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Can One be in Constant State of Meditation? Talk by Francis Lucille What prevents us from being
knowingly in a constant state of meditation, is the belief and the feeling
that we are not in a constant state of meditation. Even
such a belief and such a feeling appear in our constant contemplation. This feeling, this belief is
what I call the ego, our sense of a separate self, which has no real
existence other than as this very feeling and belief. Our belief that we are separate
from meditation is simply a joke created by the ego to perpetuate its
illusory existence, therefore creating means to back to meditation,
means to meditate, means to achieve. All that can be done is to
understand on the spot---right here, right now---the whole picture and
to stop the insanity, to stop going anywhere, to stop doing anything. Of course, if we have a goal
(regarding) material things, a goal with respect to our bank account,
if we are looking for power, if we are looking for relationship, we
are not ready for meditation. We must have understood that these
objects cannot bring about happiness. They can only be instruments
for its celebration. First we have to desire happiness
more than anything else. Otherwise we are not talking the same
language here and what is being said here cannot really be understood.
It can be taken in by the mind, commented upon, analyzed, cleverly reconstructed
but not deeply understood. It would be much better to be like
a child who simply desires God without knowing much about the world.
We have invested so much energy in trying to secure power, wealth, and
love in relationship, in acquiring and trying to keep them---so much
useless effort, so much wasted time and energy. We somehow seem,
for some of us, not to have understood yet the big joke it is. What we do and speak of here
may seem totally different from any kind of religion and in a way it
is; however, it is even more remote from any kind of psychotherapy,
psychology, new age thinking (and) science in the usual sense than it
is from religion. It is about the actual experience
of our true nature, that through which everything is known. That which we are is not in
the world, but the world is in it. It is not in the mind, but
the mind is in it. It is not in the body, but the body is in it.
Our world, our body, our mind seem to be private although we seem to
share the world and the body to a certain extent with others. Nevertheless,
they are a private, subjective experience. That which contemplates the
mind, the world and the body is not private. In this contemplation
it creates all things. (The world, body and mind are)
like a dream which has no existence….I’m not saying that this waking
dream is not different, doesn’t have different characteristics from
the night dreams. It is (different) in its modalities, because
it seems not be contained within the mind like the night dream (is).
Nevertheless, like the night dream, it is a fleeting experience on a
background of presence, of emptiness. That which creates all things
has to be empty of all things. That which contains all things
has to be empty of all things. The minds are things, the worlds
are things and the bodies are things. The mind cannot understand
that which is not a thing. That’s why the mind cannot understand
that consciousness is not private as the mind is. The mind, which
is a thing, cannot understand that which is (on) first analysis is not
a thing and (on) final analysis neither a thing nor a no-thing. That the mind cannot understand
(consciousness) doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. That’s
a very important understanding. The mind is very pretentious,
arrogant. The extraordinary arrogance
of the mind leads us to believe that something the mind doesn’t understand
(or) grasp doesn’t exist. Up until the 20th century
the arrogance of science was that ‘science (could) understand everything.
It’s just a question of time.’ 20th century science
has discovered that there might be parameters, variables that will be
hidden forever from the mind. We can understand that without being
quantum physicists. It’s so obvious. The mind has to see its limitations,
(to see) how tiny it is. (It has) to be ready to abdicate its pretension
to knowing everything, and especially to knowing that which knows everything. Here is precisely one of the
major knots that maintain us in bondage: this feeling, this belief that
the mind is private, is personal and that awareness also is personal
and private. We should at least see clearly within the mind that
this question remains open; that there is no reason whatsoever to believe
that consciousness is limited to the mind (or) is private. (We
should) be open to a different possibility, a possibility which cannot,
in fact, be expressed in words (or) be conceived of within the mind.
(It is a possibility) for which no satisfactory model, image, metaphor
can be found. (It is) something that we deeply know, we deeply
trust and which we can never figure out. We can never see (it)
from the outside because it has no outside. We can only be
its inside. So in meditation, at some point,
we leave the mind behind us, like an astronaut letting go of an empty
fuel tank. We also let go of the body and of the world, but not
with violence because (that) is not possible, not through effort.
The body is not rejected. The world is not rejected. It is simply that something
which is beyond the body and the world is attracting us with a greater
power and that we surrender to this attraction. We surrender to
this rapture. The way we know how to navigate in this intergalactic
space is through the feeling of love and presence and peace. Whenever we feel an absence
of this love, presence and peace it means we have been again hypnotized
by an object: a sense perception, a thought, a bodily sensation or feeling.
We have to recognize it and let go of it on the spot, that’s all. All we have to do is to recognize
the boredom or lack of fulfillment when it shows up. See that
always it comes from our involvement with some object, always,
always. (So we) take off again, which means surrender again
body and mind to God’s all pervading presence. (We) surrender
everything we know, everything we know about advaita, because about
advaita we can know nothing. We can only be advaita. Once we have had the experience
of the joy of advaita, of the peace, of the causeless joy we can try
to surrender the body and the mind in that joy, to that joy. Don’t ask me how. Only
if you have this experience of love for truth can you understand what
I am saying here, which is truly the essence of the direct path.
That’s why it cannot be explained in words as an itinerary. Simply feel in you the perfume
of truth. Totally surrender all the contractions in your body, all the
thoughts in your mind, all the distractions from the world to this loving
presence. Surrender your fears and your problems. You have
to be completely naked, completely surrendered like a newborn child. If you feel that something
is still missing in your understanding of truth, then go on that path
of surrender. Follow your causeless bliss. Let it cleanse
you from the past, from the problems. Be willing to die in it. Surrender your fear, your fear
of disappearing. Be willing to go to the most ultimate sacrifice.
Be willing to die before the body dies. Don’t say “No” at
the last moment; say “Yes” all the way. See all the resistances.
If you go into thinking, if you start reasoning, see that it is at this
point merely a resistance---a thought such as, “Well if I (do) this,
what do I get? How can I be sure?” You cannot be sure. Just give up, because what you give up is nothing. It has no value on the other side. It’s a piece of junk. |