And again, what's the name of this particular door?

Well, this one is going to be the door of the functional self, the problem solver.

Okay.

Great.

Yeah.

So this starts with kind of a psychological, mental identity that is kind of just a little bit conscious, a little bit unconscious.

So the feeling is, can you realize that most of what we're doing is trying to be safe and thrive by solving problems, by avoiding the negative and trying to get solutions to find positive, and that that's an actual felt sense in your body, usually between your ears and looking out of your eyes.

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

And I think similar to you, Coming to Our Senses is a course that uses applied theatre to give these insights, these glimpses of our true nature, rather than focusing on focusing our attention all the time, which is really impossible for most people nowadays in our modern society.

Yeah, so I'll just say a couple things about that.

I mean, non-dual mindfulness is the other word I use for effortless mindfulness.

No good words.

Once you get into this territory, words are not very good at describing something people have to experience.

However, the sense that the insight of insight meditation is, you know, the first move is to calm your body and mind, kind of shamatha, calm abiding.

That's the first mindful move.

And now there's a persistent kind of nausea of modern society.

I think that's something that many of our listeners will be able to relate to.

Yeah, and it's very basic.

I mean, there are...

So we're just trying to get the physical safety, the emotional safety on those terms, but then the identity safety is already safe.

So if you can get to the identity safety or the awareness safety right now, wherever you're sitting, there's no tiger in the room just now, not...

You know, what happened in your history, whatever, you know, traumas have happened or terrible things or, you know, events or what could happen in the future.

But just now, you could have a little pain, you could have a little, you know, discomfort or concern, but you can be aware of that.

been hanging out, I've been hanging out in this for a long time.

I found-- I'd be interested if you have something else for us.

So let me say, yeah, let me say a little about this local awareness first, and then I'll, I'll do a bunch of glimpses 'cause they're all short, and people can get a sense of them.

Um, so the local awareness was part of the first pointing out instruction that was given to me that, um, I was also allowed, given permission, which was kind of a funny dialogue between the translator and Tulku Urgyen because I kept asking, "Okay, so that pointing out instruction you gave yesterday, can I share that with people?" You know.

And the translator would just start talking in Tibetan.

[muttering] And then he would go, "Uh." And then the translator would talk...

[muttering] "Yeah.

Yeah.

Right

Mm-hmm.

The premise is that-- So I'll do, I'll do two, two, one short one and then one little longer one.

So the first one is basically just the premise that this, um, we're, we're in the survive and thrive, um, modality that has been supported by thinking.

So I think therefore I am, but it's really looking the system, the body is separately looking for safety, looking to get something or push s-something unpleasant away.

So it's trying to solve a problem.

What-- It's looking for problems.

It's, it's scanning, is there a problem here? That little pain in my ankle or something that person said that I'm not understanding, that's a problem.

Hmm.

Mm-hmm

... what, what, where am I gonna get lunch? Who am I, you know, social, social, uh, part of the human, uh, who am I gonna hang out with and have some fun with during the day? And, um, what sport? You know, so, so I played sports, so, like, what's the, is there a game today or practice or, you know, getting there and getting ready to, to do that.

So, um, you know, strong, um, you know, physical, animal, um, instinctual, social, and then the mental tends to be this contracted, um, me.

So there's nothing wrong with the most of what's going on there at twenty-one or even now in terms of, you know, craving food, wanting to get it, making it mine.

You know, those, you know, getting, wanting, desiring of functional dimensions of our consciousness and life in terms of our identity related to a particular body in the world that has to survive and thrive.

However, the extra thing is that the mental development from being a, a dependent child who just was more instinctual and then had to develop this functional, "Okay, I've got to go out on my own and know what a green light and a red light, whether to cross the street and be safe," which is good, but then thought-based, I think therefore I am, um, referential, self-referential identity, contracted mental me starts to be the feeling of, "Okay, I can function with this identity," but it keeps looping on itself, and it keeps judging itself.

It splits off into good and bad and right and wrong and what's wrong with me, and then I feel hurt emotionally by peers or situations that I-

Mm-hmm.

So I'm curious if you could just give more of an introduction to yourself specifically for Theravada listeners who are new to you and new to some of these ideas that you speak more about.

Yes, so I guess the short version would be just to say that you will definitely make as much effort as needed until you discover the effortless mindfulness that's already effortless by itself.

So whatever that is, whether you call that...

the unborn or awake consciousness that's already here within us.

It's already maintaining and there's no effort in its primacy and its being.

who we are and what is essentially where we can be aware from and where we can be mindful from this kind of effortless, awake consciousness.

So So that is the term that was used by Tulku Ergen Rinpoche to describe kind of that next distinction while still building on it.

include no and let be.