January meeting

Eight of us on a sunny but cold morning. Viewed two video one about the theory that we live in a simulation. The other Susan Blackmore on no Self not even a self. Susan believes we live in a physical world and is reconciled that there can be no transcendent  spiritual life. 

Then suddenly they all left (see below)

Life Is: All of a Sudden Brian Thompson

Everything—absolutely everything—happens all of a sudden.

Investigate into the nature of your own experiences. Find out what is true, for you.

In truth, nothing truly is, since all things are merely transitioning from nothing to something, from here to there, between this and that, and back to nothing.

The nature of all things is spontaneous, inevitable, and impermanent; including every thought, every emotion, every sensation, every perception, every experience, every memory, and every moment.

All things are done and undone, all of a sudden.

Your spontaneous aware presence that is cognizing these very words is also mysteriously happening, here and now. However, it alone is the only unchanging aspect throughout your entire life. Every experience registers within this field of unbroken awareness, as it alone is the illuminating light behind all that becomes known to you. In fact, "your" awareness is not separate from you; it IS "you"—impersonally.

All that seems to be happening, all of a sudden, is revealed to you—as an aspect of pure awareness—within your unmoving, unchanging, infinite presence of spontaneous knowing.

All of a sudden, a thought appeared to you. All of a sudden, you were thirsty. All of a sudden, you sneezed. All of a sudden, you got up and stretched. All of a sudden, your arm was itchy. All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. All of a sudden, a gust of wind blew the gate open. All of a sudden, the phone rang. All of a sudden, it started to rain. All of a sudden, a new opportunity presented itself. All of a sudden, a car came out of nowhere. All of a sudden, you found yourself overreacting to an unexpected situation. All of a sudden, you felt grumpy. All of a sudden, you found yourself smiling as you gazed out the window. All of a sudden, you were talking with a stranger. All of a sudden, you were forty-five years old. All of a sudden, you have a bad back. All of a sudden, you no longer enjoy what you used to love. All of a sudden, your childhood hero died. All of a sudden, the world isn't how it used to seem.

No matter how cautious or prepared you might be, nothing can ever prevent whatever spontaneously happens all of a sudden. What is, is. You cannot argue with what already is, so why bother? Allow, accept, embrace, and be fully present with whatever is, here and now.

Hang on to nothing, as nothing truly is. And this is true freedom—being free from the mind's desire to control the uncontrollable.

To integrate this understanding into our lives, you must inquire deeper into the temporary nature of being. You must first see through life's illusion before you can free yourself from its false drama. You must realize that nothing is as it seems.

What does it mean, "to be"? Does it not also mean, "to not be"? Being and non-being are interdependent. Similarly, every moment bleeds into the next, blurring the lines of what is, and what is not. In other words, you can only know what is, by its relativity to what is not. The two seemingly separate states are forever entangled. In truth, the two—being and non-being—are one.

From nothing, comes the appearance of something.

The appearance of any thing's is-ness, however, is not what it seems. What is, is never constant, nor permanent. What is, is nothing but a brief appearance—an image arising within awareness.

Indeed, some things do appear to last longer than others, which creates an impression of permanence, consistency, stability, durability, and reliability, but this remains as nothing but an illusion, thanks to the mind's dualistic concept of space and time. Regardless, what is has no foundation for permanence outside of the awareness that perceives it.

What is, cannot be without your awareness to distinguish it from what isn't. Therefore, the underlying essence of all that is, is what isn’t—and what isn't, is nothing but the emptiness of unfettered consciousness.

What can we deduct from this? Spontaneity is the river of life!

Embodying this undeniable truth is to awaken from the dream of egoic delusion.

If you resist what is inherently spontaneous (which is everything), you cause yourself to suffer, which is why "letting go of attachments" is one of the most important spiritual teachings there is. To cling to anything is to suffer—regardless of whether it's your possessions, your relationships, your sense of self, your career, your beliefs, your thoughts, or even your emotions. To be truly free in life you must liberate yourself from the illusion of how the world appears.

Rely only upon the Self, pure Awareness. Any safety, comfort, or security that is conceptualised outside of your Self—in the world of physical or mental form—is a delusion. You, as you believe yourself to be, do not exist. You are a Presence, for sure, but you are not the personalized body or mind—this is a misperception created by the mind's duality. There is nothing personal whatsoever, which means there is nothing you need to protect or defend. You only need to stop believing yourself to be something that you are not.

You are the totality of every experience—not you, the person; you, the presence. All of sudden, every experience happens, of which you are aware. You are indivisible from any experience as every experience consists of the very same thing as you—awareness. You and what you perceive are one—Awareness—this is the non-duality of being. You are the calm presence beneath all that appears, all of a sudden.

You are this Awareness, here and now. Liberate yourself from believing yourself to be an individual that is somehow separate from the world, from others, and from every experience. No longer believe yourself to be limited to the body and mind.

Become unbound. Simplify. Abide in your natural inner stillness, the aware silence of Self. Know yourself as Presence, as a field of infinite, non-discriminating present-knowingness, through which all things come and go, all of a sudden. Rejoice in the freeing realization that all you once thought or believed is an illusion!

Abide only in the truth—and you are That. You, this present-moment Presence of Awareness, is True—nothing else. The entire cosmos arise within you, as you.

You are Now and now is all you.

You are the emptiness in which all things come and go, rise and fall, appear and disappear. You are nothing but That—the infinite space into which the entire universe expands.

And this is the final, ultimate understanding into which you must surrender all discontent, anxiety, fear, stress, sadness, discomfort and suffering.

What once was, is no more. In truth, what once was, never actually was. All that is, is you.

You are not a thing; you are nothing but Now. You are the spontaneous bliss of Being. You are the effervescent flow of awareness, continually refreshed and renewed.

You are, all of a sudden, spontaneously, here and now—empty, aware, blissful, loving, peaceful, compassionate, and calm—at one with the world, as the world.