SELF-REALIZATION
What’s been PRESENT for every moment of my existence from birth to now?
Michael Jeffreys
SELF-REALIZATION
What’s been PRESENT for every moment of my existence from birth to now?
Michael Jeffreys
Michael Jeffreys “THAT which is PRIOR to all stories.” 7-8-20 Satsang
SATSANG NOTES
1. We’re not “attending” to this moment naked.
We’re bringing an entire identity from the past into this moment
and it pollutes the moment.
2. The thing to notice is how, if we keep starting from story,
there’s just more story… that there’s no freedom in that.
3. What is THIS moment like when there’s no history, no past,
no future, no story, no knowing anything? (contemplate deeply)
4. The me is story; story is the me. The two are one. What we are pointing to at satsang is PRIOR to all stories. Beingness doesn’t need any words. It’s prior to words.
5. What makes you so sure it’s “your” story?
(contemplate deeply)
6. THAT which knows everything you’ve ever known isn’t knowable.
Thus anything you know isn’t IT.
7. The me is a construct. It’s a mental knot–an energy that is constricted and it goes in a loop. That’s why you can’t get free of the me. So if you notice, I don’t give you any perscriptions for how to deal with your me. We’re interested in seeing that you’re not the me and never were.
8. The me wants awakening… but it wants to be there for it!?
9. The biggest “yeah but” that I hear at satsang is, “I’m not there yet.” INQUIRE: Is that a story?
10. Beingness never goes anywhere. You never had it, so you can never lose it, because YOU ARE IT.
11. ALAN: Do you have a definition for Freedom?
MICHAEL: The end of seeking.
12. If something is dependent on something else, can it be Free?
13. Before anything can be known, Beingness must already be present to know it.
14. Wei Wu Wei: Actionless action; action without a doer.
15. Where were you before the body was born? (contemplate deeply)
16. MICHAEL: You’re not the body because the body’s the body!
DIANE: It goes back to that saying, “Anything you can perceive is not you.”
“Whatever you think is not you.
You cannot think about yourself.
Perceive this clearly and be thought free.”
“You are what you are seeking.
Your true being exists prior to the arising of any concept.”
“There’s only one thing to be understood.
And that is that you are the formless, timeless, unborn.”
-Nisargadatta Maharaj
AWARENESS
What’s aware of seeing isn’t seeing.
What’s aware of hearing isn’t hearing.
What’s aware of thinking isn’t thinking…
Michael Jeffreys
Michael Jeffreys “FREEDOM has no identity, that’s why it’s free.” 7-1-20 Satsang
SATSANG NOTES
1. Tune into your breathing…
Feel your lungs expanding with air as your chest rises.
Q: Are you doing that?
How about seeing? We’re trying to figure out just what this me actually does. We have to look into this very deeply … whether or not this idea of being the doer has any merit. Or is it an assumption??
2. This morning, you didn’t wake yourself up. How did you wake up?
3. This is a dream without a dreamer.
4. There’s just what’s happening… and you’re not doing it.
5. The me feels separate and to make up for this it tries, non-stop, to be special. It’s exhausting.
6. “I’m great” or “I’m the worst” are both identities. What you are has no identity. Freedom is free because it’s not identified with, as, in, or on anything.
7. “I don’t believe that freedom is already here because I don’t feel free.” Well, that assumes you know what feeling free feels like.
“I’m not free yet,” or “I’ve got more to go…” Maybe. But let’s just put those STORIES aside for a moment. Now, what’s left?
8. The Consciousness that is hearing these words is the same Consciousness that is speaking them.
9. The body keeps changing and you’re not making the body change.
10. You’re the AGENCY for the “me.” Consciousness is providing a service and that rascal, the me, is taking credit!
11. Acting as if you’re the doer is like blowing to try to help the wind… Wind doesn’t need your help and you’re just getting exhausted and frustrated.
12. MICHAEL: Without the me, can you suffer?
SUNNY: There’s no one to take delivery of the suffering.
ALAN: Reminds me of the saying, “Nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to be.”
13. Story is seen as just story. Everything is just what it is.
14. SUNNY: Are there certain methods that get you closer to the realization?
MICHAEL: It’s the BELIEF that it’s not already here now. The belief you have more to do is a belief. It’s saying it’s not here now. But the Reality is it’s ONLY ever here now!!
15. Not only are you what you seek, you can’t do anything about it!
16. You don’t know how to be a human! That’s why it’s so confusing… we’re making it up as we go along.
17. The body plays multiple roles throughout the day. What is present for every role, whether you’re being a father, husband or employee? Three different roles for the same body, but did the Consciousness change?
18. When we take thoughts personally they’re extremely heavy.
19. This is freedom from all stories. What you are doesn’t need a story.