The Headless Way -- Interview with Richard Lang

the third stage is the adult where now 247 you look in the mirror now you don't that's you and someone calls your name that's you it's automatic you are now out there looking at yourself through everyone's eyes and you're no longer at home being conscious that you're nothing and no one you see you Society doesn't talk about that society represses that it dismissed it if you talk some somehow about being nothing say through a drug experience or or just going in nature and you say God I'm just so nothing you're you know it's either dismissed as nonsense or you're mad or you should just see a doctor or anyway how on Earth do you integrate that you see you can't make sense of it so it gets put in a drawer [Music] uh this um subject is very interesting to me because of all of the comments I get on this channel the questions the suggestions uh and requests for my opinion r view of certain techniques or approaches uh and even certain teachers and books and so forth I would say the Headless way may be the number one request I get or hear about or or that's sort of brought up in comments um and recently at a retreat a friend of Richard Langs uh suggested that I actually interview him on my channel and we made contact and he agreed to to a conversation so this is Richard Lang and uh I just wanted to say hi and give you a chance to to say hi to the audience hi Angelo thank you for inviting me here a pleasure to meet you yeah pleasure to meet you as well uh so maybe just give us a little background I I should also mention Richard is is an author author of at least three books books I believe yes yes yeah okay um and we can link those under this video if you're interested as well but um maybe just give us a little background into how you got into contact with the Headless way or with Douglas Harding or how this started for you all right well I go back to when I was about 10 or 11 when my search started and I was at boarding school and the head Master gave a sermon and he quoted from the venerable bead who was a saint up in North Umbria in the north of England in about the 9th century and the ver little bead told a story about a bird flying well it was a big Hall with a fire and a Lord and Ladies and it was Winter and a bird flew in the window around the room and out the other window and apparently the the meaning of the story was something to do with the brevity of life but for me I thought where did that bird come from cuz I had this you know I was listening to the story it would just be a a a window without wind without glass just the dark night out there and I was just I just wondered where did that bird come from and I I um after that I got into Christianity it awakened my desired well when I look back it it awakened my uh desire to know my true self I wouldn't you know I didn't know think in those terms then but I got into Christianity and I was interested in the mystical side of it I read honest to God and I was 15 by then but then I ran out of interest in that it didn't deliver the good so I this was the late 60s I was reading about the Eastern religions that were coming into the west then I came across Buddhism humph from the Buddhist society and in 1970 I went from the north where I was brought up down to near London to the Buddhist Society summer school to get enlightened you see and there were various teachers there there was a a Zen man I went with my twin brother we turned up at the meditation session in the morning and turned away we were so frightened just kids you know and there was a Tibetan llama there who apparently could read your mind and I thought I'm not going near him then uh so it was very confusing for a 17year old and then one afternoon someone said you ought to go along to the meeting with Douglas Harding I'd never heard of him so we went along resisted what he was saying for half an hour then relaxed and then saw that we were headless I couldn't see my head you see instead I see your head or I see the world and Douglas just took us through some what he called experiments and they're called experiments with testing the hypothesis that you're not what you look like you're not at Center what you appear to be at 6 feet so through the camera you can see what I look like at that range a few feet through the camera but the question is what am I at Center and in this Workshop or meeting it's very informal uh Douglas he he had this is how he came to it because he goes back to being brought up in the Plymouth Brethren uh the beginning of the century 20th century rejecting that but being inspired by what Christianity is really about and then asking really the question who am I but not wanting to take on another Dogma so he started looking for himself and he worked out that what he was depended on the range of the Observer relativity see and in this Workshop when I was 17 Douglas got everyone to go into Pairs and one person would stand at one end of this quite long room and the other person that say I was at the near end then you got a little piece of paper called it a view viewfinder with a hole in it and you looked through it at what you saw the other person to be and then you drew a picture and put it on the ground there you see then you walked couple of yards closer looked through and now instead of a whole body now it was a head and shoulders you see so you drew that and then you got closer and it was uh just a face and then you got closer you see then it was just an eye and you went right up and it they disappeared they you know just a blur and then Douglas would say well of course the scientist could go closer to you so you got imagine there you know you're someone's doing it to you and from over there you're a whole person and then from there you're half a person from here you're a face and here a blur see so wow then even closer your cell than molecules atoms particles almost nothing you see almost nothing and this is verifiable the great thing Douglas did was to it was science is just look don't believe look for yourself see so the question is who am I well who am I to you turns out to be a whole range of appearances and if you went away I'd be London and then I'd be the planet and a star and the Galaxy you see and of course I feel for my planet or I feel for my country I feel for my family I feel for Richard I so you know but the question is what are you at Center zero you see right here and the scientist can't tell you you can get very very close but can't make that final leap you see into the center there's a kind of barrier there so then what you've got to do I mean it's so simple turn around your attention and look for yourself you know and when and Doug devel little pointing experiment you point out at things you see scientists point out thing then you point in and look what's at the near end you see the at Center and of course I looked and no head no face so one of the experiments that he got us to do was to notice that and from your point of view I've got two eyes but from my point of view I don't see my eyes it like looking out of a boundless window with no dividing line and my hands disappear you see into this vast open space you see and he called it a window and I was only thinking about it a couple of weeks ago I thought you know when I was 10 and I S imagined that bird coming in that window I wanted to know what was out the window see and now I I've suddenly woken up to the fact that I'm looking from that window into the world I am that mystery is he and so are we all yeah so uh Douglas uh he uh always said to people if you're interested come and visit you know it was a friends thing it uh so that was uh in sort of September of 1970 at Christmas I went with my brother to where he lived and my mom my mom wanted to find out what had happened to her kids you see who had apparently not joined a cult but something had happened you see and uh we went and stayed for the weekend he always had visitors it was always free house there'd probably be a dozen people there and for me it just was really helpful for sorting out some doubts that to come up CU I had been taken by this I I don't really you know it had it had answered a question I was asking and I from then or even before going down to his house I I thought I want my life to be about this this is just brilliant we're sharing you know and I didn't know anything else except a bit of Christianity but I thought I so direct cuz for example if someone ask me just what is his headless Way Rich I said well look I'm looking at you now and I see your face I don't see mine see so it's face to no face and I am empty for you and I have your face and I'm Angelo now you see and if I empathize with you you see I say well Angelo can't see Angela's face it said got riches you we've traded races see I am you and you're me which is just the most beautiful thing isn't it it's stunning yeah it's stunning it's stunning and and the one of the great Delights of of doing this work is uh you you can share that and you see a light go on you think and it's so easy to share I think it is yeah so uh looking out single with face to no faces is the Fantastic thing but being still in the world moves through you and closing your eyes No Boundaries so Douglas uh developed these experiments well I was around when he was developing them and so we we used to I used to uh go to his house every other weekend and I was at Cambridge so it wasn't far from where he lived so I used to go down I would probably spent more time at his house than studying you know because that that's what so I met lots of people I ran workshops in my room at College I uh I you know I was just taken by it um now uh there wasn't a lot for me to do you know Douglas did everything of course great um and so I I read everything he'd written ran workshops when I could but uh after about eight years I um I wondered what other people were doing you know the spiritual paths you know because this seems did did you relate I'm just curious as you were having these sort of recognitions of what wasn't there perhaps or or but the but that direct Insight did you relate that to like the the mystical descriptions of say the ancient wisdom teachings and the ancient did was it clear to you that those were actually very much probably the same thing oh totally because Douglas was a scholar and um when he saw his headlessness he was in India actually but he had gone there before the war to work as an architect with his wife had a couple of kids there then got drafted into the army and he was by the early 40s he'd been working on the question who am I for 10 years from a point of view these layers and all of that and doing fantastic work I've got all these books and notebooks and drawings here it's it's amazing work he did and then he at one moment he just looked you see and he saw oh legs body no head you know and it wasn't out the blue it was after 10 years work he then did 10 years more work on writing a book called the hierarchy of Heaven and Earth which is a game changer it's the most fantastic cosmology really and then he got back into architecture but by the time I met him he had written a book called religions of the world see so I devoured that so that was an understanding of the different religions beautiful book for children for school so simple that Drew out the essential because he'd got the essential so he knew what the essential was and uh he I mean he was a very great communicator he'd say Hinduism is about Oneness Buddhism is about mindfulness Islam is about surrender Judaism is about Justice you see Christianity is about self-giving love all one tree with different branches or the root is this you see and at the end of the book he presented his you know he came up honest as it were and presented The Headless way as just some as kind of scientific kind of you see so uh I used to talk to him a lot he had a deep deep deep understanding of mysticism particularly Western medieval mysticism it was a great historian actually so well in the 70s he wrote a book called games for the kingdom where he took all the sayings of Jesus because he he deeply loved Jesus from his upbringing in the exclusive Plymouth Brethren fundamentalist sect you see and he took the Saints of Jesus and said we're not going to believe them we're going to test them right so when yeah so when Jesus says uh if your ey is single then your whole body is full of light well have a look yep yeah was right yeah yeah you got that right your eyes is single and your body is full of light you see and he used had a great phrase he said before you see who you are you read the scriptures to see if you've got it right after you see who you are you read the scriptures to see if they've got it right that is a beautiful quote isn't it isn't it so uh uh and he put me on to the you know me eart and all all the and the and Ram mahashi uh he he was a great um admirer of RAM mahashi and he he so yeah I had a a deep deepening sense a fantastic teacher there just at that level and then after about eight years I I I was a bit frustrated I didn't know what to do I mean I was um I hadn't got a career going I I just wanted to do this work you see and um then I wondered what other people were doing and I'm when I first met Douglas at the Buddhist summer school there was a Buddhist priest there well teacher Duram who was assistant Abbot at a temple in London come over at the request of the king of Thailand and he was giving a talk there and um so the same time I met Douglas I met Duram and I kept meeting him over the years and I was impressed by him and in one talk in Cambridge in 1978 I I sort of challenged him I said I you know I was in the audience and I said I I was a bit naughty I said well why do you go around you know what's in it for you why do you go around tell you know you know as if you know you're being a teacher what you know I could see for a moment he got defensive then he totally relaxed looked at me it was face to no face totally and he said it just comes up see and then there was a moment of silence and then someone else asked something and he just went on I thought whoa you know that is interesting you see and he was running a retreat that weekend so I went on it it was in Cambridge nearly left it was so painful you know but couldn't leave because there were no buses stayed and of course the whole thing shifted right all you know it and that just blew my mind and I thought right that's the next thing I went and joined the community after a month they theyd re I'd already been running Workshop I'd traveled with Douglas a lot to the states in 74 and so I I I'd been around the block in that sense and they they must have recognized that and they said now we want you to train I trained then I led 10day Retreats for two and a half years wow I know yeah in my late 20s and it was just fantastic that for various reasons I had a deepening experience of running groups from great teachers group facilitation but when I look back on it um it was a time to be on my own and sit and be quiet and still Within and listen just just and because we pass is about just listening in a way isn't it or whatever but I had the great fortune that because I could see other people were looking for something and I'd found so it's a very different thing isn't it to sit looking or to you know for or to sit enjoying yes yeah yeah yes there you go and my and Duram said a beautiful thing once he said you know a long meditation sit and you know two three hours said a long meditation SE is like a deep massage I thought whoa now that is on the right track isn't it that that is relaxation and enjoyment see Douglas thought I'd sort of betrayed him a bit you know but anyway I hadn't you know cuz I I still traveled with him and did workshops and invited him to the center to do something and then after that I wondered what am I doing in my life when I left there after four years this is 82 I thought well cuz one reason I decided to do all that Buddhism stuff one very one aspect was well you can't do share this headlessness now because that there isn't the opportunity to do it so find out what other people are doing and it will stand in you you in good stead because you'll understand that language you see so then I thought when I'd finished there I thought well what do I do next I thought therapy you need to that's you need to understand what that is if you're going to speak with any depth you need so all right trained as a therapist and I was a therapist for 35 years and uh what during that time I trained in taii I loved it and I taught for 30 odd years taii and dance five Rhythm dance and um so throughout that you know since then really I mean I I remained very good friends with dogas did a lot with him and became you know very much part of a loose network of friends and the Fantastic thing was uh that see the Headless way is so easy to share face to no face I am space for you you're space for me looking up single eye all of that that everyone around Douglas we we didn't Douglas was very clear I haven't got anything that you haven't got right I'm just sharing my experience here and over to you really and everyone around I made friends with many many people and we were all sharing this and it's infectious it's infecti so when I look back I realized real that I grew up in a mini Society where seeing who you really are was normal normal and uh you couldn't get away with saying you got you know ridiculous you know what you you're more headless than I am how how does that work Richard you know right you know this yeah and this was so natural so Norm normal so easy yet everyone was sharing their Journey you know and uh there including Douglas of course um so uh I've been blessed in that way and my uh Douglas passed away in 2007 um I have take we set up a trust I set up a charitable trust with uh our workers to make as available as possible uh I go around sharing it I say I go around making friends you know not students and I my my work is that of course to share it and I know the experiment there have many experiments I never them at the back of my hand I mean I've done them thousands of times so it's just part of me uh so to guide people through those you know for fun for insight for all of that um but also very much these days I call it a seeing Society really is to uh promote encourage give people confidence to express it to talk about it it's like the elephant in the room or I say it's like the Tiger in the room it's a beautiful animal and it's wild and it's fears and it's and that's your true nature but no one's talking about it and the uh so the great gift I think Douglas gave was to show how it fits perfectly with science see he wrote a book called the science of the first person so the science of the third person is a science of you as an object or objects and they change with the range science of the first person is what you is looking and seeing what it's like to be you you see so uh it's a great gift they're marrying science and religion if you like um but uh I my job is to say yep you've got it yeah now tell me you know start to share it because you will learn and you will grow through uh communicating yeah that's for sure yeah yeah I have a few Reflections um I didn't want to stop you because this you were telling such a beautiful story and had so many nuances um but a few Reflections came that you touched on one is I love that this really is empirical this is like if you boil down empiricism you have to go directly to Observation like what can you what do you actually perceive directly that's where it has to start and it may not have to go beyond that if you're really precise and honest with what you're actually seeing yeah and so I love that this whole process is is kind of ruthlessly empirical and that's as scientific as it gets right so perfect um I love the lack of hierarchy that that that was sort of instilled in that and and that's very um very obvious to me with a shift in identity I I kind of talk about as an Awakening or shift in identity one of the most obvious aspects is it's not special it's rather natural but it's but it's also a sounding and it's also mysterious and it's also not just me it can't be mine it's not that those boundaries are just not they don't make sense anymore um and so to me that's a a sign of of a very healthy sort of Community uh to have that uh lack of hierarchy and that openness and honesty that there's no special person here you know conveying information this is really just a like an experiment which in a very beautiful way can happen relationally right um and and I love the experimental nature like I'm not going to tell you what the answer is I don't even have to presuppose An Answer myself if I've done it a thousand times let's just investigate right now and you just enter the mystery again and again and again and it's so beautiful um I love that uh and oh I was curious how does how did this maybe a little more but how did how did dovetail with Vasa did you find say like body scanning and those sorts of things did you find those that approach complimentary to to these kinds of um experiments or or what did you find there I think that um uh I found that um it made a big difference to be aware of my true nature H to just be body scanning uh seemed to leave to me up to chance whether you noticed your true nature you know uh and it some traditions say just you know kind of mull over this Coan or you know be aware of your breathing and then it seems the unwritten bit next is and just hope like hell that it delivers the good you see and I and I didn't see it working I I haven't seen it working but as soon as you are given the key where to look and what to look for if you like and just what you're looking out on do you see your head now do you you see anything do your hands disappear now you got key now all of those things can be seen from your true nature and reveal their gifts you know but um I I I I I there's a a scene in one of the Harrison Ford kind Raiders of the Lost AR thing or something as I remember it and he's confronted with this sword wielding character in an alley you see and you think oh my God you know how's going to and he just reach in his PO gets out of gun and shoots the guy right my my thing is you know you know all these kind of techniques that uh you know just go directly for It Go directly for it and then all will be revealed uh so I used V pass I used sitting quietly and still to my own end to to uh but I saw people struggling who didn't have access you know hadn't and it was a bit tricky for me cuz was in a Buddhist place and was I allowed to share headlessness you know there's all that kind of thing under another umbrella so yeah yeah fair enough yeah yeah just curious because theas is also something people mention frequently and ask about should I go to a you know 10day Papas Retreat and you know these sorts of things so I think it's nice to see somebody who has direct experience and in-depth experience with both to just kind of answer that so I appreciate that that perspective um so when you mention true nature um there this is for the viewers there are going to be people inevitably who hear something like that and their mind is going to go what is my true nature do you mean My Buddha nature do you mean this trying to find the equivalent uh term or to to to try to Define it so just to be clear when we say true nature we're not talking about something instead of terms that something can be described or defined rather it's it's directly experiential would that be a fair statement oh yeah that's well put Angelo I I say to people this experience is non-verbal uh you the simplest way of putting it perhaps is can you see your head you no instead you see the world yes or what you see but I say but that's words you know so you I say you can't not have the experience you are it you're looking out of it now you tell me and the I might call this space or nothingness or Clarity or capacity for you or face to know you see I'm using lots of different words the more words the better true nature is one of them as opposed to I suppose your false nature which I don't like so I would say there's two sides to me there's my appearance which this range is Richard you see and uh my reality which is this nothingness full of everything and so I could call this as my true nature or my original nature my original pH so maybe I could just as well as putting it in that scientific context of approaching and almost getting home and then looking for yourself I could just put it in a developmental framework would are you okay with that that would be great yeah okay so uh you see the only way it seems to me that I can know about my face stroke Richard stroke ego you know my face is because I can't see it directly is I have to look in the mirror or or a photograph or you could tell me and that's CU you're out there where by the time my appearance gets to you it man it's Richard you see but over here it's not Richard or anything you see so it transmits and you're like a receiver picking up that message so when I'm a baby there a four stages baby child adulta so the baby's headless I'm using headless terms jargon baby's headless no idea who you are don't care it's so obvious I see babies born I I have the opportunity to see cesarian sections and babies born you know a couple times a week and it's my favorite just to see them the the it's just obvious it's so obvious you know that they they are headless they are they're formless but but the the that seeing is so clear total innocence but anyway wonderful when you're no but when you're with a baby you recognize where it's at so it's infectious isn't it because that awakens in that moment that same openness right absolutely yeah yeah uh because I'm in you and you're in me and where you're right affects me and where I because you know from the outside we're head to head but from the inside it's head I'm in you you're me so there's the baby that's the first stage where we all started from day one you our parents and teachers reflect back to us what we look like from three feet a baby and they start saying you're a baby now if you have language you don't but if you other langage said I have no idea what you're talking about right I'm wi open space for the whole world what you you're telling me I'm tiny little nonsense you see h but the feedback is 247 and they bring you to the mirror and first of all you look in the mirror and that is a you know another as a friend but you are told no that is what we see where you see nothing and trusters that's what you are you can't see it but trust us we know and of course uh you have no option uh you want to be fed and all of that and you want to join in and the ticket for joining in is accepting what's the says you are not just what you are out there for them but they're saying what you are for yourself at Center and so by the time you're a child you're half in the box but not quite so you're you know you're open and uh carefree and all of that and then someone calls your name and you put the face on see then you forget about it so childhood is a lovely stage where you're not in the box yet but you're becoming aware of what you look like to others and this process of becoming aware of what you look like to others is process of empathy what I mean is that in order to understand what you make of me because I can't see anything here I have to go out turn around and look back through your eyes that's empathy right and you have to learn to do that with everyone so that you become self-conscious you see so it's a good thing it's a brilliant thing it's empathy um and you're you first say yeah Richard wants then it's going to be I want and really what you're doing is say when you identify when I identify with the Richard is I am putting myself in your shoes and speaking as if I'm the one you say I am because I can't see that you see no wow it shows how easily we get entangled with these ideas of what other people think we should be and not even realize that's what we're doing and it gets mesed very quickly oh totally you see and if you don't do that I say uh you can't you can't function you need to that socialization that's becoming aware that's individuation becoming aware so you so the third stage is the adult where now 24/7 you look in the mirror now you don't you that's you and someone calls your name that's you it's automatic you are now out there looking at yourself through everyone's eyes and you're no longer at home being conscious that you're nothing and no one you see you Society doesn't talk about that society represses that it dismisses it if you talk some somehow about being nothing say through a drug experience or just going in nature and you say God I'm just so nothing you're at you know it's either dismissed as nonsense or you're mad or you should just see a doctor or anyway how on Earth do you integrate that you see you can't make sense of it so it gets put in a drawer so the third stage of the adult is I am what I look like um growing up is finding out who you are as a person you have to look in the mirror you have to ask people you don't have a choice uh and taking that on board and acting as if you are that with every fiber of your being see so I'm Richard you see great good but don't stop there there's the next phase which is now having got that going now take a look for yourself don't let everyone else tell you who you are you see I mean don't deny it enjoy it you know that that's the game isn't it the game of life that is that is your ticket to joining in society but now uh be Refuge unto yourself but you know take yourself to no outside Refuge the Buddha you know so that what look for yourself ah for myself I am so different i instead of being face to face and separate from everyone I have your face you have mine you see instead of being uh from the outside you see uh well when you're a baby when you're an infant and your mom or your dad picks you up and Spins you around you know for fun in their arms I think what I what you we like about it is that it sets the world spinning the the world spins you see then you grow up and go outside your and look back at yourself and you see oh no the world isn't spinning it's me that's spinning right that do you see yes and right and when you wake up you see oh no for for them I'm spinning and the world is still but for me I'm still and the world is so it makes sense you see and Douglas Harding he read a book called head off stress and uh one of the things he said well you know when you grew up and you took on everyone else's view of you that you're still uh that you're moving and the world is still you see well the world is actually moving so where did all that movement go it came in you took on board all that commotion and with it all the stress you see and the world ground to a halt see when you see who you are you see that you're still and the world dances again and uh this is the same with stress for example uh one of the experiments is all all you do is you uh look down your arm and you see your arm comes out of nothing you see right then you make a fist so your fist is tense then you say now all right there's tension and stress there does that affect the space no stress to no stress face to no face stress to no stress movement to Stillness you see so yeah yeah very practical you see so uh those four stages the baby headless the child both the adult just seeing yourself with a head separate from others denying your true nature the see enjoying both you see and uh and you see also when you grow up becoming self-conscious is you can frame it so positively becoming self-conscious is empathy is seeing yourself Through The Eyes of others it's a really good thing you see so you develop empathy uh which puts you in a box right then when you then when you see who you really are see your empathy for others goes deeper because now you see I'm aware of you Angelo and I'm reading your face now and you're nodding you see and because I've looked in the mirror and I've nodded and I know what that feels like and now I can look at you and I'm imagining those Sensations and I've got thoughts you see and they've told me they're in my head so you're not you must have thoughts in your head you see so I'm empathizing the theory of mind you know you're you're accepting the theory that others have separate minds and your mind is in a box behind the face separate you see now when I see that there's no box see uh then then I first of all I realized oh my God you know that so my thoughts are not in a box here they're sort of at large in the in the room in the world there at large I'm you know look for your mind at no mind just thoughts are rising like the trees you see so mind to no mind so then I think oh that must be the same for Angelo you see so let's I empathize you've got thoughts and feelings but your thoughts and feelings are not in a box for you they're rising in the Great Space you see so now I'm empathizing at a deeper level see and when I uh I hear your voice I hear my voice you see when when you're talking two voices in one Consciousness only one Consciousness you see and yet seemingly too I mean what a mystery see yeah that's a beautiful way to describe it and to really to positively frame these these sort of conventional experiences of self uh and to be able to embrace that once you see the the Deep truth that that's not really there you'll I here's a little story which you'll have heard in different ways I suppose and it's just a story you can only talk about these things in stories but uh before the beginning there was nothing nothing now you can't imagine that because if you're imagining it you're there anyway it's a story in the beginning it was not then suddenly God appeared or whatever you want to call the one God appeared and when oh my God how did I do that where where did I come from that whoa I mean for no reason no help no manual I've you know no one else has done it I mean I whoa that now not only wo but that is fantastic I mean no regrets right you know I don't know how I happen to be now but you know go for it here we go you see now when when you something happens to you good or bad but let's say good that's that's you you want to share it don't you you want to share it you see so it's a natural feeling of oh my God I am I've happened I am happening I want to share it but there's no one to share it with because I'm the one well you know being you know very clever having invented yourself you come up with a way of sharing what you do is you invent others now you say well how could how can you invent others I don't know I mean me you know but you know here we go you see and you invent others so that you can share with them your joy of being right now uh they have there are two things that are necessary for this sharing to really work you see one is that you really profoundly believe they other otherwise it's just a game right it doesn't it doesn't no not it doesn't work you've got to deeply be convinced that they are but as you're growing up you see when you're a baby no others no theory of mind all this social pressure and you buy it you see and you dismiss the other that you're the one you're the one now denying you're the one and you're a little right deeply deeply you see and that's the deal that it it doesn't work unless you fully go for it you know so then the other the other thing about uh it is that when you share something that's happened to you see say uh you share the the holiday you've been on and the person you're sharing with has never been to that place you see so it kind of works but it doesn't you know CU you know they don't know but then you meet someone who say oh yeah no I've been there oh oh right yeah and I stayed in this town oh my God you stay in that town you mean yeah and on that whoa not that that house is well what not in that oh my God the view from the window you see now you feel like you're really sharing right yeah yeah so now you see with you uh I am deeply convinced your other you see deeply and respect that is wonderful but now uh we are sharing the same nothingness the same being and I go and it's boundless in it you go yeah yeah yeah it is and it's Timeless isn't it yeah and everything's in you yeah you've the one now is sharing with another who knows what it's talking about Bingo and it's both both sides simultaneously yeah yeah that's right it's like if you had the opportunity to wear a mask to a Halloween party and and and you'd say oh I'd love to wear a mask and try different disguise and I said well if you went to this party though once you put the mask on you're going to forget that you're wearing the mask you're going to believe you're the character would you still go and you would say sure I'll go and you put the mask on and forget and everyone that walks into the party had the same deal but they're all the same nothingness they walk around discovering themselves in other forms and then sometimes realizing as the mask comes off you know and you've got to say that um I mean that is brilliant I mean that's just a brilliant invention in Consciousness the the ex not just the idea of many but the deep deep conviction of many I mean out of nothing out of one comes to many I mean how how how does that work but then that somehow or other although the deal has been that you forget you're wearing the mask and everyone forgets they wearing the mask at some point there's a glitch in The Matrix or at some point someone you at someone points like they did for me you know or at some point now that seems you know if it happens then it's built into the system isn't it yeah right that is so brilliant I mean you that is the the reason for getting is the joy of remembering the reason for leaving home is the joy of coming back you know yeah it makes it really comes back around to the heroes journey and all the archetypes and AR typle elements of the hero's journey that ultimately coming back home but with true knowledge with true you know one realizing one's true nature everything looks different and everything looks the same and what a wonderful trip all the way around even when you were lost and suffering well as a grateful Dad said what a long strange trip it's been yes that's right yes do you mind do you mind walking us through maybe just a five to 10 minute it's a simple primer for anyone watching who wants to do it if if if it's if you're comfortable with it who wants to right now watching YouTube watching you point you know in a in a basic way if they don't know this process yeah I'd love to all right so to the viewer um this is a pointing out know the Tibetans have pointing out instructions I think they do but this is a pointing out and then a pointing in instruction you see so what it's it's directing your attention see Buddhism the heart of Buddhism is attention mindfulness brilliant so what do you do viewer and uh hopefully you're on your own or you'll be going to be very embarrassed because I'm going to ask you to do some very childlike things you see so what you do is you point at something see and you look down your finger and you look at what you're pointing at there you go and it's a thing it's an object it's got color and shape then you could point at your other hand see so you're looking for yourself you don't have to understand how your hand works or all of that and you see your hand now you point back at the place you're looking out of now what do you find where you're pointing and I say I don't see a head here I don't see any colors or shapes my I just see my finger pointing into nothing see and then I might say well just hold your hands like this you see so these are always ways are guiding your attention back to the space so you see your hands you see a gap between your hands and I've got the computer between my hands now slowly bring them past your head and watch them get bigger and bigger and then the fingers disappear see and the hands disappear I into the great void and then you bring them forward and they come out of nothing see magic magic and then someone might say to me well so what you see well I say well I'm with you so if the viewer is looking at me you see you I have your face now given in my no face see so when you're looking at me just notice you don't I mean I assume you don't see two faces yours and mine you just see mine and your space for me and empty for me I'm putting words on this nonverbal experience see so uh then I might say to be all right I'll take I'll if you want a little guided meditation here's one yeah you up for it yes okay all right so I start visually then go into nonvisual and I'm going to draw your attention to three aspects of the visual field so the pointing one more thing it's a metaphor a gesture pointing out and pointing in so the viewer could do the two-way pointing gestures so that's out and in it's just a very useful idea The View out is full of things the view in is no thing movement Stillness space no face but there's no dividing line between the view out and the view in see just a provisional thing all right so the view out is what you're looking at from the nothing and I'd like you to notice three things about the view out first of all whether it's inside anything so if you look at any object I'm looking at a bottle on the table it's surrounded by other things visually and anything you look at has got a background so I call it it's got a hard Edge it's not really hard but a clear boundary and it's surrounded all the way around by the things so it's in the room it's it's in the world in the view now be aware of the whole field of view so you just got to sort of look ahead and relax and it's called Uh sof eyes in martial arts or wide eyy or panoramic so you see the whole field of view and it fades out so you'll notice I think whatever you're looking at the object any object in the view you're looking at is dead center in the middle of the field of view and most in focus and then as you become aware of the periphery it fades out more and more until it just disappears and that I call a soft Edge and I say so do you find anything around that soft Edge I mean blue objects or green I don't there's just nothing above it nothing below it nothing to the left nothing to the right you see so the whole view is not contained the whole view is just kind of floating in the middle of Consciousness or nothing see so that's the first thing it's not contained uncontained second thing to notice is that uh how big it is so when you look at if you take two objects again within the view you can compare their size so one is bigger or smaller than the other more or less any two objects is relative you know bigger or smaller or roughly the same size then you go back to the whole View and you ask yourself how big is the whole view well there is not a second one to compare it with I don't find a second view on the right and say oh well this one's bigger than no single single or as they say incomparable it can't you can't compare it because it right because there's nothing to compare it with see so how big is the whole well I can't say it bigger or smaller it's as big at the moment though I like to say is now as big as my kitchen or at night it's as big as thousands of stars it's just big but it's not bigger anyway so not inside anything and it uh you can't say how big it is and the other one uh is where is it see and then we'll go into the non-verbal uh so this for the viewer it's just uh just encouraging you to be curious and to take a fresh look at what is like to be you see so we start visually so the third one is you look at two objects and you can measure estimate a difference between a distance between them and then two other object different distance so actually I got a ruler out because I think Brian sort of did this one with you and this is I mean it is wild I love this one it's so outrageous so here's if you can see I've got a ruler you see so I'm going to measure across the view right you know between the bottle and the lamp is so many inches and I'm going to measure vertically between the top of the computer and the bottom right now I'm going to measure well let's say I measure between your head and the the the lamp you see it's so many inches now I'm going to measure between your face and me all right so I I so I I place the zero on your face right and then I swing it round to measure and you'll see the ruler gets thin narrow and you know shorter and shorter and shorter until when I get right round it's a point and they know where to measure from that's that's genius isn't it I mean it is that is just there's no distance or infinite distance you see it have no where is it no address nowhere to measure from you see right so now we go into closed ey so uh if the viewer closes their eyes um and you'll notice that on Pres evidence you just made the room disappear now if you open your eyes you make the room reappear magic that's the power one of the many powers of the first person as third person you see nothing happens to the world from outside but from inside it sh car or some I make the world a spirit now I make it reappear I mean so now you know destroy the room close your eyes and you'll be aware of a kind of Darkness I suppose with specs of right now ask yourself I'm going to take you through the you know uh sounds and Sensations and thoughts and feelings so startop with the darkness and ask yourself so how big is the darkness well there isn't a second to compare it with see so how wide is that Darkness well you know Society will say it's 8 Ines across and it's behind your eyes all right get that from outside but for me it not behind anything I can't say it's as wide as East is from West see so can't say how big it is nothing isn't a second Darkness to compare it with second is it contained is it inside anything no nothing above it not in a box not it's just floating in Consciousness if you like just in the middle of nothing and where is it how far away is it well from where you see anywhere you see I mean oops so uh then let's move uh to Body Sensations and um imagine you're a newborn baby to put it this helps you put aside what society's told you what you've learned so you're newborn baby and you haven't looked you haven't even opened your eyes you haven't looked in the mirror you don't understand language you have no idea of what you look like and uh but you've got these Sensations you see now as an adult if I say well be aware of your right hand well you've learned to connect the image of your hand with those Sensations so that's really useful because I can say be aware of your right hand or your left foot or your head see and your attention can move around see so but that is kind of learned labeling which is very useful but let's say you're just a baby you've not learned the labels yet you've not learned language those are just Sensations and if you aware of your whole let's say field of sensation ation what people sometimes called a cloud of sensation to get away from the image of a body I think sort of a morphous thing this cloud of sensation you see how big is it well there is not a second field or cloud of sensation to compare it with for size is the only one in town see and uh what shape is it see what does it have a a shape a boundary a clear edge with things Beyond it you know is it inside are you inside anything see I said no I'm not no the sensations of floating in this bound is nothing just like the darkness see in the same nothing so I can't say how big I am and this is very relaxing uh yeah so then uh this is moving quite quickly I would do this slower you know in a longer time frame go to the sounds the field of sound all the sounds going on and uh loud ones soft ones distant ones I suppose now is the field of sound inside any container well I say no I don't perceive a container there it's arising all the sounds arising in silence like the darkness is arising in the space like the sensations arising in this space so the sounds and I say that the sound are coming out of this silence and going back into it so that silence is evidently very creative it's not a dead s very fertile and um Society has told me that some sounds are outside and some are inside uh very useful you see so if I've got ringing in the ears I can tell the doctor and I know that no one else can hear it see so I've learned that uh but if I just go by what my experience is now is the ringing in my ears inside and Angela's voice outside I don't find a Divine way it's all happening in me in this one silence see and so that's why I say you know two voices in one Consciousness or or the Consciousness speaking with two voices or the you now listening speaking with Richard's voice yeah there you go two voices all right so then uh let's go to thoughts and feelings and uh I could ask the viewer just to you know presuming youve got your eyes closed viewer and uh just start counting from one slowly number so you get a thought going an image of imagine the number numbers and even you could say them subvocally to yourself and imagine it you know just be aware of each number has meaning that seven have has a different meaning from 13 or whatever you see or however old you are would have a different meaning so there are thoughts and feelings associated with the numbers see arising and let's say that you've got commentary going and judgments and straight thoughts let me call that the field of mind now see all those changing thoughts and feelings unpredict predictable how big is the whole field of Mind well there is not a second to compare it with see single so I I I can't say big mind see now where is it does it is it inside anything that mind no it's just arising in the Great Space arising out of that fertile no mind Who Is He And if uh you I had an anxious thought would that affect the space no see the no mind is absolutely free unconditioned capacity for all this incredible creativity of thoughts feelings sounds Sensations darkness and anything else and this is who we all really are you see and uh is our blessing and is freely available in the moment now because you are it and and uh uh yeah so um I'd probably just say to people just pause don't do anything you know just pause for a moment and recogn you know you you are seeing and being who you really are do I understand how all this works do I understand what the space is [Music] no and uh when I'm doing uh running groups and stuff I'll I'll invite people now to you know now you describe it and now you say I am the space and then we all say yes you are you see we affirm it in public or even I the latest one of the more recent things is I get people to say I am statements I am space for everything in the first stage that people would do would respond it's call and response they'd say yes you are so they affirm what has not been affirmed I'm affirming now to the viewer you are the one you are space for the world see and then the next little thing is to say when someone says I am space for the world instead of saying yes you are you say yes I yes I am and then it's the one speaking to itself celebrating its own mysterious being you see so and then after a little pause I might say well take a deep breath you see and then recreate the world open your eyes and now the world has appeared in the nothing complete with thoughts and feelings and Sensations and this this conversation and Magic see magic yeah it was beautiful very powerful ah very formless yeah yeah I think that's gonna gonna really Point people pretty directly even through the video you are the one so how how do people find um other resources of yours or what there Retreats or workshops or online or what would you recommend we've our website is head. org and so lots on there and you see a link to our video channel where we've got few hundred videos uh on YouTube and we've also got little app free free app The Headless way and we have free Zoom meetings for anyone interested in the this and if people can you know contact me through the website my email address I'm happy for you to put that out I will send you the uh link to the page with all the information on and they'll because there's an online community and there are meetings every day and I I go as many as often as I can because it's hanging out with my friends who are enjoying their true nature and sharing it from their unique points of view uh so that's those are our our our ways of making contact yeah wonderful well man I appreciate your time and the conversation and the pointing and I appreciate your service to true nature or all these years a delight to meet you Angelo and to share the one with you very much so it was really really wonderful yeah yeah uh okay so I'll have all those links underneath the video and um hopefully you'll meet some some of the viewers here uh maybe on a zoom or who knows how so thanks so much for your time it's been a it's been a pleasure thank you Angelo thank you

Channel: Simply Always Awake

Views: 8,450

Keywords: advaita, advaita vedanta, awake it's your turn, awakening, awakening you, awakenings 2021, buddhism, enlightenment, kensho, non duality, non duality buddhism, non duality consciousness, non duality explained, nonduality, nonduality actualized, nonduality teachers, self inquiry, simply always awake, simply awake, zen

Id: Stt7thdg1jk

Length: 66min 52sec (4012 seconds)

Published: Sat May 25 2024