The Third I - 08.27.09

“Meditation is often called the opening of the third ‘I.’” But believing that the third “I” is actually supposed to be an eye is a misunderstanding. It is not some vestigial organ in the forehead. It is not even the pineal gland. The first “I” is, to borrow a term from Jacques Lacan, the “I” of the statement, which is known in India as the “monkey mind.” The second “I,” the “little guy behind the curtain,” is known as the “I” of the annunciation; the “I” that you're not even aware of; the one who is sending the thoughts into your head that you identify with. “The first ‘I’ is an illusion. The second ‘I’ is a ghost. And so the salvation only comes when we surrender to the third ‘I.’ And the third ‘I,’ fortunately, is the ‘I’ of Shiva. The ‘I’ of God within.” So only when “God is allied with the conscious mind,” can we have true freedom. True bliss. True love. Recorded on the evening of Thursday, August 27, 2009.