February 15, 2023
Finding Refuge in the Virtual World of Me
Encontrando refugio en el mundo virtual del yo
This session explores how we constantly take refuge in the mind's virtual world of separation, and how direct, effortless attention to raw sensation can dissolve that pull. Through guided meditation and dialogue, the teacher examines the oscillation between glimpses of reality and habitual contraction, the nature of belief and boundaries, and the substantive quality of being that lies beyond the ponderable world of form.
meditation
The Refuge of the Virtual World
This meditation invites you to notice the subtle, constant pull away from direct sensory experience and toward the familiar inner world of me.
dialogue
When the Hands Became Real
A student describes an unexpected shift during a guided meditation, where releasing effort led to an unusually vivid, direct experience of sensation in the hands, including surprising pain.
dialogue
The Oscillation Between Glimpses and Forgetting
A question about the back-and-forth experience of seeing reality clearly in one moment and then losing that clarity, and whether one has any control over this oscillation.
dialogue
The Unknown That You Already Are
A student revisits a powerful inner invitation to stop pretending not to know what they truly are, and the teacher warns against turning that unknowable reality into something the mind can grasp and pursue.
teaching
Why We Give Power to Beliefs
A reflection on why beliefs seem so compelling, how identifying as something we are not allows us to experience suffering, and why it matters to examine what we get from experiences we claim not to want.
dialogue
The Only True Statement
A question about the nature of belief, its relationship to language, and whether anything can be said that is absolutely true.
teaching
Boundaries, Objects, and the Mind That Draws Them
A reflection on how the mind's capacity to draw boundaries creates the world of separate objects, and how careful observation can dissolve that very separation.
dialogue
Substantiality and the Fear of Dissolution
A question about whether we are also emptiness leads into an exploration of substance, ponderability, and the ego's resistance to its own dissolution.
dialogue
Inverse Proportion
The teacher explores the idea that what appears most graspable is least real, and that true substance is revealed only when the ponderable dissolves.
dialogue
The Luminous Nature of Reality
A question about a sudden experience of seeing another person as pure light, and how such moments relate to the deeper process of awakening.
teaching
The Teacher You Only Understand Later
A reflection on how a student gradually comes to recognize the depth and literalness of a teacher's words, often years after they were first spoken, along with vivid memories of the teacher's unconventional methods.