So it's very helpful right at the beginning to just,
You know,
Closing your eyes is beneficial because it shuts out the eye image,
Imaging.
And most of us,
Of all the senses that we're the most caught in,
It's seeing,
It's the eye.
And if you'll notice,
You can see it in people's,
Like around the eyes,
There'll be an enormous amount of tension that's held in the eyes.
And,
You know,
It's just these like millions and millions and trillions probably of the eye contracting and judging and qualifying and separating and liking and not liking.
All of that happens in the eye sense door,
Right?
So when you close the eye,
It kind of shuts that out.
And then it allows to the attention then kind of instead of looking outside of itself and,
You know,
Doing whatever it does with,
You know,
With the reflection,
It self-reflects,
Right?
And when that kind of can relax,
The attention can automatically come behind the eyes.
You know,
There's this old teaching pointer,
Do you live in front of the eyes or do you live behind the eyes?
So you just kind of let it on its own.
It knows what to do.
It's just opening and relaxing.
And it'll just like the awareness,
The attention will come behind the eyes,
Sort of like almost in the center of the head.
And then rather than trying to like,
You know,
Concentrate and hold the attention in that position,
Do really the opposite.
Just kind of open up and relax.
So it's like a,
You know,
Kind of like that,
Like fan or wings that just kind of just open up.
So there's still kind of a rusting quality that's happening behind the eyes,
But it's not contracted or,
You know,
Concentrated.
It's very open.
In fact,
There's a lot of mystical or spiritual art and it shows that there's this circle right in the center of the forehead and then these wings that kind of come out where the inner eye is often seen as winged like,
Right?
And that's what it's attempting to depict.
And then just let the attention,
And attention is where awareness pours through.
It's like the portal.
And so wherever it lands,
Then that's what it's going to identify as or manifest or magnify.
So,
You know,
It's totally impersonal.
It doesn't care what it magnifies,
Right?
It doesn't have a kind of a spiritual handbook about that.
It just magnifies what it touches,
What it pours through.
So you just bring the attention and just let it like go through the interior of the head and down through the neck and down really into the heart.
And you might get a sense.
My sense is that really what is waking up on the earth is now the ability to actually come from the heart.
And if you sense for yourself,
And you can find it for yourself,
That there's no division that ever happened in the heart,
Like male,
Female,
Spirit,
Form,
Up,
Down,
Divine,
You know,
Expression,
It's never actually ever been divided out.
It's the chakra within the body-mind structure that it's totally whole.
It's never been divided.
And so what is that like when the attention is like behind the heart and again,
That same kind of wing-like expanse,
That opening up?
There's again,
Especially the Sufi symbol is,
You know,
This circle that's the infinite,
Empty quality of your nature and then the wings that,
That,
That furls,
Unfurls.
And it knows no boundary,
No,
It's unbound.
So it's very awake within the body.
It isn't like you're exiting the body.
This isn't an ascension.
It's actually the divine descending into what normally,
Or what averagely,
I guess you would say,
Is not awake.
You know,
The attention is mostly in the head.
And it's not only in the head,
It's looking in front of the eyes.
That's where the images are projected of the mind on the screen of consciousness.
So it's an act of intent of coming back to letting it rest into the back of the heart.
That's where the true heart is.
And,
You know,
As Mark was talking about,
It's also the seed of the soul in the human experience.
And so it perceives in front and to the sides and to the back.
And so it's like a global quality of being.
And then that's where one can actually be in love,
Love without an object,
Right?
It's just love is.
Love is the expression of the silent ground.
And then one just very easily and with,
You know,
Not a strong kind of concentration or intention,
But almost just like,
You know,
Just kind of this off ease of being,
Kind of a feeling of just dropping.
And in the interior of the body,
That's very important.
So much of the training that we've received spiritually,
You know,
Through traditions,
It's sort of created the witness state.
And that's an important step.
But what we're talking about is closing that gap of something that witnesses and then something in front of that that is seen.
It's more like the witness and the witnessing or what is being witnessed collapses.
That's what,
You know,
The teacher,
What he's really pointing out when he says,
You know,
It's lightning in the sky.
It's not separate.
And so then that sense of being,
The heart,
The love,
The open space,
The unfathomable space that comes from this empty ground of all potentiality.
And then that drops even further down like right around the umbilicus and right below into,
You know,
That pelvic bowl.
And the pelvic bowl,
You know,
It's a beautiful description because when you really see that that sense of resting and refuge and,
You know,
There's power and strength in residing in the pelvic bowl.
That's,
You know,
In the body,
The pelvic bowl is really that's the strength of the body.
It holds the body up and then it allows the legs to then move from that place of power and,
You know,
Go down into the earth and then those channels open and the earth can come up through the legs into the pelvic bowl.
So it's this,
It's the point of power.
And I mean strength and creativity and the ability to draw on wisdom and guidance and,
You know,
Just strength of the body.
Strength in the body.
Often if you see bodies and they have,
You know,
They're kind of slung low,
You know,
What,
You know,
Their legs are usually not real long and their torsers are maybe a little longer and they have these wide kind of stances in the pelvis.
They often have very strong kind of constitutions.
You know,
They're in their body,
In the earth,
In a strong powerful kind of way.
So get that sense.
It's like as the attention drops,
The point of consciousness,
As the point that consciousness pours through,
It sort of,
It just rests in that pelvic bowl.
And then it settles and it settles sort of down like behind the pelvic bone.
There's a hole.
I don't know what it is.
I just know that it's there.
And it's like a entry point into the deep emptiness.
And so the attention just kind of goes,
Boom,
Here I am.
I'm in.
And it pulls out equally to the left and to the right as then it also drops in this kind of infinite way below the sacrum and the tailbone.
And if you're sensitive,
You'll sense that those muscles that are really tight that are held around the tailbone,
They want to like contract and pull the tailbone up.
It's a fight or flight kind of position.
So when that relaxes,
When the attention comes and fuses and rests into this unfathomable ground of all potentiality,
Then the muscles,
They relax naturally.
It isn't like you have to go,
Now relax.
They just relax naturally.
And the sacrum actually will drop.
And then there's feeling.
There's like a palpable feeling that happens then within the pelvic bowl and the sacrum and that low belly.
You know,
Our society,
Either that's the sexual nature and so we either amp it up or we deny it.
But it's just this,
It's the natural power.
It's the natural vitality that courses through the human body.
Really doesn't mean anything.
I mean,
It can be used for creativity,
But it's just the natural power,
The vitality,
The great creatrix.
That's where the creatrix lives within the human body.
And then there's a simultaneous dropping.
The attention just drops into space.
But it isn't like the spacey kind of,
Ooh,
You know,
It's just like,
It just goes deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper,
Though it might be helpful to keep a simultaneous attention still on that,
The pelvic bone or deep into the sacrum.
But it also,
Simultaneously,
It just,
It pulls out.
So it drops and opens at the same time.
It can't really be divided out.
The vertical and the horizontal,
It's one thing.
And the vertical is just pure awareness.
It's the pure emptiness.
It's the pure,
There is,
It's totally impersonal.
Using,
You know,
Some kind of traditions,
The description of that is it's the Godhead.
It's the Father.
It's that that that is still,
Absolutely,
Totally,
Unfathomably still.
There is no movement at all.
None.
Except a kind of a letting go,
Letting go,
Letting go,
Letting go,
Letting go,
Dropping,
Dropping,
Infinite,
Infinite,
Infinite,
Infinite,
Infinite,
Infinite space.
And then the opening,
Left,
Right,
Is more like a horizontal,
You know,
In the Tibetan traditions,
They just call it awake,
Alive space.
It's where all the great interconnectedness,
All form comes from.
It's like,
You know,
All form is permeated by this space,
This awake,
Alive space.
And it also contains it.
It's all happening within it.
And so you begin to see that what you thought was this body that was in mind that was the center of everything,
Of your world,
It becomes like a,
It's an image.
It's a created,
A literal created image held within this space.
And yet it is arising from this ground that is so unfathomably stable and still.
That's why being here is such a beautiful transmission and being in the Zindo because,
You know,
That view is what is practiced.
The Iron Mountain.
It's immovable.
So the story of the thief that's given the instruction of literally inviting and drawing forth all that has not been resolved back unto itself.
And there,
It's liberated.
It dissolves.
It cannot be otherwise.
That's its function.
It's like telling the wind to stop blowing or the fire to stop burning or the water to stop moving.
It can't happen.
So I encourage within your meditations especially,
And then don't even limit it to your meditation.
Just invite everything back unto this dark,
Open,
Vast space.
Anger,
Anxiety,
Judgment,
Victimhood,
Separation,
Fragileness.
Nothing is not invited back here.
Nothing.
As the story of the thief,
Great harm could dissolve here.
Shame.
Pride.
Arrogance.
And then the opposite of that,
Lack,
Failure,
Can't,
Not enough.
All of that.
It doesn't matter.
It's all associated with an experience that created an image,
That created a story,
That created a web of flots,
And it was then held in time and space,
Crystallized in time and space.
And so that just can be called forth into this vast,
Open,
Unfathomable origin of everything.
And so as it is birthed,
So shall it die.
As it arises,
So shall it dissolve back unto itself.
It's how it works.
It's how it functions.
There's perhaps in the interior of this space that holds the body within it,
There can be even areas of the body that is distressed or painful or it's trying to liberate it.
Really that's the physicality.
It's attempting to liberate itself.
Drop that into this belly of emptiness.
That too.
There is nothing that it cannot call back and dissolve and therefore liberate.
Nothing.
If it's not conscious,
Call that back too.
And call back all that seems outside of yourself.
All that seems separate from yourself.
Call that back.
That's the stars and the planets.
That too.
And then rather than some kind of consciousness that pours out of your eyes,
Which of course is accurate,
That's who you are,
Individuated.
There's this beautiful consciousness pouring forth from your eyes.
But it then sees itself.
It doesn't see the other.
It sees itself as the mountain.
It sees itself as the sun.
It sees itself as the sky.
It sees itself as the bird,
The animal,
The human,
The ground.
And so then that sense of form and spirit,
It no longer can be viewed as the illusion,
The delusion that it's somehow separate.
It's an impossibility.
This cannot be actually.
And so you just simply come back to what is.
So when the teachings point out that you see everything as yourself,
It doesn't mean as this individual self.
There will always be differences.
There will always be what you're drawn to,
Perhaps what you're not drawn to.
But what this is pointing to is that it sees itself as itself.
From this,
It's all that.
It's all come back to itself.
It's all come home.
It all is that.
And then it's the bliss body does wake up.
But it's not a bliss that the spiritual personality is chasing or tries to hold on to because that never works out.
It comes and it goes,
That bliss.
But this bliss that's being pointed to here is the bliss when it all wakes up in recognition of itself.
And so the water that enters the body when you're taking a drink is that,
Drinking and being nourished by itself as water.
The food that's so lovingly prepared and it comes from the earth.
It's this little seed planted in the earth and then it springs up as food.
And it's nourished by water and earth and fire.
And it comes into the body and it feeds the elements of the body,
Renews and nourishes and informs.
It has wisdom.
So this coming back to yourself,
Though from one perspective it looks like it's nothing and it's dark and it's empty and there's nothing there and it's not interesting or whatever the mind perceives.
The actuality is it's the still point that all wakes up and all that it is not dissolves and frees itself.
And then you become an awake instrument of transmutation,
Of revelation.
So you call all that appears to be outside of yourself appearances that appear to have a conditioned story and just the sky and the stars and the trees and the other,
Whatever form that other takes,
Call it back unto itself and the miracle.
And yet it's the truth is this silent dark stillness that is awake in the brilliance of creation.
There is no in,
There is no out.
There is no form separate than spirit.
And at least as long as this body is living,
Expressing,
There is no spirit without form,
No form without spirit.
It cannot be.
It's simply an impossibility.
And this is the calling back of itself.
This is the story,
The parable of what that is.
And then to feel separate or left out or not fitting in or victimized or special or prideful or the knower or the not knower or all of that collapses right here.
It can't hold itself up.
It's impossible.
In the Buddhist tradition,
It's called the no self.
And again,
It's not this empty,
Remote,
Cold,
Separate from humanity.
It's really quite the opposite.
It's like full in,
That full in as this dark vast open,
All potentiality still point that everything springs from and dies back unto itself continuously.
So it's safe here to let all of that go,
All of it,
Control,
Beliefs,
Ideas,
Habits,
Identities,
Precious ideas,
Terrible ideas,
Painful ideas,
All of it can be let go right here.
This is a perfectly safe place for this to happen.
All is taken care of.
The whole retreat is scheduled and structured to allow this to birth,
To come forth,
To be recognized and to become familiar and intimate with your own nature.
With no ideas about it,
It is totally,
Absolutely,
Unfathomably impersonal.
And the paradox is that it includes most intimately and everything that expresses itself as the personal.
Emptiness into form,
Form is emptiness.
The great circle,
The great inclusion,
The great interconnectedness.
So just for a few moments,
See for yourself,
That's the only way of course it can be your own.
How it arises out of this emptiness and how it then is called back unto itself and it falls back unto this vast,
Dark,
Luminous ground.
The deep belly of emptiness,
How it dissolves and then there's another appearance in whatever form and once again it's called back unto itself.
And again and again and again and again.
The still point,
All coming home.
Appearances,
Good and suffering appearances and form,
Beautiful and not beautiful,
All coming back.
The stars and the planets and the mountains and the sky.
No separation here.
No exclusion here.
You can let go here,
Right here.
No need to hang on to anything.
You can let go here,
Right here.
And perhaps you've noticed that there is no limit to this.
It becomes more and more and more vast,
More whole,
More complete,
More absolute.
All can come home here.
You can let go here,
Right here.
You So not in any way needing really to pull back.
It is helpful to bring upright awareness actually within the body.
So there hasn't been an exiting of the body.
There's been more,
What's more accurate,
There's like a bright infusion,
An awakeness within the body,
But there's no real boundary around the body.
And again,
It's perfectly safe here to do that.
You don't have to drive or maneuver through anything.
It's just let it all open up.
And it's more like there's an awakeness within the body,
But there's an awakeness all around the body.
And so the body actually exists within awareness rather than it's the primary location.
That's the shift.
It's just as the wake outside as it is within.
And then of course there's a very bright awareness,
Awakeness inside.
So it's like there's,
You know,
You don't like step off of a ledge or whatever like that because it's actually more here.
It's not lost in thought or lost in some kind of stream that's contracted and concretized.
And so when you step out of here,
This atmosphere,
And you step into a very different atmosphere,
You know,
But it's the same.
It's just taken a different kind of quality.
Sun,
Coolness,
A slight breeze,
Beauty of the surroundings,
How the foot touches the ground,
And how the ground kind of rolls up into the foot.
Those boundaries of my foot and ground,
They dissolve in this open awareness of what actually is.
So it's kind of like a,
You know,
Like a caressing of itself,
Foot,
Ground,
Same,
Coming home,
Right?
The earth and the body are one thing.
The earth comes,
Ah,
Yeah,
Ma,
Ah.
And how the clothes feel against the skin.
And when one walks,
All of life pours through this central point of stillness,
The still point.
And then one sits down and,
You know,
Begins to have lunch and how the water comes into the body and touches all the cells and the bliss wakes up of taste and texture and smell and how the body is nourished by the elements in the form of food.
And the delight and the appreciation that just naturally arises.
It isn't like you have to kind of whip it up.
It's just there.
Maybe you take a walk and how that all moves through you.
The stream,
The sky,
The mountain,
The rocks,
The flowers,
The plants.
And it's delighted.
It sees itself in this delight.
And perhaps you nap.
What is it like when you lay down and the mattress and the pillow supports the body and it can relax and really let go?
It's held by this support.
And as you start to go to sleep,
There's some consciousness,
This open consciousness that's awake.
And it kind of goes back to itself into this dark space.
And then it's time to move and awake and it comes out more into the luminous and the activity and the light.
But never impossible to disconnect from this dark space.
This is mindfulness.
Eating,
Simply eating,
Simply moving,
Simply walking,
Simply sitting,
Simply sleeping,
Being.
Bring this forth into the primary,
Into the focus from the background to the foreground and the life will be transformed.
There is no other outcome that's possible.
So again,
Just this kind of brightness inside of the body and hands on the legs and feet as it touches the ground and clothes laying against the skin,
Slight currents of air,
Freezes moving against the hair.
But no boundary,
No boundary,
No boundary.
