After a small introduction on the focus of our Meetup, Nonduality, we started with a fun video: Perth train ride where one man dared the whole compartment to come out of their shells and shyness to dance with him to the music. The music track ended with the
quote: 'Life starts at the end of your Comfort Zone'
A perfect start to our topic.
Didier could elaborate how beliefs and ideas invested in a false identity create a safety which is illusory and limiting. And do we need to keep recreating this false self? Or can we see that this is not what we are?
A video clip from Unmani:
'The Choice between Safety and Truth' was pointing out that Life will upset always the status quo. Truth does not operate according to the planning of the mind, that Truth can be messy and uncomfortable.
And an audio of Adyashanti was equally powerful on the same topic.
There were personal sharings how the unraveling of the "me" is challenging and uncomfortable but ultimately giving the space and freedom to be what we truly are.
The discussion was intimate, honest and deeply felt. And there was enough trust that almost everyone felt to join.
After a short break Kesi read a poem from Steve Taylor:
Out of the Darkness
There are so many ways to feel dissatisfied
so many different needs to meet
so many goals to keep striving for
so many problems to try to fix
so much of the past you wish you could change
so many fears from the future.
No wonder you feel overwhelmed
like a traveller carrying too many bags
with too many paths to choose from
who has to keep stopping to rest
until he can’t go on, and collapses.
How could you ever be happy?
Life’s too demanding and complicated.
But then – an electric shock, an illness or accident
death creeps behind and swipes you hard across your back
awakening you from your torpor
and suddenly the fog dissolves away
And you can see the narrow ledge you’re walking
– the one you’ve always been walking – between life and death
And now it’s all so simple and makes perfect sense –
life is temporary and fragile, precious beyond value
and life contains nothing except this present moment
this brilliant beautiful river of experience.
And suddenly those needs stop niggling you
the guilt and fear stop gnawing
the phantoms of the past can’t scare you anymore
there’s nothing to worry about or to be afraid of
Everything obliterated
but the glory of this moment
the grandeur of the world itself
And you know that this is all there is
that this is where fulfilment lies
and everything else is only a shadowplay of the mind.
And we ended this powerful Meetup with a Group Awareness Exercise as
we did last time, from Sperry Andrews.