(00:00:00) there’s nowhere to get to and you don’t know what the next perception will be. So even to say, “Oh, I’ve got it.” Or, “I’m aware now.” Or whatever it is, it’s unnecessary. It’s completely unnecessary. You don’t need to put yourself in that kind of bind cuz the point is you don’t know and there’s no one to know. And who you are is absolutely unknowable. So why try to make it into a thing. It’s not worth it. It’s not really It’s really not worth it. And um yeah.

(00:00:56) What what we can say about ourselves is we’re conscious or aware and we’re intelligent. We know that. Okay. So that doesn’t that say something? We’re conscious and aware and we’re intelligent. And so that must have something to do with our fundamental condition. We wouldn’t know anything. We wouldn’t even know we are a human being. We wouldn’t know our own living energy if it weren’t for this aware intelligence. So why not go right back to the root and allow that to be primary rather than uh all the points of view.

(00:01:42) Now, how many of you here have longed to live with other people in a loving way? Okay. It’s a major project of life, isn’t it? And so awareness is what makes that possible, not anything else. We learn from the moment we’re born to make everything into something. But there’s no need to try to make awareness into anything or even describe anything about what’s going on. A it’s awareness is the source of everything.

(00:02:34) And so when we begin to become familiar with awareness, we might have all kinds of new experiences, new points of view, new phenomenon we’ve never had before. Like one moment we might think, “Oh, I’ve never felt so exalted. Maybe I’m the next Avatar or Buddha or whatever it is.” And then the next moment we’re thinking, “Oh, everything’s meaningless.” and what’s going on anyway? Is there really any purpose? But you see, awareness is the source of all of these. But if we grab on to it, then we’re starting to make ourselves miserable.

(00:03:18) And uh and so, you know, maybe we think, “Oh, well, yeah, I’m the next avatar, the Buddha of some world system or whatever, and I’m appearing here, you know, whatever.” might be and and uh you might think, “Wow, this feels really great.” And you know, maybe we can even convince some other people that we are that. And then we really feel like we have it made. Uh it’s like, “Wow, all these people are looking at me. Isn’t this cool?” And they’re giving me stuff. Woo! Now, this is really good. But, uh, that’s nothing to hook up with either.

(00:04:05) And so, you know, we’ve either had these thoughts ourselves or we’ve known someone who has. And it it’s problematic. It’s very problematic because we see that attaching to any idea about anything is very problematic. who we are. The fundamental condition is very straightforward and simple. It doesn’t need to get involved in all these complicated ideas and relationships. It really does not. So, keep it simple. Keep it totally simple. And that’ll be the best.

(00:04:49) Sometimes it’s just hard to believe that something so great could be so simple. That can be one of the greatest points of view. That how could anything so amazing that is the source of complete mastery over all mental phenomena, complete and perfect mental stability. the ability to love ourselves and love others. How could it be so simple?

(00:05:22) But we could also ask, how could it be complicated? How could it possibly be complicated? If it’s the natural state, how could it be so difficult to access? How could it possibly require so much effort? And if it is the natural state, why would it be something that needs to be achieved? Doesn’t make sense, does it? The fundamental condition of everything is the fundamental condition of everything. It It’s undeniable. It can’t be denied. And so, you know, it’s only cuz we’ve trained ourselves to see a different picture.

(00:06:12) It’s just like, you know, when we have a dream at night, often we’re involved in that dream and it seems totally real. It seems more real than this. And we’re convinced all of that’s occurring in our dream. are absolutely convinced that it’s all happening that way that uh you know we’re flying through space or we’re escaping an attacker or you know one of my favorite dreams when I was a kid was that there w because this was there was a big emphasis on the mushroom cloud of nuclear explosions and we did things like um we had um drills once. My entire family, we packed up and we went to an an u a nuclear blast shelter and we ate rations for a week and you know it was but if there’s a nuclear blast a shelter’s not going to work and there aren’t going to be any rations either.

(00:07:20) But anyway, in my dream, there was the mushroom cloud and then I had a magic table I would hide under. And under my magic table, everything was fine. And so, you know, I was completely convinced of that in the dream that uh my magic table could shelter me from the mushroom cloud.

(00:07:46) And um and you know, so it’s the same with all of this right here. When we when we paint a picture, it’s like a dream. We desperately believe in this dream and all its images. And then uh and then when we find that those images are too painful that we just can’t take it, then some of us might hear about awareness or some other state of being that’s something other than that. And then many times we develop a whole new picture, a whole new dream about that. And and then because we develop a whole new dream about that, we can’t even see what’s really clear and true about it. And so, you know, it’s best to just rely on awareness that’s free of all dreaming of all kinds, whether it’s at night or during the day.