Pascal Auclair: Another Way of Seeing Things 🔭

So, the retreat, the retreat, the retreat. I think I would like to talk a little bit about what is happening here, what are we doing here? It is often in the retreats, in the first teaching, it is often what comes to my mind. Yes, that's what is important to me. It seems important to me to look together. Why are we here? What are we doing here? What is this retreat? Maybe to get on the same wavelength, because we understand each other a little bit. You see a little bit of my point of view. What is the intention? So I think we come ... it seems to me like a kind of laboratory. Where we try to create the most sustainable conditions possible to be able to do a study of ... A study of ... I hope that you will not be afraid of me, but a study of systematic methodological, an empirical study, maybe especially empirical, of the mechanisms of suffering, stress. How is stress born? How is trouble in the mind? How are emotions born, effigy? And how are they maintained? Or how do they free themselves from that? How can they have freedom from that? That's the study. The study of mechanisms of how we feel in our own psyche. How ... and how this ... yeah ... chain and detachment, maybe. Something a little like that. And there are some aspects of that I would like to make come out. And that's amazing. I use the word laboratory, we could think of something quite square, quite cold. Laboratory. The best laboratory to do what we do for us is that there are trees, there are birds. It's a very good laboratory. It's very beautiful that the doors are open. It's possible that we hear sounds of nature, among others, the road too. Yes, that we are together in silence. So it's this very particular laboratory. We are not at ... I don't know, the big pharmaceutical farms. It's not that kind of laboratory. It's a laboratory where there are things in the woods, maybe images represent a lot of nature, especially a lot of nature. Little things to do, silence, the slowness. And also, well, that's a bit of a set in the environment, but also the laboratory. The best laboratory to do what we do is when there is a calmness, if there can be a little something in the order of the game, the ludic, the joyous curiosity, or the exploration, if you play a little, something a little of ... That's very beautiful, very beautiful. That's the laboratory of first quality. If there can be that or tenderness, something friendly, yeah, relaxation, a cat passing by, time by time, not too often, pray, don't abuse. But then that's ... yeah, it creates a ... yes, but yes, I know you're going to end up going through it. And yeah, so that's it, if the mind can be appeased regularly again, or experience joy, be light, refreshed, nourished in this way, it's ... it may be supporting, calm too. So that's a bit of the attitude. Something that seems to me to be important is in terms of vision, maybe comprehension, perception of what we do. And so when you practice, it can be in the chair, on the chair, or the cushion, the bench, it can be during the walk, or any time you practice, there is a view angle that is particularly helpful, is that what we just studied here is not ... that's it, it's human nature. So when I propose that, for me it's to avoid contentment about me, my posture, my breathing, my retreat, my room, my concentration, my agitation. Do you see how you can easily put that glasses there and think that yes, that's it, it's factual, it's the truth. It's about my path, where I am on this path, me, where I am, where I am, especially compared to others, and then compared to myself in my best version, that I would like to demand, but that I can't, that I don't have access to. So in this laboratory, there, the effect of that, between a very particular vision, we understand, and we will understand it more and more, and that's maybe the liberation too. We will understand more and more that it's not personal what we just studied here, it's wider, it's human nature. What is it that is to be incarnated, that there is a sensible body, what is it that has bones, hormones, tendons, a digestive system, lungs. Do you see how all this is from the public domain, from agitation, calm, tension, consciousness, unconsciousness. These phenomena are human phenomena, and we come from these view angles. In this laboratory, things are not personal. There is this tendency to return to that, this conditioned vision, we were conditioned to evaluate, to tell, to interpret, to perceive things this way. And it's also what we call practice. It's to remember, to remember that we can be in contact with things directly without this, without this, without this glasses, without this voice, I don't know how to call it, without this tendency to make a personal story. And when I say this, we could almost hear that, yes, it's detached, it's disconnected, not at all, not at all, not at all, not at all. We are at the heart of these phenomena. Our attention is at the heart of the path, at the heart of the soul, of the taste, of the state inside. We really talk about yes, of intimacy, of proximity, but it's another vision. We are at the heart of not the heart of the human experience, but we are invited to return to humanity. When we are used to isolate ourselves from the human experience, to make a very close experience about me, against me, everything refers to me. And then we open ourselves, we open ourselves to the audition, the audition. Ah, the irritation, the irritation. And that's part of liberation, to return to this vision. That's what will be liberating, among other things, to let this tendency to seize, this one we are talking about, to appropriate things, to see on the planet what appropriation leads to. It leads to conflict, war, abuse, etc. So we come to discover how natural things are, they belong to nature, we are not isolated. We have not been extirpated from nature, we are an expression of nature. So what happens naturally, indigestion, the indigestion of anger, joy, the marvels are passing phenomena, and they can be seen as universal phenomena of human nature. So it's important to understand that and we will probably forget it. And maybe without remembering it, that would be our mandate, Charlie Amouad, to remember that, because there may be another possible vision. Maybe it's not as personal as that. And that's the exploration we are taking, that's the investigation we are doing. We will see if it's true, if there is that other vision that is possible. And what are the advantages of that? If I have access, if I can prove, live things this way, without there being aggravation, attachment, appropriation, identification, definition of self, I walk with grace. I hope people see me walking with grace. It's me walking with... Oh no, I got stuck. I took the piss in the roots. It's me again, it's me, the shame, I'm ashamed, it's me. And maybe neither one nor the other was me, it was just grace. And the imperfection, the absolutely natural effect that took place. So that's it, this laboratory. It's good to define that, I think, because we can come here very well, saying, well, it's my retreat, it's my me time, it's about me. And in addition, I have things to fix, I have decisions to take. It's going to be perfect, I have a week to make decisions for the rest of my life. And Pascal departs with his microphone, it doesn't work, it doesn't work. He says, no, no, it's not the time to tell ourselves, to define ourselves, to make decisions about me and my path, my life purpose. It's not that, it's another laboratory. It's something else that happens here. And if we come here to see if there is no other possible vision that could be to clear the heart, to clear the heart, to make room for, yeah, rather than to make a difference in this heart, to define ourselves, to narrate ourselves, to describe ourselves. If we clear a little bit of space, what are we going to discover? I don't know, maybe calm, joy, play, tenderness, compassion, space, freedom. So the angle of view, we could say. That's it, I have an infinite gratitude towards my teachers and my teachers for that. They patiently helped me understand that no, it's not about Pascal. Yes, there is this tendency, we could really let go of it. Everything comes back to Pascal, even what comes to the other. What comes to Pascal, etc. And with a lot of patience, with care, it's always suggested that maybe not, maybe there is a body that breathes, that has a sensitivity that has a place, that is something very, very natural, that it's not necessary to always make a reference to yourself and recognize what is happening, that has the acism, for example, that has the breath, that has consciousness, that has the passage of state, confusion, joy, nervousness, and merriment. And once again, it's this non-agreement. What does it give if there is not this form of agreement, it's to me that it happens, it's not what I want, it's not what I want, I want to keep it, I want to keep it. If we can relax, and allow what is there to be there, to be lived, without appropriation, fixation, obsession. It's not easy, I'm talking about it, it's easy to talk about it, but it's true that it takes at least a week. Maybe a few more, after. But it's this, when there is non-agreement, what is there, what remains, what is there? So it's this, we see the, we are lucky to see, see in all sorts of ways the mechanism of agrippement, of seizure. And maybe to discover how it causes, this game of cause and effect, how it is, the way we perceive, to encounter things, an influence on our access to joy, to calm, to freedom, or not. And the method, so I talked a little bit about the language of view, maybe we will be able to recall that at some point this week. Oh yes, it's not about me, there may be another way, there is something happening, so it's still, once again, it's the voice of the middle. We are not in the denial, we don't say something has not happened, but we are not in the other extreme of appropriation. We are just in the middle, it's called consciousness. Just to know that there is agitation in the mind. There is agitation in the mind. We are not in denial, and we are not either in agrippement or seizure, or identification or definition of a certain evening. There is just the five recognitions of what is happening. So that's the method for us, it's simply to be in contact. How do I say it this morning, the definition of sati? So to remember that it is possible to experience, to experience an experience in consciousness. Simply, that there is this possibility of simply experiencing the thing, the emotion, the sensation, that it is possible to simply experience something in consciousness. So it's very, very, very delicate, it's very, very delicate. We don't care about anything, we don't take anything, we allow things to happen, to appear, to disappear. It's good that there are hours of research around that, because it's very delicate to allow something to be known, the non-denial, to allow something to be known in non-agrippement too, without making a story, without making a personal story. There is just this thing that happens. The way we sometimes hear this, I hear Joseph Goldstein, one of my teachers, with whom I spent a lot of time, and often at the beginning of the meditations, what he does again in the last few years, but for a long time, at the beginning of the meditations, on the echo of the Buddha, he says, there is a body, there is a body. Do you see the difference? My body, my respiration, no, there is a body. It's the non-denial, and it's non-agrippement. There is a body that breathes, there is the hearing, there is the hearing, there is fear, calm. So the non-denial, and the non-agrippement, we don't make stories. Even if we don't make stories, it goes away. I try to go by vernacular, words, expressions that maybe, I hope, I arrive from Quebec, so we have our own vernacular. But not making a story, I think it's universal. So not making a story, it goes very far. It's an expression that we can recognize, but here it has a kind of depth. Not making a personal story of what is going on. It goes very far. Someone asks the Buddha how to avoid death. And the Buddha responds, he doesn't make a personal story of anything. He will avoid death. He will have death. But if you don't make a personal story, it's not about you, it's just a natural phenomenon that will happen, so you will be liberated. Be attentive, my Garadjah. And don't appropriate anything in this way. You will live with death. Just for us, it can be the search week. How can we not appropriate something, how can we allow something to happen, the save, the balance, the unbalance, the illness, the health, the cat. You always saw me making a personal story. I would suffer. Well, we saw worse. And so, yes, that's a bit there. So for us, it's doing the experience, living the experience consciously without adding. Without adding, it also means I'm going to name what we're going to do this week, what we're going to discover for ourselves. But without adding, it also means not to be pulled in time. Without adding, it means ah, I don't know, it's press, it's heating, it's kicking, it's losing, it's pulling, it's pushing, it's tearing. At this moment, it's like this. At this moment, not making a story, it means not having the whole day like this, a good 20 minutes before the bell rings, or no, I'm not doing it yet. Two days, that's not making a story. It's not easy. It's really a practice to allow something to be known, without solidifying it, without making it permanent, without just, ah, here, there's this, what's happening, what can be known, as it is. Not making a story, we're probably going to discover that it means that too. And how are we going to discover it by making a story? By making a story of things, and then we're going to find that it's a bit oppressive, that we're caught in a complicated story. And maybe by ourselves, we're going to discover that there's maybe another way, that allows us to, what is being there, to have a place, or to be uncertain, to be changing. We could say, in a certain way, that it's a search around what we call the seizure, in Buddhist psychology, the seizure. It's this way of, the mind to make a fixation, to stop on something, by appropriating it. By appropriating it. It's to me, it defines me. Or by detesting it. There's a fixation. This is a place, I didn't want it to happen. Why is it a place? And there's a 16th spirit, or by loving it. Oh, I love it. The cat, can he stay? He's going on the knees, on this one. What's going to happen on my feet? So, a 16th. We're lucky, this week, I think, to live several 16th. An opinion, it's not like that, it's not like that, that we do. It can be in the field, it can be 16th. Either we're 16th or we're 16th, I don't know, it's not very important. Either we're the Holy Spirit, or we're all suddenly gripped by something, but it can't happen anywhere. There's no place where we're completely safe. We can be in the toilet, and suddenly there's a 16th. In the kitchen, in the living room, in the room. We can be in the meditation room, and suddenly, an opinion, a preference, a self-defence. We're the person who missed such a thing, who did so well, such a different thing. Do you recognize something in what I'm writing? Or is it only in North America? I know it's very strong in North America, but I think you're also able to decide to do a 16th quite magnificently. Quite impressive. I'm having fun. And so that's it. We came to study the 16th under all its forms. We also discovered how how is the place, how can the 16th be abandoned, and how to avoid it. It could be a way of talking about what we're going to do this week. It could be very subtle, very subtle, very coarse. But as soon as, for example, we desire something that doesn't happen. Ah! I want to feel this. I want to be in a meal. I want to have a room alone while we're three. I want, as soon as the mind is hanging, it's gripping something that isn't. In a sense, we can play. From the point of view of the laboratory. Ah! A specimen! Perfect for study. Here's a beautiful chair. I have one. And once again, it's just the consciousness. We're not in the den of... No, there's no consciousness. I'm not... Yes, but I'm right, because Martin does this much better. We're in the consciousness. Ah! There's consciousness. The mind is suddenly obsessed by something. It's going to be something, it's going to be something. So for us, it's going to be something to wake up and to look at this... So we could think, we came here to see who's not in the den. No, no, we came here to see who's in the den to study the beast. And to see how it's... to present it as sleeping in us, the beast is asleep. And as soon as she has the opportunity, she comes out, she wakes up. It could even be fun to see if we have a... if we have a little bit of a recoil. If we have a little bit of this vision that it doesn't describe us just yet. It could be fun to see. It's really... what are the comedies made of. It could be someone who's 16, something. Everyone sees it on this person. Then in an hour and a half, we'll watch the person who's 16. I'm going to see the leg in Paris, the French comedy. The Marivaux. Just before becoming here. I mean, no matter what comedy it's going to be about a 16-year-old, but it's pretty... it's pretty funny because there's a guy who... who... what's the story? Well, there's already money, there's already rich. But a member of the family's family dies and the leg, I think it's... I mean, there's no need to translate, we can just go the 6 million leg. 6 million of something, of unity, 6 million of the leg. And what's in the story? If... If he decides to not marry Hortense because the person who's dead would want to see him united. If you marry I give you 6 million if you don't marry give him 2 million keep 4 and... if you want to marry him and he refuses nothing. Nothing to marry you but you won't give him anything. So the whole thing would be a mess. And he, well, there's a nice 16, he wants to leave it. But he doesn't want to tell him he doesn't want to marry him because he must give him 2 so he would want her to say she doesn't want to marry him to be able to keep the 6. And he's in love with Hortense. The 16. And then, all he has to do is to say, listen, I'm in love with you, I'm in love with her, here are 2, I keep 4, she's rich, I'm rich, I'll keep the 4 million, there's no problem, everything will be fine. But no! He wants the 6. He doesn't want to tell him he doesn't want to give him 2 but he still wants the 6. And then, the 2 women around him so much to help him. The 6. But I think you're in love with me. So, something like that, you know? And then you don't really need it. I'm rich, I inherited a lot of money. But yes, yes, yes, it's true, it's true. But he's in love with her, he's in love with her. The other woman, he says Yes, listen, I think you're not in love with me, you're in love with her, I'm in love with him. Give me the 2 million, I'm going with him. We're rich, keep the 4, you have the contest, everything will be fine. I've been in love with her for an hour and a half, it's the 16th, it's a study of the 16th, it's another laboratory. So, we study that. And it's very funny because the servant, I ended up with that. The servant of the contest, she's against the marriage, because she says, she's rich, she doesn't have money, she doesn't have a boyfriend, there's no advantage to marry that guy. She has financial independence, there's no advantage to be with that guy. So it's a very interesting situation. And well, Marivou, right? He seemed very feminist to me. I looked at the picture, he's really feminist. In the sense that he's for the freedom of women, for the balance. So that's the 16th. Well, we, we're going to have little... little Marivou girls, this week, he's going to be in a lot of situatio