See With the Eyes of Consciousness

Dear Mooji, Some months ago, mind made an offer I could not refuse at that moment. Dreams were coming true. Everything was perfect, and I signed a contract with him. I forgot about myself, and suddenly everything turned into smoke. What a great delusion! What a great gift! Now I am here, observing as things come and go. I know that even the sense of being is observed. So, this here, where I stand now, seems somehow incomplete. Also, it is floating, as identification with the person still comes and goes, comes and goes. The question is, is it just a matter of being here, while the melting goes on by itself, as I remain as the second bird? We will go into that for those who have not heard this metaphor before. Let's imagine that there is a tree by the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. And on one branch of this tree, there is a bird who has built a nest, or is building a nest. It already has some chicks inside the nest. And this bird is flying off and bringing more straw and more twigs to keep finishing building the nest. And sometimes it is going out, bringing worms to feed the baby chicks. So, this bird represents life, normal life for most human beings. We are building the nest of our home, a career, studying at a college, university. We are doing the things that we are all brought up to do traditionally. That is quite fine. And going off, having a family, going off, making a living to come and feed your family. This is the bird that is flying off. I call this the first bird. It is flying off and getting food for the chicks, and this kind of thing. The daily activities of life, normal life. In the same tree, on a branch just above, sits another bird. It looks identical, but this second bird is sitting there quietly. It is not building any nest. It sits quietly, where it can see the first bird and all of its activities. It is not concentrated on any particular activity, so it is not flying off and coming back. It just sits quietly. This second bird represents the one who is observing, noticing all things, but is not involved in anything. He just quietly witnesses. And this second bird, somehow, is inside the first bird, in a way. So this is the metaphor. He quietly looks and sees the activities taking place through the body-mind and all the body-mind wants to do, to make a living, to study, to evolve and to grow in the world, to accomplish certain things, to raise a family, to be happy, and so on. But this second bird just quietly looks. And I am asking you, as I talk and share this metaphor, if you can relate to both bird illustrations. One part of us, we are doing the things we must do in life, naturally, but inside our activities is a capacity within us, let's call it the second bird position within us, that is simply aware, observing, but with detachment. It has no investments. It is simply aware of all that is happening. This second bird, he can see the first bird and all of its activities. He can see the sky and the sea. He can feel the wind and the rain. It just quietly is there. Can you relate to this second bird metaphor also, within yourself? This is very important, especially when we are discussing the things we are doing now, today. Because I am not talking so much about the outer world of names, and forms, and things to do, and to accomplish, and so on. Because we all know that. I don't have to tell you that, or interfere with that. But I am introducing and reminding you of a deeper awareness within you, in which all these things are seen. Now, many people live primarily in the first bird position. They have a sense of themselves and their responsibility, their aspirations, their achievements, their intentions, their attachments, their desires. All of that they are involved with. But not so many are aware of that second bird within themselves, which is observing, with detachment and dispassion, a place of awareness. That second bird position qualifies you to be where you are now, that you are able to be aware of your daily activities. Sometimes we don't know why we fell in love with that person, or found this job, or have these friends. It is like it happens somehow spontaneously. It is just unfolding. And yet, at the same time, there is a deeper knowing within us that is not really doing anything. It is simply the place that we are aware of, where we are conscious of our existence and the play of life that unfolds for each of us. So that is very important. Now Rafa is saying, this here, where I stand now, seems somehow incomplete. Where are you standing? Maybe sometimes it is the first bird thinking he is already the second bird and trying to ... But the second bird knows this, no? Because the second bird not only observes matter, but also observes mind and sensations arising. When I say second bird, this bird is not a regular bird. It is not a sparrow or something. This is the bird of being. So he is aware, not only of the feelings, not only of the things, worms and eggs and all this. No, he is aware also of the inner bird's feelings, the first bird's feelings. So you are saying that, somewhere between the first bird and ... Continue now. Let me hear what you say. I had some blissful experiences before. Somehow, as I stay, as I remain in the sense of being, I feel sometimes that something is still missing. I don't know why. What could be missing? Remember, the second bird's posture is that where ... Whatever is happening, without moving about, you are simply aware of the traffic of the world. Everything is coming and going like clouds. You are noticing. You are in a very stable place. Then, somehow, a thought comes, something is missing. Something is missing. What is to say that that is not just a thought like any other thought? Why does that catch your attention so much and disturb you? Look at it. Maybe this is the peace. Maybe this is the peace that was missing. Because what happens? There seems to be some swinging, some oscillation, between the first bird's position. Identity is still living with the first bird. And even though it is observed, the energy of it is still inside the second bird a bit. So it is a little bit inside the natural peace. A little bit of restlessness is there also. Although I am calling you now to say, are you aware of it or not? And you say, yes. Still, it is not going away, this feeling. It is like, yes, the doctor says I am OK, but still I don't feel. Isn't it like that? Something is there. OK. It is good. So, this here, where I stand now, you say, which seems to me, when I listen to you, you are standing in a place between the first bird and the second bird. But this is also noticed. You are writing about it. It is like something, the sense of my presence, or my being, is somehow not totally still. It is oscillating, it is shaking a bit. But I am calling you, but there is awareness of this also. So, the second bird is usually aware of things in front of it. But now, something deeper than the second bird awareness is aware that some movement is there. But this deeper place of looking, is that really troubled by anything? Where even the first bird and the second bird life and activity is seen, is that suffering from any condition at all? No. Not at all. I just feel peace and joy, not all the time, but sometimes, yes. Really, why is it not experienced all the time? It is because identity is still alive. Not as before, not like it used to be. But some remnant energy is still there, it is still moving. And of course, you naturally feel, something is not in place. So therefore, it just calls that some continued looking takes place. Looking means to be still and paying attention to the movement of thought and feelings, and just keep verifying that they are just sensations. They are just sensations arising and passing. They are coming and going, coming and going. And they are noticed to be coming and going. So, the first and second bird positions are both noticed inside a deeper awareness which has no shape. It cannot be described. Would I be right in saying that? But somehow still, that itself, you are not stabilised in that yet. We feel, the one says, Yes, I know when I go this far back, especially if you push me and if you guide, I can come to this place and it is, whoa! It is totally empty of any kind of description. There are no descriptions here. It is empty of all things. You have experienced, no? Did you feel afraid at all? Did you feel that you will have to compromise something, or you will have to somehow ... Like it is some kind of risky place to be? Did you experience like that? OK. Now you say, this here where I stand now seems somehow incomplete. And I put it to you, don't purchase this feeling of incompleteness. It is not necessarily an intuition you are having. It could also be a suggestion from the mind, because it will do that. Something is missing. And then you start to look, what is missing? You cannot find what is missing, but you are bought into the feeling. And so now it is disturbing you. What is it that is missing? I can't find it. Now I say, let's bring it back. Let's tighten the lens and bring it back to the place of just, you are here, and all of what you are seeing is phenomenal. And by phenomenal I mean that they are not stable. They appear and they disappear. They have no real existence by themselves. They cannot exist without you perceiving them. That is what I mean by phenomenal now. Are we all on board? Can you all relate to what I am speaking? Yes. Without doing anything, you are simply in your silence, you can confirm. It is so. It is so. Then if a question comes, we will come to that. Now from here you say, also it is floating as identification with person still comes and goes. But I say, whatever it is, whether it is floating, or it is diving, or sinking, or flowering, it doesn't matter, it is still only an effect in consciousness. Can I speak like that? Whatever it is, don't start to categorise. It all belongs to the place of the fluid consciousness. It is pictures, movement, this and that. The mind thrives on making distinctions. Oh, but this is not this. This is this. This is more important. But for the one from the place of pure formless awareness, it doesn't matter what it is. When you are in the dream, everything matters. The rain is wet, the sun is hot, the earth is as it is. People are varied. When you wake up, you realise, but it is all a dream. It has just been dreaming. I am not going to go too fast on that, because you have to catch up with that a little bit. We are fine. We are doing fine here. So my only advice at this point of my letter with you, is that this noticing that something is floating as identification with person still comes and goes, but identification is not what you are. You are not personal identification, or any identification. You are the space in which the drama of life, the comings and goings, are playing. You are not trying to arrest them, change them and push them about. Your focus and energy is resting inside your being. You see, when we are experiencing life with a strong sense of personal identity, there are so many things to control, so many things go out of shape, and we have to put them back. And your sense of yourself is like your self-image of somebody, with a particular history, a particular kind of orientation, is yourself. A self-image of yourself is behind all the doing. But as you come more deeply back in the place where you are observing, and the observing place is neutral and shapeless, your experience of your being is not chaotic. It is just a sense of beingness. And you will know that this is my preferred state. I am just happy here. I am not trying to stop life. I am not pushing life about, but somehow everything is happening, and it all seems that there is a harmony. Some power is taking care of all things. I am not personally responsible for the way the world is working in some way. And your personal interference or interjection in the world becomes much more quiet, much more afloat. So, you are in a very pleasant state at the moment. Now you say, the question is, is it just a matter of being here, while the melting goes on by itself, as I remain as the second bird? What is the difference between the first bird and the second bird? The first bird witnesses, but it is witnessing with self-interest only. It is like personal, what is good for me, and what is good for mine. Its witnessing is not serving the world. It is serving the little self. The second bird is different in that, from the second bird, it is much more global, it is much more broad. If you pay attention, you will see the second bird is not the shape, it doesn't have a shape like the first bird. It is much more spacious. A more spaciousness is there. And you experience this directly. You don't have to go looking at anything. It is there. Intuitively you know it. It is a more spacious thing. It is a wider field. A more universal sense of being is there. So, my question is, you say, is it just a matter of being here, while the melting goes on by itself, as I remain as a second bird? Is the second bird, in my illustration, and I am asking you all to look at this, is not the second bird also witnessed? Not necessarily as a shape, but maybe as a shape of activity, or a shape of being. Can you see this also, in a subtle way? I cannot ask you to draw a second bird. Maybe you can draw a first bird. You cannot draw a second bird. You can only intuit it. You can sense, yes, yes. This is where the functioning of perception, the sense of being, and the temperature of being, is also seen also. In this deeper seeing, what is here? If even the second bird, as subtle as it is, and as beautiful as it is, if it itself can be perceived, that which perceives it, does that have any distinguishing features? Contemplate. Look. All of you, look. This is immediate sadhana, meaning that, as you are looking from your place of stillness, you can verify now. I'm not sending you somewhere to go and sit under a tree and practise something. You can see with the eyes of your own intuition and consciousness. You can see. You know and see. So this seeing, I don't mean the seeing that's done through the eyes only, but the seeing which is the perceiving through consciousness itself. If I were to say to you, can the second bird be also perceived? Yes. Yes. Thank you. Even if you say, it is sensed, it is seen, meaning it is sensed, it is also appearing, it is also apparent, not necessarily as a form, but maybe as a shape of consciousness. Have I lost you? Have I gone too far ahead? Very nice. Very good. So, the last point you say, is it a matter of just being here, while the melting goes on by itself, as I remain as a second bird? But I would rather say to you, what is aware of the second bird? If there is an awareness of the second bird, don't try to make a picture of what it is. That's not important. If it wants to show itself in any form, it can do that by itself. The question is that even the second bird is perceived, is sensed, isn't it? What is it like when even the second bird is sensed? What could you possibly be, to be sensing even the first and second bird? Don't make pictures. We don't need imagination for this. Right here, where you are right now, what is here of you? Can you describe even? No. Nothing is here. Yes. Did you create this place? May I ask you a very subtle question? All of you, again. Are you here, because obviously, you know naturally that you are here, but are you here as a person? I am looking at you. I am looking at you all as much. Are you here personally? No. If you are not here personally, in what way are you here? Just don't be quick to answer. Look. You know you are here. You don't need to describe even. I am asking you that, because I am pushing you a little bit. So that your mind doesn't give you an answer, and then you say like this, because any answer that comes from the mind will not be true. Do you know this or not? Any answer that comes from the mind, and it will suggest some answers, like you are everything, it means nothing at all. It has to come, it has to reveal itself somehow. To whom will it reveal itself? To you, who are itself. You here, in my guidance, you are the Self. If you have come this much to see that first bird you are aware of, I am not asking you to kill the first bird. I don't have to ask that. But now, where is the first bird to you? Can the first bird and its activity trouble you? Look, you can all answer to yourself. Can whatever first bird represents, and its world and activities, are you disturbed here now? Is it something that you must hold on to quickly, because it might disappear? What about the second bird? The second bird, we don't know what the second bird is now. It is like mixed with whatever. But now, what is left? Who are you here? This, this is the space of awareness itself. We cannot talk much about this. And you won't want to hear anything about it. You don't need to hear anything about it. Anything I tell you about it will come from the mind and from something, because it is beyond shape, it is beyond concept. You are in your natural state. The sense of mind will come again. It is almost to come here, or to discover this. Are you ... May I just ask you also, we can say, I am sitting in this room. So there are two things, there is a room, and I am sitting in the room. That is normal language. This that I am speaking about now, beyond the second bird, are you here like one thing in another thing? Or is it not like that? Are you an object here? Very good. Very good. Very good. Very good. How are you staying here? Sometimes people say, How can I stay here? How are you staying here now? Are you staying here, or are you here? Are you staying like, I better hold on, stay here? Or, there is no staying here. I am here. You are with me now, aren't you? I say this ahead of time, because a time is going to come. A storm is going to come. The mind is going to come, and it is going to challenge. Who can it challenge? Whatever remnants remain of your conviction that you are a person experiencing this. Any belief, I am a person experiencing this, the mind will come and say, Ha-ha! What happened now? Take this. Take that. And you are going to think, Oh, I have lost it! And suddenly it is like you take the shape again of somebody. But you will see this. Don't worry and don't feel, Oh, I have failed, I have failed. Nothing like that. Simply, you are distracted. And by being distracted, you took the shape again of somebody who achieved something. Do you follow? So it is good that these talks are recorded, so that you can listen again and look, and again keep confirming and looking. And look also with the video, watching, and then also put it aside and look by yourself again and see, Is it the same verification I can verify? And that verifying, is it somebody verifying, or is it that at a certain point there is no separation? Are you listening? Try not to miss a word. You are looking to verify, so you are trying to verify, and suddenly there is no separation. You are here. You are here. You are here. Have you just arrived here? Or have you not always been here, but dreaming you were the one trying to get here? Where in the world is a conversation like this taking place? Penetratively looking, verifying. This is interactive satsang. I am not giving a lecture to you. We are looking together. We are verifying together. But the experience is taking place within your being itself. Do you follow? So, thank you, Rafa, for a beautiful letter that gives the opportunity to do this looking together, and discovering, discovering. The mind might say, Eureka! We have done it! But reject that voice. Remain as you are, without distinction. Like space, being aware of space. Now you are beyond all things. Very few beings, very few human beings come here. This is the state of the awakened one. This is the pure state of the jnani. You may find that, oh, I experience it sometimes, but somehow I slip back. But when you slip from here, slip at least back into presence. Don't slip all the way down to personhood. Sometimes we do, isn't it? With a bump, you slip all the way back, bang, into, ah, ay, ay, ay! And it will feel like hell. Isn't it? Do you know what I mean or not? Yes, yes. But it won't be long. Quickly, somehow, by grace, you are here again. You are acclimatising, or re-acclimatising, to the purity of the Self. It will take time to awaken to the timeless. So, don't expect, oh, I spend all week doing it, and nothing. No, don't worry about that. No, you continue looking and looking. Forget about the results. They will happen automatically. If you are looking for results, you will not reach. Suppose you plant a seed, and every week you pull it up to see how much the root has grown. Then the tree will not grow. Leave him. Just water, put him in a good place. He is fine. He is doing good. God is growing it. The God within you also. Thank you.