Letting Go: A Meditation On Surrender And Allowing

59:49

59:49

Letting Go: A Meditation On Surrender And Allowing

by Bassam Younes

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talks

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Meditation

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Freedom begins where resistance ends. This extended meditation guides you through the art of surrender — releasing control and opening to life’s natural flow. Experience deep emotional release, spaciousness, and inner peace.

Meet your Teacher

Sydney NSW, Australia

Meet your Teacher

Sydney NSW, Australia

Transcript

Let's sit with the feet on the ground and let's start differently than we usually do. Let's start with doing some breathing to ground, To anchor, To center. So this breathing technique we've shared before, I don't know if you remember Oscar, But I know Andrea you haven't done it before, So I'll share it with you very quickly. It's called 20 connected breaths. It's basically 20 seconds. It's a breathing technique that was shared by Leonard Orr, The father of modern breathwork. So it's 20 breaths and it's broken into four cycles. Each cycle is five breaths. Each of the five breaths or the four breaths are fast and the fifth is long and deep. So it looks like this. It's a nose breath technique and we breathe high up into the diaphragm, Into the chest. So it's not in the belly, But the belly can work. It's not a problem. So it's in and out through the nose and we're breathing up high towards the clavicles, Towards the neck area. So it looks like this. I'm going to show you. I'll do one for your benefit. One cycle to show you what it looks like. So it's in and out through the nose. I'm going to animate it with my hands, But of course you don't use your hands. You don't move your hands. So it's like this. And the fifth is long and deep. So that was one cycle and we do that for four cycles. And that's a total of 20. So let's start with that. And this is a wonderful technique, Breathing technique to start with meditation, To start to talk also to ground. If you have a meeting, If you're feeling a bit of anxiety, A little stress, Maybe you catch yourself in traffic and you're getting a bit anxious, You can just stop. And I don't mean stop the traffic. If your traffic has already stopped, You could just do this 20 second breathing. I should add it's also great on the toilet if you're constipated. Don't need to say that, But it could truly be useful for someone. So it's a really great technique to do in order to ground, To center and to anchor into being again before anything you have to do, Particularly meditation. So let's start with that. We do it with the eyes closed, But you can keep your eyes open if you need to see what it looks like. I did one cycle. We do four cycles. So let's go ahead and start together. And once we've done this technique, Then we'll open our eyes again and then we'll take up our conversation about releasing. And we'll take up our conversation also about karma as a memory and see if we can leverage deeper understanding about these important subjects in daily life. Okay, So let's close our eyes and let's take a moment to feel the feet on the ground and to feel the hands, Perhaps your hands are together or on top of your lap, Wherever they are. And from here, We're going to start to do this 20 breaths. I'm going to start for myself. Please just go ahead and join in. Don't worry about making noises. Don't worry about what it sounds like. And it's you at your own rhythm. I'm going to start for myself. Please go ahead and join in. Just pretend you're okay. Just four cycles. Now let in the breath, Come back to normal. Let your eyes open. Chances are, Your inner climate will have undergone some kind of change. Some of us who don't breathe regularly will actually feel almost as if we are overheated. That's a significator of how little we breathe. Chances are also you'll feel that you're a little bit more grounded, A little bit more in the room. We're more connected with ourselves. This is what makes it particularly interesting as a very quick breathing technique when we have a meeting of some sort also. Because we generally find ourselves when we are going to a meeting of some sort or when we're even catching up with someone we haven't seen for a while, You notice that the mind is very active. It's entertaining all sorts of stuff that it's going to say and that it's going to do and how it's going to receive that person and so on. So we're very mental. And doing this can allow us to ground, To connect into the beingness of ourselves. It's wonderful. And as I mentioned earlier, It's also great, As a precursor to meditation that before you sit, You do these 20 breaths. It calms the emotions. It clears the mind. It makes the body more conducive for the practice. But here we're using it because we're about to start a little conversation, To have a little conversation about releasing, As Luca offered, What that means and why that might be a good idea. And also we'll see if we can touch on what you've said, Eleni, About living in memory. And whether actually others do the same. Sometimes we notice that we have a particular way about us and it can feel lonely. We want to know, Are others the same as us? I can reassure you or I can assure you that yes, The majority of us live in memory. And what that means is that we live in our karmic blueprint because that's what memory is. Karma is a memory. I am what I am, So to speak, Physiologically, Emotionally, Mentally, Because of my karmic reality, My karmic past. We know that, As we said earlier, They do not do this because it's bad karma, So we admit that an action today will have a repercussion down the line, Will have a result, Will have an outcome. So I am today the outcome of my past. Am I not? Physically, I am definitely the outcome of my past. Emotionally, I am the outcome of my past. Mentally, My mental tendencies, The Hindus, They call them samskaras. So this is why we call karma a memory. That's how it seems to me. So we can take a look and see also how that's the case, How we live the blueprint of our karma. But is there a way out of that? And is that what freedom is? Is that what liberation is? Is that what nirvana, The term nirvana, That's used, Is that what awakening is, To awaken out of my karmic blueprint? Because my karma is also my limit. My possibility within that reality, True, But it represents also my limit. My body is my physical limit. My emotionality is my emotional limit. My mind is my mental limit. It's also my mental opportunity, My emotional opportunity, My physical opportunity, But only within that field. But awakening is to awaken out of that memory, To awaken out of my karmic blueprint, To open up the field. And for that to happen, There must be something in me that exists outside of the realm of memory, Or outside the realm of karma. In other words, There must be something in me which does not subscribe to the limit of karma. Karma is a limit and an opportunity that this limit represents, But it is a blueprint. It's my karmic past that determines what I look like. For example, You see, You didn't know your, I think, Sad guru, Actually, Maybe I've heard him say that. He says, You don't know your great-grandfather, But you've got his nose. Right? You maybe, I like that one because I think most of us have listened to, Maybe can remember that. He says, You don't remember, You never met your great-great-great-grandfather, But you have his eyes, Or you have his ears, Or you have his nose. How is that possible? Because we're acting, And we are building, And we're developing out of a blueprint. So the physicality, The emotionality, And the mentality is a product of that blueprint that represents its limit as well as its capacity. It's not only that, Arguably, The mind, For example, It's capable of much more than that, But nevertheless it has its limits. But there is something else in us that is beyond the limit of the physical, Beyond the limit of the emotional, And beyond the limit of the mind. It's beyond memory, Beyond karma, Beyond time. And that something, Of course, Is consciousness, Awareness, The spark of consciousness. And that's a fascinating thing to entertain for a moment, Is that within this limited structure of mind, Within this limited physiology, Biology, Chemistry, Body, Mind, Emotions, Within this limited reality, There is something that is limitless. Within this thing, This body that exists in time and that is subject to the law of time, There is something which is timeless. Within this body that exists in the here and now, Geographically, Locally, In other words, It's presenting here, There is something that is beyond here and now, Beyond time, Beyond space. So that the limited and the limitless. Remember this from Sunday? Yes. It's hard to describe that in words. But within this physical form that is subject to space and time, There is something which is timeless. And we recognize that as awareness. We recognize that as consciousness. It's not an objective thing that can be identified in any way, That can be said to have some feature or some characteristic. It can't be described using the five senses. But nevertheless, It is there. It is. Well, It isn't. It is and it isn't because it's not and it is and it's not there or here. It's everywhere simultaneously. It's like electricity is not anywhere really, But it's everywhere. But it's localized as the energy that allows light to exist or to make the fridge run or to make any of these things turn on. So this consciousness maybe is something similar. It's everywhere. But it's timeless. So that's an amazing thing that within this body that exists in time, There is something that is timeless. Let's really take that in for a second. Within your body that is subject to space and time, Beginning and ending, Subject to the law of karma, Memory. It is a memory. The body is a memory. It always remembers to look like this. I mean, What the hell? It must be a memory. There must be some memory. Would you agree? And within this, There is something that is timeless. In other words, It does not belong, That is not limited by the reality of the body. So we have the limit and the limitless conjoined or related. Now, When you look in the mirror, When I look at myself, I see my memory, I see my physicality. So we don't have to go anywhere in order to find that which belongs to time. The body. You can all see your body, Right? But how do we recognize the timeless? How do we recognize? So we recognize that which belongs to time. But how do we in this instant right now recognize the timeless? Can we recognize it first of all? We must be able to. The consciousness, The watcher. Yes, The seeing, The seeing, Awareness. Yes, Awareness. So awareness is aware of the body. It is not the body that is aware of awareness. Awareness is aware of the body. And awareness is aware of awareness. So awareness can be aware of the body and it knows it is there. Look, I'm looking at my body right now. OK. Now I can also be aware of awareness itself. That which is aware of the body can be aware of itself as awareness. And that's why I always call it aware aware. Aware aware. You seem a little confused by this probably because this is new to you maybe. But right now, For example, Are you aware if I ask you that question? Aware of myself? No, Are you aware? Just aware? No. How do you know? Because I'm thinking to answer your question. How do you know you are not aware? How do you know you are thinking to answer the question? There has to be awareness there, Right? Otherwise you wouldn't be aware that you're thinking to answer that question. Otherwise you wouldn't be aware that you're not aware as you say. There has to be awareness there. Awareness is just the ground reality. You wouldn't be able to do anything if there was no awareness. You wouldn't know. There has to be awareness. Right? Can you see that or no? Can there be anything without awareness? Self-consciousness? Not as ideas. Ideas will not take us anywhere with this. So if we just drop these words and so on, Let's just go straight to our own reality right now. Are you aware that you're here? You have to be. It's not a trick question. I'm aware I'm here. There's nothing really. . . Do you also see that? I know I'm here. Yeah. I'm aware of that. I'm aware that I'm holding a cup. I'm aware I'm looking at this. I'm aware I'm sitting. Awareness is the bottom. It's the first point. It's before everything else. If you weren't aware you wouldn't know anything. How do you know you're thinking? I'm aware. How do you know you're not thinking? I'm aware. How do you know you're sitting? I'm aware. Awareness is the common denominator in everything. It's the background. It's the beginning of everything. We tend to make the mistake of thinking that the thinking is the awareness. Correct. And that's usually what happens. When I feel my body I don't need to think. I just know that I'm aware. I'm not tingling the life sensation. So awareness is the bottom line. It's the pre. . . It's pre-everything. It's awareness. And then everything else. Are you aware that you are? Can anybody take that away from you? Are you aware that you are? For example, I'm without mind. Don't complicate it, Let's say. Are you aware that you are? Not sure. You don't have to think about it. You are. You are. How can you not be? Am I aware that I am? Yes, I'm aware I am. If I don't bring the mind into it, If I don't use what I've been using all my life to try to live the intellect, Which just complicates things, The reality is self-revealing. I am. I don't have to think about that. There's nothing for me to think about. I am. I am this or that. These are intellectual concepts. But I am. Can you see that for yourself? Are you or are you not? You're not. You would be the only person that has ever lived who is not. I mean in the history of our species. Are you not right now? There's no way to go. Don't go to the mind. Just answer yes or no. Are you or not? Are you right now? Am I myself? Are you? No, There's no self. That's the mind. That's an added thing. Are you, Are you not? Am I not what? Are you or are you not? I know it's complex because when all we've used is the mind, It can seem really conflicting because that's all we've been using to help us. But here the question is asking you to go, To let go of that. Release. We're coming to our topic progressively. Here you've been asked to let go of that. Are you or are you not? For example, Where do I have to go to know? Do I have to go anywhere to know if I am? Where am I? Am I here? Yeah, I am. Is it only mentally or. . . ? I just know I am here. So do you. So does everybody. Everybody knows that. Everybody that has ever existed and will ever exist knows that. It's the only thing you can know actually. Everything else can be confused or can be doubted, But that you are cannot. Do you say I or do you say something else? Are you an I? I am. Is that you also? I? When you say to your mother, I'm going to call you, Do you say the word I? Yeah. So you are an I. I. I'm not saying I, You. I'm saying I, Right? When you say, Are you here, And I say who? Me? Am I pointing at somebody else or myself? My finger is pointing at me, Right? Yeah. That's what I call me, I. I'm not saying that that is me in the most essential sense, But that's I, Right? Isn't that I your I? Are you here right now? Just answer. It's not, There's no real, It's not a, No one will get marks for that and drop out of the mind if you can. Even your feet will be able to answer that question. If you can feel your feet on the ground, Can you feel your feet on the ground? When you mention it, I start to notice it. That's the only time that I'm asking you. I'm asking you now. So can you feel it now? Yeah, Wonderful. Yeah. How do you know that your feet are bubbling or you can feel them? Because of the sensations. Right. What is aware of the sensations? Is it Luca or you? Who is aware of your sensations in your feet? Look at me. Stay with me because the complication is so unnecessary. If I said to my anybody, Even actually the truth of this is the fact that I can say it to a child. How do you know? Because I know I can feel it, They will say. Okay, That's why. That's why you know. But you're, The feeling in your feet right now, Who knows it, You or me? Me. Okay, Thank you. That's all I wanted. So you agree that you are here? Yes? No? Okay. We'll pass through that. So there is something in us that awareness is the one thing that we all have in common. Right now we are here, We're not anywhere else. Is that true? Yes. What is here? Is it, I'm here. Is it you that is here now? Is it you or is it somebody else that's here right now? It's really not rocket science. You have the answer, But I'm not sure why you are resisting that. Only you can know. And it is mental. You're resisting that because you think it should be complex. It's not. There it is, This thing. It has just sat down. I'm here. And I know that I'm here because I am, Because I'm aware of it. Sometimes I'm not aware of it because I'm preoccupied with the mind. But even when I'm not aware of it, In other words, When the mind is not aware of it, Awareness is aware of it. So this is a wonderful opportunity to see the complexity that the mind provides in us all. When the answer is so simple or the reality is so simple, But we use the mind as a medium between reality and ourselves, We're using a middle man to do our work for us. And because we have celebrated it for so long, We've celebrated the mind as the way of living, That now we have become identified, The eye, The awareness, Thinks it is the mind. It doesn't realize it's not the mind. It just doesn't realize it. It doesn't realize that I'm not my thinking. It doesn't realize that it is silence, Stillness. Awareness is silence. Awareness is stillness. Awareness is emptiness. Awareness is the field within which everything appears. The body is in awareness. Awareness is not in the body, Really, If we wanted to speak in the truest sense. The outside is not outside. It's inside awareness. Everything is appearing where? In my vision, Right? Everything is appearing in my vision. But then we say, But no, It's because my eyes are seeing. No, My eyes are not seeing. My eyes are not seeing reality. No. Reality is in my awareness. My eyes are also in my awareness. There's not someone behind my eyes that's looking at the world. There is not this basan. Now, This is very confusing stuff. I understand that. Especially when we have been so identified with the body also. In other words, The timeless is identified with that which exists in time. So that which is timeless in us is identified with that which is in time. So the timeless thinks it is also part of time. No. The meditation experience shows that. Self-inquiry shows that. To whom does this body appear? To me. Who am I? I am this body. Who says that? Who sees that? Who wants to know me? Who am I? What is the nature of this I? Well, It's the body. No, It's not. The body is appearing in awareness. The body is an after-fact. You go to sleep, For example, Awareness remains. Where's the body? The body is sleeping, But there is awareness. But we think that awareness is awareness of something. So we don't recognize it as just awareness. Without add-ons. Awareness. Like a baby. Before a baby knew it was a baby, Was it not itself? Of course it was. A baby learned that it was a baby. What was it before it knew it was a baby? It had no memory of itself being a baby. It experienced itself, But it didn't know that what it has experienced is called a baby. It didn't even know that it was a body. It had no idea. It was even not the mother. So what is that awareness? That is the primordial awareness. Before I become myself, I am. This can seem very confusing. I understand that. But this is what is expected of us today, Is to begin to separate our identification with form. Because we are formless beings. We are not form. The body comes and goes, But awareness does not. It's ever there. So another example, Hopefully to assist, Not to confuse anymore, Then it must already be. When you close your eyes, You meet the same person that you were when you were two years old. That same sense of being. I'm not talking about the thoughts. That's not you. But you open your eyes and look at the mirror, You see that you are not that two year old anymore. You have changed. Particularly when the aging process comes, When you start to hit 40, 50, And you start to notice it beautifully, You start to see the coloration of your gray hair coming. It's obvious you are changing the wrinkles. It's obvious. But then you close your eyes and you see that you haven't changed. So this is the relationship between that which exists in time, The body, And that which exists in no time, Timeless, Awareness. Awareness does not change. I close my eyes, There's awareness. It hasn't changed. This is not the body that is aware. That's the difficulty here, Because we usually think that it's the body that's aware. No, Awareness is aware of the body. The body is not aware of awareness. The body cannot do anything on its own. Are you following this at all? A little bit? Yeah. But you have had that experience. You close your eyes, You see it's you. You open your eyes, You see your face, And you think, Oh, That which was when you had your eyes closed, And what you're looking at is the same thing. It's not. It's just the most obvious thing that yet this is the biggest identity crisis that we're faced with. We think that just because I open my eyes and I see this body that that's me. No, It's not. Behind this me there is this awareness, Timeless awareness, Having a relationship with physical reality that exists in time. It's a relationship between spirit and matter. Spirit and matter. So we have all had that experience, Right? We talked about that on Sunday. We've all had that experience where you close your eyes, You see, May have been you could you may as well be 14. It's still the same, Ever constant, Unchanging. Then you open the eyes, You see, Oh, Oh, Yeah, I have aged. It's the body that has aged. That is still the same. And as I think Eleni or Liza said on Sunday, You said, I think many people who are over 50, 60 and so on, They describe 80. They say, You know, I still feel the same as I always did. Just my body is different. Have you heard that also from them? Have you ever met any person who has said that? Have you, Luca? Yeah. I can feel it myself. Yeah. It's quite common that old people like 80s and so on say, Oh, It's just my body. I feel I feel like I'm still a kid. I just can't do what I want to do anymore. Right. That's because the awareness, The self, What we really are, The essential nature is timeless. So, Please. I feel that as human, The mind always wants to add something. I am, Who, What, How. It wants always a further definition. If we stop to I am, It's the power of that. Yes. That's all we need to know. I am. And everything else is an add-on. That's true. That's my formula for that. As I maybe you've heard that I plus am equals me. Take away the am. All that remains is I. Not I something. I. Aware. But because we used to identify with the body, Even when the eyes open, Say I, And the I, The open eyes are seeing the body and thinking, Oh, That must be the body. No. I. The body is an add-on. The I does not need the body. How do I know that? Well, Your I doesn't need my body. It's the same I. It's the thing that we have all in common. There's only one electricity and many light bulbs. There's only one sun and much rays of sun, So to speak. This body acts on behalf of this I, The singular I, The All, The Totality, The Buddha field, The Godhead. And I can experience it as myself in this form, Even if others are reluctant. I am embodied consciousness. I am embodied Godhead. I am the embodied Buddha field. I am embodied consciousness. I am not a body. I am embodied consciousness. And when I become aware of consciousness, When I begin to discern consciousness, When I begin to recognize consciousness, It becomes so obvious. And now what I have to do is to try to look at this I, This consciousness, And go to the next level. What is it? Not to answer it with the mind, Because you cannot. The mind is stepping down. This is beyond the mind. You cannot intellectualize it. You cannot say anything about it with the tool of the thinking. But now the awareness, The consciousness, Says, What is my nature? Who am I? Awareness is aware of itself, Is looking at itself. It's caught itself now. It has seen itself. I am the embodied consciousness. I am not the body. I am the consciousness embodied in it. And it looks like this, Aware, Aware. And then I can now ask, What is the nature of this thing? What is the essence of it? In order to maintain awareness of it, Aware, Aware, Aware, Aware, Aware, Until all there is is this awareness. The body carries on. The body continues to do. The body continues to talk. The body continues to listen, To make sculpture, To talk on the phone. But now there is no possibility of losing this awareness. It's just there, Continuously. And in the beginning, It's there, But there is this continuing mistake in it for the body. But then if I can refute this, I am neti neti, Not this body, Aware, Aware. I've spent a lifetime believing that I am this body. Now it's time to decouple, To separate. I'm just awareness. Aware, Aware, Aware, Aware. And just witnessing, Witnessing. And the beauty of witnessing. So letting go, To see if we can touch on this idea of releasing. We see that it has all to do with the mind. Releasing. Now, What did you mean specifically when you suggested we have a little chat about it? I felt that we are memories of our past experiences, Our past lives, If you believe in that. And those experiences, They get locked in us. And that's where the energy doesn't flow properly. So by releasing those things, By releasing an idea of ourself, That is not what we truly are, That can help us to feel better, I guess. On a very practical level. Is there a specific example so that we can work with it practically then? There doesn't have to be, But maybe there is. Could it be something, For example, Something's troubling me, And I'm holding on to it, I'm stuck to it, Or stuck on it, Something like that? Or I want to find a new path in life, And I base my future on my past experiences. But to me, A resume for work, It's just looking at your past, Not your attention. Well, What is maintaining my current state anyway? It's the mind. It's holding on to the idea of me. Yes. And what is the mind? Something that I've been, That I've identified myself with. Yes. And what is that? I mean, Is there such a thing, Apart from the word? If we get rid of the word mind, What are we left with? Habits? Tendencies? Compulsions? Programs? Past. Past. Memory? Developed stuff? If we don't have a word for the mind, Is that what we're left with? It's a bit disturbing, Isn't it? Thoughts that act as impulses to move us into action, Like lightning in the night sky? An electrical charge? Is that what a thought is? An electrical charge? It can be. But it's interesting to ask the question, If we don't have a word for that, What are we left with? That means we have to go direct to the experience. When I say, Get rid of the word, I have to go somewhere. Something in me retracts, Retraces, Pulls back, And tries to look. Have you noticed that? I say, If you have no word for the mind, What is left? You notice how something in you gets short-circuited for a moment and it tries to look? What is that thing that's trying to look? First of all, What is that thing that's trying to look? There is awareness. It's trying to see. And what do we find? Emptiness. We find nothing. We find a word, But that's mind, Or that's a thought. That's a thought. But if you get rid of the word thought, What are you looking at? You're looking at this thing. What is looking? Is it the eyes? No. Get rid of the word eyes. What are you left with? You have to see. Get rid of the word woman. What are you left with? Hi, What are you? I am a man. Get rid of the word man. I am a. . . I have to look. I have to feel. I have to see. The word gets. . . It's an interference. The word veils reality. It does not describe it. The word veils reality. It hides reality. It does not describe it. So if you get rid of the word man, Woman, What are you? You have to feel. You have to experience direct. And if you keep refusing the word, If you keep refusing the idea that you know, Because that's the problem, People think they know. But if you get rid of the idea that you know, You have to meet reality direct. What is this? I have no word for it. No need for any words. Now that? There's no need for any words. No, Exactly. I am in the experience, Aren't I? And what is found in the experience? Beauty. Joy. A sense of coming home. The word was keeping me away. So mind. It's this habituated process. All we're dealing with is this habit, These developed habits that have been cultivated, Nurtured over time, Over repeat. They have a beginning. Begins with an impulse, An impulse that I think about. I think about it twice, Three times, Four times. Suddenly a thought is born. That's the first thought. Then I think about that thought again and again, And then I have two thoughts. And this is the beginning of a mind, What we call a mind. Two thoughts, Three thoughts, Four thoughts. But all they are born out of an impulse of separation. I am not my mother. It's an impulse. Oh, That's a bit strange. I am not everything. I must be separate. That's the first thought. I am not my mother. I am me. Oh, I am a me. I think about that. A belief is born. I am separate. That's the first seed of the mind, Is the belief that I am separate. I am a separate entity. I must be this body. I must be this name. I must be this sex. I must be this nationality. All these come after the impulse. So the mind is this collection of thoughts that I thought about, Beliefs that I learned to believe, Habits, Tendencies, Processes. But if I get rid of the word mind, Where are they all? What am I left with? Nothing. I am left in this emptiness, That emptiness. If I can accept that emptiness, I can recognize that emptiness as myself. The beginning, When I was a baby, Before I became somebody, I was a nobody. And if I get rid of the word, I am that nobody again. Wow! I'm nobody again. Free, Without the associations of this body. A good body, Bad body, Naughty body, Happy body, Successful body, So on. I could have been a contender. What was his name? Marlon Brando. I could have been a somebody. It's better to be a nobody. Being nobody. Nobody. That's freedom. Allow. So when we talk about releasing, Letting go, We see that we're dealing with habits, Processes that have been built over time. That have been built and nurtured and cultivated. And I have become identified with them. I'm invested in these habits. I'm just like that, People say. But I like doing that. My needs are this and that and so on. So what is the state of letting go? What is the state of releasing? In other words, We're talking about what is the state of going beyond my karma, Beyond my memory? Because it's the same thing, Isn't it? So how do I do that? What is available to me? What must happen in me in order for me to be in a continuous, Hopefully, Eventually, A continuous state of letting go, When nothing touches me anymore? So long I'm identified with the mind, I'm going to have an opinion. So long I think I am the voice in my head, I'm going to be favorable to some things and against some things. So long I think I am the voice in my head, The thinking mind, I'm going to be pro some things and anti other things. In other words, I'm going to have a mind position about whether it's politics, Whether it's, I don't know, What else is there? It's all politics, Isn't it? I'm going to have an opinion, I'm going to have a position. No, You know, Smokers are no good. Smokers are good. It's a position. But if I'm not identified with the voice that says smoking is good or smoking is no good, If I'm not identified, I don't have a position about that. I'm free. And there is a tremendous joy in this freedom. Sugar is good, Sugar is bad, I don't care. I just don't take it. That's fine. Exactly. You see? Are we, Are we, Are you following me? So, How can I be in a continuous state of letting go in order for my body to begin to release its history? Because so long I am identified with my voice in my head, The voice in my head is going to keep, It has a relationship with my emotions and it has a relationship with my body. So those energy blockages are going to continue. I can't work on my body alone. My body will build up again. The energy blocks. That's why releasing must happen physical, Emotional and mental simultaneously. If the program is still there, The body will develop the cancer again. We know that repeatedly. So, How do we let go of this identification with the mind's voice? That's really what we're talking about. And there's only one way of doing that. First we have to recognize it. There is a voice in my freaking head. And no, It's not me. Now, If you already know that the voice in your head is not you, That is a huge step. You're one of probably a small percentage in the face of the planet. Because the majority of people believe that the voice in their head is them. It's me speaking. I am thinking. No, I've never thought a single thing. I have no idea how to think. How would I know? It just happens. Everything just happens to me. I don't do anything. Everything is happening. My sight just happens. My hearing. Do I have to figure out how to hear you? Or do you have to do it? No, It just happens. So there's a greater intelligence there. Why are we not mindful of that? Everything is done to me. Everything is done for me. This life experience is a done for you experience. You don't have to do anything. In fact, If you have to do anything, You just have to get out of the way. And that's what it means to let go. Get out of the way. But first we have to recognize the voice. If we recognize the voice, At first say, I recognize the voice, But that's me. That's already a step. You recognize the voice. Then the second step is I recognize the voice and now I know it's not me. I don't really believe it, But that's already a progress. The third step is I see the voice in my head and I see that it's not me. And then I see the voice in my head. I see that it's not me because I see me. My voice comes and goes. The thoughts come and go, But the awareness is always there. My thinking comes and goes, But the awareness is always there. The image of my body comes and goes, But the awareness is always there. The image comes into my awareness and goes out of my awareness. The same thing as silence. Sound comes out of silence and goes back into silence. Silence is the original reality, True or not. Where does sound come from? Silence. Can you see that? Does silence come out of words or do words come out of silence? Before noise, What was there? No noise. True? Yes. So let's call silence no noise. So noise comes out of no noise. Also movement comes out of stillness. Movement comes out of no movement. Before movement there was what? No movement. Before being there was no being. And that no being is the light of your awareness. Not your eyes, Awareness. So now the awareness is aware of itself and it's becoming interested in itself. First awareness is interested in the voice. Now it sees itself and it becomes very interested in itself. Aware, Aware. It becomes fascinated because awareness is so charming. Awareness is from another world. Awareness is the eye of the divine looking into the physical reality. It's in you. It's in me. That which is looking. It's like God getting a look in, In, Looking in, Looking into the situation in every single one of us. It's like space being peeled apart and the eye of the divine looking in. It's like space, You're splitting it, Stretching it apart and the divine light looking in. Something from another reality. Something from another dimension. That's what is looking right now. But because that something that is looking thinks it's the eyes and it is the body, It doesn't see itself. But the minute it sees itself it starts to get, It starts to remember. It starts to. . . And if it avoids, Ignores thinking, Letting go, Releasing means surrendering your thoughts that will drag you back down. Thoughts will bring you back to the body. Awareness is not in the body. The body, Mind, Awareness, Consciousness. Right? A thought is the medium between awareness and the body. The middle man. But when the mind, The thoughts that were looking at the body now turn around and look at the light of awareness, Everything falls apart. It's like. . . It's like the thing you've been looking for is found. So, How do we exist in a state of letting go? We first have to recognize the voice in the head. And then we have to become convinced that this voice is not me. And the minute we become convinced this voice is not me, The thing that is looking, That is me, Becomes noticed. And now the noticing stays on noticing itself. And something is lit up. And then everything carries on. But with the looking, The looking is looking at the looking, Comes out every now and then. And wonderful conversations like this with us keep reminding us, Keep bringing us back. Because the world does not support our realization. It will bring us back to the mind and back to the body. You must succeed in the world. You must do this, You must do this. That's fine. But you can do all of this without losing contact with awareness. Liza, You're sitting here right now, You're looking out. You know, I don't need your awareness. You can just keep it on yourself. And if you cannot find it immediately, You can begin with your hands on your knees. You can feel your hands. That will help the feet. That will help. Oscar, The same thing, Feeling the hands. Same thing, You're feeling the cups, The cup in your hand, The touch. Stay with that. Don't worry about what is being said. That takes you back into yourself because the world is continuously dragging you out. You've got to come back to be anchored within again, To be centered within again. So we're going to stop now and then go into our meditation.