- So whatever it is, realize that the primary factor in any situation is your inner state. (bell chimes) So there are quite a few people who are joining us from
other parts of the planet. I don't know where they. I think it's over there. Now all of you here luckily have escaped the polar vortex. Especially if you're
from places like Chicago, you'll be very grateful to be here. However, if you are in
Chicago or similar places, be grateful that you're experiencing a one in a lifetime weather phenomenon, but don't forget to dress up
warm enough when you go out. Be grateful for whatever your experience of this moment is. And if you cannot be grateful,
at least allow it to be because it already is. You might as well. Now, if you did this little
thing, it sounds very little and it is very little, allowing your experience of
this moment to be the way it is. Just this little thing would remove... Well, how to put it in percentage terms? Let's say 95% of the
suffering from your life. I don't about the rest, the 5%, we'll get to that sometime. That would already remove your
gigantic chunk of unhappiness in whatever form Unhappiness is the most
generic term one could use. The Buddha called it suffering. And so for the next six months, then that obviously is
one of the practices, not to internally resist your experience of this moment. Now, of course, many times, possibly you'll forget that. And that's fine. The moment you realize that you
forgot it, it's there again. And then you can accept the
experience of this moment as the unhappiness that is arising in you because you forgot to accept
your experience of this moment. And so you feel this unhappiness arising in you and you say, where
does that come from? Oh, I forgot to accept my experience of this moment. And then you accept the unhappiness. And the weird thing with unhappiness is when you completely
accept the unhappiness, it cannot survive very long. (chuckles) It doesn't like... It cannot actually coexist with acceptance. (chuckles) So the weird thing then arises
that you say something like, okay, I'm unhappy, that's okay. I don't mind being unhappy. And then the unhappiness
goes, what's going on? (audience laughs) That's not supposed to happen. (chuckles) The unhappiness cannot
survive for very long with the acceptance. Even the acceptance of unhappiness, not indulging in unhappiness,
but the acceptance. Now, the acceptance of unhappiness, it presupposes that there's
an awareness there that knows that you're unhappy. Now that might sound like
something very natural, but it isn't because the most unhappy people,
and there still millions. And of course they have
reasons for being unhappy, yes. And it's not necessarily
the people who you'd think would have the most powerful
reasons for being unhappy. It's often those who you would think, there are many millions
who have it worse than they but these are more unhappy than those. It's often the case. So the unhappiness is something that when it's
recognized as unhappiness and accepted, something happens to it. It begins to dissolve, but the really unhappy
people are so identified with the unhappiness, which is... a combination of certain recurring thoughts in your head, a certain narrative that is not pleasant. Whether it is about my life, whether the narrative says, my life, oh dreadful thing my life... oh. (audience giggling) Why did it all go so
wrong, so wrong, wrong? And now there's nothing
I can do (indistinct). Or whether the narrative
is about somebody else. Do you know what he did,
what she said and did? The narrative may be about something that hasn't happened yet. And it goes on and on or something that happened
in the distant past or not so distant past. So there's a narrative. And then there are emotions
that are reflection of the narrative. The narrative is thoughts, certain types of thoughts. Certain thoughts that
have a certain frequency. (Eckhart groans)
(audience giggles) And then that awakens
the emotional frequency because the body thinks the narrative in your mind is reality, that is the reality you're experiencing. So the body reacts with an emotion. Simple example, at night, you can't sleep because
you're extremely worried about what's going to happen to you or somebody close to you or even the world. And it all sounds very critical. There's a crisis in
your head, not outside. Outside your head, there's a pillow and there's a blanket or even something big and fluffy and soft, down... duvet.
(audience laughs) And there's no unhappiness there. And if you look around the bedroom also, where's the unhappiness? (audience laughs) The plant is okay. It's not unhappy. No, it's all happening in here. (audience laughs) And then the body, since
that is the critical reality that you inhabit, there is a crisis in your life. The body doesn't know the difference between what's actually happening and what's happening in your head. What's happening in
your head is taken to be the absolute reality. And then you experience
the emotion that goes with that kind of narrative. And so there's no awareness. And when you're trapped in
that, you don't even really know that you are unhappy because
you are the unhappiness. The unhappiness has become your identity. So when you become the unhappiness, you don't even know that you... Or suffer, let's use the
Buddhist term suffering. When you are in this deep suffering, you don't even know you're suffering because the suffering is
a gigantic, huge chunk, part of your sense of self. You are a suffering entity. And as all therapists know that once the patient or the client or whatever
they call the people that come to them,
according to their school. They reach a point where
there's a possibility of going beyond the deep seated patterns, unconscious patterns. And then there's a huge
resistance very often because the person is afraid of losing a very important piece of their identity. And sometimes it's the most important part of their identity. If they have lived with an
unhappy sense of self for years and perhaps even decades,
they don't want to let go. And again, they don't
know that consciously. They never say, "I do not want to let go," but if they could say that, that means there's already some awareness. So lack of awareness, lack of presence, that is the unawakened state that still, unfortunately, millions of
humans are trapped in that. But the moment you know, you
recognize your inner state, that means there is an awareness. There is another dimension of
consciousness that has emerged in you, through you, a deeper
dimension of consciousness that is not the conditioned thinking. So we can call it awareness
or we can call it presence. You can call it the
unconditioned consciousness. And then the beginning of freedom, the possibility of freedom arises. And it's from there that you
recognize your inner states as they arise. From there that you
recognize your unhappiness. You can feel the unhappiness. But the moment you become aware
of suffering or unhappiness in you, you're no longer
feeding it with your thoughts. As long as you're not aware you're feeding it as a vicious circle. You're feeding it with your
thoughts, with your narrative. And you're trapped in the vicious circle. Your narrative creates more unhappiness. Your unhappiness creates more thought and you're trapped in that. So for the next six months
and hopefully beyond because it's a much more
pleasant way to live, make it your practice to be
aware of your inner states and meaning no matter what
situation arises in your life, whether it's little things big things, difficult situations, difficult people, challenges, problems... Because the next six months
are not going to be free of challenges and problems. So whatever it is, realize
that the primary factor in any situation is your inner state because that determines how you respond. So no matter what it is your primary responsibility is to be aware of what goes on inside you. And that means whatever arises in your life is actually to be used in your practice so that you do not become dependent on what's going on
externally in your life. So your inner state gradually
is no longer determined, perhaps still a little bit, yes, but not completely determined by outer events, people,
situations and so on. Inner freedom arises. That's awakening. So there's a dis-identification from the movement of thought and
the fluctuating emotions. There's a stepping back. You're not repressing
anything. You're allowing it. But you can only allow it
because there's an awareness. And that awareness is you, ultimately. That is what I sometimes call the deep I, as opposed to the surface I. I meaning... not this eye, but that eye is interesting too. It's an analogy for consciousness,
the eye of awareness, but now we're talking about
the pronoun, I, first... There's the surface I, which
is the conditioned person, the entity that you are for a while. And there is the deep I,
which is the consciousness. My usual analogy, which
probably you've heard me mention quite a few times, the ocean. The surface of the ocean,
the wave or the ripple is the surface I. And the ocean, the depth
of the ocean is the deep I. And an awakening human is
a ripple on the surface of the ocean that until recently had been completely identified with its ripple existence on the horizontal dimension
of the surface of the ocean. Looking at every other
ripple as another other, another ripple, not me, it's another. And always, you have to be
very careful with the others. And the ego actually likes the others to be as other as possible. And then the little
ripple begins to realize that there's a depth, the moment it stops thinking
about its ripple existence. And there's... thinking subsides and something else remains, something else that is very deep, has no form, is just a presence. If we can't even call
it anything, a presence. (water flowing)
