688. Bob Harwood

Between the age of 20 and 40 I was consumed with a wide range of existential questions, but despite endless thinking and reading, I never found a single answer. Due to some business-related stress at the age of 40, I started a simple meditative exercise as a way to acquire some peace of mind, and within two weeks a major insight occurred that led to more meditative activities. Five months later a huge cosmic-consciousness event answered seven of my questions and catapulted me into a different reality. I then concluded that all answers were "within," and for the next 15 years I went on silent meditation retreats with Christians, Buddhists, and Advaita groups during which all of my other questions got answered. Nevertheless, I still did not feel free. Then, a new question arose, "How is it possible to stay in a unity-conscious state of mind permanently rather than oscillating between a sense of selfhood and no-self?" In 1999, after a deep experience of gratitude on a solo hiking retreat, "the little guy in the head" (the sense of a personal "me") totally vanished, and the result was freedom, contentment, and understanding. Book: Pouring Concrete: A Zen Path to the Kingdom of God – Expanded Edition Bob's email Transcript and summary of this interview Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group Interview recorded August 19, 2023 Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:04:43 - Questioning Beliefs and Exploring Existential Questions 00:08:25 - The Journey of Seeking Answers in Zen Philosophy 00:12:17 - The Shift in Perception 00:16:07 - A Reality Shift 00:19:54 - The End of the Construction Company 00:24:03 - Realization of the Incomprehensible 00:28:16 - Simple answers to Zen riddles 00:32:17 - Finding Freedom in the Middle of Responsibilities 00:35:50 - Questioning Selfhood and Freedom in the Mountains 00:38:59 - The Dissolution of the Sense of Self 00:42:30 - The True Self and Identity 00:46:00 - The Silence of the Mind 00:49:19 - Non-Abidance in the Mind 00:52:39 - The Kingdom of God Inside and Outside of You 00:55:59 - Shifting Attention Beyond the Mind 01:02:47 - The Benefits of Practice and Reconfiguration 01:06:16 - The Natural Inclination to Help Others 01:09:50 - The Depth of Awakening 01:13:12 - Falling Asleep During Meditation 01:16:26 - Realizing the Irrelevance of a Silent Mind 01:20:00 - Seeking Benefit in the Present Moment 01:23:32 - Intuition and the Home of All Knowledge 01:27:00 - Knowing and achieving specific things in life 01:30:50 - The Blissful State on the Deathbed 01:34:07 - Embracing the Unknowable Future 01:37:31 - The Universal Sound 01:40:44 - The Challenges of Maintaining Friendships 01:48:00 - Wrapping Up with Bob

Om Podcasten

The implication of the title - Buddha at the Gas Pump - is that ordinary people are experiencing higher states of consciousness once thought to be rare and difficult to attain. People everywhere are undergoing a shift or awakening to their true nature. For some, this shift has been abrupt and dramatic. For others, it has been so gradual that they may not have realized it has occurred. Such shifts, or awakenings, are not new: Christ spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven within, Buddhists speak of Nirvana, Zen masters of Satori, Hindus of Moksha, but these traditions generally regard these states as rare and difficult to attain. Many people are therefore skeptical of claims of higher states of consciousness. They find it hard to believe that apparently ordinary friends and neighbors might be experiencing something extraordinary. Maybe they expect Enlightenment to look as remarkable on the outside as it is reputed to be on the inside. This show will attempt to dispel skepticism and misconceptions by week after week, allowing otherwise ordinary people to relate their experience of spiritual awakening. The terminology is tricky, because there are no universally agreed upon definitions to describe this experience. So please forgive us if we use some unfamiliar terms. We will try to clarify our definitions as we go along. Perhaps, after a while, those listening will become convinced that genuine and permanent spiritual awakenings are not just a pipe dream, but are real and are becoming relatively commonplace. These podcasts are the audio track of a weekly interview show which may be seen as videos on our YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/buddhaatthegaspump). Also see the main site: https://batgap.com. For search purposes, I will add the following to this description - batgap, Buddha at the Gaspump, Buddah at the Gas Pump.