The Moment Separation Begins | A Direct Look at Experience.

[00:00:00]Flow's open, guys.

[00:00:07]>> Lieutenant, my name is Peter. This is the first time I've done a group self-sing with everybody.

[00:00:13]>> Hey, Peter. Welcome.

[00:00:14]>> I've been Thank you. I've been watching on and off about 3 or 4 years on the YouTube. And one of the most recent ones that came around that caught my attention was being aware of the senses that the mind can only be aware of one sense at a time.

[00:00:31]>> Yeah.

[00:00:32]>> And then the question was um do you have the awareness that this is all happening as one event?

[00:00:40]>> Yeah.

[00:00:42]>> And so immediately then my mind can't follow me over that bridge because there's only one sense at a time that I can gather through the mind.

[00:00:51]>> Yeah.

[00:00:52]>> So I found it to be a really significant question to just to just drop out of the mind analysis of what sense I'm currently most aware of.

[00:01:03]I was just wondering if you might be able to expound on that a little bit.

[00:01:09]>> Okay. So even if we just look at it logically, Peter, yeah?

[00:01:15]You know for a fact that seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling are all happening at the same time, correct?

[00:01:26]>> I could say correct if I pause for a moment and really think about it, but Yeah, I would say correct.

[00:01:33]>> Well, if they're not happening at the same time, it would mean each time the the mind moved to one particular sense, the other senses would disappear, and that's not That's not the experience.

[00:01:45]>> Right.

[00:01:46]>> But when we if you track with the mind through those five senses, you'll notice the mind gets fixated on one at a time.

[00:01:57]>> Right.

[00:01:58]>> Okay?

[00:01:59]But >> Yes.

[00:01:59]>> Yeah.

[00:02:00]>> the the fact is and you know this, we all know this, the fact is seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling are all on and happening as one event.

[00:02:17]That's the fact.

[00:02:19]Cuz if that wasn't the fact each time the mind shifted from the seeing to the hearing, when it was focusing on the hearing, we would go blind.

[00:02:30]And that's not the case. Yeah. So, the first time you know, if if I was taking you through that exercise, the first time that I take you through that exercise is specifically to observe what the mind does.

[00:02:44]That it does get focused on one sense at a time.

[00:02:49]Yeah.

[00:02:49]And then what I do is, okay, good. Now that you've noticed that and you've seen that now, let's just come back to the seeing again.

[00:02:59]There's just seeing.

[00:03:01]>> Mhm.

[00:03:02]>> [clears throat] >> Good.

[00:03:08]And then we just add one sense.

[00:03:11]Let's say hearing.

[00:03:15]So, there's seeing and hearing as one event.

[00:03:21]>> Mhm.

[00:03:22]>> [clears throat] >> Yeah.

[00:03:24]If you manage to find that the reality of that, just stick with that for a while.

[00:03:32]Then add another sense.

[00:03:36]Taste.

[00:03:37]Sense of taste.

[00:03:39]Seeing hearing tasting.

[00:03:45]It's one event.

[00:03:52]If you go through it slowly, if you just start with the seeing, yeah?

[00:03:57]Acknowledge that the seeing itself is one event, seeing, and then just add the hearing after that.

[00:04:04]So, there's the seeing and the hearing that's happening at the same time.

[00:04:09]At the same time.

[00:04:14]You might initially notice the mind flitting from the seeing to the hearing, from the seeing to the hearing.

[00:04:22]What I'm trying to get you to recognize is that the seeing and the hearing is actually happening as one event. And experience that because that is the fact.

[00:04:34]The seeing and the hearing are happening as one event.

[00:04:48]Then add add taste, touch, smell.

[00:04:55]Seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling is one event.

[00:05:17]So, what I'm encouraging is to go to the the actual direct experience, not the mind's interpretation of what's happening.

[00:05:28]Because we know, we know logically that the seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling are all on and happening at the same time. [clears throat] It's only when the mind gets involved it divides them up.

[00:06:01]I don't know if I can elaborate any further on that, Pete, but it it's >> It helped when you you said take one and then add another and then stay with that for a bit and then add another. That helped me That helped me slide into it.

[00:06:15]>> Yeah, just Yeah, yeah, just go slowly with it.

[00:06:19]Just go just go gently.

[00:06:20]>> me.

[00:06:21]>> Yeah, just go gently. Yeah.

[00:06:23]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:06:24]>> Cuz when we start with when we start with just the seeing, yeah, we know the seeing is one event, right?

[00:06:31]There's seeing happening. It's one event. Seeing is happening.

[00:06:35]And then just add the add the sense of sound, hearing.

[00:06:40]Seeing, hearing.

[00:06:44]And notice seeing, hearing.

[00:06:49]It's one event. It's not two separate events.

[00:06:57]Yeah, just go through it slowly, Peter.

[00:06:59]>> Yeah, thanks. That helps.

[00:07:01]>> Yeah, you're welcome.

[00:07:03]You're welcome.

[00:07:31]And the reason that I do that, that particular exercise, is because the seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling are actually a non-dualistic experience.

[00:07:47]>> [clears throat] >> The seeing If you just take the seeing, yeah? The seeing doesn't know anything.

[00:07:58]Doesn't know anything.

[00:08:00]There's just pure seeing. The seeing doesn't comment on anything.

[00:08:07]Doesn't judge.

[00:08:09]Doesn't divide.

[00:08:11]The seeing hasn't got a clue what space is.

[00:08:15]The seeing hasn't got a clue what a tree is.

[00:08:21]There's just pure unadulterated seeing.

[00:08:29]And if you go to if you just work your way through those senses, you discover all of those five senses are non-dual.

[00:08:41]Hearing doesn't comment on anything. The hearing doesn't go, "Wow, that's a great soundtrack."

[00:08:48]The hearing it's neutral, nothing, nada.

[00:08:51]Nothing.

[00:08:55]The hearing doesn't say, "Oh, I can hear a dog barking in the distance."

[00:08:59]The hearing doesn't say nothing. Zero.

[00:09:02]Doesn't have a preference.

[00:09:09]So, it's just a wave you know, sliding away from the mind.

[00:09:14]Cuz the only thing that is dualistic out of all the senses is the mind. And I just refer to the mind as the sixth sense.

[00:09:23]The dualistic one.

[00:09:25]The one that divides.

[00:09:26]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:09:29]Yeah.

[00:09:30]>> So, I go, "Okay, let's slide away from that for a moment. Let's just come to the seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling.

[00:09:37]What the hell's going on there?

[00:09:40]What's happening with those five?

[00:09:42]>> Yeah.

[00:09:44]>> Yeah.

[00:09:44]>> [clears throat] >> And we would say that the seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling is a direct experience.

[00:09:53]Direct.

[00:09:56]Bang. Direct.

[00:10:03]>> Yeah, it's interesting when I go through and I explore how how frequently the mind wants to interrupt and categorize and and define >> Yeah.

[00:10:12]Yeah.

[00:10:13]>> It just wants to quiet it. So, you just got to keep shutting the door on it.

[00:10:18]>> The whole exercise is twofold. One is to get you to see what the mind does.

[00:10:24]Yeah. Watch it. Get you to see what the mind does.

[00:10:28]And then two, have you come to the realization that there's just one event happening. It's direct.

[00:10:39]Yeah, it's you're right. It's interesting watching what the mind does. Very interesting.

[00:10:46]Very interesting.

[00:11:04]>> Yeah, that really helped. Thank you.

[00:11:07]>> Yeah, you're welcome. Good.

[00:11:09]Good.

[00:11:10]>> [clears throat] >> See if you just on on on you know, a little bit further on that. Yeah.

[00:11:18]If you're outside, for example, yeah.

[00:11:22]The seeing hasn't got a clue what a house is.

[00:11:28]Not a clue.

[00:11:32]Yet it's the seeing doing the seeing.

[00:11:39]Mind steps up and steps in rather, divides everything up. Oh, yep, that's a house and that's a car and that's a person walking their dog and And seeing doesn't say any of that.

[00:11:54]Nothing. Nada.

[00:11:57]Yeah.

[00:12:00]And then you analyze that if you strip that back, you know, if you remove the label house, now what now what is it being viewed?

[00:12:19]The mind will get tricky, you know.

[00:12:21]It'll go, "Oh, I don't know. Bricks."

[00:12:24]You go, "Okay, good.

[00:12:25]Now let's remove that label."

[00:12:27]Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just know And all we do is we just strip back whatever labels the mind throws up and you strip them back far enough, now the mind doesn't has got no clue.

[00:12:41]So, all the mind knows is words and labels. And then if you analyze thoughts, all the thoughts are in words are are words, labels, sentences, language, symbols.

[00:12:56]Just symbols.

[00:13:00]So, the mind takes the symbol to be the thing.

[00:13:06]If you strip away the symbols, now the mind doesn't know what it is that the seeing is looking at.

[00:13:15]That's interesting.

[00:13:17]Very, very interesting.

[00:13:20]Play with that.

[00:13:22]>> Yeah, yeah.

[00:13:23]>> Yeah.

[00:13:25]>> [clears throat] >> Yeah.

[00:13:29]That the creates the idea of separation and things and here and a there and a me and a you and a this and a that and a love and a hate and a blah blah blah.

[00:13:39]The only thing that creates all of that is mind.

[00:13:43]With thoughts.

[00:13:44]And you analyze it and they're just all words.

[00:13:47]>> [laughter] >> Yeah.

[00:13:51]See, the mind can't actually see.

[00:13:59]It can't see. [clears throat] It's the seeing. It's seeing.

[00:14:06]And then the mind interprets the seeing.

[00:14:10]But the mind literally can't see. That's why I say, if you strip back all the labels, now the mind doesn't know what it is.

[00:14:20]Wow.

[00:14:26]That's incredible.

[00:14:28]Realize that. About that.

[00:14:30]Incredible.

[00:14:34]And then we go to, you know, the idea of me.

[00:14:40]That's just all words and labels, too.

[00:14:44]The idea of me.

[00:14:51]What the hell is a me? Well, pull up a chair. If you've got a couple of hours, I'll tell you all about myself.

[00:14:57]And all I'll be doing is just spewing out words.

[00:15:00]Just spewing out words.

[00:15:09]>> [snorts] >> It's like >> [music] >> Mhm.