Because There Is a Narrative, We Feel "There It Is, That Must Be the Individual" - 4 September 2020

Ah, but okay, pause. So that for me is still an explanation. Just describe in very simple terms. Like, is there a contraction being felt in the chest or what? What is it exactly?

It's a hyper-focusedness on thought or body in the chest. Yeah, usually in the chest.

Yes. So like a sensation, and a lot of attention goes to it. If that's what you mean by hyper-focus, a lot of attention goes to it. And how does that make it a person?

I just believe it's just the belief. It's just the attention on that sensation.

Yes, see? So the trouble is not the attention on the sensation in itself, because we can leave our attention free to go wherever it wants. It is the interpretation that this implies personhood, or this implies the existence of a person, or this energy means 'person.' You see? But actually, we don't see such an existent entity. So it's like concluding that there must be the Loch Ness Monster because there was a lot of turbulence in the water. Is it like that?

Yeah, there's a little tension coming up and so your words are not going in.

I'm completely used to that, right? Don't worry, we have time. We have time. So let it all come. Don't try to stop anything or don't try to be in control of anything at all. I'm just saying that, which is saying very simply, that there is movement in this play of appearances. This what we call a contraction, there's a fixation of attention, but we didn't actually encounter this person, did we? So all of it—and the same advice as last time—all of it can exist without any trouble in the space which is your being. In the space which is your being, without you trying to fix it, without you trying to change it, or even judge it or explain it. You see? Decipher what it means. Without any of that, all of this you will realize soon that in the entirety of the space which is your being, these are just little mosquitoes. You see? But you're right, it's because the hyper-focus is because of the attention seems to be so much on this. So it can feel like only the hand is there in the universe, you see, because that's all I'm fixated on. You see? But as you allow it to be and you don't judge the hand as person, good, bad, nothing, then you'll find a looseness will come and it'll allow you to experience the rest of your space naturally. But the more you judge it, the more you get involved and make it part of your story, you see? And your labels, like we discussed last time probably, that once you label it, it gives you the hook to make it part of your narrative. You see? Without the label, you don't have a hook to make it part of your narrative. If you can see that, it's a great discovery because that's how these labels from the mind become part of an individual narrative, you see? And that individual has never come into birth. But because there is a narrative, we feel like 'There it is, that must be the individual.' Even the one that is trying to fix it apparently is that one there. Where is that one?

It's just a lot of burning right now.

Yes, yeah, yeah. So it's a movement of some energy like this. And then, is that the entirety of you?

No.

What else is there?

The space in which it's happening. Like the... just here.

Very good. And how small is that space?

It's not... it's not a size.

But how much more such burning can happen without the space being affected by it?

Can you say that again?

Yes, yes. So there's a burning happening and we say there's a lot of burning, no? Then when I said, 'Okay, what else is there?' then you said that there is a space in which this appearance of contraction or burning is appearing. And I said, how much more of this burning could possibly happen without you running out of space?

There's... it wouldn't... you won't run out, no. Even if it was a hundred times this, that space would still be space.

So then when we say there is a lot of it, against which comparison, against which boundary does it become 'a lot'? A lot of burning or a lot of space? Either. But burning is what I was saying. How much of it makes it a lot?

I don't know. I don't know.

Is it? So what is clear is that the hyper-focus on it, again, in the perception of it in itself, what does it hurt? So there's burning and there's attention, you see? Who's getting hurt in this process? Is the attention getting burnt? Is that to which attention is reporting getting burnt? Who's getting burnt in this burning?

Well, just... it's burning in the body mainly.

Yes, but what about that which is looking? You see? Which is the one to which attention is reporting? Are you more that, or are you more the body?

There's seeing of the burning and also like this feeling of block that won't allow me to fully see.

Yes, but to be able to see that there is a block and there is seeing of burning is already the fully seen. Yes? Yeah. So what I'm saying, none of what I'm saying has any effort involved actually. You see? Just looking around in the most simple way. You see? Like without any effort needed. Just to... so what is it really? It is to move away from our idea of what this is into coming to a clearer seeing of what it is. Like, what if the experience... what if some great master came in your dream and said to you, 'Tomorrow if there is burning for you, you will be fully free forever. But if there's no burning, you will be stuck in this cycle of transmigration for a hundred lifetimes.' You see? Then would you be looking forward to this experience, or what? Would you celebrate?

I would. I would be looking forward to it, definitely.

That's the thing, no? So nothing in itself is good or bad. It's only the perspective that we bring to it. So if you were told that this burning is actually the greatest gift that consciousness is giving you and it's making you completely free as a result of it, you would look forward to it. In fact, you would worry if it was not there. Yeah. So that's the thing. In itself, nothing is oppressive. It is only when that is an interpretation which is bothersome is added on top of that, that does something become troublesome. You see? And if it is something that you are looking forward to, you may even not even call it burning anymore. Yes, that is good news. That's why Guruji says, no? He says nothing in the world has inherent meaning. It's always the perspective that we bring to it. You see? So if you were to let go of our ideas about what the appearance of anything means, then if that appearance would not oppress us... because like you discovered just now in a moment, that your space is so broad that a hundred such fires could burn and it would not burn anything. So what gets burned? It's only an idea that 'this should not be' makes a relationship with this appearance, and that becomes troublesome. Suppose you went to a Zen school where you were told that with this burning, if it happens to you consistently, you see, then you are done, you are free. Then every day you would wake up and hope the burning has not gone away. It's just a question of perspective. Thank you. Nothing can appear, nothing can appear in this world which is in opposition to your reality, you see? Everything can appear, many things can appear which are in opposition to your idea about yourself or what should be or what you should be and how you should be. But nothing can really appear in opposition to what is, because what is is just what is, untouched by any of this. So you can chill even while burning is on.