What Is the Root of All of This Trouble? The Notion of Somethingness in "I Am Something"

Just be open. This is the difference between when I say open and empty and when we usually say in the world 'open with people' or 'vulnerable.' You see, all those may be byproducts. When we are open and empty, then we may become very social, open with people, or become completely asocial and want to go on a cave. Like, we cannot predict these things. So when I'm speaking of open and empty, I'm not talking about relationship with people and how you engage with people. Like many sages, completely open and empty, but with people they're like, 'Shut up! Go! Get up! How long have you been here? Oh, three months? Oh, you're not getting anything. Get out! It's just taking up space.' You know, like that. That's not being open with people, you see? They're just being open. You're getting the distinction? So it's not about how you're behaving and acting with people, whether you're just like, 'I want to hug you and I feel so much love for you and you can hurt me, I'm open.' You know, it's not... it could manifest like that. I'm not saying that it cannot happen that way. I'm just saying that it's not a prerequisite.

In fact, for many, it can feel like when you become open and empty, you just want to retire to your room or something, and your family feels like, 'Are you depressed?' You know, my family told me a lot. Guruji also shared this story. Everyone hears this, like, 'Are you depressed?' Even Sangha, so many of you heard this. You're just so happy and joyful just with yourself. Like, just continuing on that topic, actually, just being with yourself for a while, and your family is like, 'He's depressed, something's wrong.' Of course, they don't mean any harm; they care for you. So it's not about how you engage with people, about how you engage with the world. Just become fully open and empty in your mental layer. Keep your mind fully open and empty. Let everything come and go.

So that is different. Then what happens is that all these apparent, seeming problems at a worldly level or a human level, you attack them at the root itself. Because all problems are egoic problems. So rather than, like Guruji says, cutting one branch and then the next branch, the next branch... by the time you get to the tenth one, the first one has grown back again. So it's an endless treadmill to try and fix and sort the human condition. Instead of that, get to the root of all of these troubles, you see? And what is the root of all of this trouble? The notion of somethingness in 'I am something.' Till 'I am,' till your Being, no problem. And we attack the notion of somethingness. That is the root of all trouble. You have to be something other than just 'I am' to trouble yourself, to suffer.

So what problem do you want to solve? Do you want to attack the problem at the root itself? And if the problem is suffering, then ego equals suffering. Ego is resistance, and resistance is suffering. 'How am I with others once I'm free?' or 'How should I be?' So where are you making a boundary around yourself? So just empty yourself. Empty yourselves of all this. Empty yourselves of all conditions. Now, what are you? Oh...