Questions & Answers 36. Zoom 11.2024

27th November 2024. James Low had invited questions from people watching his Zooms, which he began to answer.

Note: the constant cuts in this video result from the removal of James Low's periods of silence, while waiting for the consecutive translation from the German translator.

Index

"(00:00) What is your view on the concept of spiritual bypassing?"

"(01:05) How can we allow feelings without getting caught up in the stories about them?"

"(05:19) How can we tell when our assessment of another person is true or is a reflection of our own blindness?"

"(07:06) Many people who walk on the spiritual, but not necessarily religious path, connect with what they call god. It's not just a mere belief that god exists, but that god is a source of excellent spiritual abilities, such as healing, manifesting, performing miracles. What notion from dzogchen teachings would be the most accurate to describe this phenomena? Where is god, the creator of the universe, in relation to the ground? Is it the same thing? If not, what is the difference?"

"(12:36) How is it that the mind seems to identify with the thoughts in the head, as in 'I think, therefore I am'?"

"(17:52) What are the dzogchen methods devised to transform this relationship into a proper context, so that thinking is working collaboratively with feeling, intuition and instinct?"

"(21:50) What is the next step once this relationship is properly recapitulated?"

"(25:06) How is it that we seem to separate from an undividable non-dual source?"

"(28:59) As the separation is only apparent, that is to say, not strongly real, what aspect of our apparent separate individual itself is experiencing that separation?"

"(32:06) Referring to the subject of that phenomena as an ego, what are the most common obstacles preventing that ego from realizing its proper place?"

"(35:07) I do the Guru Yoga of the White A and also a guided meditation that directs me towards paying attention to the thinker or the hearer or the center of consciousness. Do you see any potential issues with this combination practice?"

"(36:10) Many famous teachers have said that all possible phenomena are like a magical illusion, a dream, or an echo. They are empty and without intrinsic existence. How does this relate to the bodhisattva vow? So, If you awaken from a dream, then you can go back to the dream to take care of the people who are stuck in it, believing in it. Can you go back into the dream? Especially because now you know that they are not real, so how could you help them?"

"(39:05) Moreover, given that they are not real, why should we delay our liberation until other sentient beings are liberated, when in reality they don't have substance? And is the liberation of all beings a realistic aim?"

Video at https://youtu.be/uBo3eUkhL8I?si=PH9jSdFbAisgMXlo