Just for a moment, let’s be blown wide open. With no rising eye. Just pure being. No past, no future. None of the movements of the personal self.

Just for a moment, make it easy.

««»»

It’s natural to have some ideas that when you recognize this no thing and if you recognize inherent in that is peace and silence and all of that, to have the idea that maybe that should always be the case and that there should not be any movements of the body-mind. But clearly that’s not true in your own experience.

The body is the experiencing entity. It’s that which experiences. If it was only intended to experience pleasant things, then that’s all it would experience. But clearly that’s not all it was intended to experience.

Anything and everything will happen to the body. Pains, contractions, etcetera. The body itself is a contraction itself. Of course, it’s a limitation.

And so there are all kinds of things happening. And sometimes there are very extreme things happening in the body, some illnesses or pains that are extreme. It can be things like trigeminal disease, which I know is unbearably painful. And there can be any number of other pains and illnesses and contractions, and cancers

And so when an extreme acute pain is happening in the body, then to expect to experience or feel the peace and stillness of your essential being is not realistic, is it?

When not much is happening and you’re sitting around on holiday, nice, nice, you know. Not much happening in the mind, not much happening in the body. Then it’s very easy to recognize that peace and stillness and to get the idea that a holiday means that that’s going to happen always.

And that’s not true.

A holiday just simply means that I know that I am. And if there’s a toothache, there’s a toothache and I know that I am. And there won’t be the experience of peace and silence, there will be the experience of a toothache.

But the knowing that I am will still be the same.

Ramana Maharshi died of cancer. He had a tumor in his arm and it was very painful. And it has been written that there were nights where he would be heard in his room where he slept moaning and crying out in pain. That’s Ramana Maharshi. And according to him, according to the ideas of that work, he knows he’s not the body.

And yet the body still cried out in pain. He cried out in pain.

A holiday is not a panacea to feel good in every moment.

It certainly is a very good way to alleviate a lot, or all of the psychological suffering we endure because of just the bad habit of believing that story and going into it, into it, into it, into it, into it. So now we have an alternative and we can come out into the sun instead of going into that story and being infatuated with that. And so psychological suffering can be greatly alleviated or completely.

The suffering of past traumas as well can be greatly alleviated. Because all of that is, the story aspect of all of that is temporal and evanescent. It just comes and goes in the mind.

The somatic aspects of that are something different, of course, you know. Those are in the body and those are slower to rise and slower to subside as well.

Thoughts can stop, like now.

««»»

But sensations in the body and emotions are much slower. And so the somatic aspects of trauma, for example, when they arise, they may last for a while. But they’re given fuel, tremendous amount of fuel, to keep themselves going because of the story attached to it. The mind going into it and into it and into it again and again, going over it. That fuels the sensorial, somatic aspect of the trauma.

When you take your foot off the gas pedal, the fuel to that stops, and that means coming out into the sun a holiday, take your foot off the gas pedal, and then that somatic aspect has time to slow down, soften.

But there are other things too, you know, extreme disease that cause acute pain that really in and of themselves have nothing to do with the psychology.

What to do about those?

Really nothing you can do about it. I mean, yes, you can take practical medical steps to help, of course, and one should do that.

But even in extreme pain, one can still know that they are, but not with the hope it’s going to alleviate the pain or anything like that.

And just general contractions of the body that happen. There’s some challenge in life or whatever, an argument, whatever it might be, and then the body tenses up.

That kind of thing can be greatly helped with holidays. In the midst of a contracted sensation of the body where you feel tense or anxiety or something, you know, get real for a moment. Come into the sun of pure being and really just be there.

And I know it’s not spiritually correct to say, but in a way, ignore those contractions in favor of attending to pure being your own, most intimate self.

And then in that there is no rising I here, no ego here trying to get rid of that contraction, thinking there’s something wrong. In the moment of a holiday the rising I that has those ideas is not here. Then there’s pure being and maybe some contraction in the body.

But resting more and more as pure being can certainly loosen that, for sure.

But if you have a serious illness, cancer or trigeminal or some other serious medical things that are extremely painful, well, you know, it’s not nice, but that’s what is. And you may be moaning and shouting in pain, of course. Likely I would as well.

But now, hopefully nothing too extreme is going on for you, so let’s have a holiday.

And let’s be with this moment now without referring to the body at all.

««»»

Just unborn being with no rising eye here for a moment.

««»»

That’s really all I wanted to say about that particular topic.

««»»

And it’s good to be with you. I’ll be back again tomorrow. Peace.

JOIN THE WEEKEND MINI INTENSIVETHE UNBOUND SPACE OF PURE BEING - August 22 - 23

Salvadore Poe - Liberation IS is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Without attending to anything in particular, thoughts or emotions or the body, sensations, sensory objects, but instead attending only to pure being itself, subjective consciousness, you realize and recognize that’s not an object separate from yourself, but that’s what you are.

You are this pure being knowing.

««»»

Out of this pure being knowing arises the phantom ‘I’

associated with the thoughts that it has, all of which are essentially about itself, this phantom ‘I’.

‘I’ is always the root of those thoughts in one way or another.

When we’re not attending to that phantom and all of its associated colors and flavors and movements and thoughts, but instead attending to ourself, we come to know ourselves as instead of the phantom I, we come to know ourselves as the unbound space of pure being.

Like now.

««»»

Now you don’t become this, you realize that this is what I am in essence. And you can see clearly that everything that rises out of this in the mind is the phantom I.

It doesn’t actually exist as a thing, or as anything substantial, or as anything permanent. It’s an evanescent bubbling rising out of the unbound space of pure being, which is what you are.

««»»

So much of the movement of thought is completely random, mechanical, rote, repetitive, unnecessary, has no purpose other than keeping the phantom I alive, so to speak.

««»»

So we just see how habitually infatuated with that movement we are. No fault, of course. It’s the human condition, isn’t it?

But we see there’s another way of being, isn’t there?

Until we come to recognize this other way of being, which is what a holiday reveals, then there is no alternative. But once we have come to recognize what a holiday reveals, now there’s an alternative. And so what do we want?

««»»

Abiding as the unbound space of pure being is freedom.

««»»

And the more we abide thus, the more we see the alternative is really, well, suffering. It has to become that where you really recognize that all of that mental activity, even if it seems unimportant or random or whatever, being infatuated with that or living in that way is a very constricted, contracted way of being. And when you recognize more and more the unbound space of pure being that you are, you recognize that other way as suffering.

««»»

And it’s unnecessary. It offers nothing of benefit, except, as I said, to maintain its own phantom existence.

««»»

So without attending to anything of that, simply attending to your own self, the unbound space of pure being, be free.

While you’re walking around today, wherever you might be walking, be consciously aware of this unbound space of pure being as who I am.

While you’re cooking, be consciously aware of this unbound space of pure being, who I am.

Even while you’re watching a movie, be consciously aware of this unbound space of pure being, who I am.

While you’re having a shower, while you’re doing anything and everything, be aware of the unbound space of pure being, who I am.

««»»

If you would like to join the mini-intensive coming up in August, this is what we’re going to be doing for the two full days, during the calls and even in between the calls and after the calls.

Just abiding as this really very, very clearly making it doubtless for you. So yeah, I hope to see you there.

It’s good to be with you. I’ll be back again tomorrow. Peace.

JOIN THE WEEKEND MINI INTENSIVE THE UNBOUND SPACE OF PURE BEING - August 22 - 23

Salvadore Poe - Liberation IS is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

But for today, let’s see, let’s see what emerges on a holiday. No idea.

So for a moment, just be here openly knowing.

««»»

When we abide as this unborn being, which is what I am essentially, it’s very natural to experience peace and silence or maybe even bliss. This is good.

««»»

It’s because that birth of self, that rising I, that movement of identification into form inherently has distinction, contraction, limitation, and, you know, the birth of all of the associated things with that self-concern and worry and projection, memory, that’s inherent in the rising I.

««»»

But on holiday, we abide as what we are prior to the rising I, the unborn I, the I that is not limited and contracted.

It has none of those characteristics.

««»»

And so we discover that what we are prior to that essentially pure being is peace, is contentment, is silence. And that’s what I am

as the unborn I.

And then, like a wave, I take a birth as the rising self I, and with that is the manifold manifestations of self and world. And I’m that as well, just as a wave is ocean as well.

««»»

But until I know myself as the unborn I, then I believe I am only that wave, separate from ocean, contracted, limited, and suffering along with that movement.

But now, you know, I know something different. And the way of being is also different now.

««»»

The locus of my being, and when I say my, I mean all of us. I’m just speaking about myself. I say my rhetorically, but it’s also you. The locus of my being is that unborn peaceful presence.

««»»

While you’re in deep sleep, you’re only the unborn. There’s no I there at all. But there’s also no consciousness as well, so you’re not aware that you’re in deep sleep. But you do know what a beautiful, peaceful, blissful experience deep sleep is for everyone. That’s why we all love sleep.

So somewhere we know.

What would it be like to know that now in the waking state as well? Which means knowing that deep peace while simultaneously being conscious.

««»»

That’s sometimes referred to as being asleep while awake.

««»»

Just touch into it a little bit on holiday now, you know.

This unborn pure being, resting I, the ocean I,

which is underneath or prior to whatever, underneath the wave

I, the born I.

Just be there.

««»»

See the beauty of this, the contentment, the peace. That’s all, just recognize that. It doesn’t need to deny anything. We’re not denying anything, we’re just turning our attention elsewhere to that which is, the root of everything, the source.

««»»

And now while we’re together, you know, and I’m speaking and this recognition maybe is very easy for you, that’s good. That’s good, but after these 10 or 15 minutes is over, don’t forget.

You know, it’s of limited benefit to only Abide in this way during our short period of time together.

Keep it in mind throughout the day.

Keep coming back to this recognition.

If you’re sitting, if you’re walking, if you’re cooking, if you’re doing anything, moving about, turn attention back here. Then this starts to have much more and more of a benefit.

««»»

It’s good to be with you. I’ll be back again tomorrow. Peace.

www.liberationis.com

Salvadore Poe - Liberation IS is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

www.liberationis.com

Salvadore Poe - Liberation IS is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

www.liberationis.com

Salvadore Poe - Liberation IS is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

That’s a good question. Thanks, Kat.

Let’s be on holiday now for a moment. You know what that is. Pure subjective consciousness. I know myself. I know I.

««»»

Not the body-mind or the feeling of consciousness in the body or the sensation of Being inside the body, but pure knowing, blown wide open, ubiquitous, I.

««»»

So, as I always say, there’s no doership here. The idea of choice or deciding to be on holiday is, well, it’s misunderstood. There’s no one here deciding. Everything appears spontaneously, including holidays.

If, for example, you were attending to anything in particular, let’s say thoughts, because that’s usually the most compelling thing, and then after some time you notice, “well, I’m really lost in thoughts here”, or whatever. In the noticing of that itself, just the noticing of it means that you have become self-aware. And then immediately that opens up to a holiday, which is consciously knowing that I am.

««»»

But there’s no doer in that. But let’s leave that aside, even because that doesn’t really matter.

I always say yes, holiday, holiday, holiday, holiday. I say for a moment always, but I also say do it all the time.

What a holiday is, is, well, it’s already freedom, isn’t it? So the benefit of having a holiday is that you’re living freedom in this moment.

And of course that’s what you want, no?

««»»

Conversely, it’s going along with that movement of thoughts and believing that there’s a me in here who’s suffering these thoughts and having these thoughts. Well, that’s not so good. And so that movement of contraction itself is good because it’s the impetus and the inspiration and the tap on the shoulder that says, hey, stop, have a holiday.

««»»

Once we start seeing the value of a holiday, then naturally we want to enjoy that more and more because it’s peace and it’s ease of being, you know, it’s less contraction. So naturally we want that more and more. So then the intention will be planted in our mind to have more holidays. And that’s good.

««»»

Because if the intention is there, then what will happen? Holidays will sprout more and more often. And then we are living more and more in an open way as our essential being, self, source.

««»»

And there’s no force or effort in this. It’s not like I should now have a thousand holidays a day or hold on to this holiday forever. That’s a contraction of ego right there. It’s more just natural. What do I love? I love being. And because I love being, I come out into the sun more often. Naturally, it happens.

««»»

But there’s also, you know, which I often say is to come to know a holiday reveals something. What does it reveal? It reveals that I’m free. It reveals the aspect of myself, pure being, knowing that’s unchanging. And that has been true my entire life, although I didn’t notice. But it’s always been true. And no matter when I look, it’s always the same. And that you come to know once and for all. You don’t have to have another holiday to remind yourself of that simple fact because now you know. This aspect of myself is always here whether I’m aware of it or not. Consciously or unconsciously, knowingly or unknowingly, my essential being which is free is here.

Have a look and see.

««»»

So whenever you look, it’s going to be the same, always. Always exactly the same.

Well, that’s good because then you know, even if you’re so-called lost in thoughts, nothing actually is wrong. Nothing bad has happened. You didn’t lose anything. You didn’t lose anything if you were so-called lost in thoughts for five minutes or an hour or whatever. That’s good. Then you can relax about that. “Oh no, I’m so unenlightened all of a sudden.”

No.

Stop. Have a look. Nothing’s changed.

««»»

But yes, of course, being openly knowing is good. It’s good. To be consciously aware of my own essence, my own essential being is good. And so the way to have more holidays is to be more and more in love with that way of being And the way to be more and more in love with that way of being is for more and more holidays to happen naturally. And then more and more you default to being on holiday. It becomes more your default paradigm with no effort.

««»»

Good to be with you. I’ll be back again tomorrow. Peace.

www.liberationis.com

Salvadore Poe - Liberation IS is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts. Let’s look into that a little bit today.

Of course, we feel the thoughts in our head are very personal to us and they are who we are in a way. We see it that way.

And because, you know, culture and the ignorance of our so-called unenlightened intelligence has taught us that our thoughts are very sacrosanct, very important. They really mean something. And so, when thought barks, we jump.

But is there really anyone behind those thoughts? Is there a me, really, that is thinking those thoughts? Or could it be that thoughts are just really very random? Really like a moving commentary on life, basically. The experiences that happen to this body-mind. The information and impressions that come in through the senses to this body-mind. Thoughts really are just a replaying of that, a commentary, a moving commentary.

So, for example, let’s talk about thoughts that refer to sort of the work that we’re doing, which is the work of freedom or liberation or enlightenment or whatever you want to call it, spirituality. Well, when we came out of the womb, we had no ideas about this at all. There were no thoughts about it. There was no wondering or questioning.

And for me, for example, up until the age of 39, it didn’t even cross my mind at all. God, spirituality, meditation, nothing like that had any impetus or meaning in my mind, you know. I was making music, enjoying life, partying. But then when I did get on the path, I started reading a lot of books, you know, seeing teachers and all of that, and then what wasn’t there before was now here, which was a plethora of ideas about whatever, liberation or awakening or call it as you will. And then all of a sudden those ideas seem so important. They seem to have so much meaning.

So everyone that I work with has had long paths, mostly. Read every book that they were ever compelled to read. Did all the practices and everything. And so, there were many ideas in the mind.

It’s very natural. But do those thoughts actually have any meaning or value or importance?

To see what we’re sharing here together, not one of those thoughts has any importance or meaning or value. Not one. Whatever ideas we have about this thing called, again, whatever it might be, awakening or enlightenment or something…

Not one of those thoughts has anything to do with this at all.

Zero.

So for a moment, just being here blown wide open, knowing

««»»

with none of those thoughts, And in fact, in the absence of those thoughts, what’s here is freedom.

««»»

No thoughts are needed for that. Have a look.

««»»

And so mind may come in because you’ve read a lot of books. You know, there’s a lot of very important things that we’ve talked about and read. Very important. It must mean something. So you’ll be sitting here being nothing and, this is very content and satisfying in itself, and yet, and mind will come in, but what about what I read on page 45 of that Ramana book or something?

Is this that? And then, if we fall for that little trick of ego to, you know, keep itself alive. “Okay, Sal that’s very nice what you’re recognizing there, nothing, but is nothing really it? Listen to me for a little while, because I have some very juicy information.”

Well, if I fall for that, then I’m right back there in that carousel. Philosophy.

Seeking.

You, in your essence, pure being, knowing, don’t need any of that at all. And yet, because of the habit of mind and the compulsion of that movement of ego to persist, to maintain its existence and dominance, even after we work together, it can be, for some time, that there is the thought, “maybe this isn’t enough, maybe there’s more. I read about it, so there must be.”

Well, when that happens, just notice, no problem, what is it?

Is it inherent in yourself, pure being, or is it the movement of mind?

««»»

And notice one thing about that movement of mind. It’s not your thought at all. “Maybe I should be in constant bliss. Maybe I should be able to levitate”, or whatever. Those are not your thoughts. That’s the book speaking. That thought isn’t your thought. You never would have thought about anything like that if you hadn’t heard about it before.

So that doubt or that concept or whatever that may appear in the mind isn’t even yours. It’s not yours.

It’s a book.

And so you can ignore that…

in favor of contentment, peace, freedom, Being nothing, all of that, you know, the good stuff.

So just know that that movement of mind is just the attempt for mind or ego, whatever, to keep itself alive. That’s all it is.

That’s all it is. So don’t be fooled.

You source are free of any of that doubt, question, philosophy, spirituality, seeking, concepts. You’re free of all of that.

You know, be finished. Why not? Why not?

So jump off all of that racket, that carousel, which is just programmed information, not even your own. It’s not yours. So what business is it of yours?

Tend to your own business.

Being free.

It’s good to be with you. I’ll be back again tomorrow. Peace.

www.liberationis.com

Salvadore Poe - Liberation IS is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

««»»

Let’s look a little bit into this idea that there is, well, an ego that is somehow separate from the source or the whole,

or in some parlance that there’s a big I and a little I

or a big self and a small self.

And then, of course, when we think that way, we have to get rid of the small self or kill the ego or something like that.

But is it true? Is there a big self and a small self? A big I and a small I?

Is there an ego separate from Source?

Let’s have a look.

So for a moment, just be openly knowing,

no name, no form, no past or future, nothing, no characteristics, just pure subjective being, consciously knowing.

««»»

You see, clearly, without these ideas of myself as a body-mind with a history and a future and preferences and all of that, without any of those concepts as some kind of identity as to who I am, without any of those, with nothing, I know that I am. I exist clearly, don’t I? With no attributes whatsoever.

I simply am.

««»»

To exist and to know that I exist does not need any description or concept or name or form or anything like that.

My knowing that I exist is completely self-effulgent, self-illuminating. I know I.

Nothing else is needed but that. You see what I mean?

««»»

And so I say that this is what I am, at essence, prior to any movements. This is what I am, I, or the self, you can say, the self at rest, prior to any movement, prior to any appearances.

««»»

So then let’s see what happens. Because out from this appears, for example, a thought.

And in the moment that thought appears, there’s also the identification of myself as that thought.

It can be, I am happy.

I am angry.

I am the Self, whatever,

any thought that appears with an I attached to it is called the Rising I or the Rising Self.

And now, in the parlance we were speaking about before, that’s considered the small I, or the small self, or something like that, or ego.

But is that separate from Source?

Let’s have a look now.

««»»

When that arises, ego or a thought with an I seemingly attached to it, that is source itself, the resting I, all that there is,

appearing as a thought,

not separate from source as we may think, But it is Source-I appearing as a thought or something like that.

««»»

And so that thought or that so-called identification as an I thought or an ego thought is still only I, Source.

It’s never separate from Source.

When a wave appears on the surface of ocean and you look at that, you can say that’s a wave or you can say that’s ocean.

««»»

So then when a thought appears, or the so-called movement of ego appears, is that something separate, a thought, a movement of ego, or is its source, ocean, appearing as the wave of a so-called ego or thought?

««»»

And so this is good news because in this you see there’s nothing to get rid of or to kill. Whatever is appearing is still I.

It doesn’t matter.

««»»

So this idea of no-self, it’s good, but what it really means is there’s no self separate from source.

There’s no small I that’s separate from source.

And so I just say myself that there’s only the Self

By which I mean there’s only source,

ocean, I, appearing as a ripple, a wave, a thought, an emotion,

anything.

««»»

And that’s also non-duality, isn’t it? There isn’t two. There isn’t me separate here from life. There isn’t me in life. There isn’t me opposed to life. There is only me as life.

And there is only life as me.

««»»

And just try to notice that in the course of your day. I don’t like to put any effortful looking or something. It’s just very gentle and relaxed. Just notice, you know. Notice all of these waves, ripples, waves, tsunamis, whatever. Notice them. They all come out of Source. They’re all Source appearing as a movement. They’re all Shiva appearing as Shakti. Nothing is separate from life. Nothing is separate from Source. There’s only that.

««»»

It’s good to be with you. I’ll be back again tomorrow. Peace.

www.liberationis.com

Salvadore Poe - Liberation IS is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Bear asked, “can you do one on why we can’t choose anything? So we’ll look into that today.”

Before I get to that, I wanted to mention something also. As you know, I leave a lot of space in between after I say something. And the purpose of that is for you to recognize and abide in and as that which has been pointed to or revealed. So I often leave a lot of space. You may notice the natural tendency to wait for me to say something else or expect that I’m going to say something else. It’s very understandable and natural.

What I could recommend or suggest would be that in these spaces where I’m not speaking, to not expect or wait for me to speak again. Better just to be completely open, knowing now, with no expectation whatsoever. For all you know, I may never speak again. Who knows?

So I can tie that in a little bit with the question, can you please speak about why we can’t choose anything?

Let’s be on holiday for a moment. When we’re on holiday now, just being openly knowing notice if that tendency happens to wait for me to say something else. Don’t do anything about it just see if that occurs. So for now, for a moment, let’s be on holiday together.

Pure being, openly knowing.

««»»

Was there a subtle movement in your mind or question or waiting for the next words to come?

If so, and again, it’s very natural and understandable, nothing wrong, but just to see this, f so, that expectation, did you create that? Did you choose that? Or that expectation just was sort of appearing somehow in your mind or in your body?

««»»

And then if you notice that that expectation appears, maybe then the thought will come, “well, I shouldn’t do that. I should just be here.” If that thought occurs to you, did you create that or choose that thought?

Or did that thought just occur?

««»»

If you see what I’m saying here, then it means you can see that you didn’t choose to expect the next words out of Sal’s mouth to come, and you didn’t choose to have the thought, “oh wait, I shouldn’t do that, I should just be here.”

See this movement, that’s all, just see it.

««»»

And notice also now, while you’re openly knowing, just notice which thoughts come to the mind, if any.

Did you create those thoughts that are coming to the mind? Did you choose them?

««»»

In any moment, an idea or an intention may appear. Let’s say, I like to use very ordinary examples. Let’s say, “oh, maybe I should watch a movie tonight, or maybe I should read a book.” So, When that happens, did you choose or create that intention, or it happens? “Oh, maybe I should watch a movie tonight. Oh no, maybe I should read a book instead.”

Why did that intention appear in the first place? Maybe you’re sitting around doing nothing, and then out of that nothing, an idea comes, :oh, maybe I’ll watch a movie.” Did you create that? Did you choose that?

But then the next thought is, “oh, I don’t feel like looking at the screen. Maybe I’ll read a book instead.” That thought appears too. Did you create that or choose that thought?

««»»

Well, so then now the conundrum is here because now apparently it seems to be that you have to choose one or the other. And let’s just see if that’s the way it works. This is all about seeing, not understanding or figuring out, but actually seeing. At some point, if you’re going back and forth, movie, book, movie, book, at some point, one of those ideas becomes more compelling. “Yeah, I’m tired of looking at the screen. Yeah, I’m going to read a book.”

««»»

In that moment, that idea became more dominant, more compelling.

And so out of that intention, the action to read the book happens.

««»»

Immediately after, or subsequently after, next day or tomorrow, you might say, “well, yeah, I was trying to decide between watching a movie or reading a book, and finally I decided to read a book.” Is that true?

Did you really choose to read the book, or in that moment, the idea of reading a book was more compelling than watching a movie.

And so that’s what happened.

««»»

The idea of agency or choosership or doership or decidership only and always comes subsequent to the actual movement itself. It’s only an idea. It’s ego claiming agency. But actually life moves with no individual doership here at all. No chooser. No decider.

Life moves as it will.

««»»

Just for a moment, be on holiday and just see how many things are coming and going. What of them are you creating? Huh? I don’t see anything.

It’s all life moving.

««»»

Thoughts, sensations, emotions, sensory objects coming and going. Which of those have you created?

Did you choose any of them?

««»»

If we recognize that we didn’t choose any of them it’s more accurate to say that there’s no one here to choose or create anything. There’s only the movement of life. The one here who thinks it has the agency is called ego. But once it’s seen that there is actually no agency, there’s only the movement of life, then what also happens is,

it’s the end of ego.

««»»

Since ego is the idea of agency, it’s not an ego that has the idea of agency, the idea of agency itself is ego.

So if the idea of agency is gone, ego is gone. And what’s left?

As I said the other day, unborn, pure being, knowing. No ego, no agency, no chooser, no doer, simply the movement of life.

Have a look.

««»»

So if you have anything you’d like me to discuss, talk about, and very specific is also very good, you know, if you want to do a subtle nuanced or very specific idea to look into, that’s great also.

So if so, leave it in the comment and I’ll get to it. It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow. Peace.

www.liberationis.com

Konroy asked in a comment,

“I’d like to hear more about attention,

what it is, how it works, if we need to strengthen it, etc.”

So just to mention before we get to that,

that when a question like this or any question is asked, I never know the answer.

It’s not something that’s in my mind already.

When a question like this or any question comes,

I just look to see what is being pointed to and what is revealed.

So, let’s look together.

What is attention?

Let’s be on holiday for a moment.

Pure being knowing, which is what I am in essence.

Attending in this moment to myself only pure subject.

And then in another moment,

This pure being knowing what I am in essence is attending to an object like thoughts or one of the sensory appearances, sensations in the body, whatever it may be.

It’s still the same pure being knowing that’s attending either to itself or to any

of the ephemeral temporal objects.

Have a look.

So really attention is only that in which pure being knowing is being in a way.

It’s either being itself or being part and parcel, the object of its knowing.

Attention is always here.

It’s not something to develop or strengthen.

There’s always attention.

Again, either attention to myself as pure being or attention to an object.

So it’s not a matter of strengthening attention.

In the work that we do here,

in what I recommend us on a holiday, it’s about having attention being

More attentive to itself, so to speak.

I consciously know that I am

pure conscious being knowing itself

like now.

So when I suggest for a moment don’t attend to any of the particular objects,

I mean you, pure being knowing.

Instead of attending to any objects, attend to yourself.

Know that I am.

Consciously know - I am.

That’s what a holiday is.

When attention is attending to itself subjectively instead of to another object.

And I am that.

So I am not doing attention.

Attention is another way of saying what I am, attention.

I am attention always.

So for a moment,

have attention being turned onto itself, myself.

I know that I am.

I am I

consciously, knowingly.

It’s good to be with you.

Again, if you have any topics you’d like me to cover,

leave a comment below and we’ll get to it.

Okay.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

www.liberationis.com

I just wanted to remind you,

if you have a particular topic or inquiry you’d like me to look into on

a holiday here, just mention that in the comment and I’ll try to get

to it.

So, just for a moment, don’t attend to anything in particular.

Time is only an appearance of mind,

so there’s no past, there’s no future, none of that is actual.

What’s actual is now.

So another name for pure being

knowing is now.

When you know yourself,

As pure subjective being,

which has no object other than itself or separate from itself,

then you know that which is free of the movement of personal

self or ego.

Ego is born when this pure being knowing adds something to it.

For example, I am this body.

That’s ego.

I am Sal.

That’s ego.

When something is added on to nothing, it becomes ego.

Because then there’s also an object attached to pure being,

which has no object.

Pure being is subject.

So as soon as you attach an object to it,

I am Sal,

or this is my opinion,

or these are my preferences,

or this is my past and future,

when you attach any of those objects to it,

then that’s the movement of ego.

So for a moment we just stop doing that.

Very simple.

For a moment.

Make it easy, you know.

Just be pure being without anything attached to it at all.

No object.

And in this condition or state or knowing,

this pure being,

I am unborn as a

separate self.

Attaching any object to this, as I said before, is taking a birth of self, a birth of ego.

That’s what birth is.

Birth is not the moment you come out of the womb.

Birth is every moment when an object is added to nothing.

And so for a moment, just be unborn, simply being.

Not anything in particular.

Not even really I am, to be honest with you, it’s not even that.

Pure being, knowing

is consciously aware of itself.

As what?

Well, nothing really, just pure being knowing.

And just notice that movement,

the clinging

of mind on to something.

It can be, as I said,

name or form,

or it can be,

now I know something, you know,

some piece of information or knowledge or a concept.

Oh yes, now I know I’m nothing.

Even that, you know, just notice that movement, what mind does, you know, that’s all.

Just notice what mind does.

In each of those movements of mind is a little birth of self again.

Self is coming and going,

coming and going.

But in the absence of conceptual mind and conceptual thinking,

and grasping to any object,

in the absence of that.

Satchitananda.

Being, knowing itself as peace.

That’s eternally what I am.

That is what I am always knowingly or unknowingly,

consciously or unconsciously, overlooked or recognized.

Satchitananda, being, knowing myself as peace is always here.

Have a look!

So for a moment, don’t take a birth of self.

For a moment, just remain unborn, your being knowing.

It’s good to be with you.

Leave any requests in the comment below.

And I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

www.liberationis.com

So let’s look into what a holiday is.

It’s exactly as the name implies.

A holiday means a break.

A break from attending to

yourself, holding yourself up as an individual.

It’s a lot of work,

a lot of energy we go into maintaining the sense of self.

So a holiday is just to have a break from that.

And there’s more as well to what a holiday was.

reveals, but let’s start with that.

So just for a moment.

Don’t attend to yourself, which means past and future, All of your beliefs.

and opinions and ideas, poor me, great me, all of that.

Me as the center of the universe.

For a moment, just,

that’s all fine,

but just leave it for a moment and come out into the sun,

pure knowing I know that I am here

and now.

There’s no effort involved in just being.

Upholding that self, that story,

going in there again and again on that carousel

that’s like work, isn’t it?

You struggle and think and suffer.

All of that.

So to stop that for a moment is a holiday.

Come out into the sun.

Just pure knowing, pure being.

You can call it pure subjective consciousness,

where there’s no object separate from the subject itself,

the subject being I.

So it’s simply I knowing myself.

I am I, consciously.

This can immediately elicit a sense of peace, stillness, silence.

And if so, enjoy.

But the main thing isn’t the peace, bliss, silence.

The main thing is even in the midst of that,

I know that I am

pure subjective consciousness.

I am I.

And there’s really a lot to say,

or, a lot to recognize.

a holiday reveals many things, which we’ll go over,

something new each day.

But for today, I just wanted to start from the beginning.

Simply being, pure being,

Holiday from the obsession with self.

Too much effort.

It’s good to be back.

I’ll try to put out a holiday every day.

And yeah, I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

www.liberationis.com

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At the end we unfortunately had a hacker break in and disrupt the meeting in a vile way. I apologise for this and have researched how to prevent it in the future.

I am flying to USA tomorrow for my move there with my partner. I’ve uploaded some daily inquiries so there will be no break. Enjoy!

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Everything rises and falls in empty mind

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Sal guides a few holidays to simply be that which is already free from the known. We see that no matter what comes and goes, I am always here.

Once you recognise that it is just to be that, to be free.

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My personal story,

my great past, my terrible past,

my magnificent past, my illustrious past,

my horrible traumatic past,

my nostalgic memories,

my terrible memories,

my story.

Completely an object, not who I am.

I am not that.

I am not that story.

I am not that story.

I am not.

If I believe I’m that story, I’m going to f*****g suffer right along with it.

Of course.

Because that story is suffering.Even nostalgia, to me, suffering.

The good old days.

Oh, those times.

This is pure suffering.

So if I believe I am that story, I suffer right along with it.

Well, the good news is that’s an object.

I am prior to that story.

If I know freedom like this moment now,

that story simply and genuinely and truly doesn’t f*****g exist.

It’s a complete myth.

On the other hand, if I want to find that story, I will find it.

And it will become real.

It will become the locus of what I am.

Oh, that’s the locus of me.

This f*****g story.

I’m saying the locus of me is free.

The locus of what I am is free.

That story is a myth.

It’s simply an object coming and going like that tractor.

That’s all it is.

So like yesterday I said, when we’re blown wide open, all objects are equal.

All objects of this,

you know,

when we’re focused on one object,

then we’re exclusively focused on that object.

And really everything else is vague or not even known.

But blown wide open knowing everything that we see is appearing equally,

including the sensations of the body.

That means everything is equal, including my beliefs, preferences, personal story.

They are all equally appearing as in any other appearance.

And all of that is simply

an ephemeral, temporal appearance coming and going.

Even the seemingly most personal story is just like that tractor sound.

It’s equal.

It’s not more important than the tractor sound.

It’s simply an appearance.

I happen to place more value on it because it pretends to be who I am.

It pretends.

It’s a good actor.

And it’s a very good actor.

Good?

Good?

It’s a very good actor.

Better than any Academy Award winning actor.

Better than Leonardo DiCaprio is my own f*****g story.

award-winning, and I believe it completely.

But it’s no more true than that tractor sound.

We’re getting real here, you know.

This intensive, I am intending, heads will roll.

I want everyone freedom.

So we’re getting real.

All appearances are equal.

They’re temporal.

They come and go.

They’re insubstantial.

They are not essentially who I am.

They’re fine, but they are not who I am.

They’re not to be fixed,

corrected, changed,

gotten rid of,

none of that,

but they’re not who I am.

Let’s have a holiday.

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There are 20 Videos and 20 Audios from the Inquiry and Q&A meetings,plus an additional 14 suplemental audios. All are streamed from my web portal.

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There are 20 Videos and 20 Audios from the Inquiry and Q&A meetings,plus an additional 14 suplemental audios. All are streamed from my web portal.

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You can take your time and go through the inquiries at your own pace to really come to know what each inquiry is pointing to for the most powerful effect and shift.

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I was speaking to a friend yesterday who’s come here to Tiruvannamalai to join my intensive,

and he was asking about the relationship between the unknown and doubt.

Somehow, being in the unknown creates doubt.

But doubt is actually only created by the known, isn’t it?

Known being concepts of the mind, ideas, beliefs,

opinions, hopes, fears, desires.

And out of those hopes, fears and desires and beliefs is the potential for doubt.

One example would be the doubt that spiritual seekers have,

that they’re getting somewhere or making progress or maybe will ever get liberated or enlightened or something like that.

Well, this doubt only can happen because there’s an idea that there’s something called liberation and enlightenment,

and there’s someone here, a me,

who needs to attain that and is not attaining it.

So then doubt appears.

So, clearly that doubt is all based on the fact of the known, which is an idea.

The known is an idea.

In the absence of that idea of liberation and enlightenment,

and even more so, a someone here who is going to get liberation and enlightenment,

in the absence of those ideas,

in the absence of that known,

like now,

just an open holiday…

In this pure being, knowing

has no need for an idea about liberation or enlightenment or progress,

or even a one who would have any of those things.

Pure being, open knowing now.

So, really doubt is not at all related to the unknown.

Because in pure being,

knowing,

the objects of the known,

which is knowledge,

ideas, opinions, concepts etc.,

they don’t appear, do they?

This is the unknown.

Pure knowing is the unknown.

Free from the known.

So, in the absence of the known,

there is neither the question or even concept or idea of enlightenment,

liberation, progress,

nor is there even the concept or idea of the one who would need to attain those things and isn’t.

So in this way, pure being knowing, there’s no seed for doubt to appear.

Because the seed is the “I am separate” and “I am seeking” and “I have desires and fears and concepts”,

that’s the seed from which doubt sprouts.

But free from the known and the unknown which is pure being knowing,

as paradoxical as that may sound,

the unknown is pure being knowing,

like now.

There is no doubt, nor is there someone to have the doubt.

So, doubt has nothing to do with the unknown.

Doubt has only to do with the known.

So, free from doubt is free from the one who has the doubt.

It’s free from the one who has the idea of liberation and enlightenment in the future.

And it’s already free here and now,

pure knowing being, who I am.

It’s good to be with you.

I will be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Videos and Audios for the India Intensive HERE

Today I thought we could find out what is here always,

before, during, and after all of the many constantly changing,

moving, appearing, and vanishing appearances.

If all of that is constantly changing,

it’s kind of foolish to put all of our value and security,

stability, sense of peace,

contentment on those moving,

changing appearances.

It’s a fool’s errand.

But what doesn’t change?

What can always be counted on?

Where is true contentment and peace found?

Is it in attaining an object?

Even a subtle, beautiful object like a blissful state or something like that?

It’s kind of silly to expect that to provide our contentment, peace, happiness.

Because as comes and goes those things,

also comes and goes our happiness,

contentment and peace.

So let’s see what’s here before, during, and after all of that that we can count on.

Let’s be on holiday for a moment.

Blown wide open, pure knowing being.

None of those transient things are here now, are they?

If some thoughts or sensations are appearing, we see they’re just fleeting.

Because why?

Because we’re abiding as pure open being.

Notice something.

This pure open being you recognize now,

isn’t that exactly the same as last time we were together having a holiday?

Pure open being.

That’s exactly the same, isn’t it?

Hasn’t gone anywhere.

But since the last time we were together,

how many appearances,

movements of thought,

sensations of the body,

sounds, experiences both gross and subtle,

visual objects,

how many of those have come and gone since the last time we were together?

Countless.

And all of them were different.

But this blown wide open pure being knowing absolutely no change at all.

Nut for the lack of noticing, here always.

All we just have to do is notice.

Also notice about what we recognize now, that it’s now.

And it was now when we were together last time, wasn’t it?

No time has come and gone in between.

We’re still here and now as we were.

All of those experiences, all of the sounds and sights and thoughts and sensations that appeared have their movement now,

in now,

in me,

timelessly.

I have my stand in now, not changing, not two different nows either, simply now.

So we see, whenever we care to notice,

this, what I am, pure being knowing, is here always.

We get hypnotized by the movements of mind and body and life and all of that,

and overlook what is so glaringly obvious,

which is that I, pure being knowing, am here

before, during, and after every appearance.

And what good news!

Because this means that all the trouble we feel during these experiences and

thoughts and sensations and emotions are just gone as soon as you care to look.

Where are they now?

For one who has the audacity to be free,

then it’s just a matter of coming to know

that which is already free and being that.

And being a real rebel.

A real rebel is one who doesn’t believe the cultural indoctrination that everything that happens in your mind is sacrosanct and must be attended to.

I know. I’m a heretic.

I’m getting in big trouble.

A real rebel is a rebel against that and says, “no, I’m gonna be free.”

That’s why I call it the audacity of freedom.

It takes true audacity to be free because all of culture is set against that idea.

All of psychology is set against that idea.

All of religion is set against that idea.

All of spiritual seeking is set against that idea as well.

It’s all keeping you in the loop of hypnotized mind.

So I just say for a moment,

you know,

notice what’s here,

before, during and after everything.

Untouched.

Pure being knowing.

Already free.

This is who you are.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Videos and Audios for the India Intensive HERE

Let’s just have a look at the body and see what’s going on here.

So when I say the body,

I refer to everything that has to do with the body,

that relates to the body.

And that includes the sensations of the body,

the seeming structure of the body itself,

the physicality.

It refers to all the sensory operations of the body,

sight, sound, touch, taste, smell;

All of the objects that those senses perceive.

It refers to thoughts that appear.

It refers to emotions that appear.

And it refers to the consciousness that seems to be localized here in the body,

that feeling or sense of I that seems to have a central point here,

somewhere amorphously in the body.

You can’t really put your finger on where it is, though.

So, in this inquiry, the body is all of that.

The body is an object.

That’s pretty easy to see.

All of the sensations of the body are objects as well.

What does an object mean?

An object is something known as separate from a subject.

Like I know that there’s a body here.

And everything relating to the body is also an object.

As we said,

the sensations of the body,

the senses and their objects,

thoughts, emotions,

and the feeling or sense of I am here,

consciousness itself.

That’s as well an object.

If those are all objects, then what is it that knows those objects?

Well, that can’t be found as an object, obviously, because then that would be another object.

Really, the most you can say is all of these objects are known.

You can say, I am aware of the body.

You can say, I am aware of sensations of the body.

You can say I am aware of thoughts appearing.

You can say I am aware of emotions that are appearing.

You can say I am aware of all of the visual objects,

auditory objects, the touch,

taste and smell objects.

I am aware of all of those things.

So what am I?

You can even say I am aware that I am

So even I am is known and can be objectified.

Certainly the feeling of I am or the so-called sense of I am which seems to be

somewhere localized in the body or at least here

you can say I know that also as an object.

If I know all of those objects from the gross physical objects to the more and more subtle objects until we get to the subtle sense of I am,

then what am I?

If I find anything,

even silence,

or space,

or even awareness,

then I have found a very,

very subtle object.

and it’s still I, prior to that, knowing that object.

So where does that leave us?

It leaves us not finding something to claim as I.

It leaves us simply being unknown,

with no answer coming in that way.

But undeniable, also.

The closest,

I feel the closest anyway,

words that can attempt to come to it would be pure being knowing,

which in Sanskrit is Satchitananda.

Pure being knowing itself

But of course, even that, now I can say that I’ve found something.

I know that I am pure being knowing itself.

It’s not intended to have landed on something.

It’s just intended to be a final pointing to be dropped also.

And so what is left to be done is,

to be still.

To be still doesn’t mean to not move the body

To be still means to no longer need any definition or description of myself to be.

To be still means to stop looking for something in an object to claim as myself.

To be still means to stop seeking to attain something other than this.

To be still means firmly rooted in this now with nowhere to turn by means of

explanation or description or identification.

To be still for a moment, or forever,

but let’s say to be still for a moment is the end of you as an ego, separate.

To be still is to

be conscious, knowing, being, undeniable, with no attributes.

To be still is a holiday from self.

So for a moment, be still.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Videos and Audios for the India Intensive HERE

What I’d like to look into today is the possibility to have no concern at all for

what appears in the mind.

Because of course, as we all know,

we’re very easily troubled by thoughts and emotions and that kind of thing.

It’s because we take that very personally, of course.

We feel that that has some great importance that we must pay attention to and that means something about me.

That’s very natural.

That’s what we’ve been conditioned to believe and see.

But what about a different alternative?

Without having to do anything about what happens in the mind, thoughts, and emotions,

simply not be bothered.

In a way it’s taking a stand, an intention, which says, I’m going to be free.

Why would we take that stand?

Well, clearly we see the value of freedom compared to the trouble of following along with every movement of mind and body.

And again, this has to do with self-love.

To love truth, peace, freedom, our essential being, what we are,

just that alone gives the impetus or the movement towards being free.

And again, I don’t like to consider this a practice or a sadhana, but just more a way of being.

And then it’s not a movement towards something else,

a way of being is simply now, as I am now.

It’s not a practice to attain something.

So, I suggest as a way of being,

to be free.

And I suggest the way to be free is to not care what happens in the mind.

To not think that it means so much and it’s so important and it must be attended to, and I have to deal with it and solve it and fix it.

Our culture of psychology will tell you that you’re avoiding something or spiritually bypassing, denying, something like that.

What I find funny about that is ego can be very clever and will use any clever

means it can to keep itself alive.

And one of the more recent clever means ego has come up with is spiritual bypassing.

Attend to me, do what I say, or you are spiritually bypassing.

That’s beautiful, isn’t it?

What a trick.

What would happen if you don’t attend to your thoughts?

Something bad is going to happen?

The more we fall for every claim that thought makes, the more we’re bound to that.

And those claims are endless, let’s face it.

And they’re endlessly gross level and they’re endlessly even subtle as well.

Anything for ego to maintain its existence, it will do, of course.

So contrary to our popular ideas and beliefs and psychological concepts and ways and means,

I say contrary to that,

real love is to,

I have to say the word,

ignore.

Ignore the movements of mind in favor of the blown wide open,

pure sun of knowing being that is who you are,

that is peace,

that is freedom, that is health.

I’d be remiss not to mention here,

after having said all of that,

that I’m not at all opposed to psychology,

therapy work, shadow work, and all of that.

I think that’s all excellent and good work and necessary.

What I’m proposing is for those who have the audacity to say, it’s time for me to be free.

And, in that case, and for the people who come to my work,

I kind of take it for granted that that is where their mind is at.

And so I want to present that in the way I do, in a very audacious way.

Be free.

Otherwise, all of the therapies and that kind of psychological work is excellent and important and necessary.

So just now, for a moment, let’s just be on holiday, blown wide open knowing.

And just see, you know, notice the movements coming and going of mind.

And notice, as I always say, very gently notice, their demand for attention.

The proclamation of their veracity and their importance.

You must attend to me.

Just notice that movement, that’s all.

Let’s be on holiday now.

Is there anything in there,

any of those proclamations that are really so urgent and important and valuable that I must

give up freedom to follow?

Freedom is here, now, always.

Like a light switch, off and on.

Just metaphorically, open your eyes and see, here it is, be that.

Open the eye of knowing.

The singular eye, that’s pure being, pure knowing, all-inclusive, here now only, free,

of self, of story, of time.

Is this spiritually bypassing?

Or is this just self-love, the love of freedom and peace?

It’s good to be with you all.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Videos and Audios for the India Intensive HERE

Let’s just do a simple meditation today.

Just simply being.

Just to abide as that which has no name or form

or anything else, no attributes whatsoever.

But just relax the focus of attention, and I suggest keeping your eyes open for this.

Be relaxed, and just be open, knowing.

Don’t be concerned at all with whatever comes or goes, no problem.

Just be concerned with consciously being.

There will be movements of the body and the mind that want to be attended to, being the narcissists that they are.

Me, me, me.

But ignore.

Instead, put all your attention,

which is love, isn’t it,

on yourself,

just pure being.

Self-attention.

Self-love.

It may seem that some effort is required to, I guess,

resist the pull of temptation towards appearances, and that’s okay.

It’s good to find the balance between effort and effortlessness.

so that there is not much force about it.

It’s very gentle.

Gentle is really the key.

So a gentle effort, which is more like a genuine interest in myself.

And then what looks, to even yourself, like the effort to resist the temptation of the movements of mind,

instead what it is, is just the interest and love of pure being,

just to be.

Out of this interest and love of pure being, the movement to resist

those arisings of distracting thoughts,

sensations,

sense objects,

and all of that,

happens on its own.

Not by negating something, but by embracing something, yourself, self-love,

And then it seems much less of a struggle or a fight against something else.

Then it’s just embracing something that you love.

And that’s easy, isn’t it?

That doesn’t take effort, does it?

So abide.

Free of ego.

Already the case.

Already attained.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Videos and Audios for the India Intensive HERE

Carrying on from yesterday’s inquiry about free will versus determinism,

why don’t we have an actual meditation to look into that?

You can keep your eyes open or closed, that’s fine, either way.

Let’s just see what’s going on, because that’s where the rubber meets the road, isn’t it?

Not to understand something, conceptualize about it, but to actually see.

So just for a moment, let’s be relaxed, on holiday.

If your eyes are open, there are many visual objects in the field of your being.

Are any of those created by a doer here?

Or are they just as they are?

And also, without referring to the mind,

these visual objects that are here,

without referring to the mind,

aren’t they just simply as they are?

Where did they come from?

The past?

What about any sounds that may be appearing?

Just notice, maybe some sounds are coming, like the voice that you’re listening to now.

Are you the doer of that voice?

And again, without referring to mind at all, isn’t that voice just appearing?

Does it mean it was predetermined or something?

It simply is, no?

What about the sensations of the body that are here?

Just notice, gently.

I want it to be casual, not intent focusing or something.

Just notice as a matter of fact.

Just see.

Did you create these sensations or choose them?

Aren’t they just appearing spontaneously?

And again, if you don’t use the mind,

if you just don’t refer to that at all,

just blown wide open knowing,

is there some predetermination for these sensations?

Or are they just appearing.

Let’s look a little closer.

What about thoughts?

You’re just sitting here minding your own business,

being blown wide open.

And just notice, again, very casually, thoughts appear.

Just very random, isn’t it, which thoughts come?

Are you deciding which thoughts come?

Or is the mind just spontaneously moving as it will?

Are those thoughts chosen by you?

Have they been predetermined to appear as they do?

Or they just simply are?

Notice also that if you’re going back and forth with a so-called decision,

that each side of that back and forth decision appears spontaneously as well.

Have a notice about that.

So then if you see that even the

back and forth movement of the mind,

yes, I’ll do this,

no, I won’t do it,

yes, I will,

no, I won’t,

that back and forth is also spontaneously appearing,

then you can see that you’re not the creator or doer of that either.

That’s just life flowing, isn’t it?

The movement of life as mind.

Just doing its thing.

You are in the background aware of all of that movement.

You’re not the doer of it.

And if you see that,

that I’m not the doer of it,

does it then immediately have to fall upon the concept,

well, if I’m not the doer of it,

then it must have been predetermined.

That’s kind of a stretch, isn’t it?

It simply is what is, no?

In the absence of the concept, I am the doer, then what is simply is.

In the absence of the concept, there is predetermination.

Then what is simply is.

It’s just a good thing to notice for yourself.

This is an inquiry,

just to see all of the visual objects appear with no doer, with no determinism.

All of the auditory objects appear sounds with no doer, no predetermination.

All of the sensations of the body appear with no doer, no predetermination.

And all thoughts and apparent choices appear with no doer and no predetermination also.

This is freedom.

Freedom from the one who thinks it’s in control and has agency or understands the meaning of life and predetermination.

Freedom from that.

All of which is simply conceptual.

Cool. There’s a lot to look into with this topic on my intensives it’s two days just of this to make it really doubtless and and really create a shift actually.

Brings a lot of relief ease of being peace compassion there’s many many things that occur when this recognition really dawns in a real way.

And just in case you’re interested, the videos and audios are available for the upcoming India Intensive, if that’s something you’d be interested in.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Videos and Audios for the India Intensive HERE

I was talking to a friend today at lunch here in Tiruvannamalai,

and he’s someone who’s been here in Tiru for many years and has been on a couple of my intensives recently.

He requested that on my upcoming intensive, if I would speak a little bit about this idea of free will versus determinism.

The inquiry into doership and free will and choice and all of that stuff is a very

big part of my work, as some people that have worked with me know.

But I haven’t really spoken much about its apparent opposite, which would be predetermination.

You know, if there’s no free will, then that must mean that there’s predetermination.

Something along that line.

So today, I thought I would get into this a little bit, touch on this topic.

And I will be going into it in much more depth on the intensive coming up, of course.

Probably two days we’ll be going into this topic of free will.

So one question that immediately comes to mind when the idea that if there’s no free will, there must be predetermination rises would be, why do we need one or the other?

To come to find out that there is no free will,

no chooser, no doer, no decisions,

and all of that kind of thing,

why does that have to then be replaced by the idea,

well then, there must be predetermination if there’s no free will?

I would say that that’s because

we, and by we I mean the personal ego,

but just to speak ordinary language,

we have an inherent need of the security of the known to know something.

To be really in the unknown is not a place that we are accustomed to or feel

necessarily comfortable in.

Therefore, if we come to find out through the inquiry work that we do together that in fact there is no such thing as free will or doership or choice,

simply because of the fact that the one who believes that they have those

attributes is not…

is only an imagination.

It’s not actual.

So when it’s seen by you, pure knowing.

that the one who believes it has this agency is only an idea,

and if it’s clearly seen, then the whole idea of free will goes out the window, doesn’t it?

Because in that case, who is here to have the free will?

The answer is no one.

The apparent one, ego, is part and parcel with the idea of free will.

So when that idea of free will goes, the one who has the free will goes as well.

Therefore, it’s not a question of, do I have free will or not?

It’s a question, is there one here who has free will?

So now when this is seen,

this one idea that believes it has free will will maybe then recognize that its

days are numbered, so to speak.

Because for ego to survive, it needs something.

It needs something to cling on to.

Like, I have free will.

If it has nothing, ego in itself is nothing.

It needs another attribute.

I have a name.

I have a form.

I have free will.

I have preferences.

I have choices.

If it’s realized that all of that stuff is an illusion,

then ego itself has nothing to hold on to,

nothing to stand.

And therefore it goes.

And why?

Again, because the idea “I am Sal” is part and parcel with the ego itself.

The one that has free will and the idea of free will itself are the same thing.

There are not two.

There’s not one who believes they have free will.

The idea of free will is the ego.

And when that idea goes, ego goes.

Therefore, in this case, then there is nothing.

And that nothing is not necessarily for human beings,

that unknown, free from the known, is not necessarily a comfortable place,

because ego is not accustomed to not being in charge and control and in knowing.

And if there’s nothing to know also, then there’s no need for ego any longer.

Ego is also gone.

And so, ego will say, if there’s no free will, that means there must be predeterminism.

And then ego goes, “whew, okay, good, okay, I can accept there’s no free will.

But there’s predeterminism,

which means I still know something.”

Which means I still have validity.

So, what happens then?

if the idea of predetermination is also gone,

then ego has nothing to grasp to keep itself alive,

does it?

Again, ego only can survive with another thing that it grasps on to.

I have free will, or there is predetermination.

These things that,

these add-ons is what keeps ego supposedly,

and there’s not really ego anyway,

but supposedly alive.

So, predetermination then,

first of all the idea of predetermination implies in the word pre,

something came previous to,

that it came from somewhere else in time.

But the real recognition of freedom

the real powerful and profound recognition of freedom reveals that in fact all

there is is this moment now.

There is nothing else.

There is nothing else.

Time is a mental construct.

And if it’s really seen that

what I’m saying now, that means that nothing ever came from anywhere.

There only is now what is, period, with nothing behind the curtain.

That’s a very stark realization and something ego does not like.

Because another thing that ego grasps on to for its existence is the concept of time.

I exist.

I came from somewhere.

I’m going somewhere.

I have a story, a past.

This is who I am.

in a really clear seeing of the actual truth that all there is is this moment,

there is nothing else.

There is no place for ego to stand in that, if it’s a very clear seeing.

Therefore, the idea of predetermination as an alternative to free will

loses its veracity.

And of course, we go much more into this doership on the intensive.

Because we have to really look in our own laboratory here in a very direct and

ordinary way to actually find out if we have ever actually created anything about who we are in any way, anything.

Once we see that in our own laboratory,

then the belief in free will and agency and all of that,

it just goes.

That’s it.

It’s just now known.

So now what I’m saying is once that goes,

we don’t need to pick up another concept called predetermination as some kind of solace that yes, don’t worry, I, ego still exists.

Can we really just be unknown?

As the great J. Krishnamurti’s book title suggests, Freedom From the Known.

This is what I’m speaking about.

The known is the idea, belief that I’m the doer.

That’s known, that’s a concept, it’s the known.

The known is also the belief or the concept or the idea that there’s predetermination.

That’s also an idea.

That’s also the known.

Freedom from the known means not having either of those beliefs.

Nothing.

Just reconciled.

This is it now.

This moment.

So yeah, we’ll be going into this much more in my intensive

And yeah, you can find out about that if you’d like on my website.

But anyway, I wanted to talk about that today because a good friend brought it up at lunch.

And it’s definitely something that’s going to be a big topic on the intensive.

Good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Videos and Audios for the India Intensive HERE

Let’s just be together.

Wide open.

Free of time.

Free of the story of self.

Free of the future projections.

It’s so simple really, isn’t it?

Purely knowing.

Not knowing by knowledge, of course.

I don’t mean content.

Just the fact of knowing.

Not of anything in particular.

Not even attending to the sense of I, holding on to the sense of I or something like that.

Just fully open.

The mind, based on the sense of I am, appears in gross ways.

It appears in more subtle ways, and it appears in very, very, very subtle ways also.

Gross ways are thoughts, emotions, that kind of thing.

A more subtle way is the feeling I am here,

Because the feeling of the body draws us to first-person attention,

the feeling of I.

So there’s that feeling of I am,

more subtle than thoughts and emotions.

And even more subtle than that is just kind of the knowing I am.

That’s as far as words can take it.

Because when being on holiday and coming to rest as that,

Even that can fade.

That very subtle sense.

I am this.

This knowing I.

And then there’s only this, what is, without any definition, description.

But certainly it can’t be denied that life is,

life,

existence.

But not existence to someone like me, I.

Existence is prior to all of that.

So there’s no need to practice something

or hold on to something.

It’s simply to be that.

And in that is known the movements toward self.

both the gross movements of thought,

the more subtle movement,

the feeling I am here,

and even the more subtle movement than that,

that I am this awareness or something.

I don’t suggest looking for that or tending to that or focusing or witnessing or

anything like that.

But, you know, just very casually, try to be casual about it,

just notice.

And notice often.

It happens by itself.

The more you notice, the more you notice.

The more you come to this, the more you come to this.

There’s no doing about that or practice or something like that.

I don’t deny that a subtle desire or even burning desire for freedom, peace, love.

That is the impetus in the background that would create this movement of coming to this prior to self.

But that’s not to be cultivated or practiced or anything like that.

The more you come to this, the more it becomes attractive on its own.

And so for a moment, recognize this.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

LIBERATIONIS.COM

Here was a very good conversation with a friend on the latest open meeting and quite a good inquiry as well, I think.

So enjoy.

QUESTION: It feels, the mind is saying,

but that is a thought about something that is not known because there’s no knowing when we’re asleep.

So to say that that is what I am feels like it’s an idea from the I am that can’t be verified.

SAL: Well. I didn’t say that’s what I am I said in deep sleep there’s no I am there’s no world in deep sleep.

QUESTION: Right.

SAL: But I said you do exist, of course, because you must exist because you don’t die and you wake up when the alarm goes off.

So you exist.

QUESTION: Right. But that seems like a conceptual knowing.

SAL: Yes, that’s true.

You can know this conceptually now in this particular waking state.

So, okay, tell me more.

QUESTION: So this sense of the first layer, the first...

What was the word the woman used?

The first, like... Oh, yeah.

Superimposition.

Yeah.

As somehow being not true.

SAL: Well, I don’t know if it’s not true.

QUESTION: Freedom.

Yeah.

From the I am.

Yeah.

The very first.

Yeah.

See, that’s where there’s like the gap.

So if there’s freedom from the I am,

but the knowing of what’s before the I am is only in conceptual,

no way of knowing what is before the I am.

SAL: That’s right.

Exactly.

There is no way of knowing that.

You can’t know that.

But you only know it by...

The fact that you know that I am.

If I know the sense of I am, then the sense of I am is an object.

Even the very subtle sense of I am.

Peace, silence.

I know silence, so it must be an object.

QUESTION: And that which knows.

SAL: Is what I am at the root, and I can never know that, but I am that.

I can be it.

QUESTION: I can never know that.

I can never know that.

SAL: And you don’t have to when you’re resting in holiday.

Ramana and Nisargadatta both say to attend to the sense or feeling of I am.

And the more you attend to the sense or feeling I am and hold on to that,

eventually it will vanish.

I’m saying don’t attend to the sense of I am.

Be blown wide open pure being.

Not the sense of I am.

And that blown wide open pure being isn’t an object.

QUESTION: And you’re suggesting it can be known other than in deep sleep,

which is when it just simply is.

SAL: No, in deep sleep, you don’t know anything.

QUESTION: Now you know why the heart pounds out of the chest, because it’s like Chinese handcuffs.

It’s like it can’t be.

SAL: Oh, so, okay.

So then let’s make it easy then.

We don’t need to be figuring it out.

QUESTION: I don’t want to be.

SAL: So just let’s for a moment...

There’s the answer.

QUESTION: Perhaps it’s simply language.

SAL: Yeah, of course.

QUESTION: Because that definition of that from me is I am.

SAL: Let’s go into this a little more.

QUESTION: I don’t want to take too much time.

SAL: No, you’re not taking too much time.

This is a great matter.

I don’t want to do something wrong here and say something that confuses you or anyone else.

QUESTION: No, I think it’s just language that that place of pure knowing for me is experienced.

So that place of nothing...

I used the word once with you like it’s like fascia.

Like it’s so, it’s so, it feels that that’s I am.

That that’s what I am.

SAL: What feels like that’s what I am?

QUESTION: When we go into a holiday.

SAL: Yeah.

Okay, that’s good.

So, but what, can it be that without any description or no words or anything?

Even the words I use, pure being knowing, these aren’t 100% right either.

But that’s as close as I can get.

It’s like Satchitananda, being knowing.

That’s what Satchitananda means.

So pure being knowing is like, and then drop those words and just...

Was that a good laugh?

QUESTION: It’s the ridiculousness of it.

SAL: The simplicity of what this message is can’t be possibly overstated.

It’s too simple.

It’s nothing.

QUESTION: You know, it’s this continuing to look, you know.

SAL: Oh, yeah.

QUESTION: It’s like the Rumi poem, you know, knocking and

I’ve been knocking from the inside.

Yeah.

And I think there’s something that keeps,

that finds and then says, no, that can’t be it,

and keeps looking.

SAL: Yes.

Well, what is that something that does that?

Like right now, if you’re on holiday...

What more can there be?

(00:07:19):Then if the idea comes that can’t be it, then that’s an idea.

That’s I am coming up as an idea that can’t be it.

And so drop it.

Don’t attend to that.

QUESTION: Can all of it just be all of it?

All of it.

All of it is, including the person, including the...

It just all can be folded into what is.

SAL: That’s right.

That’s right.

That’s why someone like Ramana says there’s only the self.

Or you can say the absolute, whatever word you want to use.

QUESTION: So even the struggle, even the anxiety, even the

forgetting and the remembering all of it it’s just all part of the…

SAL: absolutely, of course it is of course it is to surrender surrender it’s exactly it’s all god

there’s only god there’s nothing but god even even a serial murderer it’s all

nothing but god

QUESTION: Thank you

SAL: It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Join ZOOM OPEN MEETINGS

Here’s another Q&A from the last Zoom open meeting.

QUESTION: Hi, Salvador.

SAL: Hi.

QUESTION: When I was listening to you,

it came to my mind a sentence of a book from Robert Adams,

Silence of the Heart,

which I’m reading.

And he points to the same principle, if I may.

And he says, everything besides

It’s my wording.

It’s not what he says,

but the concept is everything beside the I am,

your being, is a superimposition.

And it really struck me because I could see everything beside I am is a

superimposition, which I believe.

Right.

Everything, everything on the screen of awareness is a superimposition.

SAL : Yeah, that’s very true.

QUESTION: And so if I recognize the fact that everything I perceive,

every thought,

every conditioning,

every. state of mind, anything, is just something added on this pure beingness.

SAL: That’s right.

So even the very first superimposition is I am.

That’s the first superimposition.

All of the other superimpositions are added on to the I am.

Prior to I am is pure aware knowing, pure being that knows.

Because you know I am, right?

I know I am.

So then what am I if I know I am?

So the very first superimposition, which isn’t there in deep sleep,

happens when you wake up in the morning, the very first superimposition on pure being.

Because in deep sleep, you do exist.

You’re there.

You can’t deny it.

But there’s no I am.

So the very first superimposition is I am.

On top of that first superimposition,

which is the first person,

is all of the second and third persons.

I am this,

I am that,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

billion other superimpositions on the very first superimposition,

So what Robert Adams is saying is true, but that even that I am is the superimposition.

QUESTION: So can I say that the moment I become conscious in the morning, consciousness appears and

That is already a super-influencer.

SAL: That’s right, exactly.

Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

And a good thing to do,

everyone,

which I’m going to be talking about on my intensive,

first thing in the morning,

try when you wake up in the morning,

I’ll put the seed in your head,

right away,

as soon as it strikes you,

know that you are.

Because usually when you wake up in the morning, it happens so fast that

I am and then all of a sudden the world is there and there’s you’re thinking

this and you’re thinking of that and you the day is in is whatever but if you can

just wake up in the morning and the first thing is I know that I am I know that I am and I know that I am be on holiday it’s a very good thing very good

QUESTION: so not to be aware that this consciousness is arising but to anyway to go back to the to the stage behind.

SAL: Yeah, and it’s, you know,

it’s such a nuanced thing because when I say have a holiday,

be here pure knowing being,

what I want it to be is really prior to the I am.

So you can be this and feel I am, I am, I am, which is the first superimposition, right?

I am, I’m not Salvadore and I’m not this and I’m not that, but I am.

That sense of I am, which is what Nisargadatta and Ramana tell you to hold on to.

But you can already go beyond it just by pure being, just by not even attending to the I am.

QUESTION: It is not natural at this time, but I think with more practicing, it can...

SAL: It’s not a small thing, you know.

Devotion to one’s own freedom is sin qua non.

Without it, no possibility.

And so, yes, it has to be something one really is moved towards, you know.

QUESTION: Very helpful.

Thank you.

SAL: Thank you, Marina.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

LIBERATIONIS.COM

Here’s a Q&A conversation from the latest open meeting.

The I am is an experience.

It’s the first experience.

It’s like I sort of was saying before.

You’re even beyond that because you know I am.

If I say I know that I am, who knows that I am?

So the I am is the first experience.

The first experience is I am.

Here’s the example I use.

In deep sleep, there’s no I am,

there’s no you,

there’s no world, there’s no body,

there’s nothing,

right?

In deep sleep, there’s no I am.

And because there’s no I am, there’s no world.

But in the morning, the first experience, when you wake up, is I am.

That’s the very first experience.

It happens very quickly.

I am, first experience, and then immediately after that, the rest of the world is also.

That’s how it goes.

So the very first experience is I am.

Prior to I am, you are.

Because you know that experience of I am.

But so the way to be free is to know that I am.

But really, what I try to point to, it can’t be spoken.

So when I say pure being knowing,

I’m pointing to what’s prior to I am actually.

That in which the I am appears.

So even knowing I am is an experience,

but it’s the first root experience and it’s like the doorway to pure being.

So it’s good, yes, to come back to I am, I am.

And then the more you rest in I am, that sort of goes away.

And there’s just...

QUESTION: Aren’t we already all resting in I am, whether we know it or not?

SAL: No, that’s... No.

Prior to I am, pure being is already at rest, but we’re not resting in I am.

That’s a nice concept, but let’s be reasonable.

Most of us are totally hypnotized by the ego and thrown around by that,

so I wouldn’t say we’re resting in it.

In and of itself,

unbeknownst to us,

it’s at rest,

but that doesn’t do us much good until we know.

QUESTION: Yeah.

And it’s not a feeling as such that I am.

SAL: Exactly.

The sense of I am can feel,

like maybe in the opening holiday like we saw,

the sense when we come to a holiday and really that clicks,

the feeling can be peaceful and silence and bliss,

very subtle.

That’s a very nice feeling.

Even like now.

But even that feeling is not the, it’s not the essence.

That feeling is known to me.

You see what I mean by that?

Yeah.

So the I am isn’t just the feeling of peace and bliss,

because often the I am is the feeling of anxiety.

That’s also the I am.

Everything that you feel is based on that first sense of I am,

even peace and bliss,

and even anxiety and anger and love.

It’s all based on the I am.

But when you come to rest in pure being,

like on a holiday,

the I am can feel very peaceful,

because all of these other movements have stopped for a moment.

QUESTION: Yeah, so anxiety isn’t separate from the I am?

SAL: No, not at all.

I am is the entire world.

In deep sleep, there’s no anxiety, right?

QUESTION: No.

SAL: But what happens in the morning is I am is born,

and then within five seconds,

the world and the anxiety is there as well.

Because the entire world is only the I am.

When the I am goes, it all goes, as in deep sleep.

So yes,

I am at its very root,

the first touch of I am,

can be very peaceful and silence and blissy and nice when you’re resting like that.

But even that is an object because I know that I’m at peace.

I know.

I am aware of the peace and the bliss.

And that peace and bliss can very quickly become I am anxiety or I am angry or whatever.

It’s all from the same source, I am.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

LIBERATIONIS.COM

Here’s the opening holiday from the last open meeting on Zoom.

I suggest just to be relaxed. and I recommend keeping your eyes open.

and not stiff, not like meditation posture or anything.

You can sit in meditation posture, of course, if you like to.

I do actually.

But I mean, as far as being relaxed and loose and not stiff and too focused.

So for a moment, just be completely open, consciously knowing.

In no time, no past or future, just this,

No story of self either.

No ideas of what I am or who I am as a person for this moment.

Just pure being.

If any particular object comes up and distracts your attention,

like thoughts or sensations or a sound,

any object, that’s fine.

But when you notice that attention has been distracted to that particular object, whatever it might be, just stop,

come out into the sun of knowing,

which is no object.

This is kind of our default condition, actually.

This is where everything sort of comes from and goes back into.

Thoughts arise out of this pure being knowing,

and then when they vanish back into this pure being knowing,

And all objects are like that, sounds also.

And so for our time here, we’re just going to be that, attend to that only.

What also arises out of this no thing,

pure being,

is the separative mechanism,

that which separates and divides the sense of I,

the sense of self.

When the sense of self appears and I fall for that and become hypnotized by that,

then there’s me and you,

and me and the world,

and there’s division.

When that subsides for a moment, there’s nothing to separate anything.

There’s only what is.

With that first touch of I am separate, self,

which the I am is the first touch of that.

on top of that,

first I am is built the monument of self,

which means my story,

my past, my future, my beliefs,

my preferences, my opinions.

And in that we see a whole world of separation from the other.

It becomes like an empire into itself, self-contracted, in isolation, everything else.

But for this moment when we come out into the sun,

this moment is unborn,

because that birth of I am is not here.

That I am,

when that appears,

that’s a birth of self, and another birth of self, and another birth of self.

Self is born again and again.

In this moment, unborn, pure being, no self.

And therefore nothing to divide either.

And in no-self also there aren’t even the concepts of duality or non-duality,

or even the concept of self or no-self.

Those concepts only appear with the birth of self, actually.

The idea I am is here, and then the thought non-duality or duality appears.

When that thought or sense of self is not here,

there’s not even duality or non-duality.

There’s none of that.

There’s no one to get liberated.

No one to get more enlightened.

All of those concepts are born with that birth, I am.

I am is the beginning of that world.

It’s the first touch.

The first touch is I am.

So for a moment, even that’s not here.

And we find what is, peace, silence at the core of what we are.

There’s so little to actually say

except just to be that.

And even when I use words like pure timeless being,

seems to be the phrase I’ve been saying for a while now,

pure timeless being.

Even that word is saying too much,

that phrase,

even that, you know,

that is only used,

pure timeless being,

to stop the mind,

to stop the movement of self for a moment, too.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

More about Sal’s work: LIBERATIONIS.COM

Simple being.

Just now.

No need to know anything or be anything in particular.

Today, let’s just have a very simple recognition meditation.

If you’re listening in the morning, your time,

this is something just to come to throughout the day,

just to bring you to rest in simple,

non-identified, pure being.

So just for a moment, don’t attend to anything.

Everything comes and goes.

All of that is completely fine.

The world, the sensations, thoughts.

But we’re not concerned for a moment with any of that.

Just relax in the resting I.

This becomes more and more your default.

You’ll notice.

Not through any doing or effort or practice,

just by simply recognizing this,

being this,

just naturally becomes your way

your way of being

like now for a moment.

It’s not to try to attain anything or hold on to something permanently, nothing like that.

Just to recognize that underneath the surface of all of that movement

is stillness,

is silence and peace,

always.

So for a moment, just be

at home and rest.

And throughout the course of your day, have this recognition again.

Have a holiday.

In the midst of anything.

In the midst of your work,

in the midst of cooking,

in the midst of walking from one place to another,

in the midst of being with people,

notice the silent flow of peace, ever present.

And the more you recognize that,

the more you fall in love with that.

And falling in love with that is certainly a way to come to rest as that.

And for that to happen more and more and more.

And for that to be your way of being.

To be as you are.

It’s living as meditation.

It’s not practicing anything.

It’s just living.

Meditation simply is having a holiday.

Being the source, silence, peace, be that consciously.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Join Sal’s ZOOM OPEN MEETINGS

Just blown wide open.

Pure being.

What is this?

We try to find some kind of explanation or word or something for the mind to have an answer.

Maybe we call it awareness.

Maybe we call it non-duality.

Maybe we call it self, no self, emptiness or form.

Maybe we call it pure being.

But let’s see what that is.

Is it possible just to be

without anything at all by way of description or term?

Not even empty.

What is it here that wants to understand something or label something or put it in a neat box or something like that

to know what that is?

That’s, of course, just mind that wants to know something.

Okay, now I know.

It’s awareness.

Good.

Now I know.

But just for now, for a moment, not even that.

And similar to what we were saying yesterday,

the need for some kind of understanding or definition or description and the one who needs the understanding, definition or description

are the same, one, mind, ego.

Even duality or non-duality, are these terms needed, to be?

Even self or no self or big self or absolute self?

Are those terms needed to be?

And my words too, pure being, I like to say, pure timeless being.

Are those words needed, to be?

It’s not even about throwing out all of these concepts or getting rid of the

concepts or whatever, anything like that.

Just now, and I don’t even want to use any words, but just…

The one who would want to get rid of those concepts is the same one who needs those concepts in the first place.

So the intention or intent to get rid of those concepts is just the same as having the concepts.

What is that?

What is that movement?

Some masters say that silence is the highest teaching.

Doesn’t mean silence as an experience or a feeling.

It means,

the one who needs any of that is silenced.

Gone.

Just in this moment,

Now, to make a thing out of that as something to achieve or attain would be right back in that box of confusion again, wouldn’t it be?

So I say, just for a moment.

Even to say notice is saying too much.

To say anything is saying too much.

That’s why you can’t know it at the level of mind.

You can’t be known in that way at all.

You are that.

Or, that is what is.

Sometimes the word can be used, what is here is nothing.

And sometimes the word can be used, what is here is everything.

And even those words.

Yeah.

In the absence of the need for any understanding or description,

in the absence of that need,

there is only…

It’s good to be with you.

Be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Join Sal’s Sal’s ZOOM OPEN MEETINGS

Let’s find out about doubt and spiritual questions and find out what is the answer to all of those questions.

I often say that you’re the answer to all of those questions.

So let’s see what I mean by that.

Just for a moment,

blown wide open knowing,

not anything in particular,

just pure being, knowing.

In this, your essential being itself,

there is no need for a question or even any doubt in and of itself.

Pure being is already complete, already whole.

Be that for a moment.

So what if a spiritual question appears?

Or the question, “when will I become enlightened” or something like that?

See what happens here.

Out of this pure,

open being, knowing,

which has nothing,

has no question,

a question appears in the mind.

The question goes something like that.

“When will I be enlightened?”

So as we’ve already seen,

I think a couple of days ago,

the question,

“when will I be enlightened?”

includes the I that has the question.

The I is not separate from the question.

There isn’t an I that has the question.

The question and the I that poses the question are one thing, one appearance.

“When will I be enlightened?”

See that movement for yourself.

Before that question arose,

just being here,

pure being knowing,

where was the I that had the question,

the problem?

It wasn’t.

The I that has the problem only arose when the question arose.

It’s quite amusing, isn’t it?

So then what’s the answer to that question?

When will I be enlightened?

Well, after the question appears and then the question vanishes again into nothing, what’s left?

I’m left, pure being, pure knowing.

And that’s the answer.

The answer isn’t an intellectual, conceptual, or philosophical answer to the question,

like, I’ll be enlightened in six months and a Wednesday at 3.30 p.m.

The answer is when the question is gone.

Because when the question is gone, the one who has the question is also gone.

It’s a nice joke, isn’t it?

Beautiful how it works.

And so the answer to all of these questions,

concerns about myself,

any concern about myself and the myself that is concerned with,

arise and fall together.

They’re not separate.

Any doubt about my so-called progress on the path towards whatever we might have in mind,

any doubt about that arises simultaneous with the one who has the doubt.

“I have a doubt.”

“Maybe I’m not doing so well.”

“Maybe it will never happen for me.”

“Maybe someone else is doing better than I am.”

These are questions that I see sometimes in my work.

But of course, there’s no answer to those.

I say, have a holiday.

See what’s here.

Who has that doubt?

You have no doubt.

You have no spiritual or philosophical questions.

Who are you?

Are you the transitory, temporal concept

with its attached sense of I that appears very ephemerally

coming and going,

coming and going.

Is that what you are?

If you’re the vast openness of pure being knowing,

then you have no questions.

You simply are.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Join Sal’s ZOOM OPEN MEETINGS

So the last several days,

we’ve done a bunch of very cool inquiries about this idea of self separation and what’s really happening here.

So today, why don’t we just be together

in open knowing being,

the peace that is here whenever we care to look.

All the movements will have their momentary display -

sensations, sounds, visual appearances, thoughts.

That’s not our concern right now.

Those are all fine.

Just know, pure being and be that.

The whole body and mind comes to rest.

No more racing around, chasing around.

Very exhausting, isn’t it?

Simply be without doing.

By doing in this context I mean

chasing the mind around,

chasing the sensations,

following along with every demand of the manifestation for attention.

That’s all fine, but that’s none of our concern.

Our concern is only be free, at rest, peace, for a moment.

Just enjoy.

Eyes can be open or closed, that doesn’t matter.

Movement, hands, head, that doesn’t matter at all.

Nothing stiff, just be natural.

And even though things are making their momentary appearance,

thoughts, sensations, sounds,

and all of that,

the most obvious thing is my own pure being knowing who I am prior to and free from all of that.

In any moment, this is the most obvious.

Not subtle or deep, anything like that.

Not spiritual, nothing like that.

Obvious.

So just for a moment, just be as you are.

And this is something that you can just,

you can do always,

consume when you’re sitting,

walking,

eating,

all the time.

You can know this.

So enjoy.

The way to be free is to be free.

Like now.

Very simple.

Simple is good.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Join Sal’s ZOOM OPEN MEETINGS

Yesterday we saw that the I feeling arises with the thought, for example, of I have regret.

There isn’t a separate I that has the regret.

There’s only the thought.

and the accompanying feeling and the assumption of I,

they all rise and set together.

We see that when the idea of regret is gone, the I accompanying it is gone also.

So we can see in this way that there is no I as a constant thing.

There’s only transitory waves of sense or feeling of I.

Out of what do those transitory waves appear?

We can find out.

So, for a moment,

Let’s just be on holiday.

Blown wide open.

Not anything in particular.

No name or form.

None of the ephemeral appearances.

Just simply pure being knowing.

Be that.

And just in a really relaxed way, just notice some things.

I don’t even like to say observe or witness or pay attention, nothing.

I want it to be as gentle and non-doing as possible, just so I try to be easy, just notice.

Sensations come and go in the body, right?

Those sensations of the body are really an energetic movement,

aren’t they, as we saw a few days ago?

There’s no substance or solidity to them.

They’re constantly changing, moving life flow of energy.

Just notice.

They’re just appearing in this vast openness of pure being, knowing.

With your eyes open, notice the many visual objects within the field of your sight.

They’re also just appearing in this vast open being, knowing, aren’t they?

The sensations, the visual objects equally appearing.

None of those objects actually say I, do they?

These sensations are I, or these visual objects are I.

All of those objects change, don’t they?

They appear in this vast open knowing being and then they vanish at some point,

quickly or slowly.

Out of this vast openness appear these objects and again into the vast openness do they vanish.

Notice also another temporal appearance, thoughts.

Just as with sensations out of this vast open knowing being appear momentary apparitions really called thoughts.

And they have their momentary display.

They appear out of open knowing and then again vanish into open knowing.

The simile is like the ocean in a wave

This vast open knowing is,

it’s a metaphor,

so take it with a grain of salt,

but this vast open ocean of knowing being out of which appear waves,

thoughts,

sensations,

sensory appearances,

having their momentary display,

and then again gone.

What remains before, during, and after all of these?

The vast ocean of knowing being.

And what is this vast ocean of knowing being?

Is it separate from who I am?

Or is it in fact my very essence?

Whenever a momentary transitory appearance goes

It’s always recognizable, I haven’t gone, have I?

Because a thought comes and goes doesn’t mean I have gone.

I am here before the thought appears.

I’m here while the thought is happening,

and I’m here once the thought is gone as well.

And that thought with its accompanying sense feeling of a personal limited I also comes and goes.

So what is left?

I still exist, don’t I?

I exist.

Not perhaps as I’ve only considered myself to exist as a limited,

personalized, located being,

but as the vast open being knowing

I exist.

And so, let’s be on holiday for a moment.

It just means to know myself,

not the limited,

so-called limited I,

but existence itself,

being itself,

knowing itself,

life itself.

To be that is already free of the movements.

It doesn’t disclude the movements.

Movements are fine.

But to know myself as that means to be free.

It’s good to be with you all.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Join Sal’s OPEN MEETINGS

Let’s look into this I, the I thought.

When the thought about myself or I comes up in many different contexts,

What exactly is it referring to?

What is this I that says I am?

So let’s be on holiday together.

Blown wide open.

Pure knowing/being here and now.

Everything has its momentary display, doesn’t it?

All of the objects of the senses, you know, the visual objects, they’re not here all the time.

They’re changing all the time, constantly.

Objects of sound, smell, taste, touch, those all appear momentarily and change.

That which knows those appearances is here always, though, isn’t it?

The eternal, ever-present knowing being.

This has been true your whole entire life, actually,

no matter what’s come and gone,

your whole life,

that hasn’t changed,

the knowing of it, being.

And you can prove that to yourself because whenever you have a holiday,

whenever you look,

that’s always the same,

no matter what’s happening.

Let’s be that for a moment.

And in this knowing being, also, thoughts appear.

And as I’m sure you’ve noticed, they are almost always referring to a me here.

They have something to do with me.

But what is this I thought, the original thought, I, the I thought, what is that referring to?

Let’s say a thought appears,

“I have regret”,

or “I have concern about the future”,

or “I am angry,”

or “I am sad”,

or any of these.

What is the thought I have regret referring to?

Who is the I that has regret?

Let’s try to use a practical example here.

Let’s say a memory appears of something you did wrong 10 years ago.

And

Completely inherent in that thought itself is also the feeling of regret.

And so the memory appears of something I did 10 years ago.

The feeling that was wrong and of regret appears and the thought immediately is that “I” have this regret.

As you probably can notice in that example,

the memory or thought of that event,

the feeling of that was wrong and regret,

and the sense that it is I that have that regret,

all arise at the same time.

It’s one thing.

And interestingly,

maybe very quickly,

maybe not,

but let’s say very quickly,

that thought goes and the sense of the I that has the regret also goes with it.

Because other than the thought, feeling,

and claiming it to be I,

is there actually an I behind all of that?

Let’s be on holiday now, blown wide open knowing.

No thoughts in this moment.

And this is just one example.

I’m sure all of us have regrets in our life.

They’re blown wide open knowing here and now.

Where are any of those now?

Where is the I that has those regrets now?

If the regret isn’t appearing,

and the feeling of that regret isn’t appearing,

and the I that has the regret isn’t appearing,

then which I is being referred to when that does appear?

The thought, I have regret, is only referring to itself, the thought of regret.

It’s circular, self-reflective in this way.

The thought, I have a regret, the I is only referring to the thought itself, I have a regret.

So when that thought goes, the I goes with it.

That I that has a regret

is very temporary, isn’t it?

It has no substance at all, actually.

It’s only a thought.

That’s all it is, isn’t it?

And to say it again, it’s inseparable from the thought itself.

The I that has the thought is the thought.

There’s no separation between the I that has the thought and the thought.

The I is the thought.

And when the thought goes, the I that is accompanying it goes as well.

And of course, that’s one example,

but we can apply that to everything that happens in the mind,

isn’t it?

Notice also that all the thoughts that happen in the mind refer to the very root thought,

which is I am separate.

That root thought is the first thought out of which all of the other accompanying

thoughts lay.

And they appear simultaneous as well.

And that’s easily verifiable because now on a holiday, the I thought is not there.

There’s only pure being, pure knowing.

And none of the other thoughts are there as well.

This is something to just notice through your day.

No effort or stress or force, anything like that.

Just notice.

Just note.

All of these thoughts refer to a so-called I.

But when the thought subsides, the I that is attached to it also subsides, and vice versa.

So the separate I concept, and it’s fine, I don’t, you know,

denigrate anything.

That separate I can appear and disappear, you know, what to do.

That’s fine.

But know what’s going on here is all.

Just know what’s true.

And knowing what’s true is what sets you free.

Not killing something.

But that separate individual I, where is it?

If it is actually a thing, then it will be here always.

And clearly that’s just not true.

During deep sleep and many times during the day, the I thought, the sense of I am is not.

It only appears in conjunction with its own movement of thinking.

But also it appears with a feeling in the body to say, “I feel that I am here in the body”.

Maybe you feel the chest or the throat or behind the eyes.

But that also comes and goes, doesn’t it?

It’s not here all the time.

It’s only here if you’re aware of it.

If you’re not aware of it, then it doesn’t exist.

And if you are aware of it,

you have to recognize that I am aware of that feeling,

so that can’t be me if I am aware of it.

And so,

Just notice during the course of your day,

like I said a minute ago,

just very relaxed,

you know,

don’t make a big thing out of it.

Just kind of, oh yeah, notice.

When a thought appears, the I is attached to it.

And when the thought vanishes, so does that I that’s attached to it.

The I that is being referred to by that thought is the thought itself.

That’s all.

The I that’s being referred to is the thought itself.

I have regret.

The regret is the I in that moment.

Or, I am concerned about the future, the concern is the I in that moment.

The I is the concern.

And when that concern goes, so goes the I as well.

And what’s left?

The vast ocean of being

And I think tomorrow, maybe I’ll talk a little bit more about that.

What is that?

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

LIBERATIONIS.COM

So today, let’s keep our eyes open, be relaxed.

A little movement is okay.

Let’s just be here openly knowing.

Before the arising of name and form, any thoughts, sensations, I am here knowing.

And anything that appears,

the sensations of the body,

the visual appearances,

sounds,

thoughts,

they appear to me,

don’t they?

I know those.

And even this more subtle feeling or sense,

which seems to be located somewhere vaguely in the body,

called I am,

the feeling or sense of I am,

is also known to me,

isn’t it?

So that feeling or sense of I am is not really the source, is it?

It’s not really the root.

Because I must be there prior to that to know that.

So today let’s have a look at that.

We’ve looked at the sensory objects, we’ve looked at thoughts, we’ve looked at sensations.

Now let’s go a little more foundational,

even more into the root of it all.

Let’s look into this sense of I am, the sense of being.

You know, when you’re on holiday and feeling relaxed and there’s not much going on in the mind and you’ve come to rest in the holiday,

the sense of being in the body can feel very nice,

relaxed, peaceful,

mildly blissful even,

pleasant.

That’s good,

because that gives you inspiration to turn away from objects for a moment,

back to the source,

because it feels nice,

so that’s good.

But what’s beyond that, what knows that nice feeling?

So let’s not stop there.

I know that nice feeling, don’t I?

Aware.

Pure aware.

And just to be that,

Really, there’s nothing that you can put your finger on there.

You can’t describe it or find it.

You can be it only.

Pure being, pure knowing,

even prior to the sense or feeling I am.

Notice also this feeling or sense I am is the first touch of manifestation.

Without this first touch of manifestation there is no other manifestation.

There’s no personal self, there’s no other, there’s no world without that first touch, I am.

This you know for yourself because in deep sleep there is no I am.

That sense or feeling of I am is not there.

nor is anything else.

Person, world,

none of that is in deep sleep.

Because the I am has become dormant or come to rest completely.

It’s not there.

And when the alarm bell goes off and you wake up,

the first thing that happens is,

I know that I am.

I know I, this feeling I.

It all happens very quickly.

But the first feeling is I am.

And immediately and quickly out of that comes the world is.

I am, the world is.

And then again at night, when sleep comes, I am vanishes, and with it, the world as well.

There’s more to say about this,

but that particular aspect is not the main point of this meditation or inquiry here.

Just now, be aware of the sense or feeling I am,

the first touch of being, the first touch of manifestation.

And just enjoy that for a moment.

In the teachings of Nisargadatta and Ramana Maharshi,

both of whom I have great love for,

they both suggest, hold on to this sense of I am.

And if you hold on to it long enough and intently enough, it will vanish.

But I say, why wait?

By the simple recognition that the sense or feeling of I am is known,

clearly then that’s an object which is known to aware.

And what is aware?

It’s I.

This means that that feeling sensation, sense I am, doesn’t have to even disappear.

And it does disappear at night when you’re sleeping.

And it also does disappear many times each day when you’re just simply not aware of yourself.

Just to be

pure being, pure knowing,

It can’t be described, it can’t be grasped, can’t be held onto either.

But it’s known in the sense of being who I am essentially.

really at the root of all of it, prior to even the sense or feeling of I am.

So for a moment, as I always say,

Take the pressure off,

for a moment.

Just be.

It’s good to be with you, as always.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Today I thought we would do an inquiry about the body.

Is the body solid?

Is there actually a body?

If there is, is that what I am?

With some simple inquiring, we can find out about that.

We can see what is actually going on here.

What am I in relation to the body?

What is the body actually?

For this inquiry,

it’s good to sit somewhere where you’re relaxed in a quiet place and keep your eyes closed, because we’re going to really examine the body.

So let’s do that.

And just be relaxed.

And know you’re here.

Just this self-knowing.

What I’d like to express here is that the mind, even now, has an image of a body.

It has an outline and a shape.

And throughout the course of this inquiry,

that idea of the body having a shape is kind of ingrained in the mind,

and it’s hard to

ignore that.

But as much as possible, it would be good to ignore that.

Otherwise, we’re not going to really see what we need to see.

So now, as you’re on holiday knowing you’re here,

you can already see that there’s sort of a shape in mind basically of your body.

So let’s try not to pay any attention to that idea.

What we notice first is just a big mass of sensation.

And when I say,

know that you’re here,

the inclination might be to know myself as this mass of sensation.

Yes, I know I’m here, this mass of sensation.

This, I feel myself here.

But that’s not what a holiday is, of course.

It’s not a feeling at all.

Just very simply knowing

pure being.

These feelings of the body, these sensations appear to me, knowing.

So a holiday isn’t about focusing on the sensations,

it’s about knowing I am, prior to the sensations.

But, for this experiment, we’re going to actually pay attention to the sensations.

Let’s look at the sensations down below where your seat is.

What do you notice there?

Notice that, first of all, that the mind is painting a little bit of a picture of your butt.

Just ignore that and just look right at the sensations exactly, only them.

And what do you notice?

There’s movement, isn’t there?

There is subtle energetic movement, tingly maybe.

Some subtle energies.

Without the mind painting the picture,

there’s nothing there that says my butt on a chair or anything like that,

is there?

What you actually can see for yourself and recognize is some sensations, energy, subtle.

Have a look.

And without the mind painting a picture,

it doesn’t actually look very solid,

does it,

in your experience?

It seems kind of spacious, actually, amidst the energy field.

Notice that sensation is permeated with knowing.

Notice that.

It’s permeated with life.

Now look around a little bit more and consider this,

instead of as a body,

as a field of sensations,

subtle energies,

different types of subtle energies.

Take some time here and just look around this field of energies and try to leave the mind’s mental picture out of it.

Notice that knowing, or being, permeates this entire field.

There’s nowhere that it’s not.

There’s nowhere that knowing being is not in this field of vibrant,

subtle, energetic sensations.

Have a look.

And are you located in any particular spot of all of these sensations?

Or aren’t you ubiquitous, ever-present, throughout the whole field?

Take a moment here and don’t leave out any areas.

I don’t want to describe anything.

I want you to look without any description.

But don’t leave out any areas of this field.

Look all around and see that knowing being is ubiquitous throughout.

And see also that this is really a very spacious field of energy movements, isn’t it?

Think of looking out into a nighttime sky filled with stars.

Just a spacious open field with different energies.

And you permeate all of it, this whole field.

It’s not solid, actually, is it?

Without the mind painting a picture of a so-called body here,

there is no body is there?

There’s only a spacious field of energy moving,

life moving.

Notice.

And where is a line?

Is there some line where you end and the world begins?

With no body, there is no skin line or anything like that, is there?

Maybe there are some sounds in your environment, if not the sound of this voice.

Isn’t that also within this field of being.

If there are some other sounds in your environment, are they out there somewhere?

Or are they not within this field of being, of knowing?

Here.

If our eyes were attuned to the level of high-powered electron microscopes,

we would see nothing but space,

wouldn’t we?

Our eyes are attuned to a very gross level actually,

gross enough,

perfectly tuned so that we perceive a form.

But is it actually here like that?

In this inquiry,

We perceive this as if by an electron microscope.

Just space with energy moving.

And again, where are you here?

Are you located somewhere?

Do you end somewhere?

Don’t you permeate everything?

Isn’t that more like it?

I permeate everything.

Omnipresent, ubiquitous, knowing being.

In a moment, I’ll ask you to slowly open your eyes.

Continue knowing this all permeating being with the sensations of the body being permeated.

Any sounds also within this field of knowing.

the sensations and the sound within this field of knowing.

And when you slowly open your eyes,

notice also all of the visual objects are also within this field of knowing,

I,

pure being,

within me.

You can slowly open your eyes now.

Isn’t it silly to think I am inside this body and that I end somewhere and the world begins?

That’s clearly not how it is, isn’t it?

I am blown wide open

Pure being.

Pure knowing.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

Today let’s look into this idea or sense of I am.

Is there an I am here?

Is it a feeling?

Is it an idea?

A thought?

Is there an actual I am here?

What is that exactly?

If I am located somewhere,

if there is an I that is this body or inside this body,

then let’s find it.

Why don’t we close our eyes for this inquiry?

Just be here, openly knowing

Not anything in particular.

Just aware itself, being.

So what is this I,

or sense of I?

Certainly there are feelings here inside the body.

There’s a feeling in the chest, for example.

Is that where I is located?

You, aware, know that feeling.

That feeling is something known to you as an object, that feeling in the chest.

So is that who I am?

What about in the throat area?

There are feelings there as well.

I, aware, know that feeling.

So is that where I am?

Is that who I am?

That feeling in the throat.

What about farther up, behind the nose and behind the eyes, feeling inside the head?

I, aware, know this feeling, don’t I?

This is something that appears in my knowing.

So is that where I’m located inside the head?

What about down below where the seat is on the chair or the ground?

That sensation,

which is really a vast array of sensations and energy,

subtle movements of energy.

I’m aware of that sensation, aren’t I?

It happens within me, knowing, aware.

So is that where I am located?

And look elsewhere as well, the feet, hands.

With your eyes closed, these are only sensations.

And all of those sensations are known.

They’re known in aware.

So is that where I’m located, in the hands or in the feet?

If I know all of these sensations of the body, then they must be appearing to me.

Pure knowing, pure being.

Wherever I look in the body, the sensation is different, isn’t it?

But I, knowing I’m not different, am I?

I’m the same, knowing all of them.

So am I within the body?

Or is the body within me, knowing?

Everything perceivable, everything conceivable

is known, to whom?

You can say, I know.

So then what am I?

Although no words are needed,

nor can any words adequately describe it,

we can say I,

aware knowing,

pure formless being in which all of these sensations

move

constantly.

And yet I don’t move, I’m always the same,

knowing, aware.

Tomorrow we’ll look more into the sensations.

Tomorrow we’ll see, is this body solid?

Is there a body here, other than what the mind conceives?

We’ll find out in our own experience, in our own knowing,

not in any concept or belief.

For now, be that which knows, that which is

aware.

It’s good to be with you.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

LIBERATIONIS.COM

Continuing from yesterday’s inquiry,

let’s look a little bit more into what being blown wide open reveals.

So, just for a moment, now, blown wide open.

pure knowing, pure being.

It has no name,

no form, no color,

no texture, no time,

past, future,

no history at all,

no characteristics,

preferences, opinions,

likes or dislikes,

nothing.

Simply, is

So be that for a moment.

When we’re attending to an object,

which is fine,

no problem,

but when we’re attending to an object,

we’re not consciously aware of ourself.

And so all we’re doing really in a holiday is, for a moment, being aware consciously, knowingly.

As we saw yesterday,

we noticed the objects,

the visual senses,

for example,

the objects of the room,

your hand,

other parts of your body that were appearing unaware.

So clearly, if you know those objects,

They can’t be who you are, essentially.

They must be an object that you are aware of.

So then the question is, who am I?

There’s no answer to that as far as a definite something to find,

because that something is not objectifiable.

It’s not a something, it’s not an object.

It’s simply that which knows all of the appearances, all of the experiences...

You can’t know that objectively.

You can only be it because it is what you are, essentially.

So now just notice objects in the visual field, including your body parts.

And just notice that

I am aware of these.

In the noticing of that, you’re immediately thrust back onto yourself.

Pure aware knowing.

And this is true of the other objects as well, thoughts, sensations of the body.

Notice the sensations of your body for now, for a moment.

As you notice them or are aware of them,

They must be an object known to you,

which is not an object,

which is indescribable,

non-objectifiable,

pure knowing or aware.

Notice the sensations on your face, for example.

Because often we have the feeling that we’re somehow inside the head or something

like that,

you know.

But notice the sensations of the face around the mouth and the nose.

And notice those are objects appearing to me.

I know those sensations.

I am aware of those sensations.

So again, who am I?

And again, there isn’t a concrete answer to that question.

But the question itself,

or the recognition that I am aware of those objects,

thrusts you back onto yourself,

pure being,

pure knowing.

And just be, as this.

Even the sense or feeling I am, which is really the first touch of manifestation,

out of which all of the other manifestations rest, and without which there are none,

I am is always first, upon which everything else is built.

Even that sense, that feeling, I am,

is something that I am aware of, that I know.

So, I must be prior to that as well.

Becoming aware of the I Am as just another object,

albeit a very subtle object,

again casts you right back to yourself, pure aware.

This is something to be conscious of throughout your day.

Not only while sitting, but anything you’re doing.

Just notice, I am aware.

And, that object is appearing, whatever the object is.

Objects of the five senses,

thoughts,

sensations,

any experiences that you’re doing,

even watching a movie,

walking,

whatever,

notice, I’m aware, and that object is.

Tomorrow, we will look a little bit more into this feeling of I Am.

If I am in there somewhere, we’ll find it.

So let’s see.

It’s good to be with you.

And I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

LIBERATIONIS.COM

When you notice attention is going to any object,

which is quite often thoughts,

because thoughts feel like the most intimate experience.

It feels like they’re us,

and we’ve been convinced through our culture and just way of being that that is who we are.

So thoughts feel very intimate and very compelling.

And that’s completely fine.

No problem about that at all.

But when we notice attention going there, just come out into the sun.

The sun, which is pure knowing, pure being, untouched by anything, like now.

And just to consciously be this blown wide open,

not inside of anything or contracted around anything at all,

completely open,

completely free.

Just be that for a moment.

No words are needed, but one word that comes to mind would be aware.

I don’t prefer to use the word awareness,

because that has a subtle potential of being turned into an object.

But simply aware.

Can’t deny it.

And notice, is aware located someplace inside the head or something like that?

Or isn’t aware blown wide open?

Ubiquitous, not limited somewhere, not located anywhere.

With eyes open, we can easily recognize all of the visual objects.

And without labeling any of them,

the myriad objects perceived with the visual sense

all appear here within aware.

That includes any of the

visual objects associated with your body,

hands maybe,

they’re in the periphery of your aware knowing,

the legs,

maybe part of the nose,

all of these objects called my body,

are here, within aware.

Any sounds that may be occurring in your environment

are also here, within, aware.

Any sensations happening within the body,

and the body is really only

a mass of different sensations, both gross and subtle, moving, changing, vibrating constantly.

Notice,

all of those sensations appear within aware

Even thoughts passing through the scenery of experience.

Notice those happen within aware as well.

Is this aware something that you are doing?

Is it a verb, an action?

Or perhaps is it much more intimate than that?

Aware is the nature of what I am.

It is what I am.

Aware.

I’m not doing aware.

I’m not even being aware.

I Am

aware.

And so within me,

aware,

all of the objects of perception,

all of the objects of the body and the mind and emotions and thoughts

have their momentary display within me.

So the way to be free is quite simple once it’s recognized.

It’s not esoteric.

It’s not philosophical.

It’s not complicated.

It doesn’t require sadhana or practice.

It just requires being free.

Aware.

Know yourself, instead of as this body-mind,

know yourself as aware

and be that consistently.

And know that everything that appears without any exception,

gross or subtle,

appears within and to me,

aware.

Have this shift of knowing, this shift of being,

I call a paradigm shift.

Living as a new paradigm.

Instead of the very limited conceptual paradigm of a me trapped in and as a body,

to the paradigm of blown wide open, aware, knowing, pure being, free.

I call this living freedom.

It’s not practicing freedom, not aspiring towards freedom.

But living freedom, moment to moment.

Maybe we’ll get more into this again tomorrow.

But for now, be free.

LIBERATIONIS.COM

Without attending to anything in particular. No body, no name, no form. No past or future memory or projection. Just this.

And nothing can be said about it, really, not even awareness or anything like that.

Out of this pure being, which I like to call pure being, which is resting, No distinctions, simply itself as it is.

Out of this pure being arises a thought, for example. That’s very simple to see.

A little more subtle than that, out of this pure being arises the feeling or sense of I am.

But it’s a very subtle distinction between the sense of I am and just pure being. which really has no I am.

So out of this pure being, which can’t be described or labeled, but simply is, is born this feeling or sense of I am, which is the first touch of manifestation of the personal, person.

And then attached to that is the myriad, manifold appearances of thought, sensation, emotion and the world.

So this pure being, you can say, is unborn.

It simply is prior to the birth of self and its first manifestation of I am prior to that.

Unborn being. simply is. And be that for a moment.

This is what I call meditation, just simply being, no thing, unborn.

And inquiry is just to notice, just to notice birth.

again birth

again birth

again just to notice when this no thing unborn being becomes a thing, supposedly, like called self, me, I am

And not to do anything about it. What’s to do? Just notice how it is, how it works from unborn to born.

And again, from unborn to born.

And recognize the unborn.

And do nothing,

just be.

It’s good to be with you. I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

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Let’s just be here together, blown wide open.

Simply knowing, simply being, no thing, nothing in particular.

What is liberation, freedom, enlightenment, awakening?

Is it dry? Does it mean I am nothing only?

Does it mean I’ve transcended form, the body, the world, and none of that has any importance or value.

The recognition of our timeless essential being is very profound. While it’s true for everyone, it is mostly unnoticed, but by very few. No fault. It’s simply not how we’ve been shown.

And while this recognition is in its way final, because once known, it’s known, it’s never ending in its unfolding of revealing beauty, implications, etc.

The more I’ve lived this, 20 years now or so, the more I realize, in truth, it’s about love. And it’s about bhakti or reverence. for truth and love.

The great sages like Ramana Maharshi, who are considered jnanis, which means self-realization, are sometimes seen by people as somehow detached or unattached or in some way opposed to form or appearance.

But someone like Ramana Maharshi is far from dry. Ramana Maharshi, at his very core, is a bhakta, devoted, in reverence to, in love with, source truth.

And source and truth are not opposite of form. Form is source and truth.

What does non-duality mean if not?

Not to meaning not transcendent and form as two.

It means, all is the self or God or the divine or truth. All.

And in fact, there is only that and nothing other.

So this recognition, this coming home, this timeless knowing being is devoid of separation and division. And that is the very essence of love.

Without bhakti, without reverence, without love, what is liberation anyway?

It’s nice to be with you all.

I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Peace.

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me and you

When there is no one herethere isno divisionnothing apart from something elsenothing to separate a here from a therenothing to divide a you and a me

In the absence of selfthere is nothing but… open

If you are not free of your selfthen no one else is either

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