Salvadore Poe

NotebookLM:

In Salvadore Poe’s (Sal’s) teaching, a holiday is defined as the simple and profound recognition of “I am and I know that I am“. It is a conscious shift from identifying as a body, mind, or personal story to recognizing oneself as pure knowing or pure being.

Key aspects of a holiday include:

• A Break from “Selfing”: Sal describes a holiday as a break from the “work” and energy required to maintain a separate sense of self, its history, and its future. It is an “atom bomb” to the personal story, allowing you to jump off the mental and spiritual “carousels” of philosophy and seeking.
• Blown Wide Open: Instead of a focused or restrictive meditation, a holiday is a state of being “blown wide open,” where attention is relaxed and unfocused. Sal emphasizes keeping the eyes open because nothing is excluded; sensory objects, sounds, and thoughts are all included equally within aware being.
• Freedom from the Known: A holiday is the recognition of the pure subject—the “I” that knows—distinct from “the known,” which includes all objects of the senses, thoughts, and emotions. In this state, one is unborn, meaning no objects (labels, opinions, or attributes) are being added to the simple fact of being.
• The “Big Yes”: It is an affirmation of timeless being rather than a process of negating thoughts or trying to change oneself. Sal suggests that simply living this freedom more frequently naturally lessens the impact of ingrained conditioning and trauma.
• Timelessness: In a holiday, there is no past or future because both are merely thoughts; there is only the actual, alive “now”. This unchanging “I” is the same presence that has been here throughout your entire life, regardless of changing circumstances or physical states like pain or illness.

Ultimately, a holiday is not about achieving a specific “blissful state” or experience, but about discovering the stable ground of your own existence which is already and always free. Sal teaches that while one holiday may be powerful, the work often unfolds through “living meditation” and repeated recognition until freedom becomes your default condition.