October 3, 2019

September Satsang Gems (from our weekly Sunday online meetings)

Fred Davis

The one who wants to break free is the imagined character. There is no liberation, because there is no bondage.
Which is closer to the truth of your experience, the thought “I am” or the felt sense of being? You don’t know who or what you are. You know that you are, and have a sense of being, but you can’t find an owner to it; you cannot confirm the presence of an “I.”
You can’t suffer unless you think you know who you should be or what should be happening. I don’t even know what I am – that’s freedom.
The way to cease suffering is to notice which way the wind is blowing and be willing to move in that direction.
If you want to know the truth, close your eyes, carefully examine the content of your mind; note what it is you think should be happening. Then open your eyes and notice what is actually happening. If the two versions are not in agreement, then you are in the wrong.
The clearing process continues indefinitely. Unit overwhelm still occasionally occurs here according to the following algorithm: the initial belief that there is a Fred arises, followed by Fred thinking there is a problem, followed by the belief that it needs to be fixed. All this reinforces the separate ego identification, and suffering ensues.
Fred’s four ignoble truths: (1) we make stuff up; (2) we believe that illusion; (3) we suffer because of that belief; (4) we come to spirituality to overcome the suffering that results from our delusion.
Bring alertness to “unskillful” patterns (e.g., eating too much, watching T.V.), and let go of the guilt, shame and blame, which only serve to reinforce those patterns. I’ve come to have very low expectations of this unit. It does what it does. If I can’t accept this body/mind, then I certainly won’t be able to accept the world.
If you notice you’re asleep, you’re not actually asleep because that which is noticing is not asleep.
Gratitude is the hallmark of awakening. If you are not in state of gratitude, it means you are not awake to this current set of arisings.
“To die before you die” means recognizing that you are the absolute: unborn, unbound and untouched. You are also the character, part of that totality. As the character, you are also unborn, in that you are an emanation of your mind, a conglomeration of thought, an imaginary character: unborn and without death.