*Summary: In the absence of any questions for this last session in Linz, Michael
gives a short talk about what goes on in his seminars. He tells participants
that the crucial shift which is necessary on the Path is from being centred in
the mind to being centred in the reality of Oneness, and he goes on to
explain how his Work works to facilitate that shift, primarily through the
process of resonance. He also stresses that a big step on the journey
towards a truly fulfilling human life is to become completely disenchanted
with yourself, not merely dissatisfied or discontent, otherwise you will
continue to be side-tracked into seeking more satisfaction and contentment
on the level of personality, rather than being available to a level beyond.*
Well, these are the questions I've had from you - in my empty hand.
*(chuckles)* So maybe there were no pencils or pens around, no paper, and
you prefer to speak your questions rather than write them. That's okay.
Who's first? *(laughter)*
*(silence)*
Of course, I know it's my fault, because I know that the work we do
drives all the questions away like the wind.
*(a participant raises their hand)* Except one! *(laughter)*
Participant: I had one question, Michael, but you answered it by giving
me my name. I'm sorry. *(laughter)*
This just goes to show we should have the questions first! *(laughter)*
*(silence)*
Now, you maybe all have your own idea or view of what's been going
on here this weekend, and for many of you who come often, of what goes
on in the seminars, but I'd like to say a few things about how I see it.
I am trying to bring you out of your minds. I'm not trying to destroy
your mind, I'm not asking you to give up your minds, but I'm trying to get
you from being lost in your minds.
Your mind is full of what you have learned, and read, and understood,
and discovered in your life. Everybody has different details depending on
who they are when they are born and what they have moved through in
their lives. Everybody has a different selection. But reality is the same for
all. And we are all part of that reality. And the Work that I do is intended to
bring people back to that Oneness. And then the movement of the mind is
set off from a place which is outside the mind. The mind is still there, you
are still thinking, relating, working things out, but the starting point for that
is not in the mind.
When you come from the mind, then whatever you do is not innocent.
The mind is already biased, it already has its own view of things even
before it decides to move. But when you come from outside the mind and
then you move through the mind, then the mind is merely the instrument
that you play, the instrument that plays your connection with the One.
Now, many of you have had many experiences of being outside the
mind, I know. But then it happens that sometimes for many years when one
has such experiences, the ordinary mind says, "Ah, I had that experience of
being beyond the mind." So the centre of gravity, the point from which you
operate, the nature of your movement and action and view in life, remains
in the mind. And the shift has to happen from being centred in the mind to
being centred elsewhere.
Now, through the methods of energy it is possible to make that shift.
To be one with the universe is to vibrate with the universe. As I said to
somebody today when I gave a name meaning 'walking in emptiness', that
doesn't really mean you're empty, it means that you are at one with
everything, and so on one level there's no sense of a distinction between
you and everything else, so it feels like an emptiness compared with the
life where everything has its own separation, its own identity, its own
borders. So when you reach that place, you are vibrating at the same rate as
the universe, because you're one with it. But it comes to me that the
reverse is also true - that if you vibrate at the rate of the universe, then you
will be one with the universe.
Now, this special vibration that is the universal energy is not confined
to a feeling of Oneness only, it can move into whirls of all the other kinds
of vibration, but because it is the fundamental vibration, it will move into
these other vibrations in such a way as to change the rate of vibration of the
other vibrations to be at one with that basic fundamental vibration. And the
basic way that I personally try to make this happen is through the process
of resonance.
There is in everybody the capacity to vibrate at this fundamental,
universal rate, so if that vibration is sent out, then anybody who is open to
it will begin to resonate in the same way. But you may not always feel that
happening. Sometimes you will, and most of you have this weekend, at
least at times, but of course what is often felt is the effect of that basic
vibration on all the other ways that we vibrate. So that creates, of course,
energetic happenings. And underneath those energetic happenings is this
process that I've just described, in that this basic vibration, which is the
most powerful vibration there is, through its meeting with the other
vibrations, is attracting those other vibrations towards itself.
This vibration pervades the world, pervades the universe.
Of course, you can point to specific things about yourself - that you
have a body, and you have thoughts, you have your feelings, and you have
many things that are very specific about you that have a particular form of
their own which is dissimilar to everything else of the same nature. Every
leaf in the world, for example - and there are billions of them - is different.
Every raindrop is different. There is an extraordinary variety of forms in
existence. So all these differences are there, multiple differences are there,
but together with all the multiple differences there is a plane, a continuous
unchanging plane of this very delicate, subtle vibration. And when you are
in that state of being where you are vibrating in this universal way, then
your relationship with the world is one of tranquillity, and bliss, and
necessarily a movement of love.
It is not so much that you love, it is that love moves through you and
you are love, because by its very nature that vibration reaches out only
with love. So it is not a discipline, it is not a morality, it is not a kind of
goodness - although those things can also be beautiful. To be a lover of
goodness can be beautiful, but this is different. It is simply the way things
are. And the potential to live at least sometimes if not always in that way is
available to everybody here. Of course, it's available to every human being
on earth, but it is extremely unlikely that the majority of people will find it,
because ordinarily in the world there is nothing that is creating a resonance
for it, and so nothing in you is going to respond. Only where that vibration
is ringing are you going to be able to benefit from this process of
resonance.
Of course, you can fall into it in other ways. There are ways which are
always accidents and not deliberate, where you can fall into it and suddenly
find yourself in fact vibrating in that way. This happens to many people -
not so many, but many - and then they have a moment of what is known as
satori, where they feel this Oneness. But it's just an accident. It just
happens, and then it cannot be repeated. So there's a difference between it
being a possibility and it being a realistic possibility. And for people here
this weekend it is a realistic possibility - not just because you're here, but
because I've seen it.
I see it. When I'm working from that dimension, then it is absolutely
clear to me that the resonance in each person here is available and it's
awake. The reason why you don't immediately fall into it and stay in it is
because you're still, as I said earlier, seeing what happens here as an
experience that you as a separate personality are having. But your idea of
yourself, which of course, in a way, is the self that you know, is really just
a representation of what you really are - like somebody who goes to a
funeral and says, "I'm representing the Queen of England," or, "I'm
representing the President," or, "I'm representing the Chairman - he's
away today and I'm standing in for him." To represent is to somehow stand
in for something that is not there, and that is what happens with our normal
identity - it is standing in for that which we really are. And as I see it, that
is the whole purpose, really, of the serious life, as opposed to the life that
just plays along with life - which can also be okay; the whole purpose of
the serious life is in fact to find out who you are or what you are. And
when you find out what you are, then with everything that you do, you're
not only in a state of joy when you're there, but it feels joyful to feel that
what you are doing is absolutely an expression of what you really are. And
then you are living for truth. And then one life is as good as a thousand
lives. Then one life is the experience of living a human life on earth.
The hunger that brings us back to another life, according to those who
say it happens, those who believe in the sense of a continuity of lives, the
hunger that brings us back is that we didn't live yet fully and truly a life.
But to be in that place where you feel you are yourself - you cannot say
you are this or that, you are just feeling truly that you are expressing
something fundamental in a dimension which is itself fundamental - this is
to live a true life. And a big step on that journey is really to become
disenchanted with yourself, not just dissatisfied or discontent.
When we're dissatisfied or discontent we look for new ways in which
the personality can operate to bring us more satisfaction or contentment.
But to be disillusioned with ourselves is different. It is simply saying that,
"I see that this can never work out, that I can never get a full sense of
fulfilment through operating through my personality, so I have to give up
that project and see what else can give me this feeling of fulfilment." And
the only thing that can give you that fulfilment is this feeling of self-
realisation.
*(silence)*
The world is like a fairground. You can go and shoot rifles, and hit
coconuts, and go on the bumper cars and the big wheel - all sorts of things.
And it can be very entertaining. And there's nothing wrong with
entertainment. But if you live in such a world and just move from one side-
show to another, then you are not going to feel at the end of your life as if
you've really fulfilled your nature.
But the beauty is that if you find that place that I am describing and
pointing to, then anyway death has no dominion, no validity, no power -
because if you are joining the universal level, that was there before you
were born and it's going to be there after you die, and so you have
transcended the whole birth and death duality, and yet you are participating
in life as well.
*(silence)*
Now, often when I come to Austria and I give spiritual names to
Austrian people, I sense in them something very original - something
which has been buried under stuff, but is still somehow there. It is a feeling
of something deep and true and original here that has been spoilt by
currents of energy, political happenings, and so on, which have buried
something very precious.
In the Work that I do I am fortunate enough to be able to see beyond
this kind of debris that falls on cultures, traditions and countries, and I find
that in Austria this precious stone is revealed in many people. There is a
kind of star in everybody. And I think I always hope that the whole thing,
for these people anyway, can turn around so that the star that has been
buried underground can come up through the debris. And part of that is that
my experience of coming to Austria, which I've been doing regularly now
for many years, with much help from some Austrians, is that I get a feeling
that the work here is a progression. It is not a starting again each time I
come; I always feel when I come here, especially to Linz, where I've been
coming for a long time, that we carry on from where we left off, even if
there are different people here. So I am very optimistic for you all.
*(silence)*
Now, I look around at you and I see that what I just said was true.
So even if you didn't ask any questions, I gave you some answers. But
maybe I've provoked some more questions, so if you want to talk about
anything that's come up, or say anything in response to what I have said,
then we have time for that.
*(silence)*
*Participant: I want to say something in a special way. I want to play
something. (the participant goes and fetches a flute or similar musical
instrument and proceeds to play a rather haunting and touching melody)*
Thank you. That was very beautiful.
You know, Sandipa said to me, or Anuradha said to me earlier, "Will
you be needing the music this afternoon, because Suchata's taking it back,
and she has to leave soon?" and then I said, "No, we won't need the CDs."
And then just now, when we'd finished talking, I thought, "Well, what a
pity - I'd have liked to have played some music now." And then you
provided it. So thank you very much!
*(silence)*
Well, I could sit here with you all for a little while, I'm sure, without
any difficulty, but then we'd have to part after that. And I guess I have to
accept that whatever happens when we're together can also happen to some
extent when we part. I have to trust that. So let's part.
We can't sit here together forever, so we have to trust that it works out
without our being here together. So if you don't have any more questions,
now I've had my say, and everybody who wants to join the family of the
Energyfield has done so, I can go down and have a nice, quiet cup of
coffee and then wander back.
I can tell you it's been a very rich weekend. There was a lot of hard
work done yesterday, as always on a Saturday, but I think there were some
results of that hard day which showed this morning, and it was a very
beautiful morning. And may the beauty carry into your lives.
*Questions and Answers in Linz on 29th May 2005.
32nd in the series, 'True Happiness'.*
