Tara Brach - After the RAIN: Part 2 - The Flowering of Awake Awareness (2021 -11 -03)

Episode Date: November 5, 2021

After the RAIN: Part 2 - The Flowering of Awake Awareness - (2021 -11 -03) - The blessing of the spiritual path is homecoming to our essential nature—wakeful, loving awareness. These two talks explore the grounds of that awakening, which is a shift of identity from that of a separate self to realizing the formless luminous presence that, like a boundless ocean, includes all the waves or expressions of our being. This two-part series includes several guided reflections and invites us into the dimensions of the path that lead to true freedom.

Greetings. We offer these podcasts freely and your support really makes a difference. To make a donation, please visit tarabrock.com. Welcome friends. Namaste. One of the teachers I most love, no longer alive, Sri Nar Sargadatta. He was asked by students how he became enlightened and I'd like to share his response. He said, my My guru told me that I am the ultimate source, the essence of all. I pondered that until I knew that it was true, until I became it. And he added, I was lucky because I trusted what I was told. So it occurs to me that we can make this talk really short if you just decide you want to trust,

trust that your true nature is luminous, loving awareness, the nature from which all creation springs. So in a deep way, you wouldn't be listening if there weren't some wise place in you that intuited that there's a mystery beyond this apparent separate self. There's something infinitely larger. And I'm imagining for many you've had glimpses, whether it's being with someone who's dying or during the quietness of meditation. Maybe you've journeyed with plant medicine. Maybe you've had moments of full loving where you had that realization or natural beauty, or maybe during a creative moment when you're in the zone, some sense of the sacred, of something beyond this egoic self.

So I start with this as our theme for this reflection, which is really the flowering of awake awareness, the truth of who we are beyond these changing bodies and minds. And this is part two. It's a second part of a series. And if you missed part one, don't worry. I'll give some context to help a tune in terms of where we're going. And I do encourage listening to part one. So before jumping in, a few words on how you might listen, the kind of attitude of listening to this talk. And for many, what we're touching on is not such familiar territory. It may feel difficult to understand, or parts even may feel disorienting, especially we'll be doing a few reflections. So I invite you to approach and engage with curiosity, you know, with that kind of

openness, just interest. And trust that even if you don't cognitively get it, the seeds are already in you. This is really about what we really are already, always. And so it'll have its own timing of what really resonates. And of course, if anything is confusing or disturbing, just let it go. Just keep what's useful. As a big frame, I've been calling on the metaphor of ocean waves and really in exploring the whole path of spiritual realization, cultivating that trust that Sri Norsargarata was pointing to. And the waves are the changing, the changing, experience of life forms, the thoughts, the feelings that come up, the emotions, the sensations. And the ocean is our formless awareness, our beingness, the oneness, the mystery that's really the

source of all the ways. So the path is to realize that awareness, that source, that vastness of being, and in that way be able to cherish the waves as they come and go, live in a kind of fullness in a loving and wise way. So when instead we take ourselves to be the waves, when we take ourselves to be our set of waves, a separate, small something that's apart from the rest of the world that doesn't belong to the ocean, there's ongoing insecurity. The 19th century psychologist and philosopher William James put it that all religions and spiritual traditions actually begin with the cry help. I think that's just such an interesting way to frame it. But it's really there's some sense of insecurity and seeking some answer to that. And the truth that is,

is that we might manage swaths of our life okay. But no matter how much we try to control our life, we have no sway over the bedrock realities of loss, of mortality, of never-ending change. As Carlos Cassignata, the writer put it, death is over our left shoulder. And we know that. And we often bury it and then we move anxiously through life we're tensing against what's around the corner. But we sense that. So naturally, we want what will help us, what will help us to feel held and protected and safe. The way that

most resonates for me is deep down we want to feel belonging. We want to feel connected at home. whole. But if we look at our daily life, the way we go about seeking help is often through what I've come to term false refuges, and you'll find more about this in my book, True Refuge. And I call them false refuges not because they're bad, it's just because they're not helpful. They don't really help. They give us a quick sense of maybe comfort or security. but they actually create more insecurity and suffering in the long run. So if you think about your own false refuges, you're probably well aware of some of the habits, some of the ways that you try to avoid fear and feel better.

Might be staying busy, that's really a big one for many of us. might be striving to perform well or taking care of others, pursuing approval, trying to get wealth. For many, it's the more addictive refuges like drinking too much alcohol, taking too many drugs, overeating. Might be the Internet. For many, it's ways of distracting and entertaining. In one story, a man writes this. He says, working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting. Well, for example, the other day, Mary, my wife, and I went into town and visited a shop. When we came out, there was a cop writing out parking ticket. We went up to him and said,

come on, man, how about giving a senior citizen a break? He ignored us and continued writing ticket. So I called him a jerk. He glared at me. and started writing another ticket for having worn out tires. Mary called him a bonehead. He finished a second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. He started writing more tickets. This went on for about 20 minutes and the more we verbally abused him, the more tickets he wrote. Just then, our bus arrived and we got on it and went home. We try to have a little fun each day now that we're retired. It's important at our age. So false refuges, trying to soothe, comfort, distract, find temporary pleasure, and I'll name one of the most insidious and pervasive,

which is perfectionism. And that really is a false refuge, that we get hooked on trying to do it right or get it right or being the best or not making a mistake, being perfectly disciplined. There's this sense that if we can do it perfectly, then in some way we'll be secure, safe, our life will be okay. And when we're on that ride, when we're trying to get it right, trying to be disciplined, trying to be perfect, it's a never-ending ride of good self, bad self, winning self, failing self. Another little essay for you. Some of you might remember this. I love this one. It goes like this. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer, heart attacks than the British or Americans. The French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer

heart attacks than the Brits or the Americans. The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Brits or the Yanks. The Italians drink huge amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the above. The Germans drink a lot of beers and they suffer fewer heart and it goes on and on like that. The conclusion eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is what kills you. So the problem is this, that if we're hooked on false refuges, we stay identified with the waves, with the addicted cell, or the striving self, for the seeking approval cell. And we never evolve to discover what gives us true security, to the who we really are, to the timeless love, to the

wakeful awareness to that refuge of beingness that's vast and deep enough to hold the suffering of our life. Because this is the thing, only a true refuge. What we really are can help us to face the loss of others or help us with the breakdowns of the relationships that mattered so much really help us to face our own illness and death. There's a wonderful teaching that goes, if you realize you're the ocean, you're not afraid of the waves. And then the correlate is, if you forget, you'll be seasick every day. And it's true. I mean, if we forget, if we're identified with our ego, with our personality and our body and our defenses and our talents, and all of it, we're going to be off balance every day.

There's going to be those ups and downs with the major changes and losses and we don't have access to the inner balance and peace that comes from knowing a larger belonging. I'll share another quote from a Tibetan teacher that really touches me. If everything changes, then what is really true? Is there something behind the appearances, something boundless and infinitely spacious in which the dance of change and impermanence takes place? Is there something in fact we can depend on that does survive what we call death? I find it really valuable to reflect that if I just have a few moments left to live. You know, if right now I just have a few moments left to live, what would I most

want to trust or experience or remember? And when I let myself go in that, really go in that, what is there, what I long for, what I want to trust is a belonging to loving awareness, that this body mind that comes and goes is a wave in an ocean of loving awareness, that belonging, belonging to love. It's just my language for what another might say belonging to God or belonging to spirit or to the mystery. And you might sense for yourself and even reflect just as I do and have. If you just had a few moments left, if you just had a few moments to live, what would you most

want to know? What would you want to trust and remember? And for some it might be useful even to journal on this one. It's a deep inquiry. And for most, and this is really whatever the language, we have different words, there's some longing for a larger belonging, for a refuge, that the refuge is really being part of something larger, trusting that. And then the inquiry becomes, well, how do we realize that we're the ocean? How does that

happen? How do we come to trust that our true nature is that luminous, loving awareness? In the last talk, in part one, I described that there are two pathways that most spiritual paths in some way teach or talk about. And the first is what you might describe as bringing a mindful attention and kindness to the waves of our present experience. It's being present with what's here with kindness. And I frequently use the rain, meditation because that's an example of how we can bring mindfulness and compassion to the waves

of difficult emotions and thoughts. And in understanding how transformation works, like how does it work this pathway of bringing presence to the waves, let's say you are stuck feeling anxious. okay so there's a sense of an anxious threatened self it might be that you sense it as a kind of stuckness and i like the image of an ice cube that there's this kind of contraction strangling you know a weight of compression and so what happens as we bring let's call it the waters of rain to this ice cube that happens when we bring mindfulness and kindness to this ice cube. Well, with rain, the acronym stands for recognizing, allowing, investigating, and nurturing. And when we bring those qualities of mindful and caring presence, we pour the

water over the ice cube, what happens to an ice cube? When you pour water over it, it melts. It actually becomes water. It's ice-cubness. It's ice-cubness. Does it? and it joins the larger body of water. Well, it's the same with anxiety. When we rain on that tightness of anxiety, it becomes less stuck. And the energy in it can flow and rejoin the energy of your body and you begin inhabiting a larger sense of being. So there's a shift from being identified with the waves, with the stuck ice, with the anxious self, to inhabiting a sense of presence, the sea.

So I think of it as that we're arousing qualities of presence, mindfulness and compassion. And as we do, the field of presence itself intensifies. And we're no longer so stuck or identified with the waves. And in the rain meditation, this flowering of resting in a larger space, is called after the rain. It's what happens after we bring the qualities of presence

to the waves of experience. So after the rain is the place where we experience that ocean mess. And if you want to go deeper into shifting from being identified with the waves to realizing the ocean, after the rain is the place to deepen attention, to really notice what's this like?

Because the more you notice what it's like, the more you actually bring it forward. So this is where we're going to start in terms of our reflections. We'll do a couple of reflections in this talk. And this first one, we're going to do a light rain together and then look a little more closely at after the rain. Okay? So wherever you are, you might take a moment to adjust your posture. The invitation is going to be to bring your attention inward.

You might close your eyes or let your gaze be downcast and take a few full breaths and I'd like you to bring to mind, if you will, something that brings up anxiety but not off the charts, fear or trauma, just everyday anxiety, nothing big. It may be when you have a deadline or you're caught in traffic or you have to talk to somebody that makes you nervous, you have to present something, but something, some situation that gets you anxious. For many of us, it's a lot of different social situations do it. And take a moment to bring a situation to mind so you can get in touch with what your nervous, anxious self is like, noticing the part of the situation that most might trigger that

anxiety, perhaps a fear that someone's going to judge you, they'll be late, that there'll be consequences, whatever it is, and just check inside and sense, okay, so what's the anxious self like from the experience of that anxious self? What seems wrong? How does the world look? How does that anxious self feel in relationship to other selves? And how do you feel about yourself? Do you dislike your anxious self?

Just notice all you can about the anxious self. And again, the situation, have that in mind, feeling anxiety. And let's begin rain with this. And the R of Raine is simply to recognize the anxiety. And here it's helpful to do a little mental whisper. Just say anxious, anxious. So there's an acknowledgement, a recognition. That's the beginning of rain.

the A is allowing. So you're just letting it be here for now. It's like you're agreeing to reality for the moment. This is what's here. And that lets you investigate a little. And you might sense as you investigate what is that anxious self-believing. Are you believing something's going to go wrong? Are you believing you're failing? There may be some belief. And most important, And when you're believing that and when you're anxious, what's it like in your body? And see if you can feel into where there's vulnerability. This is where your heart maybe is pounding or sore, where you feel maybe a clench in the chest or maybe your gut is tight.

And it helps, as many of you know, to put your hand on your heart. And that's actually the beginning of nurturing and it also helps to continue investigating and feeling what's here. Just feel it. breathe with it, long, slow, deep breath with where there's anxiety. And this is nurturing, attending, sensing what it most needs to feel comforted. As part of nurturing, you might say, thank you for trying to protect me. I'm okay right now.

And in nurturing, you might offer care. Just feel like the warmth of your hand is actually communicating care. And then deepen that. really sense your wish for yourself, see how kind you can be towards what's here. And if it's helpful you might imagine a larger source of kindness, perhaps someone else that feels very loving to you, or it might be something from the natural world that's, you know, a tree or another animal, a pet. You may feel a spiritual figure calling on that to just help bathe this vulnerable, anxious

place with kindness and presence. Now gently moving into after the rain by noticing the quality of presence that's here now. Attending to the presence itself, what's it like? Is there more spaciousness? openness, more tenderness, remind yourself of where you started as that anxious self and notice what shifted. Notice the quality of awareness that's here and then just relax and be that awareness.

Sense it around you and through you, pervading your interior, everywhere, that awareness, wakeful, tender, just get familiar with it and sense how this awareness is more the truth of who you are than any of the changing ways of anxiety or stories, how this has the space to hold or changing life. And even if there are remaining streams of anxiety or other feelings, there's room. You can bring yourself back at your own pace. It's fine. mind if you want to continue listening with your eyes closed or if you want to journal some. And I'll name that for some when you do this, the anxiety will still be there. Maybe there's just a very small shift in perspective.

And for others you might really sense how we get caught in a limiting self sense, like the anxious self and it's possible to reconnect with that formless and loving, presence. And with that, there's much more freedom. One of the ways that I found really useful to think about this practice, because we need to keep repeating it, is that the more we repeat it, the more familiar we get with a larger truth. And there's a way that clothing was dyed, some places in the world still died this way. If you imagine a a vat of indigo dye and taking a white cloth and to dye it, you dip it into the vat and then you might rinse it and then let it dry a bit. And the first time you do it, there may be just the

palest blue. But if you keep dipping that cloth and going through the process into the bat of indigo dye, over time it absorbs the color and it becomes that rich, brilliant indigo that's so luminous and alive. And so it is with awareness that initially we practice bringing presence, bringing the mindfulness and care of rain to an experience where we're stuck. And we might just get a little bit of a sense of more spacious, but still we feel really caught in the feelings. But each time we do it, that the presence gets in time,

intensify. It becomes more full. It becomes more familiar. It becomes more stable. So we can trust it that this is more the truth of who we are. So there's a shift from states of feeling some sense of loving presence to it becoming a trait, really being home. Okay, so we're really talking about the first pathway of if you pay attention to the way you discover in them the ocean-ness. And that's, you know, you get to know that ocean-ness, get familiar. This leads us to the second pathway. And that is, here the emphasis is, bring your attention directly to the ocean. And this pathway is possible really in the moments when we're not so lost in thoughts, when we're not emotionally reactive, when the mind is somewhat

it's settled, where there's a little bit of space between thoughts. Because as I mentioned in the last talk, it doesn't serve to try to turn towards or inhabit the infinite field of awareness when the waves are strong. It becomes more of a bypass, like we're avoiding the waves, and that leads to dissociation. So if there's a lot of strong waves, we practice as we just did, bringing kindness and mindfulness to them. But if the ways are somewhat calm, you can start practicing, turning towards awareness itself. First off, it's important to acknowledge that looking towards awareness is not our habit. There's a Tibetan teacher. You took a large piece of paper and he posted it. It was big blank. He drew a tiny little V on it. And then he asked the students that were there, well, what is this?

And everybody said it was a bird. And he said, it's the sky with a bird flying through it. The sky with a bird flying through it. And this speaks to the habit of our mind, which is we fixate on the bird. We fixate on the object. We fixate on our thoughts or the sounds or whatever is in the foreground. Are there people on the forms, not on the background, on the background, on the, formless quality of awareness on spirit, on wholeness. So if I ask you, you know, who are you,

you might give your gender identity or sexual orientation or your age or ethnicity, your type of work, your race, you might talk about your parents, your partners, roles with people. You might say I'm a person who loves beauty or who has this talent, say athletics or art or has that weakness. You get the idea. These are the kind of things that we might say when we say, who are you? As many of you know, I often refer to the story of the golden Buddha, which was for centuries covered by plaster and clay until they discovered it was actually a solid gold Buddha. We identify with the covering, with the mask, with the persona, and we we forget the gold that shining through. We forget the light of presence.

Let's take a little experiment here, another reflection. For the next 15 seconds, I'd like to invite you to try not to be aware. Okay, starting now, try not to be aware. Try not to be aware. Okay, that's enough. Now if I did a hand raise and said, how many of you were successful, most of you wouldn't raise your hand, some would, but most wouldn't. Now, again, just take a moment to pay attention. You might close your eyes or just go inward a little and take a moment again to try not to be aware. And now just to notice the quality of awareness that's here. Awareness is here.

What's it like? What do you notice about awareness? What's fundamental about awareness itself? Can you sense that awareness is utterly open? There's no center. There's no boundary. Can you sense that awareness is knowing? It's inherently knowing, cognizant.

Can you sense that awareness has got a tenderness to it? It's sensitive, responsive. Can you sense that awareness is always already here? So here's the challenge that if you're striving to find awareness to realize what or who you are, the striving blocks it. What will happen is you'll generate an image, a story or an idea, you won't directly inhabit this formless reality. Another illustration that comes to mind, it's like being in a motorboat trying to get to calm waters to a place of peace

or stillness, but everywhere you go, the roar of the motor is there and it's stirring up more ways. And what's needed really is just to turn off the motor, to stop trying to get anywhere, just to be. It's already here. Just be. So the most basic approach to realizing the ocean, to realizing true nature, is letting go of control, not trying to get somewhere else. It's non-doing. It's a kind of surrendering presence. One of my favorite stories from the Buddhist teachings is about Ananda, who is the Buddha's cousin and most devoted disciple. And after the Buddha's death, there was a great council of enlightened beings that was planned, all the followers that were enlightened,

but he wasn't entitled to attend because although he had worked at it strenuously for years, he was not yet considered enlightened. So at the evening of the council meeting, he was determined to practice vigorously all night, you know, not stopping until he attained his goal. And all that happened, as you might imagine, is that he succeeded in exhausting himself, completely discouraging himself, not the slightest progress in despite of his efforts. So towards Dawn, he just let go of the striving efforts and simply lay back to rest. You know, no longer trying to get anywhere, just put his head back on the pillow. And in those moments, he was, moments became enlightened. So what freedom? It was not striving, was a letting go, a letting

be, a wakeful relaxing with. He just entrusted himself to the truth of being this. Now for decades he had had a lot of training on how to be with the waves, how to quiet waves, he needed that, but for the ultimate freedom and realization, stop doing. And that's always stayed with me. I remember some years ago, I found myself getting hooked in a way by these thoughts and impressions of in some way being important or special. And it was, you know, I think my first book had come out and I was, you know, having larger classes with, and, you know, people were treating me as if I was special and it was a really sticky identity. Just like I've talked a lot about the trance of unworthiness and all that I've been through on that, this sense of being

a special person, you know, that I knew more, that in some way was more spiritually advanced, it actually brought up a lot of shame because it was such a sign that I wasn't. And And it also created separation. I would come back at the end of a day-long teaching and realized I felt a slight sense of distance from people and realized that it was in some way contracted and propped up or inflated in this identity. So I really wanted to let go of special person, you know. And I tried. I tried to pause and I tried to, you know, recognize what's going on and be compassionate and let it go. and, you know, I kept raining on it.

It would just keep popping up. And I remember finally one time I was meditating right here, right near where I'm speaking right now. And a lot of things fell away. And in that space, there's just this openness and emptiness and tenderness. And then a chain of thoughts happened in some way I thought of something I was, an interview I was going to do or something. and with it a sense of, you know, self-important and then immediately following that,

this wave of desperation, oh my God, she's back, you know. This is between me and freedom, you know, what else can I do? And you can probably hear in it the grasping. And then some wise place in me said, stop, just stop. You know, I was just saying, just drop it, surrender. and there was just this dropping, this dropping and stopping and being and in the space that all the striving had occupied, there was a real openness and emptiness and awakeness and tenderness. These are the qualities of just awareness.

And I can say quite honestly, many rounds, like the indigo dye, you know, dipping into the dye, many rounds. But that surrendering presence that just, oh, just let it be, let it be, don't try, has shifted the relationship with special person, whether it's special person or a shame, flawed person, or whatever it is, there's a kind of presence and humor and not believing. you know, resting in something larger. So this is the first approach to being the awareness that is who we are. And it really has to do with when it's quiet, just practicing non-doing, just being with what is, relaxing with, really surrendering any controlling. I encourage you, especially if there's some quietness in your sittings, every time you practice

a little bit of time where there's just non-doing presence, not controlling. Now there's another approach to waking up to the awareness that's here, which is in many different traditions, it's called inquiry, and it's an interest in what's true. And when the waves are somewhat quiet, we inquire by putting in a question like, well, who am I or who or what is aware right now, who's listening. And the key is to ask and then just open the attention in a very wide way. So we're not trying to grasp on to what's there because if there's any tightness, what'll happen is we'll just come up with another idea of a very wide way.

self. It'll be an image in a sense that's more contracted, not the vastness. The Tibetans say that the seeing of no thing is the supreme seeing. And we're going to practice in a moment. But I want to name the last part of that is you inquire, you ask that question with pure interest. And then there's what's called the backward step, which is being the awareness. Just relaxing back from any platform of thought, any holding, any resisting into that pure being. And if another construct arises, and by that I mean another thought, another image, another object that we're taking as self, just to see and relax back again into what's here. Let's take a pause to practice for a few moments, this inquiry and this relaxing back. The understanding is if you're in any way really

stirred up, you'll hear the words and just be with yourself in a kind way. But if there's some quietness, this is a practice for turning towards and being awareness. And as we often do, you might start by letting the attention go inward. and taking a few full breaths to gather and be right here, let your senses be wide open so that you're aware of these sensations in your body and with real receptivity, widen and listen to the sounds that are here, letting them wash through, and with the listening, to inquire who or what is aware of this. What is listening? Gently turn the attention and with interest to notice what is it?

What's here? What's listening? And with whatever is experienced, relax back and just be that. Again, listening and the inquiry. Who or what is listening right now? Just turn the attention. What's here? And if you have a sense of a self that's listening, sense where the self is located.

Do you have a sense of a self that's somewhere in the... front of the head or in the middle of the brain or hovering around the body, it's got a felt sense of that self. And then notice what is witnessing the self? What's knowing and witnessing that self? And what is aware of the witness? Sensing awareness through your whole being around you everywhere. Relax back, dissolve into. So friends, I, I'm invite you again to simply be curious. This is something you can practice anytime it gets quieter sounds or sensations. Just ask who's aware, what's listening, what's feeling. These are the different ways that we can begin to become aware of our own beingness, of awareness,

then inhabit fully what we are, the non-doing, just non-doing, surrendering presence, that inquiry really asking what's here, who's aware, and then that backward step of then being that. And a reminder that very, very common with inquiry when we say who's aware, that there's some part of us goes, well, me of course, because it's such a deeply grooved habit to have an identification with a me. But then get curious, well, where is that sense of self-located? You know, is there a habit of sensing somewhere in the middle of the brain is really the center of who you are? And then, well, what's aware of that? What's witnessing that?

Maybe you have a sense of a witness somewhere in front of you beaming down. And then what's aware of that witness? Begin to sense the light and the awareness that's just everywhere, inside you, around you, through you, everywhere. And then relax and be that. It won't last for long. We're not stable. Most of us aren't for very long and resting as awareness.

us. And that's fine. That's just part of how reality operates. So then we rest and then we find that attention has regathered and solidified again in a story or in some feelings. And then we notice that. Oh, okay. A wave. Be kind with it, let it go. If it's really sticky, do rain with it. Mostly as we start relaxing, you don't have to go through the the whole rain process, in the moments of noticing there's a wave and there's some identification, the seeing frees it naturally, but sometimes not, in which case we take more time and more kindness with it. And then when there's that freeing up, just sense the awareness that's here and be that awareness. The direct experience of awareness, like dipping into the indigo dye, the more you have

that experience, the more you trust that that is more the truth of who you are than any of the habitual ways of thinking about yourself, you know, any of the self-definitions that actually have limited and confined your experience, because there's a profound freedom that comes with recognizing what we are. There's a fearless heart, there's not tensing against what's next anymore. We're free to live with wonder and clarity and care. Now, people often ask me, well, how can we operate without a sense of self? How will we even know what to do if we're identified and resting in this vastness? And just to say that the sense of self doesn't disappear.

We still have the thoughts and the ego self and the wants and the fears. They're still there. We're just not identified. And when we're not identified and reactive to the waves, we're actually able to be far more spontaneous and intelligent and creative and compassionate in how we respond to whatever's going on in our lives. It's what the Zen masters called the appropriate response to life.

There's a kind of intuitive grace in navigating. And again, here's what makes it possible. There is a wisdom in you that knows that the ego self, the body, the appearances, that's not the truth of who you are. The waves don't define. And that there's a larger being mess. It's a mystery. and yet it feels like home.

And it's also the source of all beings, all of us. It's that shared field that gives rise to all these forms. And when we're inhabiting that field of consciousness, there's a natural loving because everything is part of us. You're one with everything. I know one of my favorite reminders in the whole world from Sri Nargasafta is this. He says love tells me I'm everything. Wisdom tells me I'm nothing.

And between the two, my life flows. Okay, final moments together. We'll just again pause. Let your attention be right here. become aware of what's arising, whatever waves are predominant, perhaps sensations in your body that call your attention, the feelings in the moment, and the sounds. Can you imagine the vast, downless space that this moment is happening in? Can you imagine the silence that's listening to sound? Can you imagine the stillness that's perceiving sensations, aliveness, movement, and relax back.

It's be that silence, that stillness, that pure being. Simply let everything flow into and out of empty, radiant being. love tells me I'm everything wisdom tells me I'm nothing between the two my life flows namaste and blessings friends for more talks and meditations and to learn about my schedule or join my email list

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