The Essence of Presence

Among the many questions I found this one I'll answer that first. That was the answer. On the surface of things, the retreat comes to an end. But in the same way that the Buddha image really represents a state of consciousness, so the real retreat underneath the surface of surface appearances is a state of consciousness. That's the essence of the retreat. Deepening presence. It is that state of consciousness that's the retreat. In that sense, you could be on a permanent retreat after this. And in that sense, the retreat doesn't leave you and you don't leave it. Although the scenery around you is going to change. Some of you are leaving today, others are leaving in a day or two, one or two days time. So soon the scenery is going to change and there's a continuous flux of things as described by Heraclitus or Heraclitus, one of the first philosophers of ancient Greece, pre Socratic. So he taught before Socrates taught, and he is famous, of course, for the saying everything flows, and also for the saying, you cannot step into the same river twice. He emphasized he lived about the same time as the Buddha, but of course, in Greece he emphasized the impermanence, just as the Buddha did. It must have been in the consciousness there was an awakening at that time. So this retreat of the surface is impermanent. Of course, everything is. But soon after Heraclitus or Heraclitus, another philosopher came, whose name was Parmenides, also a pre Socratic. And he said to Heraclitus, I'm not sure, nobody knows if they actually ever met, or he just read. He said, you got it all wrong. Nothing real ever changes. At the heart of the universe, there's a timeless essence, which is a very free translation. So he said impermanence is ultimately a kind of illusion from his perspective. And he said reality remains constant and timeless. The rest is just fleeting forms, like dreams. Of course, both are correct. Heraclitus and Parmenides. So there is at the heart of you and. And at the heart of the universe, which is the same thing, there's a timeless essence. So there's the temporal you, the person. And we saw that when we watched these movie clips of the city scene in Berlin, 1900. The temporal selves moving about the surface of things and then disappearing. And so there's the temporal you, the person, and then there is the transcendent you, which is connected to the transcendent dimension of the universe. In some teachings it might be called the higher self. That's the consciousness, the conscious being that you are. Because as you go within you don't immediately dissolve into God. There's the non physical being, the higher self, but they're not divided. And then there's the transcendent dimension. I don't normally use the term higher self because it makes you look upward to look for you, looking for yourself. I'm getting a message from my higher self. It's coming through. A better expression might be your deeper self deepening presence. And if you can sense, as you move away from here, this unchanging presence in you, then you can enjoy the short lived nature of all things. You don't need to attach yourself to anything in particular. You can appreciate everything, you can honor everything, see the beauty and aliveness in everything without needing to attach yourself to anything. Attach means in some way it is linked to your sense of self, then that creates the attachment. You can create things, enjoy the act of creation without attaching yourself either to the outcome or mentally projecting yourself forward to the outcome. Or when you finally achieve the goal, attaching yourself to the goal and claim credit. Feel I did that, look at me. Or sometimes you feel people go, yeah, yeah, a little bit of ego in there. If there's no ego, you create and then you step back. So this non attachment is something that comes with being present. As a natural result of being present, you become less attached to outcomes, to achievements, to things, even to people. Although you can love, you love. There's a loving, an outflow of loving kindness, but not the clinging attachment. I love you. Don't you ever leave me. Because you know what's going to happen. Then as I mentioned in a book, the Spanish for to love, te quiero literally means I want you. It's the same word and that's the normal word for I love you. That's a very honest way of saying it because. Because most love is comes from the ego. It might have other elements mixed in with it, but most of that kind of love is egoic and can easily turn into its opposite. So it's not real love if it can turn into its opposite. Suddenly I want you. In English it would sound strange. There's a poetic way in Spanish to say I love you, but not many people use it. Te amo. That's like a poem and it's beautiful. I want you. I really want you. You want me as strongly as I want you. And so when wanting is thwarted and things happen, then anger arises. Even hatred can arise quickly. So that's attachment. So many teachings, spiritual teachings, speak of the importance of non attachment, but it's not really possible to practice non attachment. In the absence of sensing the presence, you cannot sense the transcendent dimension of who you are and you cannot sense yourself as the presence. You may do your best to practice non attachment, but it's almost impossible. And then you will end up getting attached to your practice of non attachment and feel unhappy because you don't quite manage it. In the same way, loving your neighbour as yourself, your neighbour being anybody you happen to be with, not your next door neighbour. That's not that people have tried to practice that because they were taught to do that. But it's been a struggle and most people have failed unless presence arose within. They connected with that transcendent dimension within stillness, awareness. And then there was a natural outflow of loving kindness. And that's loving your neighbour as yourself. Because as you look at another and listen to another, you can sense that what you share, what is one, your oneness, is consciousness. The essence of the other also is consciousness. It's the same consciousness that you are, and that is seeing your neighbor as yourself. And seeing your neighbor as yourself is, is valuing and appreciating him or her as yourself. And that is loving your neighbor as yourself. And since the teachings of Jesus have come to us as fragments, there was nobody there who was taking things down in shorthand when he was talking. And there were no recorders. So we had to rely on people's memories and defective understandings also. So I'm sure that Jesus didn't quite say, you must love your neighbour as yourself, because he would have known that that's impossible unless you find the kingdom of heaven that is within you. He always talked about that. And then he said, and when you find that dimension within you, that realm, that kingdom, that dimension of heaven. Heaven is the sky and the sky is vast spaciousness. It has no form. It's the closest you can get in the physical reality to the formless dimension of consciousness itself. It's the closest thing you can find, the sky, because it's not even a thing. You can never reach the sky. There is no sky. It just seems to be a sky. It's just emptiness, spaciousness. It's a Buddha's emptiness and it's the kingdom of heaven. So it is the kingdom. It is around the dimension of vast spaciousness, inner spaciousness, the kingdom of heaven. So my translation of kingdom of heaven is the dimension of spaciousness. Oh, okay, now I get it. And if you find that within and are rooted in that, then as a natural byproduct of that realization, you love your neighbour as yourself, because you recognize your neighbour as yourself. And this love your neighbor as yourself has been misunderstood. Most people think it's about you have to love him or her as much as you love yourself. So you look in the mirror, I really. I love myself so much. I'm really in love with myself. I'm so great. I love myself. Okay, now I'm going to try love you too, in the same way I love you, the same way that I love myself. But at least I'm trying. But I still love myself more, if I really have to admit that. And so when you are rooted in that dimension, you're not really on the surface of things. You're going somewhere, but really, you're not going anywhere. Just things change around you.