Patience

Good morning. I’m happy to be here with you again. There is very little to talk about, very little to say. Almost everything has already been said, now it’s up to you to do the work. I can show you where the mine is, but you are the ones who have to take the pick and the shovel. You already know what you need to do.

If there is one thing left for me to say, it is that the mind is not going to go without a fight. The mind will not let you find out easily that everything is like a movie set. It’s going to fight, it will try to divert you from your search. And when the mind recognizes that it cannot keep you from your search, it will try to disguise itself as an ally on your search, and will begin to give you advice, telling you what to do, which teacher to follow, what texts to read, etc.

One thing the mind often does is create phenomena. There may be lights that appear when you close your eyes, or messages that come to you when you are in silence. All of these are fictions, lies. None of these are true, because what is not Grace is mind. There is nothing in between. And Grace does not need to show lights or send messages. Grace does not need to transform into Robert Adams and appear in your dreams and tell you things. When these sorts of things happen you have to understand that they are mental phenomena and not let them distract you on your way.

And when things start to happen, when you begin to feel that your search has entered a phase where things are going faster and faster, things are happening and there is progress, be patient. Be very patient. Enjoy it, because that’s what it’s there for, but be patient because the final lie of the mind is to tell you that you have already achieved it. You will feel like you got it, because the only thing the mind needs to do to allow you to feel what you are, is to be quiet for a while. The mind will let you feel it, enjoy it, then you start telling everyone what is happening to you, start writing on Facebook and giving advice to people on how to get realization… and then, when you have reached that point, the mind will restart its activity again and it will take you by surprise. You believed it, you opened your mouth, you started to rejoice and celebrate… and then it left you. It happens to many people. I’ve seen it many times, so be patient.

So, when this happens, just say, “Well, maybe that is it, or maybe not. Let’s wait and see how long it lasts”. And start testing it. That is what I did. I didn’t believe in it for three years. For three years I tested it, putting myself in all sorts of habitual trouble to see what the response would be, and how I would feel about it. And after three years or so, I thought to myself, “well, it looks like it’s staying this way”. So be patient. It is going to happen because it has to happen, because it is the reason we are here. There is nothing else, it’s the one and only thing. The only thing that matters in your life is to know who you are. Everything else are tall tales created by the mind. We know that. So let’s spend this morning in silence.

Luis de Santiago
Satsang in Xuño, Galicia, April 17, 2016.