Thank you Ralph!
5.23.07 Restful Quality of the Mind.ed.mp3
Transcript
Really, the way our minds work as human beings, it really is utterly simple.
It’s just that we hear all these complex descriptions, and then we adopt them.
And when we do, we’re uncomfortable in our own skins.
Our mind is the interpreter of everything that goes on.
So whether we have well-being or not is solely in our mind.
As our mind is the interpreter of everything, then our mind is also the source of our well-being.
There are two ways that we can use our mind.
One way is the way most of us learn.
When we have thoughts appear in the mind, we either see the thoughts as our boss or we hate the thoughts.
Whether we see a benevolent boss or a dictator, the thoughts are nevertheless our boss.
We see our bossy thoughts as having an independent nature.
In other words, we’re somebody and these thoughts are something else.
They’re kind of little demons, like little Pac-Man characters running around inside our mind
that can affect our well-being or tell us what to do.
When we learn this about our minds, it’s impossible to be comfortable in the mind.
The only other way of approaching the mind is to understand that all the thoughts that appear in the mind
appear in the restful quality of the mind.
And that restful quality of the mind is always present, it’s always the case.
But if we’ve never become acquainted with it, then we just don’t even know that it’s there.
We think that all the bossy thoughts are reality
and that our well-being is determined by what these thoughts say or do.
Does anyone recognize what I’m saying in themselves?
When we hear about the restful quality of the mind and that it’s possible to just maintain or enjoy
that restful quality for short moments, repeated many times,
it often seems like that is one thing and then all the thoughts are another thing.
But the more that we get familiar with the restful quality of the mind,
the more we realize that the bossy thoughts, no matter what they are,
they’re not separate from that restful quality.
These aren’t two things.
The restful quality of the mind and the bossy thoughts are not two things at all.
They’re inseparable from each other.
All the bossy thoughts, their essence or determining quality,
is this restful essence or ease of the mind.
Whether we have a belief system that says that the mind is simply a human function
or we see the nature of the mind as something vast, like a vast expanse of space, it doesn’t matter.
It really doesn’t matter what your beliefs are about that.
The restful quality of the mind is the restful quality of the mind,
regardless of what you believe about it beyond that.
For some people, this restful quality of the mind is just obvious.
They don’t need to remember to rest or anything like that.
And that’s fine.
But if that isn’t the case for you and you feel like you need to rest
in order to understand the bossy thoughts better, that’s fine.
It really doesn’t matter at all.
The more that one does rest in a completely uncontrived way, for short moments, repeated many times,
the more prolonged that rest will be.
When I say it will be more prolonged, I just mean that it will be more evident to you
that this restful quality of the mind is always the case.
As one becomes more familiar with that,
then the nature of life and living takes on a completely different quality.
It takes on a restful quality. It takes on an easeful quality.
This rest and ease is really the true nature of the mind.
The other approach to thinking, where the thoughts are seen as bosses,
is a contrived way of being.
It’s not the natural state of the mind.
The natural state of the mind is completely restful and at ease at all times.
Very simply, the more we become familiar with that,
the easier our life is in many, many ways.
And all the things that we’ve always wanted just become more and more obvious.
Like wanting to be happy. We get more happy.
Wanting to be friendlier. We get friendlier.
When we get happier and friendlier just with our own being,
then we’re automatically happier and friendlier with everyone.
As we’re more familiar with ourselves, we feel smarter.
We feel a lot smarter about ourselves and other people,
because we start to see that all these thoughts, they’re not really bosses.
It’s the restful quality of the mind that’s the boss from the beginning until the end.
It really is the restful quality of the mind that is the ultimate boss.
As we get familiar with that, we see that that’s what we are.
We really are this restful quality of the mind.
And this restful essence that is the determining quality of the mind,
this restful essence is the determining quality of everything.
It’s not just the determining quality of us and whatever we take ourselves to be,
but it’s the determining quality of everything.
So the more familiar we become with it, the more we feel like we’re part of everything.
That essence that is the essence of our mind is the essence of everything.
And that’s what we really are.
Rather than being a separate self-referencing phenomenon,
more and more we see that we just simply are.
We simply are beyond description.
We can’t really describe what we are.
We’re indescribable. We’re quite ineffable.
What we are is beyond description.
And all this comes about just through resting.
There’s no technique. Through resting the mind completely in all situations,
the ability to rest the mind is not based on situations, it’s not circumstantial.
It’s experiential and it’s experientially evident in all situations, no matter what they are.
As the mind is the interpreter of everything, that restful quality is present in everything.
It’s present in interpreting all experiences.
If we’re familiar with that, then we notice that about life and living.
And if we’re not, then we don’t.
When becoming familiar with the nature of the mind through resting the mind completely
for short moments, repeated many times, at some point that becomes continuous.
And when it is continuous, then there’s no need to rest any longer.
Once we understand the true nature of phenomena in our own experience,
then that’s what the realization is.
We not only realize the true nature of ourselves as a phenomenon,
but we simultaneously realize the true nature of all phenomena, not just ourselves.
When people talk about feeling unified with everything or use different terms to describe that,
that’s actually what’s being described.
It doesn’t really need any special terms.
We could just call it human nature at its most elemental and basic.
Why complicate things unnecessarily with all kinds of rhetoric?
When we deeply experience the basis of all our sensory impressions,
then we’re no longer driven by our senses.
We’re no longer seeing our senses and the way we describe them in thought as our bosses.
We don’t need to deny them or hate them or cling to them and indulge them either.
They just are what they are.
Whether we’re indulging them or we don’t like them, it doesn’t really matter.
Whatever the thoughts are that come up, they’re just completely circumstantial,
just like the appearances in a moving mirror would be circumstantial.
So the mind is like a great mirror of impressions, circumstantial impressions.
Whatever they are, one moment it might be anger, another moment it might be depression,
another moment it might be denial, another moment it might be bargaining,
another moment it might be acceptance.
It really doesn’t matter what all these descriptions are.
Their essence is exactly the same.
It may be an impression of birth, it may be an impression of living,
it may be an impression of being an individual, it may be an impression of dying.
Whatever it is, its restful quality or essence is exactly the same.
There’s no thought whatsoever that has ever been that has not had
that essence of complete rest as its determining quality.
Not a single thought. Not a single phenomena whatsoever has ever had a determining quality of its own.
It’s never had an essential nature that is attributable to itself as some kind of individual entity.
When we come to know ourselves in this way, then it’s really relaxing.
It’s completely relaxing.
All of the tension comes about by taking ourselves to have an independent nature.
When we take ourselves to have an independent nature,
then from that moment on we’re always referencing all phenomena back to ourselves,
back to this self-referencing subject that has an independent origin, an independent nature.
And then we automatically see everyone else as having an independent nature.
And when we do this, what floods out from that is just a lot of very complicated descriptions
about all activity, no matter what it is.
This is so critical.
The idea that phenomena, whatever they are, including ourselves,
are independently originating is a very serious and grave misperception.
And it’s just a fashionable belief. It really is just a fashionable belief.
It’s not true. It’s not a truth of being. It’s just a fashionable belief.
If any of you have adopted that fashionable belief, just know that that’s what it is.
It’s just a fashion. It’s a trend, like mini skirts or hula hoops.
And so this attribution of independent origination to all phenomena,
it’s simply a fashion. It’s a trend. It’s a popular belief. It’s an ideology, a popular culture.
It’s not a truth. It’s really not a truth.
And we don’t need a lot of interesting philosophy in order to describe that.
We don’t need to ring any bells or chant or speak in any way.
All we need to do is just rest and allow the ease of our being.
That can only happen in the here and now.
That’s the swift and sure path.
In the here and now, every single moment is perfect, complete and identical to every other
in a very timeless way.
All of this knowing of the deepest and most profound truths that have ever been
doesn’t come about through thinking about those deep and profound truths.
It comes about just simply from enjoying the easeful quality of being.
From that, you may become a great philosopher.
Who knows?
But I’ll tell you this: you’ll definitely be a profound philosopher in terms of your own life.
Philosophy is the erotic love of wisdom. It has a very sensual quality, a sensuous quality.
Wisdom is simply knowing the true nature of all phenomenon as not being independently originating.
There’s no phenomena whatsoever, whether it be our thoughts or ourselves or any other single thing,
that has ever had an individual nature that’s ever existed in its own right.
No matter how demanding it might be, it doesn’t have an independent nature.
The ring of a cell phone or the slip of a knife in surgery
that cuts through the aorta instead of fixing the heart.
When we see all phenomena as independently originating,
we automatically enter into a behavior pattern of acceptance and rejection.
And with that, we live a life of blame.
We blame our thoughts. We blame our emotions for us not having any well-being.
We blame other people. We blame institutions. We blame places.
“Oh, I don’t like it in Bakersfield. It’s flat and there are too many trailer parks.
I’d rather live by the ocean. By the ocean I could be happy. I could have well-being.
I can’t have it in Bakersfield. It’s too hot, too flat, too many pesticides
from all the agriculture, agribusiness.”
Again, this is just a fashion. It’s a fashion of how we describe ourselves as human beings.
So when we get familiar with the nature of the mind, then we develop a balanced view.
The more familiar we are with the restful quality of the mind,
the more balanced our view is about ourselves
and the more balanced our view is about everyone and everything.
It’s so important for us to be able to enjoy our lives completely
and to just enjoy the complete play and creativity of who we are as human beings.
But we really cannot do that unless we know who we are.
And if we feel we have an independent nature, then that’s a cause of incredible tension.
Because it means we always have to be in charge, not only of ourselves, but of everybody else.
So this fashion or lifestyle of human nature that is so prevalent today,
it hasn’t produced very good results for humankind or the planet Earth.
When we as individuals learn to live with the playful creativity of our own being,
just the natural ease that’s the basis of everything,
then we really do become profound.
We become profound as we were meant to be in many ways.
All of the issues that everyone in this room cares passionately about,
your chance of making the greatest impact with any of those issues
can only come from the balanced view of the completely easeful mind.
That’s where you can make the greatest impact.
The most profound political action anyone can take
is to become familiar with the nature of their mind.
From that all else flows.
Anything you may want to do in life, any kind of statement you might want to make,
any kind of thing that’s going on that you might want to influence,
you can influence that most powerfully from the balanced view of the easeful mind.
The balanced view of the true nature of the mind is non-emotional.
It’s non-emotional and totally incisive.
I didn’t say it doesn’t have any emotions. I said it’s non-emotional.
The resting essence of mind is completely non-emotional.
The resting essence of the mind has freedom from all emotions.
Again, I didn’t say it doesn’t have any emotions.
I said it has freedom in the direct encounter with all emotions, no matter what they are.
Emotions are sensations that are described with thoughts.
So both the emotion and the sensation are points of view within the restful essence of the mind.
That’s an easy way to understand it.
Everything that appears within the mind is the point of view of that mind.
That mind is all encompassing, it’s all embracing, it’s all resting at all times.
It’s all knowing at all times.
At all times the restful essence of the mind is knowing incisively
the true nature of all phenomena.
There’s never been a single moment that the restful essence of mind
hasn’t been totally clear on the true nature of its thoughts.
So this is something that’s already engineered into us.
It’s not something we need to get or achieve.
We just get familiar with something that’s always been true about ourselves.
It’s not a big deal at all.
How could our true nature as human beings be a big deal?
It’s just the simple truth of who we are, something we can get familiar with in ourselves
and then share with others in a simple way.
Just like light fills the vast expanse of infinite space,
we can look outside and see that light filling the vast expanse of infinite space.
The ease of mind fills all points of view and is their essence.
The ease of mind and thoughts are like pouring water into water
or oil into oil or space into space.
They’re self-same. They’re not something different.
The human awareness by which we know our mind to be is pure.
Awareness is pure.
Do you know what that word pure means?
Pure means that there’s nothing within it that’s any different than itself.
So all the thoughts that appear, no matter what they are, their nature is pure.
Completely pure. And they’re non-different from pure awareness.
They’re non-different from the completely restful essence of the mind.
What could be clearer than this right here?
Just this, exactly this.
This is the way it’s always been, the way it is now and the way it will always be.
Know that for a fact.
Nothing needs to be changed or modified. Not any thought you’re having.
Not any emotion. Not any sensation.
At the same time, if you want to modify a sensation, go right ahead.
Popular knowledge states that to draw a distinction between good and bad,
one must manipulate one’s thoughts and emotions.
And that is just one way of going about it, but it’s not the best way.
Our nature already is good. It’s easeful, completely easeful, restful, wise, beneficial, cooperative.
That’s our nature. It doesn’t come about through thinking.
Nature occurs without an instant of thinking.
Have you ever noticed that?
All of nature occurs without an instant of thinking.
The wholly positive nature of the natural order of everything occurs without an instant of thinking.
And this is true about who we are.
Our wholly positive nature occurs without an instant of thinking.
When we get familiar with that, then the evidence that we demonstrate in our lives is that.
It’s wholly positive. It’s beneficial.
First we recognize the tremendously great benefit of the nature of our mind
when we get familiar with it.
We see the self-benefit of resting the mind completely by not being bossed around by all our thoughts anymore.
That’s how we see the self-benefit.
And the more familiar we become with it, the less we’re bossed around by our thoughts or emotions.
They become allies instead of enemies.
They become supports for resting as awareness rather than enemies.
What a tremendous benefit that is after decades of trying to keep them at bay.
Many of us have become very convinced that our thoughts have an independent nature
and that our thoughts are in control.
But they only are in control if we take them to be in control.
The same with emotions.
The nature of the mind is that it’s just free as it is, no matter what appears within it.
Just like the surface of a mirror is free no matter what appears within it,
or a pond is free no matter what reflections of stars and moons
and ferocious beasts appear in it at night.
And so this is good to know.
I share this with you because I found it invaluable in my own life.
I can’t help but share it with you.
I just cannot help myself.
My life is not my own, so to speak.
When you find your thoughts bossing you around, just laugh and relax
and say, “Wow, I really thought those appearances were the boss.”
“Well, now we not only have our own thoughts,
but how about other people’s thoughts?
They can seem kind of bossy in our environment too.”
Not only do we have to know about ourselves,
but in knowing about ourselves, then instantaneously we know about everyone else too.
We see what makes them tick in a very exact way.
This is the meaning of the word omniscience.
Omniscience is simply knowing the true nature of all phenomena.
That’s all it is.
When we know the true nature of all our own phenomena, internal and external,
then we can see clearly what’s going on with everybody else.
Nothing is a mystery about it.
We know that just as we have a choice, every human being has a choice.
Then we have a lot more compassion.
In fact, that’s the only natural source of compassion.
All other compassion is contrived. It’s made up.
It’s only when we’re completely familiar with ourselves that we can have compassion.
Otherwise we might become kind of fascistic in our thinking.
What that simply means is that we think everyone else should think the way we do.
There isn’t much compassion in that.
When we get radically familiar with the easeful nature of our mind,
wow, it’s amazing the compassion we have.
It’s built in. It’s just completely built in
to look at everyone with eyes of wisdom and total love,
even if we don’t like what they’re doing.
Wow. Just rest. Apply no rhetoric.
Don’t need to think, “Oh, this doesn’t have an independent origin.
I don’t have an independent origin. I was never born.”
Or any other rhetoric. No rhetoric is necessary.
Just enjoy the sweetness of the ease of your own being,
no matter what other people are doing and no matter what your thoughts are doing.
Believe me, the thoughts, they’ll just go on however they go on.
They’re completely circumstantial.
This moment they’re one thing. Another moment they’re another thing.
And there’s no way to control them, even if you think you can control them.
And you control them for a little while, boom, something will happen
and they’ll be wild and out of control.
Your emotions too. And your sensations too.
Just think of all the sensations you’ve had since you were born,
or all the emotions, or all the thoughts.
Oh wow. Have you ever had a grip on those?
They’re just wild and woolly and they’ll do whatever they do.
It doesn’t mean anything. It’ll keep on that way too.
In complete rest and ease, no matter what thoughts, emotions, sensations or experiences come up,
you’ll be okay. You’ll be deeply okay.
Deeply okay and sweetly okay. Playfully okay.
No need to be so somber and serious about anything.
Complete ease is the source of tremendous productivity and passion.
So if you’re looking for that, rest. Just relax.
No matter what’s going on, if you have all kinds of aches and pains, just rest.
No matter how old you are now, I can guarantee you these aches and pains will get worse.
Even though there’s a hope in us somewhere that they’ll just stop and completely come to an end,
well, we would call that death.
That’s when they’ll come to an end.
Until then all the aches and pains will worsen.
And along with their worsening, then you know there will be the thoughts and emotions related to that.
So just rest. Just rest.
All the descriptions will proliferate and resolve in the restful nature of your being.
And you’ll be okay, no matter what.
Treat yourselves gently in relation to all things: your past and what’s going on now, in the future too.
If you want to make changes in the way you’re living,
that’s best done from complete rest, completely resting the mind.
Much better way to come to a decision point about things than obsessively thinking about them.
Why not go to the source, the actuating potency of everything?
Why not go to that within yourself in order to reach decisions?
It’s a lot more fun than the excruciating process of obsession.
No matter what appears, the essence of your mind is all powerful, no matter what appears.
Thank you.
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