West LA Weekly Satsang March 22 2017

Many parts, one house

A house may have many parts to it, i.e., door, roof, living room, window, chimney, etc. but it's all
one house. Likewise, Life may appear as having many "parts," i.e., people, trees, clouds, sky, earth,
stars, water, fire, etc., but it's all Life. There is nothing that is not Life. Separation is an illusion, a
mental distinction/concept not supported by reality. Imagining separation doesn't make it so, but
it does open the door for suffering.

-Michael Jeffreys

The infinite leaves nothing out and so nothing is ever actually separate

There is only ever THIS. And THIS looks like... everything! Whatever is showing up, however it's
showing up, is THIS. And what THIS is is indefinable, because it's everything. The finite cannot
describe the infinite and any perspective is by definition finite. Relaxation/peace happens naturally
when it's seen that the miracle of this moment is unimaginable and indefinable, yet is all there ever
IS.

Wholeness only appears to be separate so that it can be experienced. The ice cream must appear
separate from the tree so that it can be experienced. However, in actuality the infinite leaves
nothing out and so nothing is ever actually separate.

-Michael Jeffreys

Actuality is a continuum and the pieces are abstracted out of that in imagination by
definitions

"We're cut off from reality by our fantasies of what we think it is. And of course we are not actually
cut off from reality, but effectively...

Actuality is not made of pieces... actuality is a continuum and the pieces are abstracted out of that
in imagination by definitions. They're defined into existence."

-Peter Brown
 West LA Weekly Satsang March 22 2017 pg 2

Amazing But True!

We know our eyes can't "see" anything. Neuroscience is 100% certain that our eyes are not camera
lenses that we "look out of". Instead, the eyes are simply extensions of the brain that receive light
photons which stimulate and trigger electro-chemical nerve impulses that pass along the optic
nerve to the occipital cortex. One third of our brain is dedicated to processing these electro-
chemical nerve stimulations.

No images or pictures move along the optic nerve to the brain. Nothing but very subtle electro-
chemical exchanges along the neurons leading to the brain occur.

The occipital cortex then processes these nerve impulses and creates images as well as a 3D movie
that it thinks best represents what's "out there". All we ever "see" are these brain/mind generated
simulations. These simulations are occurring only within the mind; no one ever sees the actual
"outer world".

We know we don't need eyes to "see" colors,3D shapes or depth. We know this because at night in
our dreams we can see virtually all colors, forms, landscapes and depth, all with no help from
physical eyes. "Seeing" is a function of the mind not eyes. When you step outside and look at your
world, all you view are images produced in the brain/mind. The substance of what you are looking
at is the same substance your dream images are made of; projections of mind. You are never seeing
actual trees, clouds or people, nor are you seeing your own actual physical body.

Not only does the brain/mind create an internal 3D movie, but it also projects a viewer watching it!
That's the sense of being a witnessing perceiver, "seer" of the virtual simulation.

The person you seem to be as an individual perceiver of your visual world, is no more real than the
person you seem to be in your dreams at night. Both are equally projections of memory,
conditioning and imagination. It's this imaginary self projection that suffers and seeks liberation;
just like in your dreams at night. There is no "real" you in there. Realizing this absence of a real
"you", is what "awakening" means. Realizing this absence of a real you is what the meaning of the
"empty nature of self" describes. There never was a "real" you.

Your true nature is a vast Aware and Knowing Emptiness , the emptiness in which everything
magically appears as the display of your own emptiness; like colorful 3D images appearing in a
changeless Mirror. -Jackson Peterson