Andrew Cohen - N° 15 - LAST TEACHINGS - Dec. 24 _ Feb. 25

Enlightenment is a non-conceptual reality. It's a non-conceptual dimension of reality. It's not something we can think about too much. It's non-conceptual. Non-conceptual. It's not the sound of nature. It's not anything particular. It's the recognition of the ground of your the ground of consciousness. itself. Where where is consciousness? Where is your consciousness? It's everywhere and nowhere. Everywhere and nowhere means it's not in any particular place. Everywhere and nowhere. So to understand everywhere and nowhere, we have to go beyond concepts about enlightenment. People who know the most about enlightenment don't really know anything about it because they don't think about it very much. So the more you don't know, the more you do know it comes from freedom from the mind. This is non-conceptual non-conceptual cognition. So an experience of quietness, peace, nature sounds, stillness can feel good, but it's not necessarily enlightenment. Non-conceptual cognition. The guru said to me, "I'm so glad you found a friend you'll never be able to see. I'm so glad you found a friend you'll never be able to see. I'm so glad you found a friend you'll never be able to see. So, how can you have a relationship with your best friend if you can't see them? That's the challenge of enlightenment. So, we're talking about non-conceptual knowing. Understand? So if your consciousness is everywhere and nowhere, you can't have a relationship with it because a relationship happens in a particular place. That's why no relationship is freedom. It's a practice of no relationship that we discover consciousness. But consciousness is not an object. Doesn't exist outside you. So when you practice not knowing what happens the mind disappears right when the mind disappears the nonconceptual space reveals itself to us. And when we discover it, we have to leave it alone. Otherwise, we make an object out of even that. Having nothing, knowing nothing, being no one. What does that leave? Having nothing, knowing nothing, and being what does it leave? Nothing. That's the place. The mind can only exist when something exists. If nothing exists, the mind disappears. The mind can only see itself in relationship to objects and things. When objects and things disappear, the mind disappears. When the mind disappears, you wake up to enlightened awareness. You understand? It is why the having nothing, knowing nothing and being no one is so important. Going back to zero. I have nothing. I know nothing. And I am nothing. Someone who is practicing this expresses humility, simplicity, authenticity. You don't know because it's a mystery that you can't see. You're believing in something that you can't see. That's why it's very interesting that in all the Old Testament stories are testing people's faith in God. Same thing. No matter how much you see, no matter how profoundly you awaken, your faith is going to be tested anyway by life. So you have to have an iron will for this. When I was a seeker and I'd go on meditation retreats, very few people on the retreats actually intended to get enlightened. They were intending to have do do the the meditation practice, of course, but they didn't take enlightenment seriously because they didn't take themselves seriously enough. A lot of people thought if you take enlightenment seriously, you must be an egoomaniac, a crazy egoomaniac. You follow? So you have to be a little crazy to do this because you have to believe in enlightenment exists. Like believing that God exists, you have to believe that enlightenment exists, that it's real. You have to believe in your that you're that you're worthy of it. That you or me and all and all your imperfection are worthy of such an attainment. You have to believe that about yourself no matter what anybody else says. You have to believe you're worthy. You have to believe in the thing itself in a world where very few people believe in it. You have to believe in your own your own inherent goodness, purity, motive. That's all you need.