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In my experience, I grew up in this world
learning a lot of things about what it is to be human,
what it is to be a woman, what it is to be alive at this time in history,
what it is to relate and
be happy and live a good life.
And
I was very fond
of many of my ideas and ways I’ve lived,
and proud of how I lived in the world
according to those ideas and the relationships I had
and the results I had in my relationships;
the love and connection that I felt and
sense of capacity to be in the world.
And so, when I first came to Balanced View,
it wasn’t immediately obvious to me why I would choose to participate;
why I would choose to rely on open intelligence
and really what that meant in my own experience.
But what I did see was many, many people coming together
and relating with each other in a way that was consistently respectful,
openhearted, filled with joy, fun loving,
free of criticism, dignified and really honoring each other.
And that sparked something for me undeniably,
because what I saw was that humans relating to each other
every day in a way that I just wanted to relate.
That’s how I wanted to live. And it just took me a little while
of relaxing, full of all of my ideas about who I am,
all of my experiences and learned belief systems
to just see that this standard of relating is completely natural,
instinctive,
and is possible in every single moment of life.
And so, I just turned up
and engaged in the Four Mainstays in my own way,
and it’s taking the time that it takes, but everyday
the benefits I see in my life are just spectacular.
Because what I see is that this isn’t about special people,
certain people only being able to do this, this is anybody, any human being.
And seeing that deep heart-wish of mine is really everybody’s.
We just want to get along.
We want to solve the issues and problems that we see are limiting us,
hurting us, each other, the world.
And until we know how we can get along with ourselves,
our own community of data,
we’re not going to be able to get along as a global community
and all the efforts trying to do that,
just ever so on a fundamental level, missing the point
when we’re not looking to our own community of experience.
So, in the Balanced View Training,
we are invited to recognize and rely on the fundamental intelligence
at the basis of all of our experience, called open intelligence.
And we can all most easily and directly identify it
by just resting body and mind;
stopping thinking for a moment, even a flash instant,
cutting the train of thought
and seeing that there’s an alertness, a clarity,
a great, bright, vibrant, intelligence.
Vivid, so alive, so completely alive
no matter what is going on, no matter what’s coming up.
And within this great intelligence, we experience all data as it, through it,
all experiences —emotions, sensations, thoughts,
memories—everything appearing.
No matter what appears, this vast, all containing intelligence is always present.
And what I’ve seen in my own experience is that no matter what appears
it’s so vibrant, so alive, so vivid, so packed
with beneficial potency.
Boredom comes up quite a lot.
Boredom has never seemed so interesting,
so alive, left as it is. That’s the practice.
So, stopping thinking for a moment is just a way that
if you would like to, you can identify open intelligence
very directly and immediately. But it’s not about stopping thinking,
why would we want to stop thinking?
Let it all rip; let it flow, the powerful flow of being alive.
Feel how alive you are every single moment.
Every data stream is the unstoppable presence of beneficial potency.
I’ve spent my life muting myself down trying to restrict the flow of my data.
Believing in data streams about not being good enough, not having a voice,
being somebody that needed to change in some way
in order to be the best I can be in the world.
Coming to settle in the Four Mainstays, I see that I’m always at my best.
You are all always at your best, every single moment of being alive,
no matter what the data stream that is appearing.
And I just daily
increasingly marvel at the opportunity that we have with the Four Mainstays.
And the Four Mainstays are short moments of open intelligence
that we can just choose to empower ourselves with at anytime.
The Training, incredible trainings, texts
where we come together and support each other in this direct recognition;
direct recognition of our fundamental identity
—the fundamental identity of all of reality
—humans included, everything that we experience.
This beautiful world, like Candice said, all universes.
Let our minds expand for one moment, where can we go?
Where does it stop? Vast intelligence, nothing left out.
Unstoppable creative display, that’s what our mind is.
And then we have a trainer; somebody that will only ever support us
to know how empowered, exalted, brilliant, fantastic, beautiful,
incredible we are, every single person.
Nobody left out, nobody like,
“Actually you’re not quite in open intelligence, maybe, sorry”
Those times have gone; those days are over. It’s like everybody welcome;
bring it on, who’s up for it? This is a beautiful offering
and it’s up for us, it’s up to us to choose it. Nobody’s going to come along running after us,
trying to get us to recognize open intelligence. We choose it for ourselves.
The most incredible equal opportunities program,
as Candice said the other day, and it’s so true.
No matter what our background, no matter what our belief systems, all are welcome.
Welcome and invited to rely on open intelligence and supported to do so.
And then the Fourth Mainstay is the community.
And like I said, it was the community that really
switched me on to my own open intelligence.
It’s not happening alone, but it happens powerfully together,
demonstrated daily.
That time of struggling on, trying to work out reality on my own,
writing endlessly, endlessly trying to ruminate and see.
Find relief essentially, relief from my data streams,
from the subtle confusion, subtle anxiety that I felt in the world.
Blown open again and again by short moments and the Four Mainstays.
Seeing that that confusion, that anxiety, is my super power.
Let it simmer. Let it be. See that it doesn’t stop me
or limit me from being in the world;
the working out no longer needs to happen. From there it’s just beneficial, creative life.
And I see that the Four Mainstays are just this incredible platform for me to live
from and know this about myself and see in everybody, every single person.
That it doesn’t stop within a few people, it really spreads out.
We take it wherever we go, reflect it back to everybody.
I’ve seen that so powerfully in my life that my example is just
so precious and impactful —our example.
Wherever we go in the world, taking responsibility,
seeing that we have this great power, every single person
and that the Four Mainstays are just always there to support us.
That they integrate in any way that we see best.
There’s no one set way that it has to look, but it’s
available all over the world for anybody.
Data of feeling ill and sickness and feeling limited by that,
and just seeing for myself, the more that I just rest
and rely on open intelligence and never knowing what’s going to come up,
I mean, being in India you really don’t know what’s going to come up.
And within a few, when I first arrived, I was
unwell for the first few days,
a cultural adjustment. And just
Just letting it, again, letting it be, letting the data, the sensations in the body,
letting them be as they are. And just seeing immense relaxation
in the midst of feeling ill, like relying on
this great ease of our intelligence, it’s always at ease.
Never, never eschewing or partitioning anything
like we can’t stop the sensations of being ill,
so just relaxing in the midst of it and seeing how alive illness is.
That aliveness never goes anywhere, that potency,
no matter how we label it. Let all the labels rest, all descriptions rest
and get to know ourselves anew and see from there that
even without holding to the labels we know best how to treat ourselves,
the care that we need to take, the rest that we need,
if we’re able to do things or not. I’m amazed at that capacity
that I used to think was all about me analyzing and thinking and working things out
was based on my data streams and the descriptions and actually,
left perfectly in its place we know, we know so much.
And, so there, even like boredom,
even being ill becomes this sort of fascinating adventure.
Like, wow, what’s going to happen next,
just don’t know.
And, getting to know myself, my body, everything in those situations,
everything this precious opportunity to recognize our open intelligence
and see the magical benefit revealed from within,
when we just let it be as it is,
rather than always constantly wanting to change that appearance.
Let reality shine, completely,
and with that you shine completely.