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♪ Intro Music ♪
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Hello there ...
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Spiritual argument so often whittles down[br]to an argument about semantics.
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But for the sake of today's episode,[br]let me play with semantics
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so as to facilitate your understanding of something
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which can ultimately only be experienced[br]through felt perception.
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Thousands of years ago it was said[br]that Desire is the root of Suffering.
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Is this true?
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No.
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It turns out that it is not true.
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The word that was used was "Taṇhā".
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Now, the translation of "Taṇhā"
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if you were to take it directly is Thirst.
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So what is the difference [br]between Thirst and Desire?
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A whole lot!
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Thirst and Desire are the opposite[br]sides of the same coin.
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Thirst is the shadow-side of Desire.
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In other words, think of choice as a two-sided coin.
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On one side there is Desire,[br]on the other side there is Thirst.
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Thirst is the shadow-side of Desire[br]on this coin called Choice.
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Thirst implies that there is a 'lack', first,
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and that the 'lack' is what is motivating[br]the craving that we are calling 'Desire'.
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Thirst is an 'attachment'.
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An attachment is 'craving of something' -
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which is motivated by an aversion to something.
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The root of suffering therefore[br]is the state of perpetual movement
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from aversion towards its opposite attachment
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(the thing we crave,[br]because of our acute awareness, of the lack of It).
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Attachment which is the by-product of Thirst[br]is nothing more than an addiction.
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It's the desperate craving for something
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because of something else that we're trying to avoid.
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There is a difference between [br]a craving and a desire.
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The craving is the shadow-aspect of desire.
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It is always the by-product of perceiving[br]some kind of a 'deprivation'.
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Desire is not bad.
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In fact, you could not escape from Desire in this lifetime if you wanted to,
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nor would you want to, if you really understood what it was.
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You can however, transmute it - you can exalt it.
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Desire in its purest form is like a "Yes!" to an experience -
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nothing more and nothing less.
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It is the "Yes" that occurs from sorting through the Contrast
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but that is not the by-product of a "No".
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In other words,
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it is a "Yes" to experience (or the choice of an experience),[br]that is not motivated by aversion,
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and thus, it does not take-on the form of Attachment.
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Desire in its pure form is absent of Resistance.
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It is a tool of the True Self.
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It facilitates Expansion, and Self-Awareness,[br]and Self-Realization.
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Craving is a tool of the Ego.
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Are you ready for a bitch-slap?
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'Ego' is not a word that the Buddha even knew!
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If you said 'Ego' to the Buddha,
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he would be completely confused about what you meant.
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It is in fact a Freudian term -
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a Freudian term which was adopted into Buddhist circles
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and used to apply to the teachings of Buddha.
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It was simply the best way[br]that we could describe the difference
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between an enlightened perspective[br]where there is no separate Self,
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and the unenlightened perspective[br]where there is a separate sense of Self.
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Later, Jung called this the Shadow Aspect -
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meaning Conscious versus Not-Conscious.
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When the Buddha accurately described[br]his Enlightenment experience,
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what he was trying to explain[br]was that he observed a polarity inherent within him
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such as Truth & Illusion, Conscious & Unconscious,[br]Suffering & Happiness.
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And that Enlightenment transcended all polarity[br](which it does).
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Enlightenment is not Happiness any more than it is Suffering -
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it is liberation from Polarity.
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Up till now,[br]all movement within this Universe has taken place
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because someone wants to move towards something
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because they want to move away from something else.
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They want to move towards something that is wanted
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because they want to move away[br]from something that is unwanted.
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This 'pain' is the Eternal Condition.
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That is, until it is no longer the condition.
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When you live your life[br]moving away from negative towards positive
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you are always in motion.
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You can never stop to smell the roses[br]in the present moment, so to speak.
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All decision are made by 'pain'.
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All decisions are the by-product of[br]trying to move away from pain.
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Imagine a life where there is nothing that you wish[br]to move away from ...
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Life is lived for Joy in total non-resistance to Pain.
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In order to end this Trail of Tears,
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this perpetual movement away & towards ...
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... away & towards ...
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this movement from aversion towards craving
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(which is all that Attachment really is),
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we turn in the direction of our aversion.
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We sit with it completely, we embrace it.
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We are unconditional towards It
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because we let It know that we are willing to experience it[br]without needing It to change.
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We are set free
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because of our willingness to bring[br]the Light of the Presence of our Consciousness
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into the Shadow of the Absence of our Consciousness.
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We no longer have an aversion to our Aversion
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and so, it is no longer our master.
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Desire is transmuted because it is free of its Shadow.
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And free of its Shadow,[br]there is no longer a need for reincarnation.
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The craving for reincarnation[br]is gone from our Soul itself.
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The Soul now chooses from a place[br]not motivated by Aversion, or, Craving.
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The process of Spiritual Awakening[br]happens in three distinct steps.
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Now, we have to understand, of course,[br]that there could potentially, in future, be more steps
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but for the sake of your understanding,
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I have whittled Awakening down to[br]these primary three steps - like the Holy Trinity.
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I'm going to explain these steps to you now ...
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Firstly comes "Spirituality 101":
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It dawns on you that you might actually[br]be capable of creating your reality.
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You might actually be free.
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It might actually be a choice for you to be happy,[br]instead of miserable.
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And so, you go in the direction of happiness.
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You focus positively.
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You do anything you can do[br]to add to the well-being of your life.
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You are flowing in the direction of your Joy.
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You are allowing your Joy.
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You prioritize how you feel above all else,
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your life is dedicated to feeling 'better'.
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You finally let yourself have what you want.
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But still you want those things[br]because of aversions to other things.
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You are still running from feeling crappy.
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You begin to feel, deep-down,
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that this is an endless-cycle of[br]Aversion & Craving, Unwanted & Wanted.
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No matter what you get, you want more.
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This is no longer as satisfying as it once was,
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so it is time for the second step - "Spirituality 2.0".
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In Spirituality 2.0,[br]you realize that all movement towards your desires
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is movement away from something that is unwanted[br]that will never stop chasing you.
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Just like a storm or a tornado,[br]that's gonna chase you from place to place.
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You decide that the answer[br]is to turn in the direction of your aversion,
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and to walk straight into the center of that storm.
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Instead of allowing your positive emotions
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now you begin the practice of[br]allowing your negative emotions,
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so that there is no longer resistance to them.
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You're integrating and you're becoming whole.
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The Unconscious is becoming Conscious.
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Craving is becoming pure Desire.
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You're becoming whole
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as the Shadow is no longer separated[br]from the light of Consciousness.
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Instead of feeling better, your aim[br]is to get better at feeling.
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You end up in the present moment[br]with no aversions and thus no craving.
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You are not going anywhere -
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Past ceases to motivate you towards the Future,
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and you are left squarely in the present moment -
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and then, you are ready for "Spirituality 3.0".
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In Spirituality 3.0 you can choose to
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deliberately create in your Reality[br]because of Desire.
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But that desire is no longer motivated[br]by aversions to something.
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Because of this,[br]Spirituality 3.0 is the realm that we call Choice.
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Instead of craving,
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we recognize our infinite creator-nature and choose -
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choose to be wealthy or not -[br]not from a place of pain.
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In other words,
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"I don't want money because I'm poor ... "
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"I want it because I'm curious about that perspective, "
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"like I want strawberry ice-cream."
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"I don't want strawberry ice-cream because "
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"I so, so, so, don't-want chocolate ice-cream!"
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Inspiration is what causes our movement[br]towards things that we choose.
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We are completely in the Now.
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No Past is projecting into our Present or Future.
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The state of Spirituality 3.0 arises organically,
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as a result of shining the Light into the Shadow.
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To begin with, you start in 'Unconscious'.
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You are asleep.
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And you are not aware that you are asleep.
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When you begin to wake up[br]you begin to notice the polarity of your existence.
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You start to see that there might be
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a Light-side and a Shadow-Side to that which is You.
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You recognize the difference between Positive and Negative.
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And because you notice
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that so much of your Shadow-side[br]is creating the reality that you live in,
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you do anything that you can to crawl into the Light,
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out of that dark abyss that you have been living your life in.
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This is Spirituality 101.
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In Spirituality 2.0,
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after we have reached that 'Conscious' state
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(we've crawled out of that hole into the light),
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we capture that light that is Consciousness
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and we descend back into the abyss of our own Shadow.
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With the light of Consciousness,
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that Shadow which we descend into ceases to be 'shadow'.
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And then we evolve into Spirituality 3.0.
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The Unconscious becomes Conscious.
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Polarity dissipates.
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You are Whole, in and of yourself.
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You experience true peace -[br]which is the transcendence of Opposites.
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Peace is not what we think it is.
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It is not just 'getting-along'.
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It is not just the absence of war.
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It is the absence of internal conflict,
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and thus, the absence of external conflict.
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It is the absence of Opposition and Polarity.
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It is the center point of the symbol of Eternity -
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no Opposites, only one unified Beingness.
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That is the state that we have called Enlightenment.
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And the state of Enlightenment is not a state of 'retirement'.
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It is more like the by-product[br]of the ongoing process of becoming Conscious.
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As the Universe or Source[br]becomes more conscious of Itself,
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there is more to become conscious of.
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And so, we, a microcosm of the larger Universe,[br]must become more conscious.
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And so, there are always further Enlightenments[br]to experience - so far ...
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The Three Steps of Awakening are[br]clearly represented in the Eternity symbol.
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That's why I'm going to use this symbol
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to explain this three-step process of Awakening to you today.
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Because of how I have named these particular steps,
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(for the sake of your understanding)
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we then fall into the trap of thinking
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that one step is more 'graduated' than the previous step.
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It's more important that we see this on a horizontal line.
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The way the Universe sees this
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is that one step is not more 'graduated'[br]or important than the last step.
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The same way that the Universe does not see Crawling
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as an infinitesimal step compared to Walking.
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They're crucial, they're important.
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So it's important to think about these steps more like a scale,
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where both sides are equally weighted.
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Looking at the Infinity Symbol[br]we can see that there is polarity.
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On one side - Physical, on the other side - Non-physical.
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On one side - Life, on the other - Death.
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On one side - Light, on the other - Dark.
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But in-between them is a point - the Still Point.
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This is the part of the Infinity Symbol[br]that actually represents Infinity.
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It is not the balance between opposites,
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it is the union and thus, transcendence of opposites.
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So, here we have Spirituality 3.0.
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On one side - Spirituality 101,
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on the other side - Spirituality 2.0
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and in the middle - Spirituality 3.0.
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It is tempting to rush the steps of Awakening
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cause let's be honest,
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we would all love to rush to the place of Transcendence
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where we were feeling amazing all the time,
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where we were solidly in the present moment,
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and we were absent of Resistance.
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But these steps of Awakening will not be rushed.
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The place where most of our 'rushing' happens
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is in the practice of Spirituality 2.0
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where we fall again into the trap[br]of trying to resist the emotions
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that we've been running from for most of our lives.
0:14:07.045,0:14:08.613
This is why I have not released
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this particular teaching on Spirituality 3.0 for a long time.
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Instead, I waited, so that people could be[br]squarely in the practice of Spirituality 2.0
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and not do Spirituality 2.0[br]for the sake of getting to Spirituality 3.0.
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Cause if we're trying to do 2.0 to get to 3.0
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we have missed the point of Spirituality 2.0.
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We are no longer unconditionally present[br]with the way we feel.
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We are no longer allowing our negative emotions.
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We are instead resisting our negative emotions
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by trying to go into them in order to get out of them.
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Some people spend years upon years[br]practicing Spirituality 2.0.
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In this Awakening process, like Life,
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you learn how to crawl
0:14:55.685,0:14:56.996
before you learn how to walk
0:14:56.996,0:14:58.888
before you learn how to fly.
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Different techniques - one which leads to the next.
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You don't get upset at the process of crawling[br]once you learn how to walk.
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You don't get upset with at process of walking[br]before you learn how to fly.
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You realize that there are different techniques needed[br]to facilitate your Expansion.
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Spirituality 3.0 is the beautiful fusion[br]of Spirituality 101 and Spirituality 2.0.
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One could say that Spirituality 101[br]is largely about allowing the Light -
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and that Spirituality 2.0[br]is about allowing the Shadow -
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and Spirituality 3.0 is the transcendence[br]or fusion of these seeming opposites.
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To use religious terms,
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Spirituality 101 is the Father,
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Spirituality 2.0 is the Holy Ghost
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and Spirituality 3.0 is the Son.
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In other words,
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if Light is God and Shadow is Goddess,
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the fusion of Light and Dark is the Child.
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In Spirituality 3.0,[br]the techniques that we learned in Spirituality 101
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'creating our Reality', 'deliberate Focus', 'positive Intentions'[br]are added back into our process
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but because of Spirituality 2.0, they have been purified.
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These desires and these practices[br]are not motivated by fear or by negative emotion
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and they're not the by-product of avoidance or resistance.
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Because of this,[br]there is no pain in the moving towards a desire,
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because you're not moving away from something else.
0:16:29.894,0:16:33.935
Because of this, we are now free to choose.
0:16:33.935,0:16:35.820
We are living a Free Life.
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This is the state of Living Godhood.
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This is the state of Self Actualization.
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This is the state, of complete and total,
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Awareness and Awakening.
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Have a good week ...
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