jackieokeeffe.com Newsletter February 2012 Vol 3 Jac s e-satsang If you have a satsang question for Jac, you can email her at: contactingjac@gmail.com Please note she reserves all rights to disseminate e-satsang material in any form. Due to the high volume of emails of this nature, it's not possible to respond to everyone. Toronto Satsang Fri-Mon, March 2-5 (Rescheduled from November, 2011) Friday: 7:30-9:30pm Saturday: 10:30am-5pm Sunday: 10:30am-5pm Venue: 401 Richmond St, Suite 384 Toronto, Ontario Prior booking is essential. For more details click here. e-satsang... your questions answered Q. Now I am retired - and have fulfilled my family duties - my deepest desire is to spend all my remaining years seeking liberation. My studies over this lifetime and particularly in the past 2 years over the Internet have deepened my existing desire for the truth of who I am. Last year I chose to "let go of the future" and see what arises and it has been an amazing year in terms of the physical. Although I am learning from awakened teachers on the Internet - yourself, Mooji, Jan Frazier, ACIM - I know that the truth lies within me. And I have a great yearning for this - and always have had. How do I dissolve into this? Do I need a teacher to assist with this? Will there be enough time in this lifetime for me to experience my true nature? (from S) Jac replies: Wanting to know if truth will be seen in this lifetime is an idea that can be dropped now. It's a distraction just like any thought, and beliefs in limitation are the stickiest.
Jackieokeeffe.com Newsletter February 2012 Pg 2 Upcoming Satsangs Toronto, Canada, March 2-5 San Francisco, CA, April 12-15 La Jolla, CA (Inner Directions Conference), April 20-22 Washington, DC, April 27-29 Raleigh, NC, May 4-6 Asheville, NC May 8-13 France June 2-9 For details on these and other 2012 satsangs, click here. For a 10% discount on the Inner Directions conference noted above, use the code: PRESENTER12 The timing of grace/truth cannot be controlled or guaranteed. Take each day as it is presented, be watchful of the play of mind. Know that mind is a liar. Asking 'how do I dissolve?' is mind trying to figure it out, but mind can only give an intellectual answer. This leads nowhere as there is no 'how to' in awakening. Mind can be used to drop identification with thought and mind can be directed inwards. Mind is the only tool you have to drop the ideas of who you are not. So it's an undoing rather than a doing; breaking unconscious habits of believing you are S. You are not S, you are not an individual, you are consciousness pretending to have a human experience. Stop believing this dream; that is the key. Follow your deepest inner pull each day and let that be your teacher. If an external teacher is required then that will present itself. All you really need is willingness and courage. Let mind step out of the way and grace will do its thing beautifully. Q. There is confusion over an answer in a recent e-satsang regarding someone's lack of self-love. What is self-love? For example, if I wanted to love myself, what would I be loving? How would I do that? What's there to love? It's tempting to sit down and write a bunch of things that I feel gratitude for regarding "myself," but on the other hand, wouldn't that just be making more concrete a false sense of "self," of identifying with a personality, which is just an illusion/story that keeps me from the truth? (from I) Jac replies: Self love is what we call arriving at an inward place where the ego is not vying for attention and where the 'all about me' story is no longer centre stage. It can be called selflove or self-acceptance and it marks the beginning of the death of the ego. Yes, it's just as much illusion material as is the idea that there is Truth that can be found. Every single thought; even the concept of enlightenment is dream material. There is only silence itself beyond this movie/story.
Jackieokeeffe.com Newsletter February 2012 Pg 3 Double check whatever mind wants to reject. Let there be all of it or none of it, but selecting stories from within the story is usually ego preservation. Have a look to find out what ideas about love and self-love are believed. If there is a personal 'I' who is searching for Truth then there is a personal 'I' that can love the personal 'I'. If there is nothing there to love, then there is nothing searching for Truth either. It's all or nothing. Inner Directions Conference Jac will speak at the next Inner Directions Conference near San Diego, California April 20-22, 2012 Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego La Jolla, California Click here for more information. For a 10% conference discount, use the code: PRESENTER12 Sometimes when mind takes an intellectual approach to dismiss something it is actually this very area that would be wise to explore - as here there might be hidden stories of the personal 'I'. The mind can't do love or gratitude but it will try, only to find that it is creating more story, as you have found out. Have a look at your questions again and see if it is recognised that they come from an intellectual approach. The ego has its own life cycle, like all things in nature. The fullness of its maturity is when there is an established sense of self-love, not intellectually but emotionally. When self-love is established the potential for identification is significantly less. So a short circuit to ripening the ego is to establish self-love. For many (but not all) this stage of maturity is essential. Yes of course, ultimately there is nothing to love, and nothing to get and no such thing as any of this, but if that knowing is only at an intellectual level then there is something that has not ripened. Self-love can be a powerful ripening catalyst. Of course this is the movie talking to the movie about the movie, and within that context the ego movie has a life cycle that has to play out. There is a place for everything and when the ego story is done the only step that will make sense is to let attention be at rest, at home, outside and beyond all of this. Q. I heard you saying in one of your videos 'in a moment, you can decide that enough is enough and end your patterns of feeling fear.' Is it really possible doing it just like that? One of my major
Jackieokeeffe.com Newsletter February 2012 Pg 4 issues has been, since childhood, FEAR. And years ago my therapists in San Francisco diagnosed me as compulsive-obsessive. Can you give me specific instructions about how to end feeling of fears in my life? (from N) Jac replies: Every emotion is preceded by a thought. When fear arises there is a thought that is believed in the seconds before fear is experienced. If you feel fear for many years then it's quite likely that you do not recognise the seed thoughts because the experience of fear takes all of your attention when it arises. Can you identify the thoughts that are running in mind just before fear takes hold? Can you see that these thoughts are being believed without examination? We learn unhealthy thinking habits as children and so there can be a bit of work to do to unravel habitual thinking. There are 2 steps. Identify the thought that was believed just before the fear arose. See that this thought is just an empty idea - this will be the sticky bit as mind will tell you that this thought is keeping you safe. So see the thought and see through it. Thought is nothing; don't believe it. How can a thought keep you safe when there is no you? Identified thought (ego) is protecting itself just to keep this cycle of contraction ongoing. Fear is fuelling the idea that you are a separate individual. That is its only purpose. If there is a believed story that you are not safe or that there is danger then fear follows and is experienced. Running these thoughts is simply a bad habit. Let obsessive-compulsive thoughts pass by and even if you know that mind believes them, see this, too. Whether there is an imbalance in mind or in the body, the same approach applies: remember that you are not your thoughts; you are not your body. Some thoughts will be believed and some not... it is only when thoughts are believed that there can be the experience of suffering. Q. Part 1. Do you have any idea on the schizophrenia? Is there any meaning from the spiritual perspective? Why blaming voices are heard? (from M) Jac replies: Physical health and mental health do not impact on who you are. Meaning is significant when cause and effect are still active. Nondual work points to the 'no meaning in any of it. The new age movement offers meaning for all
Jackieokeeffe.com Newsletter February 2012 Pg 5 happenings and conditions and this too has its place. There is no pull here to feed into the thought process of cause and effect. There are two options - check out new age sites which will give reasons for everything or drop seeking causes for identified effects. May things be as they are. When mind splits and voices are heard internally, this is still simply mind talking to mind. Pay no attention to this internal radio, find a method to relax so that attention can come to rest and not believe the voices that are heard internally. Q. Part 2. Do you have any method to heal depression? I watched a video in which you say "So What!". In another video you say there are some beliefs that make people depressed. Jac replies: Depression happens when the ego supports an overriding belief in inadequacy. It happens when the ego cannot see beyond itself and everything is therefore a reflection of the 'all about me' story. Check out what beliefs are running and challenge your own internal stories. Examine your thoughts and any time you find self-critical ideas, drop them. Be vigilant and stop all self-criticism. Self-criticism is one pattern that keeps depression alive. There are other thoughts also that contribute to depression, but start here. Q. Part 3. What is channeling? I do not want to be conned but I am interested in their information. Jac replies: Desire will offer the idea that whatever is out there is better than what I have. So beings in other dimensions want to communicate with human egos and human egos want to talk to other beings!! Forget about all of this. It is entertainment for the ego, a distraction, nothing more.
Jackieokeeffe.com Newsletter February 2012 Pg 6 Q. Part 4. I tend to job-hop & no job satisfies me. Stop searching and accept what is? What job should I do? Jac replies: So you have seen that nothing in the world satisfies - let this be OK. Some things can satisfy for a while but then this will not be enough either. Practice being content within yourself, accept what is. The outside world cannot make you feel content; it was never designed to make you truly happy. Stop expecting life/work, etc., to offer what it cannot give you. Drop your desires. Be happy with what is. Happiness is an inside job. Same in essence, different in expression. Take this view with all that you see and with whom you meet today. Do not identify with being a part of creation. You are That which is all of it. Let your perception of separation fall away. All in creation is the same in essence, different in expression. Quote from Developing a Spiritual Practice (inspirational card deck) Check them out on the shop page. Q. Part 5. My life is only about earning money and this spiritual search but life's problems and pains continue to appear. I have to reduce time on spiritual search and get on with my painful life, empty-handed. I want to know what to do in this life. (I am also sorry for this childish question. I think I should face the difficulties of life without anesthesia.) Jac replies: Read 'Born to be Free.' Spirituality is in every breath you take. There is no such thing as a spiritual or nonspiritual job. Spirituality is an inward movement. Stop looking outside of you for something that is within and stop feeling sorry for yourself. Your perception is compartmentalized and this comes from focusing on desire and dwelling on self-pity. You think too much about what you do not have. Break these thought patterns. There is so much you can do but perhaps there is a laziness in the desire of wanting to be happy and a reluctance to make any effort in terms of managing/watching the ideas that you are readily believing.
Jackieokeeffe.com Newsletter February 2012 Pg 7 Q. I learned about mindfulness maybe a year ago, so when I read your book I'm already familiar with the idea of watching your thoughts. It was easy to understand that thoughts can be watched, in other words- "watch" the thinker, but in the book there is a "deeper" state, and that is- "watch" the "watcher" of the thinker, the question is: Can u tell me the 'keys', how can u say that one is in that "state" or has been in that state? Also, is there a deeper state than what is here mentioned? (from B) Jac replies: The observer watches thoughts or watches the thinker (same thing). For many the 'observer' can be filled with ego. If the observer offers immunity from the world, gives you a position of feeling superior or safe, then this too is to be seen. Many say they are observing but they are running an inward silent commentary of everything that happens! Watch from a place that has no comment, no feeling, and no response. This much you can do. Prior to this - there are subtle layers that are recognised by some. For example, oneness, is-ness, space and these are just components of the uncompromised observer (I AM). It can happen that this state is reached by trying to watch the watcher. Prior to all of these concepts, is what can be called a non-state state, simply because it's not a state but mind wants to label it. There is no knowing that this 'non-state' is reached as it is reached; some recognise that there was an absence of everything when the 'I' pops back up and seeks to label and describe that gap. Others learn that the non-state state is all that is playing when it is pointed out by others that something has shifted in your perception. The non-state state (also called stateless state) has neither personal or impersonal perspective and so cannot be recognised from within as there is nobody in it and nothing to offer contrast, as separation is no longer held as an idea. You can point mind prior to the I AM but whether an indescribable nothingness opens up or not is a lottery. Don't look for any result, let there be nothing and then let nothing disappear also. Q. I came upon a quotation on your website: "Nonduality is best considered as a disposition of the mind. It is not appropriate for application to worldly affairs, and the wisdom to deal with such matters must therefore be developed independently." This quotation has me thinking. Who is independently developing wisdom? It seems to me that wisdom is grace and that often it comes just through experiencing the ups and downs of life. Can you please clarify for me? (from N)
Jackieokeeffe.com Newsletter February 2012 Pg 8 Jac replies: Whether we call it grace or common sense, it is the same thing. It's life, it s intellect - any label will do. We can say that we learn by mistakes, for example. If your car is clamped, common sense will be developed and you might not park on that same spot again. Advaita can only offer 'there is no car and no clamp' and that is not much use when you next need to drive the car! The term independent in this quote has to do with wisdom being developed independently to the thought processes that go with an understanding of nonduality. Keeping these two apart leads to a maturity of mind. We can say consciousness, grace, life, common sense, etc., takes care of the outside world and nonduality is for inner pointing only. One is the mechanism of the movie and the other is the burning fire where the cans of film of that same movie are destroyed. Q. I have a question about the dead. When we die, is it that every single individual person goes or is merged in the same consciousness... no matter how ignorantly one may have lived? (from P) Jac replies: Thoughts are like an unending stream of ideas, images, feelings, etc. These thoughts are random and memory is attached to some and others have the capacity to be believed. There is no personal 'I' that actually believes thoughts; the personal 'I' is just another thought. So when the body dies, there isn't an individual there in the first place that is going anywhere. The flow of consciousness, or flow of desires and thoughts, that have a sense of identity will continue as forms of energy, evolving and maturing until they break down, too. Whatever comes into being will be destroyed sooner or later. These thoughts are waves of energy that move in consciousness and can find a million ways to manifest in order to move along in their own life cycle. All remaining beliefs move off so what else is left when the body dies? What is it that can merge with anything? When there is karma (belief in cause and effect), the raw energy of karma will move towards the opposite experience to balance the books. But is it the exact individual that reincarnates? - No, simply because there is no solid individual anywhere - it s just an idea that clings to the physical body. When the body dies, then ideas either dissolve or move along to where they can manifest. Either way, good and evil seek to balance themselves out. This is the cycle of creation; this is what keeps the show going. The dual play of right and wrong, good and bad can never balance itself out. It s like night and day, with and without light - there never can be the resting in a half light. This movement of life is not looking for resolution, there is nothing out of balance in any of this.
Jackieokeeffe.com Newsletter February 2012 Pg 9 From the particular individual perspective it appears as though there are things that need fixing in the world, but from the macro perspective it is exquisitely finely tuned and perfect in every way. Consciousness is not so dependent on the human form for creation and destruction. We like to think we are important in the scheme of things, but not so, thankfully! What we are is beyond all of this. Q. Part 1. "The I AM is it the observer which watches the mind without judgment, even so it is itself part of the mind, it would be the mind which somehow frees itself from itself, it is less caught." Is the I AM really that? If it was so, there would be some I AM quite stable and other much less, as in my case. (from A) Jac replies: There is no stability anywhere. It is not possible to rest for long periods in the I AM. The I AM state comes and goes, always. Prior to I AM... prior to any state is beyond stability and instability. Q. Part 2. Then she (Jac) speaks about another place which we could reach in going behind... her whaouf well-mimed in her video... So when doing this 'whaouf' I found myself in a place behind me, to which I go not when I wish to, but only when energy wants it and not necessarily after a meditation or watching but sometimes when walking. What I can say about this place, is that the seeing changes, it seems lighter, nicer, more cool. Once after a meditation which brought me there, I was walking in the street with a lot of pain, yet I was very nice with people without reason. Jac replies: The 'whaouf' can create a fundamental shift in perspective. It is a movement that can create a crack in the matrix and there is no personal identification with thought. For some, it is possible to point mind there and then mind disappears and for others it can only happen when it happens naturally. In those moments after that non-personal perspective kicks in, it seems that mind sets about making it an experience. Mind is watching it and making it an event and then it is something that can be described. The moment mind starts to comment on the 'outside of all of it' state,
Jackieokeeffe.com Newsletter February 2012 Pg 10 then mind is busy recreating a story about this perspective and so identification is rebuilding. All you can do then is 'whaouf' again and maybe there is a split second of an opening. Mind will stop coming in to enjoy the happening - or mind will comment but these thoughts will not be believed. It s as though they cannot land anywhere and so all thoughts are just like wisps of cloud, without substance and so no story sticks any more. Don't get caught in the idea of enjoying this 'state.' When this opening happens, do not watch it, do not identify with any thought at all. Without doing anything, let it take everything. Q. Part 3. Also she (Jac) said it is a good place to wait for awakening (at least if I understood... surely in going there as often as possible, and staying there as much as possible). So I'd like to know if this experience contains anything real, or if it is my mind which has created all. Jac replies: Yes, mind creates all of it. There is nothing beyond mind, absolutely nothing and the 'whaouf' is a pointer to 'non mind.' Anything that can be experienced is created with the help of mind. Prior to that we can't talk about it, as this would be mind placing labels on something that it imagines. Mind cannot go beyond itself. So with these limits, it is said that there is nothing outside of mind, as this is literally the case. Know that there is no absence of something in that nothingness. More replies coming soon in the next newsletter! You can email Jac with your satsang question at contactingjac@gmail.com.
Jackieokeeffe.com Newsletter February 2012 Pg 11 Jac O' Keeffe travels extensively, facilitating satsang. At these spiritual gatherings and in her writings she assists spiritual seekers of Truth by offering clear pointers to that which is prior to and beyond the mind. Free audio and video satsangs are available for listening or download at jackieokeeffe.com. Copyright 2012 Jac O' Keeffe, All rights reserved. The material on this website is distributed without profit to those who have expressed an interest in Jac O' Keeffe. jackieokeeffe.com To unsubscribe, email contactingjac@gmail.com and put Unsubscribe in the subject line.