How is everybody today?

Are you doing good? How good?

Maybe you respond that you are doing, “Very good!”

So, I am going to say, “Oh really? Wow! Is it like that every day?”

What are you going to say?   “No”?

So, then, I am going to say, “How do you know? How do you know it is not like that every day? How do you know it is not based on your perception? Maybe it is like this every day. Don’t you think?

Maybe every day is, “Very good.”

Don’t we put the color to life?

Don’t we give the taste to life? Don’t we give the smell to life? It is up to us, right? I mean, who is the perceiver of all of that?

We are!

Right. So. If we choose how to perceive, then, we are captains of our boat. OK.

So, we need to talk about our true work. What I mean by, “Our true work,” obviously, other people will comprehend differently. We all have different perspectives, different aspects, different circumstances, different cultures and traditions, different languages and experiences.  Because of this, everything changes so much.  Everything is so relative, but I feel that we are here to learn.

It is a process. We are here to share. We are here to receive.  We are here to give. There is love, anyway, but the main purpose we are here is to improve in order to help others to, also, improve. That is what I mean by, “Our true work”.

We do not even know scientifically what this body is or where we come from or where we are going or what our purpose is. Nobody can really explain to you what put everything here. We must find this out for ourselves.

That is the beauty of it, also. The mystery is beautiful. The beauty of the mystery. If there is no mystery, life would be so boring. I mean, if we already knew everything that is going to happen tomorrow, if we already knew what we are doing here, nothing would make sense because we would already know what is going to happen so we would be like, “I do not want to waste my time doing this and that or whatever it is”. I do not know. Who knows, right?

It is a good thing, sometimes, when you do not know. Yes? It is a beautiful thing, at least from my perspective. I think, sometimes, the fact we do not know some things gives so much space for fantasy and imagination. Then, life becomes beautiful.  I mean, when I was a child, that is all I had. All I had was fantasy. Imagination. I did not have much more aside from books. That was it apart from my studies plus the time I went to sleep.  Then, I would dream which was, also, nice. Those are mainly the things I had to do. Most of the time I had to study. That was it.

So, yeah, imagination is something that is special. That is why visualization, also, maybe, meditation, when you visualize, it helps to create that kind of aspect. This is fantasy. Wow!  Often, we just forget about it.

When I had this son, I realized it all starts with a piece of meat like that.  Then, we end up inventing god. Creating god. It starts with a little piece of meat like that.  Then, it starts becoming bigger and bigger. Then, suddenly, that thing becomes a human and invents god, creates gods, whatever you want to call it. Or it makes planes. All of this is created by the mind. The potential is so amazing. How magical it is. I mean, not just this body. In fact, everything controls the body. It is not in control. There is just the appearance of control.  The body is available to us temporarily for us to experience reality through these five senses with which we perceive.

That is so magical. How can we not be amazed?

Oh. I think and I move at the same time. I can perceive all five senses at the same time. There is something perceiving. When that something goes away, then, this body disintegrates. It goes back to stardust. How amazing is that? So, this body stays together. The food I eat becomes this body while my consciousness is living in me. Don’t you think that is magic?

Forget about that. Think about how the sun rises.  Think about the ritual of the birds and animals every day. Or just think about the wind that makes the trees bend, for example. Just these things we call normal. To observe it, is just magic.

That is life. That is so special. Such a treasure every day. So precious. And we probably are not even aware of it.  I do not know.  Maybe it is like, nothing. We are aware of something that does not even exist. Just a concept in our head. That is it. What we see has nothing to do with reality. The object that we are supposedly perceiving or observing or interpreting. The true object is not really the true object. It is just here, or here, or whatever you want to call it. And it does not matter.

But there is something. Something is happening. Right? Every day. We have legs. We walk. We wake up. We go to sleep. So, basically, we have sensations and we react. Right?

I want this.

I do not want that.

I am indifferent to everything else.

So, we are conditioning by reacting to the sensations. We are conditioning. We are creating suffering, also. And we are creating habits. So. All these things are processes that we must be very aware of. That is what Dharma is helping us with.

That is the answer to the question. That is what we are doing here. We are learning a process. Once we have learned it, we probably continue learning the next process. And so forth. And if we are egoist, if we are super self-centered, and all I want is my happiness: me-me-me-me, then, we will probably be stuck in that process for a long time. We will be suffering on top of that. A lot.

But suffering is temporary just like happiness. Well, not, happiness as a state of mind.  That is different but like this temporal happiness, “Oh, I’m satisfied but not enough.” Nonsense. That, “Satisfaction,” is just a concept.

If you are in the moment, then, you will be satisfied. If you are present. If you are grateful. If you are in the present. If you are aware. Then, you will be satisfied because you are living the moment. Unsatisfaction means I do not have enough. I want more. I want what I do not have.

Attachment means I fear losing what I think I have.

Rage is inviting an uninvited guest to your house and giving him full power of your house. In the middle of the night. At 4am.

Jealousy is comparing when there is nothing to compare. If you want to compare, compare with yourself yesterday. If you want to improve, compete with yourself. Do not judge anybody. You cannot even judge yourself because you do not even know yourself. How are you going to judge others? You do not know anybody. You do not even know yourself. You do not even know how you are going to react tomorrow and in certain circumstances.

So, we must stop fooling ourselves. We act like we are immortal. It is true. We talk to people like everybody is immortal. Like we are immortal. And anytime something happens, “Oh, my god. I cannot believe it.”

Every morning we are being reborn. Every night we are dying. It is just a process.

Even the hours during the day are like our lifetime. In the morning, we are a little bit like it is the best time of the day.   Eleven o’clock is good. Twelve noon is fresh, strong.  Then, it starts declining a little bit. We get a little bit heavier. We get ready to be more like just observing, like that.

Materialistic wealth, accumulating possessions, that is OK, but it seems like everyone thinks it is one of the most important values. If you have materialistic wealth, then, you have achieved everything, somehow. But, then, those people are so unhappy. That is what I started talking about. Perception. Right? Circumstances do not make you. You make the circumstances.

Again, I love this example. Potatoes become soft in boiling water. Eggs become hard in boiling water. The water is the same, but each subject reacts in a different way. So, we choose how to react in circumstances. You can have nothing and be super happy and have a very fulfilling life. I have seen that. Or, you can have everything and be miserable. It is all based on perception. You have a choice.  You are in control. Up to some point we are.

So, this is our true work. All this process, being aware, learning, improving and most importantly, sharing.

I think that is one of the purposes, also, is to have a fulfilling life. How to have a fulfilling life is to really help others starting with oneself. Dedicate your time to improving as a human so we can really be of use.