Being-misunderstood.com

I know that I am, but I don't know what I am.

Author: Holger

  • Magdi’s Meditative Contemplations

    Magdi’s Meditative Contemplations

    Magdi Badawy is a truth-lover and nondual presenter, living in Temecula, California. His free and generous sharing, his pointing, is about direct experience of our true nature, not theoretical discussion.

    Holger: You might experience some resistance, more or less, while relaxing and following Magdi’s pointers (at least I did); either because of judging the person, or because what is being shared deconstructs yOur most personal, erroneous me-belief.

    Love and trust, is a gift, freely given.
    Speak your doubts and fears,
    risk to be home, in and as Presence.

    It is okay to lovingly, seemingly, betray the me-belief, the me-feeling and to dis-cover “what never cannot be” – Awareness, Reality.

    Alone it is almost impossible or too scary to see/admit that what I always longed and struggled for, is always here and now, effortlessly.

    The me-virus has a powerful survival/distraction mechanism that is immune to logic, reason and effort. The antidote, Love and friendship is not a fuzzy feeling, but our key to freedom and fulfillment, here and now.

    Life is a gift, a mystery; suffering/unhappiness is optional.
    We have nothing to lose but pride, shame and fear.

    The following is a table of contents of Magdi’s most recent 50 guided meditations (until 11-11-2024). Over time I intend to add links to the related Magditation.com pages:

    Disclaimer, the following text is machine generated!

    Table of Contents: Exploring Non-Duality

    This table of contents summarizes a series of talks and guided meditations by Magdi, a spiritual teacher exploring the nature of reality and consciousness through a non-dual lens. The core teachings focus on recognizing the limitations of the “me” narrative and awakening to the true Self as formless, limitless awareness, often referred to as “I Am,” beingness, or consciousness.

    2024-06-15 Magdi – Is there a physical reality out there?

    • The Illusion of Separation: Explores the concept that the separation between “me” and the outside world is a mental construct, not an experiential reality. True reality is consciousness, the ground of being from which all phenomena arise.
    • Limited Perception vs. Unified Reality: Acknowledges the limitations of human perception, which serves survival but obscures the underlying oneness of reality. The mountain, the river, and “I” are ultimately expressions of the same consciousness.

    2024-06-19 Magdi – A non-dual exploration > Being and Existence

    • The Spaciousness of Awareness: Invites recognition of “isness,” pure being, prior to any conceptualization or localization. This spacious awareness is the ground from which all thoughts, sensations, and perceptions arise.
    • Being Untouched by Existence: Explores the analogy of fire and heat to illustrate how existence arises within being, consciousness, or reality, yet doesn’t affect or define it. True Self is timeless and unaffected by the events within time and space.

    2024-06-23 Magdi – Who is the thinker? Is there a thinker of thought?

    • Realignment with Formless Presence: Encourages recognizing oneself as the impersonal, formless presence, leading to relaxation and freedom from personal striving. This presence is the source of all thoughts and perceptions.
    • Deconstructing the Illusion of Separate Perceivers: Challenges the belief in separate perceivers, highlighting that it’s a mental interpretation, not an experiential truth. In each moment, there is only oneness; nothing is apart from the Self.

    2024-06-26 Magdi – The liberating understanding about reality

    • Welcoming Totality, Free from Definition: Guides towards embracing oneself as effortless presence, welcoming all experiences without judgment or definition. The past and future are mental constructs that only have the power we give them.
    • Knowing Ourselves Directly: Encourages a shift from identifying as a person with a history to knowing oneself directly as borderless, impersonal, and universal awareness. This awareness perceives all thoughts and sensations but remains untouched by them.

    2024-06-29 Magdi – Meditative contemplation with the Costa Rican Sangha

    • Awareness as the Ground of Experience: Focuses on recognizing awareness as the space within which all thoughts, sensations, and perceptions appear and are known. Awareness itself doesn’t appear because it is what we are, the undeniable, formless reality.

    2024-06-30 Magdi – What is Ananda?

    • Sat Chit Ananda: Being, Consciousness, Bliss: Discusses the dissolution of the mind in presence, revealing the state of Sat Chit Ananda, where being recognizes itself as reality. This state is characterized by effortless awareness, freedom from seeking, and the understanding that world events are simply movements within the vastness of being.
    • Recognizing Vastness and Formlessness: Offers a guided contemplation to invite recognition of one’s own vastness, formlessness, and borderlessness, allowing the identification with a limited self to fall away.

    2024-07-07 Magdi – The universe does not stand apart from you. Feel it. Be it.

    • Experiential Oneness, Beyond Conceptual Distinctions: Emphasizes that the separation between “in here” and “out there” is conceptual, not experiential. Encourages feeling oneself as vastness, dissolving imaginary boundaries, and recognizing the shared essence that connects us to the universe.
    • The Story of the Body-Mind vs. the Story of You: Distinguishes the storyline of the body-mind, with its history and events, from the true Self, which has no narrative or history. The body-mind may appear separate, but its elemental nature reveals its connection to everything else.

    2024-07-12 Magdi – What is Sunyata, the Emptiness teachings?

    • Full Emptiness, Everything and Nothing: Introduces the concept of Sunyata, emptiness, not as nothingness but as fullness. This emptiness is not a lack but a fullness of peace, love, and understanding, free from the limitations of separate objects.
    • Totality Referring to Itself as “I”: Explains that when we say “I,” we are referring to this totality, this emptiness that encompasses everything. It is this totality recognizing itself.

    2024-07-14 Magdi – A contemplation of the nature of consciousness

    • The Screen Analogy: Utilizes the analogy of a screen and images to illustrate how consciousness remains unaffected by the thoughts, sensations, and perceptions that appear within it.
    • Beyond Phenomenal Attributes: Explores how phenomenal attributes like tall, short, male, female, inside, outside do not apply to consciousness. Through contemplating this true Self, the mind gains clarity, and defensive patterns within the body relax.

    2024-07-21 Magdi – Uprooting the root cause of sorrow

    • The Suffering of the “Me” Narrative: Explores how clinging to the “me” narrative and its associated stories of victimhood and separation perpetuates suffering. True freedom lies in recognizing that awareness is not defined by the world-body-mind it perceives.
    • Turning Attention to Presence: Encourages shifting attention away from the repetitive narratives of the past towards the present moment, the space of awareness, where freedom and peace reside.

    2024-08-01 Magdi – Sentience and consciousness.

    • Mental Divisions and the Unity of Consciousness: Acknowledges the practicality of mental labels and distinctions while emphasizing the underlying unity of consciousness. The labels of sentient and non-sentient are ultimately mental constructs.
    • “I” Refers to Being, Awareness, Consciousness: Clarifies that “I” does not refer to a specific body-mind form but to the formless, aware presence. This understanding is the foundation for awakening to true Self.
    • Contemplation as Sadhana: Encourages the contemplative practice of recognizing “I Am” as the limitless, boundless awareness that is not confined by the mind or the world.

    2024-08-04 Magdi – What is the direct experience of causeless peace?

    • Welcoming Totality, Beyond Definitions: Guides towards embracing the Self as formless presence, beyond all names and forms, undisturbed by events in the body or the world. This understanding leads to causeless peace.
    • The “Me” Belief as an Obstacle to Freedom: Discusses how the belief in a separate “me” perpetuates a sense of lack and prevents full trust in the inherent peace and freedom of being.
    • Trusting Consciousness: Encourages a shift from clinging to the “me” belief to trusting in consciousness as the provider of everything, recognizing its infinite nature and inherent fulfillment.

    2024-08-08 Magdi – What is this apparent reality? Am I here and you there?

    • Consciousness as the Source and Essence of Appearance: Explores how appearances point back to their essence, which is consciousness. Thoughts, sensations, and perceptions arise from and return to consciousness, which is the true and only Self.
    • The Illusion of Here and There: Addresses the thought “I am here and you are there,” highlighting that the “I Am,” the beingness, is not bound by location. It simply is.

    2024-08-11 Magdi – Dealing with existential fear

    • Stillness of Presence vs. Activity of Thought: Contrasts the stillness of presence with the activity of thinking, likening thoughts to sounds or bubbles arising from the stream of consciousness.
    • The Root of Fear in the “I” Thought: Explores how the “I” thought, based on the belief in a separate, mortal self, leads to fear, contraction, and anxieties about the future.
    • Wisdom Thinking vs. Ignorance Thinking: Distinguishes between thoughts infected by the “virus of ignorance,” which generate unhappiness and contraction, and thoughts arising from wisdom, which are connected to well-being, creativity, and celebration of life.
    • Moving from Fear to Trust: Encourages a shift from fear-based decision-making to a place of trust in consciousness, recognizing its abundance, completeness, and ability to guide us.
    • Working with Bodily Sensations: Offers practical guidance on recognizing and working with bodily sensations, particularly contractions, which are often associated with the “me” feeling and fear-based thoughts.

    2024-08-14 Magdi – How to stop repetitive haunting thoughts?

    • Discriminating Between “Me” Thoughts and Presence: Emphasizes the capacity to discern between repetitive, fear-based thoughts arising from the “me” belief and the spaciousness of presence.
    • Returning Home to Formless Beingness: Invites recognition of true Self as the formless, boundless awareness that is always present, beyond the limitations of a human identity.

    2024-08-22 Magdi – The 3 states… Waking, sleep, deep sleep and Turiya

    • Beyond the Senses to the Source: Encourages looking beyond the limitations of the senses to recognize their source, awareness, as the true Self.
    • The Mind as Ripples on the Surface: Uses the analogy of a pond to describe the mind as ripples (thoughts, sensations, perceptions) on the surface of awareness, the vastness that encompasses everything.
    • Turiya: The Fourth State: Introduces Turiya as the fourth state, beyond waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. It is the state of pure awareness, aware of itself, free from identification with states of mind or body.

    2024-09-01 Magdi – Beyond personal identity

    • Beyond the “Me” to the True Self: Poses the question: What lies beyond the limitations of personal identity? This question serves as an invitation to explore the formless, limitless dimension of being.
    • Meeting Without Images: Suggests the possibility of encountering oneself and others without the baggage of past impressions or projections, allowing for fresh and authentic connection.

    2024-09-08 Magdi – A meditative contemplation with Magdi

    • Letting Go of the Past: Guides a meditation practice focused on releasing past definitions, beliefs, and sensations to experience the freshness and freedom of each moment.
    • Freedom from Worries and Concerns: Highlights how worries and concerns are rooted in identification with a limited self and its past. Letting go of this identification allows for deep relaxation into being.

    2024-09-12 Magdi – The non-dual understanding

    • One Reality, Beyond Personal Narratives: Explains the non-dual understanding as the recognition of one reality, beyond the “me” belief and its associated narratives of separation, past, and future.
    • The Symphony of God: Uses the metaphor of a symphony to describe how every thought, sensation, and perception is interconnected and part of the wholeness of Being.
    • Living the Invitation: Encourages embodying the non-dual understanding in daily life, relaxing the “me” tendency and allowing the symphony of life to unfold without resistance.

    2024-09-15 Magdi – Facing death

    • Dying to the “Corpse” of Identity: Invites contemplation of death as a way to understand and let go of attachments to the “corpse” of personal identity, including stories, possessions, and talents.
    • Exploring What Dies: Poses the question: What truly dies? This inquiry points towards the recognition that awareness, the true Self, is beyond birth and death.

    2024-09-19 Magdi – Causeless Peace and Joy

    • Noticing That Which Notices: Guides a meditation focused on recognizing the awareness that perceives all thoughts, sensations, and perceptions.
    • The Unmoved Witness: Highlights the changeless, undisturbed nature of awareness, which remains unaffected by the fluctuations of experience.

    2024-09-26 Magdi – Complete Satsang

    • Welcoming Experience Without a Goal: Encourages a state of open, effortless awareness, welcoming all experiences without seeking a particular outcome.
    • The Nature of “I Am”: Explores the “I Am” as pure beingness, free from identification with body or mind, knowing itself directly.
    • Meditation as Being, Not Doing: Addresses the idea that meditation is not an activity but a state of being, a recognition of the already present awareness.
    • The Illusion of the Personal Doer: Examines the belief in a personal doer and how it’s based on misinterpreting thoughts and sensations as evidence of a separate self.
    • Freedom Beyond the Phenomenal Realm: Emphasizes that true freedom lies in recognizing that the Self is not confined to the phenomenal realm, but is the spacious awareness that witnesses and manages the phenomenal experience.

    2024-09-26 Magdi – The nature of the Self

    • Awareness Shining as Perception and Sensation: Describes awareness as the ground from which thoughts, sensations, and perceptions arise, taking on these forms while remaining distinct from them.
    • The Undisappearing Knowingness: Points to the awareness that neither appears nor disappears, the unchanging being-knowingness that is the true nature of the Self.

    2024-10-06 Magdi – Exploring the me-feeling.

    • The I Am as Borderless Awareness: Presents the “I Am” as the experience of borderless awareness knowing itself, free from limitations and identification with form.
    • The “Me” Feeling as God’s Disguise: Explores the “me” feeling as a divine masquerade, a way for the formless to experience itself as form, leading to the illusion of separation and personal identity.
    • Perceiving the “Me” Neutrally: Encourages shifting perspective to observe the “me” feeling without judgment or resistance, recognizing it as a temporary appearance within the vastness of being.

    2024-10-13 Magdi – A field of Love

    • Beyond Concepts to Direct Experience: Invites moving beyond conceptual understandings of reality to direct experience, focusing on what is constant and unchanging.
    • The Perceiver Beyond Forms: Highlights that perception arises not from forms but from the formless awareness that witnesses them.
    • The Source Within: Encourages turning inwards to find the answers to existential questions, rather than relying on external sources.
    • Letting Go Unconditionally: Invites an exploration of letting go of attachments and self-definitions without expectation or seeking personal gain.

    2024-10-15 Magdi – Satsang with Magdi

    • The Dreamer, Not the Dream: Emphasizes that the true Self is the dreamer of all dreams, the formless awareness that witnesses and creates experience, not an object within the dream.
    • Beyond Self-Definition: Encourages recognizing the limitations and stagnation of self-definitions and embracing the freshness and spontaneity of the present moment.

    2024-10-17 Magdi – Ignorance is a choice we make

    • The Habitual Patterns of the Mind: Describes the mind’s tendency to create and cling to narratives of separation, victimhood, and self-importance.
    • The Addiction to Suffering: Explores how we become habituated to suffering and actively seek out reasons to feel upset, worried, or victimized.

    2024-10-20 Magdi – Why are we here?

    • Beyond Location and Identity: Questions the meaning of “here” and challenges the belief that our true being is limited by location or personal identity.
    • The Mind as a Windmill: Uses the analogy of a windmill to illustrate the mind’s constant activity, powered by the wind of the divine.
    • Recognizing the Unborn: Explores the space between thoughts and perceptions, pointing to the unborn, the formless awareness that is not subject to arising and ceasing.

    2024-10-29 Magdi – Satsang

    • The Source Manifesting as All Forms: Emphasizes that everything arises from the one Source, taking on various names and forms while remaining essentially the same.
    • Isness as Experiential Reality: Encourages shifting from conceptual understanding to direct experience of Being, recognizing its absoluteness and independence from any form.

    2024-11-03 Magdi – Nothing exists outside the One

    • The “Me” as Belief and Sensation: Explores how the “me” is a construct of belief and misinterpreted bodily sensations, lacking any inherent reality outside these mental interpretations.
    • The Habit of Seeking Conflict: Observes the human tendency to create problems and conflicts, even when there is no apparent reason, as a way to reinforce the sense of a separate self.
    • The Simplicity and Freedom of Silence: Contrasts the discomfort many feel with silence to the freedom and peace that arises from simply being present, without the need to fill the space with mental activity.

    2024-11-07 Magdi – The causeless peace of being

    • No Time, No Story, Only Being: Highlights the liberation that comes from recognizing the illusion of time and the personal narrative, revealing the causeless peace and joy of pure being.

    2024-11-14 Magdi – The awakened mind

    • The Beholder of Time and Space: Presents awareness as the beholder of time, space, mind, and world, not limited or defined by them.
    • Being as Freedom and Love: Describes being as the source of freedom from attachment and the ground of love, connecting everything as one reality, one essence.
    • Undisturbed and Undisturbable: Invites recognizing the inherent peace and stability of the true Self, which remains untouched by the fluctuations of experience.

    2024-11-21 Madgi Satsang – Exploring the dropping of the mind

    • The Moment of Freedom: Reiterates that freedom from identification happens in the present moment, when resistance and seeking dissolve.
    • Awareness Undisturbed by Appearances: Emphasizes the unchanging nature of awareness, which remains unaffected by the arising and passing of thoughts, sensations, and perceptions.
    • The Play of Identification and Liberation: Frames identification and liberation as a divine game, a dance between experiencing the limitations of form and recognizing the formless ground of being.
    • Happiness as Desirelessness: Explores the nature of true happiness as desirelessness, a state of contentment that arises when we are not attached to outcomes.
    • The “Me” as a Cloud in the Sky: Uses the analogy of clouds and sky to illustrate how thoughts and sensations are transient appearances within the vastness of awareness.
    • One Consciousness, Many Minds: Acknowledges the individuality of minds and bodies while emphasizing the underlying unity of consciousness, comparing individual minds to rooms within the same house.

    2024-11-24 Magdi Satsang – The Non-dual path

    • “I” as Knowingness: Defines “I” as the knowingness, the being-awareness that is present in every experience, not a bundle of thoughts, sensations, or beliefs.
    • Beyond Searching and Finding: Reiterates that the true Self is not something to be found in the past, future, or mental narratives but is the immediately present awareness.
    • The Illusion of Distance and “Out There”: Challenges the belief in an objective “out there,” highlighting how distance is a mental construct that collapses when we recognize the unity of perception.
    • Living the Understanding: Encourages moving beyond conceptual understanding to embody the non-dual perspective in daily life, allowing it to shape actions and interactions.

    This table of contents provides a comprehensive overview of Magdi’s teachings on non-duality. Each talk and meditation builds upon the core understanding that the true Self is not the limited “me” but the formless, limitless awareness that witnesses and encompasses all experience. The teachings offer practical guidance on recognizing this truth, letting go of limiting beliefs, and living in alignment with the inherent freedom and peace of Being.

    Disclaimer, the above text is machine generated!
    It is intended as an inspiration for your own dis-covery.

    Call to inner space:

    Please, don’t rush away, like ‘normal’, as a passive consumer!
    Give yourself a voice, no matter how embarrassing (me-virus).

    Share your moment in time 😇

    What would you like to see here,
    what is missing?

    What hinders you to meet ‘other’ truth-lovers and once and for all debunk (see, feel and relax) the subtle misunderstanding – the ‘me-story’ – that causes suffering and unhappiness?

    We were not born to cry!

    😩😂❤️🐣🕊️

    Life is more than paying bills and paying attention to things that don’t nurture us.

    Allow yourself to ‘be misunderstood’.
    Psychological feelings cannot kill you,
    but hypnotize you into a private ‘me’.

    Say hello, shamelessly:
    Holger@Being-misunderstood.com

  • Higher than making-sense

    Higher than making-sense

    “Not everything that can be counted counts,
    and not everything that counts can be counted.”

    Albert Einstein

    Call to inner space:

    Please, don’t rush away, like ‘normal’, as a passive consumer!
    Give yourself a voice, no matter how embarrassing (me-virus).

    Share your moment in time 😇

    What would you like to see here,
    what is missing?

    What hinders you to meet ‘other’ truth-lovers and once and for all debunk (see, feel and relax) the subtle misunderstanding – the ‘me-story’ – that causes suffering and unhappiness?

    We were not born to cry!

    😩😂❤️🐣🕊️

    Life is more than paying bills and paying attention to things that don’t nurture us.

    Allow yourself to ‘be misunderstood’.
    Psychological feelings cannot kill you,
    but hypnotize you into a private ‘me’.

    Say hello, shamelessly:
    Holger@Being-misunderstood.com

  • The Peace that passeth understanding

    The Peace that passeth understanding

    Call to inner space:

    Please, don’t rush away, like ‘normal’, as a passive consumer!
    Give yourself a voice, no matter how embarrassing (me-virus).

    Share your moment in time 😇

    What would you like to see here,
    what is missing?

    What hinders you to meet ‘other’ truth-lovers and once and for all debunk (see, feel and relax) the subtle misunderstanding – the ‘me-story’ – that causes suffering and unhappiness?

    We were not born to cry!

    😩😂❤️🐣🕊️

    Life is more than paying bills and paying attention to things that don’t nurture us.

    Allow yourself to ‘be misunderstood’.
    Psychological feelings cannot kill you,
    but hypnotize you into a private ‘me’.

    Say hello, shamelessly:
    Holger@Being-misunderstood.com

  • What does Magdi Badawy say about Being?

    What does Magdi Badawy say about Being?

    I uploaded 50 of Magdi’s Meditations (June 15th to November 11th, 2024) to the artificial intelligence app NotebookLM.Google.com and asked: What does Magdi say about Being?

    If you never experienced Magdi’s meditations, please tune in at Magditation.com!

    Understanding Being, according to Magdi

    Magdi emphasizes the nature of Being as formless, timeless awareness or consciousness that is universal and non-dual. This awareness is:

    • Beyond definition: It cannot be localized or defined by mind conditions, structures, or limitations. [1, 2]
    • Untouched by existence: While Being creates existence, it remains untouched by its creation, just as fire is untouched by the heat it produces. [3]
    • Prior to existence: Time and space exist within the timeless Being, which is unaffected by them. [3]
    • Free from narrative or history: Being has no story or past, unlike the body-mind. [4]
    • The true Self: It is not a dream character, storyline, or limited entity. [5-7]
    • Undisturbed: It remains undisturbed by thoughts, sensations, and world events. [1, 8-12]
    • Ever-present: It is always available, in the present moment. [1, 2, 12, 13]
    • Effortless: It doesn’t require any effort to simply be. [1, 2, 14-17]
    • Not a state: It is not a state of mind or body but a fundamental reality. [18]
    • Unveiled by ignorance: It is obscured by the belief in separation and personal identity. [5, 6, 19-24]

    Magdi encourages recognizing this formless awareness as the true nature of the Self and living from this understanding:

    • Recognizing the true Self: Recognizing oneself as this borderless awareness, rather than a limited entity, brings freedom. [25, 26]
    • Dropping the mind: The mind’s tendency to seek, resist, and identify with thoughts and sensations needs to be relinquished. [2, 6, 14, 15, 17, 24, 27-30]
    • Living as formless awareness: This means being present, open, and effortless, free from the constraints of the past and the me-narrative. [2, 6, 27, 31-34]
    • Experiencing freedom and peace: Living from the understanding of Being leads to freedom from personal worries, concerns, and suffering. [11, 23, 35-43]

    Magdi uses several metaphors to illustrate the nature of Being and its relationship to the world and the mind:

    • Ocean and waves: The world, thoughts, and sensations are like waves arising from and dissolving back into the ocean of Being. [44-49]
    • Screen and images: The mind and its contents are like images appearing on the screen of awareness, which remains untouched. [3, 21, 46, 50-54]
    • Sunlight and glitter: The light of consciousness illuminates the world and the mind, just as sunlight creates the glitter on the surface of a pond. [52, 55]
    • Mirror: The Self recognizes itself in the mirror of awareness. [56]
    • Symphony: The universe unfolds like a symphony, with thoughts and events as musical notes. [57, 58]

    Magdi also emphasizes the importance of direct experience and inquiry in understanding Being:

    • Direct perception: Being is not a concept but an experiential reality that can be directly perceived. [25, 59-63]
    • Inquiry and exploration: Magdi encourages individuals to explore their own experience to understand the nature of Being. [61, 64-69]

    By recognizing and living from this understanding of Being, individuals can awaken to their true nature and experience the freedom, peace, and happiness that are their inherent right.

    Disclaimer, the above text is machine generated!
    It is intended as an inspiration for your own dis-covery.

    More about Magdi and his liberating meditation and guidance at SanghaOfOne.com.

  • What am I?

    What am I?

    Even in a depression, Awareness is happy.

    Holger:

    What is the lesser burden, to be with what is, or to belief that me and life has to be a certain way?

    For decades I assumed that I am only body, thoughts and feelings.

    What a trap and trip, to be unaware of Presence, trying to find peace and fulfillment in fleeting circumstances 😂.

    Even perfect circumstances are subject to change.

    “Know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 🥰

    Being-misunderstood.com (this website here),
    as another experiment in debunking unhappiness/suffering.

    Too many words?

    For whom do problems arise?

    Attention, interest, believe, identity…
    “So intimate is attention, that we call it I”.

    What is missing, right now?

    Sally at Garland Park, Carmel Valley, California, 15+ years ago ❤️