Second Part, Dharma from A Three – Part series about Buddha – Dharma – Sangha

see you all so I wanted to give a talk about the Dharma tonight and I think understanding what the Dharma means in the context of the three jewels the Buddha the Dharma the S is I think the most challenging so the dharm as I understand it is Cosmic law are cosmic laws D is the cosmic law there are absolute principles D answers the question how shall I live if the two if the two most fundamental spiritual questions are who am I and how how should I live the Dharma addresses the question of how shall I live and it's it's very specific in the fact that it tells us or indic Ates to us or reveals to us what the most appropriate relationship to reality is in this case the most appropriate relationship to the body to the mind to time and to the whole world and to the universe that's the kind of question the Dharma the Dharma proposes to answer or does answer if we have the ears and the heart to hear it so the Dharma is the is the is the answer to the perennial question of cut from the true seeker of how shall I live because an Earnest and an Earnest and sincere spiritual aspirant is very eager and sincerely wants to know what is the most appropriate relationship to reality because the sincere spiritual aspirant the true Seeker the individual who is at the beginning of their moment of realization the process of realization is is in a in the midst of an experience of Revelation so the experience of Revelation is the cognizance or the recognition that there is a highest metaphysical principle or an absolute principle that exists in reality and reality is not flat and without depth when we awaken we discover the reality is pregnant with depth and verticality so when we are in the in the midst of our Awakening process which can take years or lifetimes or longer that Awakening experience is very much about the recognition that there is an eternal principle that there is a met that there is a metaphysical principle that exists in reality and that metaphysical principle that exists in reality represents what we can call the highest truth is is there a highest truth in reality and the Dharma says that the there there is a highest truth the highest truth of course is the realization of Enlightenment as a higher state as an experience as a recognition as a realization and the the Dharma tells us how what is the most appropriate way to live The Human Experience and the complexity of this world of time space body mind and world it's the most appropriate way to live The Human Experience or to embrace the human experience which the most appropriate relationships to all the choices we have to make and actions we have to take what's the most appropriate relationship to life to being human in the context of the Awakening to this most highest principle which is Enlightenment or in Mythic language God Consciousness so the the Dharma is not really the experience of higher Consciousness or higher cognizance or higher knowing or Revelation the Dharma tells tells us reveals to us it's more it's more of of a revelation that there are actually laws or principles that exist inherent in the fabric of reality itself when we begin to awaken that the universe that that the Universe which has an inside and an outside is not Lawless and merely a random accident and as we awaken we we we discover we recognize we begin to experience that there are are seem to be Cosmic laws inherent in the fabric of the universe inh inherent in the fabric of reality and and these laws that I'm speaking about that that have to do with the nature of the DH itself exists within the fabric of Consciousness itself this Consciousness for the realiz for the those who are realizer seems to be the most foundational dimension of reality what's the most foundational Dimension to reality we realizer says is consciousness itself so inherent in Consciousness itself we discover we find we recognize we realize we awaken to the fact that there are these Cosmic laws or Cosmic principles that reveal to us what the most appropriate relationship to the challenging Human Experience challenging experience of being human is and that's what the dharm is all about the dharm answers that question for us how shall I live not so much the question of who am I but the question of how shall I live how how shall I make sense out of this how do I make sense out of the out of out of the revelation of who I am in the context of the infinite challenges of being human in a comple in an Ever complexifying World space so the Dharma get tells us the answer to that question so to repeat the Dharma really saves us for those for those of us who are desperate about being saved not so much in the Christian sense of what it means but save from being lost in samsara as the Buddha would say lost in the world of Illusion and existential confusion and metaphysical confusion philosophical paradoxes and contradictions the Dharma helps us to save ourselves to find ourselves and it tells us very clearly how we can put one foot in or the other in such a way that we are in alignment with these Cosmic laws or these Cosmic principles and the extraordinary thing about the Dharma when we realize the dharm when we waking for the dharm is is just to repeat what I just said is that we just is the discovery that these these principles or these truths or these laws are available to us inherent in the fabric of deepest dimension of reality itself so in order to awaken to the Dharma to discover the Dharma for ourselves directly and intimately we need to awaken to the deepest dimension of reality itself awaken to Consciousness and if our Awakening is deep enough the Dharma will unfold unfold like a flower blooming inside our hearts and Minds we will begin to see feel and know directly for ourselves what the way is the way the way is is the way of practice the way of living a holy life living the spiritual life living the awakened life because living an awakened life living a holy life living a spiritually conscious life is an expression and a manifestation of higher consciousness of God consciousness of Truth consciousness of enlightened awareness in the world that is in most of the time a sea of ignorance and confusion so if if the Dharma is something that we have awakened to and have have realized and are realizing then our life in the way that we live it becomes an expression of the deepest dimension of this deepest dimension of reality being lived consciously and deliberately and that's very powerful that's I think what we are ultimately all being called to do and I've noticed over the years that I've been teaching that especially in a postmodern context which places so much postmodernity those of us who have emerged in a cultural context that's that is that is in that is postmodernity tend to be overwhelmed by exaggerated exaggerated narciss ISM and self-c concern and so are coming from such such a narcissistic predisposition for many of us coming from such a narcissistic predisposition makes us very interested in personal experience and the experience of Liberation the experience of inner Freedom the experience of joy and happiness and of release and relief I want to be happy there's nothing wrong with wanting to be happy but there's more than living a spiritual life earnestly is more is more is about more than just being happy it's about living in truth and as much as we're capable of it as the truth itself which is quite an audacious outlandish thing to say but it's true living the Dharma in Earnest means we are in touch with it with in touch with these deeper and higher dimensions of reality itself that we are manifesting through the actions we're taking and the choices that we're making and then as I said as I just said our life become our life in the way that we live it becomes an expression of that that realization and to finish this thought the I've noticed more people tend to be focused on the who am I question and how should I live question because it's actually possible and many people do this when the spiritual Pursuits focus on the answer finding the answer to who am I question and not necessarily struggling with how should I live a question with the same Vigor they're willing to struggle with who am I question because the house I live question this question of Dharma I think it's more challenging because you can look you can to find out who you are you can look into the nature of Consciousness you can look into the nature of your own Consciousness look into the nature of the self with the capital S and look very deeply inside yourself need to find some answers but those answers in most cases don't necessarily Force us or compel us to make to make very different choices in the way that we're living in know the way that we're living expresses our raise on De our reason to exist so we can find the we can find out the the answer to the question who am I without necessarily that answer being directly associated with the answer to the question of how should I live for some people that for some people they work on both at the same time or for some people the realization of who am I directly reveals to them the Dharma the answer to the question how shall I live but it doesn't always work that way so one of the most beautiful things about the Dharma in the context of non-duality what I love about it is that it is one finds it is ultimately challenging radically challenging to our egoic predisposition and remember the the ego in the context of evolutionary Enlightenment is has been is about a a aimation of personal conditioning and cultural conditioning and our personal historical experience and our cultural background has filled us with many ideas and shoulds and shouldn't many super egos telling us giving us a conscious and conscious and unconscious pictures of how life is to be lived especially in relationship to morality and ethics and the beautiful thing about the Dharma when it's realized in the context of the Awakening to non-duality is that it absolutely challenges our personally conditioned egoic beliefs conscious and unconscious and our culturally conditioned egoic belief beliefs conscious and unconscious in quite a dramatic way so nonduality means many things but for this for the sake of this discussion let's just call it Oneness nality means one not two so the Dharma in the context of the Awakening to non-duality will always reveal to us that in relationship to any particular question should I turn left or should I turn right should I go forward or should I go backwards should I say yes or should I say no the Dharma in the context of the Awakening to non-duality will always give us will always tell us there's only one answer to that question it's only one option and the ego does not like to be backed into a corner the ego especially the postmodern ego likes to have many options in relationship to challenging questions in relationship to how should I live doesn't like only having one option so the Dharma Awakening to the Dharma in the context of the emerging experience of Nal Consciousness Nal awareness reveals to us in the most direct and unambiguous ways but there's one way to live in truth of course there's one way to live in truth but of course the question what does it mean to live in truth and that's of course what the what the revelation of the Dharma reveals to us in relationship to any given set of circumstances and if if you're a very sensitive person if you're a very trusting person if you trust in God in other words if you're very if you're very sincere if you're very trusting you trust in spirit if you trust your own deepest spiritual impulses if you trust your own deepest spiritual impulses in most of us don't trust around deeper spiritual impulses but for those of us who do trust own deeper spiritual impulses the answer to the question is should I go forward should I go backward should I go left should I go right should I go up should I go down that answer will reveal itself in a context of subtle or not so subtle re Revelation and it might it might last one second it might last 10 second it might s last for a minute or two and then it may become the answer may become obscure by the mind and by the ego other preferences but if you want to know how to live the spiritual life in Earnest if you want to know how to live the spiritual life in Earnest if you're sincere about your desire to be unconditionally liberated and to live in truth not just to talk about the truth not just to think about the truth but to live in truth the The Awakening to this dharmic context will reveal itself to you in a moment of clarity now your ego might not like what what's been revealed but that's that's a matter that's not the point so remember the Dharma answers the question of how should I live and in the way that I think and the way that I teach there's no difference between ultimately between the depth of our realization and the way we live our life to repeat the way we live our life is an expression of our of our realization so what you and I are actually doing in the lives we're choosing to live what you and I are doing in the lives we're choosing to live are expressions of our Dharma the Dharma as as we understand it can be revealed if you just look look closely at our lives and the way that we're living them so the Dharma is the revelation of the spiritual principles I was saying earlier and we could even go far so far as to say that the Dharma is a revelation of cosmic laws [Music] and to live so to live in truth would be to live in alignment with these Cosmic laws with these Cosmic truths and this kind of gets to be very tricky territory because the postmodern sensibilities have a lot of suspicions and fears and doubts around any kind of Mythic absolute shs coming from any direction even from God and I understand it's very challenging so on one dimension of the The Awakening process one dimension of Enlightenment is it's Awakening to to is consciousness one dimension of Enlightenment is about waking to is consciousness that everything simply is there's no good bad right wrong true false no higher or nor lower there's no here and there no no there which is one perspective which is a truth perspective but that's not the only perspective that there is and there's another perspective which has to do with what I'm this dhic perspective that I'm trying to share with you tonight which which says that there is a way the way the most deeply realized and awakened beings throughout history from all the great religious religious traditions and mystical tra traditions and shamanic Traditions all within the context of the Awakening to higher Consciousness and to The Awakening to due to the deeper significance of philosophical and metaphysical principles inherent in this kind of process is the discovery that there is there are these profound metaphysical laws and truths inherent in the highest nature highest and deepest nature of reality itself which is consciousness so when we awaken in whatever tradition it happens to be in doesn't matter it's becoming it's becoming sensitive to and cognizant of the presence of these Cosmic laws that seem to exist inherent in the fabric of the universe and I know that sounds pretty crazy for a materialist but just because it sounds crazy doesn't mean it it's a true I can't prove to you that true but my own experience tells me that it's true and it's all I all I can share with you is what I know from my own experience so this is very important because this this reveals to us that the universe is awake with sence awake with intelligence not in the anthropomorphic sense of what that means but in a deeper and more mysterious sense of what it means the universe is awake the universe is conscious there's intelligence there's meaning there's purpose there's direction there's context and there [Music] are moral principles in in this experience of life that [Music] are have a divine origin and if you realize this is true if you have if you experience levels of insight that reveals this kind of thing to be true it won't save your soul necessarily in an instant unfortunately it's not that simple it won't necessarily save your soul in an instant but it will give you confidence that the universe is a worthy place to be that the universe is a worthy place to be in the universe is a process that is a worthy it's it's a process that you want to be part of because it's not meaningless or purposeless or directionless or random quite the opposite so I would encourage everybody to do would be to just to the next couple of days as you're meditating assuming that you do meditate I hope you do you should be you want to consider the life you're living and why you're living your life in the way that you are and to become clear about which principles which metaphysical and spiritual and dhic principles are guiding the choices you're making the actions that you're taking are guiding your life process your your karmic Destiny and see if you feel that you're that you're the deepest the Deep choices that you're making conscious and unconscious are being are are in alignment with a deep Revelation into the absolute nature of reality are you are you living in alignment with your own deepest revelation of this absolute principles what the nature of reality itself or are you living by a mind that's been driven by other people's ideas from a culture that's gone mad anyway beautiful thing about all this is you see we're not alone in the univer we're not alone in the universe and there is a that's why I've always liked in Buddhism they talk about the way you know the the Buddhist path speaks about the way the eight-fold path Etc and many many of the Eastern Traditions talk about the way or Chinese St we have the da but they're all telling us that there is a way to live in a alignment with reality at the deepest level there's a way to live in alignment with reality at the deepest level and just the fact that we that that we know that there is a way to live in alignment with reality at the deepest level means that this highest principle this God principle actually exists and just knowing that just knowing that this God principle actually exists and is real can be a source of tremendous faith for us a tremendous relief that we're not alone and then materialism is a lie that's a big relief I think it is for me has been for a long time it continues to be doesn't mean it's easy to live the spiritual life but it means that the spiritual life is real there is such a thing it's such a thing as living a conscious life that is that is that if it's it's deeply conscious has lived in alignment with these higher and deeper principles it means that the spiritual life means something in and of itself to live a spiritual life is to live a spiritually conscious life to live a spiritually Earnest life has inherent meaning inherent inherent value and as I'm fond of saying that the Universe we see is trying to evolve at the deepest levels through us as we aspired to live more consciously so in this way we can be to feel there there's there's this these this momentum exists in the cosmos the spiritual momentum towards greater Consciousness and depth and knowing and Consciousness now in in in what I call the new Dharma the evolutionary Dharma these dharmic principles become directly align with the evolutionary impulse when the Dharma meets evolutionary theory the Dharma is impacted by it the darma then becomes an expression of this new information about the ultimate nature of reality and now we've discovered that the universe is an evolutionary process that's going somewhere seems to be in a process of infinite complexification and striving for greater interiority and as I'm fond of saying when we awaken in The evolutionary context we we realize I am the energy and intelligence that created the universe Awakening to itself and realizing itself through the body mind and personality in this case Andrew or any one of us so when that Dawns on you in the context of the Dharma it becomes clear to you that you if when you as you realize who you are in a context of conscious evolution that bestows upon you a an obligation to become become an expression the of an evolutionary process is becoming conscious of itself through you as you in this world of confusion and Chaos so then awaken to this evolutionary context in the context of the Dharma means as you've awakened to the truth of who you are as as as an evolutionary process as part and parcel of an evolutionary process the Dharma having this Awakening in the context of the Dharma compels you to embrace a level of of a personal responsibility for who you truly are and in very confused and lost world space because if you don't do who's going to do it so the dharmic context of the Awakening to Evolution creates a moral imperative that you will realize if you go deep enough into your own Awakening to Consciousness especially in this evolutionary context you will discover when your ego is temporarily taking a nap that there's a moral context to your own Awakening and you're awaken to The evolutionary impulse itself which means there's there there is a a need for you to step forward and be a being an evolutionary that becomes part of your Dharma it's the command that you realize it comes from the Dharma becomes part of your own Dharma become an evolutionary an evolutionary the conscious evolutionary [Music] and you're going to become a conscious evolutionary in the context of awaken to the [Music] Dharma that's going to put an awful lot of spiritual fire under your backside because if you're conscious evolutionary means there's no excuse for being stuck because if you're an evolutionary you are Evolution incarnate at least in theory someone who's evolving someone who's growing someone who's in a state of conscious becoming is alive and awake and turned on and inspired because they're connected to the energy and intelligence of The evolutionary impulse they're vibr ating with it I turned on by life and by the gift of life and by the gift of being able to contribute all this immersing complexity and miraculous potential that's very exciting very life positive absolute position to take in relationship to life that's an expression of the higher Consciousness that awaken evolution is so awaken evolution of the context of the Dharma means taking responsibility for what it means to know who you are because you real because you realize that you're not alone in this that you're existing in an interconnected field of relatedness and relationship all together and very few people are awake so few people are awake so becomes part of your dharmic duty to be awake to act like you're awake take responsibility for what it means to be awake in the context of evolution so you see the Dharma can help us to find the an to the question of wait wait what should I do where should I go how should I do this should I go forward backward up upward down left or right can help you to to find out the answer to that question for yourself which is important will also tell you reveal to you how to put yourself front and center in the most spiritually potent spiritually profound spiritually meaningful way in relationship to the life experience you find yourself in the midst of now how can I live my life in the way that's most constructible the most spiritually constructive way possible how can I live my life in the way that's the most spiritually meaningful the most spiritually meaningful way possible now because the Dharma reveals to us not what your ego wants the Dharma reveals to us not what our ego wants what somebody else's ego wants it reveals What Spirit wants I would love the idea what does Spirit want from me now what an audacious thought what an audacious idea it's not my way it's not what my ego wants but what the spirit wants from me if I was available most of us aren't available because we're very busy with our personal karmas and our egoic distractions fears and desires but if we were available if just so happens we were available what would be the most appropriate response to the opportunity that this life is giving us right now and for this we want to look to the Dharma is the Dharma will answer that question for us and remember as I've been saying it's not necessarily what your ego thinks it wants surprise surprise because remember I was saying before Awakening to Dharma in the context of nonduality non Duality means there's only one Awakening to dharm in the context of n it means there's only one which means there's only one answer to that question in the context of the Dharma and and and answering that question with with a full full-hearted courageous committed response is is how Spirit becomes empowered to change the world but it means you have to leave the small life of the small self behind you have to step forward into the infinite life of the authentic self the true self then you become an expression of the Dharma in action wow not hiding out anymore so the dham is the way and what's so beautiful about it is the way means one way it means there's one way the right way versus the wrong way and this is what the ego finds so hard to come to terms with of course the true self the authentic self Del light in this kind of absolute Revelation oh I see Life can become so simple so direct so immediate so obvious so perfectly obvious and if you're living in the truth as the truth or if you're aspiring to live in the truth as the truth in all humility and sincerity you will feel safe and you'll feel protected because you'll feel you're living right on the razor's Edge between here and there and everywhere that's the gift of living in light of the Dharma so the Dharma is the way it's law truthfulness righteousness Justice it's possible for those words to actually mean mean something important to us at a soul level if we have the spiritual courage to let go of our minds he goes then we can believe and learn to what know what it means to live in truth and even in righteousness not self-righteousness being true so if we can learn how to put one step in front of the other one foot in front of the other and light of the awaken to the Dharma in the way that I've been trying to describe patiently one foot after the other you will you'll feel that you are at a certain point it will become clear to you that you're living in truth that you are living in truth and that's what's protecting you if you learn how to make the right choices consistently you'll find that you continue to live in the truth and the more that you continue to live in the truth the more you'll feel protected by that Truth by the dharm itself you feel on safe ground because you're living in alignment with the highest truth of life and this is all possible to do all this that's the whole point of living the spiritual life as I understand it this is the whole point so if you live in alignment with these deeper spiritual principles which is what the Dharma is to repeat you will find but you feel protected this is very subtle what I'm saying but it's very profound and happens to be true so does anybody have any any questions please write your question in the in the chat box at the bottom of the zoom window so Danielle did anybody have any questions are we good no there is one okay from sit uh she is asking it is all about to make the right choices I understand what if I have not learned to make choices and it's time to start learning now no time to waste you can unmute yourself yeah okay yes I'm learning every day constant if I do it right me that's what we all have to do every day thank you then Adam says I have a question about my process of Awakening yes I've been experiencing in my life lately more more Serenity and peace than I have ever had and deeper connection to what we call divine presence and it all Al seems very paradoxal for me because at this this is deepening you know this connection and this understanding and inner knowing of the source of my being power source that generates all life and what seems very paradoxical for me is that I also have OCD obsessive compulsive disorder and it seems like it's an antagonist against all of that it's like it feels like there's this separate entity that has its own program ingrained in me does that does not want to let go so in this deep in process it seems like it wants to fight back stronger where there's a lot of fear and even Terror and oftentimes I don't know to what degree it's something that has to do with intergenerational trauma it's neurobiological or it's just the metaphysical spiritual process that I have to go through I was just wondering if you have any you know comments or suggestions to make about that well what I would encourage you to do would be to be uh since you have this beautiful Awakening process going on what you described you have something to work with which is the overwhelming positivity of the spiritual awakening so what I would do if I were you and this is what I practice in my own life is to give much more attention to the pure positivity that's coming from the spiritual awakening and and make the deliberate effort to concentrate more on that and to give it more significance and when these conditioned habitual painful emotional psychological responses there may be were related to some kind of traumatic events in the past when they start to surface you have to you have to make you have to make the spiritually heroic determination not to be victimized by it and to choose to let go of the experience even if it's very painful and very challenging so you don't want to focus on how bad it feels or how how much stress it's causing you but you want to make because you want to be free spiritually free you choose not to identify with it and to use all of your your spiritual training to make the effort to let go of all the suffering not to identify with the suffering to let go of the suffering and to refuse to be a victim and no matter what happens to Let It Go which means no matter what happens to let it go be sure no matter what happens to let it go because the the ego likes to make a big drama out of all of its problems so the the ego likes to make these conditioned emotional reactions that may be that may be actually based upon real painful traumatic events likes to dwell on them likes to make a big drama out of them and I'm sometimes sometimes these events are dramatic but I'm saying for the person in my in the context of this teacher that wants to be free more than anything else we have to use all of our spiritual training courageously to make the effort to let go of all the suffering and to let go of our attachment to the suffering and to suffer if if need be to suffer with patience and a measure of self-compassion mixed with a lot of stoicism is the main thing is the main thing for what your name is what' you say Adam the M the main thing Adam is not to get lost in the drama of your ego yeah because the ego likes to make a drama out of its own suffering to to repeat so you want you want to refuse to get drawn into the drama that your eego is making out of the event and the more you can let of the drama the more you can let go of these suffering and calm down and remind yourself to calm down and not to get caught up and and not to get trapped by it it will be will begin to trouble you less but you have to be willing to fight the good fight for this you have to be willing to practice self-compassion mixed with a lot of stoicism then you can do it but uh yeah which is because ultimate the ultimate solution to all of these kinds of events is in the end is Letting Go it's conscious Letting Go not even trying to get over it or trying to get Beyond it or trying to solve it or even trying to understand it just letting go of it with patience self-compassion andic inspiration and also you have to believe you have to believe that you have to believe in in the greater reality of your of your own true self your own authentic self to see all of these painful events are happening in the in the context of your life of your ego doesn't mean they're unreal just means they're only relatively real they don't have as much validity or authenticity as the realm of the true self and authentic self and use your practice of meditation and your conviction and in Your Capacity to awake to align awareness as a as a source of strength and be committed to succeeding which means which means we have to be strong we have to we have to be strong and committed to the to a very positive outcome and once again to repeat not to not to refuse to be a victim no matter what it's beautiful one one one thing I wanted to add was that often times or sometimes it feels like at the core of this what I see is that there's a dis this slowly dissolving of identity but of what I'm calling or what's defined as OCD it's like it's taken on an identity of its own does it's not want to let go and what i experien is that at the core of this there's a grief there's a grief in the sense that all of my false identities are dying but there's a point where I'm not even sure if it's my identity it's just the identity collectively of human beings as being Something That We're Not is do dissolving and I think that fear and that grief is going together with a matter of just I'm mourning the loss what I took taken on as my own which never really was that makes sense yeah it makes sense it just makes sense but we don't want to get too lost in too much complexity I'm sure what you're saying is actually true yeah from a higher level it doesn't matter right and and it it'll only not really matter if you believe that it doesn't matter which is not which is I'm not advocating spiritual bypassing I'm I'm advocating intentional self-loving self- adoring deliberate Transcendence because the thing is Adam we all have we all have a past and if you believe in the continuity of Consciousness we've all we've all lived many lives and suffered enormously and there's infinite shame reactions going on they're all wrapped up in these karmic Bubbles and at a certain point as my Buddhist my my Guru said to me he said Andrew as Nirvana has no beginning and no end so also samsar has no beginning and no end so at a certain point of our of our spiritual process Awakening process we want to let go of the whole story if we have the courage to do it just because we want to let go of the whole story and intend to let go of the whole story doesn't mean the whole story is going to disappear doesn't mean that's where we're standing that's what that's a spiritual ground we're standing on not not not to bypass anything but because we just we don't want we don't want to be involved in human experience in that way anymore so we want to trust the Deep the deeper deeper and more authentic part of ourself for our Salvation not any kind of psychological understanding or processing anymore that's that's that's what I do anyway but it takes a lot of Courage is there anything thank you Adam the next question is from Marilyn she is asking would you say the Dharma is absolute or is it evolving as we are evolving both it's both absolute and evolving because in evolutionary Dharma we realize that God is evolving as we're evolving so yes the absolute is evolving that's what's the miraculous part of evolutionary Dharma is realize the the the absolute as the absolute as the creative process as a whole is evolving if if if the creative process if the evolutionary process is in a process of evolution that that means the absolute is evolving also means god is evolving so the answer is yes it's absolute and also it's evolving because the absolute is evolving and that's part of the new Dharma the new understanding of the Dharma which means God is in God is in is in the process of growth greater complexification we're part of it you're part of it which is a wonderful thing to realize the only part of God that's not evolving is What's called the ground the being what the Buddha called The Unborn of the uncreated or the unmanifest so The Unborn the uncreated the unmanifest is static Eternal being where there's no coming there's no going there's no birth there's no death there's no becoming but God is both being and becoming so the becoming part of the equation is is in a state of constant complexification and growth and your body mind and personality and your soul are part of that side of the equation so God so God is Manifest becoming it's what is what we all are as Manifest human beings and and in that we are we are definitely part of an evolutionary process which God is also which I think is good news what's helpful when having this kind of discussion is is the is is is the contemplation is the is the metaphysical contemplation of the relationship between our metaphysical and intellectual grasp and philosophical grasp of of a word like infinite and evolution at the same time infinite in in that which is infinite is also growing it's something that we need to think about spend time spend time contemplating to so we can order order to be to experience it to feel it to try to get a sense of what it means that which is infinite is also growing and evolving instead of becoming more of what it can be and then when you realize that your own desire for conscious evolution is a part of that process of cosmic evolution of the evolution of the C of the creative principle of the god principle and that's what you're experiencing you you're experiencing that vibration is your own desire to become more conscious or to become enlightened that's very exting because then you realize that God wants to become enlightened through you and I can't imagine anything more exciting than that can you I don't think so I have one more question Andre Okay from Rodney when you mentioned that living in alignment with truth you are protected my ego thought about safety and my true self as I experienced it thought about protection from losing my way how do you sort this out can you say that again please when you mentioned that living in alignment with truth you are protected my ego thought about safety and my true self thought about protection from losing my way how do you sort this out you don't have to need to sort it out just just if you if you if you experience the truth of what I'm saying then experience the the tremendous Grace in the answer this the significance of what it means it's very profound it's very powerful it means that it means that God exist it means that there's this Divine principle exists in the universe and the more you're awake to it and the more you live in alignment with it you are protected in a mysterious metaphysical sense it's very subtle and but yet very profound at the same time and it's not doesn't need to be sorted out it just needs to be understood or grasp or felt or recognized even for a second that's nothing to be done with it thank you you're very welcome it's a retrospective Insight it's not a static Insight it's not a gross form of protection it's a very subtle form of protection but this protection is the recognition that you're on the right path that you're going in the right direction for the right reasons at the right time and it means and it means something it's part of the it's part of the evolution of spirit itself really the way that I was describing it you've given more meaning to the sense of what I meant by not losing my way it was saying what you're saying in a negative as opposed to a positive way what you say yeah exactly and the ego will never see this what I'm describing ego the ego can't see it so only your true self can recognize it your authentic self can recognize it in retrospect yeah very good thank you that was the last question Andrew very good that was wonderful thank you everybody thank you very much yes thank you