A simple yet profound exercise 'I' - WATCHING
28 February 2019 (with subtitles)
[Mooji] Each time you speak, if you watch,
'From what position do I speak?'
Is it from the person or from consciousness?
And what does consciousness need to say?
And if it is from the person, is there not the witness to the person?
I would ask you to care to find out,
because that simple discovery
is going to be greater than anything that the person can achieve.
[M.] Can I say it like that? [Sangha] Yes.
I'm going to shrink it down to baby food language.
When you speak, when you talk about your life and the world,
and your travels and your journeys, and your hopes and aspirations,
when you say, 'I', where is this 'I' starting from?
Is it starting from the person or from consciousness?
Watch and see!
If it is starting from your person,
whatever your person says or aspires to become,
it will never reach or attain,
or be anywhere near as magnificent
as that which watches the person speaking.
What I am saying to you now,
I hope you can recognise and prove into yourself.
It's a reflex somehow, to speak like, 'Yes, I'm going to do this',
and, 'I don't agree with this', and, 'What I think', 'And you and ...'
Where are you speaking from? Watch!
I'm going to show you a new exercise. It's called 'I'- Watching!
Watch your 'I' sense.
Because until now, nobody is watching this 'I' sense.
It's watching what the 'I' is watching and what the 'I' is saying.
I'm just saying, clarify the position of the 'I' that you speak from.
Is this too complicated?
[Sangha] No. [Mooji] No. So, watch this!
Start if you want ... I would say sometimes,
Go to any restaurant, any busy chai shop around here.
Sit there quietly and have a cup of tea
and listen to the conversations that happen.
And watch where they are starting from.
'What did you think of Satsang this morning?'
'I thought it was really good!' 'I, I.' 'I', 'Me', 'My', 'Mine', 'You'.
'What do you think? Tomorrow ...' 'I', 'I', 'I'.
See each time the feeling of 'I',
even sometimes if 'I' is not used, the indication is of an 'I'.
Where does it start from?
From personhood or from the sense of presence?
And you'll have an idea of how your own sense of 'I' is operating.
And if you are speaking always from the place of the person,
you are going round and round!
You may think you're going up and up, but you're going round and round.
If you begin to observe and recognise that
the starting point of these conversations is in a place of personhood,
and that is consciously observed,
then you'll discover what you see.
What is watching even this person?
What is watching this person? Is it a person?
Don't give it to your mind.
You don't need your mind here. Just sober looking.
Just look and feel,
and you will see that there is a great expanse in you,
that for a long time you have not been aware of.
It is not hiding, but it appears to be hidden.
In the most ignorant state, you are not even aware that it is hidden,
because if you feel it's hidden, at least you know it's there.
Some people don't even have any idea that there is such a thing.
'Consciousness, what the hell is that? I don't believe in that.'
You need consciousness to believe, or even to disbelieve!
But you are unaware.
So this simple exercise, if you speak, even think,
even at the place of only thinking,
if you can watch where it starts from,
it's almost 99 percent of the time starting from the 'I-person'.
'I-person'.
There is no enlightened person!
As you begin to recognise that
the person sense is a construct which is observable,
then you automatically become aware of the space of being,
which is not contaminated by personhood.
But then, it is as though the person ...
Something is trying to shut that down,
like pulling the curtains closed.
Something is saying, 'No, come back to reality!'
Meaning, come back to the mind.
But that is also observed.
Don't identify with anything. Just keep looking.
And as you are looking,
you are not taking any juice from what you are looking at,
but from where you are looking from, and what it is that's looking.
There is another dimension that is undiscovered, largely.
The dimension of being and presence.
That is your first major leap into freedom.
Come to this place first.
And then I can guide you beyond even this place.
Come to this place first.
Conscious witnessing.
In the beginning, you might think,
you might be fascinated, 'But wait, everything that is seen
has got some attitude stapled around it'.
It's generating from the sense of personhood, but this is seen.
As soon as it is seen that it is a construct,
you stop supplying energy.
And the greatest energy you can give to something is to identify with it.
You are haemorrhaging energy to something,
to a tree that bears bad fruit.
I am not saying the world of personhood is all bad.
It is also consciousness. It is good and bad.
It is full of promises,
full of the sense of adventure,
but very often full of vain thinking,
false perception, misconception and fantasy.
When you discover, more and more, your observing place,
you don't have to apply much philosophy around it.
It doesn't need any philosophy.
You are in the realm of being.
More intuitive, more spontaneous, and naturally more trusting.
More appreciating, with more joy,
alive, kind, compassionate, wholesome, loving.
These are the perfumes arising out of that state. Give it a chance.
Look. Look a little bit.
It is here that you begin to recognise that
What Is and what you are, are one.
And you spontaneously know that what you are is imperishable.
Then the fear of death goes and also the fear of life.
Something relaxes. There is a natural trust in life.
There is not so much need to believe in things.
There is not such a drive to speculate.
Everything is arising spontaneously here.
And you notice life takes care of life, not your mind.
And spontaneously, you are growing in trust,
in peace,
in intuitiveness.
[silence]
So this is a simple pointer, no? A simple pointer.
No one needs to say,
'Oh! But it's too difficult for me! I can't do that!'
No. Watch, who is saying that?
Is it the 'I-person' or 'I-presence'?
I think it's significant enough to find out. And to experience also!
I am not asking you to believe only.
Belief is great, but belief also must transmute into experience.
Then you can stand in the authority of your own seeing.
But it is not personal!
And there is no pride. This is very important.
Because the Truth will not be revealed in an arrogant mind.
[silence]
So, are you full or empty?
[laughter]
Copyright © 2021 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this recording may be reproduced
without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.