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Love encompasses everybody and everything.
Transcript:
Greetings, dear friends.
This little chat is about awareness. Presence. It popped up in the night in response to a very lovely friend who wrote an email recently about their experience of setting up a community. And they were realizing something they’d picked up living here with us for a while, in what I’m attempting to look after here as well. And incidentally, my previous effort was in the 80s, in Italy, where we had a community there. And it’s about presence. It’s about being here, in … each … moment.
And the way I’ve been doing that, especially here, is to take care of every single thing. Everything in every way. We’re even careful about which tradespeople we invite to come, and certainly about who comes to stay here. And it’s not a judgement. It’s about what I see as tuning this place. Now I’m perfectly aware that this could be seen as obsessive compulsion. I’m aware of that. And I sometimes have a laugh about that.
But this is what I came to see. Let’s go back to the attempt in Italy. We had a beautiful villa there on the edge of the lake, and 66 people for an experiment of what, for me, was presence. Being in each moment, with the moment. It didn’t work out. We couldn’t even get people to remember to turn the lights off.
And this is what I saw. You see, if a person puts a cup down, generally, there’s nobody there putting the cup down. The cup is put down and the body takes care of not putting it down too hard. But the person isn’t present. They are not putting the cup down. They are in their mind, thinking about something else.
Just check it out for yourself. Let’s say … you’re going to … pick something up from another part of the house. Are you there for every single step? Do you actually feel yourself opening the door, walking up the stairs? Or are you in your mind, thinking about, say, what you’re going to pick up? But usually, it is not even that. You’re thinking about all sorts of things to do with the past, to do with the future. Not there in … each … moment.
Now this is what I see, the effect of that. If the person isn’t there in each moment, they’re contained within themselves. And if they’re standing next to somebody else who also isn’t in their presence, they’re two separate people. They’re in their own worlds – and even worse still – they think the other person is in the same world as they are, and they’re not! They’re in two different worlds. They’re two unique beings who’ve had unique experiences to bring them to a unique place and they’re different people in different ways, in terms of behavior, unless they become present to the moment.
And when people become present to the moment, they’re not separate. And in a community, when people are not separate there’s no need for hierarchy. In fact, there is no hierarchy because each person is not only being responsible for themselves and for each other and for everything that needs doing – each person is responding … to each moment … because … they’re in … each … moment.
In Italy it was very difficult ‘cause it was different times. Now, in theory anyway, I think it can be easier because there’s a whole … energy shift happening. And this is the way I look at it. It looks like obsessive compulsive. Wanting this here, and that there, and that trimmed, and that looked after, and that repaired. Now. Whenever it’s appropriate, do it now. Don’t put it off if it’s appropriate to do it now.
And the keyword is: Now. Now.
You see, if you’re listening to this and deciding what you’re going to do with this, you’re not here. Here is here. Now. Me talking, you listening. Unless, of course, you are listening in your car, then certainly put your priority to driving. It’s better to listen to this quietly on your own or with somebody – your beloved –somebody with whom you are in tune.
Now. Everything … now.
And when you do something that isn’t now, you are trying to put something wrong in the wrong place or something, don’t contract. Don’t blame. It doesn’t matter. Because now you’ve just seen it! Which means you’re now. The past is irrelevant.
As Zen says, “every second is the first second of your life.”
And what we’re talking about is not something easy. It’s very simple but it is not easy. You’ve had maybe lives and lives of contra-programming. Certainly in this life it’s not about now. At school it’s all about future. And not only future, competitive future. Not only not being with each other, being against each other, as in the Olympics, as in sports. The television is full of competitions. Against. Look at the face of the tennis player when he’s just won. It’s ugly!
We are one. Not even brothers and sisters. We’re one. And when we become present we become available for each other. And if somebody is not present, you won’t judge them because you’re present and you can’t judge in the moment. In the moment, there is … only … love. Love.
And love is not separate. Love is encompassing everybody and everything. And love is only activated, realized, sensed, lived, in the moment.
This moment! Please, this moment! Feel yourself loved. Please, let yourself feel loved. Whoever you are, whatever you’ve done, you’re loved. You are loved, whether you realize it or not.
So in this moment, feel you’re being loved. And then, if you can, take this little step: love yourself for who you are. If you look carefully, you’ll find you have always done your best, under the circumstances.
And with a little more presence in each moment, your whole life will transform. You won’t have to do anything to make yourself grateful. You will be gratefulness! For that’s all there is, is love. Whether we recognize it or not and the only way to recognize it is here and now.
And thank you for listening.
Bye for now.