Satsang with Jon Bernie

Everything Changes

2009-09-08T16:04:00.000-07:00

This blog has moved to a new home:
www.sf-satsang.org/blog

Come by for a visit!

"Knowing" vs. Understanding

2009-07-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

Being with what is, is understanding. From the perspective of understanding—of being—we don’t project our conclusions or judgments onto whatever is happening.

When we project our conclusions onto reality, it may seem that we know something; but this kind of knowing is defensive. Its nature is endless unfulfillment. It offers a kind of illusory security, but ultimately closes us down, isolates and separates us from things and from others. True understanding is open, spacious and vibrantly connected.

To truly understand our priorities, we must be able to distinguish between projection and intuition. Projection is when we think we know what is happening—we have an opinion, and there’s an identity called “I” or “me” which believes the opinion. Intuition, on the other hand, is free of any identity. No judgments or conclusions are present. Rather, there is a clear and unfiltered perception of reality, a kind of dancing with the ever-moving energy of life’s unfolding.

The Question of Service

2009-06-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

I’d like to look at the idea—the concept—of “being of service.” From the perspective of separateness, we often desire to help, to fix, to ameliorate; and of course there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s possible to be of service in that way, clearly. From a deeper perspective, however, we have to talk about it a little differently.

From the perspective of non-separation—of union, of oneness—there is no “other” to help, no “other” to fix. Compassion is then simply the natural experience of being with pain, whether that pain is in your own body or someone else's body.

So I would say that “being of service” in the deepest sense is simply being. Not doing something—not being identified with a doer—but surrendering to the pain of the apparent other: the pain of not being able to do anything; the pain of allowing someone else to suffer. This is not callous; this is actually profoundly compassionate. Letting go allows healing to take place, whatever form that healing may take.

If someone is suffering, simply being there with them is a profound service, really the greatest gift we have to give to each other. When you accept the moment completely, they have the opportunity to accept it as well. That acceptance is love. It is profound support, profound nourishment. It is the light and energy of life itself. That’s the ultimate service.

So being there is enough. In that profound presence, there’s no identity around “being of service.” Identity doesn’t exist in that realm.

The Role of the Mind

2009-05-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

What is the point of talking about the inexpressible? Since it can't really be defined, explained or understood by the analytical mind, why bother?

The thinking mind, as much trouble as it can be, is also a function of the inexpressible and clearly has an agenda of wanting to know and understand. The sooner we can acknowledge its positive intent, the sooner it becomes our ally on the journey into the unknown. When the mind becomes our ally, it becomes supportive and caring, compassionate and patient.

This is important, because for the so called vast heart to open, the mind has to be basically at peace; from a simple physics point of view, it can't be using up all the energy in the system. Otherwise, by trying to create meaning the mind actually contracts into a defensive posture, consuming the energy that would otherwise naturally expand into radiant vastness. This is why I often use the metaphor of "energy management" to describe the process of helping the mind to relax and allow what is.

As our ally, the mind becomes much less likely to get in the way, and the mystery is allowed to unfold itself. That may show up as the dropping away of the personal self, a sense of interconnectedness with all things, a vast opening of the heart, a cathartic emotional release, physical healing; the possibilities are limitless. Looking for the "right signs" to reassure us that we are doing well on the spiritual path is basically the thinking mind getting in the way, or the emotional heart wanting reassurance, wanting to feel secure. To simply recognize what is, without attempting to control it in any way, mentally, emotionally or physically, is the true doorway to freedom.

The Menu of Our Desires

2009-05-13T23:07:00.000-07:00

You're at a restaurant, looking at the dessert menu. You read the ingredients: walnut carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, coconut ice cream and candied carrots. Your mouth is already watering—salivating with primal desire! So you order, more than likely with great anticipation.

As I’ve been pointing out lately, wanting is really just about wanting—it’s not about getting. Similarly, getting is just about getting—it’s not about wanting.

So did the cake meet your expectations? Did it go beyond them? Fall short of them? You wanted the carrot cake. You got the carrot cake. It was what is was! And now the question is, did you need it?

Wanting is about wanting. Getting is about getting. And needing is about needing!

Perceiving the often subtle distinctions between needing, wanting and getting can facilitate dropping body and mind, releasing awareness from the identity we call “myself,” or “I”.

How is this possible? Because when we perceive things as they truly are—not, in other words, through the filter of our projections, aversions and expectations—then the knowledge, wisdom and intuition that remain are not personal. Rather, they are experienced in the realm of what is often called “Big Mind” or “Big Heart.”

Now the movement of life is no longer dictated or guided by the Menu of Our Desires; we have returned to the Source, the spacious stillness of vast peace and fulfillment.

Now go ahead and order whatever you want!

The Obsessive Mind

2009-04-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

The obsessive mind is addictive. It has a life of its own. It can’t be controlled or manipulated, and ultimately it cannot be satisfied. An example of this would be the longing one might experience in unrequited love. Many thoughts and feelings might arise about the desired person, but underneath would always be the essential pain of longing. Longing is its own reality. Its nature, literally, is not getting the unavailable. It isn’t about being satisfied. Its reality is being unsatisfied. As Mick Jagger put it, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” If one remains caught in trying to get satisfaction, the obsessive mind continues to be fueled by that desire.

So how do we become free of the obsessive mind? By letting the intense energy of the underlying emotional state fully discharge through the body. This can only happen when we give 100% of our attention to what is—in this case, the movement of the emotion, or the pain of longing. This attention does not arise from personal will, but from the absence of a self. This 100% attention is pure awareness: without story or projection, without anticipation or expectation, without conclusions or judgments. It is pure intelligence, and pure wisdom.

If a particular obsessive pattern is very old, arising from early conditioning or early wounding, then it may recur, even as we deepen into awareness. One may naturally be concerned about—or disturbed by—this recurrence. But in reality, the pattern's recurrence is not our business, or our problem; we simply need to ride the waves when they arise. At some point, the pattern becomes fully dissolved into awareness. We cannot know when this will happen or how long it will take.

So in our example of longing: When the longing has been fully allowed, and not acted upon, a clarity opens in our heart, and we find ourselves free of the obsessive mind. The vastness of our true heart has blossomed, and the fragrance of its essential nature, love, fills every realm of perception.

Dissolving Into Light

2009-04-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

To awaken is to dissolve in one place and simultaneously appear everywhere. Awakening can also be called being presence, being energy. Karmic arisings, whatever their nature, are fuel for dissolving. So rather than resisting, or fighting, or arguing with what is—instead of all that, simply accept what is. Receive what is, allow what is. Become what is.

Now there's no separation between perceiver and perception—there's simply being perception. There's just listening, just observing, just feeling. There's just thinking. And you allow this gestation to happen, you allow this growth, as painful—or ecstatic!—as it might be.

The good news is you don't have to understand how it works for it to work. Being here is enough. All you have to do is learn to allow yourself to cook. To be dissolved into light. To appear everywhere simultaneously. That is freedom.

The Space of Listening

2009-04-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

Wanting other people to change is actually a very interesting realm of resistance. We think it’s about them, but it’s really a trip we lay on ourselves. When you eventually learn how not to lay a trip on yourself, then pretty soon you’re not laying a trip on anybody else either. That doesn’t mean you can’t offer something or be supportive — in fact you may then become more helpful than before. You become the space of awareness and listening — that’s more helpful, though the results may not be what you expect!

So be the awareness, and then the listening will be very deep. Everyone needs that kind of listening; in suffering we’re craving that kind of listening, wanting that reconnection. And that listening can actually provide that. It can even support someone in dying. The greatest support you can give to somebody in dying is to be complete openness.

Satsang is really the space of listening, and as each so-called individual deepens into listening, you can feel the awareness deepen and expand, and letting go happens all by itself.