Falling into the Mystery by Zahir Khan

Haier Khan shares his spiritual journey and the story behind his book 'Falling into the Mystery,' exploring enlightenment and various traditions.

Key Takeaways

Enlightenment is accessible to ordinary people, not just spiritual elites.
All great spiritual traditions point to the same fundamental truth.
Honesty with oneself is crucial on the spiritual path.
Spiritual awakening involves integrating everyday life, not escaping it.
The journey includes setbacks, doubts, and personal growth beyond formal teachings.

What the video covers

Haier Khan wrote 'Falling into the Mystery' in 2012 but forgot about it until an ex-girlfriend resurfaced the manuscript.
The book chronicles his spiritual journey through Sufism, non-duality, Buddhism, and Advaita traditions.
He recounts his experiences meditating in Scotland and his realization that all spiritual teachings point to the same truth.
Khan describes his early speaking career at the Glasgow Theosophical Society and his struggles with enlightenment expectations.
He shares candid reflections on not being a perfect student in the Sufi tradition and his honest self-assessment.
The book aims to demystify enlightenment, showing it can happen to ordinary people without strict adherence to traditional guru paths.
Khan discusses the importance of starting spiritual work where you are and addressing everyday life challenges.
He emphasizes the paradox of death and life in spiritual awakening and the internal nature of the sought-after truth.
The narrative includes humorous and personal anecdotes, making the spiritual journey relatable and accessible.
Ultimately, the book and talk encourage authenticity, self-honesty, and recognizing the universal message in all spiritual teachings.

Chapters

What inspired Haier Khan to write 'Falling into the Mystery'?

Haier Khan was inspired by a spontaneous paragraph he wrote about losing and finding himself, which led him to write the book over two weeks exploring his spiritual journey.

What spiritual traditions does Haier Khan discuss in his book?

He discusses Sufism, non-duality, Buddhism, Advaita, and his experiences with various teachers and traditions throughout his journey.

What is the main message of 'Falling into the Mystery'?

The main message is that enlightenment is accessible to ordinary people, and all spiritual traditions point to the same truth, emphasizing honesty and integration of spirituality into everyday life.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

My name is Haier Khan. I wrote this book, Falling into the Mystery. It was written in 2012, and what happened was I wrote the book and then totally forgot about it. It disappeared off my laptop and ended up with an ex-girlfriend who sent me the book about two years ago with an email attached saying, "Who would possibly want to read this book?" So I've sat there with this book, it's been kind of proofread millions and millions of times.

Speaker A

up with like an ex-girlfriend who sent me the book about two years ago with with an email attached saying who would possibly want to read this book so I've sat there with this book it's being kind of proof millions and millions of times

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Eventually, my current partner took a look at it, cried her eyes out, and went, "Oh, you know what? This book needs to be published." So she helped me to get it published, which is why I'm sitting here in Watkins Books, which is a real honor because the last time I was here was 2006, and I can't remember how I got here. I wasn't drunk at the time, but it was after a non-duality meeting. But here I am, years later, doing a talk in Watkins.

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in Watkins books which is real honor because the last time I was here was 2006 and I can't remember how I got here and I wasn't drunk at the time but it was after a non-jew Alti meeting but here I

Speaker A

The reasoning for writing the book? Well, there is no reasoning. All it literally was was I got up one day and I wrote a paragraph, and the paragraph goes as follows: "I'm falling into the mystery, and I'm losing myself. And yet, even as I lose myself or find myself, what I really am and what I'm capable of is a mass of emotions, feelings, thoughts, and ideas. And yet finally, after all these years, it now makes sense." And that was the whole reason for writing the book.

Speaker A

mystery and I'm losing myself and yet even as I lose myself or five myself what I really am and what I'm capable of it is a mass of emotions feelings thoughts and ideas and yet finally after all these years it now makes sense and

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As I wrote that, I realized I was onto something, and I just got up every day for two weeks for a couple of hours, sat in front of a laptop, and wrote a book. I must admit I was disappointed because I really wanted to write a spiritual book, but this turned into a story of how I'd started, how I've gone through my middle days, the teachers I'd met from the Sufi tradition, from the non-duality tradition, from Buddhism, Advaita, pretty much all of it, up to my adventures in Scotland where I decided to stay two weeks on the side of a hill meditating furiously, hoping to get enlightened.

Speaker A

laptop and wrote a book I must admit I was disappointed because I really wanted to write a spiritual book but this turned into a story of how I'd started how I've gone through my middle days the teachers I'd met from the Sufi tradition

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It culminates in, after doing all of that, sitting on a sofa at home in Coventry and realizing that every great spiritual tradition, pointer, teacher, guru has been saying the same thing. Now, what that thought was, I can't remember, but that thought was the end of me. So I'm now sitting on a sofa, and my next memory is two of my friends turning up, and I feel an amazing amount of love for them and say, "I'm pretty much done."

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doing all of that sitting on a sofa at home in Coventry and realizing that every great spiritual tradition Pointer teacher guru has been saying the same thing now what that thought was I can't remember but that thought was the end of

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I then end up in a flat in Glasgow infested with cockroaches, wondering, "Well, hold on, this isn't what happens to enlightened people, surely? I've meant to be blessed out, surely a mentor of the life I wanted," and all of that stuff. My next memory is going to the Glasgow Theosophical Society and doing some talks. I was mortified after my first talk because what happened? My friend, who'd come along for support, sent me emails and text messages saying, "You really shouldn't be talking about this stuff."

Speaker A

with cockroaches wondering well hold on this isn't what happens to enlightened people surely I've meant to be blest out surely a mentor of the life I was wanted and all of that stuff my next memory is going to the Glasgow Theosophical

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A man had walked in, and in those days I was very, very non-dual, so everything was just happening, everything was black and white. I remember as he told me about his awakening, showing true compassion and saying, "So what? Get on with it." So that was like the beginning of my speaking career. It lasted for a whole summer, and then at the end of summer, I realized I didn't want to do this and decided I wanted to do normal things, which was going shopping, buying superficial stuff, to live a superficial life, which was great.

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walked in and in those days I was very very non jeweled so everything was just happening was everything was black and white and I remember as he told me about his awakening showing true compassion and saying so what get on with it so

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About three years ago, and I've told this story pretty much in another country, I am lying in bed terrified, and my friend comes into my room and he asks me the question which is the whole reason you're all sitting there. He goes, "Do you want a cup of tea?" How do you ask me any other question? I wouldn't be sitting here. Like the obvious question was, "Why have you not started work today?"

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stuff to live a superficial life which was great about three years ago and I've told this story pretty much open another country I am lying in bed terrified and my friend comes into my room and he asks me the question which is the whole

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So I've gone back to the Theosophical Society, and I started speaking again. Now, I come from a myriad of traditions. I spent eight years with a bunch of Sufis from the Kardar order. I must have met... I wasn't a very good Sufi. I wasn't very good, you know, like following the instructions of a teacher, and spent most of my time being told off.

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gone back to the Theosophical Society and I started speaking again now I come from a myriad of traditions I spent eight years with a bunch of Sufis from the card reorder I must have met I wasn't a very good Sufi I wasn't very

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After that, I looked into non-duality and all these other traditions, and there was a series of awakenings around a teacher called Tony Parsons. And then, yes, the idea of seeking ended. I suppose if there is a reasoning for this book coming into life, it is to kind of say that this can't happen to ordinary people because there seems to be a real mystique around this whole idea of enlightenment.

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Tony Parsons and then yes the idea of seeking ended I suppose if there is a reasoning for this book coming into life is to kind of say that this can't happen to ordinary people because there seems to be a real mystique around this whole

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It's something that you dedicate years and years of your life to. You preferably, if you can, go to India, you take on a guru, you follow instructions to the tea. You know, the amount of floors and toilets I cleaned were incredible. And then, if you know, grace decides grace is going to make you enlightened as long as you're good enough, you're compassionate enough, you're loving enough, and you do what your teacher says.

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cleaned were were incredible and then if you know grace decides grace is gonna make you enlightened as long as you're you're good enough you're compassionate enough you're loving enough and you do what your teacher says I didn't really do any of that I wasn't

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I didn't really do any of that. I wasn't a good student. I still to this day don't remember our job, which was like in a sense of the tree where our lineage came from, from the school I was with. And as regards practices, I'll, you know, I'll confess I didn't get up in the morning and do my zakat or do more odds, which is basically my spiritual prescriptions.

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confess I didn't get up in the morning and do my zakat or do more odds or which is basically my spiritual prescriptions but somehow something happened and I think the reason it happens because I got honest with myself on one morning I

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But somehow, something happened, and I think the reason it happens is because I got honest with myself. One morning I got up when I realized that I didn't really want to be sitting there in service to the teacher and pretending like everybody else that all I wanted was to be of service. I actually wanted to know what this guy knew; otherwise, why else would I be there?

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else would I be there and that led to an honesty I realized also wanted to go free that was over half of their journey then gone all that was then left was to go and meet the guy I really didn't want

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And that led to an honesty. I realized I also wanted to go free. That was over half of their journey then gone. All that was then left was to go and meet the guy I really didn't want to meet, which was myself. So I ended up having a conversation with myself, which is a conversation I really was hoping not to have.

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to talk to themselves because if there is somebody who can call you out on your stories and on your lies and everything it's actually you will exhaust every single option we'll go through every amount of pain that we can possibly go

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And it's one that I found that a lot of spiritual seekers are avoiding as well. They don't really want to talk to themselves because if there is somebody who can call you out on your stories and on your lies and everything, it's actually you. We exhaust every single option, go through every amount of pain that we can possibly go through, lug through as many self-help courses, books, teachers until we realize that although they're all saying it's inside you, we really don't want to go there.

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it's just waiting patiently and there's a much more patient a better teacher than any teacher who will ever meet and when you get to that point then all that happens is there's just a sense of release I would like to go into a an

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Because that inner guru, as I call him or call her, has all your answers, and it's just waiting patiently. And there's a much more patient, a better teacher than any teacher who you will ever meet. And when you get to that point, then all that happens is there's just a sense of release.

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say to people if you go to the Indian subcontinent or you go to India Pakistan anywhere else most teachers are pretty much like social workers you know people go along and say well you know my cows not giving enough milk my son

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I would like to go into an amazing description of what realization is like and use fantastical terms, but recently I've realized that there's such a mystique around this stuff that maybe it's time to talk about it ordinarily and to try and put away words.

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and trying to deal with day-to-day issues because you will find that 99% of people coming to you don't really want to wake up but maybe have another issue which can be resolved which may then put them on the path to them going in

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As I say to people, if you go to the Indian subcontinent or you go to India, Pakistan, anywhere else, most teachers are pretty much like social workers. You know, people go along and say, "Well, you know, my cow's not giving enough milk, my son not getting a job, my mother, my daughter's not getting married." So they deal with day-to-day issues.

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enlightened what's going to happen and how will I know I'm enlightened and what does it even mean to be enlightened I mean what what is this thing because the package I was solved when I first came across the whole idea of enlightened was

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And in the Sufi tradition, there is this whole idea of literally starting where you actually are, so starting in your neighborhood and trying to deal with day-to-day issues because you will find that 99% of people coming to you don't really want to wake up but maybe have another issue which can be resolved, which may then put them on the path to them going inward and seeing what they're about.

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impractical that actually was the whole idea of like this bliss on tap what I got instead could sometimes we see as wavy disappointment I became me I started feeling emotions nothing really changed and yet what I got was that everything

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So the book really is just about my experiences. It's about, you know, the pain I felt, the confusion I felt, that complete not knowing what's going on, asking questions like, "Well, if I become enlightened, what's going to happen? How will I know I'm enlightened? And what does it even mean to be enlightened?" I mean, what?

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here and along the way this little book has joined me and it's an honest attempt to kind of say to you guys well look you know this is what it's about and it's okay to kind of mess up it's okay to be

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confused because the amount of times i sat in gatherings with students who just happen to have this great handle on all this stuff and yeah i was in the corner confused wondering god what's it all about I've just taken a flight to Pakistan and

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the teacher has got my passport and my money and I'm sitting here and I'm still none the wiser and really that's a dangerous position to be in and sometimes what we do is when we go down this spiritual path we do kind of like

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leave our critical faculties at the door and re-enter into some kind of crazy situations and yet the safest place for you is is actually where you actually are you know here and now although there's a lot of kind of you know talked about here

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and now so really it's about kind of saying well look you are the answer to your questions you may need stuff like this until you don't need it but have that courage to eventually in a sense let go and realize that the answers are

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actually where you are now that may be a process and may be something that's here and now if you get to sit in the company of a teacher who knows don't listen they're not you know they're not there

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just for a reason and try to figure out why it is that you're actually doing this is it for feelings of bliss is it for feelings of joy is it because there's something else I remember talk to a guy wants who seem to know

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everything about ramana maharishi I think this guy could have quoted the books backwards and after talking for several hours the actual problem was that he was lonely and just wanted to be in a relationship and wanted to be loved

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so maybe that's where we need to start with the problems are immediate because sometimes this thing called enlightenment which is sold as a cure-all and and you know everything is gonna sort itself out isn't necessarily the answer you've still got to get up

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you still got a you know as they say in the rap culture you still got a grind every day you still got to live you've still got to pay your bills but because of what's happened and the teachers that

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have come over and the way it's been expressed we still think it's something esoteric and that's where we do it a huge disservice a very famous sufi by the name of Ali Hodja where he once stated a reality with no name has now

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become a name with no reality so we have the form now we have the techniques you know we have all the information we could possibly want but we seem to be missing that reality we seem to be missing that practical nature of it

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because this is here too in a sense empower you to be able to do I suppose good in your community to be a better person to show compassion to have separation and how how do we do any of

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this stuff so yeah that that's that's what I do I run up and down the country and I talk to people and I and I kind of try to have a conversation sometimes I'm good at it sometimes I'm

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not too good sometimes I put my foot in my mouth and stuff and it's kind of all in the book because I did make some great mistakes you know the classic was deciding to meditate on the side of a hill for two weeks

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believing I was gonna get enlightened I mean that that was fun that's fun because I'm yeah it was good getting up in the mornings and seeing the deer and stuff and not talk to people for about 14 15 days the funniest part was

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actually getting back to Glasgow getting interviewed by a TV station about what was going on in the back and here was me two weeks later haven't shaved looking like a complete mess and they were like what do you think of our BSS policies

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and I'm like I've just got off a hill but I thought I can't really say that but somebody handed me a leaflet so I kind of started going about the banking system and all that stuff needless to say they cut it out I didn't appear on

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TV and stuff so yeah I've had these mud adventures doing this stuff and it's kind of pretty much in the book starting from you know when I don't know Sunday morning when I was looking forward to my double boiler symptoms and then six

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hours later in my room yeah I mean a room full of Sufis who were whirling away and then on Sunday morning somebody asks me so it was at Sunday no it's on Monday morning somebody asked me if I'd

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like to become a lead which basically means student and I thought well I'm not doing anything why not and then talking to my teacher for about ten minutes and eight years as I say fondly of the guy he was a fake who was real so go figure

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that one out so it was the whole adventure and kind of like really just yeah just a little bit of a laugh with it and stuff but the beautiful thing is realizing that nobody had the answers but me but I really want to go that I

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wanted to look at somebody to give him answers but the beautiful thing that we're seeing now is there's so much of this information there's so many good teachers out there that they're all pointing back to you I recently went

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back to the school I started with and I was sitting there with some of the students were still seeking away and I kind of went butoh in a way where we don't realize that we were taught so in a sense what

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happens is they say the best of teachers is one who teaches you in a way whereby you realize yourself so it's about self realization I mean the clues pretty much in the title itself and you know there is no book and there is no teacher and

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there's no pointer out there that's ever going to hold a candle to you all these great books like the Koran the Bhagavad Gita the Bible all these great teachers like ramana maharishi they all came for you and that's the question I was asked

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so who could you possibly be and if we take some time to actually look at what we actually are it's it's pretty incredible because you know I call it falling into the mystery you fall into this amazing mystery which

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you'll continue going on and on and on and on and on but then the paradox of it all is that it isn't really a mystery it's actually perfect everyday ordinary living the reason we don't want to accept is because there's so many years

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and years of conditioning even myself when when I met my first teacher the whole idea was that the guy had long hair he had a white beard who was wearing robes so evidently he must have known whereas there's no doubt somebody

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sitting in here with jeans who probably knows just as much if not more as a matter fact worldly so it's about finding that wisdom in in the ordinary and and seeing it for what it actually is that it is just this but again I

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haven't started to get even bored of those kind of terms now as well so really it's just about conversing going around telling a story maybe telling a few jokes may be sitting here silently and then somewhere along the line yes

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maybe a conversation occurs in which if the conversations take you to its natural conclusion there's really no subject and there's no object and and that's what its kind of pretty much all about that was a whole reason for I'm

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not forty-five years old I know hard to believe but I spent a good amount of my life looking for this stuff you know whatever this thing was I kind of jokingly say that if I hadn't found this thing I probably would be in a meeting

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somewhere asking somebody a question because there's some pretty far-out stuff and yet the funny thing is it was always just it was with me was traveling with me because it was it was me and it was always kind of saying well why

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didn't you just try running and have a look and having a look and seeing what I was kind of pretty much destroyed all the fanciful theories and ideas I had about this stuff to the point where you know I casually tell the odd Kim

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Kardashian story it talks and things like that and I'm kind of quite a reverent about it because you see that 99% of this stuff is it's just just form is something that we've given ourselves because we're terrified of letting go

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we're terrified of letting go and all of our toys our practices even though you know within the Sufi tradition they said that last world is a veil of knowledge that lasts valleys all the stuff that you know you're too many have to let go

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of what you know what you think you are and everything and that's like in a sense taking a jump but your mind and your ego and all these things are going to kick in they say well now we don't really want

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to go there because whilst better than we've got we have knowledge here we've invested time and energy so in a sense what I'm trying to do is kind of make myself redundant the way things are going I don't think is happening anytime

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soon so yeah that's the whole point behind writing this book it was just to kind of put an ordinary story and to talk about hopes and fears to talk about the fact that there were times when this really didn't make sense but ultimately

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you know as a very famous sue she wants Atticus seekers cannot know this and yet only seekers get this so yes he can and you will find even though there seems to be this whole thing about you know if

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you seek it you're gonna find it can become an obstruction because this whole thing is so so so incredibly paradoxical and yet it's the only thing we should really in a sense concern ourselves with if we go back to the old traditions

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people spent the first half of their lives looking for this stuff making sense of it if we're told they lost it and then going on to do some amazing things we seem to have it kind of flipped here you know we we do

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everything we need to do we get the careers we at the jobs we get the houses and then we get to the end of all we go oh I'm not happy summer fortune of the kind of question what's kind of going on

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because the spiritual tradition wants us take it to its natural conclusion will disappear places like this will just dissipate out and go into the community and you know real-life example of that I went to a place called Malta which is

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known as the city of Sufis and for a whole month I couldn't talk about this stuff there was actually no space you know the rickshaw driver was it the guy sitting on the corner the guy making me tea it was all there I finally got to a

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village outside and actually did a talk but that was the only time to talk about so in a sense we've built so much space a that we're being allowed to talk about this so we're in that part time where

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you know a reality or with no name is now a name were no reality we are in that time of a name with no reality so the form is all here there is pockets and there is this reality here it's

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still here but we need to go back to the point where there conversation of this even dies to the point where there is in a sense no need for this and it's a natural state to the point where it's

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not even in the sense spoken of you know as I say the ultimate all would be me not speaking well one even better I wouldn't be here that we want even better than that they're winning would be a talk because we would

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just be living in our natural wave in our natural way of being you know which is which is in a sense empowering if you want to use that word because then as I say to people you don't come to a talk

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and say what would the teacher say or what will the teach a thing you can't ago what would I say what would I do you know I know I know read the story of the teachers will be masked for darvey's

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which is an amulet and it seems to be doing the rounds again in my head and he said don't ask for an amulet become an amulet so in a sense become the answer to your problems and stuff but you already are

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it's a play you're playing out you even know what you're doing here and it's just really about trusting that and being what you actually are say yeah that's what I do and that's why I buy the book you listen to me you go home

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and you talk to yourself because ultimately I kind of I live fires and the fire I'm trying to lights and do you if you don't want a fire under you then I played the role of a mirror so I hold

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up you know a mirror here and you see what you want to see which is kind of good as a caveat so if you didn't like this talk well hey it's a reflection isn't it it's it's your internal state

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or alternative I can act like a candle and the thing is if the candles is enticing enough and beautiful enough maybe that muscle will fly to the flame and if someone flies to the flame it knows there was death every

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but it realized in that death paradoxically there is life so the thing that you're seeking for you already know it's not separate from you it's not separate from you and the funny thing is although your mind and all these reasons

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that you've put in place that something's missing are there you yourself know that ultimately when you want to put them down you'll put them down so you'll let go when you need to let go you'll hold on when you need to

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hold on so you know am i sitting in a room full of seekers asking me questions about this kind of stuff no I'm actually sitting there room full of people playing a play out I'm playing my bit out and you were playing your bit out

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and the whole point I suppose of actually being here and having written this book and running up and down is to remind you of something that you think you've forgotten so in the sense when you realize you've not forgotten I like

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the genial or the guy on the magic carpet flyer disappear and you realize like in Wizard of Oz it was just all of us a dream that's it yeah I went through a phase with the whole black magic thing it's

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actually in the book I met I met a man called Sheikh Solomon whose partner Naqshbandi school I went through I was in a relationship with a girl from kind of innocence the wrong part account like she was the wrong religion her parents

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found out and she went to India this is kind of interesting I'm talking about cuz I've never talked about before she went to Indian she came back and she had kameez which is like a tunic and she rings me up and she goes you know what

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I've got this tunic and there's black thread knotted into it there's such a thing as knotted magic and stuff within the Indian subcontinent so I was like well that's magic what you need to do is what we're always told and even in some

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context there's magic you are the provar or you take it in Portland water running water or you burn it so I said well look take it to some running water burn it and so I take it some running water

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throw it away she goes and runs it under tap what happens for the next six seven months is I ended up running up and down hills praying in different directions doing something called vers Ives I was being helpful while they soundly shake and is

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there such a thing as black magic yes on some level yet there actually is because there was one morning I was kind of almost like in a sense attacked which was really really strange but it was a really crazy time my life I literally

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was being told to go to some places pray take some earth burn it in different locations mix it with perfume and all that stuff the teacher who I was with and that time I was seeking and stuff never kind of fully made me aware of

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what the method was because I then found out that the word the teachers using similar methods but it was a case of our mildly I can't do it for you so I want you to do it for you so yes it does

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exist the Indian subcontinent is pretty kind of crazy for it and stuff I mean you know ever since I've been out there I've kind of come across people my father passed away which was one of the reasons for for this actually all this

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seeking starting there's a certain gentleman he came to the house and as he came to the house what was really amazing was it was hot and he just went cold and I found out afterwards I'd he had a book and

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book was basically a manual on black magic and he was willing to teach me but at the time I'm like 23 years old my overriding concern is you know what club night I was missing and things like that

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and the spiritual thing was really just like a million miles away but he offered to teach me but for some strange reason I don't know why I just kind of said no but and at the age of 1213 as well there

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was a there was a Sufi who turned up at the house because my sister was doing some kind of strange things and stuff and everything because you know and he was like she's got a jinn which is a

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creature of smokeless fire kind of attached to her so yeah I've kind of come across a lot of it so much of it that I'm not going to turn around and negate it because that does seem to be

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this thing kind of going on that no you know it's just all just there so it's just like this or whatever but there are different shades of this whole thing so yeah I've come across enough of it to

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kind of realize that yeah that's kind of something going on yeah just a little bit yeah those is one line a teacher once said to me I went to see me when it's aloneness is killing you because I did think about Matt but this

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is the interesting there's more and more people starting to wake up now you know when I was talking Glasgow is incredible like people more walks of life turning up and they've kind of go so you do know what I'm talking about and be like well

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yeah but it's happening that people are starting to wake up this time to kind of realize that look there's something a bit more going on here you know I mean we've done all you know without turning it into a run we've done all the houses

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the cars and the possessions and all that stuff when we did it we got to the end of one we weren't happy so what is happiness you know we've been told happiness as our basic nature and yet we

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have record levels of depression so what does it even mean to be happy and if we could sit down with really basic questions like even that then it would be very interesting what we'd find his answers what does it mean to be happy

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and if anybody asks me I'm not gonna answer it because I've asked the question so I don't feel I should answer it and stuff it's as simple as that see that's caveats everywhere this caveat so ruin it's about finding yourself seeing

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yourself look in the mirror see what you see and then the beautiful thing is you're constantly casting is that whole there's that book is it the Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and stuff and there's this whole thing about it as

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painting well this is about kind of looking to have never seen that paint but seeing every nuance or view and seeing and seeing more and more and more as I say this is that gift that keeps on giving you know we couldn't

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we can run out this thing will never run out so by being in that moment of being in there in that level of intensity oh this constant seeing seeing and seeing and seeing and this is a practical reality it's something practical

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something natural it's not being done it doesn't need to be practiced it doesn't need to be kind of poor timers you're constantly this wakeful meditative state if you want to get anything because I get a lot of corporate types you come to

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see me and it's really interesting I find out by engaging them and that's conversing with them what you'll find is you get to the you get to the like the heart of the matter I mean I've got a

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certain gentleman who comes and speaks to me regularly and he was quite high up in the investment bank and it's kind of quite interesting because a lot of them are aware of what you'll say they know what they're doing is wrong but the

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thing is because they're not being offered any solutions and it's all about grab the money while you can and then I've got my money and then we have this whole idea of delayed gratification that there's like are worth 4050 years and

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then I'll do what I want to it's about presenting people like this with options this is why making it practical engage these people it's it you need to know about this kind of stuff you know you need to know what's going on in the

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world and I'm not talking just about kind of holding some banners up and stuff possibly one of the best ways of effecting change is to know yourself because I get into interesting situations on a daily basis like I'll

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meet people and it's incredible I'll be talked to and then I find out they I don't know they work in investment bank while they work in the UN or they work somewhere here there but by trusting what you are what you'll find is you'll

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just get into the situation to bow to affect change by talking to the people that really matter like I don't I don't even look into their corporate issues what I do is look I'm interesting one thing waking people up because the way I

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see is if people wake up we're looking at a better world now and the thing is if a guy in front of me is from an investment bank I'm not really going to go into his issues I'm gonna be talking

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about the core issue this whole idea of separation that's created this idea renew that you want to go out and make loads of money and sod everybody else it's all about me by finding out who you are by finding out as simplistic as that

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sounds by finding out who you are ending the seeking to you and becoming a light onto you and onto others as well that's that's how you can practically change I used to winners at University I was actually very very kind of quite political and I

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joined all the societies and what-have-you and I went on marches and demos and things like that I don't think I made really any I didn't even like I didn't even throw up on you know like sorry a pebble in the pond and change

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anything but if I know myself what I found is by trusting myself I will always get in front of the right people at the right place at the right time but it comes down to you because I don't see

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anything different between if an investment banker comes through the room I've got to you know I've got to react sucker Taylor because they look I like you you're part a big corporate you're part big farmer you're part of this or

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that or I can show that there's no real apparent separation I can affect change that person I can make that person change what they're doing by letting goes on hmm yeah don't underestimate yourself never underestimate yourself of course you can

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like you say there's a guy down the pub I can affect change but if it's a corporation I can't I I believe you can't and again it comes down to again back to yourself which is which is why

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this stuff is becoming more important because if we look at it this way there was a something I read recent India before even the British got there one hundred one hundred years that the people were abundant there was no

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poverty they weren't the beggars we see on the streets now there wasn't this running after like money the way it was and it was because society was learned fairly and equitably and most people in positions of power were people who were

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kind of in a sense what we would term deeply deeply spiritual people and we need to in a sense get back to that time so good well then I in a sense govern from a place of you know equitability to

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be fair if you look at this now we're on the outskirts of society I mean you know I love to kind of throw the Donald Trump thinking because it really did catch everybody unaware that this was actually going to happen because people did get

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caught you know like with that with their pants down so to speak thinking oh no because we're spiritual people and all the lists of somehow the world was gonna be us we have it in a sense a responsibility to know what we are then

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to actually go out to our communities so what I said at the beginning you know start where you actually argue it's incredible what you'll find it's incredible how you can't effect do do I think it's just one person

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against the corporation now I think if that person is what they are you know it that was Gandhi by himself they took down the British Empire and are you less than Gandhi I don't think you are I see

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I don't see people as limited I don't see people as the way the thing I've seen is that these limits that we supposedly think that we have aren't real and that constantly being constantly being you know shown when I

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first started off talking it was literally with an 18 year old kid on a street corner in Glasgow and you know I come from a working-class family you know people like me don't do things like this and I don't like to hike on about

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but today I'm talking to and I've got the air of some pretty informational people why because I just trust whatever happens in the moment if you trust whatever happens in the moment it's amazing I can affect change and it's you

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realize you're more if you are the universe in tight because we go with this whole idea I mean the classic idea in Western spirituality which mean bought off releases it's all just one consciousness if that's what you are

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sure you are consciousness what can you then not do but is to become aware of that when you become aware of that it becomes a different ballgame you are not limited that's what I'd be this stuff I remind people which is why

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yes I have these are some pretty influential people but why because I just happened to be the right place at the right time and rather than judge them I just spoke to them without judgement and I have got myself in some

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interesting situations it in a great way but it's amazing when you cannot fake change simple as that you wake up when you realize this all a dream I'd love to kind of go into that whole Lab you have the whole dream thing and

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stuff but I just don't say like that anymore it's just kind of quite ordinary that stuff's really kind of awareness beingness waking up from the dream presence all of that stuff it's all lovely until it's not lovely when you

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realize you don't need it it's almost like my practices that I used to do while I didn't do well the practice I was told to do or the books are meant to read and everything they were all wonderful it's like I say it's like

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passing your driving test you know open it or getting your driving test and get it passed oh my god it's the most amazing thing ever three four weeks later you think you're Vin Diesel and it's the same thing as out you know when

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you realize you in the dream you just wake up and then you realize there was no fuss about it and then this the paradox of it all is you realize that there wasn't a time when you weren't awake so what was the fuss all

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about that's what's so crazy about it it's the world's greatest first only to be realized it's it's it's a complete non-event was someone said to me realization is like you know the best thing in the world but at the same time

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it's the biggest disappointment in the world as well then yeah it can't be a disappointment but that's what makes it so cool very simple I got a warm morning wrote this paragraph and I thought oh I'm on to something here because I go

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well what it is is I've written books before and I really wanted to write the kind of spiritual term that Watkins would would like kind of say we need to have this book this is up there with I

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am that or something like that and then what happened was I wrote this paragraph another style and a story of me what happened so at the time I put it down to all I'm just writing the story because

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it must be some sort of a process or some cathartic thing that I need to do I wrote it and it was just really nice and simple and then I just left I didn't think to publish it but then people kept

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reading it and then yeah literally disappeared and then it came back to me with the ex with the who the hell would want to read this book I really do need to send a copy of this video and stuff

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and then yell it about six seven months ago it you know it got published but what's interesting about it is that it seems to be kind of gathering legs because the fact that people can say well it's kind of quite a simple

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straightforward book you know have not kind of gone into any real depth with anything where I talk about like Advaita later I talk about volatile which other words who solved which other ideas and Sufism stuff but rather than kind of

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really going into it because there's such a mystique around the stuff and I've seen people discussing this a great length and it's all such a waste it's just kind of saying look I was this guy I had a lot of pain I wasn't looking for

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enlightenment I just wanted the solution to my pain somebody tom was an Enlightenment I like an idiot fall under but then I realized that no it was more than that and then even after that the whole idea of

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talking to people you know that wasn't in the plan it was just literally okay I've got this thing and then yeah I started talking about it but the book was yeah it was just something I just wrote itself prior to that I had tried

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to write something I thought let's be really spiritual we use the right words and all of this I then realized I was on to lose if I try to do anything like that because I'm not the kind of guys can be saying it

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doing you know really kind of deep long spiritual terms I'm not very good at that so I kind of just used stories using metaphors bla bla bla throwing a bit of current affairs and that's why it works but yeah falling into the mystery

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kinda reflects that and stuff it just it's a story but you know that's probably one of the best ways to teach as well tell stories the old traditions were to tell stories and if you let those stories kind of keep going and

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stuff for me now you know there was a young lady who came to a talk once with her mother and she really didn't want to be there you know she's turned up and she's sitting there politely because mommy's gonna take on a shopping trip

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afterwards and I'm waxing lyrical but they start all about Kim Kardashian and this is the Kim Kardashian story which you know you all go home and tell people about so I start talking about Kim Kardashian the president of the

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Theosophical site cos so here who's this Kim Kardashian I was like Googler you can thank me later and what happened was I just start going about our Instagram account and I'm like yeah did you see that post she didn't

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everything so I'm in a meeting like this and I'm talking about Kim Kardashian now why would we go down the real Kim Kardashian and I don't know why I'm just going along with it this is what this is

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how you trust okay what happens is about now towards you and I talked the little girl times know she can ask a question I go yeah well so she goes what's the Sufi and that's really interesting because I've not mentioned the term wants so for

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the next hour in response to that question what is a Sufi I've gone through the schools the methods chapter verse personalities everything in the Sailor softcore psyche president sitting there thinking he's been sitting here for a whole year why we not asked him a

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basic question like that in other words this most basic of question which was going to be answered in such a way came from a 17 year old kid who really just wanted to go down the star mile in

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Glasgow and go shopping which is why it's important to just take your wisdom wherever you know this is where if we can put this stuff down that we've got to be a certain way we've got to I don't

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know be vegetarians we've got to say namaste or things like that we can pull it all down and just just be present just be ordinary people it's amazing what we'll learn because yeah it's funny you know the 17 year old girl is

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probably out there party she's probably 80 now she's probably out there partying not realizing that this one question of us has created such a life there travelling around the country with me the Kim Kardashian story seems to kind

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of grow but it was she just literally went what's the Sufi up until this point in the talk I've not mentioned anything about Sufism never said I was a Sufi who said I was a Sufi we know I've not even

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talked anything we talk about Instagram accounts just to make sure that the little girl doesn't feels inner-city and then all the sudden it's like what wedding so sometimes just that right situation somebody asked me about non-duality the other week and they've

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been asking for a whole week what's non-duality I like to forget about it but then just in the right place of the right time the definition came out so really if you're truly patient the solution will always come out the point

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he needs to come out just there but that's what it is so now I don't really do much I just wait for moments you know there was a guy who turned up I thought once we've been to in front for perhaps

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three months and I just literally walked in one just remember one thing I'm patient because there's always a moment there's always a moment so sometimes it's just about sitting there I think I'm I'm sure you guys have heard of

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Mooji he did this video once i rewatch much of his stuff but he returned guys we just sit here and we just wait that's all it is waiting it's just a waiting game just wait and then firm wants to

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talk to us they want to talk to us that's it simple really

Topics:Haier KhanFalling into the Mysteryspiritual journeyenlightenmentSufismnon-dualityAdvaitaBuddhismspiritual awakeningTheosophical Society

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