Realize and Respond

nice to see you again welcome so what I wanted to talk about this evening this evening where I am is that the state of uh enlightened awareness the state of Awakening the state of Enlightenment it's not merely a state of consciousness a lot of people when I think about enlightenment I think it's the experience of a certain feeling a certain expanded State of Consciousness a realization of emptiness or fullness or realization of bliss or the recognition of Oneness an experience of happiness or peace or exhilaration or Clarity but often when we think about Enlightenment we think of it as a state of consciousness and the point I want to make and it's a simple point but it's a profound point an important point is that and I think it's the most more important most important point to understand is that Enlightenment is not merely a state of consciousness but in the relative world of time and space where the body mind and personality abide and operate Enlightenment or lack thereof Enlightenment or unenlightenment is a position that we take in relationship to life consciously or unconsciously in any given moment so this is what makes the state of enlightment so interesting because if it's not merely a state but it's also a position that we take in relationship to Body Mind personality time and space and we can ask ourselves an interesting question which is what kind of relationship am I taking or assuming consciously or unconsciously to the body is is the body mind and personality taking in relationship to the context of body space time and world and does that position I'm taking consciously or unconsciously reflect my attainment of enlightened awareness or my lack of attainment thereof other words if other words if you were looking through a camera at yourself would you say wow W this is an awaken enlightened person or would you say this was not an awaken or enlightened person because with the with our purs with our pursuit of Enlightenment our pursuit of enlightened awareness historically there have been profound and Incredibly inspiring exemplars of this attainment people like the Buddha Raman Mahari SRI ramak Krishna and many other s so the point here is that for most of us or for all of us Enlightenment we think about it's not merely a state of consciousness but it's a it looks like something the context of our that the awakened human the awakened human our awakened Humanity looks like something it looks Enlightenment the state of Enlightenment we all believe for good reason the state of Enlightenment looks like something it looks like the the Buddha it looks like SRI R Mahari it looks like SRI Krishna it looks like other enlightened Saints and sages and realizers Men both men and women it looks Enlightenment looks like something feels like something it looks like something because the individual who has attained the state of enlightened awareness assumes a certain or a certain position or positions in relationships with our experience looks like something extraordinary profound miraculous and meaningful it looks different the positions that the enlightened ones take in relationship to Body Mind personality time space and world look different than the ordinary person the inine person's relationship to life looks different feels different is different and this is the question I wanted everybody to kind of reflect on tonight or today I want everybody to reflect on your own life and does your life look like an enlightened life is look like someone who had awakened and with sustaining this awakened Consciousness is the life that you're living right now look like that or does it need a little work a little few a few adjustments here and tighten up to tighten up the edges so this way of looking at Enlightenment as a position that's taken consciously or unconsciously spontaneously or deliberately and help us to look at our own pursuit of Liberation in a very different way in a way that's very makes it makes it much more tangible makes it less purely metaphysical makes it something we can relate to with our minds and with our emotions and with our deep considerations some people think I'm enlightened some people think so and they think so because I apparent ly have demonstrated or contined to demonstrate for some people what enlightenment looks like that's why they follow me that's why they pay attention to me that's why they listen to me that's why they want to spend time with me and I'm aware that ever since I met my Guru in 1986 and he told me that he wanted me to teach he he told me he said Andrew I want you to accept responsibility for this work he said you you've understood everything I have to teach and I want you to accept responsibility for this work at the time I didn't know what that meant but I soon found out but in any case ever since that time I felt an enormous sense of responsibility to in my own imperfect way to uphold or to somehow be a be an Exemplar in in the context of my own inherited Perfection of what enlightenment looks like and that's interesting it's interesting and it's challenging and it's true I'm being very honest with all of you so Enlightenment for me is not only an an inner attainment as a higher state of Consciousness which of course it is it's not just the feeling of being or the exhilaration of inner freedom but it's also a grave and great [Music] profound responsibility I feel very I feel responsible to be an Exemplar in the context of the imperfection of my Humanity and that helps me it helps me to know that I'm that I am an Exemplar that I've chosen but when I surrender to the guru's wishes that I accepted responsibility for what he was asking me to do and inherently accepting that responsibility was an obligation and and I think that not enough of us not enough of us who are seeking for Liberation see see Liberation as as not as not just a Christmas present from God as a happy feeling or Happy State or some kind of big spiritual prize at the end of the rainbow but as a grave and Grave and sober obligation not only to oneself but also to all of life it means that I if I'm going to be an Exemplar it means I have to be a representative in the context of my own imperfect and evolving Humanity to represent the highest principle in the universe which is the god principle or the absolute principle the spiritual principle which is the foundation of everything that exists so often when we when we're thinking about our own seeking The Liberation we're often thinking about how we feel and what we think what's easy for us what's difficult for us Etc but the picture changes when you're not thinking about this in terms of how you feel about it but you start thinking about spiritual transformation becomes an obligation becomes an obligation to to stand for a higher possibility a higher truth a higher principle in this crazy chaotic confused world where so many people are lost confused frightened and angry this is something that I've been trying to convey to people for many years and it's it's difficult to share this perspective because if you if you can get the point I'm AC if you get the point of what I'm trying to say it can save you a lot of time but yes Enlightenment is a state of consciousness it's a higher state of consciousness it's a vibration that comes from the center of the universe and when you awaken to it it'll set you free that's all true but it's also a position that we take in relationship to the challenge of being human in this chaotic and evolving world so I wanted to when I was speaking about this tonight I wanted to ask all of you to ask yourselves in the context of reflection what kind of position are you taking relationship to the world you're living in relationship to the totality of your own karmic predicament do you do you feel that you're an Exemplar do you hold yourself to a higher standard are you aware the people are watching you do you feel you're worthy do you feel you need to be worthy that you have no choice that you have an obligation to be worthy if you do then it'll save you a lot of time and a lot of money in psychotherapy because if you realize it's an obligation how your ego feels about it doesn't really matter anymore how your ego feels doesn't make any difference anymore because now you have an obligation to be a spiritual Warrior to act like a spiritual Warrior to behave like a spiritual Warrior to be true to be Noble to be dignified to to be a reflection of the highest principle in the universe which is the god principle in all your our my imperfection or shared imperfection because the inherent in being human is imperfection because we're all works in progress so there is no human being that is fully evolved that has attained some final resting place everybody's a work in progress even Lord Buddha was a work in progress from harsh a Works in progress well Works in progress you can we can all be a work in progress and still have realized that which is eternal extraordinary profound and miraculous but on the level of you shared Humanity to the level of Being Human we're all works and progress which means we're all inherently imperfect because Perfection is unattainable perfection is attainable as a state of consciousness but not as a state St of our Persona our Persona is a work always a work in progress and inherently in purose so our inherent imperfection because we're all works in progress challenges us if we if we choose to accept the role of the Exemplar or the Enlighten one in this crazy chaotic and Confused world because now we have to be ready to show up with strength and dignity and Clarity and self-respect so we can be a fit vehicle for this the miracle of higher Consciousness the miracle of enlightened awareness which is real which which exists and that's a challenge the experience of bliss consciousness it's easy it's not a challenge to experience Bliss Consciousness takes no effort but to inold but to uphold on a human level the implications of bliss Consciousness requires a deep commitment and enormous self-respect enormous surrender to a higher principle of submission of one's will to higher will that's what that's what makes the enlightened person so compelling so attractive so radiant is because they have submitted their own personal will to a higher will when you submit your own personal will to higher will then that higher will begins to be reflected through the through the through the imperfection of your body mind and personality begins to reflect the Perfection of this higher will that's what makes enlightened men and women so attractive because they are not merely human beings anymore human beings who have access to this higher state and the higher state is reflection of the will of the absolute call it the will of God if you like the will of this higher spiritual principle but this this this Demands a lot from us it's asking we have to it asks a lot from us and we have to be ready and most of us don't feel that we're quite ready yet to be so responsible and to be so obligated because we know we're not perfect and a lot of seekers are waiting waiting to reach Perfection before they can say yes to God which is ridiculous because no one's ever that say you're never going to reach that state of perfection you can get close to it by saying yes anyway but if you say yes you have to be willing to back it up which is to make enormous effort to make enous sacrifices to surrender unconditionally and to make absolute commitment to the will of the absolute as you experience it and as you understand it that doesn't leave much wiggle room for a weak ego and because there's not much wiggle room for a weak ego that if we accept that there's not much wiggle room we Embrace that truth that can be become a source of Our Own Strength and spiritual will two can become so powerful and so compelling and so commanding [Music] so meaningful for other people if another person realizes if another person gets to know and enlightened person and they realize through observation over a long period of time that such person is actually holding this higher principle this God principle this absolute principle they're holding it they are a caretaker they are a worthy caretaker this higher principle this awakens kind of uh respect respect for Spirit respect for the guru principle respect to the spiritual principle that humbles the ego very quickly the ego gets humbled and then we find that humility dignity self respect and a natural and spontaneous desire to be worthy of this higher principle because a a true Seeker wants to be worthy I want to be worthy oh Lord I want to be worthy of thee now the desire to want to be worthy is a very spiritually Noble place to be do the desire to want to be worthy of being a caretaker being a Exemplar being a being so serious and being so committed in public and the more people recognize this the more people recognize that the spiritual principle actually exists they know it exists because you are proving that it does in spite of all your imperfection you're proving it you're demonstrating it you [Music] are transmitting it through the choices that you make and the actions that you take with the body mind personality in the context of time space and world the choices you make and the actions you take in the the the relationship you have to the world around you the relationship you have to your mind to your body to your emotions your inner experience relationship to other people to your family to your children to your parents to your friends just to your spiritual friends the world around you what kind of relationship do you have to the world around you does the relationship you have to the world around you express or demonstrate that you are inlightened or awakened because if you are truly enlightened truly awakened your life is going to look different different it's not going to look like like an ordinary life whatever an ordinary life is I don't know what an ordinary life looks like I guess in ordinary life does not look extraordinary but whatever it looks like so so if if an enlightened life looks like something and you want to ask yourself what does it look like what you think it looks like and whatever you come up with whatever definition you come up with that that satisfies your criteria for enlightenment then ask yourself if your own life looks like that and if it does melto congratulations and if it doesn't you have to ask yourself why doesn't it look like it what what what what's what's in the way what is preventing my life from looking exactly the way I imagine or believe or convince that Enlighten life looks like what choices and action what choices am I making what actions am I taking that are taking me in the direction of what I believe in Enlighten looks like and what actions am I taking choices I making is take taking me in the opposite direction and in this kind of introspective analysis the self self-reflective analysis you want to be brutally ruthlessly honest with yourself this is a conversation you can have with yourself you don't have to have this conversation with anybody else so within the privacy of your own mind and your own soul and your own Consciousness you can be honest there's nobody there's nobody nobody there nobody else there to shame you or to tell you what you should do because it's your life it's your choice it's your mind it's your soul but have the courage and have the strength to kind of be brutally honest with yourself knowing that how no matter what the picture looks like it's it's going to be imperfect why because you're human so it's okay to be imperfect it's okay to be imperfect but it's not okay to not care deeply about these deeper higher matters if you believe these deeper higher matters the most important thing that there is so how much you care and how much I care and clearly be seen in our life my life and your life in the way we're choosing to live the lives we're leading right now so as I've been saying have the courage to be brutally honest with yourself and if you have the courage to be brutally honest then you can have also have the courage to change what needs to be changed and adjust what it needs to be adjusted have the courage to change have the courage to be true to your own self have the courage to be true to your own insights about what all this looks like what it should look like what you believe it should look like what you believe it does look like then you be your own Guru then in this kind kind of context but do it for real pretend it like act act as if it really matters if it was the most important thing in the world in the life that I live in the way that I live it it actually is the most important thing in the world anybody can go through this the practice of this kind of introspection and it's powerful and it's profound and you you can put your own you you can find out what you really think about Enlightenment about Liberation and about yourself you have to find out what you thinking then you get to make adjustments because the way a lot of people think about it is that Enlightenment is some mysterious miraculous State of Consciousness that just is gonna happen one day it's just gonna happen one day if you're lucky it's going to happen one day and then it's all going to be easy from that point on which may or may not be true it's probably not true could be true but what I'm responding to here is that don't put it off don't have have the courage not to put any of this off to the Future have the courage and the spiritual will to put yourself on the spot now and see all the places where you feel you're falling short in relationship to your own ideas of how this is supposed to look and then make the adjustment sometime around now whatever you do don't wait don't wait don't hesitate so this is kind of what I wanted to speak about we're enlightened we're always looking outside of ourselves as we practice as we all as we practice in introspection contemplation contemplate the nature of Consciousness going to contemplate the nature of our own Consciousness also contemplate the nature of our own Integrity our lack of an in relationship to us living up living up to our own highest aspirations if you can do this you won't have to wait for another lifetime for all this to happen can all happen in this life to put this in another another way enlightenment is a confrontation with the absolute the confrontation between relative reality and absolute reality it's a confrontation your your human Persona or personality is is a reflection of your relative self relative self lives in a relative context in the context of relative reality when you're awaken to enlightened awareness it's awaken to a non relative or absolute context and absolute self so Enlightenment which happens to human beings like you and me gives rise to this confrontation between relative reality and com and absolute reality there's a confrontation there or what you could say was a creative friction and the more profound the creative friction there is between relative and absolute reality more profound will be the expression of the the Magnificent coherence between these two and when you reach a state of profound coherence between relative reality and absolute reality or your relative self and your absolute self when you reach a state of coherence between those two your body mind and personality will become a the expression of what a fit vehicle looks like with this absolute d of reality and then and then then then it will suddenly feel like your relative Persona your relative personality relative body mind and personality it's actually the perfect the perfect vehicle for this absolute principle suddenly you realize that your persona your body mind and personality you suddenly realize is actually the most perfect and fit vehicle for this absolute truth this is this is coherence between relative and absolute and it's also the moment of Liberation because that's when you stop when you begin to accept yourself your small self your body mind personality your persona unconditionally radically and absolutely because you realize in in all the inherent imperfection of your persona little did you know that it was actually a perfect vehicle but the god principle what do you think about that and if you're lucky enough to have such a realization if you're lucky enough to have such a realization you will be blessed you will be blessed and you'll know you're blessed you'll feel it you feel the blessings of God and gurus of all the realizers and all lineages throughout history you'll feel their blessings upon you and then suddenly being an imperfect human being is not a problem to be overcome it becomes a very vehicle through which the god principle enters into the Earth plane so it becomes a gift so then being you body mind and personality then becomes a gift not a problem to be overcome but a gift transformation how's that for transformation could there be a bigger transformation than that I don't think so and a lot of these kinds of changes that I'm speaking about can happen very quickly very easily very quietly with in the context of your own awaken mind and Consciousness if you don't resist the absolute nature of what I'm speaking about if you cease to resist the absolute nature of this confrontation between relative and absolute dimensions of reality and self you stop resisting this kind of Flip or deep deeper higher alignment can happen very easily very naturally and very quickly ways that are hard for the mind to even imagine or believe so the unenlightened Mind makes all this into a great big ordeal a big crisis and a big difficulty but really doesn't need to be difficult it doesn't need to be such an ordeal if we stop resisting our own spiritual aspiration it's only the ego that makes us into an ordeal your ego my ego the ego makes all this into a great ordeal when the Awakening process begin to happen by itself the ego comes overshadowed by the true self authentic self when that happens it all becomes very easy natural effortless and [Music] spontaneous so if you're lucky you won't fall into the Trap of making this into some terrible ordeal agonizing ordeal that will take you life years and lifetimes doesn't have to be that way or should I say how many lifetimes does it take any one of us to realize it doesn't have to take lifetimes I don't know one of the things that never ceases to amaze me is the subtlety and profundity inherent in all of this the subtlety the the profundity the mysterious nature of the Consciousness and how it evolves in the mystery of the the apparent World context that's all occurring within but as you all already know when you come back home everybody realizes that you they've been there all you would been there all along and everything else was just one big illusion but since we know that already we can save ourselves a lot of time and a lot of grief a lot of suffering so I'm almost finished so what I've been advocating today is um that there's there's two different ways to look at the our Human Experience The Human Experience as our human experience and one way to look at The Human Experience or our at our human experien is from the inside out which is what spiritual Seekers and meditators tend to do is we're looking our vantage point is from the subjective the what appears to be the subject the subjective center of our inner experience outward we're looking out outwards upon the body and the mind and the world from the subjective inner Center Point or inner Vantage Point looking out upon the body the mind the Persona the world of time and space whole universe we're looking at from our subjective core subjective inner Center that's one way to look at our experience of reality it's one perspective and it's a valid perspective but there's another way to look at our experience which is equally important and equally valid which is what I've been advocating in this talk this evening and that's to make the effort to look at our the totality of our self in relationship to the life context that we're that we're operating within from the outside in what do you look like from the outside it's still you looking at you it's still you looking at you but now you you're not looking at you from the inside out now you looking at you now you're looking at you from the outside in and so when you when you look at you from the outside in you get a very different perspective and vantage point on your on yourself even though it's still yourself that's doing the looking it's very interesting we want to we want to be get very good at looking at ourselves from the inside out the meditator vantage point or the compulsive thinker vantage point you want to learn how to look at yourself from the outside in the outside Observer the outside Observer which is of course always always you looking at yourself from the outside in the context of the world space that you find your body mind and personality is operating within you want to observe what do I look like from the outside in and and to repeat what I said before it's all you so you don't have to worry about anybody judging you this is all you looking at you so it's all safe you don't have to worry but I'm just advocating this this outside in vantage point is very new for most people it's very different and it can help it can help you to see and understand yourself in many ways that the Inside Out perspective can't can't do because the Inside Out perspective is is always too close to the experience the feeling experience of the emotional experience that you might be in the midst of from the outside in there's there's you're not close to the emotional core at that point you just you're an observer of you're watching a movie which you happen to be the star of the movie but you're not you're not in the body mind and personality at that point or at least it feels like you're not even if you always still are but temporarily it feels like you're not it feels it feels it least it feels like you're looking at yourself from the outside and the reason that we do this is to help give ourselves more perspectives more Vantage points more ways to understand ourselves to see ourself and to liberate oursel it's also a way to be your own teacher to take responsibility for your development because as I as I was saying when I was giving my talk how do you look to you and in this case we want we want we want the Observer not to be your cruel ego we don't want the cruel ego to be the observer in this case we want to be the Observer to be your own best self your own best frontal self the best part of your per your personality and your positive ego or even your Awakening to the authentic self and the true self should they be present what do they observe when you're looking at your own self how do you look to the best parts of your own self it'll help you it'll help you to be UT become utterly responsible for your own self utterly responsible your own being become a master of your own self this is what awaken self- knowledge and if you have deep and profound self- knowledge self- knowledge it's deep and profound it's not just superficial psychological but really deep and profound then as I was explaining your persona your personality begins to carry or Express gravitas because because you're not playing games because you're really paying attention to who you are and why you are who you are and why you are the way you are you're paying attention to it all and you're choosing you realize at a certain point that in a most important way you're making a choice to be the kind of person that you are because you're Mak you're paying so much attention to who you are and why you are the way you are which means you know yourself know thyself you're someone who knows thyself this such a person carries a lot of Gravitas and dignity and self-respect other people will feel it they'll realize this is not a superficial person this person has depth with their self-conscious awareness and they know who they are and they seem to be expressing an undivided or wholeness or inherent Integrity of being in their self nature which is very powerful most people are so fractured and divided against themselves so traumatized they their their being does not express wholeness or Integrity but expresses superficiality and Division and unconsciousness but when your frontal self and your frontal personality begins to express a wholeness and a seamlessness and a consistency and integrity and a gravitas this is very compelling it becomes very attractive for other people so you realize this person is trustworthy they're saying have death and self- knowledge and they're not playing games for them life is not a joke or game to be game to be played with but it's an experience to be taken very seriously or absolutely seriously and someone who takes themselves that seriously will be willing to take you seriously if you're willing to take yourself seriously then then then the possibility of human relationship a deep relationship and reless becomes possible way that is mutually beneficial and mutually spiritually empowering so there's two ways to look at reality that the reality of our selves we can look from the inside out which is what we do most of the time and we can look from the outside in practice both but in the context of the talk I'm giving tonight I'm emphasizing the this learning how to look at oneself from the outside in and as I said on a good day you'll be looking at yourself from the outside in from the perspective of your positive ego mental self and on a better day it will be your true self that's looking from the outside in and an even better day will be your authentic self looking from the outside in at you so the which you am I talking I'm talking about your persona the you you think you are when you look at yourself in the mirror you because if you're going to be if we're going to be free if we're going to if we're going to do this for real and we're going to we're going to win this challenge you have to get to the point where you like what you see when you see yourself in the mirror where you love that person in all his or her imperfection it's showing up in the mirror there where you love that person and you love that person because there you right you realize that person has self-respect and integrity of the level of the soul and that trust worthy and they mean well and they care they're living in relationship to higher principles they care they really care which means you care so we got to get to the point where you feel that way about you about your own self when you're looking from the outside in you say yes this is a good person this is a decent person this is a person that means well but they sincerity and gravitas there that carries weight beautiful you know it's very interesting in life in life when we we do things for example if we let's say I would decided I was going to study philosophy so if I told you if I told you that I've been formally and I've been formally and informally studying Philosophy for 20 years formally and informally and seriously you go wow that's a lot that's a lot of time you must know a lot about philosophy or let's say I used to want to be a jazz drummer so let's say I told I've been studying jazzz drumming for formly and informally for 20 years you go wow you must be pretty good or if I was a a poet and I've been studying and practicing writing a poetry for 20 years you go wow you must be quite good how many books have you published and online that kind of thing so or if I was practicing law let's say I've been try practicing law practicing studying practicing law for 20 years you would have seem where you must know a lot about it you must be quite a have a sophisticated understanding of law or applies to anything that we do except it seems for some inexplicable reason practice of Consciousness the practice of practicing the evolution of Consciousness practicing Enlightenment practice that leads to the Awakening to enlightened awareness so for some inexplicable reason it doesn't make any sense it doesn't make any sense to me says well how long have you been seeking for enlightenment practicing how long you been meditating seriously and for formally and informally seriously oh 20 years wow you must know a lot about Enlightenment no not really he say why not I thought you've been on for 20 years so it's funny to me because in the way that we think about development it seems in terms of our sh some kind of shared agreements at a cultural level seems understandable that you expect if someone does is practicing formally and inform formally any any any any kind of activity any developmental activity it's reasonable to expect a certain degree of progress and development and attainment after 20 years 30 years except for Spiritual practice which never made any sense to me never made any sense to me how long have you been at this how long have you been seriously meditating seriously studying human higher development studying Consciousness going to see different kinds of spiritual teachers going on spiritual Retreats reading spiritual books contemplating this non-relative or absolute context for life purpose meaning thinking deeply about life how long have you been at it 20 years wow you must have really made a lot of progress can you teach me not really I'm just a beginner how can you be a beginner after 20 years man so I'm just asking everybody don't let yourself off the hook and this is all in the same context of looking at yourself Having the courage to look at yourself from the outside in have the courage to look at your yourself the the reality of your imperfect self we're all over ourselves are imperfect frontal self is imperfect have the courage to look at the reality frontal self the inherent imperfection the frontal cell from the outside in can I take this person seriously are they trustworthy do they mean what they say are they wasting their time are they wasting time in life are they not wasting time to taking life seriously to get to life seriously as you look at your own self cuz remember folks time is always with got that's about it time is the gift that we've been given and we don't know how much time we have but expect more from yourselves from yourselves as you look from the outside and expect more from yourself than anybody else expecting anything else from you but expect more from yourself because you're serious that's why you're doing it for yourself and in a sense in relationship to the title of this talk realize and respond you can see that how you show up how I show up how you show up how we show up is our response to life so how you show up right now how I show up right now is how I'm responding how I show up and how you show up is how I is my response to life it's the totality of my response to life is how I show up right now and this means in its formal context like this this this talk tonight is this is a formal context or if we make for a coffee that's an informal context so the way I show up consciously and unconsciously is my response to life so when I show up do I show up as being conscious caring like I'm paying attention do the bigger context in which everything is occurring or do I look do I look like I'm lost in my mind and lost in my eag's narrative and lost to my own myopic Little World barely aware of anybody else else's needs or concerns even the world around me so how you show up which is how where you're at is is is how you respond how we're all responding we're always responding we're always responding we're always responding this is one of the points I try and make clear in this teaching that we're always responding whether it's consciously or unconsciously but we're always responding uh in Gross and subtle ways and how we respond is always it shows is is proof or evidence of where we're at what we really think and what we really feel so the way you the way we show up you and I show up is our response to life in public and in private and in formal circumstances and and in casual circumstances the way you show up is is the expression of uh where you're at so in reality there's no time on time off it's all important even though some moments more important than others of course so I'm going to finish now but if you if you care and if you're serious and if if you care and if you're serious and if you're sincere and if you mean business you're not playing games you're not superficial you're not lost other people will recognize it will recognize your sincerity even if they can't meet it and even if they can't meet you there they'll recognize your depth and whether they say it or not your depth will inspire them who I love my one person who's not struggling anymore in the same way not ambivalent anymore in the same way that's a gift if anybody has any questions I'm happy to try and answer sir yeah there is one question Here Andrew from promode okay he is asking in looking at yourself from the outside in and in observance of what it looks like the you looking at you perspective is indeed different from what I've had a chance to observe this far with intention what is the the position taken here is it to be an inner guide in terms of observing what needs to happen with the outer construct in this relative journey of becoming and at what point does this get to being over critical of one's actions and can that actually hamper spiritual progress in some way or is it a position of learning and adapting in the observing would appreciate some light on holding this space while viewing the various facets of one's outwardly Expressions all of the above all of the above all of the above absolutely all not just one it's all of the above so so promote if you're looking from the inside out you get one perspective looking from the out outside in you get another perspective when you're looking from the inside out you can get various different perspectives when you look from the outside in you get various different perspectives sometimes the you can be overly critical sometimes you can be the opposite are you aware of that if you're being overly critical and there's kind of some kind of negative judgment going on are you aware of it because if you're aware of it then you take responsibility for it it's part it's part of the observation it's all of the above all of the above and more than can sure lot of work to do huh there are no more questions and there's no rest of the we promote I'm joking so you can see that uh there's so many perspectives that we can take there's so many perspectives that that just appear spontaneously and we need to be able to them and be fair minded and reasonably objective in relationship to our own cognitive process and that's not an easy thing to do to see everything and to be fair minded in relationship to one of's own cognitive processes and that's why for example we seek for enlightened awareness because thew into line awareness is what we discover when we transcend the mind so when we transcend the mind we discover an infinite depth and infinite expanse it's not real we realize this is the ultimate so then if you if you're grounded in enlightened awareness that ultimate context becomes the background of the foundational the foundation of your conscious awareness and all these relative perspectives taking happens on top of that upon this absolute perspective and then there's so many perspectives that appear they all have relative value some have more some perspectives have more value than others some are very important some are irrelevant but you want to be able to see them all and be able to be fair minded and be able to be able to understand and discriminate between what what actually has more value than other what has more value than something else becoming very sensitive and clear-minded in this delicate process of introspection and contemplation but what I wanted to say just finally is that um was that in relation to what you're the question that you asked and to what I'm saying there is no final perspective there's no this is this is the the final truth it's all the truth and we need to have we need to have a a big enough a big enough context within us be able to see it all and be very flexible seeing everything as as you know when I teach meditation I say see everything be attached to nothing so you want to be able toble to see everything but be very flexible and not overly identify with anyone to one truth or one perspective and most people are not that flexible in their thinking their perspective taking they tend to be rigid and fixed without even knowing it which leads to unenlightenment so there's no in what we what we're speaking about in terms of look in terms of the relationship to The Human Experience there's no resting place it's just a state of constant vigilance constant vigilance constant vigilance constant vigilance and constant vigilance and in the midst of that constant vigilance there'll be moments of great clarity great elimination we have to do let go of them too otherwise they can become a trap also seeing everything attached to nothing the delicate Balancing Act that's why you know when I teach meditation my preferred Mantra that I share with all of you is paying attention Letting Go paying attention and letting go paying attention letting go now you know why beautiful right okay okay everyone thank you very much I appreciate it