Living With No Hope

44:53

44:53

Living With No Hope

by Yaron Etzion

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5

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talks

Activity

Meditation

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Everyone

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31

Join us for this intriguing discussion about hope. What is it? How do we use it? And is it essentially useful for us on the path to an awakened consciousness? Bring your questions, your observation, your insights and let's grow together.

Hope Consciousness Present Moment Acceptance Spirituality Love Freedom Ego Present Moment Awareness Radical Acceptance Spiritual Growth

Meet your Teacher

Edmonton, AB, Canada

Meet your Teacher

Edmonton, AB, Canada

Transcript

So, Hello dear people. Welcome to this weekly opportunity we give ourselves to walk together on the white path. Marci, Can you hear us? Join hands, Not just as individuals, But also as one united consciousness. That is longing to evolve, Using that tension between the question and the answer. And today, The excuse we gave ourselves to meet is this discussion about hope. What is hope? And what are we using it for? Is it really necessary on our path to an awakened consciousness? Just a few words before I leave the scene to your questions. So, This conversation was born after a series of three meetings I had with my Hebrew group, Where we discussed hope again and again and again. And what I noticed is how difficult it was for people to let go of their hope. How challenging that invitation is to people. So, I thought it might be a good idea to introduce it to the English speakers as well. Let's see what you think about that. What is hope? First of all, We need to recognize it for what it is. Hope is an idea, Right? An idea about some other reality, More glorified, More promising, More rewarding reality than what we currently have. Right? This is hope. We don't hope for things to be worse. We hope for things to be better. We are anxious about things going sideways, But we hope that things will get better. So, Hope is an idea. An idea that carries a promise. A promise that when reality improves, Then we can be happy. Isn't that so? When things rearrange in a way that meets our expectations and demands, Then we can be happy. Correct? So, We hope that this happens. Right? And the first thing we need to recognize is as long as we have hope and we are holding on to hope, We are not free. We are dependent. You see that? We depend on circumstances, Specific circumstances. Believing that only when they manifest, We can be happy, Fulfilled, Whatever. Do you see that? What was it we saw the other day, Yesterday or something, That the three essential qualities on the spiritual life is faith, Hope, And, Ah, Yeah, We saw the mission, Right? It was in the mission. We saw this movie, The Mission, From the 80s. I don't know if you had a chance to watch that film. But anyways, At some scene, One of the pastors is saying that our three main qualities are faith, Hope, And love, Which sounds really beautiful. Faith and hope and love. And we are here today to destroy that structure. Who's brave enough to look at it and help me destroy it? And Carly's here to sound the voice of the Seeker for us. Christina's saying, I'm willing. Good. Eloise says, I hope for a love life, Been single for a few years. Stop, Stop. I assume you don't want our list of hopes here. No, No, It's great. This gives us a lot of material to work with, Right? Like something that we can hold on to. I hope for a love life. I've been alone for so long. So look how this is building as a promise for future happiness, Future fulfillment. Do you see that? I don't have a partner. When can I be happy? When I will have a partner. So I hope that the partner will come and then I can be fulfilled, Happy. No? You see how it works? There's no freedom there because as long as I'm alone, That's unsatisfactory. I cannot really be fulfilled in this. Something else has to happen. And as long as you keep telling yourself this story and believing it, You create a barrier, You create a condition. So reality as it is cannot satisfy you anymore. You believe the story that you're telling yourself about what needs to happen in order for you to be happy. Yes, This story can be created by your culture, By your immediate surroundings, By your parents. Most of it is created by the scenery in which you were raised. Yes? Some of it is created by you, Originated by you, Your set of beliefs, But that also is very much influenced by what you observed on your path until today. It's not even authentic, Authentically yours. But still, Whatever story you tell yourself about, A possible reality, Just realize that creates a barrier. And as long as the barrier is there, Happiness cannot be manifested. Not in the spiritual sense of our discussion. So the next obvious question is, Does it have a purpose? Hope? Christine is asking, It's like a motivator, Isn't it? And Barbara is saying, Yes, I see. But isn't our longing to evolve and grow a type of hope? Yeah, That's why as long as we long to grow and evolve, We will never arrive. It's a catch-22. And Michelle says, Hello. Hi, Michelle. Yeah, So as long as you believe that you still have a journey to go and, You know, You long to unite with the greater reality, Whatever, As long as that longing is there, You are not realized. Because self-realization is the waking up to the immediate experience of unity. You are already united. You're just waking up to realize that. Okay, As long as you believe that you are not united, You are never united. And as long as you believe that there is a journey to go, The journey is eternal. Yes. And we did say that the one attachment we have that is allowed on the spiritual path is the attachment to be free, To wake up. You know, The last I want is that I want. I want to be free. So you could replace that with an I hope for. I hope that I will be free. In a way. I see how, I see the distinction there. Because at least when you say I want, You're staying in the present moment. And that in the present moment can be realized. But because hope always looks to the future, There can't ever be any truth there. There can't ever be a place where you're experiencing the desire for hope or experiencing a hope of something with it being in the current present moment. The current, There can't be any truth there. Listen to your words. Why? Why can't there be any truth when we are hoping for a future, Better reality? Because truth can only be found as the present moment. You cannot look for the truth in the future. Truth, What is the definition of truth? Truth is the isness of things. How can you know the isness of things if you are always preoccupied with expectations and hopes and anxiety about what may happen in the future? Do you see that? Yes, It's definitely a motivator. I mean, People believe that without hope, They are going to, You know, Lose the one motivation to wake up in the morning. Right? What's the point? If reality won't get any better, Then what's the point? Why am I striving for? What's the point for all of that? Isn't it? It's scary. What if this is as good as it gets? Truly, As good as it gets. And it will never be better. Sitting here, A part of this circle right now is as good as it gets. You will never hear wiser words. You will never meet a better teacher. You will never discover a more evolved version of yourself. Never. This is as good as it gets. So, To Barbara's point, But we join hands with the intention of growing. So, If we're always in this state of the present moment and in the place of this is as good as it gets, Then where is the motivation to grow and evolve? Do we need that motivation or does it just naturally exist? Naturally exist. I mean, If you have to hold on to something, Then yes, It's good that you hold on to that one last thing. I want to be free. It's better than I want to be on a vacation in the Caribbean. So, I want to have more money in my bank account. I want to find a husband or I want to quit my job. I want to be free is higher in the hierarchy than any other I want. But it's still creating an artificial barrier for you. Why? Because there is still I that hopes, I that wants, I that has an agenda, I that sees himself separate from life, That is looking to have some personal gain. And that I is the illusion that needs to be popped. Unfortunately, The I cannot commit suicide. This will happen naturally when you're ready. So, Imagine yourself free from being propelled to wake up in the morning because something else better than this should happen. Could happen. Could happen. So, Try to imagine yourself free from the idea a better reality is waiting for me. And let's do whatever we can to manifest it. A better version of myself is waiting to be born. Better than this with all my, You know, Disadvantages and my weaknesses and my faults and my habits. No, No, No. I need to fix all that before I'm ready. What if this version of you is the final finite and most perfect version that you will ever be able to manifest? Well, What if that's it? There's nowhere to go. There is nothing to achieve. You already achieved. So, Ian says, Nice, As good as it gets. If you haven't seen that movie, Go and see it immediately tonight. Tonight. Eloise says, Radical acceptance. Yeah. Yeah. Try to see the difference in energy between hope and acceptance. Try to feel it as energy, As vibration. Hope versus acceptance. Can you feel the difference how light acceptance is versus hope? It's so much lighter, Isn't it? Hope comes with some heavy conditioning, Expectation. Something should happen. Can you feel it? Not as an idea, But as vibration. Michelle's saying not from a place of lack. Yeah, As long as there is ego, That once there is lack, For sure. Why? Because ego is that, You know, Wave that forgets the ocean. So, It only has its own limited resources. And that's how it needs to roll forward through life, Based on relying on only its own limited resources. That's it. Finite resources. But when the wave remembers the ocean, Ego drops and is now available to manifest the ocean, Which resources are endless. Infinite. You see that? Yeah. Dr. Tami Solsergen says, Be in the here and now. Accept the what is of this moment. Yeah. This is it. That's why my website is called You Are That, Not You May Be That. One day, You are that. And there is no there. Hope is a poor man's bread. Barbara's saying, So, Be free, Period, Full stop. Just be. Scary as hell to stand at the edge of the void and be still. So beautiful. Standing at the edge of void. Try to create that image for yourself. The I want will bring you all the way up to the edge of that cliff. Beyond that cliff, There is only void that is indescribable. That cliff, That is a mystery. You cannot take one step forward because you want to. The ego would not commit suicide. But standing there and having this attitude of, Thy will be done. That's it. My journey is ended. There is no point to continue forward as a separated individual anymore. I'm surrendering myself to the great void. Okay, So. Something that's coming up for me is always that place of where do we let that growth and evolution, Which you say naturally comes, Which is true because you can't stop it. And where do we as individuals have a finger in that? So if I'm just always in the state of the present moment, Accepting exactly what is, The argument I might come up with is that who is the I that's actually having some sort of influence over what happens next? Each and every one of us as a part of the collective consciousness, That's the answer to your question. It's not a question if you influence or not. You cannot not influence. Whether you want it or not, Whether you are aware of it or not, You cannot not influence. Just like, You know, The butterfly effect. Have you heard about that? You know, The butterfly effect? It's a metaphor that is used in quantum physics that is talking about a butterfly somewhere in South America waving its wings, Very delicate wings, Creating in a chain reaction a hurricane on the other side of the world. How is that possible? Because everything connects to everything. It's all one big living organism that we are a part of, Whether we like it or not. Of course you influence. If a butterfly can create a hurricane, Think about you and your consciousness, How much influence you can bring to this world. Don't worry about can you influence, It's a given. You should be concerned about what is the motivation for you to influence. That's what we're talking about here today. Usually that motivation is based on the sense of lack, A sense of need, Hoping that a greater reality is waiting there in the future, And now you are going out to try to manipulate the world to meet your expectations so you can be happy. Do you see that? This is usually how people are motivated to go out and meet life. Today there is a new invitation. What if that motivation dies after you realizing that hope is not useful for you on the journey to an open heart and a willing soul? It's not that you're going to lose your motivation, But there will be another driving force other than the hope that something better is waiting for you. And that driving force is called love. Love knows no lack. Love is not driven by a sense of need. Love is the absolute expression of bounty. Infinite bounty. How can you need something where you are an expression of everything? It's like the ocean craving to be wet. Do you see what I'm saying? So hope is an illusion. Hope is an elusive promise of future happiness. Yeah. What happens when you lose hope? You don't become hopeless. You wake up to realize your nature. You become available to experience life as it happens. You become sane again. Sanity in the sense of embracing what is. You become an expression of love, Unconditional. Unconditional. It's not only if something happens, I can love. Otherwise, I cannot love. No. It's not only if I find the right partner, I can love. No, The partner is just an excuse you give yourself to open your heart. That's it. It's not about the partner. It never was about the partner. That's an illusion. There is no white prince that can find the right key to open your heart. It's only you can do that. Even God himself cannot come down from heaven and open your heart for you. It doesn't matter if you are religious and have this idea, No? No, It's not going to happen. It's only about you and how much freedom do you give yourself to open your heart in the present moment, Right here, Right now. So Eloise is asking, What about the people in prison or refugee camps that stayed alive based on hope? In a sense, We all are in a prison. Is it different when you're in survival mode? When you're in a survival mode, Just make sure that you are dealing with clear and immediate danger. If the danger is clear and immediate, Definitely protect yourself. You do whatever is necessary to stay alive and safe. If the danger is clear and immediate, Most of the time it's not. In the vast majority of cases, You're dealing with phantoms, Shadows of a danger, Not a danger. How do you know that danger is clear and immediate? Because it's not up for interpretation. Yes, Clear and immediate. There's no point to argue about, Is this clear and immediate? You know it when you see it. Again, It's right in front of you in the present moment. In the present moment. Is going to happen. Yes, You walk in the savannah and there is a lion standing there. That's clear and immediate. And if you don't find a very tall tree, You're probably going to end up as this guy's dinner. Yes, Not many cases like that in the world. At least not for us in the Western world. So survival modes, Make sure that you're dealing with clear and immediate danger. Otherwise, You'll see you're just reacting to images, To ideas that you have and you heard about a possible danger in the future. And you're triggered because of past trauma. Most of the time, This is the case. But let's go back to hope and this image of imprisonment. You know, Think about that as an allegory to our situation as human beings. Most of us live in a self-created prison. And the bars of our prison is our stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves and about life. Usually in a form of a fear. All kinds of fears and objections and rejections. And opinions we have about life. So these bars are not actually there to keep us escaping. Those bars are there to keep life from not entering. Do you see that? We hope to avoid the pain that life may inflict by sheltering in a prison cell. This is what usually happens. So sitting here hoping that one day we will be released. It's futile, I tell you. Futile because you created that cell and only you can release yourself from it. Such a beautiful allegory. You know, There are very rare individuals who actually believe that that cell can be opened. By themselves. Most of the people sit and wait hoping that somebody would come and release them. Or some situation, You know, Different than this one of course, Will manifest so they can be released. A very small group of people, Of individuals, Believe that they have the power to open that cage. And even a smaller group actually try the key to see if it works. And those rare individuals that actually open the cage and step out, You know what happens. They look back and they realize that there is no cage. There never was a cage. It's just an illusion. But this you can only see from the outside. As long as you are trapped in your own set of beliefs and ideas, It feels very real, Very vivid. What do you say? Dr. Tammy says, I have a letter exchange with a prisoner that's deep into spirituality and he's more free than most people I know. Yeah, Many examples like that, You know. Viktor Frankl read his book about. . . A Man's Search for Meaning. Searching for Meaning, Yeah. In the concentration camps. Many, Many examples. Physical walls are not the issue. The issue is the walls that you create around yourself. Imaginary walls. Karma says people survive crisis and hardship because of life's longing for itself, Like a flower bud. Life will continue on and grow. How it grows is up to our choices and thoughts. Not everyone can master it quickly, But every day is that miracle. Again, Don't worry about the process. It's inevitable. Things change. And you influence that change, Whether you are aware of it or not, Whether you accept it or not. There's no other way. You influence that change. What should be of concern to you is what is your motivation to change? So why are faith and hope together as concepts? Why are they each required? What's the difference between faith and hope? It's a beautiful question. Faith is accepting a higher consciousness. Accepting that there is something bigger than you playing. Faith is the ego being humble to realize it's not the center of the universe. Faith is accepting a higher, Bigger, Wider consciousness, Bigger mind than the small mind that we all obtain. This is faith. And realizing that there's no way for us in our small mind capabilities to understand, To realize the big mind, The mystery of life. To understand life as a concept. There's no way. And this is not the purpose of the mind. This is faith. And the difference between faith and hope, I would say, They are very similar. Their energy is very similar. But you can have faith without hope. Hope is included in faith. You can have faith without hope. You see, Hope is the leftovers of the ego. If you bring hope into faith, It's like carrying, You know, The weight of the ego into the big mind. Do you see what I'm saying? Hoping that I will gain something out of it. When you realize there's a bigger consciousness playing here, Faith is there, But hope is not required. Actually, When you have the full realization of faith, You realize that hope has no meaning whatsoever. Because there's nobody there left to gain anything. How can the greater consciousness gain anything when it's already the manifestation of everything? You see what I'm saying? So I would say hope is a part of faith, But you can be faithful without hope. Beautiful. So Peter is saying faith is like almost knowing that it will happen, That it will happen. Faith is a wish that it will happen. Yeah. Faith is like almost knowing that it will happen. Hope is a wish that it will happen. My definition of faith stems from a belief in something. But you all are describing it something different. Dr. Tammy is saying faith is a deep knowing, Not an intellectual knowing. Yeah. Faith can start as me believing in an idea, In a concept of whatever, God. Faith can be a doorway to the direct experience. Like religion can be a doorway to faith. You see? It could, It can, It can be like that. First, There is a belief in a concept of God, Of divinity. Why do you need to believe? Because you don't have a direct experience of it. If you have a direct experience of something, You don't need to believe in it anymore, Do you? You believe in something because somebody told you, Or you read about it in a book, Or whatever. There is an idea, Okay, I believe this is something, A description of a truth, Some higher truth that is currently not accessible to me, But I strive to achieve in the future. It can be based on belief. But it can also be an existential state of being, Faith. Because you are realized as a manifestation of a big mind. And faith is the way you express your love in it. So faith as a belief comes from an intellectual concept of something. But faith that comes out of a direct experience is something that is naturally. . . It's like a funnel to allow the love that you manifest to flow into the world. Imagine a funnel, Like an existential funnel, Through which the love is manifested into the reality, Into the physical world. Through this connection of me as a manifestation of a higher consciousness. Embodied entity of love. On the white path, Faith is just an expression of who you are. You don't need to believe in anything. I don't ask you to believe in anything that is suggested here on the white path. Don't believe it. Test it. See if it works for you. See if it echoes as an invitation for your heart to open. If it doesn't, Throw it away. Don't worry about it. It's garbage. Don't hold to it as an idea. Like, Don't hold to any idea whatsoever. Everything you hold on to is destined to rot. So the invitation for this week is, Imagine yourself free of hope that a better reality should manifest. That a better version of yourself needs to manifest before you can be happy. Free of that hope. Even if the ego says, No, No, No, No, No, No, You're gonna lose every last bit of motivation you have. As bad as it seems now, It will be much worse if you lose hope that it will get better. Whatever. Dive into that state of hopelessness. Dive deep into it. Allow yourself to just drown in it. And see what happens. This is an exercise for the courageous. Huh? Very helpful. Will you post this recording? I promise I will. Only if you promise that you're going to share it with other people. Share this invitation. Don't be stingy about it. Share it with other people. Every one of you knows at least three, Four people that are desperate. They need help. They need some guidance. Some structure. They need hope. Reach out. Reach out actively. Reach out. Tell them, Listen, Listen to that. There's only one hour. It's worthwhile your time. What do you say? Joy says, I love that. Good, Good, Good. So we can meet next week and share our experience of hopelessness. How does it influence our availability to experience life as it is? Good, Good, Good. So thank you very much for coming and sharing this hour with us. Well, Bye-bye. Namaste. Love you really much. Bye-bye.