So we're just gonna do a brief meditation a guided meditation and then you're welcome to share whatever questions you may have is the the sound good is it yes okay thank you Holger so if you can just sit comfortably and turn your attention inward if you want close your eyes and come to close your eyes or just simply rest as you as you are and welcome welcome the stillness welcome welcome presence welcome the peace which is always available to us so that the mind meaning thoughts and perceptions can rest you don't need to fix anything there's no goal no objective simply a fresh moment of presence every moment every breath is a brand new moment a brand new breath never experienced before there is in fact no real before no real after invite the peace to extend throughout your entire experience in presence in being there is no time there are no problems no issues everything is surrendered in presence no need to hold on to anything so that you are transparent complete availability to the universal expression everything that appears to you is an expression of universal consciousness the cosmic reality you are this transparent presence being awareness is sufficient unto itself it does not need to be limited by the mind it is not possible for anything any thought any experience to limit consciousness to limit your reality 08:15 it is of no use to look in the limitation of the mind for any information about yourself consciousness is informed by its very being by its own fact by its own reality you can invite the mind to complete relaxation then you are childlike pristine uncluttered uncluttered by the belief that you can be cluttered to be not knowing is this complete disposability this complete availability it is the peace in life you will meet many challenges to the me as soon as you adopt a persona as soon as you identify as a man as a person you will immediately experience the sense of separation and the world will appeal to you as challenging difficult the mind becomes embroiled in various strategies to protect to defend an imaginary you but in this moment the reality of i whatever it is that hears these words the reality of i is blatant by this aware presence AM I AM not something or somebody that pure amness and life is this pure amness in movement dancing unopposed 14:55 so in meeting challenges in life the key question is what is it that is i am assuming myself to be what am i assuming myself to be what am i assuming the other to be or what is the other what is the reality of the other is there a separate other in fact somebody to blame somebody to project our emotions onto what is the evidence that separation is real and to notice how this resistance this sense of separation appears in the body the body a wide open field of exploration is it possible to be still to notice to observe in a dispassionate way not knowing and no need to know the depth of presence the fullness the abundance of presence a new life unfolds in this presence and does not veil presence so rather than being preoccupied with the content of mind rather than being preoccupied with the content of emotions and events in the world can we become familiar with pure presence not avoiding anything but inviting the recognition of presence awareness awareness recognizing itself resting as this recognition because the recognition of awareness is the recognition of freedom the recognition of love the recognition of beauty the recognition of peace as this recognition becomes our familiar home we become less and less disturbed by the world less and less disturbed by the mind so that the world and the mind become a sort of coloring the coloring of presence but not a veiling 24:41 okay so um please you're welcome to 24:47 turn your video on if you're like it'd be nice to see you um and whatever 24:54 questions anything that you would like to explore any questions or anything that 25:20 uh 25:38 so any questions hello holder thank you thank you maggie for this beautiful meditation and it feels good 25:44 to be here interesting today a friend emailed me 25:50 and she used the word embroiled 25:56 and it's just interesting because i haven't heard this word before and hearing it twice at the same day 26:04 very interesting 26:12 you know as soon as we make any assumptions about consciousness 26:18 about what we are thank 26:23 the you the embroilment is turned on the embroidment 26:29 machine is on board yeah i know 26:37 what is it that gets embroidered the mind is a flow 26:42 a movement of thoughts perceptions sensations memories images inspirations 26:51 creative thinking events in the world perceptions that's 26:57 and we're always perceiving just this it's always 27:02 in the eternity of presence our experience is always the eternity of presence 27:08 the employment is when we when we take this presence 27:14 and we spread it over time we say okay there is time and there is something happening in 27:21 time for whom 27:26 for me so it's we 27:32 somehow take presence and we spread it across an imaginary line 27:40 and we introduce a personal consciousness 27:45 and we identify with this personal conscience meaning we do not investigate it we 27:51 we believe that's a belief then it's embroiment because 27:58 of the sense of separation uh what's going to happen to me 28:05 i survived did i make the right choice regret 28:11 sorrow expectation hope 28:16 disillusion disappointment that's very embroiling yes 28:22 especially when we're not looking we're not in 28:28 in inquiry and then we are in relationship and employment is sort of in the entire 28:35 realm not just not just this personal mind but all minds 28:40 then good luck it's like it's like you know blind people coming to an 28:47 elephant and one person is shouting oh the elephant is a tree trunk the elephant is a tree trunk because they're holding to the leg of the elephant and 28:53 another one is showing no it's a snake it's a snake a snake because they're holding on to the 28:59 nose of the elephant you know and uh 29:06 good luck with that there's no elephant 29:14 it's a conceptual elephant and the conceptual effort is cool it's 29:19 not a problem there's no problem with conceptual elephant but believing that there is a reality 29:25 out there that's called an elephant meaning there is a reality in here that's separate from the elephant 29:32 if there is a reality out there there is a reality in here by deduction 29:40 so when there is a reality here that it's me and it's separate from the elephant i better be careful because 29:46 that elephant can whatever of course the elephant can step on the body but we're not talking about 29:51 that we're talking about i but the sense of me the sense of 29:57 the sense of me so it's really lovely when the sense of me is 30:02 is expanded it's undefined it's non-local 30:08 then everything is me nothing is me same thing 30:13 there isn't a local focal local 30:21 spin you know there isn't that it's just just uh 30:29 the sunshine just the sun shining 30:36 well all metaphors are limited of course but 30:43 employment yeah so when there is embroidment it's a good idea to take a look take a 30:49 look at what you're assuming yourself to be if you take a look at what you're assuming yourself to be 30:56 in that moment you will find that you're already assuming yourself to be a 31:02 limited entity you already assume yourself to be a person a man whatever assuming yourself 31:08 and right there is the seed of unhappiness right there is the environment 31:14 you take a look you see you you become familiar with taking a look 31:20 it's a good idea to to take a look at what you assume yourself to be even when you are not 31:27 experiencing embroidment it's a little bit more challenging to 31:34 uh do the inquiry if you don't have a familiarity with the inquiry in moments 31:39 of peace it's more difficult to conduct the inquiry in moments of turmoil 31:46 so in our daily life take a look what you what assumptions 31:51 are you making about yourself just to be really watchful and to be 31:57 vigilant and to be sincere to be truthful 32:03 so that you see what you're assuming yourself to be and then you question the validity 32:12 whether it is there is statistical evidence for your 32:18 assumption and when you arrive to 32:25 no i don't i don't know any you just you remain open you remain not knowing 32:31 in a way you are open to the universality of consciousness not 32:36 you arrive to the conclusion that consciousness is universal but you you're open to that to that 32:42 understanding you're under you're open as not knowing well to be borderless universal i have not 32:48 found any edges any any barriers any actual location in your actual beginning 32:54 or ending to presence so 32:59 um why why isn't inquiry just part of our growing up of our education of our 33:08 conditioning 33:13 you know it's 33:19 god's design you know it's if if it wasn't 33:25 god's will that it would be part of our curriculum from the age of kindergarten it would 33:31 [Music] 33:36 be is no problem with the way it is right now it's not like oh 33:42 god made a mistake you know why did he make this mistake no it's there's no problem with how it is right 33:48 now we all experience this sense of 33:54 isolation these negative emotions uh we experience living in the sense of limitation like 34:01 in a cocoon or in the bubble so when we when we speak of it we're not speaking 34:07 theoretically we're speaking from first-hand experience and this it's uh 34:13 it's much more alive when you're speaking from 34:20 your first hand experience and 34:25 what does it matter if the understanding 34:31 what does it matter if the understanding is 34:42 if the understanding is um 34:49 now [Music] or now 34:56 you know what i mean yeah 35:03 right there aren't two two now there aren't two 35:10 presence of two it's always now certain now is kindergarten 35:17 or now is graduate school whatever you know it's always now 35:31 thank you wonderful god 35:44 any questions 35:55 [Music] 36:11 my friends jenny and brian and 36:19 uh freddie was here a minute ago from costa rica hello freddie hold up 36:27 yes so any questions 36:34 oh journey espera i have to unmute you with um 36:42 can you unmute yourself jenny 36:49 yes oh okay here very good okay actually okay here i am yes 36:54 how nice to see you again nice to see you too jenny okay i just wanted to share with the 37:00 group we had a wonderful retreat with magdy eight following consecutive days 37:08 beautiful and i wanted to thank the sangha for all 37:13 the scholarship they sent us to make possible for other people 37:18 to come to the retreat that couldn't pay so i really wanted to thank everybody 37:24 for that yes me too thank you almost really yes very very helpful 37:30 yes it was great so that's what i wanted to say 37:36 okay okay okay bye bye okay 37:44 any questions 38:12 hola mina 38:18 you see you are uh i need to mute you and ask to ask to unmute 38:27 you hear me yes i hear you know me now see yes nice to see you all 38:34 and thank you for this beautiful meditation it was very deep um 38:40 i um i wanted to ask it's difficult to put in words 38:48 um there is very much clarity inside this opening and inside this 38:56 truth um what we are all not and that we are 39:02 really awareness and and and not uh 39:07 not the body not the mind um but 39:12 there is still this this um being between 39:17 between these two world worlds you can say uh in in one 39:24 one way um making the life every day 39:30 and and um making decisions and uh 39:35 in one way knowing that i'm not the doer and 39:41 everything happens by itself but i i sometimes i feel like um 39:49 between you know i i think i have to make now this decision and 39:55 but i don't know how to make it and then 40:00 you understand what i mean yes yes yes yes so 40:07 you know once there is the understanding that i am presence i am this 40:13 transparent impersonal presence i'm not a female i'm not male i'm not 40:18 located inside the body or no limits no borders once you understand that then life life 40:26 becomes your practice life becomes your yoga you gotta you you have to take the life on as a 40:33 yoga now so it's no longer like life is happening to me no life is my 40:38 yoga now it's my yoga so every experience in life that that comes to 40:45 you that appears to you you you are there exploring exploring how to live 40:53 how to how to be in this in this uh situation how to perceive how to how to 41:00 act how to listen how to uh how to speak how to how to move uh 41:06 how to turn your attention to your body about contracting the other 41:12 contractions within the body so life becomes your yoga to to explore how to live 41:18 life from this perspective of there is nothing at stake for anybody i am not 41:24 trying to achieve anything i am already already i am that i'm already this 41:30 is undeniable formless reality that the reality which 41:37 perceives reality which hears so so 41:42 the how to live as consciousness consciousness is not arguing it's not trying to feel better 41:48 he's not trying to achieve anything it's not trying to defend anything it's not trying to 41:54 stabilize itself in any in anything it already is what it is so life becomes 41:59 your yoga your playground to experience 42:04 to live as consciousness to to to find the the childlike way of of living of of 42:13 being of interacting the innocent way the fresh fresh way that the 42:19 the coming to to in in to each moment 42:24 without luggage you don't need luggage in in life any longer you don't 42:30 the body is equipped the mind is equipped to function and at some point in time it will 42:37 it'll become an old car you just you know you throw it in the in the junk junkyard 42:43 and that's already there so it's just how you flow how to flow in every moment 42:51 you don't know you don't know but every moment is it's available to you to to listen to 42:59 see to to explore and and also to explore am i at this 43:05 moment assuming myself to be to be somebody who who should stay more in spiritual spiritual to be more spiritual 43:13 you've got to be also watchful of the spiritual is this it's just an understanding 43:19 the whole spiritual advice about the understanding the understanding about consciousness 43:25 that consciousness is not objective it's not phenomenal the reality is not phenomenal 43:32 the entire world body mind is a creation of consciousness moment by moment moment by moment 43:38 consciousness says let me present this to meena oh let me present that to me now 43:44 right let me present this to much represent that to me oh hungry oh 43:49 no i want a white friend for dinner oh i'd like to go for a walk uh feeling tired it's 43:56 it's always an invitation so 44:03 there is no in between you always have always are 44:09 this reality always are i am there is no in between 44:15 like i am in between that's you know 44:20 a a railroad a railroad car is in between the engine and between the last 44:28 the last you know cars you know the like the 44:34 she sandwiched the cheese in between is in between the two bread you know 44:41 but you are you're not she's in the sandwich here you are 44:47 consciousness says no in between so there's a sensation arising that's 44:53 saying something is off all right so we need to explain 44:59 something is off what am i assuming myself to be what am i what conditions what 45:05 conditions am i placing things should be slightly different something is off things should be 45:10 slightly different for for whom 45:16 it's the resistance the habitual resistance everything should be different i should be feeling differently 45:22 there should be a mind state that's better than this mind state for whom 45:27 all might state pass all events pass 45:33 like like these words and they just it's all 45:38 you retain the meaning and the meaning of all of existence 45:44 is peace and love freedom and happiness 45:49 so you are exploring life from the perspective of 45:56 peace love and freedom fairness happiness joy 46:27 yes beautiful 46:36 we don't live in memory we are the presence 46:41 fresh presence the presence is not in time 46:52 love is not in time beauty is not in time 46:57 jesus 47:30 thank you thank you yes hi everyone um 47:38 maybe follow the answer you just gave and in terms of 47:45 of beauty and it is i i guess we have 47:54 like uh a dream type uh sense or a meaning of beauty 48:01 that it's something that you judge you know something that 48:06 maybe help you to to filter something that it's 48:14 that it it's it's that something that you like right it's 48:20 that's maybe the dream the dreamish definition for beauty 48:26 but um i guess that 48:35 and beauty it's something that 48:41 it's something that it's always i'm kind of thinking about this idea 48:49 that it is always presence it's always present and 48:57 is is is based on 49:04 and how you can interpret or how you can 49:10 experience that moment or that 49:16 i don't know when i water my plants i i love that and and 49:21 then when i see my mother watering the plant side that's something 49:27 beautiful and and it's it's 49:32 something so simple then it's always present and just wanted to 49:39 not only ask for 49:44 is is that okay to it's that 49:51 is is that a manifestation of myself when i'm 49:58 having this sense of beauty is oh because i'm judging 50:04 that is that moment in and then judging then that when there is 50:12 no water there is no beauty but it's is 50:17 is that i'm not really aware that there is no beauty is is that so 50:26 yes uh so brian um 50:34 so just to be clear the mind is basically false memories images feelings 50:41 recollections so the mind is movement 50:48 whatever arises from the mind is movement is movement 50:53 but beauty beauty is like 50:59 it's not a movement it's it's 51:04 a stunning movement it's just a you so 51:12 beauty doesn't arise from from the mind it's not like the source of beauty it's 51:19 not the movement of the mind it's not images and thoughts and memories and 51:24 recollections past trauma whatever really beauty doesn't arise 51:30 the stable doesn't rise from that which is unstable so but yet we all know beauty we all 51:38 experience beauty we all experience love we all experience this it's like everything is suspended the 51:44 mind is suspended when there is beauty and then the mind comes and says oh well i really love my mother's my mother 51:50 watering the plant's blood which is good that's the mind coming to make a a commentary 51:56 about the experience of beauty but during the experience of beauty there is no mug there is just love there's just 52:03 beauty so when you look in your experience at 52:10 that which is not moving 52:15 that which is always stable always there you find consciousness 52:21 awareness the reality of art the reality of consciousness that's what you find 52:28 so is the only candidate the only candidate that there is for 52:35 that which is causeless that which is unmoved and unmoving is consciousness 52:41 so beauty it's an attribute of consciousness 52:47 same thing with freedom love and intelligence their attribute of consciousness 52:53 so when the mind is sort of 52:59 blessed with the understanding the understanding that the mind serves the function 53:06 for the body for the world but the mind doesn't serve any function in 53:13 defining consciousness or knowing that which knows it so 53:18 once there is clarity about yeah when once there is understanding about 53:23 consciousness we are um no longer in the belief 53:30 that beauty is a result of an activity 53:36 so the conditions that we've placed in place about beauty is absent we're 53:41 we no longer have a condition we're no longer saying oh beauty is a result of being the bahamas or beauty is the 53:48 result of being with a beautiful woman or when there are no longer conditions 53:54 and when there are no longer conditions then we are available for god's beauty to shine through so we may 54:01 see our mother is watering a mint patch 54:06 and we just we see the beauty of it because 54:12 there are no um the mind is not cluttered with belief 54:17 you say it's not looking it's not searching it's just you know 54:23 when the mind is not searching it's it's already just functioning when it's needed i need 54:30 to buy some tomatoes i need the mind to go down to the market by the tomatoes 54:35 but when the mind is not functioning psychology psychologically in saying oh this should be like this this should be 54:41 like that i am this uh he is that she is this is that this is beauty this is love this is not beauty this is not he's ugly 54:47 she's beautiful she's pretty when the mind is not cluttered that way then there is an availability to beauty 54:54 beauty is always god's light shining through it's 55:00 it's it's the innocent gaze it's the gaze that looks 55:09 and perceives beauty in an end or perceives beauty in the movement of the wind in the 55:14 leaves or perceived beauty in being just being the beauty of being 55:23 via the senses visually or via this the auditory sense we 55:30 we perceive art we perceive music would perceive 55:36 certain creations certain objects of creation certain symphonies or certain sculptures 55:43 or paintings that are inspired 55:49 inspired or artists who have an inspiration 55:54 their perception is not conditioned by the me they sort of have an inspiration 56:00 and creative and of course a talent to to create 56:06 a certain art piece 56:12 then we're because this expression this art piece or this 56:19 symphony comes directly from god comes directly from 56:25 doesn't come from the mind it comes through the mind but comes from god then 56:30 it touches us when you are in the presence of 56:37 such creativity it reminds you 56:43 of your two natural demands of truth tremendously of love and beauty freedom 56:48 it takes you there actually it takes you there not reminds you it takes you to your experience of love and beauty 57:05 it's okay so 57:10 beauty will be a rather for 57:15 the beauty will be a rather in order to 57:23 to place my now in in something i 57:30 found like shiny i mean [Music] 57:36 it's it's okay it's rather so you said rather rather a rather like 57:44 a ladder 57:49 something that it can find them when when you are 57:56 a writer yeah rather yeah okay okay yes yes yes yes well 58:03 yeah whenever you experience beauty you're experiencing you know the rudder is is pointing in 58:10 the right direction it's basically telling you yes this is this is god's beauty there is no man's beauty there is 58:15 no beauty that's created by the mind so man does not create beauty 58:23 mind a human the human mind can be a vehicle 58:28 if the talent is there to to uh to uh 58:35 portray or or to to to make a representation 58:42 of of god's truth of of the of 58:47 the mystery of being so yeah whenever you're experiencing beauty 58:57 it's 59:04 contemplate that the beauty you're experiencing 59:12 is not arising from your mother or from the painter 59:18 or from the rose or the flower or the painting it's arising 59:24 from [Music] your very being from consciousness 59:30 itself and it's a good idea to 59:38 to live to sort of let's say surround oneself with beauty 59:44 with some uh 59:50 music and art and gardens or 59:55 that that that 1:00:01 invite you to the experience of of your very being of peace it's different from when artists sometimes 1:00:09 work they have an intention to a personal intention 1:00:16 art that arises from a personal intention is not the real beauty it's 1:00:22 could be some aesthetic thing you know it can have a lot of appeal 1:00:28 but it lacks because it's tainted by the by the by the 1:00:34 intention of the artist but the an artist that has a talent that is 1:00:40 expressing the love just just love universal love not no 1:00:45 personal ambition there is going to be a quality of that love in the painting or in the art or in 1:00:51 the expression 1:00:57 yes sometimes we objectify beauty we say oh beauty is 1:01:05 is this or that we point to objects yeah that's right but the objects are just a 1:01:10 representation the beauty is resides in consciousness and is sourced 1:01:17 in consciousness it is one of the attributes of of god of of 1:01:23 universal consciousness 1:01:29 so in a way 1:01:35 we need to sort of be 1:01:42 open to beauty 1:01:48 the beauty that bypasses the mind 1:02:03 thanks nice to see you ryan 1:02:17 any questions 1:02:32 okay well thank you all lovely to be with you and 1:02:38 richard mina brian 1:02:43 loma noise nathan 1:02:49 patrick 1:02:54 the holly hi frank hey frank the old girl 1:03:00 jewelry thank you