Lighting the potential: beauty, love, service
Recording 12 of 48
Why purpose is endless and goals end
Existence has circumstances that end, but purpose has no end. Life’s events—beauty, service, love—ignite the inborn potential. The work is to turn intelligence inward, be still, and let thought fall away so presence can be realised.
LENGTH: 3 HOURS AND 3 MINUTES
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
YEAR RECORDED: 1994
PLACE RECORDED: BOND UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIA
MAIN TOPICS
Purpose of the spiritual life, Space in existence, Intuition, Containment, Now, Present moment awareness, Presence and stillness, Attachment to family, Dealing with physical pain, Consciousness, Subject and object, Speed of consciousness, The great staircase of existence, Climacterics, Menopause, Love as Knowledge Not Feeling, Creativity, Mineral vegetable and animal kingdoms, Cone of eternity
SUMMARY
Barry opens by separating object and purpose: all objects conclude; purpose does not. The body and its events belong to the object-side; what I am—the inner 'me'—is purpose itself. Physical existence serves as a trigger: when we wholly open to beauty, or serve in love, sparks of potential light within.
He then directs a practical inward turn: close the eyes, be nothing, travel light—no thought, no time, no emotion—so intelligence sinks into the tender 'me'. In this deep inner space, consciousness is swift, immediate, free of subject and object; awareness, by contrast, is slow, conditional, sense-bound. Any thought taken is selfish; emotions power thought and obscure the state. States of love and beauty are not emotions.
He maps a mythic evolution (rock → plant → animal → human brain) and says the next step is to stop thinking about truth, love, death, God. He offers the 'cone of eternity': at the point is God—swiftest time; at the wide end are sluggish sense-time and the 'ice-cream' of theories. Consciousness can traverse the cone; practice is shedding yesterday's baggage, forgiving, and gaining 'lift-off' speed to pass the subconscious 'moon' and stabilise presence while functioning in awareness. Love alone truly communicates; technology is entertainment without reality. Death is the dropping of subject/object—akin to deep dreamless sleep—with nothing to fear. Gratitude, containment, and right relation between man and woman complete the way.
11 - Stand where you are: your circumstances are your life
