Finding inner silence in nature can help to break the constant fascination with things in everyday life and the associated daydreaming and dreams it gives rise to.
Yet it’s possible to become less fascinated and to find inner silence in everyday life.
The second part of a talk in a park in the Bay Area, California, in 2009.
Thank you for this talk. A great reminder and a lot of things to reflect on.
Moving to the countryside, I felt the difference and definitely living inside nature is where we all should be in first place but anyway…
The problem is that after a while I’m getting used to this environment, and even the levels of energy are better, it can be wasted on mundane things; and the heaviness that city’s environment might sometimes be blamed for, may arise again.
So been in nature is great but obviously not enough… :)
Thumbs up for the video compilation as well!
“The problem is…….. but obviously not enough.” I agree Fotis.
I remember that often when being in ‘busy-city-work-life’ to want to escape it all and go into nature or into a quiet practice, and a breather to recuperate at such a time was great. But for me I’ve also seen that even when being surrounded by and living in nature for a long time the lower states will still come to weigh me down.
What has been important to me is the inner effort, fighting and winning those many tiny battles at each moment and gaining momentum which creates the clarity and inner control, even in the city. Sometimes I’ve been out in nature and not making that effort (as for example there may be less unpleasant circumstances that make me want to work internally, or because I’m in ‘pleasant’ circumstances I do not make it a serious goal) and then I’m in this sort of mediocre state not really able to deeply feel nature’s beauty, which is a shame.
Then again, and this is how I felt last week unfortunately, if the impressions and energies of the city are just too constant it can deny us from even starting to gain ground once we’ve lost it. So then some dedicated time for strengthening practices, as well as uplifting communications with like minded people etc. is great! :-)
I agree with others, this video was really a beautiful production. The imagery supported the message so well, I felt I received the talk in a deeper way because of it. Re: time in nature…I have definitely noticed at times when I’m in nature, a thought will come up that is very natural (mundane thought about tasks, responsibilities, future worries etc.), but it is clearly out of place within nature. If I’m at home in the city that same thought will arise and feel natural and right to think (unless I catch it with awareness), but out in nature it stands out as ugly, full of egos or suffering, or at bare minimum it will appear as unnecessary chatter. Amazing that stepping out into nature and “hearing” my inharmonious thoughts can be like looking in a mirror and seeing myself with an ugly mask on. I just want to take it off. Thank you for this lovely video and reminder of what is possible!
Thank you for this beautifully made video. Such a seemingly simple message and yet one which we find so difficult to implement in our daily lives.
Beautiful video — it illustrates those points so well. It’s interesting living in nature how much of a difference it makes in comparison with being in the heart of a busy town, and it’s definitely amazing how the stillness and aliveness of nature can revive or realign things internally. When I drive into town these days the experience is quite overwhelming in comparison. Yet, it’s amazing how quickly you can slip into the comfort of that “sleep” and those old familiar psychological states… It’s usually only on my drive back home that I realize how different the “frequency” is between the two environments…
Hello Belsebuub and Lara,
thank you for posting this video, it was amazing video and talk, I must say that I could see the beauty of being aware all the time. Seeing the beauty gives me boost to try harder and harder to reach the state of continuous awareness.
But reality is different, recently I spent some time in beautiful nature. Everything was perfect, the weather was sunny and not very hot, as I said ideal time to be in awareness. Unfortunately it did not happen and my walks changed into stream of thoughts about something that did not matter at all. Just daily dreaming.
I am glad that we have still the chance to listen talks like this. Thank you
I visited my home-town a few years ago, my relatives were sick and often negative, but as I remembered that I am there just for a few weeks and need to do my best to help them, it gave me a lot of motivation to fight hard for my inner clarity.
Walking around the streets where I grew up, was making me so interested to observe everything in details and sort of feel out “what`s really going on here now”. There was still quite a lot of crime happening, which was another incentive for me to be aware and stay in a good psychological shape. When being with my relatives was unfortunately becoming very upsetting, despite trying very hard to stay mindful, I learned to either escape for a long awareness walk in a park, or explain them that I need some rest and do a nice relaxation/astral practice.
I can relate to what you say Alex about doing a spiritual research. I also carried it in my hometown and it definitely helped me to keep connected with a “bigger picture” of things and stay clear.
What a beautiful video, and talk. I loved the images of nature, flowers, animals. I’ve often walked in the forest, feeling that there is a kind of peace in the trees, birds etc, that I wish to have inside of me. I feel very noisy inside somehow, and I want to be quiet like they are.
It does feel nice to get away sometimes, away from my apartment, from things I see every day. It feels easier to get clear then, and to make changes in my life.
Thank you for a really great explanation of the epic dream of life, and for a beautiful artistic video too.
It’s a shock when I glimpse the energy within that’s keeping me locked in a dream, and how easily it pulls me back into it when I struggle to get out. It’s hard for me to know how much of my life I just create with images, stories and emotions.
It was indeed time spent in nature that first helped me to see the way that thoughts can be so incongruous and the power that the mind had over me, that I wanted to take back. It’s horrible to feel you’re locked inside a virtual reality that’s so disconnected from where you are, especially when there’s negative emotions backing it up.
This makes me think of something Belsebuub said before (can’t recall where) about the domestication of humans contributing to making us dumber, or number, in a spiritual sense. I really feel that when I’m in nature more, and get a bit more ‘feral’, my senses are sharper and I have a greater ability to perceive the beauty of the forces of nature – the life of the evolving elementals. Then the mind can’t overpower me with little things so much. Saying that, I’ve also experienced how I can become immune to nature’s beauty. I need to constantly find ways to snap me out of the daydream – sometimes actually going to a city or big town after a time in the village can do this!
The other day I made a real effort to ‘see’ while with others, in a situation that normally gets me fascinated. I felt like I could see the dream they were in too, as well as the life that did exist around us. At one point it felt like I could see others clearer, and there was a different energy between us, a kinder energy. That in itself was a reward and motivation. It’s awful to think we spend so much time with others just reinforcing their daydream and sharing in one big fascination only, when we could share in life.
Nicely said Ella. I agree that stepping outside the daydream ourselves can, potentially, have wonderful effect on others as well.
Struggling for awareness is so magical and can show the true miracles of the teachings. A common problem most of us have is remembering to struggle against the forces which keep us in darkness but these moments of true clarity are so precious and important to find the will to keep at it.
Recently I’m understanding more and more that it doesn’t matter whether I’m right or wrong in daily life, if I’m not connected in the moment then it’s all dark and I need to struggle against these shameful behaviours, With my limited understanding I know that we need to find unconditional love for humanity but it’s crazy to allow these monstrous behaviours to manifest and cause so much harm undoing everything we stand for.
The beauty of the teachings of Belsebuub is that they are for anyone but i need to find ways to remember to use the magic of the tools we are given to stay connected to the Light for longer periods.
Well put John, cheers.
I agree John. Thanks for sharing
Thank you so much for sharing this valuable talk.
I whole heartedly agree. Getting into nature can break the incessant run of an over stimulated / facinated mind.
I try to meet with some friends and walk in nature once a week trying to be aware. It’s incredible the vast difference in how we all feel internally after the walk.
I’ve also observed how society in general is nearly always entertained, smart phones have made it possible to be facinated at all times. I hope many see this talk and can discover the beauty of nature and experience the peace of the moment without the constant dictation of thoughts & emotions.
This is such a beautiful video, i recently had a break away from the city and moved to the country for a short period of time. From this i was able to have moments of awareness in nature which allowed me to connect with nature and myself on a deeper level. When i moved back to the city it was like i had recharged myself ! But from experience it is so easy to fall back into societies program and to deplete the energies so quickly.
This video has really inspired me to make much more of an effort to take time to be in nature
Thankyou so much for this information
Chris
A lot of valuable insights in this talk, especially how easy it is to get fascinated when being too immersed in your environment or situation, and not realizing or becoming aware that you are just the ”seer’ or ”experiencer”. I have come to have a new appreciation of the indoor environment, and how passively and easily things can slip away, but where there is much room and opportunity to enhance efforts and really live differently.
It is so helpful to get these gems of wisdom on something so practical and often overlooked as awareness. Thank you so much.
This caught my attention too Olga – about how we always tend to create these mental representations of the environment where we live. Give it some time, and no matter what beautiful nature we live in, we will create those mental representations of those as well… I can see it now as I am living so close to nature, that it does not necessarily help me to be more aware. While on the other hand, in the times I did manage to be very aware, even a simple thing in my room acquired almost a magical kind of quality. But I agree that the cities in particular are not very conducive to spiritual practices, and it is important to find at least a little patch of greenery to observe the natural world and get into contact with those living forces Belsebuub mentions in this talk. Observing and interacting with animals in consciousness can be especially amazing, then we can feel the consciousness in them and interact with that, which is so wonderful…
Hi Lucia, I was struck by the reminder in this video as you were, that although nature can be helpful for awakening awareness, it can also become just another mental representation to us if we see it every day. I notice, though, that when there are animals present in nature, spiders or rabbits or birds, etc., I am attracted to them and open and aware when interacting with them. I think the fact that they are unpredictable, move about, appear or disappear, keeps their energy fresh in my relationship to them. So the question I have is, how to feel that connection and alive-ness in the rest of nature, including trees and plants we see in the same place every day, and also with the indoor world that is so familiar. We can only escape from place to place so often to find freshness, so how to find freshness wherever we are? I wonder, what if I could find the magic in plates and cups like I can find in spiders and rabbits? Anyway something to practice :)
You brought up some interesting points Shannon about the “unpredictability” of the animals, their movement and so on. I have never thought about it this way, but there may be something on it.
Regarding the “magic in cups, etc…”, in the times when I was more aware than usual, I remember perceivng the sounds of the appartment where I lived in a more pronounced way. Like for example the characterisitc sound of the pantry door, of the windows when they opened, the fridge door and its humming, the sound of the rings on the curtains when they were moved to the side, etc… At one point, I was even thinking of maybe recording them and using them as the custom computer sounds (for example you open a computer window, and a sound of the pantry door comes up :-)) to somehow store the sounds of my old appartment…
Anyway, just wanted to say that when we are perceptive/aware, we can realise the temporariness and uniqueness of all spaces where we find ourselves in, and then they become precious and rare and most of all – we become genuinely interested in them and break free of the mechnicalness.
Dear Lucia, I’ve wanted to write you and thank you for your response. After reading it I decided to practice just what you say, about really focusing on the space I’m living, and practicing awareness of the small details, sounds, etc. in the space where I’m living. You’re so right that there are little unique sights and sounds in each space that have their own character, unique to them, that makes them special. I was thinking of the squeaks of my own door, curtains on the rod and how they feel/sound when I move them, etc., …and when I am aware with them, I realize they all have something to “say”. I’ve been grateful to work on this “task” to discover how awareness can help us find the magical special-ness of simple, everyday objects. I’ll keep trying this. Thank you for the inspiration!
THANK YOU!
A lot to reflect on here. Thanks for posting this.
I also thought the video was top notch. The imagery reflects the concepts very well and really enhances the message.
Thanks for this talk! Great timing as usual. And it reinforces why I love to spend as much time as possible walking in the woods and getting clear.
I’m currently starting a new business with my wife and as we start things up it takes lots of time and energy to get it off the ground and moving. Theres lots of challenges and obstacles, you need to accomplish many diverse tasks each day, and keep on top of many moving parts. It’s been quite hard not fall into fascination and just as I recognized this struggle and start to extract myself psychologically from this process, this video is posted. Thanks for the reminder! It helps a good deal.
Beautiful talk! And what a beautiful video: the pictures and clips went along so well with the audio!
Even seeing those images of nature was refreshing and helped ground me.
A great talk of the many benefits of nature and a special reminder of the work required to free ourselves from the endless stream of chaos within and all around us.
Thanks again Belsebuub.
Thank you for sharing this talk! And well done with the video – it illustrates well the teachings.
Nature was always such a great helper for me to come back to my “true inner nature”.
“Being in the world but not belonging to it”, by being detached and hermetically sealed, is a great challenge for me…Usually I have the hardest times when I have to talk with people a lot, and the easiest times when I can just observe life and focus on my inner work, while carrying the momentum of effective spiritual practices.
The thing is to be able to observe and focus like that whilst talking with people or any other activity because true spirituality is not separate from every day life nor does it really exist in doing a comfortable nice practice. Easy to say I know, harder to do consistently.
This is so true I always feel better after spending time in the bush, taking a break from the stresses of the city that we create
Time to book a camping trip ; ) !!!!!!! , Thanks
Great explanation on how that process works of creating the dream images and environments that we find ourselves in a lot in dreams, and strangely even during the day!
So you’re at your actual workplace… :-) but your attention is in a daydream of that workplace and the emotional attachments to scenario’s that happened to you there in the past etc. that formed this.
I liked listening to this information and trying to pay attention to this process during the day a bit. I noticed how beautiful things around me were when being clear and looking at them as if it was the first time. Definitely when I was in a daydream I was blind to seeing around me.
I think it’s also very useful to get clear of these created images/models as much as possible for the sake of clearly understanding some dreams. Sometimes in dreams you can see colleagues, places of work, or certain activities happen that have a symbolic meaning, but our ego reactions to those scenes and our own models can taint the presented scenario. Then sometimes it’s more difficult to ascertain what was symbolic and what came forth from our own desires that manifested in scenario’s.
Thanks very much for the second part of this talk, it would’ve been lovely to have been there! but glad that I got listen to it like this anyway.
A very relevant talk for me. I am now visiting my family (who live in a different country from me) and I am struggling with being in a ‘half-dream’ on a daily basis. I find it very sad because I see that the communication with my family is very shallow and it seems near impossible to leave behind all the topics that give rise to this ‘played-out’ behavior. In addition to that I find it very difficult to properly see that I am living again in my hometown. It feels like something is not letting me break out and actually perceive life as it is.
I can also relate to the problem being part of daily life. Yesterday I went to work in the library, whereas I normally work at home. After the walk to the library and a walk around there I found my focus to be much clearer, and the problem that seemed center stage was much smaller. Having arrived at this state I spent some time doing research on local aboriginal culture for a project I am working on. Doing that completely snapped me from the issues that were all encompassing the previous few days, although today I find that this experience is a memory and the same issues as before are coming back up.
I will make a focus to practice awareness in the house. Thank you for posting this talk.
I always feel an odd heaviness when I return to my hometown, as though my past is all around me and I can’t see the place clearly. I feel happy to not be living there anymore.
Yes, me too Anne Linn. If not heaviness, just a real psychological busyness – it’s intense and unique when almost every street is full of memories and mental impressions of the past. To me it seems now that every time I go back it helps me to work through a new layer of understanding about those formative years. It’s interesting how different places and people can help us to uncover distinct parts of our psychology – I feel we get moved around by divine forces according to how they can stimulate these different lessons, sometimes. But yep, going ‘back home’ is one of the biggest challenges. Seems we made a lot of dream images there!
A lot of good points have been made. Going back to places we have grown up, can definitely have an effect on us, even makes me melancholic at times. I completely agree with what you are saying Ella, that we are put in these positions by higher forces to bring out those parts from our psyche. I know whenever I go back home to my parents, the house and the rooms, and everything in it look so bizarre to me at first, in a strange way it helps me be more aware. Probably because the mental impressions and corresponding psychological country pertaining to the house had weakened. Than, a few days later, and its worn off. It’s as if, once we have created strong mental representations of a place or an object in our heads to fill the gaps in our psychological country, we don’t give the proper due attention to our environment anymore.
Thanks Belsebuub for sharing this valuable talk with us. And yes, definitely great video compilation :-)