The End of Conflict

Because it's such a small group tonight, I think we will spend more time on questions than we usually would. So, please be prepared to participate. Help me to respond to to this big question. So, I wanted to speak about the end of conflict because it seems to be so much conflict in the world today, so it seemed to be an obvious topic. Of course, I have no solutions to the problems of the world. I have no solution to the problems that we're all facing at this point, but [clears throat] sometimes when we can't solve problems in any kind of practical hands-on way in the real world, it's good to kind of stand back and look at the human predicament from larger philosophical or metaphysical perspectives to give one to to to to one to a sense of uh a big a bigger sense of context for the challenge of the human predicament. So, that's what I want to try and do in a short talk. Because what makes us feel suffocated often in life is when we're too close to a problem. We're too close to a problem or something that's really troubling us or bothering us or causing us to experience anxiety or fear confusion or anger. We're too close to it. We we can't see beyond it. And the practice of philosophical inquiry and metaphysical aspirations is to see beyond any see beyond particular relative issues and break through to a to a a big and vast and open spacious context that includes everything and but includes everything. And at the same time transcends everything at the same time. And that in that we find a source of liberation and spiritual and existential release and relief. So, when we realize that even if we can't come to terms with the problem that we're facing, we can't solve it immediately, the world's not going to necessarily come to an end. You know, ours might. [laughter] Anyway, so the end of conflict or the the the aspiration for the end of conflict is a to come to the end of conflict is a spiritual aspiration. Um the famous psychologist Jack Engler told me once that um he felt that most people who most of his most serious seekers most of his most serious seekers after enlightenment are individuals who have suffered a lot and want to come to the end of suffering or conflict within themselves. So, often what makes us seek earnestly for to come to the end of suffering is is pain and suffering. Too much of it. And uh of course, the the ultimate the ultimate discovery of the end of suffering is to awaken to the the ground of being or the ultimate non-dual ground of the totality of reality. That's when we realize in the burst of insight or waking consciousness that everything that exists is part of everything else that exists. Nothing is separate. We're all part of one cosmic process that has no beginning and no end. It seems to be eternal. And it's this mysterious recognition of non-duality or what they call Tibetan Buddhism dependent origination that everything which means that everything that exists depends upon everything else that exists. When we when we realize in a flash of insight that this whole process is is completely integrated and we can't get out outside of it or away from it no matter where we go because it is it is everywhere and we we are part of that which is complete that process which is completely undivided and completely integrated and this recognition compels us to stop pushing or pushing away reality and to start stop seeing life in pieces or reality in pieces, but we begin to have a sense of the whole of the the whole of the totality of reality as a as a as a touchstone or as a foundational existential and experiential reference point in our relationship to our own moment-to-moment experience. And this changes everything. What causes us to suffer so much unnecessarily is the seeing reality from partial perspectives. And it's when we put we we push away a lot of things that we either don't want to see or can't see. And this creates pain and suffering. So, when we stop seeing division, especially metaphysically, we see everything in the context of the totality of everything that exists. And the fundamental feeling the fundamental feeling vibration of the totality of everything that exists and everything that doesn't exist is peace. So, what is the what is the sum totality of reality feel like? Sum totality of everything that exists and everything that that that doesn't exist feels like peace. It feels free and peaceful and inclusive. It's the opposite of when we're seeing reality as as a bunch of parts, some of which we think belong to us and others that don't belong. So, the the the the end of conflict is the end of duality. And the end of the end of conflict and the end of duality is is a is a visionary experience. It's a it's a feeling experience. It's a metaphysical revelation. It's when we have that kind of experience, we really feel we are touching the ground of reality in a way that is different than other kinds of experiences because in this kind of experience, we transition from from relative or partial perspectives to a non-relative or absolute context in which as I've been saying everything is included. And that always is the source of existential release and relief. And if we're lucky enough, actually actually the actual liberation itself from fear and duality. So, some of us have mild experiences of this kind of penetration into the non-duality. Some of some people have very little brief glimpses of non-duality and some people have very deep and profound and transformative experiences of non-duality. Some people recover from from recover from these experiences and are able to move on relatively unaffected by them. And some other people are so deeply affected by these kinds of experiences that they find themselves irrevo- irrevocably transformed by them. In other words, for some of us, the the impression of the awakening to our non-duality makes upon our nervous systems and our minds and our very souls, it creates such an impression that it reconfigures the way we think about everything. And if it's deep enough, it becomes our fundamental reference points in relationship to the totality of the human experience. So, so simply put, the solution to conflict is enlightenment. What a novel idea. But it's always been true and it continues to be true today. Um so the the awakening to non-dual to non-duality or awakening to enlightened awareness can solve the issue of conflict for our for the unique individual him or herself within him or herself. And it can and it will always do that, but um once we've solved this this this question of non-duality and which we have once we have access to non-dual states of consciousness and um and this connection is so deep that we have become irrevocably transformed as a result, we might we we might have come to the end of conflict or for any fundamental conflict within ourselves personally. But if we end the conflict within ourselves, it doesn't mean we come to the end of conflict in the world or in relationship to the world. And this is one of the huge challenges of living a spiritual life in earnest is this deep embracing the actual embracing of the the significance of non-duality that embraces both inner reality and outer reality or heaven and earth. Because ultimately ultimately everything is one. But we find that the inner revelation of oneness or non-duality does not solve the pressing the question of conflict in terms of our relationship with the outside world. So, the way I've helped myself solve this problem and the way I've encouraged all my students to solve this problem as I've always said that if we want to First we want to seek for the ultimate the ultimate truth. I've always felt that if there is such a thing as ultimate truth, which which there is, but I I I I try to be very easy about it. I say if there is an ultimate truth, I would certainly want to know what it is or we would certainly want to know what it is. Because if there's an ultimate truth, we'd want to know it not for its own sake necessarily, but because if there's an ultimate truth, we would it would be important to know what that was before we were able to decide what we want to do here on Earth and what how we want to do it, right? If you want to try and figure out what you what you're going to do here and how you're going to do it without knowing what the ultimate truth is, it's going to be a mess. [laughter] And for a lot of people it it is a mess. So, so first we want to solve this problem and then and try to find out what the Buddha was what try to discover what the Buddha was talking about through our from our own direct experience. But once we once we find out that the Buddha was actually speaking when he's speaking about enlightenment, he's speaking about something that's actually available to all of us if we're willing to dig deep enough within our own consciousness. Once we find it, if we're if we're that lucky. But if we're not if lucky enough to experientially discover directly what the Buddha was speaking about for ourselves, as an inner reality, as an inner knowing, as an inner as an inner spiritual self-confidence, then the question becomes, well, how do I bridge the gap between this inner knowledge, this inner non-dual state of consciousness and the reality and complexity of the world of form and matter and mind and consciousness and culture and human relatedness and relationship and so many choices that need to be made? How does the inner experience of non-duality or oneness affect our relationship with the world all around us? And that becomes a very complex question. So, I've all what I've always what I've always done myself and what I've always encouraged my students to do is to first seek to become grounded in this non-dual awakening, this non-dual recognition. Grounded means you you one has realized a profound degree of confidence. But to use mythic language, if God exists, if this non-dual absolute non-relative dimension of reality exists, is real, is tangible, is experienceable, is is knowable, is available, and and then then ask ourself, what what what kind of relationship to life would be most conducive to being me being able to sustain access to this higher state of non-dual awareness? Obviously, certain actions would make it easier to sustain access to higher state of consciousness and other actions and other choices would make it more difficult. And in traditional societies and traditional traditional cultural context, it's been the distinction between living a spiritual life and a worldly life. Uh a spiritual life was considered to be a life where one was focused solely on spiritual concerns. And the worldly life was one was where where one one was focused more on survival and material matters and procreation and things like that. And to live the religious life, one was often compelled to leave the world behind and go to live in the monastery on the mountaintop or in the wood forest or the woods to get away from the world of material and familial complexity so one could one could focus fully and dwell on this non-dual interior dimension of the our soul of reality. And there's truth in this approach, this this perspective, but as we've taken the journey from the traditional context to the modern one to the post-modern context, a lot of very very sophisticated post-modern realizers have embraced a more sophisticated interpretive framework of the nature of non-duality and are saying that non-duality embracing non-duality or embracing the fact that the sum totality of reality exists as as such as a fundamental truth, as a fundamental dimension of reality at all places and all times, no matter where one is, whether whether one is in the world or whether one is sitting on a mountaintop, non-dual oneness of the absolute dimension of reality exists all all in all places at the same time. So, so especially this particular time in history, when we think about non-duality, it doesn't necessarily mean living in a living in a cabin in the woods or versus living in the city or living anywhere else. It has to do with a fundamental relationship to the totality of life itself and to all the complexity of of the choices that we need to make in order to live a meaningful and purposeful life. So, so that's why I've always been encouraging everybody to really consider deeply what are those kinds of life choices that I could make that would enhance and protect my access to non-duality and what are those choices that I would make that would make my access to non-duality much more difficult and make it more difficult for me to remain connected. Because remember the awakening to non-duality, and I'm using the word non-duality here as a metaphor for the end of conflict, is the same thing. Remember this the the awakened state is very subtle. When you're in that state when you're in that state, its beauty and its non-relative nature seems obvious and apparent and indestructible. But when you when you have experience with these higher states of consciousness, after a while you begin to notice that the as obvious and profound and as life-transforming as they are, they can be easily lost and forgotten when the when the when the worldly context changes when when we when life distracts us with unforeseen events, familial obligations, work obligations, all kinds of unexpected things happening, we can somehow we can often forget or lose touch and lose track of the deeper interior dimension of reality which alone sets us free. And it's one of the strange things about non-duality as a state as a state experience is it's so easy to awaken to it and so easy to to forget and fall out of it once again. So, this so this is why I think a big part of spiritual practice and what I very much encourage people to do all the time is to think deeply about the choices that we're making in relationship to the life we're living and how we're living it. And if we're committed to the awakened life, then we would want to we would want to make a commitment to always putting this the the having access to this higher state of consciousness as a experiential necessity as a as an experiential priority. Which means we wouldn't want to do anything and make any kind of choices which would make it more difficult to gain access to it. And in that way, our our life in the way it's lived begins to create itself. That's how a spiritual life well lived creates itself or gives rise to itself in the complexity of the modern and post-modern cultural landscape. So, I've been uh on this path for a good 40 years by now. Which is a little bit of time. 40 years, I'm 67, so 68, I just turned 68. And I've been pretty consistent in putting spirit first. And remember in the context of this particular conversation we're having is non-dual I am equating non-duality and the end of conflict as being the same thing. And I'm finding to my own to every to my surprise at the age of 68, I find myself living in paradise. And this paradise didn't just appear as I made very important choices that would make paradise more likely. But there's a strange there's a strange mysterious metaphysical sense that when you put spirit first or the end of conflict first and you do it with all of your heart and you you and you you learn to take enormous risks to do it which means to hell with what anybody else thinks. I'm living for spirit first no matter what anybody thinks about me. There's this there's a strange sense of uh of destiny begins to be felt that um one begins to feel and I've been certainly feeling the presence of the mysterious unimaginably positive karmic forces at work over on the going out on a limb here but I'm speaking freely. That if we if we if we put coming to the end of conflict which means s- um the which which means giving this access to non-dual consciousness which remember is the access to the very ground of the totality of reality. It's the conscious cognizance of the non-relative the absolute dimension of reality. It's It's putting that first and saying that that contact with this non-relative or absolute dimension of reality keeps me in touch with the biggest truth that there is. And as long as I'm in touch with the biggest truth that there is then the life choices I'm going to make will put that first. But if I'm out of touch with it I'm liable to forget what's most important. I might slip back unknowingly into a relative relationship to relative reality and forget what it was like to live in heaven. So regarding the end of conflict what I wanted to say was that um not before we awaken but after we awaken once we once we're grounded in the awakened state of consciousness we find that we mysteriously miraculously in a mind-transcending way begin to crave connections or relationships with other human beings who are as interested in non-dual as interested in non-duality as we are. Because we because what we crave what what we crave after we awaken what we crave more than anything else is to stand in the reflection of this metaphysical absolute dimension of reality. We crave to stand in its reflection. And we we we experience that reflection in the hearts and minds and and bodies of other human beings who are also awake to this non-dual dimension of reality. Because they see what we see and they know what we know. And then we're able to meet in this in this higher dimension of truth. We're able to meet there without any effort. It's it's spontaneous and natural and easy and suddenly it becomes possible to utterly relax existentially in our humanity. It's when we can enter the natural it's called the natural state together. And after you and after you awaken you crave the company of others with whom you can relax in this way in yourself and they can relax in this natural state in themselves and then together we begin to give rise to a a metaphysically miraculously intersubjective or cultural context where the presence of this non-duality or oneness is felt by one and all. And it becomes the very ground upon which we meet. And it becomes the ground upon which our relationships are based. So if if if the inherent oneness and non-dual truth becomes the ground upon which our relationships are based we begin meeting in another dimension that transcends time itself. And that makes the human experience so much more interesting and so much more deep and profound meaningful and purposeful and rich with spirit. And once you have that kind of experience no no other more kind of mundane or ordinary kinds of human relationships can can get near it can touch it. Now one of the signs of meeting another in this non-dual ground is that the fundamental feeling of of distance or separation or division which is experienced as mistrust between you and the other disappears. And suddenly you find that there is that there is that at a at a level of metaphysical feeling you feel that there's no distance there's no gap there's no distance there's no doubt there's no suspicion of the other of the other human being anymore. You're just simply together in in sh- sharing a very deep trust in the ultimate nature of reality. And um and this means the end of conflict. It means that fundamentally you you come to the end of conflict you end up coming to the end of human conflict and and I think in the spiritual life when it's lived in the context of the awakening to enlightened awareness it's a life that's lived fundamentally free from conflict if it's if it's the real deal. If it's the real deal and people are really awake and they're really paying the price of ego transcendence and mind transcendence then it's going to look very good. It's going to look peaceful. And it's going to look like there's enormous freedom that comes with comes with human beings trusting each other. And it will it's a place where the ego starts feeling irrelevant. I'm not needed here there's nothing for me to do. I don't I my I have no role to play in this context where there's so much trust and naturalness unselfconscious naturalness. So the awakening to enlightened awareness in earnest awakening to in the context of the practice of ego transcendence which takes a little effort now and then. [laughter] Um makes it possible for human beings to experience at an level of intersubjectivity or a shared cultural context freedom from conflict freedom from division freedom from duality freedom from suspicion freedom from fear freedom from rage and anger freedom from mental illness freedom from resentment freedom from suspicion and doubt. Everything that makes human experience so painful and so wretched can be transcended in a real and tangible way. And then it becomes delightful to be a human being living and being together in the context with other human beings. And life becomes so so joyful and so free from conflict free from conflict free from conflict. So so I think generally speaking the way to come to the end of conflict is you have to start with coming to the end of conflict within ourselves personally which is a big deal. Which is practicing the path of enlightenment and pursuing it in earnest till we make the big the enormous breakthrough that transcend that changes everything. And once we've done that then we want to sit down and figure out well what is what what kind of relationship to life makes the most sense now that I'm enlightened. If I should be so lucky. And then in a larger sense we have to start thinking about what our values are. What what are our values? Because non-dual to to to speak about this a little differently non-duality the liv- the living and the embracing of non-duality is not so difficult when there's just you and a friend your friend. But there's a way to think about non-duality in the context of the way we think the practice of cognition. Because the the test of our capacity to embrace non-duality means how profound is our ability to embrace complexity without losing access to the non-dual ground that we have realized. As the great Ken Wilber once said most human beings can't assume more than one perspective at a time. And as we awaken as we as we awaken to not only consciousness itself but uh complex consciousness and complex cognition we we to realize as Ken Wilber pointed out to all of us that uh a big part of the human experience, especially at higher levels of consciousness development, is our ability to take multiple perspectives. And which means we are which means a very sophisticated, cultured, educated, informed human beings able to see any given issue or any given truth from multiple vantage points. An integral philosophy would tell us that the more vantage points we can see any particular issue from, the more wisdom we're going to have. The wider and deeper will be our embrace of the human experience, inner and outer. So, another question here in terms of coming to the end of conflict that comes up at higher levels of development when we ask the question is how much is if is if indeed we are grounded in non-dual state, which most people are not, but if we just assume that we are for the sake of this the discussion, how profound is our capacity to embrace multiple perspectives? How much complexity can we include in our capacity to see and understand any any issue or any situation without losing access to the fundamental truth about the non-dual ground of the of the totality of reality itself? Because simplicity makes oneness more apparent. And complexity in an uninvolved mind would seem to obscure it. But if if if our mind has evolved, as our soul has awakened to the enlightened state, then the through the the recognition of multi-dimensional complexity would not obscure the non-dual context of all human experience. And obviously if we if we look if we look around at a lot of the the conflict in the world today and the conflict has been part and parcel of the human experience since the beginning of time, it's usually because we refuse to embrace more complexity. Kind of like I'm right and you're wrong. I'm right and you're wrong, we're right and you're we're right and you all are wrong. And since we disagree, let's fight about it. So, if we can evolve to the point where we we're able to become be aware of the multi-dimensional complexity that's part and parcel of the of the of the totality of reality in all its many dimensions, without losing touch with the non-dual ground itself, conflict would be much more unlikely to happen. Because no matter how much complexity we would be seeing, knowing, and understanding, and grappling with, we would never lose touch with the fact that we are not separate. That this is one process that's occurring here between all of us, and that's the deepest dimension of the truth that we're experiencing at all times, in all places, through all circumstances. But it's the minute that we forget that that we're all having the same experience, that we're all in this together, that division and mistrust and hatred from many different levels of human development begins to come to the surface and you can get drowned and you can drown in it. As so many people drowning in it today. So, being able to awaken to non-duality in the context of absolute simplicity is one thing. It's where we want to start, but when we when we can do that, we then want to see can we stay grounded in this absolute non-dual being or knowing in the context of seeing and embracing greater and greater levels of complexity. And as as the human experience becomes more complex, as it is in so many levels, for us to be able to consistently be able to see our way forward without losing our way or losing our minds and hearts and souls, we're going to have to learn how to be able to not only awaken to non-duality, but cultivate the capacity to embrace complexity without losing the plot. The more I can see about myself and the more I can see about you, the more about the more you can see about yourself and the more you can see about me, will make it possible for us to come together and not separate. One thing that I used to emphasize a great deal with my students was was the it was the cultivate the spiritual capacity to make the effort not to separate even in the face of conflict, even in the face of fear, in the face of doubt, even in the face of confusion. No, don't pull away. Don't step back. Don't step out of the ring. Because if we can stay if we have if you have the spiritual strength and the moral courage and the spiritual conviction to stay in the ring without without without moving, without backing out of it, in the face of so much conflict, there's a very good chance we can move through it together and we can come to a higher level of integration and oneness. But usually when things get a little bit rocky emotionally, psychologically, philosophically, metaphysically, and so many other ways, we we immediately separate, we pull back and step away from the other or the others. And once we step back and step away, the possibility for meeting each other at a higher level which you can transcend and include all the all the confusion has been lost. And the human inclination, just to repeat what I'm saying, the human inclination when there's when we when we're challenged, is to step out and step away instead of staying instead of staying grounded and focused and steady, which means bearing the insecurity and embracing more of the more of the complexity that's there without without losing our access to the non-dual ground and to our fundamental trust in reality itself. This is a big existential challenge. But the the seeds of conflict is when we when we see the when we see the other as other. And the minute we the minute we the minute we do that, conflict is inevitable. And what I'm what I'm advocating is difficult. It's it's not easy. Very challenging even for smart people. What I'm advocating here has less less to do with how intelligent if you can put being able to pull off what I'm advocating here has less to do with how intelligent you are and more more to do with how spiritually developed one actually is. And finally, once we on our own personal spiritual journey, once we awaken to non-duality absolute dimension of reality, realize [clears throat] this non-dual oneness, if it's for real, and in many of the great realizers throughout history it's been for real, we we look at their lives, we'll notice that [clears throat] excuse me, more often than not, those people who have been deeply touched by spirit and who and are grounded in this kind of awakening, aspire to include as many other souls in that awakening as possible because the the the mystery of non-duality, the mystery of oneness, the mystery of spirit, we discover when we awaken deeply enough has its own agenda and part of its own agenda is to include all sentient beings in its self-reflective knowing. So, as much as we think we're looking for spirit, spirit's looking for us all the time, waiting for us to be available for it. And so, in in the awakened hearts and minds in the awakened [clears throat] awakened souls of the realizers, there's always been this heartfelt aspiration to enlighten the universe. [laughter] Enlighten the whole universe. What a crazy aspiration. But enlightenment makes people crazy, too, because we start thinking so big. So, thinking so big. What what an audacious thought to enlighten the whole universe. But it comes from the consciousness itself, doesn't come from the human mind itself. Inherent in this in the consciousness of non-duality is this mysterious love aspiration to include the whole universe in this awakening to non-dual truth to the miracle of oneness. The miracle of the truth that everything that exists truly depends upon everything else that exists. And there is no way out of this. And in the end when we when we wake up we feel that the only way forward is to embrace all of it fully, unconditionally, radically, and absolutely. And that's the way to become unconditionally free. But just to remember that this is coming to the end of conflict which we all think we want is already inherent inherent in spirit's own agenda. If you can believe what I'm saying, the spirit has its own agenda one finds when one awakens. That there is inherent agenda in the [clears throat] consciousness of spirit itself. So you could say this is what spirit wants, this is what the God principle wants. It sounds far-fetched but it happens to be true. How do I know? Well, that's because I feel it. It doesn't mean it's absolutely true but it feels like it's absolutely true. [clears throat] And anybody who's been touched deeply enough by the way by waking spirits feels the same way. They feel choicelessly with so much inspiration. And everybody should be so free and everybody should be so happy and everybody should be a conscious participate with a conscious participant in the in the in the miracle of the possible. Because because there's nothing better to do than this. That's how it seems anyway. Very good. Thank you everybody. I did my best. I hope you find that helpful. And that's why for all of us this crazy cuz there's so much all this conflict that we're bearing witness to is so painful because it's the last thing all of us want. It's the last thing we want. If you have any questions, please write them in the chat box. And I don't have a question yet but I have a comment from Sahaja who is saying your talk was so was too brilliant to have any questions left. Well, Sahaja you know, this is you can answer you can turn on your mic if you want. That we talked about. There you go. Oops, here we go. So Sa- Sahaja, you know, you have you you've heard of the questionless state? I've heard which question you mean. Have you heard of the questionless state? Nope. So there's a state of consciousness which in which which one is so touched by the presence of this non-dual truth that one's mind stops. And then one one feels oneself simply filled up with the presence of spirit. And all of one's apparently important questions dissolve into nothingness. And one is one is then literally just spontaneously naturally, effortlessly abiding in the answer that in the mind-transcending answer that is a state of consciousness and not a question. [laughter] It's called the questionless state. Which I in which actually has greater depth than even the most sophisticated questions. Because the questionless state is the answer to all the questions. In the end. I think I've experienced the questionless state many times but I didn't know that this was kind of uh uh you know even an official state if you want so. Absolutely, very official. Yes, when the mind is when the mind and ego become struck dumb. The it's when it's when they're it's when they're rendered irrelevant and unnecessary. And then one can just be without them. And just fine, thank you. So thank you for your incredible presence and transmission that leaves me in this questionless state. Well, that's very sweet. Thank you so much. Thank you, Andrew. There is a question from Rita. I will open your microphone, Rita. She says that was incredibly helpful. Thank you. I'm just now coming to the other side of my dark night of the soul and I still have flare-ups of anxiety. I am aware this energy is present and I am learning how to use it for my own transformation. My mind cannot make sense of it. This causes only more anxiety. Is there something specific I can do when these moments happen? What causes this internal conflict for my being? Can you read read it again, please? That was incredibly helpful. Thank you. I'm just now coming to the other side of my dark night of the soul and I still have flare-ups of anxiety. I am aware this energy is present and I am learning how to use it for my own transformation. My mind cannot make sense of it. This causes only more anxiety. Is there something specific I can do when these moments happen? What causes this internal conflict for my being? Very good. So I don't know what the I don't know what's causing you to have these these uncomfortable moments but um we all have them. It's part and parcel of the human experience is once in a while to to experience emotional or existential discomfort for one reason or another and sometimes it's important that we understand what's causing the discomfort and other times it doesn't make any difference but the most important thing is to in moments like that is to try and assume no relationship to the to the anxiety. Because sometimes if we experience anxiety and we focus on the anxiety the anxiety gets worse and worse. Then it becomes then it becomes a problem that we feel we have to get rid of and if we can't we get rid of the problem which is the presence of uncomfortable feelings we feel we're going to die. I'm I'm exaggerating for drama but I'm just making the point. So one of the reasons that the practice of meditation is so important as we embrace the spiritual life in earnest is is uh the meditative process gives us an opportunity to practice having no relationship with the content of consciousness which means thoughts and feelings. Because in our unconscious, unenlightened, ordinary state of consciousness we are constantly reacting to unwanted thoughts and unpleasant and painful feelings. And this is causing us to have experience all kinds of emotional ups and downs that often have nothing to do with the actual circumstances of our present body-mind personality experience. So in the meditative process we learn to just have no relationship to any to any thoughts or any feelings, no higher or low. We we learn how to assume the position of no relationship. Now relationship always means two. It takes there always has to be two to be in a relationship. No relationship means one or zero. No relationship means one or zero. The sum totality of all of reality is is either called one or oneness or everything is one one is everything or the sum totality of reality is also also called nothingness. So the sum totality of reality is either either called oneness and the flip side of oneness is emptiness or nothingness. So when we assume no relationship to the content of consciousness it give it gives us easy access to the ultimate nature of reality which is oneness or emptiness or nothingness. If we choose a relationship to the content of consciousness it's usually going to cause especially if it's especially if it's difficult feelings and thoughts it's going to cause more pain and more suffering. So the assuming this learning learning how to assume no relationship to the content of consciousness as a as a practice do we learn how to do gives us more easy access to the ultimate nature of reality which is oneness or emptiness or nothingness. And we are and when if you if you become if you if you have if you learn how to become grounded in in enlightened awareness and then begin to practice the meditative process from the perspective of the state of enlightened awareness, you're able to experience all kinds of thoughts and all kinds of feelings without being touched by them without being so easily moved by them. You're able to see them simply mind stuff, but you can you can for periods of time not not be so hurt by them and not be so disturbed by them. One cultivates and gains the ability to let it all go. No matter what it is, just to let it all go. No matter what it is, to let it all go. No matter what it is, to let it all go until there's nothing left except oneness or emptiness or nothingness. And and one is always feels free. It's freedom. Freedom from the mind. Freedom from memory, freedom from time. Freedom from fear, freedom from anxiety. Freedom from past and future. Freedom from all our egoic concerns and being trapped in history and time and karma. It's where we're always wound up and being trapped and tied up in knots in relation to history, time, and karma. And we awaken to oneness or emptiness or nothingness, that all dissolves and disappears like a mist. So, we want to learn we want to become good good yogis, which means you want to learn a good practitioner. So, we become experts at letting go of the conditioned mind and our conditioned emotions and all karmic stream. And we can learn to become experts. We can learn to become very good at it. We have to work at it every day, a little bit a little bit every day, a little bit every day. And then we become less concerned with the content of the content of consciousness and more become interested in experiencing the nature of consciousness. In other words, the content in the in the context of your question was whatever it was whatever the whatever was disturbing whatever issues that are disturbing you. And from a psychological orientation and perspective, we feel well if something's bothering me, then I have to figure out what it is and then deconstruct it psychologically and then it won't bother me anymore. But when you we approach it from what I call spiritual perspective or an enlightened perspective, we don't need to deconstruct anything. We just transcend we just want to unlock the the knots that are tying us to these beliefs. So, we don't we don't we're not trying to work it out anymore. Just to just work on letting it all go. We're not trying to work it out anymore. We're just trying to let it all go. We're not trying to work it out anymore. We're just trying to let it all go. And the letting go always brings us immediately spiritual release and relief. And we experience the release and relief not because we've understood something that was troubling us, but just because we let it go without even needing to understand it. Cuz when it's gone it's when it's gone, baby, it's gone. It doesn't it really doesn't matter anymore. But when we're attached to the problem, it really feels like it's so important that we've got to figure it out we have to come to terms with it. We've got to unravel it. But when we let go of it, it it suddenly we realize it doesn't matter. Number one, and at a deeper level we we realize it never mattered. And when we realize it never mattered, that's when we experience spiritual freedom or inner freedom or the freedom of enlightened awareness. And that comes with and ecstasy comes with that. It's it's untying the whole knot of ignorance and the bondage that the ego creates for all of us. So, the idea with enlightenment is we want to let go of the whole thing. We don't want to work it out. We want to let go of the whole thing. We don't want to work it out. We want to let go of the whole thing. We don't need to work it out. We want to let go of the whole thing if we can. That's the aspiration. So, so my answer to you is uh begin to spend some time if you can every day sitting quietly and making making the noble effort to let go of your own mind for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, up to an hour or two, just sitting quietly and letting go of your mind experiencing the full the inherent fullness of which is the nature of your own consciousness all already. And when you get the hang of it, when you learn how to to do it, you start experiencing an inner momentum that feels feels like freedom. It feels so good. It feels better than working everything out or working anything out. It just feels free al- al- already. Does that help? You described it exactly. Thank you. You And you know why you know how I did that? No, but it was brilliant. Thank you. But I want to tell you how I did it because we're all having the same experience. I'm having the same experience you are. And and that is so deeply comforting to know that I'm not alone. Exactly. We're all having the human experience. And a lot of a lot of it sucks. [laughter] It sure does. Thank you. Okay. And now the next question comes from Morgan. I open his microphone. He had difficulty to write, so he will tell you. His question. Sorry, Morgan. You have to click again. Here we go. Yeah, here we go. Sorry, Andrew. Um typing is a problem because my computer is messing up. So, every time I try to type a message, it's typing triple letters and I said I might as well just ask you. But I Morgan, you know what? I don't know if you know, but I have Parkinson's disease. And so I get that effect anyway. [laughter] It's funny. It is. Same thing you asked, but it's funny. Yes. Uh my question to you is is something that you said earlier. You said that there were some people who have the non-dual experience but are unaffected by it. Um Well, I don't think I said exactly that. Okay, it wasn't Okay. I'm hoping that it wasn't that. Well, only because I had problems with uh uh uh agreeing with that in the sense because I've met people who've claimed to have the non-dual experience, but I don't see any change. I don't see any transformation. There's transformation in regards to their development has changed where they're doing better things in the community, but there is no sense of them having the comprehension of the self um anything that's non-dual or anything of that sort. And they even still ask questions in regards to the ultimate self and they have a hard time accepting that as a reality. So, I always question that if they actually had a non-dual experience or they probably had a spiritual experience or a peak experience, but not a non-dual experience of suchness. What do you what do you say to that? maybe they maybe they had a glimpse of non-duality, but they're certainly not grounded in it. So, that could happen. So, you can have a glimpse and not be grounded in it and just go right back to who you being a jerk. Or being a jerk. I see. I see. Yeah, we have Yeah, because because I remember I I remember I asked my guru. I said, "Is Is the ego really die with enlightenment?" He said he said, "No." He said, "Andrew, the ego becomes sattvic," which means peaceful. So, one of the signs of a of a of a of a deep awakening is that there's a feeling of uh that the that the ego in the awakened individual has been tamed. Doesn't mean it's gone or absent, but it's fundamentally been tamed. Mhm. And um And what that looks like and feels like is is people in that who have whose egos have been tamed transmit a kind of natural sweetness and softness in in their in their personality. But but if you feel if you feel the hardness in someone's frontal personality where they're still where you can tell they're still operating uh in a way that's less than uh convincing in terms of an awakened it's probably it's probably true because because enlightenment looks like it it looks like something it feels like something. If you have the eyes to if you have the eyes to recognize it has it it has a very particular radiance. And um And if someone is truly grounded in enlightened awareness, then it's going to be pretty obvious after a while to a lot of people. Cuz you can't you can't fake it. Mhm. And also, Morgan, even more importantly, experiences come and go. But being grounded in the unshakable unshakable conviction of the reality of enlightenment itself and having no doubt about it is something else very different. It's not dependent upon the highs and lows of the particular states of consciousness. If one if one has unconditionally surrendered to to put use mythic language to God, if one if one at the level of the soul is one on one's knees before the metaphysical absolute, that change that that changes us fundamentally forever. It It It's real. It means our ego has been tamed. Doesn't mean it's permanently permanently uh always trustworthy from [clears throat] then on, but it means it it is its back has been broken in a fundamental way. Mhm. It's no longer dangerous. So, what it means we're no longer going to sabotage our own life or anybody else's. And it also means we're fundamentally trustworthy on a human level, deeply. Some people are actually deeply trustworthy. A lot A lot of people aren't. So, being becoming somebody who's deeply trustworthy comes from this this capacity as the result of surrendering so deeply and becoming authentic authentic person authentic authentic realizer authentically surrendered soul before metaphysical absolute principle. And if it's real, you know, I'm saying it can't be faked. Can't be faked. If if it's real. Because if it's if it's if it's not if it's if if if it's not steady or stable, if you get to know somebody over time you start to see cracks. Because what one of the signs of one of the signs of being grounded in aligned awareness is consistency. And also, Morgan, remember that um all kinds of people are attracted to higher states of consciousness. Say that pretty good. All kinds of people are attracted to higher states of consciousness for all kinds of reasons. So, so people who are audacious enough to publicly declare their own illumination attract all kinds of crazy people. [laughter] It's part of the territory. It's part of the It's part of the territory. And also And also beautiful sensitive intelligent people also. But um but it's it's a it's a unique category of human experience that um attracts all different kinds of people at all different levels of development for all kinds of different reasons. Even at the lowest level of psychological development? Well, I'm not sure what you mean by the lowest level, but it sounds pretty low. [laughter] All I'm saying is it's a jungle out there. That makes sense. That makes sense. So, then what about um just say if a individual does have those things. Um but it's still not an indication of non-dual suchness, I guess. There's There's people who are, you know, they're nice people. They're able to help out others in time of need, so they may have um high levels of emotional intelligence and things of that sort, but those are not necessarily a result of uh of the experience of non-dual suchness per se, but um but I guess if you have the non-dual suchness that comes with that. Well, that's what we would hope for, but you we you can be a great person without having access to aligned awareness. Mhm. A lot of beautiful people don't have have access to aligned awareness, and as you yourself pointed out, there are some unsavory people that seem to have access to aligned awareness also. How's that for complexity? Very complex. You know, Ken Wilber often spoke about speaks about this book Zen at War, which describes tells the story of the the that apparently in during World War II all of the most revered Zen masters in Japanese Zen who had been recognized within their with their own tradition to have attained the highest levels of aligned awareness all without exception were supporters of the emperor's totalitarian aspirations in the Pacific. So, their so their enlightenment hadn't enabled them to to to to to to to transcend their their their fascist their fascist ethnocentric inclinations. Mhm. How's that for a confusing picture? How's that for a confusing picture? See, very very when people hear that story I remember him telling that story. When people hear that story, they question it. They say, "How can that be possible? How can a person have the highest level of of enlightenment yet still be trapped in their ethnocentric um ways of being?" But um that's very complex. I don't know. Well, it just means that it just means that there's difference between an integral philosophy there's difference between between your states of consciousness and stages of consciousness. Stages of consciousness, yeah. Between integral lines you would mean that they have realized a very high state of consciousness, but they're still at the mythic level of stage development, and they haven't they're not able therefore to see beyond it. Yes, makes sense. Thank you, Andrew. Yeah, and and what you want to say just finish So, Morgan, on this on this on this topic this gets very subtle because it's also possible for people to be very intellectually sophisticated and intellectually informed about all these matters and still have no access to the thing itself. So, if you're very intellectually informed and very intellectually developed, you can seem like you're more enlightened than you really are. It's very important to be able to make these kinds of distinctions. So, we want we want So, we want to be very we want to cultivate our our sincere our sincere our sincere spiritual aspiration to awaken to aligned awareness on the level of the Buddha if we if such a thing could be possible on one hand. Mhm. And at the same time we want to be very skeptical about about this at the same time. We want to We want to be very skeptical and very hold a lot of caution in our in our minds about ourselves and each other. Just just so we don't over under under overestimate or underestimate ourselves or anybody else. And this just just this just requires time and experience to learn how to do this. Thank you, Morgan. Thank you. Thank you. The next question, Andrew, is from Max. He is asking, "Conflict is the moving force of evolution. New cannot beat the old without conflict. Does the end of conflict mean a shift from seeker to finder in one sense? What will or could move me then?" Can you read Max's question again? Yeah. Conflict is the moving force of evolution. New So, one second. So, So, Max, the first thing is that there that uh if we embrace enlightenment in an evolutionary context, we realize there's what there's there's there's there's positive conflict and negative conflict. So, positive positive conflict is I call it creative friction. And there's so there's there's positive creative friction, and negative negative friction is destructive. Positive friction is creative. So, some So, friction could be the you the universe was created in an explosion, right? The universe the material universe was created in an explosion. And we know that many stars had to crash into each other and explode to create the conditions that made it possible for more complex compounds to emerge. It created the conditions that made it possible for life to emerge. That would be called That would be creative conflict good creative uh friction. And negative friction is when it's just purely destructive. It's when it's it just it just it destroys beautiful things. It destroys very positive structures. So, we want to we want to see that reality is is is difficult and confusing, but there's there's there's creative friction and negative friction. So, like what's happening in Ukraine right now is negative friction. Very destructive. But creative friction is how we make babies. We create creative friction. We make babies at a at a biological level. And and if we were in ancient Greece at the time of Socrates, for example, and Plato, that was intellectual creative friction, and that kind of creative friction gave rise to new ideas and new possibilities new new new possibilities. And when when smart creative people uh interact with other smart creative people in a context of trust and mutual mutual mutual uh aspiration those kinds of relationships can give rise to new ideas and new possibilities new potentials that could never have emerged just from one mind. So, all kinds of beautiful things can happen with with positive friction creative friction. Negative friction always destroys and is very very negative and dark. So, there's What was the next part of the question? Um the next part is does the end of conflict mean shift from seeker to finder in one sense? What will or could move me then? Well, the end of conflict could be could mean that you come to the end of seeking. You usually come when comes to the end of seeking one comes to the end of the belief that there's something fundamentally wrong. Right? One comes to the end of seeking when you realize everything is as it should be. What was the last part of the question? What would move me then? What what Oh, right. Yeah, so this is what I wanted to speak about in my next talk, Max, but um the end of seeking is is is not the end of evolution. Evolution for a human being means the possibility of perpetual development, perpetual, eternal development. So, just because we've had an awakening to the absolute that's deep and permanent and then we then seeking comes to an end because we found what we were what we were looking for. God has found us. So, now we're not seeking anymore because we've been found. We found her and she's found us. So, seeking comes to an end because we found what we were looking for. But, the end of seeking is not the end of becoming. Becoming is an eternal aspiration, an eternal process. So, what would what should move you in the context of this teaching once you've come to the end of seeking is is the eternal potential of you is the is cultivating your own eternal evolutionary potential. Is that clear? Did you say Did you say something? Yes, I I said yes. Okay, very good. And then in the beginning of the talk you you said that Um the suffering was a moving force in a I'm sorry. You realize that the suffering wasn't suffering was a moving force for the realizers. And I got it like a like a conflict of suffering inner conflict. Yeah, I'm sorry. I can't quite remember what I said, so I can't follow I can't follow the question. And you I think you said that that sometimes suffering is catalyzing awakening. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yes, that's right. That's right. I'm sorry. So, what what did you say, Max, again? I'm sorry. Yeah, I I I got this statement as a suffering like a inner conflict. Yes, sure. You sure. Yeah, and and often suffering can suffering can compel somebody to make the heroic effort to to to break out of it, to transcend it, to overcome it, no? So, suffering can be a great catalyst for change. They have what we call Max breakthrough or breakdown. Suffering can either enable us to break through or to break down. And sometimes suffering compels some people to break through, have a have a higher breakthrough, and some people to break down and fall apart. So, the same suffering for some of people it's a creative positive friction and for some it's like a the real end. Yeah, there there's a there's a documentary on Netflix, Max, about Arnold Schwarzenegger. You know who Arnold Schwarzenegger is? Yeah. So, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who grew up in in Vienna, I think um he he said his father was very mean. And his father used to beat him very much and beat his brother. Uh Arnold had a shot had a younger brother. So, Arnold said he was very strong, so he said his father's cruelty and and and compelled him to become a stronger man because he knew he had to survive he was going to have to be very strong to overcome his father's his father's uh cruelty. But, his brother, who was much weaker, was very sensitive was was destroyed and broken by it and eventually committed suicide. Interesting. Yeah. The next question is from Igor. What is precondition for non-dual interaction? And how spirit manifest in general? How to know notice it? Igor, are those two questions or one question? Yeah, you know better. Now, but you have to have compassion for me because I have to answer the question. It's uh It sounds like two two different questions. Uh yes. So, the first question about the precondition. The precondition is um is the the longing, the the the the desire has to be there, the longing and the spiritual desire. Liberation has to be there, the desire for liberation, the longing. The longing for liberation, the desire for liberation is the precondition. And the willingness to let go unconditionally is a precondition. The willingness to let go unconditionally is a precondition. And the the capacity the the the the profound spiritual capacity to trust beyond the mind is a precondition. The profound spiritual capacity to trust beyond the mind is a really big deal. It's a very big deal. So, once again the most profound precondition is the willingness and the ability to trust beyond the mind. Is the mind the mind connected to the un enlightened ego? Always thinks it knows better. Always. So, for someone who wants to break through to enlightened awareness one has to one has to be able to see see see through the mind or beyond the mind. Trust be trust it's trusting beyond the mind. Trusting beyond the mind's interpretive habits. Always trusting beyond them, knowing knowing how to trust beyond them. Having the the spiritual courage and aspiration to trust beyond them. So, the preconditions for the enlightenment into subjective non-duality would all all be the same what I just said. Strong longing strong longing for your non-dual love. It's a strong longing. The um which is sincerity. And um the capacity to see to see and feel beyond the mind. And what about um what about intention because is it um needed part also? Intention on always always particular subject. Always needed. Always needed. Because the question is there's a question who's driving the car, right? Who's in the front seat behind the driver's wheel? Behind the steering wheel, who's driving the car? It's this intention. Well, so where does the intention come from? Well, as you may or may not know the the the ego in this teaching we make a distinction between positive ego and negative ego. So, the positive ego, the healthy ego has a very different intention than the negative ego and the self-destructive ego. The true self has a different intention than the authentic self. They all have different intentions. Though I understand correct that intention is not about just like something to be free. It is something specific intention to do something like ask specific question on specific topic. No, it means it means it's it's a it's it's a focused aspiration. What's What are you What are you aspiring to do? What are you aspiring to reach? What's your goal? I intend to become enlightened. Sooner rather than later. Uh is non-subjective communication happens on material plan or also mental plan and energy plan? Okay, this is the last question. May I say that again? Sorry. The [clears throat] question about um non-subjective communication. Is it happens only through words or actions or it can happen through energy and through thoughts? I'm sorry. I can't understand. I can't understand the the English. Mhm. But you know what, you know, I think I gave you some great great answer to the first question. I am agree with this. What? Totally agree. So, because what happens when we receive a good answer, if if the answer is good, it should quiet our mind. In in the in the in the in the practice of uh this the inquiring this context should should settle the mind and quiet it, not agitate it. [laughter] Where are you now, Igor? Where are you? Uh I'm in Russian, Arkhangelsk. Celebrate beautiful day. You're back in Russia? Yes. I will move in some months to the to the west to the east. And you come back to the east? Yes, I am. And also my plan is to go to India this year, too. I hope it will What a wonderful idea. Yes, wonderful and long time we should Very good. So, don't get stuck in Bali this time. [laughter] I will be away soon, I'm sure. Okay, very good. Thank you, Igor. And this is the last question. This was the last question, Andrew. Okay, very good. Oh, that that was the last one? Yes. Very good. Anything else before we finish, everybody?