Welcome to satsang.

Today’s topic is the Hidden Principle. If you can grasp this principle today, you will have quite a few incidents of greater insight.

Let’s start this way. One of the questions that people ask, and sometimes don’t ask but it’s always there in the background, is this: “I know that all teachings say we are one with everything, and yet nobody can feel what I feel, think what I think. Nobody can know even my taste in tea, how I like to dress, how I feel when I talk to people, because it’s totally unique. So how can I not feel separate?”

Please pay attention, because this hidden principle is a powerful understanding. It is true that we are dictated by everything that we believe, our thought patterns. In fact, we create our own world. Our whole world is made up of what we believe and what we think. We are a product of that. We attract people, circumstances, events, and our whole social structure because of the story of who we think we are. Psychiatrists and therapists tell you that you are a product of what you believe, what your thought patterns are; they say that if you can change those patterns, you can change.

But there is one thing missing in all this, one thing that is missed in most therapies - that this is not true. You are not a product of what you believe and what you think, because you are not an ego. You are free! You are untouched by anything, unless you believe it to be true. But when you get in touch with this essence that we are going to talk about tonight, this hidden principle, you are going to understand why we do what we do, and why people do and think the way they do.

This hidden principle, we’ll call it “unconditional love,” is the greatest driving force that there is. Think of every drive that you have. Every urge, every desire, every passion is a longing for unconditional love. And unconditional love is that sense of being free, being who you are, although we don’t know what that is.

This driving force of unconditional love is great, and there is one thing in particular about it that is very powerful. This unconditional love, this essence, this hidden principle in us has a desire to express. Again, everything that we are compelled to do, every desire, every act, every movement comes from this. But what happens? Here we begin to understand the dynamics of behavior. We feel this urge, we feel this passion, we feel this longing, and we see it as a need. It is this need that creates all the dysfunction and suffering in the world. So we can say that unconditional love creates all the suffering in the world, because it is misunderstood.

We can define it two ways. This unconditional love IS, and it has a desire to express. When we feel this longing to express it, since we are identified with the body and the external world, we seek it outside. We seek it through relationships, money, power, worldly gain, and so forth. But of course this can never be fulfilled. Bill Gates is a billionaire, and he still wants more! You can never fill this need because it is not external, it is not of the world. It IS. It is already here, now. So you go about seeking to fulfill a need that can never be fulfilled. There is always a gnawing feeling there, always a feeling that you are missing something, as if something was wrong with you. It eats away at you, and the more you seek it, the worse it gets.

Did you ever ask yourself why people act so dysfunctional, why people get so depressed, angry, frustrated and confused? What is all this negativity? Listen to it - listen to a negative feeling, and what is it saying? All negativity is saying one thing, “I don’t have what I want. I can’t have what I want.” That’s all it is. All of it is saying that.

So we have a longing for this unconditional love, but we are trying to find it out there, which cannot be fulfilled, so we begin to feel desperate. Like Goethe said, “Men live lives of quiet desperation,” because they are not in touch with this unconditional love that they are. It can never be fulfilled, unless you look at your own pain.

You cannot look at love, because unconditional love is unconditional. [laughs] It’s beyond desire, beyond need, beyond anything! It just IS. So when you try to get in touch with it, it feels like a void, an emptiness. You feel like you’re drowning. It scares the hell out of the ego. It feels like dying. It doesn’t want to have anything to do with it.

So instead of feeling that unconditional love and getting in touch with it, you want to find it outside. “I want to find somebody to love me.” Loneliness, depression, anger, frustration - all this is the same thing. “I want this.” It’s not satisfying; it’s not fulfilling. There is always something missing.

If we were only to listen to the prompting of this unconditional love that we are really seeking, and ask this question, “What is this cry for love, for freedom, and a better life? Where is it coming from?”

When you get in touch with the feeling, with that part of you that is in pain, right now, you see that it is a cry, a desire for it to get to know itself. If you seek love, if you go after love, you are going to be disappointed. And we are all old enough and have had enough experiences to know this as a fact. And one of the worst things we do all the time is when there is pain, fear or depression, is to try to run away from it. We try to get rid of it. That’s the first thing we do!

And all that negativity is saying, “I’m not getting what I have - what I have is already within me.” But we don’t know that. If we were to stop and get in touch with the very pain that we are trying to get away from, we will find that the pain is nothing more than unconditional love itself. The thing we are running away from is the very thing we are longing for desperately.

I would like to ask you a question, and please feel out what your answer will be. “If something inside you feels like a very strong urge for love, how do you interpret it?” [pause] 98 percent of the time, you interpret that as a need. That’s what loneliness is. That’s what seeking a relationship is. That’s what the feeling of missing something is. And as long as we go out of our way to fulfill this need by seeking, it never works. It simply never works.

Why does unconditional love feel empty? Because it is without conditions, empty of need, desire, want, and craving. All it wants is to express itself. When the spiritually awakened feel this need for love, this longing, they get in touch with it. They allow it to be. It’s as simple as that.

The moment you allow it, you find that you are the very love you’ve been wanting all along. And it’s always present, always there eternally as you. But it has nothing to do with your ego. It has nothing to do with your past. It has nothing to do with your conditioning. It is the YOU that is conscious, now. It is your very silence, your very awareness itself. That’s why it’s called the hidden principle. It’s hidden because nobody is aware of it.

The beautiful Tony Parsons, who is an incredibly beautiful and enlightened man, called it the “open secret;” “open” because it’s everywhere, and “secret” because nobody knows about it. He wrote an incredible book about it.

Now I’d like to repeat, there is this urge inside you that is always seeking, seeking, seeking, always seeking something. When you get in touch with it, you’ll find that it’s not as much of a need as you think it is. It is ITSELF, wanting to express.

How happy we are when we find something to love in the moment. And for a few moments we feel complete because we are in touch with that essence. When you look at a baby, for a few moments you feel such love! You are love expressing, and now there’s no urge, no need, no craving, no longing - you are! Because at that moment, IT is expressing.

This unconditional love needs to express. Again, it is not a need per se, it is simply the part of you embodied in form that yearns to go home. When you allow it to be, you will find that you are the very thing you wanted, already home. That’s what awakening is. You don’t go anyplace, you don’t achieve anything. It’s just that you have listened. That’s the word - you have listened.

Needs create a belief in lack, as if something is missing and has to be achieved, a void that needs to be filled, felt as loneliness, fear, a sense of loss. But it only comes in the form of pain because you are not in touch with it, you haven’t listened to it. So it comes as a need, as fear, and that’s why you need to embrace the fear. Welcome it.

We are going to see as we progress, how beautiful it is to get in touch with that beauty in you, and how you can do it in every moment. Really what we are asking is, what is the difference between desperate loneliness, which everybody suffers from until they awaken, and peace of mind? I know I have suffered from tremendous loneliness. At times I thought I was going insane, so I know what it feels like. Do you know it’s a fine line between the two, loneliness and peace of mind? It’s all interpretation. That’s all it is. Isn’t that a kick in the pants? It’s just an interpretation of the mind.

Next time you feel lonely, rejected or unloved, instead of trying to get rid of the feeling or indulging in self-pity, turn to the feeling inside and see where it is coming from before you react. There has to be that willingness, because the moment you react, you’re caught! It takes even stronger willingness! The point is to see it coming. And it gives you warning signals. What is the warning signal? When you stop to think. That is the warning signal. You see?

Remember that reaction blinds you. So stay with the feeling, locate its source, and see that it is nothing more than a great need for unconditional love. “I want to be loved for who I am, just the way I am. Don’t love me because I’ve done this, or I’ve done that. I want to be loved for who I am.” That is natural, you see? And that is true love. Love is not based on the condition that you look beautiful on the outside. I love you because you are a part of me. You and I are the same “I,” consciousness.

So when you ask, “What is this need? Where is this coming from?” You will find that it is you, yourself. It is interpreted as a need because of conditioned worldly beliefs. What are these conditioned worldly beliefs? They are beliefs in getting, rather than being.

This urge moves inside; “I want to do something about it! I want to call someone! I want to embrace, make love to someone!” That’s OK. But you think it’s out there, you see? And the moment it becomes a need, you are trying to get something. Then you wonder why you are lost. So you have to turn it from a “getting” into a “being.” That’s all - just BE with it.

The greatest blessing you have is your emotional pain. You never heard this, did you? That’s a blessing, because it’s a cry inside to go home. That’s all it is. Listen to it, and as you begin to listen to it and stay with it, you are removing that need to get and learning just to BE.

I had a client recently who has been suffering tremendous panic attacks. She feels choking sensations to the point that she feels that she is going to die. I had to ask her at one point, “Are you willing to re-experience this feeling to see what you can learn from this? You don’t need to go into the past. We can stay with it.” She agreed although she had never done this before, and she had been to many psychiatrists and had been taking psychiatric drugs So she felt anxious as she was lying down. I said, “Whatever you feel, express it.” She said, “Yes, I am feeling very anxious. I can hardly breathe.” I said, “OK, now be anxious. Invite this anxiety. Stay with it, please. For a moment, hold your breath and resist completely.” And after a while, she got it. As she resisted completely, she found she couldn’t keep it any more. There was an explosion. I told her, “OK, now breathe from the throat and let go. How does it feel?” And immediately she began to get the idea. As you stay with the feeling and breathe into it, experiencing it, you’ll actually reach a different state of being the moment you stop resisting and allow it. Needless to say, she had a wonderful experience for the first time in many years.

So if you listen closely to this so-called need, it will shift automatically into here-now peace. Why? Because that’s all it was in the first place. It was just misinterpreted.

All our experiences - all of them - are a reflection of this hidden principle, which is constantly, constantly inviting us to remember what and who we really are. So what we call negative experiences, from just feeling bad to outright despair, is simply how we resist this hidden principle.

Now remember that this need comes very strongly, but we don’t see it. I had a gentleman here about two weeks ago who said that one morning before going to work, he felt very lonely, as he had just broken off a relationship, and was feeling a great need for love. Then he remembered what we had discussed in class. He said, “There is a tremendous need for love because I am feeling this loneliness right now.” And a part of him said, “Yes, there is this need, and I can’t help it. It’s just a need for love. But I am love.” And from that moment, he went to work whistling, feeling happy and was high all day. That’s all it takes.

This need, if not seen for what it is, can destroy all that we have built in our lives. The alcoholic, the drug addict, the kleptomaniac, the hypochondriac, the pyromaniac, the paranoiac, the failure, the criminal, the sadist, the masochist, the victim, the unhappy camper and so on, are all the misinterpretation of this hidden principle.

The Course says, “There is only love, nothing else but love.” So when we feel fear and ugliness, war and violence, it is a misinterpretation of this love. What is a misinterpretation of love? “I am rejected.” “Nobody loves me.” “Nobody wants me.” “There is something wrong with me.” “I am alone.” “I am unloved.” As you keep dwelling on that, it becomes a need for power. This need for power can lead to violence, control, having to get your own way. We are talking about external power, because this hidden principle is power itself. But when it’s misinterpreted, it seeks outside proof of power.

So at this point, we have to ask an important question, “How does unconditional love translate into a need? Why does this unconditional love become such a great need? Why is it always coming out as a need?” You see, when we took on this body, all we knew is identification with the body, with form. It’s natural. So the instinct of survival is our first principle. There is no awareness. We never ask, “What is this energy that is keeping me alive?” We don’t ask to be born. We don’t ask, “Who’s breathing me? Who’s beating my heart?” We don’t ask! We just take it all for granted.

When the urge for survival is satisfied, when we have shelter and food, relationships, friends, and our social standing is established, then we know there is something deeper that we need to satisfy. Then we go into a religion. We look for some philosophy, some dogma. But most wars are based on religions and beliefs. That, too, doesn’t give us total peace.

So this drive that is eating at us, this longing is always present. The best way to picture this unconditional love, this powerful, no-thing state that cannot be pictured, is as a vortex of tremendous energy inside you. This vortex of energy needs to express itself.

Why do you think you want to be better? Why do you think you want success? Why do you think you want to improve? Who’s doing it? It’s in all of us! We all want to feel important; we are all driven to make something out of our lives. Why? Because of this tremendous energy within that is striving to express itself through you. When this energy is stifled, and it is stifled most of the time, we call it emotional dysfunction. That’s all it is! The more you try to run away from it, the greater the suffering. That’s what insanity is, trying to run away from yourself, betraying yourself. This cry for love can only be expressed by getting in touch with it.

This incredible energy locked inside you has to try to express itself. The desire for expression is a natural, unconscious drive which is never questioned. All great teachings, especially the Course in Miracles and advaita vedanta, make this very clear through the atonement, through direct experience. They tell us to always be still and listen. Listen to everything and accept everything.

Never call anything “bad” or “good,” because it is simply a judgment. Nothing is “good” or “bad.” It IS. The moment you make something “good,” in your mind, you have made something “bad.” The opposite always applies. So in your mind nothing is “bad” or “good,” “right” or “wrong.” There is only what IS. Listen to what is. What is it trying to tell you?

As you begin to listen to it, inner guidance will start to work through you. Everything I say to you now, either most of you know it already as a fact, or you will come to know it through your own inner guidance. This inner guidance points the way so lucidly, so clearly, that you can have no doubt whatever that what you are hearing now IS the truth. It is not a religion or a belief. It is the way it is.

This hidden principle is attempting to get your attention. It is unconditional love expressing itself. But when we are not in touch with it, it becomes an external need. This need reveals itself in the ludicrous seeking of oneself in objects. We haven’t listened to this hidden principle because of two things. First, no one told us where to look. Second, we didn’t want to listen. Usually it is that we don’t want to listen because of that part of us that is conditioned to believe you are your accomplishments, degrees, education. That is ego.

But who you are is this moment. If you see yourself as this moment, you might say, “Is that all? That’s all I am? Just this moment?” But this moment is everything. There is no such thing as a vacuum. If you want to know the answer to anything, just quiet the mind and listen to silence. The answer will be there. The mind says, “How? How? How? I want an answer in words!” And that’s why we don’t listen.

But think of all the times when something became clear to you, out of the blue. It always comes during moments of silence. Next time you have a big problem, something that really bothers you, get up early in the morning. Go to the beach and watch the sun rise. Just keep observing. Sit on the bench with a quiet mind and look at the water. Tell yourself, “OK, I’ll think about my problem in an hour from now,” and for right now, just be silent. You’ll be amazed. You’ll walk home in an hour finding either that the problem was not as big as you thought it was, or that the solution was waiting there for you. The solution is always in silence. It is never in words. It is never in the way that the mind conceives it. That’s why the Course says that the Holy Spirit is the only answer.

So we have not listened to the eternal state within unconditional love. We have gone in search of it instead of being it. It is as simple as that. So now, the next question is, “How do we listen and look at this unconditional love?” How do we do it?

Visualize the following. There is a group of people here. The first thing we do, because we look from a vantage point of “me,” is to see separation, because we identify with the body. But now let’s assume that you have clairvoyant powers. Let’s just assume that. I don’t have clairvoyant powers, but I have known people who have. They see colors, auras, and tremendous energies. They have authenticated this as a fact.

So right now, just for a moment, feel that you have these powers and visualize beams of energy that connect us, like a grid. This is a fact. We all are feeling each other right now. We’re all feeling this energy. We’re all connected. When you are very silent and very quiet, be still to the point where there is no “you” any more, and there is only this moment. In this moment, everything becomes one. Everything is connected, interrelated, interdependent. [silent pause]

When you begin to see or feel your connection with others, even minutely, there is an immediate shift in you. Immediately you begin to feel love. Selfishness, greed, the need to control, and negative feelings cannot exist at that moment. It is not possible. The reason they exist is because we still want some control. We still want to assert who we think we are. By belittling or judging you, I can make myself look and feel better about myself.

In an interview with Tony Parsons, he was asked, “In your book, you mentioned the open secret. Where did this expression come from?” He answered, “When I walked across the park, one of the most amazing and liberating things that was seen was that everything was the ground of unconditional love. There is nothing which is not sacred. Regardless of whatever state I might be in, I saw that grace was continuously available. Look, here’s the secret,” he said. He took off his sweater and threw it on the ground in front of the people. He said, “Look here is the secret. In the dream, we see a separate object,” he said, pointing to the sweater. “When there is no illusory separate self, the ground of unconditional love is seen. This is what is always open and available to us, moment to moment. There is nothing that is not the ground of this natural unity. The secret is that there is no separation, and it remains a secret as long as we believe we are someone.”

He was asked, “How can I see that?” He said, “You can’t see it until you stop looking for it and simply let what is, be there.” “How can I do that?” He said, “You cannot do it. But you can be open to the suggestion that it can happen. Allow awareness to simply rest in what is. Simply allow what is, and the ground of love will emerge to embrace you. It is always ready and willing, like the eternal lover, to welcome you into the infinite. It is that simple, exactly as you are, this moment is the divine expression.”

I would like to quote you from the Course, that this moment is the greatest love. We miss it because when this unconditional love wants to express, we go in search of it. It is so subtle. The moment you seek it, it becomes a need and you’ve lost it. But you never lose anything; it’s just misinterpretation. That’s called “ego.” You always bring it to the surface.

This is what the Course says, “In the Holy Instant, you recognize the love in you and unite this idea with the source that thought it and could not relinquish it. The Holy Instant thus becomes a lesson in how to hold all of your brothers in your mind, experiencing not loss, but completion. From this, it follows you can only give. And this is love. And for this alone is natural under the law of God.” There it is, complete.

The “Holy Instant” refers to the fact that this moment itself is that space, that energy, this hidden principle, this unconditional love - this is what the here and now is. This is what the “I” is. When you say “I,” stop for a moment and trace it back to where you think it is. Anytime you say it, “I am doing this.” Stop for a moment - what did you mean by “‘I’ am doing this”? Feel out that word, and you will find that there is no such thing as “I.” It doesn’t exist at all. It’s nowhere to be found. The one who said, “I” is the universe in you.

Your awareness has nothing to do with your ego at all. It is the totality of life, aware of itself through you. See? Through you. But all the time you bring it back to this small, contracted state, going back to your beliefs, thoughts, conditioning, and everything else. You can break free of this. Your nature is free! Unconditional love means you are free here and now. That’s called the “Kingdom of God.” Thoughts cannot affect you because they are not who you are. Beliefs cannot affect you. I remember I used to think when I studied psychology that I have to be careful what to believe because it’s going to be me, it’s going to become me. And of course it would! Because that’s what I believe. [laughs] You see, I am a product of what I believe because I give it power.

Then you realize you are not that belief, you are not that thought; that’s just ego conditioning from your past. You are free! Totally free from everything! And when you realize that and start to get in tune with that, freedom becomes great joy that is always present. You are love, you are guiltless, you are unconditioned.

Do you want to know the secret of a holy relationship? Yes! [talking in a comic voice] [people laugh] Listen to this inner prompting, whether it is a need for love known as fear, or an expression of it. Do you want to know the secret of a happy, long life? Listen to this inner prompting, whether it is a need for love known as fear, or an expression of it. Do you want to know the secret of a spiritually awakened life? Listen to this inner prompting, whether it is a need for love known as fear, or an expression of it. Do you want to know the secret of accomplishment - playing piano, violin, making art? Listen to this inner prompting, whether it is a need for love known as fear, or an expression of it. We can go on and go, but I think you’ve heard enough. In other words, everything you want is THAT. When you begin to feel that you don’t have it, that’s called “negative output,” fear.

We have only one choice. You know, one of the things that everybody believes in the beginning is that we have so many choices! So many choices. Eventually we begin to wake up very slowly, to realize that there are only two choices: to follow what is true, or follow what is false. Then we come back to another choice, for who in his right mind wants what is false?

So it follows that there is one choice only. We want only what is true. Then when you follow what is true, you realize you never had a choice! [laughs] What choice do you have when there is only what is true? Because what is true, the Course says, is Truth. That which is truth is true. What choice do you have? You see? And the moment you realize that you have no choice, you are IT. It is that simple.

But you have to realize it, you see? It’s got to take you over, that there is nothing else but THAT! And then, the unconditional love that you wanted so desperately begins to flower like a fragrance, because it’s always been there, but now you’ve given it a chance by surrendering to it. Surrender is not something you do. Surrender is realizing that there is nothing else.

Life is not cruel. Life is unconditional love. War, depravity, massacres, man’s inhumanity to man, are nothing more than a misinterpretation of unconditional love. Life is all of love. It’s all love! But we go through tremendous pain to uncover it. Think of how many religions have fought each other and created wars and massacres. Think of the time when the Muslims were killing all the Hindus and the Hindus were killing all the Muslims. It’s amazing - they were shooting at each other, like the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, and now in Jerusalem, the Jews against the Palestinians. This is going on all the time. Religion is supposed to be love!

But what happens is that it becomes a need. You cannot own that which is unconditional. You cannot set conditions to it. The moment you set conditions to it, you limit it. The moment you limit it, it becomes dysfunctional. You see? So all suffering, all of it, is nothing more than a misinterpretation of the God that is us. As we learn through guidance to listen to this pain, this pain reveals itself to be nothing more than love itself. There’s nothing else but that.

The most beautiful thing I have read in the Course is its explanation of this, “There is only love or fear. But that which is all-encompassing can have no opposite, and that is love.”

Our talents, experiences and functions are nothing more than this hidden principle expressing itself. There’s nothing more beautiful than that, because each one of us is a unique expression of this unconditional love. The moment you allow this expression to happen, you begin to flower in what you love to do. You see? It doesn’t matter what it is.

Every one of us has a talent. What is a talent? Unconditional love, expressing. But the moment you think it is you who is doing it, then you suffer. Unfortunately, I have seen this in the great stars of Hollywood, in great musicians, great artists; they suffer so much because they think, “I have this talent.” And they do - but it is just their expression. They don’t offer gratitude to what is within them, that they are a channel for it. That’s when drugs look attractive. Because it’s “me” - “I” am doing it! So in order to keep up the energy and keep the drive going, they destroy themselves with substances. Einstein was one who realized that it is just working through him. During a moment of total silence and relaxation, the theory of relativity came through. He recognized that it had nothing to do with him as an ego. It is a power, you see?

When black people felt oppressed, especially during the great depression in the 30’s, they developed jazz, the music of freedom. And according to history nobody suffered like they did, especially during that time. You see, you can’t help it - that need for love and freedom is there. And when you are oppressed, and you get in touch with that oppression because there is nowhere to go, no escape, then you have to deal with it. You can become a criminal and fight, and destroy yourself, or you can deal with it. The moment you deal with it, you develop strength. The moment you realize there is no escape, there is a flowering. But you see, what happens with us is we think we can escape the pain, that we can escape fear. And that’s the worst hell. You can’t escape yourself. But the moment you get in touch with it, the moment you listen to it, you’ll find it to be nothing more than unconditional love itself, yearning to express through you. When you realize the glory of this hidden principle, which is unconditional love and freedom, then you see clearly that you have never chosen anything or done anything, but that life has lived you.

Just as I have never stopped the sea or moved the earth and sun, so I have never moved away from my beloved hidden principle - and it is my beloved, who is forever unconditionally loving and eternally free. And only in accepting my divine helplessness - this is the key - can I surrender to this divine hidden principle and let it guide my life.

I’d like to show you step by step how you can begin to experience this hidden principle, the unconditional love that you are. First there has got to be the willingness to go through the pain and not escape from it - the willingness to learn from it. If you have the slightest idea of getting rid of it, you’re already working from the wrong premise. Get rid of nothing! It’s there because life is intelligent. It’s there because you are thinking out of lack. Get in touch with it.

How do you get in touch with it? Invite it in. Invite it. “OK, come on, depression. I want to be depressed. I want to see what you’re trying to tell me. I want to listen to you. I want to hear. What are you trying to tell me? Let me be one with you.” Make friends with it. Listen to the feeling as it is, without any judgment, without resisting it. This is important because all pain is resistance. “I don’t want it. I just don’t want it!” You see? Not realizing that we are escaping the very thing that can liberate you. And see that this so-called emotional pain is nothing more than a longing for wholeness.

Did you know that? Listen to the pain. It is a cry for help. It is a longing for wholeness. But if you listen to it, you’ll find that it is wholeness itself. Wholeness is unconditional love. When you realize that you’ve been longing for who you really are, which is unconditional love, then you have found yourself. When you have found yourself, you know who you are.

We have many words, “Oh, you are love, you are this or that,” but these are just concepts. These are just words. You have to experience it through that which you have been trying to avoid. Then you know it beyond a fact. Then you see that all the words you have been hearing in satsang are facts, not just theories. But as long as you claim, “I am love, I am light,” and then run away from fear, you are just playing a game.

Is there anything that needs clarification or elaboration?

Q: I am just realizing how, in an intimate relationship, it’s so much more about acceptance than it is about love.

A: What is the difference between acceptance and love?

Q: Well, I don’t really believe in love, I guess. It’s just when you can accept the other, unconditional love is instantly there.

A: In the moment, acceptance and love are exactly the same. When we talk about different qualities that are positive, remember they are words. They are nothing but words. Ultimately, all they are is being here. Totally here. Acceptance, love, forgiveness, all the positive traits. It doesn’t matter what you call it. It’s all “love.” But we have an idea of what love is. So get away from the word, OK? As a matter of fact, a very good idea which has always helped me is to think of nothing, emptiness. Just nothing; just here. And when you begin to understand what “here” means, you will see that nothing is apart from here. So even pain, HERE, is also love. But forget the word “love.” OK? Forget this word. Just HERE. Everything HERE. And when you stay with HERE, you’re open. And when you’re open, you’re outside your ego. You’re not caught in it. You see? You’re HERE.

Right now, you’re having a fight. There’s a need to run away, to slam the door, to get control, to win, and all this is called “pain.” This is resistance. This is an escape from now. Be here, and embrace it and accept it. See, this is what is happening now. This is the action now. Don’t call it “bad” or “good.” This is what is - now. Stay with that and you’ll find immediately that there is a need for acceptance. Why do you think we argue? Because I want to be right, and you want to be right. So we argue. That argument is nothing more than the assertion of your ego because at the moment you are feeling belittled, unloved, not accepted. It all comes back to the same thing.

But the moment you get in touch with it you’ll find that it is just a need for love, coming in the form of an argument. Now what you need to do is stop. Be here with it. Then it becomes surrender, acceptance, love, forgiveness, but all these things are just words.

Q: All these emotions that we have - it’s just awareness beckoning to us in the moment.

A: Very good! That’s all it is. Awareness, pure awareness, wanting to just be here and look. And we avoid and resist it. There is this part in us that says, “Oh, but I am John, I am Burt, I have this reputation and I want you to look up to me because I want love.” But as long as you want love, you cannot express love, because it becomes a need instead of just being.

See, there’s a difference between getting and being. You cannot have both. As long as it is a getting, you cannot be. The point is to have the courage to just be. That is the difference. The moment you allow yourself to be, you are the very thing you wanted in the first place! But the ego wants it on its own terms.

What we call “ego” doesn’t really exist, OK? It is just all the ideas we have about who we think we are, based on memory. Right now, who you are is right here, right now, this moment, looking, aware. But that awareness is eternal. Why is it eternal? Because it has nothing to do with you. It IS. But you have nothing to do with you anyway! You are awareness having created a form, and now, having that great blessing of being this unique expression of - we can call it God, but if you don’t like the word “God,” that’s fine. Call it “that is-ness of life experiencing itself as you.” Can you imagine the blessing and beauty of that? That privilege, that gift that we have been given, that I am here and I am experiencing this life? I don’t understand it. I don’t know what “consciousness” is, but I know it IS, because I am conscious.

Q: It’s hard to let go of this ego thing, isn’t it?

A: Yes! So don’t try to let go of it! It’s all part of what is here, you see? And it’s OK. And the moment you do, the ego can’t stand it, can’t stand acceptance! OK, see that too. And just keep staying here.

Q: I feel like I am giving up control; I have control. Actually, I probably don’t have control, but I think I have control.

A: Beautiful!

Q: Now you say I have to give this up to get this? Ahhhh.

A: That’s right. And it’s always between getting and being. That is the difference. So when you stop trying to get it, you have it! But we just can’t make that move, you see? And it’s so simple!

Q: And is that because we would become vulnerable?

A: That’s exactly it. Beautiful. Because when you’re open in the moment, you’re vulnerable. But, like the Course says, allowing yourself to be vulnerable is invulnerability.

Q: But then, also, it’s vulnerable to what? To possibly being unloved? Which doesn’t even exist?

A: That’s right! You see what clarity brings?

Q: You think that by being so open, someone will take advantage you.

A: That’s right. But the point is that when you are totally open, nobody can hurt you. And even if they try, you see it. And you don’t even judge them! My goodness! One of the things that I became aware of is that as you grow more and more innocent, you can see it a mile away! You see it, and it comes to a point when it doesn’t matter. You know, so what?

Another beautiful thing I’ve discovered is - you know, I used to keep books on how many tapes went out, how many books were sold; and now it doesn’t matter. And since it doesn’t matter, people have become more generous, more giving. So now I don’t keep books, and people never, never take advantage any more. When I was more conscious of it, they did. And now it simply doesn’t matter. If somebody doesn’t want to pay, it’s OK. They’re going to come to a point where they see that giving is receiving.

When it doesn’t matter, you become abundant. That is a paradox of life, the difference between getting and being. You know, sometimes I go out of my way to answer questions over email, sometimes writing two whole pages if necessary to answer their question. And people are very generous. I’ve got some people from England and other parts of the world and they are so immensely generous. They never give me what I ask for - they give me twice or three times that amount. It’s wonderful!

Q: There is one description that is the best I have ever heard - the “shift of perception.” Could you talk about that?

A: The “shift in perception” is referring to the atonement in the Course. The atonement is what we are talking about when we say “direct experience.” See it as “at-one-ment.” We discussed this before - “be-one-with.” So be here in the moment with whatever IS, be one with it. Stay with fear and see it for what it is, but don’t judge it as wrong or something wrong with you, because if you judge it and resist it, you get caught again. Just feel it in the body and everywhere, and then you’ll find that it was nothing more than longing for love, and it changes. That’s called a “shift of perception.”

Q: So according to what you said earlier, there’s just a fine line between emotion and inner peace. It’s just a shift in perception.

A: That’s right - just a fine line, just a shift in perception. But that fine line is the only choice we have. The only choice is whether to be here now, or to escape the here and now. Either live in truth or in falsehood. There is no other choice. And when you realize there is no choice, that’s called “surrender.” Another thing a lot of people used to ask is, “How do you surrender; it’s such a big thing!” How can the ego surrender? The ego cannot surrender itself; the ego doesn’t want to die. Then you might say, “No, no, the spirit surrenders.” But how can the spirit surrender - it is already surrendered! So “surrender” is just a word. What it really means is to see clearly that there is no escape. There is no choice. There is only what IS. That’s surrender.

Q: Or, acceptance.

A: You can call it “acceptance.” Just words. But it’s all the same thing.

Q: It’s like Gangaji said, “You are free. You are already free.”

A: You are already free. The Course says this too.

Q: It just clicked for me because mentally I try to figure it out. But since what you are is free, I stopped trying to attain freedom, because she said “You are already free.”

A: Yes, you are free already. The one thing that will keep you from being enlightened is to seek enlightenment. Who gets enlightened? No one gets enlightened. That’s what enlightenment is! When you realize that there is no one to get enlightened, that is enlightenment. Do you see the paradox of words, of the mind?

Q: It’s just a concept, isn’t it?

A: Just a concept. You simply see clearly. That’s it! You see the obvious; it’s an open secret. It’s open! It’s everywhere! But it is a secret because nobody sees it. And nobody sees it because they’re not innocent enough, open enough, vulnerable enough, loving enough, to listen to who they are. You know, in psychology they talk so much about learning to love yourself, learning to accept yourself - these are just words. People have tried it for years, and it doesn’t work. You cannot try to accept yourself. Just get in touch with the feelings you’ve been trying to avoid, and look at them. And when you look at them, that becomes acceptance itself. That becomes love itself, forgiveness, all these different words. Simply ask, “What am I seeking? What is it trying to tell me?” And when you start to listen, you realize the seven most beautiful words in all spirituality, “Be still and know I am God.”

Q: Can the ego convince itself that it is enlightened?

A: Yes, the ego likes to convince itself! [laughs] Yes. But when a person says, “I am enlightened,” you can be sure they are not. The ego cannot be enlightened. [laughs] How can the ego be enlightened? So you see the play here, right? Only to the extent that you disappear, can you know. We’ve tried this many times before - there’s a technique that you can do, very simple.

You close your eyes for a moment and listen to all the sounds around you. Listen to everything. Listen to the birds, the cars, the people, to your own thoughts and the sounds inside; listen to everything. Keep on hearing as much as you can. You’re accepting everything, you’re totally here now; the ego disappears, there is no judgment, and most important, you’ll find that you’re part of everything, because there is no distance to being here. There is just here. There is a silence that starts to enter, and that silence itself is the totality of you. That silence is you, forever.

So when we talk about “you,” of course, you have to understand what we mean by this. Each one of us is simply an appearance of this vast field of consciousness, given an expression for this particular lifetime, which you claim to be “you,” but who you are is this vastness. So in the beginning, we say, “My goodness, nobody can know what I feel and think. Nobody can know my world.” True! Even though we all see the same world, nobody can know. But then you begin to see that these beliefs and ideas are conditioned memory. The total experience of now, beyond this conditioned belief, is so vast that when you begin to look outside, you begin to see that others are expressions of you too. The moment you begin to see that, is when you know that the ego has taken a back seat, and you are the very love you’ve been seeking. Now you are untouched by belief, fear, limitation, circumstances, or anything.

Q: Then what you are explaining is true forgiveness?

A: Yes, of course. What we are talking about is all positive qualities put together. Remember that words are very limited. We can talk and talk and talk, but all we’re ever talking about is nothingness, emptiness, the now. That’s all. But you have to talk! Because that is the movement and expression of being. You have a form in order to express. And this unconditional love wants only one thing from you - to allow it to express through you. Then as you allow it to express through you, you’ll find that you’re abundant, you’re doing work you love, you love people and people love you, you’re at peace, and that’s it. Because the moment you allow it to take over, you are being lived. It is when you are not being lived that you struggle. That’s why in the garden of Eden - what was the sin they committed? The mind came into being, right and wrong, the Tree of Knowledge. They were cast out from the garden of Eden to work and sweat because they could not be lived any more. Now they had to work through the mind, right and wrong, should and shouldn’t, what if, and so forth. But when all that dies, you can be lived again.

Q: It’s kind of beautiful when you look at the ego that way, as the catalyst.

A: Yes. There’s nothing wrong with the ego. It’s just an idea. The ego is simply nothing more than this body expressing itself, and it expresses itself through survival. Survival says, “I am this body and I need these things around me.” And you do need it in the beginning. It is part of the survival instinct. But when you identify with it, this urge inside you keeps pushing you to survive. It develops into a need and you think the world is real, but it’s a dream. The world is nothing more than a creation of the mind. You can see this very clearly as you go from country to country and feel the vibrations - it’s so clear that what you are experiencing is just the dream of the collective energy of that particular nation. You can feel this when you enter a house, you can feel the collective energy of the people in it. So it’s all mind. The world is nothing but mind. And when you realize you’re not your thoughts and beliefs, and you are free, the world is still there but for you it is no longer serious. It’s no longer melodramatic. You live in joy. It doesn’t matter any more. You might have cancer and you’re going to die, but so what? It’s just another episode. It’s just another experience. You don’t take yourself seriously.

Q: When the body dies, does the ego die with it?

A: No. If the ego still believes that it was the body in the world, that belief is taken with it. Then it needs another expression in order to keep on...

Q: That’s where we get ghosts and all that?

A: Yes. That’s the ego part.

Q: So eternally, do we retain a unique expression?

A: Yes. When the ego completely dies, the unique expression which you know as yourself now is eternal. That’s the beauty, that’s the gift that’s been given. That’s the gift! That although we are one, we are unique. That will always be, I will always be.

Q: But in death, consciousness continues on?

A: Yes, consciousness goes on.

Q: Even still in the lower ego state?

A: Right. And as you become more and more of this consciousness by going through the content of consciousness - content means memory, OK? - as you break free from this content, not by getting rid of it, but just seeing it for what it is, you realize that who is aware is this vast expanse, this vast emptiness that is aware. And the moment you realize that, you are that expression forever. And of course, there’s no end to that growth. It keeps deepening and deepening all the time.

Q: So in a sense, could you say that we are like holograms? Which is the individual expression, but the same thing as the whole, which is all one?

A: Yes, it’s all one. It was the Nobel Prize-winning physicist David Bohm who realized, not through science, that the world is a holographic image. And it’s not as real as we think it is. It is all a perceptual viewpoint. That’s all it is. Just a viewpoint. Dying, living - these are all perceptions, all movements. Nothing ever happens! You ARE. But if you identify with the body as you, and not the very consciousness you are, then of course you are going to believe in all this limitation. My body is going to grow sick and old, and of course, we suffer.

Q: Life is just a game, isn’t it?

A: Yes, just a game. It’s a play of consciousness.

Q: And who’s to know where you are going to get in that consciousness? Through this embodiment, whatever, you may come back and do it again in another way.

A: If you haven’t really quite got it together yet, yes, you might have to repeat it again.

Q: You always grow, right? You always expand. You can never go back.

A: It’s always deepening. If you have realized the unity and totality, you can never go back. Whatever you realize, not experience, because experiences come and go as the illusions they are, you keep. This is like satsang. Satsang is not to make you gain something, not to make you better or achieve anything, it’s to realize that whatever you want, you already are. It’s a matter of realizing it. So you keep on at it until - wooo! there is awakening. And when you wake up, that is when you really start growing. It is when you wake up that the real growth happens, because then it is a deepening of that joy, that energy. It keeps on deepening because now you know it’s real. What else is there?

Q: The joy says, “I will always be, but I don’t have to always be Phyllis.”

A: Yes. You just be. You will always be the one who is aware now. Just like when you dream at night. Then you are not Phyllis, and you don’t know anything that’s around you. But it can be very vivid and very real at the moment. You’re still the same consciousness, but there’s no ego there. You’re just there.

Q: Once you attain that, or try to attain that, aging becomes less viable. I see many people that really don’t seem to age.

A: It’s not important any more, because what we call “aging” is just a movement of life. There are three kinds - biological, chronological, and psychological aging. Biological and psychological are interrelated. What is psychological aging? It means that I am so caught in the past and future that I never live now. Every time you think about the past, your cells are dying because every cell in your body is consciousness. So every time you are caught in the past, you are actually not living. So the cells cannot replenish and they are changing every moment. But you can be renewed when you live in the moment, so it’s just like stopping time. There is still aging, of course, but it’s not chronological. Some people are old at 40 and some people are young at 70. If you are totally here and now, totally feeling free, then you become like a child. Your body is able to renew faster.

Q: Maybe that’s like some people who have Alzheimer’s, who don’t seem to age because there is nobody there to age.

A: They live in the past but they accept what is, they are happy most of the time. Every time you worry about something, every time you are concerned, every time you think about the past, every time you are anxious about the future, you are aging. The body is actually dying. But when you live in the moment, you are energizing your cells.

Bernie Siegel said something very interesting when he was dealing with cancer patients. He said that one of the secrets is joy, and if we can bring the joy of living into cancer patients, the chance of remission is about 90 percent. And his success was phenomenal with cancer patients. Sometimes he would bring clowns in and make them laugh. If you can bring laughter and joy into the moment, every time you laugh heartily and joyously, you are cleansing yourself, and there’s no ego at the time of laughter. But when you take life seriously, when you become defensive and so forth, then you are aging. Your body grows old - you can actually feel it. You feel heavy. You can feel it immediately.