Independent of Perceptions there is a Deeper Knowing
Our attempts to make the world and our thoughts relevant are unnecessary—life flows on its own, and the body-identified 'I' we cater to is fundamentally non-existent.
I am just talking about that sense which says that ‘I need to take it (this world appearance) to be relevant, or my thought constructs about this world appearance to be relevant so that I can lead my life’. Now, as you go along with this you see that life is being led very beautifully, the river is flowing. The idea of trying to control it through my notions about life, is like trying to control the flow of the river with a non-existent twig. If you had this idea that you are holding up the world (or something like that) and you are making it rotate and things like this, then some body comes to you and says ‘Stop all this, it is moving on its own.’ First you will say ‘What? Impossible! You think I am that foolish that I have been doing all this for this long and it’s all been running on its own?’ [Chuckles] and they say 'Okay, okay, just try for one second, don’t worry'. And then you try for one second, things go on and you see its all moving, including… by the way when I am saying the world, I am including this body in that. Because that is our first impulse to separate the body from the rest of the world and say 'Oh no, this body will become like a vegetable, everything else will keep moving'. No, I am including this body and all it’s activities and movements in that. All this false idea of doing and effort-ing, drop for a moment or two and see, you will see that all continues, this entire universe continues which includes this play of the body as well. So, depending on how much (in a way I want to use the word) courage there is. How much courage there is, you can experiment.
We often here, we plan things, we execute, or we assume that we execute and there is found relevancy of what is in front of us. So being actually a teacher, I go to college today, you know... this subject, this syllabus, the chapter which I have read is relevant. That’s the chapter have to do. So I prepare for it and then I go out and give a lecture and if I say it is not relevant then I may not be…
Correct. And this is the…this is what I have been calling level confusion. Now this ‘I' that you speak of, that does, is a lecturer, goes to college and teaches, is that the 'I' that you discovering in your inquiry? Or which 'I' is this one? So what happens? This ‘I’ goes into hiding when we are looking?
This ‘I' that I am talking is in the worldly life is attached to the body.
Yes, yes, but who is this One attached to the body? Who is this attached to body, money, relationships, Freedom? And that we have seen over and over again, that it does not exist. So how long to cater to this non existent one. That what you decide [Chuckles]. How long to cater to the non-existent?
Key Teachings
- Life flows independently of our thoughts about it—trying to control existence with mental concepts is like trying to control a river with a non-existent twig
- There is 'level confusion' between the body-identified 'I' that does worldly things and the true 'I' discovered through inquiry—the false self doesn't actually exist
- The body is included in 'the world' and continues moving on its own; dropping the false idea of doing reveals everything continues effortlessly
From: Suffering Is Not Natural to Us… It Is Freedom Which Is Natural to Us – 14th May 2021