Viewing from Unknowing

[SoonHei]

this comes out of what I thought before was me... it is still me, but it is not... at least not in this current moment as this is typed.

there is a peace watching from this place, but there also still arises personal thoughts. the thing about personal thoughts is that they will continue to arises ever after but as one remains in that unknowing place, they will subside more and more.

i knew not what would be typed when i created this thread

and i know not how and when this post will end

all i know is that which is typed as it is typed

yet it is all being strung up together like poetry in motion

no it does not rhyme

it does not need to

it just flows

like water

it spills and spread

it springs out into the world from no where

words are meaningless but they are also incredibly powerful

once words are written, they remain and can function as seeds which can blossom into a great sense of awesome when given enough water in form of the right attention 

this watching places comes and goes - or so it appears to

but i am enjoying this brief stay. i see also how the ego takes the ownership of the one watching from unknowing as well

but then i see it is identification with this thought from the ego which thinks it is the one watching

this can go on forever

and it might as well

but i will end this here - not knowing it was to end here.

[SoonHei]

You are space, and now you appear to be the image superimposed on space. Now you identify with the image, but prior to consciousness you were not the space, really, nor the image? The reason I say you were not the space is because we can talk about it, so you have a concept of space, and again, as long as you have a concept of space, it's not that. The only way you can find out is by not saying anything, by catching yourself between thoughts. When you have a thought, and you're trying to figure out what it is, and when the thought stops, before your next thought enters, that's it. The space between thoughts is what we are talking about. So the thing to remember again is as long as you can talk about it, as long as you can describe it, as long as you can argue about it, as long as you stick up for your rights and say it's this or it's that, you're wrong. You're not really wrong, you're just on the wrong track, because if you were wrong, then something is right, and nothing is right, so there's nothing wrong. It goes beyond duality concepts. That's why I tell you to spend so much time alone, when you don't watch television, and you don't listen to the phone ring, where you can cut yourself off from the radio. Just sit and be your Self. Then you will experience pure being. For as long as you search, you'll never find it. After all, ask what you are searching for. You are searching for something that you already are. That's why you can never find it.

If you were not that, then you would search, but you're already that, so searching becomes fruitless. And what is that? That is the space between your atoms. Every sentient and insentient thing is composed of trillions of atoms, but the space in between is consciousness. Again, we use the word consciousness for want of a better word.

(tape break as Robert continues)

But again, we have to function in the world, so we don't walk around trying to be smart. Instead what we do is function in the world as ourselves. Be your Self. If you are your Self, then you're safe. In other words, you're not trying to be anything. Just be your Self. What does it mean to be your Self? To live spontaneously. Most of us live from the past, as you know, and then we worry what we're going to do in the future. If you learn to forget about the past and the future, you're safe. When you live spontaneously you have no time to think, and that's when you become the witness. For thoughts are simply about the past and the future. True? When you learn to act in the moment, when you're acting in the moment you can't think because you're acting. Therefore, your thoughts are only on what you're doing and when that stops there are no thoughts, and you go on to the next thing. But you do not try to analyze the thing at all, whether everything will work out, whether it’s good or bad, whether you're making something out of it or not, whether it's in your favor or against you, all that's got to go.

I received a call from a lady in Santa Cruse the other day and she started to tell me about her marital problems, so I stopped her. I told her I didn't want to hear anything about any marital problems. Does she know who she is? That's all I care about. If she knows who she is, then she goes beyond marital problems. She goes beyond concepts, longings, wants, desires. She'll be safe. For once you lift yourself up nothing can touch you again. The world no longer has any power over you. The world only has power over you when you identify yourself as a body. If you identify yourself as a body, then the world becomes real, objects become real, situations become real, the universe becomes real, God becomes real, everything becomes real and you live in duality. So one day you're suffering, the next day you're happy. Happiness leads to suffering, suffering leads to happiness. Of course, that's human happiness I'm talking about, human suffering. But as soon as you learn to go beyond that, and again that happens by living spontaneously, all suffering ceases. After all, for who is the suffering? For the one who identifies with the thoughts.

{…}

As an example, somebody gets fired from their job. They start to worry about that and this leads to worrying about the future, because when you worry about the past, getting fired, you're going to start worrying and thinking, "How will I pay my rent next month? How will I buy food?" And the mind loves that. It starts feeding you more. Pretty soon you imagine yourself evicted from your house and you see yourself in the welfare lines, and you see yourself become a homeless person, and sure enough you do, because that's what you believe. That's where your mind is leading you. As long as you feel you have a mind, it becomes very, very powerful. Then you can say that, "Thoughts are things," for your thoughts will materialize in this world of effects, that which you believe is real. Subsequently, if you start worrying about your job, being terminated, and you start worrying about food, and you start worrying about evictions and all that stuff, you're really saying to yourself mentally, "That's what I want to happen," and you always get what you want. You've got to watch yourself. The secret is not to change your thoughts, but to get rid of your thoughts completely. We're not trying to change negative thoughts to positive thoughts, for all positive thoughts lead to negative thoughts, negative thoughts lead to positive thoughts, that's duality. We're trying to transcend the whole bowl of wax, to go beyond, and that's what happens when you live spontaneously, it happens by itself. Living spontaneously is a meditation.

Do not concern yourself with the fruits of your efforts. Everything will take care of yourself, of itself. In other words, what I mean by that is, if you're in a job for twenty-four years, do not concern yourself if you get terminated or you don't, that's not the point. The point is who do you think you are? Do you believe that you're that frail human being that has been terminated, or that frail person who has lots of marital problems, or that frail person who doesn't know if he's going to die or live? Forget about all these things, go beyond it. Identify with the absolute awareness. Identify with the total reality which you really are. You do not identify with those things by affirming them. You identify with those things by what? By silence. You see the difference? There are many schools that tell you, change the negative into a positive, but that's based on the world of relativity. You'll have to experience both, and there will be no end to it. But when there's silence in the mind, that means you get rid of all concepts, of all desires, of all needs, of all wants, of all hurts. You become oblivious to everything. Then the real Self begins to take over, which is you, and you'll automatically do, or gravitate to, the place where you have to be. It will all happen by itself, but don't think of that. Think of nothing. Learn how to quiet your mind. Learn how to make your mind quiescent like a motionless lake. A motionless lake can attract, or image, reflect, the sun, the stars, the moon, trees, grass. A lake that is noisy cannot reflect anything.

So, when you learn to quiet your mind you reflect your Self, and your Self is always harmony, always bliss, always sat-chit-ananda, always the absolute reality, always absolute oneness. That's your real Self. That's who you really are. It's all up to you. What do you do with your life everyday? How do you live your life? This doesn't mean that you have to sit home and meditate all day long. It means you can go about your business. You can work. You cannot work. You can go to a movie. You can watch TV. You can do whatever you like, but never identify with the object! Never identify with what the body is doing. Let the body do whatever it came here to do, but you keep the mind and yourself on your heart, on the light, on consciousness. Quiet your mind any way you want, whatever method you use. Become the witness to your thoughts. Use atma-vichara, self-inquiry, whatever method you have to use, do it, but do it all day long, that's the secret. Not just when you come here, not just an hour a day, but all during the day. So how would you handle it if you go to your work and they terminate you? Instead of worrying, you would ask the question to yourself, "To whom is this happening? Who's going through this experience? I am." Hold onto the I with all your might. Follow the I to the source. Look at the I as a thread that seems to be connected from the source to what you're thinking about. And all of your thoughts are attached to the that thread, to the I thread.

All of your fears, all of your frustrations, all of your desires, everything is attached to the I thread, and as you hold on to it tight; you follow it, follow it into the heart center. Then it will just seem to disappear. The reason I say it will seem to disappear is because it never existed to begin with, (laughs) so it appears to disappear. But once that happens you're free and you will not be disturbed by any mortal condition, and you will be happy. But when I say you'll be happy I am not referring to human happiness. I am referring to happy-happy, happy hour, really happy, for no reason. Again because your true nature is happiness, your true nature is bliss. When you get rid of the other stuff your true nature shines forth effortlessly. That's why we call this the pathless path, because there's really no path. There's only a quietness of the mind, following the I to the source. Then all of a sudden you become omnipresence, you become omniscience, you become omnipotence. Then you can say, "I am That I am," but there will be nobody left to say anything really. You will just bask in the sunshine of your love, of your happiness, of your bliss.

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-- Robert Adams, T20: Before I Am