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Nothing is ever wrong.
Transcript:
As usual, I’m not saying I know this. I’m saying this is the way it looks to me. And I know there are people who say “this is the way, I can see the way it is.” And ah … there are people who say that who don’t seem to have any idea, and there are people that say that that do seem to have an idea.
So when I look at things it’s in a way that says “I don’t know, and this is the way it seems to me now.” So when I say anything is possible, when I look back on my life to any particular point, I could never imagine what did happen in the future. When I left school at 14, I couldn’t imagine that people would be listening to what I was saying, who were experts in they field. I couldn’t imagine that. And so on, with the jobs I got, and the positions I got, and the places I got, I could never have imagined that.
So when I say anything is possible that’s what it looks like. But then there’s something else. And this “something else” goes in two parts. The one part is what I talk about and try to share and express, is: being in each moment, for each moment. And that’s it, that’s the end of it. It’s about each moment, each footstep. Just making the tea, just fixing something. That’s, that’s it.
And then there’s another perspective, and this perspective is, let’s say, theoretical but it’s a sense I have, a feeling I have that everything is in order and we don’t see it. There is, as Heraclitus said, a “hidden harmony,” there is in every moment that nothing is out of place, anything is ever wrong. Everything is part of a harmony.
So then I look at it, again, theoretically, what is the harmony? Well, it feels as though everything wants to come together. It wants to balance. And when I look at everything and almost everybody it’s out of balance, except in the natural. And the natural being, ah, the animals and the trees and …
When I say that I’m thinking of the time when I see, say, a leopard hunting a rabbit. On one level I want the rabbit to get away, and on another level the leopard has to eat. So, to me, there’s a harmony there that I don’t feel comfortable with. In one way I want the vegetarians to be safe, but in another way now there’s a harmony there, and just because I feel a little more uncomfortable about one than the other, that’s to do with me. Although I always remember that, eventually, as Jesus said, “the lamb will lay down with the lion.” Eventually we’re going come together. I can’t see how it’s going happen, and yet I have this deep feeling it is going to happen, it is happening, on some level. And it may not be for everybody at this time, but I feel … a certain … number of people … are going to switch into a harmony.
So, coming back to everyday life, again it’s to do with the mind. If you’re absolutely in the moment … then you’re doing what you’re doing either because it needs to be done in order for things to run harmoniously, or you’re doing it for the sake of doing it. If you’re doing it for something – that’s not in harmony.
And then I remember the story, a Sufi story, about a king whose pride was to always have the greatest musicians in his court, and people used to come from miles around to hear his musicians. And he had an excellent singer, a young man. And one day it dawned on the king that this young man must been taught by somebody, and he may be even better than the young man. So he talks to the young man and he said, “did you have a teacher,” and he said, “yes,” “and was, is he better than you?” and he said, “absolutely.” And he said, “Well, I want him in my court,” and he said, “he won’t come. But if you like, I’ll take you secretly and let you hear him sing.” So they dressed in beggars’ clothes, went on the road so nobody knew, and eventually they get to a place, and the young man says to the king, “now we must be very quiet and wait in this wood until the dawn.” And at the dawn this incredible voice rose from a little hut by the river – just wonderful! – and the king went into another state. After it was over the young man led the king away and the king said, “I’ve never hear anything like that. And yet, you have the same tone in your voice – how is it that it doesn’t have the same effect on me?” And the young man said, “because I sing for you. My master … just sings.”
When we do something for the sake of it, because we enjoy it, because we love it, it has a different frequency.
And then we need to divert off into “frequency.” You see, we see everything as solid and as shape and there’s form and we give it a name… but now even science is saying it’s not out there, except as a frequency, except as a vibration that stimulates our brain to produce an image or produce sound. Frequencies. And there are frequencies everywhere.
Everything is a frequency and every frequency interacts with everything else. Distance has nothing to do with it. I was just listening to a, an interview where a man had spent time with Aborigines and he said the elders … can communicate over hundreds of miles. They communicate with each other. And everything is communicating with each other. The thing is, it’s in chaos. And we pick up the chaos.
Now back to the overall. I just have this sense, this feeling, that everything is attempting to come back into harmony. Let’s say we go home or back to the source or, as some people … and I’ve also had these experiences, that … in their sleep they have what they call a “dream” of living in a community that’s in harmony, where nothing is separate, there are no couples separate. Everything is in harmony with each other, everything is open with each other, everybody is for each other. Beyond themselves. And again, if you look at those people that, on this plane, who are doing things beyond themselves you’ll find there’s a different energy around them, there’s a different depth to them because they’re beyond themselves. They’ve found their calling. They’re doing something … yes, beyond themselves.
So harmony. And I feel that every situation … is exactly what we need. We’re bringing to us what we need to see, and be with, and drop into another level of harmony.
What could be this harmony? Well, we hear of masters who go into the caves, into the Himalayas, or into the jungles, or into the deserts, and just be there, on their own. And somehow they get fed, or they feed themselves (and some of them don’t need to eat) but the thing is they don’t … need … anything … outside of themselves. Now when I say outside of themselves, up comes: “but there isn’t an inside and an outside,” but that’s a whole different level.
On the level we’re talking about, they don’t … need … anything … on the outside. They’re fully full-filled in each moment. Whatever they’re doing or they’re not doing. There’s a state, there’s a peace. And many of us have had that sometimes. Something’s happened, or there’s just been a moment where they’ve watched the sunrise or the sunset or they’ve looked at the ocean or into the baby’s face and just for a moment, this incredible feeling. This sense, this wonderment, this indescribable state of just … here … now.
So I see that everything in our lives in each moment, is helping us, guiding us, inviting us, giving us the opportunity to be … with … things … as … they … are.
Now what I’ve observed, in opposition to this, is whenever anybody uses their mind, their will, their position, their power, their authority to create something, make something happen it’s as though it’s stretching a big rubber band. Stretching it, and yes it happens but then at some point, back it comes and goes equally the other side. Every action has an equal and positive reaction … So when we will something, when we want something, we want it from the part of us that’s not in balance. When we say “yes, this is the way it is, and yes, this isn’t the way I would like it to be and yes this is the way it is, I will be … with … what … is, in each moment.” Then, in itself, a peace descends, and it’s – let’s say it’s still not the peace, because there’s still part that wants something else or thinks it ought to be doing something else – but still when you say “so this is how it is in the moment and I will be with how it is in the moment,” there is a certain peace.
Back to in each moment. I get this overall feeling that whether we realize it or not, we are being given – and I say “given” not by anything outside of ourselves, but we won’t go into that – we are being given a situation that we need to be with. And as soon as we say yes! to whatever that situation is, even if it’s a no, if we say yes to what is, something moves on, something matures, something clicks into place. And the next thing is available. And the next thing may be not very comfortable either but it’s as though everything is trying to shuffle itself back to its … original shape.
So we are being presented, in each moment, a situation for us to be … with. And that situation may … be a lack of a situation, it may … can’t recognize anything … what, just to be here not doing anything, not helping anybody, not creating anything just being with the mundane life, moment, yes! Until you get that, you are not ready for the next. Whatever the next is.
Being … with … what … is. And often what we need to see is so … well, obvious to other people, but so … we’re so blind to it in ourselves we just can’t think. “Well, it can’t be this, I must be missing something.”
So, here’s the key to the flow, the movement. And it sounds opposite and it isn’t. The basis is to be where you are, totally, utterly and to keep searching and looking for the gratefulness. Because no matter who you are there’s somebody worse off. (We’ve heard that over and over, haven’t we?) To be with where you are, grateful for what is, and acknowledging that it may not be enough, that you want something else, but being grateful for where you are and then being open. Unconditionally open.
So an opportunity comes along, somebody says “would you like to come and …” There you are, unconditional. “Do I get drawn there or do I get repelled by this invitation? Is this invitation part of my mind? is it ah … a pattern? or am I afraid to go there, or I don’t think it’s a …”
You just sit with it and feel. It’s no good thinking, because when you go into that mind it’s full of the old, the conditioning. You don’t know. You sit and feel: what does the body say? So you think, “I will go, I’ll take this invitation.” What happens to the body? Come back, be here again and then say “I won’t go.” What happens to the body?
You’ll find that there is a flow somewhere to connect with, but you get your mind in the way, and the mind will say “ah, yes, but this and that and the other.” Because that’s what’s the mind does – it works in opposites all the time.
So, coming back to what I’m attempting to share … only very, very few people seem to have connected with this. And what I’m trying to share – it’s certainly not new, in some form or other … it’s been shared down through the ages, and that is: being … in … each … moment. And I know I’ve said this over and over, but I mean every foot step, I mean every thought, every action, every word, you’re aware of where you put something down and how you put something down. And every single thing you do, it’s in … this … very … moment, for this … very … moment.
So let’s try and do something with that. You wake up in the morning and there’s a “ahhhhh” and the ah is either, “oh dear, I’ve got to do this, that and the other, I’ve got to go to work, I’ve got to do this,” or for some people it’s, “oh, there’s nothing exciting today, there’s nothing to do.” Right. If you think ahead, that’s what’s likely to happen. If you’re in each moment, you’re lying in bed: so when are you going to get up? You just wait and see … and then you get up.
And that’s all you do, you get up. The mind goes, “yes but then I’ve got to brush my teeth and…aaa …” Yah, but … up. And do this. And do that. And the mind says, “but how’re we going to get through the day when there’s nothing to do or there’s all these boring things to do, or got to go to work…” Yeah, but as soon as you go there, you’re out of this moment.
In … each … moment. Every … single … moment. And all the people that are unhappy don’t do that. And in a way, everybody that is happy does that. In some way they are … doing what they’re doing.
And then we go to the other end, the overall … that in some way that we don’t see – the “hidden harmony” – everything is giving us exactly what we need, in each moment. And if that’s boredom, that’s what we need. How come we need to be bored? Because we keep complaining! And complaining is an aberration of energy. It affects the body, it affects the mind, it affects everybody on the planet.
Complaint … is a poison. And until the balance is given – the gratitude – you will keep getting things to complain about. Because you’re not getting you’re lesson, you’re not seeing what needs to be seen. So you keep drawing to you the things that will exaggerate what’s going on with you, until you see it. And you have that pop for a moment. As I say, it’s happened to most of us – at least for a moment – a little [snaps his fingers] and just for a moment everything’s perfect. Time stands still. Perfect. And then the mind again: “ahh, but…ah but…”
And as soon as you go into complaint we contract, we upset our frequency, our energy, our chemicals … everything. Which again radiates out into the world and come backs to us. In each moment.
“Ah… there was a complaint again.” Now don’t complain that you’ve complained. Just see, “ah that’s right, that was a complaint.” [breathes in and out] Back to the moment. Catching the complaint.
And complaints are very… oh, are all levels – gross and tiny, tiny, little subtle complaints. Complaint is a contraction, complaint is against, and it brings more things to you about which you can complain.
So, the two: in each moment just here now doing what you’re doing for the sake of what you are doing. If you’re painting, if you’re doing a painting, it’s not for anybody, it’s not for an exhibition, it’s not for people to say how wonderful it is. Yes, you would like that, but that’s not what it’s about. You’re painting because you want to paint. You’re fixing that whatever-it-is because you want to fix it. Not even so it can be fixed! Just, you want the experience of attempting to fix it. And conversations, and traveling, for … its … own … sake, in … each … moment.
And the other side of that is the overall. Once you get that, everything starts to move and change. And even if nothing’s happening you get a feeling that the “nothing” is part of the happening. There’s something you’re not seeing but you can feel it.
But even if it isn’t, it doesn’t matter. You’re here. Now. In … each … moment.