I love the term,
The ground of being feels very evocative to me somehow.
I don't know why.
Something about that sense of.
.
.
Yeah,
Just that somehow that.
.
.
Phrase sort of points to the is the deep rootedness of being,
You know,
The kind of the basis of everything.
The ground.
So I just want to spend a few minutes.
Feeling that ground and noticing as is the case with all these sort of instructions to feel the ground,
The discovery.
To be had is that That's what we're always feeling is the ground.
But let's just spend a little bit of time noticing that.
So the.
.
.
The most basic thing we could say about.
What's occurring?
I mean,
We could have a gazillion different theories about what's happening and why it's happening.
All the thoughts we may have about what's happening,
All the interpretations of what's happening.
Desires maybe for it to.
Be a certain way or not be a certain way.
But what's most basic about What's happening is that it is happening,
Right?
That the moment is here.
No matter how it seems to be presenting itself.
And in turn how that presentation is being.
Rendered by the interpreting consciousness No matter.
Just feel the sheer existence.
This.
Of this that's appearing.
In all its.
.
.
Complexity,
Seeming complexity,
Ian.
The diverse flavors and textures and qualities,
Right?
At the basis of all of those.
Is this ground of being,
Isn't it?
The fact at the moment is that's its ground,
Its being.
Again,
The key thing to see is that this is true regardless of how the ground of being is presenting itself So often we're focused on how it's presenting itself and then.
.
.
Drawing all sorts of conclusions about that presentation,
Right?
Do I like it?
Do I not like it?
Will I be okay?
Will I not be okay?
Is this what I want?
Is it not what I want?
Is this.
.
.
Is this freedom?
Is this somehow the absence of freedom?
You see all those different ways we're.
.
.
Talking to ourselves about what it is and what we think of it.
That's all.
All there,
But.
.
.
But meanwhile,
This rock-solid ground of being,
The fact,
The sheer fact.
Of the moment.
This is so undeniable.
Just let yourself feel.
Truth of that.
The truth of this ground.
Notice as you feel this ground of being,
The being of the moment.
Again regardless of its presentation.
Notice that You don't find.
.
.
Or I'll ask you as a question,
Do you find Someone.
Who's experiencing that ground that's somehow separate from the ground.
Does that make sense?
Here's this experience of the ground of being.
Of the moment the existence of the moment And do you find an experiencer that's separate from the ground?
Even if you found a presumed experiencer.
Isn't that just more of the ground?
Notice how.
.
.
We might think of this ground of being as a place we can get ourselves into.
Through noticing it or some kind of practice or whatever,
Dumb luck.
But just notice that you can't escape the ground of being.
To find something else.
Because whatever you found that presumably was not the ground of being.
Right.
You somehow managed to escape it.
It's a.
.
.
Its reach and be somehow separated from the ground.
Well,
You would be somewhere separated from the ground,
Presumably,
Right?
Supposedly.
And of course,
That would be the ground.
Wherever you find yourself,
That is the ground.
The ground of that moment,
The basis of that moment,
The sheer.
I mean,
Really let yourself feel the presence of.
.
.
Moment it's just It's juicy,
Isn't it?
It's rich.
It's alive.
Vital.
Subtle beyond subtle beyond subtle as to what it is.
The ground of being,
But that it is.
Is not subtle at all it's like the shock of aliveness of the moment is not subtle at all in the sense of It's not hiding.
It's very visible,
Visibly here.
As as your life.
As you're feeling this ground.
Notice that Yes,
Again,
We may often be oriented to our descriptions of how the ground is presenting itself.
Ground of being.
I'm very happy.
I'm very sad.
Very frustrated,
I'm very content,
Whatever.
But it's like.
.
.
Here's the ground,
And the ground could take all sorts of different shapes and forms.
That's its different flavors.
It's different.
Descriptions.
But it's always the ground.
It never deviates from being the ground.
It never departs from being the ground.
No matter what is happening.
No matter what.
Is going on in your life.
In the Apparently.
Larger world outside of you is really inside of you inside the ground it is the ground So no matter what,
Your world,
Quote unquote,
Or the larger world,
Which is one world,
Really,
Whatever it seems to be looking like.
And of course,
It doesn't look any particular way.
It looks like all the different ways.
What's undeniable and unbreakably the case is the ground of being.
And this is one of the things that's so powerful about seeing this,
That it's You can't touch it.
You can't break it.
It's not fragile.
The ground.
It's not fragile.
It doesn't have to be protected,
The ground of being.
Defended it just it is it's the basis of everything it's the absolute reality You feel that.
Beyond.
Powerful.
It's the source.
And basis of all that we might think of as powerful.
It's existence itself.
It's the miracle of existence itself.
And as you're sitting here and visiting,
All the different sort of elements of experiencing that can be arising,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensations,
Memories,
Visual images,
The whole array.
Wherever,
You know,
You seem to be traveling in the realm,
In the field of your experience where consciousness seems to be going all around here and there.
Encountering different phenomena,
Right?
Just as you sit here and attention flits around like a butterfly.
Everywhere it alights,
Whatever it alights on,
Whatever consciousness alights on,
Attention alights on,
It always lands.
And the only place it could ever land.
Which is the ground.
You could land in some stream of worry and rumination.
True as that may seem and be experienced as like,
I'm ruminating,
I'm worrying about something.
You're always landing in the ground because there's no other place to land.
It's the landing ground.
Always.
You feel that?
Always the ground.
Which is why you don't have to change your experience to feel the ground.
You don't have to control your experience or micromanage it or get yourself into some sort of state.
Through meditation or drugs or whatever.
None of that's necessary.
All of that is a distraction,
To be honest.
Because I tell you,
In my own experience and experience of working with other people and listening to other people.
It's like,
I mean,
What,
And you probably have your own reference point for this of like feeling like,
Wow,
You really had it.
You really were in touch with it.
You really were getting it.
And then somehow you lost it.
The ground can't be lost.
Can't really be found either.
Because it just is.
It just is the one thing.
The ground being.
And.
.
.
That's the thing to see.
That's the freedom.
It's the greatest freedom because to know this ground that is the basis of everything,
If you will,
The source,
The Genesis of everything.
No particular.
.
.
Experience or circumstances required.
Right.
So you're no longer conditioned.
Your knowing and being the ground of being.
Doesn't require anything.
Other than we could say to recognize that.
I mean,
It doesn't require that either.
Because in a moment of seeming non-recognition of the ground,
That is the ground.
It's just when you notice that,
As you may be feeling right now.
There's something about that,
Isn't there?
There's something about feeling the unbreakable ground that is everything.
That just feels.
.
.
Like home.
