Freedom: Absolute & Relative

hello everybody nice to see you welcome so what does freedom actually mean what is spiritual Freedom all about and what a spiritual Freedom actually mean it's not as obvious I think what what spiritual freedom is all about what it actually means is no I don't think it's as apparent as it might seem to be and it's a rather complex inquiry I've come to find the meaning of the meaning of freedom the meaning of the experience of Freedom the meaning of the experience of inner freedom the meaning of the experience of spiritual freedom so what is that all about now spiritual freedom in the highest sense in the most profound sense is a state of consciousness when we awaken to enlightened awareness and we have the experience the dramatic experience of Awakening to enlightened awareness the The Awakening to enlightened awareness is always is always the the experiential recognition and thrill of profound inner freedom when people wake up they usually experience a state of ecstasy they experience this is the state of ecstasy and I can describe it as an as an ecstatic revelation that is an ecstatic discovery of the nature of inner freedom so freedom is essentially when we if we scrutinized our experience and analyze our experience the experience of inner Freedom as a higher state of consciousness the State of Consciousness that we experience when we awaken through enlightened awareness is the discovery of the feeling of being the feeling of being the nature of being is an ecstatic experience of inner freedom the feeling of being itself pure being is the experience of I amness is the felt cognition recognition Revelation insight into the nature of existence presence it's a feeling of being it is the most primary and fundamental dimension of our shared experience of consciousness what is the most foundational what is the most foundational dimension of your and my our experience of existence it's the feeling of being it feels like something to exist to exist feels like something and I'm not talking about the different kinds of gross and subtle experiences we have I'm speaking about the foundational ground of our experience which is the feeling of being the feeling of being the feeling of being can be found when we begin to explore the nature of Consciousness itself because the feeling of being is is synonymous with the feeling of Consciousness itself Consciousness and the way I'm using these terms consciousness can be are the same thing so as human beings when we speak about the experience of being human we often we often describe that we have all kinds of experiences we have all kinds of growths and subtle experiences Pleasant experiences and painful experiences High experiences and low experiences meaningful experiences and meaningless experiences but I'm not speaking about having I'm not speaking about what happens in the context of The Human Experience I'm not talking about the different kinds of events that happen within the within the nature of being the nature of Consciousness itself but I'm I'm pointing to the foundation foundational ground of all experience which is being our Consciousness itself and as most Enlightenment teachers point out to us they say that we are always we always have our attention on that which happens within consciousness the rising of thought the feeling the feeling of the body the awareness of time and growth and subtle objects from the computer screen that we're looking at to the Milky Way galaxy these are all objects that appeared to arise in it with in an infinite context and that infinite context is Consciousness or being itself so when we wake up we're waking up means is that we suddenly become conscious conscious or self-aware of a cognizant of the context the ultimate context in which all these objects arise and that ultimate context is the what Eckhart Tolle calls the ground of being is being itself or you could say consciousness and the ground of our experience which is being our consciousness if we pay attention to it if we try to look for its boundaries we won't be able to find any boundaries and the feeling of being because if you pay attention in your own experience and you can do that now as I'm speaking if you pay attention to the nature of your own experience would be you're on cognizant should be your own awareness of being your own experience of the feeling of being you'll begin to become aware of the fact that being our Consciousness is the foundational dimension of your experience and every moment is without boundaries this is seems to be the ground of all experiences seems to be literally everywhere and nowhere in particular at all times being or the feeling of being or Consciousness itself which is the foundation of all experience seems to be everywhere in nowhere and if you don't believe me take a look take a look into the nature of your own experience right in this very moment of being more of Consciousness itself and Consciousness or being it cannot be located in any particular place it does it does not exist here and not exist there being is felt and experienced to be everywhere and nowhere in particular Timeless and formless and beginningless and endless is the nature of being and the feeling of being the practice of meditation the experience of meditation is the pursuit at least in my understanding is the pursuit of their recognition in The Awakening to the experience of being or Consciousness itself free from any identification and attachment to any particular object or objects that seem to arise within the infinite Timeless formless beginning this endless Eternal field of being itself so when the experience of meditative of the meditative process awakens us directly to enlightened awareness itself and meditation becomes the experience of unlined awareness itself when we find that we are naturally spontaneously effortlessly and ecstatically free from Identity compulsive identification with the objects that arise in Consciousness that arise in the ground of being and find ourselves captivated by the Eternal nature of being captivated by the presence of Eternity which becomes knowable and discernible within the internet context of being itself and when you become cognizant of the presence of that which is eternal one becomes irresistibly compelled by the presence of Eternity just in the same way when you're watching a candle flame in a dark room and you can't resist the light being attracted to the light of flipping of the light of the candle when you suddenly when you discover become conscious of her Awakening to the presence of that which is eternal it becomes irresistible and one finds oneself naturally and effortlessly wants attention now naturally and effortlessly concentrate and focused on we could call it a meta object even that's not an object it's not a thing which is eternity itself and Eternity is that's like as I repeat Timeless performless beginningless and endless but eternity the The Awakening to that which is eternal the recognition the conscience recognition of that which is eternal this is a foundation of spiritual liberations the foundation of the Awakening it's a deep and profound Enlightenment and the potential for our extraordinary and some meaningful liberation from samsara from meaninglessness and from being lost and confusing experience of Being Human in a crazy world so The Awakening to what I'm describing as being our Consciousness the recognition of being a consciousness which is as I've been saying which is the foundation of all experience which is the ultimate context in which all experience arises inherent in that recognition is the profound experience of ecstasy or freedom because because that which is eternal Timeless formless beginning this is endless that which exists everywhere in nowhere it's it's nature as as a as an experience the nature of Eternity as an experience is the experience of inner ecstatic Limitless Freedom itself this is what the Awakening to enlightened awareness is all about when we wake up when you wake up to consciousness when you discover the nature of being which is the ground of all of our experience and every moment in the foundation of all of our experience and everyone we've got all my goodness the foundation of reality the foundation of my very experience of reality from moment to moment his freedom itself wow I didn't know that nobody told me that why didn't anybody tell me that and um the freedom we experienced when we awaken to Consciousness when we become conscious of consciousness when we like into being directly the freedom we experience is incomparable to any other kind of experience of Freedom it is absolutely Beyond comparison it's truly non-dual because it contains absolutely everything and it's free from absolutely everything it's nature the nature of being itself which is not separate from the nature of Consciousness itself is freedom itself already always eternally for eternity so this is a big shocking revelation of of the Awakening to enlightened awareness is there is the recognition that oh my goodness my true nature is freedom the nature of your true nature is freedom already and it's not a freedom that needs to be cultivated or developed because it is self-existent it's inherent in the nature of being in the ground of your own being the nature of your own Consciousness already and once again the reason that we seem to miss this profound and significant truth is because we're just we tend to be very focused and distracted by the objects that arise in Consciousness in the form of thoughts feelings memories fears desires worldviews opinions and on it goes but when you discover the the very ground in which everything arrives in which all objects arise and all things arise you'll recognize that what I'm saying is absolutely true and of course the ultimate Miracle is that um when we awaken to being we recognize that being is also synonymous with the deepest felt sensody of I or I am the feeling of ironess the deepest most innermost profound sense of self to the capital s is the nature of being our Consciousness already so that in that in that Awakening there's the recognition that I am as the cell for the capital s which is synonymous with pure being or pure consciousness freedom it's the freedom that the ego doesn't know anything about it's a feeling that the ego doesn't know anything about Puerto ego Diego doesn't get it because I always look for Freedom somewhere else so so in in all the ways I've been describing it to you which is very ancient this is an ancient revelation the freedom I'm describing we we usually experience human beings usually experience and discover as a state as a state of consciousness when you experience a higher state of consciousness the nature which I've been describing as as being or Consciousness itself the status experienced when the ego's entire story and everything in the vehicle is concerned it was concerned about and worried about feels passionately about long Spore is utterly radically and absolutely and completely transcended when you awaken to being into Consciousness directly the ego disappears and when the ego disappears The ego's Story disappears when the ego's story disappears and you find aha my ego with all its problems and feeling fears and desires is gone but I'm still here wow and my ego's gone I like myself much or better I am happy and I am free already and I am vibrating with ecstasy and love and inner freedom and joy so in this higher state of consciousness in which the ego has transcended freedom is a state of Consciousness that's realized recognized discovered cognized and that's the goal of all spiritual practice that leads to the Awakening to Enlightenment and land awareness it's all about that it's very simple really once you understand that it's not complicated we like to make it more complicated than it really is but it's very simple doesn't mean it's always easy so what I'm what I've been describing to you for the last few minutes is freedom as a state of consciousness Freedom as a spiritual experience Freedom as a metaphysical revelation Freedom as effortless and spontaneous being Mr Freedom that liberates us every time so that's one kind of freedom and we can call this freedom absolute freedom because there is a difference between what's called absolute freedom and what's called relative freedom they are not the same thing absolute freedom is a state of consciousness is a spirit is this is a spiritual experience which is a higher state of consciousness is that absolute freedom is all about but uh when we use the word Freedom most of the time when we don't usually most people don't usually speak about Freedom as a metaphysical revelation that it reveals itself to us in an absolute context in a relative in a relative context which is which is a a place a space a location the dimension of reality that most of us spend most of our time in relative reality working with the cumbersome biological processes of the body working Within biological encumbersome processes inherent in the biological experience working within the confines of a complex mind that's working on multiple levels seen and unseen to help us to navigate our way through time and space working to working working in the middle of the complexity of so many fears so many desires of all kinds that can seem to emerge at any time regardless of what we may think we want or don't want and then there's the issue of the small South so it usually not always but it's usually the small cell it's trying to navigate its way through all the complexity of biological impulses complex cognition challenging emotions and so many conditioned ways of thinking that we find that in terms of relative reality and relatively relative existence the domain of the small cell which is an important place an important aspect of reality we find ourselves burdened with the challenge of having to make so many decisions should I get out of bed first thing first should I get out of bed today should I brush my teeth should I make a cup of coffee should I get dressed should I take a bath should I go to work foreign should I do this or should I do that some choices we make for different kinds of reasons will help us to experience more or less relative freedom the fundamental point I'm trying to make through this talk is that spiritual Freedom the high the highest experience of spiritual freedom is not a choice but it's a state of consciousness whereas in relationship to relative freedom and relative reality to realm where so many choices have to be made from growth from gross to subtle from easy to complex from challenging to not so challenging we have to make so many choices and so we notice that certain choices certain choices help us to feel more free choices enable us to experience greater freedom other choices lead to us feeling less Freedom more victimized more burdened more out of control so if we're serious about at least in my thinking if we're if we're deadly serious deadly serious absolutely deadly serious about radical spiritual transformation that we are interested in we're not only interested in in the uh and the absolute freedom which is a higher state of consciousness but we're also interested in learning how to be proficient Navigators and relative realities so that we can learn how to make more and more of the kinds of choices that will enable us to feel greater and greater relative freedom and usually you can tell very much what a human being is made of what they're all about to get to know somebody well are the kind of choices that they make in relationship to their uh cultivating greater and greater relative freedom in the in and Through The Human Experience to having the kinds of choices they make and by what's motivating those choices now one of the most intriguing things about this inquiry that are bringing up today is that to me is that um the conscious experience of absolute freedom metaphysical Freedom spiritual freedom freedom of enlightened awareness the freedom of being the freedom of Consciousness itself that the experience of Freedom which is a higher state of consciousness most of the time will Inspire us and compel us to make choices in relation to relative reality so that will enable us to experience greater and greater freedom within the complex world of relative reality remember an absolute reality there's no good if there's no good and there's no bad there's no right there's no wrong there's no truth there's no falsehood there's just being or is-ness there's no Duality at all that's why it's akin to Heaven itself haven't exists beyond all notion of duality and uh and to transcend all Notions of Duality we need to transcend all pairs of opposites but the world of relative reality is a world of opposites and it's when and in order to live a a meaningful purposeful constructive life requires us to make at times difficult choices choices that may involve enormous emotional psychological physical spiritual effort sometimes sometimes to do what we have concluded is the right thing is physically emotionally psychologically and spiritually harder than doing the wrong thing too bad I'll repeat that just for emphasis because it's important that sometimes in relative reality making the choice to do the right thing may take greater effort for from us physically emotionally psychologically spiritually then what we would determine would be the wrong choice relative Freedom the experience of relative freedom is a choice is a choice and it's not always an easy choice to make because we don't all have good habits some of us have very good habits of all kinds some of us have bad habits some of us have had an easy time of it some of us have had a very hard time some of us have been loved and nurtured and cared for some of us have been abused and traumatized and all of these different kinds of conditioned experiences create conscious and unconscious levels of ambivalence insecurity confusion about what the right choice to make is all about because yeah I truly have to love yourself and being a small s you truly have to love yourself number one seems to be a difficult thing for many of us which we truly have to love yourself and you truly have to love life you truly have to love yourself you have to believe in yourself respect yourself and you have to love life itself deeply and profoundly in order to be able to consistently make the right those those choices those positive and life-affirming choices that will enable you to experience greater and greater degrees the freedom in the context of relative reality so in my understanding and the way that I teach I'd like to introduce people to to Absolute reality so they can experience absolute freedom so they can experience the absolute freedom which is the nature of the non-true capital s big ass self which is the nature of being the nature of their own Consciousness always already we need to have that kind of experience many times until we get become convinced that I am that I am freedom I am pretty much there's no duality which is only pure positivity and ecstasy and one big screaming overwhelming yes that is nothing less than the voice of God and this kind of experiences I explained a few minutes ago can completely transform us from unenlightened to enlightened but in the most important way this kind of experience can transform us is because if you have have you been lucky enough to have a revelation of the nature of absolute reality which is not so many people which not so many people have but if you've been lucky enough to have to actually have directly glimpsed the nature of absolute reality it will inspire you to reach for the highest just to make the noble struggle to reach the highest in the context of relative reality because you you will have seen what's really going on here from the highest perspective could it be possible yes I'm saying it is possible you've seen what's going on here from the highest perspective and seeing that and knowing that this glimpse of absolute reality becomes to your North Star if you've seen the absolute truth and you have allowed yourself to be deeply touched by it you begin to naturally spontaneously and effortlessly aspire to become one with it with the totality of your being as and as we're all as and as we're all already well aware we are all works in progress none of us are perfect most specifically too bad most of us are far from perfect and we noticed that when we were awake when we awaken to Absolute reality we experience the nature of perfection that's what non-duality reveals to us the nature of perfection can only be realized as a higher state of consciousness not as the nature of relative reality ever because relative reality including you and me is a work in progress so glimpsing the nature of absolute reality inspires the those who have been touched by the absolute inspires us to reach higher it inspires us to inspire it inspires us to Aspire to perfect ourselves as much as possible to improve ourselves in every way we possibly can so we can become the clearest and the purest and the truest reflection of that Perfection that exists Beyond time and space that's how we express our devotion to this absolute principle is through the effort of self-perfection that's where we discovered the source caring about self-improvement but of course it's not just self-improvement Improvement of the whole world process which of course even now as we as we all are so painfully ever more ever more aware is and desperate strengths but the the longing you know the the the feeling of a desperate long and not only for self-improvement and self-affection but the Improvement in the world process and the Perfection of the world process comes from this revelation of the nature of God and the nature of the absolute itself directly that's where we find the strength the energy the determination the conviction and the spiritual self-confidence that makes it possible for us to make those kinds of choices that will bring us closer to the experience of freedom in relative context so absolute freedom is a state relative freedom is a choice and they don't come as one package [Music] the the experience of absolute freedom is a result of surrender of the ghost surrender of the Mind and go of the evil letting go of the Mind letting go of our arrogance self-importance and narcissism and Pain by the way also letting go of all of it Letting Go On Letting Go unconditionally absolutely and completely of all of that is what opens it opens the revelation to the nature of absolute reality of absolute non-duality the relative freedom becomes a tangible experience for us when we find the courage and the determination to make Noble effort Noble effort right effort the times heroic effort if necessary to do the right things to do the right thing at the right time for the right reasons and as I'm sure you all have already discovered life gives all of us many opportunities to do that and sometimes we succeed gloriously in five minutes and sometimes we fail tragically but as I said we're all works in progress as the whole evolving universes and work in progress so absolute reality sorry I'm sorry absolute freedom is a state of consciousness that is revealed directly to us through surrender of the Mind and of the ego and of all of our suffering relative freedom is discovered through cultivating the capacity to make the right choice for the right reasons at the right time would require self-discipline and self-respect and a moral compass that's in good shape it's not damaged what defines each and every one of us as a unique human being is in the end of choices that we make the conscious choices that we make of course the ground of our the ground of our of our being is freedom that's always the case that's all always already the case whether we know it or not and if this is something you have deeply realized if you have deeply awakened to enlightened awareness it will show through the Kinds of Kinds of choices you make in your relationship to relative reality if this is something you have deeply realized and I mean deeply realized you won't be able to hide it it'll become obvious because the choices you make and the actions you take in your relationship to relative reality will demonstrate the presence of a profound mystery mystery that transcends life and death but it usually I'm just trying to make this point that Who You Are as a person who I am as a person who we all are as Unique Individuals is to find ultimately over time through kinds of choices that we make so The Inspirations for to give this talk came because I I realized that many Seekers are under the false presumption that that freedom that freedom is an experience to be attained it is through the grace of God or through spiritual practice that is a state a state of inner freedom is to be attained to the grace of God or through spiritual practice and once attained that state of freedom is one's constant companion and from that point on all effort all choice has vanished and one simply is the nature of Freedom itself and that's all one expresses but it's not really true Enlightenment is more complicated than that because we human beings are more complicated than that at least in the way I in the way I approach this the way I understand this in a way that I teach this I think that we need to work on both what does that mean it means we need to work on our capacity to surrender the fears and desires compulsions and aspirations of the small cell you have to learn how to surrender the whole world of the ego unconditionally absolutely radically and completely and all of our attachments and all the bondage they're in the Lord learn how to let go of all of it without conditions and through learning how to let go in this way and meaning it spiritually meaning it was really meaning it that we find access to the this absolute dimension of reality and simultaneously we have to work on self-discipline they learn how to make those choices that's going to make us a stronger more ethical human being to me to meet human beings that are morally inspired at all that not crazy self-righteous lunatics but but people that are ethically inspired in which you feel like humility that comes from the aspiration for us you know the aspiration for self-perfection self-improvement it's very moving and say oh I realize that this person really cares this person really cares and they are in touch with the preciousness of life the rareness of the opportunity of having the awareness of the recognition of having an opportunity to consciously evolve and what that means about the evolution of Consciousness and the evolution of the life principle and how sacred all this is and how sacred life actually is depends depends not upon how sacred life always already is but how much do we recognize it how awake are we do we recognize the inherently sacred nature of the opportunity we have to make the world are more conscious in a more beautiful place do we feel any obligation in relationship to that possibility or do we just not care or just standing on an eager trip so caring light that takes God to takes courage it requires renunciation and self-discipline to care to make the kinds of choices in our personal life not a Reflections in that kind of care so absolute freedom is is a higher state of consciousness is the state of unparalleled unimaginable ecstatic freedom relative freedom is a choice the greater hour access the greater our access the greater our attainment the more profound is our experiences of the feeling of being the greater our attainment to the feeling of being easier it's going to be for us to make difficult choices and relative reality that will lead us to greater greater freedom deeper Humanity so it's easy and it's hard when you feel free it's easy to be free when you feel free it's easy to be free and when you don't feel free it takes effort s to be free but I think what what to me what is more valuable then the capacity to demonstrate and expressing the freedom when when you feel free when you're experienced when you're in the higher state of consciousness is the is the willingness to make the noble effort to do the right thing that expresses profound freedom when it's the last thing in the world you feel like doing that has greater value in the experience of ecstasy and joy that comes from the nature of the self itself so this gives us all a lot to work on I know you're all very busy but um spiritual enlightenment evolutionary Enlightenment requires a little time and effort and consideration time effort to consider who who who who Am I who are we why are we here why does the universe exist is it a good thing that the person exists is it a good thing that we exist we've got to figure all that out Encompass some pretty convincing answers before we can figure out what the right thing to do is yes we're aware what everyone else is doing oh but if we're if we aspire to become a conscious person we're not necessarily interested and simply doing what everyone else is doing which is what most people do most people simply do what everyone else is doing because they haven't really taken out the time to think about absolute questions ultimate questions existential questions philosophical questions metaphysical questions moral questions and if you haven't taken out the time to ask these kinds of questions if you're not working constantly on these kinds of questions how can we possibly know what we should be doing what's the right choice to make this is a challenge for all of us making sense out of The Human Experience making sense out of The Human Experience not just for yourself but to everyone else anybody who truly makes sense out of their own life gives everyone else a gift a big gift something anyone else is going to recognize it but uh but the gift is there to be had I remember a great uh Tibetan rinpochet that I met about 25 years ago in Nepal told me that um he said you know a Buddha could be a living Buddha could be sitting at a table with five other people and unless all the unless each and every one of those five people had the entertained the level of Consciousness that would make it possible for them to be recognized who they were sitting with they wouldn't even notice who they were sitting with so Consciousness and the evolution of Consciousness is a journey from the growth to the subtle and it's an enormous challenges tricky business and what freedom is all about is also tricky business because freedom is not only a Feeling and it's not only an experience it's also a choice so you can see from the perspective of what I've been sharing [Music] um you know a lot of people sorry what I wanted to say what I wanted to say was in the perspective of what I would have been sharing we're we're always on the hook We're Never Off The Hook because I think I think the way a lot of people tend to think about uh uh Enlightenment is that they'll say well whatever Enlightenment is once I get there the idea is what I think is the wrong idea the idea is that once I get there I don't have to make any effort anymore everything's going to be easy and just uh I'm on a free ride from then on which is which is how some people describe it it's just not what my experience is all about and I don't think I don't believe what I don't believe that that's the case so I'm describing a perspective in which we're always on the hook there's always more to be done there's always farther to go there's always more to attain and then we want to deal with questions like I suppose I probably should stop talking about um then we have to deal with questions I suppose after we die were we sincere in your in your relationship to your own life and each and every one for each and every one of us this life is a great opportunity we've been given were we sincere are we playing for keeps are we leaving ourselves a little room always waiting for options I remember I had a teaching once a long time ago which went something like Freedom profound spiritual Freedom means there's always only one choice you can possibly make which for the ego feels like a complete bad deal the if there's only one possible outcome or one choice you can make the ego feels this is a bad deal I want to go to about another uh another bookie but if you really wake up and you see what the stakes are and you can you Glimpse the way reality looks from Beyond the vantage point of your ego you begin to Glimpse what that one choice would actually look like which is your ego's worst nightmare your ego's worth your ego's worst nightmare is your true selves salvation it's really gets gets it gets brutally simple at a certain point so the ego sync should I do this should I do that should I go here should I go there should I do this this this this and of course in this day and age you all know we have so many options options options it's like part of the reason why we're all going so crazy is because of these so we have too many options it's driving everybody nuts but if you truly choose freedom the only hit you'll find and you'll see this for yourself that you only have one choice and when you re when you begin to feel that you only have one choice that's when you feel your ego is starting to lose its grip foreign [Music] to be grateful so freedom is a State a higher state but it's also a choice and then I just added one more piece to the puzzle it's freedom is absolute freedom is a state of consciousness it's also a choice we can add to that it's also a drugstore's choice and when you find that freedom has become a choiceless choice it means that at least spiritually or metaphysically you means you're doing you're in good shape it means you're no longer divided when you're no longer divided you're well on your way to what the Buddha called the Yonder Shore foreign state freedom is a choice and ultimately we can say freedom is a choiceless choice