1
00:00:13,078 --> 00:00:24,063
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

2
00:00:24,063 --> 00:00:27,008
We live our lives pursuing happiness "out
there"

3
00:00:27,008 --> 00:00:30,003
as if it is a commodity.

4
00:00:30,003 --> 00:00:39,041
We have become slaves to our own desires and
craving.

5
00:00:39,041 --> 00:00:41,004
Happiness isn't something that can be pursued

6
00:00:41,004 --> 00:00:44,059
or purchased like a cheap suit.

7
00:00:44,059 --> 00:00:45,077
This is Maya,

8
00:00:45,077 --> 00:00:46,629
illusion,

9
00:00:46,629 --> 00:00:51,006
the endless play of form.

10
00:00:51,006 --> 00:00:53,017
In the Buddhist tradition,

11
00:00:53,017 --> 00:00:56,429
Samsara, or the endless cycle of suffering

12
00:00:56,429 --> 00:00:58,819
is perpetuated by the craving of pleasure

13
00:00:58,819 --> 00:01:03,012
and aversion to pain.

14
00:01:03,012 --> 00:01:07,409
Freud referred to this as the "pleasure principle."

15
00:01:07,409 --> 00:01:10,229
Everything we do is an attempt to create pleasure,

16
00:01:10,229 --> 00:01:12,229
to gain something that we want,

17
00:01:12,229 --> 00:01:19,067
or to push away something that is undesirable
that we don't want.

18
00:01:19,067 --> 00:01:23,063
Even a simple organism like the paramecium
does this.

19
00:01:23,063 --> 00:01:25,089
It is called response to stimulus.

20
00:01:25,089 --> 00:01:30,085
Unlike a paramecium, humans have more choice.

21
00:01:30,085 --> 00:01:34,409
We are free to think, and that is the heart
of the problem.

22
00:01:34,409 --> 00:02:03,609
It is the thinking about what we want that
has gotten out of control.

23
00:02:03,609 --> 00:02:14,007
The 
dilemma of modern society is that we seek
to understand the world,

24
00:02:14,007 --> 00:02:17,043
not in terms of archaic inner consciousness,

25
00:02:17,043 --> 00:02:20,006
but by quantifying and qualifying what we
perceive

26
00:02:20,006 --> 00:02:25,819
to be the external world by using scientific
means and thought.

27
00:02:25,819 --> 00:02:30,319
Thinking has only led to more thinking and
more questions.

28
00:02:30,319 --> 00:02:33,065
We seek to know the innermost forces which
create the world

29
00:02:33,065 --> 00:02:35,067
and guide its course.

30
00:02:35,067 --> 00:02:39,011
But we conceive of this essence as outside
of ourselves,

31
00:02:39,011 --> 00:02:44,569
not as a living thing, intrinsic to our own
nature.

32
00:02:44,569 --> 00:02:47,089
It was the famous psychiatrist Carl Jung who
said,

33
00:02:47,089 --> 00:02:56,001
"one who looks outside dreams, one who looks
inside awakes."

34
00:02:56,001 --> 00:03:00,044
It is not wrong to desire to be awake, to
be happy.

35
00:03:00,044 --> 00:03:04,019
What is wrong is to look for happiness outside

36
00:03:04,019 --> 00:03:34,062
when it can only be found inside.

37
00:03:34,062 --> 00:03:39,073
On August 4th, 2010 at the Techonomy conference
in Lake Tahoe, California,

38
00:03:39,073 --> 00:03:45,819
Eric Schmidt-CEO of Google, mentioned an astounding
statistic.

39
00:03:45,819 --> 00:03:48,045
Every two days now we create as much information

40
00:03:48,045 --> 00:03:51,028
as we did from the dawn of civilization up
until 2003,

41
00:03:51,028 --> 00:03:54,599
according to Schmidt.

42
00:03:54,599 --> 00:04:02,006
That's something like 5 exabytes of data.

43
00:04:02,006 --> 00:04:05,059
Never in human history has there been so much
thinking

44
00:04:05,059 --> 00:04:08,075
and never has there been so much turmoil on
the planet.

45
00:04:08,075 --> 00:04:15,029
Could it be that every time we think of a
solution to one problem,

46
00:04:15,029 --> 00:04:18,459
we create two more problems?

47
00:04:18,459 --> 00:04:20,489
What good is all this thinking

48
00:04:20,489 --> 00:04:23,015
if it doesn't lead to greater happiness?

49
00:04:23,015 --> 00:04:26,093
Are we happier?

50
00:04:26,093 --> 00:04:26,099
More equanimous?

51
00:04:26,099 --> 00:04:30,028
More joyful as a result of all this thinking?

52
00:04:30,028 --> 00:04:33,018
Or does it isolate us,

53
00:04:33,018 --> 00:04:34,094
disconnect us from a deeper and more meaningful

54
00:04:34,094 --> 00:04:39,699
experience of life?

55
00:04:39,699 --> 00:04:45,031
Thinking, acting and doing,

56
00:04:45,031 --> 00:04:47,005
must be brought into balance with being.

57
00:04:47,005 --> 00:05:04,034
After all, we are human beings, not human
doings.

58
00:05:04,034 --> 00:05:09,055
We want change and we want stability at the
same time.

59
00:05:09,055 --> 00:05:13,015
Our hearts have become disconnected from the
spiral of life,

60
00:05:13,015 --> 00:05:15,005
the law of change,

61
00:05:15,005 --> 00:05:18,039
as our thinking minds drive us towards stability,

62
00:05:18,039 --> 00:05:23,008
security and pacification of the senses.

63
00:05:23,008 --> 00:05:28,012
With a morbid facination we watch killings,
tsunamis,

64
00:05:28,012 --> 00:05:34,009
earthquakes and wars.

65
00:05:34,009 --> 00:05:37,093
We constantly try to occupy our mind, fill
it with information.

66
00:05:37,093 --> 00:05:41,004
TV shows streaming from every conceivable
device.

67
00:05:41,004 --> 00:05:43,006
Games and puzzles.

68
00:05:43,006 --> 00:05:44,037
Text messaging.

69
00:05:44,037 --> 00:05:47,085
And every possible trivial thing.

70
00:05:47,085 --> 00:05:49,569
We let ourselves become mesmerized with

71
00:05:49,569 --> 00:05:53,027
the endless stream of new images, new information,

72
00:05:53,027 --> 00:06:00,669
new ways to tantalize and pacify the senses.

73
00:06:00,669 --> 00:06:04,139
At times of quiet inner reflection our hearts
may tell us

74
00:06:04,139 --> 00:06:08,036
that there is more to life than our present
reality,

75
00:06:08,036 --> 00:06:11,086
that we live in a world of hungry ghosts.

76
00:06:11,086 --> 00:06:24,006
Endlessly craving and never satisfied.

77
00:06:24,006 --> 00:06:25,729
We have created a maelstrom of data

78
00:06:25,729 --> 00:06:30,039
flying around the planet to facilitate more
thinking,

79
00:06:30,039 --> 00:06:33,027
more ideas about how to fix the world,

80
00:06:33,027 --> 00:06:38,047
to fix the problems that only exist because
the mind has created them.

81
00:06:38,047 --> 00:06:45,091
Thinking has created the whole big mess we're
in right now.

82
00:06:45,091 --> 00:06:50,539
We wage wars against diseases, enemies and
problems.

83
00:06:50,539 --> 00:06:55,039
The paradox is that whatever you resist persists.

84
00:06:55,039 --> 00:06:59,016
The more you resist something, the stronger
it gets.

85
00:06:59,016 --> 00:07:02,011
Like exercising a muscle, you are actually
strengthening

86
00:07:02,011 --> 00:07:05,699
the very thing you want to rid yourself of.

87
00:07:05,699 --> 00:07:09,075
So then, what is the alternative to thinking?

88
00:07:09,075 --> 00:07:32,639
What other mechanism can humans use to exist
on this planet?

89
00:07:32,639 --> 00:07:35,087
While Western culture in recent centuries
has focused on exploring

90
00:07:35,087 --> 00:07:39,669
the physical by using thought and analysis,

91
00:07:39,669 --> 00:07:42,049
other ancient cultures have developed equally
sophisticated

92
00:07:42,049 --> 00:07:48,599
technologies for exploring inner space.

93
00:07:48,599 --> 00:07:51,289
It is the loss of our connection to our inner
worlds

94
00:07:51,289 --> 00:07:55,099
that has created imbalance on our planet.

95
00:07:55,099 --> 00:07:59,669
The ancient tenant "know thyself" has been
replaced

96
00:07:59,669 --> 00:08:04,569
by a desire to experience the outer world
of form.

97
00:08:04,569 --> 00:08:07,979
Answering the question "who am I?" is not
simply a matter

98
00:08:07,979 --> 00:08:15,759
of describing what is on your business card.

99
00:08:15,759 --> 00:08:19,043
In Buddhism, you are not the content of your
consciousness.

100
00:08:19,043 --> 00:08:22,062
You are not merely a collection of thoughts
or ideas

101
00:08:22,062 --> 00:08:35,075
because behind the thoughts is the one who
is witnessing the thoughts.

102
00:08:35,075 --> 00:08:40,007
The imperative "know thyself" is a Zen koan,
an unanswerable riddle.

103
00:08:40,007 --> 00:08:45,045
Eventually the mind will become exhausted
in trying to find an answer.

104
00:08:45,045 --> 00:08:49,085
Like a dog chasing its tail, it is only the
ego identity

105
00:08:49,085 --> 00:08:56,082
that wants to find an answer, a purpose.

106
00:08:56,082 --> 00:09:00,096
The truth of who you are does not need an
answer

107
00:09:00,096 --> 00:09:08,026
because all questions are created by the egoic
mind.

108
00:09:08,026 --> 00:09:16,042
You are not your mind.

109
00:09:16,042 --> 00:09:25,007
The truth lies not in more answers, but in
less questions.

110
00:09:25,007 --> 00:09:26,073
As Joseph Campbell said,

111
00:09:26,073 --> 00:09:30,022
"I don't believe people are looking for the
meaning of life,

112
00:09:30,022 --> 00:09:53,000
as much as they are looking for the experience
of being alive."

113
00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:57,019
When the Buddha was asked, "what are you?"
he said simply,

114
00:09:57,019 --> 00:09:59,038
"I am awake."

115
00:09:59,038 --> 00:10:07,056
What does this mean, to be awake?

116
00:10:07,056 --> 00:10:10,061
The Buddha does not say exactly, because of
the flowering of

117
00:10:10,061 --> 00:10:13,036
each individual life is different.

118
00:10:13,036 --> 00:10:21,099
But he does say one thing; it is the end of
suffering.

119
00:10:21,099 --> 00:10:24,009
Every major religious tradition has a name

120
00:10:24,009 --> 00:10:26,058
for the state of being awake.

121
00:10:26,058 --> 00:10:27,081
Heaven,

122
00:10:27,081 --> 00:10:29,005
Nirvana,

123
00:10:29,005 --> 00:10:31,052
or Moksha.

124
00:10:31,052 --> 00:10:37,054
A quiet mind is all you need to realize the
nature of the stream

125
00:10:37,054 --> 00:10:40,078
All else will happen once your mind is quiet.

126
00:10:40,078 --> 00:10:44,001
In that stillness, inner energies wake up

127
00:10:44,001 --> 00:10:48,041
and work without effort on your part.

128
00:10:48,041 --> 00:10:56,002
As the Taoists say, "Chi follows consciousness."

129
00:10:56,002 --> 00:10:58,085
By being still one begins to hear the wisdom

130
00:10:58,085 --> 00:11:00,081
of the plants and animals.

131
00:11:00,081 --> 00:11:05,056
The quiet whispers in dreams,

132
00:11:05,056 --> 00:11:07,053
and one learns the subtle mechanism by which

133
00:11:07,053 --> 00:11:11,065
those dreams come into material form.

134
00:11:11,065 --> 00:11:16,076
In the Tao te Ching, this kind of living is
called "wei wu wei"

135
00:11:16,076 --> 00:11:22,067
- "Doing, not doing."

136
00:11:22,067 --> 00:11:25,025
The Buddha spoke of the "middle way" as the
path

137
00:11:25,025 --> 00:11:28,017
that leads to enlightenment.

138
00:11:28,017 --> 00:11:31,046
Aristotle described the Golden Mean - the
middle

139
00:11:31,046 --> 00:11:35,058
between two extremes, as the path of beauty.

140
00:11:35,058 --> 00:11:38,071
Not too much effort, but not too little either.

141
00:11:38,071 --> 00:11:57,033
Yin and yang in perfect balance.

142
00:11:57,033 --> 00:12:00,039
Vedanta's notion of Maya or illusion,

143
00:12:00,039 --> 00:12:03,004
is that we do not experience the environment
itself,

144
00:12:03,004 --> 00:12:08,027
but rather a projection of it created by thoughts.

145
00:12:08,027 --> 00:12:11,001
Of course your thoughts let you experience
the vibratory world

146
00:12:11,001 --> 00:12:15,082
in a certain way, but our inner equanimity
need not be contingent

147
00:12:15,082 --> 00:12:21,056
on external happenings.

148
00:12:21,056 --> 00:12:26,068
The belief in an external world independent
of the perceiving subject

149
00:12:26,068 --> 00:12:30,038
is fundamental to science.

150
00:12:30,038 --> 00:12:34,002
But our senses only give us indirect information.

151
00:12:34,002 --> 00:12:37,005
Our notions about this mind-made physical
world

152
00:12:37,005 --> 00:12:44,017
are always filtered through the senses and
therefore always incomplete.

153
00:12:44,017 --> 00:12:49,002
There is one field of vibration underlying
all of the senses.

154
00:12:49,002 --> 00:12:53,001
People with a condition called "synesthesia"
sometimes experience

155
00:12:53,001 --> 00:12:57,026
this vibratory field in different ways.

156
00:12:57,026 --> 00:13:01,005
Synesthetes can see sounds as colors or shapes
or associate

157
00:13:01,005 --> 00:13:05,045
qualities of one sense with another.

158
00:13:05,045 --> 00:13:13,002
Synesthesia refers to a synthesis or intermingling
of the senses.

159
00:13:13,002 --> 00:13:15,098
The chakras and the senses are like a prism

160
00:13:15,098 --> 00:13:19,096
filtering a continuum of vibration.

161
00:13:19,096 --> 00:13:22,071
All things in the universe are vibrating

162
00:13:22,071 --> 00:13:27,079
but at different rates and frequencies.

163
00:13:27,079 --> 00:13:31,034
The Eye of Horus is made up of six symbols,

164
00:13:31,034 --> 00:13:34,045
each representing one of the senses.

165
00:13:34,045 --> 00:13:36,089
Like the ancient Vedic system,

166
00:13:36,089 --> 00:13:44,041
thought is considered to be a sense.

167
00:13:44,041 --> 00:13:45,094
Thoughts are received simultaneously

168
00:13:45,094 --> 00:13:48,091
as sensations are experienced on the body.

169
00:13:48,091 --> 00:13:54,037
They arise from the same vibratory source.

170
00:13:54,037 --> 00:13:56,039
Thinking is simply a tool.

171
00:13:56,039 --> 00:13:57,077
One of six senses.

172
00:13:57,077 --> 00:14:01,071
But we have elevated it to such a high status

173
00:14:01,071 --> 00:14:07,001
that we identify ourselves with out thoughts.

174
00:14:07,001 --> 00:14:10,054
The fact that we do not identify thinking
as one of the six senses

175
00:14:10,054 --> 00:14:12,067
is very significant.

176
00:14:12,067 --> 00:14:17,088
We are so immersed in thought that trying
to explain thought as a sense

177
00:14:17,088 --> 00:14:20,073
is like telling a fish about water.

178
00:14:20,073 --> 00:14:31,087
Water, what water?

179
00:14:31,087 --> 00:14:34,067
In the Upanishads it is said:

180
00:14:34,067 --> 00:14:40,089
Not that which the eye can see, but that whereby
the eye can see.

181
00:14:40,089 --> 00:14:47,006
Know that to be Brahma the eternal and not
what people here adore.

182
00:14:47,006 --> 00:14:54,005
Not that which the ear can hear, but that
whereby the ear can hear.

183
00:14:54,005 --> 00:15:03,003
Know that to be Brahma the eternal and not
what people here adore.

184
00:15:03,003 --> 00:15:09,029
Not that which speech can illuminate, but
that by which speech can be illuminated.

185
00:15:09,029 --> 00:15:22,007
Know that to be Brahma the eternal and not
what people here adore.

186
00:15:22,007 --> 00:15:28,089
Not that which the mind can think, but that
whereby the mind can think.

187
00:15:28,089 --> 00:16:04,049
Know that to be Brahma the eternal and not
what people here adore.

188
00:16:04,049 --> 00:16:07,023
In the last decade, great advances have taken
place

189
00:16:07,023 --> 00:16:10,067
in the area of brain research.

190
00:16:10,067 --> 00:16:13,055
Scientists have discovered neuroplasticity
- a term

191
00:16:13,055 --> 00:16:17,049
which conveys the idea that the physical wiring
of the brain

192
00:16:17,049 --> 00:16:21,003
changes according to the thoughts moving through
it.

193
00:16:21,003 --> 00:16:24,004
As Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb put it,

194
00:16:24,004 --> 00:16:34,099
"neurons that fire together, wire together."

195
00:16:34,099 --> 00:16:41,000
Neurons wire together most when a person is
in a state of sustained attention.

196
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,036
What this means is that it is possible to
direct your own

197
00:16:43,036 --> 00:16:45,064
subjective experience of reality.

198
00:16:45,064 --> 00:16:50,018
Literally, if your thoughts are ones of fear,
worry, anxiety

199
00:16:50,018 --> 00:16:56,039
and negativity then you grow the wiring for
more of those thoughts to flourish.

200
00:16:56,039 --> 00:16:58,079
If you direct your thoughts to be ones of
love,

201
00:16:58,079 --> 00:17:01,008
compassion, gratitude and joy,

202
00:17:01,008 --> 00:17:05,063
you create the wiring for repeating those
experiences.

203
00:17:05,063 --> 00:17:10,049
But how do we do that if we are surrounded
by violence and suffering?

204
00:17:10,049 --> 00:17:15,076
Isn't this some kind of delusion or wishful
thinking?

205
00:17:15,076 --> 00:17:18,023
Neuroplasticity isn't the same as the new
age notion

206
00:17:18,023 --> 00:17:21,839
that you create your reality by positive thinking.

207
00:17:21,839 --> 00:17:25,006
It is actually the same thing that the Buddha
taught

208
00:17:25,006 --> 00:17:28,068
2500 years ago.

209
00:17:28,068 --> 00:17:33,086
Vipassana Meditation or insight meditation

210
00:17:33,086 --> 00:17:39,033
could be described as self-directed neuroplasticity.

211
00:17:39,033 --> 00:17:45,082
You accept your reality exactly as it is - as
it ACTUALLY is.

212
00:17:45,082 --> 00:17:50,087
But you experience it at the root level of
sensation,

213
00:17:50,087 --> 00:17:54,064
at the vibratory or energetic level without
the prejudice or

214
00:17:54,064 --> 00:17:56,083
influence of thought.

215
00:17:56,083 --> 00:18:00,052
Through sustained attention at the root level
of consciousness,

216
00:18:00,052 --> 00:18:18,005
the wiring for an entirely different perception
of reality is created.

217
00:18:18,005 --> 00:18:21,025
We have got it backwards most of the time.

218
00:18:21,025 --> 00:18:27,079
We constantly let ideas about the outer world
shape our neural networks,

219
00:18:27,079 --> 00:18:34,077
but our inner equanimity need not be contingent
on external happenings.

220
00:18:34,077 --> 00:18:37,087
Circumstances don't matter.

221
00:18:37,087 --> 00:18:42,006
Only my state of consciousness matters.

222
00:18:42,006 --> 00:18:44,086
Meditation in Sanskrit means to be free of
measurement.

223
00:18:44,086 --> 00:18:47,011
Free of all comparison.

224
00:18:47,011 --> 00:18:48,081
To be free of all becoming.

225
00:18:48,081 --> 00:18:51,067
You are not trying to become something else.

226
00:18:51,067 --> 00:18:57,035
You are okay with what is.

227
00:18:57,035 --> 00:19:01,002
The way to rise above the suffering of the
physical realm

228
00:19:01,002 --> 00:19:03,014
is to totally embrace it.

229
00:19:03,014 --> 00:19:05,043
To say yes to it.

230
00:19:05,043 --> 00:19:08,012
So it becomes something within you,

231
00:19:08,012 --> 00:19:21,011
rather than you being something within it.

232
00:19:21,011 --> 00:19:23,081
How does one live in such a way that consciousness

233
00:19:23,081 --> 00:19:27,048
is no longer in conflict with its content?

234
00:19:27,048 --> 00:19:32,028
How does one empty the heart of petty ambitions?

235
00:19:32,028 --> 00:19:35,015
There must be a total revolution in consciousness.

236
00:19:35,015 --> 00:19:41,061
A radical shift in orientation from the outer
world to the inner.

237
00:19:41,061 --> 00:19:45,009
It is not a revolution brought about by will
or effort alone.

238
00:19:45,009 --> 00:19:48,008
But also by surrender.

239
00:19:48,008 --> 00:20:00,075
Acceptance of reality as it is.

240
00:20:00,075 --> 00:20:05,002
The image of Christ's open heart powerfully
conveys the idea

241
00:20:05,002 --> 00:20:08,005
that one must open to all pain.

242
00:20:08,005 --> 00:20:11,062
One must accept ALL if one is to remain open

243
00:20:11,062 --> 00:20:14,008
to the evolutionary source.

244
00:20:14,008 --> 00:20:17,042
This doesn't mean you become a masochist,

245
00:20:17,042 --> 00:20:18,079
you don't look for pain,

246
00:20:18,079 --> 00:20:23,015
but when pain comes, which it inevitably does,

247
00:20:23,015 --> 00:20:27,016
you simply accept reality AS IT IS,

248
00:20:27,016 --> 00:20:32,033
instead of craving some other reality.

249
00:20:32,033 --> 00:20:33,084
The Hawaiians have long believed

250
00:20:33,084 --> 00:20:37,002
that it is through the heart that we learn
truth.

251
00:20:37,002 --> 00:20:44,048
The heart has its own intelligence as distinctly
as the brain does.

252
00:20:44,048 --> 00:20:47,065
The Egyptians believed that the heart, not
the brain,

253
00:20:47,065 --> 00:20:49,025
was the source of human wisdom.

254
00:20:49,025 --> 00:20:51,089
The heart was considered to be the center
of the

255
00:20:51,089 --> 00:20:54,008
soul and the personality.

256
00:20:54,008 --> 00:20:58,003
It was through the heart that the divine spoke,

257
00:20:58,003 --> 00:21:05,053
giving ancient Egyptians knowledge of their
true path.

258
00:21:05,053 --> 00:21:08,045
This papyrus depicts the "weighing of the
heart".

259
00:21:08,045 --> 00:21:11,004
It was considered a good thing to go into
the

260
00:21:11,004 --> 00:21:13,061
afterlife with a light heart.

261
00:21:13,061 --> 00:21:21,051
It meant that you had lived well.

262
00:21:21,051 --> 00:21:25,031
One universal or archetypal stage that people
experience

263
00:21:25,031 --> 00:21:28,027
in the process of awakening the heart center

264
00:21:28,027 --> 00:21:44,051
is the experience of one's own energy as the
energy of the universe.

265
00:21:44,051 --> 00:21:46,089
When you allow yourself to feel this love,

266
00:21:46,089 --> 00:21:49,057
to be this love,

267
00:21:49,057 --> 00:21:53,006
when you connect your inner world with the
outer world,

268
00:21:53,006 --> 00:21:56,067
then all is one.

269
00:21:56,067 --> 00:22:00,086
How does one experience the music of the spheres?

270
00:22:00,086 --> 00:22:04,048
How does a heart open?

271
00:22:04,048 --> 00:22:09,018
Sri Ramana Maharshi said,

272
00:22:09,018 --> 00:22:12,006
"God dwells in you, as you,

273
00:22:12,006 --> 00:22:14,025
and you don't have to do anything

274
00:22:14,025 --> 00:22:15,096
to be God-realized or self-realized.

275
00:22:15,096 --> 00:22:20,037
It is already your true and natural state.

276
00:22:20,037 --> 00:22:22,068
Just drop all seeking,

277
00:22:22,068 --> 00:22:24,006
turn your attention inward

278
00:22:24,006 --> 00:22:28,003
and sacrifice your mind to the one self,

279
00:22:28,003 --> 00:22:30,049
radiating in the heart of your very being.

280
00:22:30,049 --> 00:22:35,000
For this to be your own presently lived experience,

281
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:48,049
self inquiry is the one direct and immediate
way."

282
00:22:48,049 --> 00:22:52,002
When you meditate and observe sensations within,

283
00:22:52,002 --> 00:22:58,013
your inner aliveness, you are actually observing
change.

284
00:22:58,013 --> 00:23:01,036
This force of change is the arising and passing
away

285
00:23:01,036 --> 00:23:03,081
as energy changes form.

286
00:23:03,081 --> 00:23:08,057
The degree to which a person has evolved or
become enlightened,

287
00:23:08,057 --> 00:23:11,028
is the degree to which one has gained the
ability

288
00:23:11,028 --> 00:23:13,048
to adapt to each moment,

289
00:23:13,048 --> 00:23:16,026
or to transmute the constantly changing human
stream

290
00:23:16,026 --> 00:23:19,056
of circumstances, pain and pleasure

291
00:23:19,056 --> 00:23:29,002
into bliss.

292
00:23:29,002 --> 00:23:32,077
Leo Tolstoy, author of "War and Peace", said

293
00:23:32,077 --> 00:23:36,005
"everyone thinks of changing the world,

294
00:23:36,005 --> 00:23:45,004
but nobody thinks of changing him or herself."

295
00:23:45,004 --> 00:23:47,075
Darwin said the most important characteristic
for the

296
00:23:47,075 --> 00:23:52,036
survival of the species is not strength or
intelligence,

297
00:23:52,036 --> 00:24:08,006
but adaptability to change.

298
00:24:08,006 --> 00:24:11,078
One must become adept at adapting.

299
00:24:11,078 --> 00:24:15,032
This is the Buddhist teaching of "annica"

300
00:24:15,032 --> 00:24:19,076
- everything is arising and passing away,
changing.

301
00:24:19,076 --> 00:24:21,071
Constantly changing.

302
00:24:21,071 --> 00:24:31,069
Suffering exists only because we become attached
to a particular form.

303
00:24:31,069 --> 00:24:34,061
When you connect to the witnessing part of
yourself,

304
00:24:34,061 --> 00:25:12,094
with the understanding of annica, bliss arises
in the heart.

305
00:25:12,094 --> 00:25:26,086
Saints, sages and yogis throughout history

306
00:25:26,086 --> 00:25:31,008
unanimously describe one sacred union that
occurs in the heart.

307
00:25:31,008 --> 00:25:33,067
Whether is the writings of St. John of the
Cross,

308
00:25:33,067 --> 00:25:36,000
Rumi's poetry,

309
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,076
or the tantric teachings of India,

310
00:25:39,076 --> 00:25:41,088
all of these different teachings try to express

311
00:25:41,088 --> 00:25:47,014
the subtle mystery of the heart.

312
00:25:47,014 --> 00:25:50,075
In the heart is the union of Shiva and Shakti.

313
00:25:50,075 --> 00:25:54,058
Masculine penetration into the spiral of life

314
00:25:54,058 --> 00:25:59,022
and feminine surrender to change.

315
00:25:59,022 --> 00:26:00,008
Witnessing

316
00:26:00,008 --> 00:26:06,073
and unconditional acceptance of all that is.

317
00:26:06,073 --> 00:26:08,015
In order to open your heart,

318
00:26:08,015 --> 00:26:11,053
you must open yourself to change.

319
00:26:11,053 --> 00:26:14,024
To live in the seemingly solid world,

320
00:26:14,024 --> 00:26:15,054
dance with it,

321
00:26:15,054 --> 00:26:17,017
engage with it,

322
00:26:17,017 --> 00:26:18,044
live fully,

323
00:26:18,044 --> 00:26:20,005
love fully,

324
00:26:20,005 --> 00:26:23,003
but yet know that it is impermanent

325
00:26:23,003 --> 00:26:29,099
and that ultimately all forms dissolve and
change.

326
00:26:29,099 --> 00:26:33,079
Bliss is the energy that responds to stillness.

327
00:26:33,079 --> 00:26:37,006
It comes from emptying consciousness of all
content.

328
00:26:37,006 --> 00:26:42,004
The content of this bliss energy born of stillness
IS consciousness.

329
00:26:42,004 --> 00:26:45,002
A new consciousness of the heart.

330
00:26:45,002 --> 99:59:59,999
A consciousness that is connected to ALL that
IS.