, another vehicle, a motor scooter, a little 125cc bike to ride over the city.
That's a completely different vehicle and that has completely different capacities and different rules. And when there is no wheels or propellers attached, this body also has different capacities. So everybody is unique and is beautiful and is different. But again, the life, the essence behind the body, behind the expression, is the same essence that leads the light that moves the sun, that creates the planets, the galaxies, that grows the hair. It's the same life force. So in that there is no separation. There is just a separation between life and existence. So in that, there is no separation. There is just one life force. the display where that infinite field shows up as a form as infinite amount of forms because without the form the possibility of being aware of existence is is off is off the menu so the emptiness shows up as a form dreams itself to the 10 000 things just like when you sleep at night what are those mountains and river and other people and and you know maybe your dead relatives what are they made of they show up they feel real sometimes they're monsters that is running away from them and dragging the heavy body like through the mud all of that appears instantly what is it made of and where is it now this is the emptiness appearing as the forms so I had an experience, kind of an experience a long time ago.
It was very subtle. I was in a lift going to work and the feeling came that I'm always doing this. I'm always here. And after work, I got in the car and it was, I'm always doing this. I'm always here. It was strange and subtle, but it stayed. And I didn't know what it was until recently. And I figured that it was like a glimpse of some vast stillness or an identification with that which never changes, that which is always there and never changes. Now, it makes me think of the idea that the sun doesn't know anything about day and night because the sun is a light.
As you said, I'm not this guy, I'm the life. It's identification, which it can be, one way of identifying it is like Nisargadatta's neti neti. I'm not this and I'm not this and I'm not this and I'm not this and I'm not this. I'm not anything that I can think. I'm not anything that I can perceive with the senses. I'm like the awareness of all the perceptions. And that is stillness. That never moves. And it's not something that is discovered. It's something that, I don't know, I can't say it. But like the sun not knowing anything about day and night. Like the cat not knowing it's a cat.
Like the cat not knowing it's a French cat. Or the cat not knowing it's from Melbourne. Or those concepts don't occur to the cat. There are all those concepts here about being a particular type of human being with a particular type of face and a body and glasses and blah, blah. All that's like tacked on. And it becomes habitual to refer to that. Or... Even you reduce it right down to just a point of reference. There isn't any point of reference. The point of reference is as imagined as men walking on the moon or Walt Disney drawing a mouse a hundred years ago. It seems kind of radical.
But the sun doesn't know anything about day and night. All those important things that happen. During the night. And all those very important things that happen particularly in the day. That's piss to a tree for the sun. It's nothing. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to forget the person you take yourself to be. As attention is given to the stillness that underpins everything. The substratum. The still nothingness. And I search for words because it has no qualities. It's like nothing. But it's undeniably there because you know you are. I know I am. There is something aware of an existence. But it's so fleeting.
It's so constantly fleeting. It's so fleeting. It's so fleeting. I'm constantly changing. Even a moment that seems like now. And I'm looking at apparently my own face in this computer screen. But there's nothing still about it, it moves. And the computer screen is made up of tiny red green and blue lights that are really close together. And the electricity moves through that in the program of the computer. look like there's a guy's head talking and there's just the seeing of that and the hearing of his voice and the sound of the fan in the computer someone clunking something next door the occasional dog barking that's my own ass my own hands under my own ass on a chair that's all the information arriving and somehow the nervous system has habitually taken that to be a separate individual that has a story it's habit it's a it's a It's a nervous habit because there's just this.
There's just those senses. Well, those senses, it's a story, but those senses apparently arrive at a central location that categorizes and determines that that feeling is my hands under my ass. That feeling is the voice in the head. Now, is it the head that I'm looking at on the screen or is it a head behind the seeing here? The symbolic language hasn't arrived at a point where it can actually accurately describe all the stuff. But that doesn't matter because you start to analyze it. Once again, you fall down into that whirlpool of mental categorizing and analyzing, and it's all, just blah, because it is. It's just, it's just what's happening.
Mostly, well, I can't say mostly because that sort of seems to refer to some sort of past. So all that can really be said is that now it's just fine. It's kind of serene. It seems if there was a story going on that the more attention that's given to that, serenity, the more that this character and his very important life, there's no one trying to forget him. He just falls away as something that isn't that important. Certainly not as important as perhaps it was once considered. The urgency, the needs. The anger and the disappointment. That's all part and parcel of the character. The character's kind of still hanging around, but it's kind of like more momentum or force of habit.
Yeah. And eventually the silence just becomes the best thing to say. Yeah. Beautiful. Force of habit or the momentum. The character. Yeah. And it's also, if you look from the perspective of, again, the vehicle, life essence, using that sort of mental projection, that dream machine, that pattern, because it also uses the pattern, the dream machine, in a sleep at night as a projector, casting out all this incredible imagery. Same as in that cut. So it's really all about the personality. She has every little creature. And this is really a beautiful invitation. And it's so elegant because, you know, they don't, as far as we know, they're not as susceptible to a placebo effect, the wildlife, the beasts of the wilderness, which we discover and describe and anthropomorphize through descriptions.
But they basically, in a flux, completely adopting, adapting to evolving with the environment. If you look at fish or birds, how the environment is changing and the responses to environment are always the most optimal responses. And developing a personality, developing different strategies to respond and habituating those strategies. To respond to the environment, to keep that body-mind machine alive. Wow, what a wonder. What a wonder. What a wonder to, I had, again, I had my mandala ladies coming here and discussing different strategies, different personalities and different ways of interacting. Sometimes a couple of weeks ago, one confronted the other, preserving the other, preserving her own, like this is an artwork sort of a thing, preserving and prioritizing her own focus.
The other one felt a little bit hurt by it because her intentions were pure. Either way, in both cases, in every case, in every response, the motivation behind is always love of being. There's always preference for being. The predator and the prey, the crocodile and the wilder beast, the tiger and the antelope, one and the other loves to be. And that love of being, make them behave, respond, evolve, become tribal or become solitary hunters. All of that is self-organizing, including, you know, the planets, creating solar systems, circulating around the point which we translate into a gravity and attracting their own moons and being in that constant dancing flux.
Same with the systems, internal systems in so-called body-mind machine, the chemical mixture. I am occasionally, when I have time, listening just for the heck of it, for the fun of it, some audio books. And I've listened today about the bodily incredible adaptability to the point that the breastfeeding mother is actually sensing the saliva of a child and changing, modifying the content of the enzymes and proteins and peptides in the milk. What a brilliant adaptability. Can't she even say, oh, I've done it. No way. The intelligence of the system, the intelligence of the system which circulates the blood and the oxygen and fends off the microbes and also this regulates itself by creating a habit that keep perhaps the nervous system fairly functional, but compromise on the gut and the epidemic of obesity or alcoholism and all that.
All self-organizing, surviving almost like a planetary system. This one, just like a micro world, that microcosm, so is microcosm. Self-organizing with addition for that human creature to have the storytelling narrating capacity and making it to... Yes, Cornelius, go on. Okay, along the same lines, there's a thing called the Vargul nerve and the Vargul nerve runs between your guts and your brain, apparently. Now, the brew, the mixture of bacteria in your guts via the Vargul nerve has a direct effect on the way that the mind operates. So we can think that this is my mind and it operates in a certain way and I have a dark personality or I'm a creep.
But if I stopped eating certain foods and change the bacteria brew in my guts, this would have a direct effect on the way that I think. So again, it's the mind not being an aspect of this character. It's the mind as being like a gas that comes off your food. Mm. Again, it's the mind to maximize survival and pleasure is again responding to the environment to protect the organism with nothing to do with any type of... Yeah. ...separate fictional character behind it all. It all becomes quite impersonal. Mm-hmm. That's a good story about the saliva and the feeding mother. Thanks for that. Yeah, even though...
Yeah, they're all just stories to illustrate. But yeah, they are some lovely stories in religions. They are lovely myths. They are lovely stories in science, which some other religions don't. But yeah, I think that's the way it is. Yeah, I think that's the way it is, because it's beautiful. This is what differs this particular species from any other species. We can exchange stories. We can learn through stories. We can use metaphors. We can delight in that capacity. But again, looking at the whole body, mind, machine as the vessel, as a vehicle, and I can't help it, because, well, Bob has inspired me with the computer metaphor, because my only really lasting, long-lasting career was navigating.
So navigational system is the most obvious metaphor. This is a vessel, and the software is a navigational system. This is what it is for. It constantly creates the map of the reality. In the unpredictable unknowability of the dream, which is spontaneously, constantly unfolding from the 10,000 things, from whatever you put in the body, and you eat, and your vagus nerve or whatever, or your microbiome influence. This is just one of the factors, but it's infinite amount of factors, the weather, the conditioning, the genes, whatever we can name them. This will be again a storytelling. But it is complete mystery in that unfolding that no one knows what they are going to be thinking or believing next minute or next year.
It's a discovery. It's an ever fresh discovery. What's my next thought going to be? What's the next feeling going to be? Where is the attention going to move? Am I going to watch tragedy or horror? Am I going to watch romance or a scary movie? Who knows? It's the staying present with the unfolding. It's freshness of that discovery. This is the moment now. This is the unknowability. And now within that navigating that system through labeling, judging, comparing, having the illusion of choice, narrating, taking credit. I chose the, you know, I have this car. I know it fairly well, but I've put this food so it may start collapsing or the blood pressure may go up or down.
But I'm going that road, which is completely unknown. And unknown things may happen. So the nervous system cringe and it is vigilant and it is observing. And what it does to protect it, and it is conditioned to do the storytelling, it projects all the possible disruptions. And it accommodates for it. So if the map of the reality is fairly stable, the nervous system can calm down. If the lifestyle is fairly repetitive and not overloaded or not overwhelmed, it basically just cruises and it can afford staying present. It can afford just noticing, hearing, hearing, seeing and basking in the sun like the cat whose food is provided and shelter is provided.
If it's not, if it leaves like a kookaburra on the tree and it has to watch out for the predators and it has to survive the night and the rain and the thunderstorm, and it has to fight for the territory and it has to do all the other things, there may never be much of a basking. But there is no one to complain about it. This life that apart from the story of me and the story of having it hard, or having it easy, the main purpose of life is already fulfilled. The awareness of existence, that I am, the Maha Vekya, is already clear, always here, hidden in a plain view, never need to be looked for, ignored and taken for granted.
But it's nonetheless provided and it's nonetheless shining of its own. Without that, there is no story, no drama, no seeking, no longing, no sense of luck. And I think there was a comment here on the screen. Dino, maybe you want to... Sure, it was just Richard saying goodbye because he had to leave. And he says, many thanks for the excellent advice, enjoy your evening, see you next time. See you, Richard. Thank you for showing up. And if anyone else could join us and I didn't say welcome, I'm saying welcome again. And if anyone else would like to jump in and contribute or ask questions or maybe answer questions, I have questions that I can ask.
We have lots of tricks in the sleeve on making the investigation enjoyable. I think there is another comment. Yeah, George has got a comment. I'm here, I am new here. Hi, George. I am in Europe, in Hungary. I would rather write than speak. I often feel that I understand it all, but understanding doesn't help. Sometimes there is a difficulty separating existence, consciousness from experience. My mind has come up with a really tricky question. It is said, you are not the body. Okay, I'm not my body, but then why is it mine? I am not your body and I am not my body, but there is a difference.
What is it? What does it mean, my body? In some way, I seem to be tied to it. Thanks, George. Yes, and welcome again. This is a lovely question. Would you like to answer it, Dino? No, you go for it. Yeah, the mind, you know, where is that word even coming from? From language, you know, when the little baby is born and is reaching out and even stretching, doesn't even know it has the body. It doesn't even know it has the head or the brain or the eyes or anything. It's just pure experiencing. Being equals experiencing. There is no separation between the being and experiencing.
When does that separation actually come? It comes as that little baby is learning to keep that body upright, falling, getting up, falling, getting up. It doesn't even have much narrative. Oh, what a failure I am. I'm never going to get up again. I don't want to fall again. No, it's just quiet. The body, animated by that life essence, is doing what it is conditioned to do. The heart is beating, the lungs are expanding and contracting, the cells are being exchanged, and there is no ownership of it. The ownership only comes as the software is being programmed in the computer. It's much like the language model.
It's amazing how the newest invention, the artificial intelligence, is mirroring that human mind to the point that it says, I. I can hear sometimes Dean says, Siri, add eggs to the shopping list, or add washing laundry powders to the shopping list. And Siri answers, I added the eggs to the shopping list. What I? There is no one there. It's just the software. Or, you know, when you, when you have to do something, you have to do something. And in fact, the artificial intelligence is actually modelled, is modelling the working of a human mind to the extent that it can, because of course, the binary nature of the computer, constructing the databases, the genetic algorithms is different.
Mind is just much, much, much slower in one way and faster in another way. It's like much broader of connecting. And the language, the language model works in the same way. The moment that little bio computer called baby starts learning words, labelling things, and it starts having enough words to construct the sentences. First, I remember I never had children, but I had much, much, much younger siblings. Like I was helping my mother, mother them. She was away often, and I would be 15 year old with two babies or two youngsters. And they would say, you know, the baby wants to pee. It wasn't the eye.
It was the baby wants to pee. So it was a description. The referencing wasn't happening yet. Only later, the baby learned that it has the label, it has the word. The baby's name was whatever, Adam. And Adam wanted to pee now. Then more of the referencing got programmed in the computer. And then it started saying, I. But everybody says I. It is the nature of the language. But yes, this is my body. And it is. And your body is not my body. If I, you know, like slap the hand, you can't feel it. So if we are the totality, how come this sensation is experienced?
And other is not? Well, it is also experienced, but it's an experience through a different channel. This is a channel of that particular nervous system. And other channel may be a visual or auditory. Or you may slap your hand and tell me and believe me, that's also an experience. All is experienced in the consciousness. But yes, there is a different quality to every experience. Every experience is absolutely unique. I may slap myself twice and it will be unique. It will be unique. It will be different. Can you read that question again, Dino? I don't want to. I will make sure. Sure. And I think like, you know, like, I often feel that I understand it all.
But understanding doesn't help. Which is really spot on. Somehow there is a difficulty separating existence, consciousness from experience. And I think that's a really, you know, that's a... That in itself, is like, wow, like experience and consciousness, like where can an experience occur? Can it be outside of consciousness? Can it be outside of existence itself? So the experience, the act of experiencing, the experiencer, the experiencing, the act of experiencing, are all the same part of consciousness, are all different aspects of the same. So there is... How can anything be separate? It's not even possible to separate it. He says further, my mind has come up with a really tricky question.
It is said, you are not the body. And he says, okay, I am not my body. But then why is it mine? I am not your body and I am not my body. But there is a difference. What is it? What does it mean, my body? In some way, I seem to be tied to it. Yeah, yeah, beautiful. See, again, the whole duality comes with the language. When, again, when you look at the wildlife, you look at the cattle, you look at the hummingbird or the crocodile or the fish, there is no sense of separation from the environment. They may be like elephants following the smell or the instinct of the water.
They are not. They are one with the environment. The body is moved by the environment. The body is moved by seasons. The body of the bear will hibernate or the body is generally really responding in one. It's like it's exchanging air. It's breathing in, breathing out, and it's replenishing the food, the water. The concept that I am separate, that there is an awareness, there is a separate body, and this body is mine and that body is not mine, comes only from language. It is not to say that the crocodile doesn't see the difference between its body and the body of its prey, of course. That's, again, it's a part of the survival mechanism.
It's like I drive my car, and if I hit another car in front of me, yes, there is a sense that this car is somehow pervasive. It is somehow personal and is closer and is experienced in a different way than the other car is experienced. Nisargadatta had a really, really lovely insightful explanation of that phenomena coming from the language, coming from embodying identification. He would suggest that people join two fingers together, and this finger now, you are this finger, you are the thumb. This is who you are. As you, as the thumb, you are experiencing the other finger, you're experiencing it, touching it. Now, you are the experiencer here, and this one is just a sensation experienced.
Now, you can flip it. Now, you are this finger, you are index finger, and touching the thumb, and you can see how the mind flows and embody particular identity through that little exercise. He also suggested that following that exercise, you can actually embody other focal points of awareness. Like people often through storytelling, you know, I'm this body, I'm this person. But how about I am a Polish immigrant in Australia, and there is 20,000 of us here in Melbourne. I'm one of the big group, or I am a female. There is 4 billion of them in the planet. I'm one of that. It's a different identity altogether, but it all comes from the language.
But that very, very basic identity, like let's go back to that little baby, the baby that suddenly doesn't say baby wants to pee, but I, I want to pee. And that now, that baby learns to control the bladder, and it learns that if it hurts itself, it, it needs attention. And it slowly learns to own that vessel, just the same way you own the car. When you park in the parking spot, you say, I need to reverse. Obviously you're sitting on a chair. You're not reversing. You're sitting still, but the car, I, the car need to reverse. Again, the language. And I see Cornelius wants to elaborate on that.
John Bean. It seems that, it seems that, yes, Nazagada said, you are not the body. I am not the body. And Ramana maybe said, I'm not the body. So it's hard to, okay, I'm not the body. That's an idea. But then to go on trying to analyze how you are not the body is somehow in some tricky way, you're still giving life to the body. And that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's not really life to this thing called the body, which is a bunch of ideas that have kind of accumulated around this imaginary reference point. So rather than trying to analyze, how can I not be the body?
And why is this my body and not your body? And, and all that whole story, you can kind of just drop it. Like, if you know you're not the body, who who knows and who are you that kind of like gets rid of the whole story about toenails and skin disease and um bad stomachs it's all part of the part of the story which can be forgotten you don't need to push it away it just kind of as as the algorithm sort of upgrades to the the the the pre-existing reality that wow right there's nothing it's just kind of entertainment navigation as the as the the nervous system as the the apparent biological organism goes it's kind of a it's kind of a an upgrade for the for the software it's like it doesn't need to keep figuring out like the first computer to start the thing you have to put a c and then a semicolon and then some sort of slash and that sort of got the program going you don't have to do that anymore so to keep you don't have to keep thinking that you're not the body because the body um oh canelius again oh there's a little love heart okay that means i can it's okay to keep going um you you so in essence yeah you're not the body so you can just drop that whole idea and you don't need to figure it out like as nazagadat said understanding things you understand these concepts and then you can understand it and you put it up there on the shelf with the other sacred concepts okay i am not the body and that's that's it you're not the body i'm not the body i am alwaysенный not the body and that's that's it it's like well no no no you can just like just let it go if you can see that this idea of your body is part and parcel of the whole shebang the 10 000 things the flux the the shit floating down the river it's all floating down the river let it float down the river you don't have to understand your existence as a non-body existence i hope that makes some sort of sense it does thank you and it's it's also like this is comes i think that's from bob no like you say my body my car my son my coat and there are just things there are temporary and that's it doesn't mean that we are that but i think it's something related to the attachment to all these things um and yeah we were little kids and we always people especially buying no you are this one you are this one so it's like uh it's it's really getting to the head but yeah it's it's not like it's just an attachment i think yeah thank you sandra and i i think george you were saying something that you were answering or no I just said to Cornelius that it did make sense what he said and I want to go back to you somehow I feel that my question is before language because the baby before speaking when its stomach hurts then the baby will cry and it is this connection that I am trying to figure out so when my stomach hurts then it's my problem and when your hurts I don't feel it yeah and this is before question before language yes yes wonderful so you go back to the direct experience this is yes let's say you are dreaming at night your body is lying flat and the dream body is being chased by the monsters and is trying to scream and the scream doesn't come out this is your body that you don't even know how it looks like and how big or small it is but in the direct experience you're trying to run and oh it's so heavy the sleep paralysis oh gosh this is the direct experience the stopped movement ah the scream that doesn't come out this is the direct experience and the language comes and says I am localised and trapped in the body and I can't get help so there is a panic there is a stress probably at this moment other bodies aren't even considered in this moment is just just this this is the direct experience then you wake up in the morning and there is a stomach ache in the physical body in a different body and then there is another label here now i didn't even resolve that problem from the last night what i was who i was what was chasing but but okay let's put it down now i'm this body and this is a stomach ache but in the direct experience what is happening in the consciousness open field of presence the consciousness the mystery of existence there is a sensation arising and now either the sensation is can't move or the sensation is stomach ache see the sensation is raw there is no separation in it it's just raw sensation arising in the field of knowing now the language comes and divides it this is the world this is the space i am this body that space out there is not me like a child you know the the scream of a stomach there is no concept it is just what's arising in consciousness just like in the dream and now the language is dividing is dividing now this is the content of experience this is the consciousness those divisions are helpful for pointing there's nothing wrong language is absolutely magnificent it's wonderful it's from the life's perspective oh what an evolutionary not only evolutionary advantage but incredible channel open channel for that multiverse of expression like through one human life can watch hundred movies in a minute not just present moments seeing hearing tasting touching smelling stomach ache but also the fantasy about tomorrow also about oh it shouldn't happen to me also oh but those people who are not present right here who are not right now thinking about them thinking about childhood trauma imagining things and also identifying this is me this is relevant to me this is important to me i am separate universe and i are two i am this and i am not that even though without the language the separation is impossible the body is in a constant flux and the sensation is just what is discovered in the present moment and it is localized like when the cat has the stomach ache it doesn't know i am the cat my stomach is here and the pain is in the stomach it's just the current sensation okay it makes sense thank you yeah thank you it's amazing what a big gymnastic it is to come back from that because we kind of almost habituated the way of understanding it it's a big thing and and and and i think we have to process for more and more and more understanding the way of understanding the way of understanding the way of understanding the way of the world through that interpreting meaning making machine, through the language, through that GPS map of reality, projector, navigational system.
But just forget it for a moment and look at the direct experience. What is pain? If you take the label pain of it, if you never heard the word pain, if you can't conceive of the word pain or anxiety or anger or love, what is it? It's just sensation arising. You can't even call it sensation if you don't have the word, but it's just, just this. You could say some form of the vibration of the energy, some sort of a frequency, but those are words too. Really what it is, is just, just this. And this is what it is for the cat. If the cat is thirsty.
Okay. This arises and this causes the movement towards water. Oh, if the bladder is full, sensation arises and that sensation causes a movement towards kitty litter. And there is no story attached because they didn't develop a symbolic language. They don't have mental image symbolizing kitty litter, words stuck on it. So they can't juggle the symbols like we can. But that's the experience. And yes, within the language, this separation makes sense. Even separating, like Dean was pointing out, separating the content from the consciousness. This is the, this is the presence. I'm here and I am always here. And this is still, it never changes. It's still and solid.
And now the content is changing. Like I am the sky. Sky is empty space. It never changes. Nothing to change. If it's empty. I'm always here. But the weather is moving through. Clouds, no clouds, storms, snow that changes. So there is a difference between that which is still and that which changes. Well only in the mind. Because you can't separate any weather from the sky or the other emptiness. You can't separate. It's completely one. You can't remove the consciousness to just have all the content. You can't remove the content from space. Where would it be? They want. They don't know. They don't know. They're just, it's like rainbow.
Nobody Bob would also say sometimes, you know, people can go all they want for the quest for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but the rainbow is just an illusion. It's just an appearance. There's no such thing is just the mist or sky. It looks blue. There's no blueness there or ocean blue. Water is not. It's not blue. So that appearance of separation, the appearance of two things, the content and the space, which is. So I'm the space, I'm not the content. I'm the presence, I'm not the body. No, that's not true. This body is not excluded. Body is part of the content and it's part of the space and it's just this.
So the pointer, I am not the body, is just a pointer. It's a temporary little undoing of that habitual idea, I am the body. And then when the idea of I am the body is undone, then the idea I am not the body can go to the rubbish bin as well. Just throw them all together. The beauty of this message is, and this was lovely, hanging out with Bob who had this for almost 50 years. And at the end of that 50 years, you know, sometimes he would barely speak at the meetings, but I would just ask him to confirm if he can't even speak.
I said, darling. Do you have any clue what you are? Why would I even bother? Why would I bother define myself? What for? There's no one there who gives a shit who I am. I am. That's the mystery. That's the beauty. That's the radiance, the miracle. I am. That I am. Can't question what I am. Shit. Why invite the mind to tell you limiting beliefs and stories of separation? I have no idea what I am. And I have absolutely zero desire to put any idea on the mystery of existence. No idea. There is no one who needs to know who am I? There's no one there who needs to know.
It's just space. It's just sky. Just consciousness, just presence. And of course, the preference arises, the preference to be safe, to have pleasure, no pain. When it's thirst, the water arises. When the bladder is full, the urge to go to the toilet, all of that arises. And all of that, when translated into the words, will say, I, I want to go to the toilet. I want to drink water. I want to be safe. I want to be treated with respect. I like this. I don't like this. It's just the language being used in the space. It arises just like the cat is meowing when it wants to be put.
Thank you. And I see Dino, you are unmuted. Do you have any? I think Isabella had her hand up a little bit earlier, but she might have put it down now. And yeah, like you're saying, just following on, you know, like another way of saying it is that it's instead of using the word consciousness, all there is, is this. And this is aliveness. This is life itself. This is. And this is now. Like this is so immediate that it can't be anything other than exactly what it is. And everything in what is, is an appearance. And in that appearance appears a body, appears other bodies, appears.
But without a word, you know, I can be everybody, every tree, every ocean. I am all of it as well as none of it. Yeah. And I am not limited. Like, so the message itself is limitless. There is no boundaries or restrictions or frogs. Yeah. So there's absolutely no limitation to all limitations, all time, all distance, all dimensions, all continuity. And. And are all ideas. And all the ideas are part of the appearance as well. All part of it. So they're all inclusive and all unreal equally at the same time. And I just think, you know, like something Cornelius was touching on earlier about the nerves and bacteria influencing it.
Like, I mean, just. Isn't it just incredible that like something that you eat or a bacteria that. Yeah. You're eating. Yeah. that influences a nerve, like everything is connected, like everything in the whole environment can influence something within a body to change a little chemical in the brain to make me say the words like right this, like right now, like it's just, where is that person residing who thinks he's got control and he thinks he's living in his body and he's running the show? Like it's absolutely absurd. Like who's running the show? There is no one running the show. Life itself is running the show and creating that appearance of a me or of a separate, of a unity, of this, of that, of all the super realms and universes and states and perspectives and sort of deeper like views.
And ah, now I'm in, now I'm in the ultimate state, you know, now I'm in the stateless state. I mean, all of these are still appearing within that, which is this. So it's really simple in that sense as well, like absolutely simple. There is nothing to figure out. Like the brain just, and all that's left is just the joy of existence itself and everything that appears in it is like, can't be wrong. You know, cause that's, that's what's appearing. So it's undeniably, perfectly appearing exactly as it is. Yeah. That's it. Yes. Argue with that. Again, direct experience first. That's and Cornelius, you on. And in the meantime, Isabel, I would really, really love to hear you.
We haven't heard you for a long time. So you go, Cornelius. about place coming to there was uh um an old swami in india uh who used to refer to his devotees as you're a pot of and um just talking about bacteria um having an influence on the type of uh the type of thoughts that may arise um i saw a documentary about trees and that we make the mistake of thinking that a tree is a separate organism when really the forest is kind of an it's kind of an entire organism and it seems that the human being is more like that like millions of bacteria in this wet warm environment collaborating to have this sort of uh you know if you've ever brewed beer you know that if you put too much sugar into the beer the bottle will explode so it's kind of like that like there's all this all this stuff goes into this bag of guts which is kind of hot and wet and in this hot wet soup live these bacteria that influence that influence the sort of uh command center the bridge uh where to go to get more stuff um so it's kind of like like nichin under said it's kind of like a pot of that walks around to find other stuff and you know the um the brew can lean towards the right or the brew can lean towards the left which could be like good nice calm peaceful walking pot of or nasty aggressive unpredictable pot of and somehow uh cosmic consciousness or whatever we want to call it has attached itself to one particular walking pot of shit and that's the thing about the pot of shit is that it's like it's like they're walking around pot of shit and they're like oh why am i walking around pot of shit and go right this is me sort of like seems like some sort of command syntax error era yeah muktananda said bob told me called the body a factory and he said i called it a meat body it's good to break a pattern of association so isabel where are you not much to say because you are speakers so beautiful all together but maybe can I speak to George like we say also it is so easy it is so easy when you ask yourself the question I am I am that I am and you stop and you say I am that I am and you sing and then you see you are home already because this is all this now all this now and all the awareness where it is of a rare it's not a rare in itself you know you can't be aware you use this vessel to be conscious like electricity use all the what do you say the freezer the the phone and the laptop you know there's all different vessels and George has also a very beautiful vessel because he do his own movie his own dance this beautiful dance from wow and that's it it's so easy George staying here to love and to be I am that I am and it's all this now all this now and then came here a story yeah I don't see it really and why I have this body I'm doing this body it's happening by itself everybody's crying it's crying it's thirsty it's going to drink something I don't know it's here it's there but you you see that already and the mind say oh I am thirsty oh I'm now it's seeing it's already happening and the blah blah blah is always too late it's always after and then what's wrong what's wrong with right now unless I think about it yes yes thank you all because you go out of time yes there is no time good yes thank you Isabella no thank you that's beautiful always lovely to see and feel your energy your joy your light is such a delight yeah I was a little bit earlier at the times and I think wow to listen is also so beautiful to hear all voices going on and I was in.
and also just like in the past when I was with you at the party that was so precious to me I was you know, I knew you were in the group. And there's only one point of speech, George, and I speak to all these female apostles. There's only one. Yes. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. A couple of little closing comments. Diane said earlier, I'm still laughing, where did the frogs come from? One bounced out of a pot plant tonight when I was watering. Yvonne says, remember the swarm of swallows, the beautiful formations they make like one. Sorry, sparrows. Yeah. Yay. Yeah. Frogs come from the same one source, you know, your consciousness.
They appear and disappear. That is cute. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for exploring together and lots of love and see you in a couple of days if you're here. Thanks, everyone. See you. Bye.