(bell rings) - Of course, that's the
sense-perceived life. There is deeper life too
that is not sense-perceived. But we start with the
sense-perceived life. And as we go deeper,
deeper during our retreat, we will see that the sense-perceived life, although beautiful, is only
the surface of reality. But you have to start with
that and it's beautiful. And if you give it your fullest attention even then you already begin
to go deeper than the surface, because then you sense an
aliveness in everything. You can sense that the
life in this flower, I'm just making sure it's not plastic, (audience laughs) Even if it were plastic, there is some life in plastic too, but not as intense life
as in the natural flower. The life that is expressive,
that expresses itself through this flower is a
life that expresses itself through this form, this body, this mind, and millions of other forms. And so you go round in
a state of astonishment because there's so much that you had not really acknowledged before. It's easier to be astonished here at the multiplicity of life perhaps than if you were in... what's a boring place? Well, there are many
boring places. (laughs) I'm not going to name any. (audience laughs) It's easier, but even if you're
in a so-called boring place, a suburb somewhere,
there's beauty there too. You might have to look more. Even if you were in a street
without any vegetation, there will still be beauty there too. And there comes a moment
when you actually see beauty in everything, even in a simple pavement, a window, the surface of a table, how light gets reflected off objects. The colors. I also suggest, look for, be aware of the little things, because that requires, that
brings your alertness up. Big things are fine. That's nice too. Be aware of the little things. When you walk around
here in between sessions, you go a bit like... A little bit like as if you had
just arrived on this planet. In some sense you have because the surroundings here
may be so unusual to you. If you live somewhere very different. It's almost as if you had
arrived on a new planet. And how would you be if you
arrived on a new planet, you go... You don't do a lot of thinking. You are just there as an
aware presence perceiving. Like a child before a child
learns the names of things, but you're not regressing,
you are transcending that level of conceptualization that most humans are trapped in. You're not regressing to the child stage. You are transcending, but as you transcend the conceptualization level there are certain things
that are similar to the child or that's deeper than the child perceives? Because you've been through that growth you have transcended conceptualization. There's a deeper knowing
that the child does not have, but in other ways, there
are certain similarities with how a child perceives the world. And it's not for nothing that Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, if you
want to enter the kingdom of heaven you must be
like a little child." That's a very important pointer. And how is a little child before
the child can name things? When the child does not
happen to be crying, the child is going... He takes everything in without naming it. And there's a clarity of perception. And then the naming stage comes
and then the problems start. Another thing I need to mention
for us to be aware of here. I highly recommend that you do
not switch on your television if you have one in your room. And if you find that difficult, it means you're addicted. (audience laughs) So if you find yourself
going to the TV or the remote and you go I can't stop myself. Oh, that's a good way of
realizing that you are addicted. Even more addictive these
days are the little gadgets. Well from laptops to
I-pads and similar devices, phones, which are much more
than phones these days, which absorb many people's
attention a lot of the time. So much that for many humans their interaction with reality, 50% or more of their
interaction with reality is through a little screen that they hold in front of their eyes. And they live for it. They live for the next Facebook post. So you may find that you are addicted to some extent to that also. I would recommend to keep
to a minimum the devices. If you absolutely have
to, set aside 10 minutes, 15 minutes a day, when
you actually do interact or you look at your
emails or Facebook posts just to see what other people are eating or what they're wearing. (audience laughs) And you can say, oh, that looks great. Or you may compulsively take a selfie of yourself here, look where I am. And then hopefully everybody
will feel jealous about you. We may talk about those
things a little bit more at a later time, but in the meantime I would recommend that
you break the habitual, for many of you what
is habitual interaction with these devices while you're here, in order to fully benefit from being here, so that your attention
is not absorbed by that because that really amplifies the mind. Unless you have something
that you're looking there that promotes presence, you might see a present moment reminder. Oh, I have to remember to put
in a present moment reminder. It needs to come up on
the screen and says, "Put away your phone." You'll have to write that
down for the next one. "Stop looking at the
screen, look at the sky." Oh. (Eckhart chuckles) What else? Oh, alcohol! I believe you can buy alcohol here. And there's nothing wrong with a glass of wine or beer occasionally, that's at least how I see it, but it can easily pull you out of presence
into unconsciousness. Especially if after one glass
of wine, you cannot stop. If you feel you need one glass of wine to enjoy your meal, fine, fine. But if you're one of
those many who cannot, after one they need to have a second. Because they don't realize it when they started drinking
their first glass of wine they went totally determined
only to have one glass of wine. But by time they get to the
end of the first glass of wine they forgot that they
were totally determined to only have one glass of wine. It's like, oh, well, I
might as well have another. And then you're gone. So if you are one of those, don't! Don't have the first one. Or beer, if you cannot enjoy
the meal without a beer you must have your beer
before the meal. Okay. But if you cannot stop and
you must have another one after that, this would prevent you from benefiting from being here. If you can avoid alcohol
altogether it would be preferable, while you're here. This is not a boot camp retreat. There are retreats like that where you get strict
instructions, no alcohol. You're not watching television. You're not going to talk to anybody. You're not going to look at anybody. And we're going to meditate
for 10 hours a day. Some of you may have been on that retreat. Now sit and close your eyes. There's a place for that
kind of retreat too, if it's right for you. If it's right for you,
you've already been to it or you're going to go to it. So I'm not mentioning other drugs because I don't think I need to here. I don't think you will
indulge in those things here. There's something much
better than acid or pot and that's called presence. It's not a drug. It's true that some of these drugs can give you a little glimpse of what it is to perceive the world without the intrusion
of the habitual mind. And this is why people who
take some of these drugs have an experience that
goes a wow experience. And you look at something,
you look at a simple object and suddenly see its beauty and aliveness and you go, wow! Wow! Look at that. Look at that glass of water. I can't believe it. Wow. And the truth is, it is miraculous. And the truth is we don't see it because of the habitual
nature of the mind. If you suspend thinking and
look at this glass of water, water is an amazing
substance. It's a miracle. And what is a glass? It's a solid thing. And the light travels
through it, it's amazing. It's completely solid, but
the light travels through it. And yes, you can go wow without any drug. If you're present, really present. So again, do this occasionally,
you can do it here people won't think you're mad. If you do it out in the world, they would think, oh he
must've taken something or she, but if you go to really
appreciate an object any object, natural object
or even a manmade object. Pick it up, give it
your fullest attention. Feel it. See it. (gentle music) This mind made sense of self
is also much more focused on the negative than the positive. To be free, you awaken to who you are beyond your history and
your life situation.
