Opening and Community Check In

Adam Wes: Namaste, everybody. Welcome.

Let's see… We can get started. We might have a few more people joining soon. It is a wonderful time to be meditating together. Today is the new moon, and also the Chinese New Year. The new moon is always a power day, but perhaps the Chinese New Year makes it even more significant. So, we should have a truly wonderful meditation together.

I wanted to follow up on last week. Colleen and I were discussing her Dharma, and we discovered what it is—because she already lives it completely. Would you like to share?

Colleen: I was saying that I am just happy when I am doing yoga, and I go to yoga regularly. I go one day a week. Then Adam said, well, that is your Dharma. I love the form of the body, and I love the peace of yoga, and at the same time, I am working to make the body loose enough so I can sit for long periods meditating, like Adam does.

Adam Wes: What is amazing is that I did not even think of this—martial arts. So last week, for those of you who were not here, we talked about Svadharma, which is your own personal predilection and mindfulness practice. It is your art, your lens through which you see the world.

I was encouraging everyone to discover what their Dharma is and to practice it. My mom, Colleen—it just slipped my mind—she does yoga six days a week and has been working with the body, dance, and athletics her whole life. So that is her Dharma. And, like martial arts, yoga is a very formal, traditional form of Dharma.

Mathematics is a little less traditional as a mindfulness practice, but yoga—specifically hatha yoga, the physical postures—is designed for that purpose. Thank you for sharing. We realized that after the meeting yesterday.

Does anyone else want to share about their Dharma, their Svadharma, from last week?

Harrison: I was not here, Adam, but definitely mine would be expressing myself through different means. I feel like this keeps expanding for me all the time, but in a simple way, maybe painting is a form of doing that. But I think truly anything—really, life is my Dharma. I feel like you see the moment, and just give 100% of your energy to every single moment.

Adam Wes: Yes.

Harrison: That is… yes, that is how I feel.

Adam Wes: I love that. I would like you to consider reviewing the transcript and the video from last week, because we went into detail about exactly what a Dharma is, and I think you are really connected with yours.

In fact—well, actually, I will show you all later. I created a page on the website that now has all the transcripts. So you can see all four transcripts. Praveen, did you see it?

Nice. I sent you one of them, but you can see all four there now as well.

Building a Teaching Archive and Editorial Workflow

In fact, I spent the weekend doing my Dharma, which was extremely rewarding. I created a deterministic AI-based editorial pipeline that produces really beautiful web page transcripts, study guides, and an essay version of the talk I give in the session—all automatically in HTML. It does this from a rough transcript that Zoom creates.

So you can access them, and they should be available much more quickly. In fact, let me just give you a quick look. I will show you here.

This is where you can find it. I have worked very hard to create these. These are the last four sessions we have had. And—see? You can also click on Teachings here and look at them.

Here is Svadharma from last week. This is the whole transcript, created with code, actually. It is really interesting how this works. If anyone wants to learn more about how I did this, it was very enjoyable.

All of these—you can click on media here and watch the video recording, or listen to the audio recording. So, for example, when you go for a walk, or if you want to just put it on while you are making dinner. There is an essay version here, which is a near-verbatim adaptation of the live spoken teaching. You can read this if you prefer that format.

Also, there is a study guide. The study guide, I think, is very important. At the end of each session, you can review some key quotes, key points that were made, an assignment, an actionable focus for the week, and some reflection prompts.

Then there is a quote page, and the invitation page is for others who may not have attended or be a part of the Sangha. So that is just one of them.

If you go here, we can look at the one from Enlightenment on January 20th. It is all there now, so I should be able to get these up much more quickly than before. This one took me a month to upload, but now it will probably take just a few hours.

So, if anyone wants to go and review those, they are all available there.

What do you think, David?

David: You knew who to ask.

Adam Wes: I could see on your face you thought it was cool.

David: Oh, it is—congratulations, man.

Adam Wes: Thank you. Yes, it was fun. I used an API with OpenAI to actually interact with OpenAI through the terminal on the computer. That is really interesting. Hi, Robert!

Nice to see you.

Power as Absorption and Spiritual Capacity

Alright, so, I am excited—very excited—about today's sermon, because it is a very central topic. In fact, it weaves together many of the things that we have talked about and discussed over the last six months.

I know some of you have only been with us for a few months, but we have been working together for much longer than that. So the topic for today is power. Power.

No, this is not the negative kind of power. This is the power to become enlightened, the power to become love, the power to become free—the power to break into Reality.

Everything we have discussed and practiced has to do with the generation, cultivation, and retention of power. Power is an essential factor in the spiritual life, though it is not always overtly discussed. It comes up a bit more in Zen, I think.

My teacher’s teacher actually spoke about this quite a bit, and my own teacher taught me a great deal about power as well. Power goes beyond intellectual understanding; in fact, it informs understanding. Without power, you cannot see with clarity. You cannot truly understand.

All of us possess different degrees of power, so the intentional cultivation of power is a highly effective way to change your life—both spiritually and in the worldly sense.

People who are very successful in the world generally have a great deal of power that they have used to will something into existence. They are in command of themselves, they are in command of their lives, and you can sense it.

If you visit their space, their home, you will notice that things feel strong, they feel powerful, because the outer expression is a reflection of their inner state.

So, I have prepared a sermon on this. Let me see here…

And then we will have a power meditation, which should be enjoyable. I have an outline here.

So, the essence of power is absorption. Power is an ambient energy available to all of us, but it is obscured by resistance. It is obscured by the ego, by inadvertence, by a mind that is habituated to thinking and not free.

When we become absorbed, there is this ambient power within us that flows through us. In a way, it is not really our power—it is the universal power, but it becomes our power when we get out of the way.

So, the essence of power is absorption. It is intrinsic to all things, it is intrinsic to every moment, but the varying quality or intensity of that power is the result of how we obstruct it.

It is like a river. If you remove all the giant boulders or the dam, the river will flow deeply and swiftly. That power is ambient—it is everywhere, always, and it is within us.

Non-resistance is really what happens in absorption. We let go, and we can feel this power inside us rising.

And just to be clear, power is not power over others. In the negative sense, it is the evil, powerful person who is exploiting everyone. That is not the power we are discussing.

In fact, when someone does not live with love and kindness, they dissipate their own power. They dissipate the spiritual power available to them. Sometimes a person may stumble into social power, but they will lose it and waste it. If they manage to keep it, they have to hold on tightly—they do not have much inner power.

So, the power we are talking about is pressure, an ambient vitality within our energy system and within our mind. The light is power. The Kundalini flow is power.

In fact, I would like to take a moment and let Kira say something. What do you think, Kira?

Kira: I am in so much light right now, it is amazing. While you are speaking, I am trying to attune to the—like, as you were speaking, I was letting the light flow through, and the power increase from that. So it is kind of active listening on the topic that you are speaking of.

Adam Wes: Beautiful, yes. So, Kira is actually doing subtle energetic practices to access the power and increase the power as we focus on it. And as we focus on this, all of us should walk away feeling empowered today.

That is really the goal—walk away and feel powerful. Power allows us to have freedom, dignity, and honor. We learn to see things clearly because our mind is in a state of equanimity.

Equanimity, that fearlessness, that willingness to sit and not think—it is a very powerful state. And you can see it in some people’s eyes.

There are some actors I know—when an actor is truly skilled, you can see how they have developed power within themselves. Sometimes it is striking; you can see they have developed this power.

Their craft is truly refined.

But it is the enlightened beings who have the most power. To break into enlightenment, to experience moksha, to enter into samadhi requires a great deal of power. So it is very relevant to us, as people interested in enlightenment and progressing along the path, becoming more conscious—power is needed.

This, I think, is a very fundamental reorientation, perhaps. Just a suggestion that there is a power, and you need to increase your power.

Now, power can be generated through certain activities, and it can also be dissipated. Dissipation of power is actually one of the biggest problems.

We dissipate power through resistance—complaining, negativity. For example, Kira is an extremely positive person. She is very bright and very positive, and just the way she thinks, you can see it on her face. That is a very powerful orientation.

And it is not just fun and playful—it is powerful, it is effective. It is a useful thing to do with your mind, right? We can do anything with our mind. We can complain and resist the world, or we can see it and respond without resistance. Which one is more powerful?

So, when we dissipate power, when we dissipate energy—let us make a distinction between power and energy. Power is the flow of energy. In fact, we could use physics terms to discuss this, but think of energy as a reservoir of substance. You have only so much energy, and that energy comes through in the moment. How much comes through is the power.

You want to be a conduit for a great deal of energy channeling through you in every moment.

Power allows you to remain in command of yourself when others are intending to mislead you or exploit you. Often, this is not conscious, so it is important—even around good people, they may have certain tendencies. You need to stay true to yourself and stay grounded, centered in your own reality, on your own path, in your own success and happiness.

So, let us see, what else? Dissipation of power. Perhaps we should return to the topic of dissipation of power and focus on it, because I am not thinking of any more examples at the moment.

The essential reason for dissipating power is resistance, which takes a number of forms. The generation of power is quite multifaceted. So, the first step in generating power—and then, hopefully, retaining it rather than dissipating it—is to meditate.

When you sit down to meditate and enter into light, you generate a great deal of power because you are cleansing yourself of those aspects that obscure the ambient power available to you.

In meditation, we actually become absorbed, and there is this power that becomes accessible. Where does it arise from? Where is it coming from? It is not from the power bar you just ate, or the eggs, or the fruit you had—it is coming from somewhere else. Where, exactly?

This is a truly esoteric, even occult, secret in a way. Even though it is probably written in books everywhere, the realization and the real connection with this reality—that there is a power available to everyone—is profound.

So, I would really like to help all of you connect with that.

So, meditation. The next thing is what we discussed last week: svadharma. Doing something for its own sake is a mode of non-resistance. When you do this, there is inspiration and joy, and you generate power.

In fact, I might have chosen to focus on power this week because I spent the entire week doing my dharma, and I felt so much power from it that my meditations deepened. It has been on my mind, and I wanted to share it with you.

There are a number of things I need to share with everyone so that the collage of this practice can come into focus. It is like a big puzzle, and we want to put all the pieces together so you can start to see the big picture as each piece comes into play, onto the puzzle table.

Another way to generate power is to be loving. Bhakti is very powerful. When you love others—

Yesterday, for example, I helped someone and walked away almost in tears because I felt so much power, love, and alignment. That unity is power.

Separativity is a resistance to the underlying reality that we are all one. When we love, we reinforce that reality and orient our paradigm and energy so that we can commune with that truth and embody it.

So, when you love others, when you are kind, when you are considerate—all the beautiful qualities that are connected to love—you generate power as well.

Between meditations, if you live with mindfulness—mindfulness means giving your full attention to what you are doing. I see people walking around on their phones, watching TV while they go for a walk.

A very common way that our culture trains us to live actually dissipates energy massively. But when you walk like a Zen master, and every footstep is intentional, every bite of food receives your full attention, and every motion you make is done with impeccability, this also generates power.

So, give your full attention to what you are doing, and consider the energy. Feel it. How are you supposed to be in a masterful state of power all the time? You need to give it your attention.

This is a 24-hour practice. Eventually, you will even be doing it in your dreams. I am not joking—at some point, you will notice, "Throughout the night, I have been making my power better, my energy better," even in the dream state.

Power also comes from developing a well-structured mind. This is where I think a lot of spiritual paradigms—well, it is not usually very overt, although in some it actually is.

When you develop a well-structured mind, that order creates a state of non-resistance. When the mind is confused and disorderly, it dissipates a lot of energy. When the mind is well-structured, like a beautiful mathematical equation, or through some form of Dharma where one has achieved mastery, when there is a great deal of structure, everything is processed through that well-structured mind efficiently.

So, it is a matter of efficiency. Power is also—so, doing mathematics is highly recommended. For example, Robert is a math teacher—or he was a math teacher—and I think he is still a math teacher at heart. You cannot ever leave that. Hello, Robert.

In fact, Robert, what do you think about what I just said regarding the well-structured mind? Because Robert also practices kundalini yoga, and it is an interesting intersection.

Robert: I missed about the last two minutes there. I had to quickly check on someone, but yes, I love the idea of the power in this light, and that there is a universal energy that can come through you. It is just a really good way to put it. I have never heard that, or—I do not know, it is tough to put into words.

And I think you did a good job of explaining power, because I always kind of struggled with that. You read about, "Oh, you know, this certain thing means money, power, karma." It is like, what does power really mean when they are talking about this? I think you did a good job explaining it there, and I appreciate hearing it from you.

Adam Wes: Thank you. Well, what I was adding recently is that developing a well-structured mind is another form of generating power. When you have done that, it prevents the dissipation of energy, and it also makes you a more powerful being.

So, someone with a mind that has not been attended to in that way has a great opportunity to structure their mind. Now, what is a well-structured mind? A well-structured mind can think analytically. It sees processes and geometries very clearly, and simply understands them. This is a good reason to practice mathematics.

Let us see… Simplicity is a beautiful teaching of Zen. When you think of the Zen dojo, there is nothing in there, right? There are a couple of rocks stacked, and there is a beautiful Zen garden. The principle there is related to power.

When things are simple, they are easy to manage. We want to not only simplify our environment, but our life. We want to simplify our relationships. Your relationships should be clean. You should not leave open-ended matters that cause confusion and miscommunication between you and others. Your relationships should be directed with intentionality.

Oh, hi, David. When directed with intentionality, all of this generates a simplicity within interpersonal connection.

So, one of the things I did with the—well, let us see. When you run your business, when you do your work, when you go about your day, designing your routines—all of that can be done in a way that promotes simplicity. It means you can let go. You do not have to constantly be juggling all day, every day.

But consistency and reliability produce a simple state of mind and a simple life. This generates power. These things are so important. I mean, everyone in first grade should be learning this. It is so important, because if you dissipate all your power, you do not have access to happiness in the same way.

There is a beauty within us. That is the essence. It is a spiritual state. It is a state of mind, and you can work towards it. Suddenly, the Grand Canyon becomes more beautiful. Everything becomes more beautiful, because you are beautiful. Your state is beautiful, and power is necessary for that.

So, living a life that is clear and simplified—you can probably think of some people you know who have lives in disarray. There is a lot of complexity. Their minds are a little bit convoluted, right? And, you know, bless them. But at the same time, let them be a great example for you.

You can probably see how they are perhaps dissipating power.

Now, if you have a big stack of papers on your table that has been there for a long time, I would suggest there is an opportunity to generate power by taking care of that.

One thing you can do to see your power is look at how it is reflected in form. How well is your computer organized? How well are your relationships happening? How clean is your house?

Cleanliness—not just organization, but also actual cleanliness. Get out the cleaning supplies, make sure your bathroom is clean. That is a powerful state. If you have ever walked into a beautiful mansion—I used to spend a lot of time in beautiful mansions, because I used to tutor in Malibu, Bel Air, and Los Angeles. I spent a lot of time in these beautiful mansions, and I could feel the power in there because everything was so pristine.

Not everyone was like that, but there were certain houses where I could feel those people were living their lives in a certain aligned way. Now, this does not mean they were overall spiritual, but there were some spiritual elements there.

Spirituality does not always express itself in the obvious archetypes. You might meet a lawyer who is very powerful and very spiritual, and there is something about them that is spiritual. They are actually doing something spiritual that is very much like what Buddhists have been doing for thousands of years.

They may not identify with it at all, but it feels good, it works for them, and they know it. They have a mastery there. So, it does not always have to look a certain way—you can still wear your suit, or you can get your kurta out and wear your robes. It does not matter. What is happening inside could be powerful and spiritual.

So… Let us see. What time is it? Oh, we are basically done. Oh!

Solitude. Solitude generates a great deal of power. Everyone should spend time alone. When you take time for yourself, you have an opportunity to process all of the interactions that you have had.

So, Robert. Robert has almost no time alone, I think, because he is so busy. Maybe you do have time alone. But I just want to encourage you to bring that into your life and protect it if you are doing it. So, take time for solitude.

Sometimes you can take it too far—I think I do that, because solitude really works for me, and profoundly.

Another thing is time in nature. When you spend time in nature, this also purifies and clears you. There is a lot of power in nature because there is no resistance. Nature happens the way it happens. Everything is designed and moves through its embodiment and its destiny. The flowers bloom, and then they wither. The bunnies are born, and then the fox gets them. And sometimes they get away, right? But it is just all happening, and there is a sort of lack of that human quality to cognize and the machinations of selfhood.

Our capacity for abstraction is also our form of resistance. It is also our depth. That is why the human being has this beautiful capability of taking things very far, and also, you know, going very low.

Let us see, so I think I have covered most of what I wanted to share.

Spiritual association is enormous for power, in fact. Reading every day, having spiritual friends, having powerful friends—people who, inwardly, they may be homeless, but they could be very powerful. And when you spend time with them—if they are homeless, there is probably some other reason for it, maybe their power is not fully aligned, but they could be very powerful.

So, spending time with powerful people, people who live powerfully and have powerful habitual patterns, helps to strengthen your power and sustain your power.

Let us see… I think I have said a great deal of it.

Going beyond agency and becoming is important. When we are doing things and living our life, when we get into flow state—in art, it is very easy—but if we can stay in flow state… I am not the doer. I am not choosing these words right now. They are just coming out of silence. That is power.

It is better to have an extemporaneous sermon, for me, that just comes from describing as I see something with clarity. This actually is a more powerful state. When I am feeling very powerful myself, I will speak more clearly. I will not need to write an outline as much. It will just come through very clearly from silence, and I do not feel that I am speaking.

So this state of being beyond agency is being beyond like and dislike, being beyond advantage and disadvantage, being beyond becoming, and rather just being what you are. That is a very powerful state. It does not dissipate energy.

Alright.

So, I think I have covered enough for now. I do not want to go on too long, because we should meditate, but I wanted to give a couple of people a chance to respond—perhaps to share something, or ask a question.

I am so grateful to share about power with all of you.

Because, for me—even so, I love power. It is very important to me to have people who will sit down with me and discuss power, and who are concerned with it. That is satsanga: association with those who are interested in power.

To be largely alone with an understanding of it actually makes it harder to retain, harder to distill. So, the few people I spend time with are quite powerful people, and I tend not to make many exceptions—if any, actually. I am quite intense about that.

So I honor all of you. Powerful beings. Praveen, what do you think?

Praveen: Thank you, Adam. I was reminded of an article that you had put up on your website, or something like that. I do not remember exactly where it was, but the topic was how to create an unshakable mind. So, I think I got the answer today.

Adam Wes: Was this an article I wrote, or was it another article?

Praveen: I think it was in one of your writings, either on a website or in a topic—how to create, yes, how to create an unshakable mind. So I was…

Adam Wes: Yes, I like the wording "untouchable." Just think about a really dignified, honorable warrior, or a very integral being of intelligence. They are untouchable; you cannot really bother them. They are going to do what they are going to do.

But why? What makes someone like that? And why would one not actively cultivate something like that? You know Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek? He is a great example of that character. Very powerful. You cannot exploit him. You cannot manipulate him. Very dignified.

And so there is a power inside. Power leads one to choose those things, because if they were not in integrity, they would lose power, and that is not worthwhile. Why would someone do something dangerous and honorable? Well, because they retain their power. Why would they face adversity socially? Because they get to retain their power. They know something, they are doing something, so…

Being untouchable. Thank you, Praveen. Alright.

Did you all like this talk today? Okay, good. Alright, let us meditate. Let us generate some power.

So, how are we going to meditate? Well, first of all, I have a slightly more intense playlist. So, use the music. Feel into it, feel into the…

You know, sometimes when you feel powerful, you feel as though you can fly. You feel as if you could walk up a mountain—even if your body is not going to do that. Even when you are sitting, you feel as though you can…

So, we want to feel the power channeling through us. You can feel your heart. You can feel your navel. You can just go into the light. The light, that ambient power—it is not really in a chakra, but you will feel your chakras activate. That is very powerful.

I do want to say one more thing that I forgot from the sermon, which is: Power is needed for intelligence. So if you want to do mathematics, if you want to see clearly, there has to be power there. That is interesting—you think of someone like Einstein. I would argue that he probably had a great deal of power. It was not just that his mind was structured a certain way; there was power available to him to run that well-oiled machine of his mind, right?

So power and intelligence go together. An empty mind is a powerful mind, and a mind that can see and understand.

Alright, let us get started. We will begin with something a little centering first. Oh.

Was the music—was my music playing when you all arrived?

Andrea: No, it is just some…

Adam Wes: No, we just heard it.

I was not there.

Oh, yes, you were not there. It was, right?

It is important to open and soften the heart first before you begin to access power. The heart needs to be in a state—gentleness, openness. Listen to these beautiful songs. Soften the heart. Bring your attention there. Feel within your whole being—gentleness, non-resistance.

Bring your body into life. Dispassion is an energetic orientation. Feel your dispassion, your absorption, the dispassion woven together. All that matters is the moment, at least for now.

I want to sit up for this, Ariella. Keep your Shashumna straight.

That actually was not the song I thought it was. Not ideal.

This will be better.

You may feel the essence of the energy in each of these songs, especially the one we just listened to.

Navel center.

Heart center.

Soul center.

Just the light.

Power is not... Iceland.

The whole jungle was moving together by sun.

Is that a little third eye?

The balance.

It gives you a sort of power as well.

Steady mind.

Indulge.

In feeling powerful. Allow that.

It is God.

Coming through us.

It is enlightened.

Intrinsic to us.

Allow yourself to be what you are.

Use the light.

The greatness of the universe.

The light and things.

This will be the last song after this one. Let us really give it your all. I am absorbed in the light.

Focus on a chakra. Navel center, one inch below the belly button. Heart center, center of the chest. And the third eye, or all three at the same time. You can add the crown chakra too, if anybody feels called to do that.

Crown is self-transcendence. It reaches up into the sky. Look to the unchanging background of the moment. You are the moment.

River of Time flows through the riverbanks of you. Try to see that directly—the immovable center of self.

Namaste. Thank you for going on the ride with me. Mom, would you like to share? I would love to hear from you.

Meditation Reflections and Closing Commitments

Colleen: I would love to hear other people, but just quickly... When I focus on my third eye, it pulls me, squeezes me together, and this time I saw orange, which is an unusual color for me.

Adam Wes: Power color. That is amazing.

Colleen: I had a lot of, like... dreams, and Kira was in one of them. I cannot remember exactly, but you were helping me with something.

Adam Wes: Aw, thanks, Kira. That is really wonderful. And I saw you do the crown for a moment, too?

Colleen: I tried... I tried, but it was not doing anything.

Adam Wes: Okay, we will have to work on that one. Maybe just keep working on your third eye.

Colleen: It will progress.

Adam Wes: Higher to the crown. Well, wonderful. And you saw orange—any other colors?

Colleen: Yes, and actually, I also saw... a hexagon going out. Let me think. Purple, green... Purple and green, which were expanding and coming back.

Adam Wes: I love it. Usually, when you see sacred geometry, you are tapping into the astral plane. So you had a simultaneous astral-causal meditation. The causal plane is the plane of light. The astral plane is the plane of energy, sacred geometry, and the chakra system.

Colleen: Interesting.

Adam Wes: Wonderful.

Colleen: Thank you.

Adam Wes: You are... Guys, I love her so much. She is such a good student. It is really sweet. She is so sincere. I love it.

Alright. Robert, I am so happy you are here today. It just makes me so happy that you made it. Would you like to share? Namaste, Mom.

Robert: Thank you for having me. I had some resistance to coming today. I had a lot of challenges and got through, and during that meditation, I was just very grateful that you gave us some really good insight today. It allowed me to think about a lot of things and come into this power, this idea of power.

It is something I have never really had a good grasp on, or had good wording for, and I can really feel it—especially when I was teaching math. When I was unprepared or unfocused, I would just ramble. It would be very non-powerful speaking. I would lose the kids immediately, and they could sense that.

I notice with you, you do not really ramble. You are very clear and concise, and it is always impressive—you would think you wrote that down, how well you say it. I think it is noticeable how powerful you are, and it is something to strive for as someone who is learning and trying to really get back into this work.

Adam Wes: And it fluctuates. Sometimes I feel like, oh, wow, it is not... Sometimes I can just sit down and speak a whole 2,000-word essay—no editing. And sometimes I just cannot do that at all.

It has a lot to do with whether I had a good meditation and light, if I lived in easefulness and gracefulness during that previous week. So, yes, it is an aspiration of mine, too, to keep building and growing. I am so happy that you are doing that as well.

Robert: Yes, thank you.

Adam Wes: Wonderful. Namaste, Robert. How about you, Harrison? It is good to see you—we missed you last week.

Harrison: Hello, yes, it is good to see you too, and to be back.

Yeah, I love these sessions. And the meditation was excellent. I definitely love meditating by myself, but it is always nice doing it in a group.

I feel like what I consistently see has changed a lot since my first meditation with you—what I see and feel. My most common experience is feeling like I am flying, or like something is washing through a single point.

That is genuinely the best way to describe it. I can almost get a visual of it. I was just in Mona, in Tasmania, and there was a quantum visual installation—like that machine that shoots the atom around, the fastest traveling thing in the world.

I cannot remember what it is called—it is in Europe somewhere, anyway.

Adam Wes: CERN, the particle accelerator.

Harrison: Yes, yes, yes! They had this art piece there that was connected to that. Without going too far into it, it had these particle visuals—like a mathematical cosmos of tiny white dots on a black screen in this giant room. They were flying toward you, and I literally felt like that is what I see when I meditate every time.

It changes from a point that I feel like I am flying through, with stars, then it turns into a spiral, then it turns into a channel again. That is what I am feeling.

Adam Wes: I believe that is an astral experience. I have heard of that.

Harrison: Yes.

Adam Wes: That is wonderful, wow. I am so glad you are here and had a great meditation. I feel like you are quite a powerful person, like you have cultivated that. Did the talk resonate with you?

Harrison: Yes, it did. As you said, I am always striving to better myself in various aspects of my life.

I think my words are love, trust, and respect. I always strive to have a lot of respect for myself, because just the same way, if you cannot love yourself, I do not think you will respect yourself. You might be good at respecting others, but I do strive to show myself a lot of respect.

I think if you can work on those things—trusting yourself, showing love to yourself, and respecting yourself—that cultivates power. So, yes, in that sense, I am always striving to be better.

Adam Wes: Love, trust, and respect. I saw that in one of the transcripts as I was looking today. I like it, you have strong consistency with those—it is beautiful. Yes, those are Harrison's words. Your pillars, you called them. Namaste, Harrison. Thank you.

Harrison: I am here.

Adam Wes: And Andrea, hi! Did not see you last week either.

Andrea: Yes, Adam. I had a very big event and I could not be here.

Adam Wes: It is okay. But I did miss you.

Yes, we missed you.

Andrea: Yes, I really loved the music tonight. It truly helps to feel the power and the light, and to go deeper into the meditation. So, yes, it was pretty cool.

Adam Wes: Wonderful. I added those tracks to the playlist—they are all on the playlist, if you would like to check.

Andrea: Great! I wanted to tell you that I really love the page. Today, I was wondering where the Zoom link was, and I went to the page—it says Zoom, and that is how I connected.

It is really useful.

Adam Wes: On the practice hall.

Andrea: Yes.

Adam Wes: Nice. Yes, everyone, remember the practice hall is there. Well, namaste, Andrea, so nice to see you. How about you, Kira? Yay, Kira!

Kira: Hi! Thank you so much. I hope you can hear me okay—there might be a little background noise.

I have had some major realizations and just incredible breakthroughs on this call. Throughout the whole call, I felt the urge to practice conscious breathing. For pretty much the entire call, I was very aware of my breath, and I realized that it was also a way to cultivate power.

When we are conscious and aware, that cultivates power, and doing it with your breath feels very natural, since you are breathing anyway.

Adam Wes: Yes, it is also the mindfulness and the prana.

Kira: Yes…

Adam Wes: Pranayama from the breathing.

Kira: Yes, so that has been really incredible—for over an hour, just conscious breathing. I cultivated so much power.

Also, during the meditation, I realized that you have to relinquish some of your personal power to allow a greater power to move through you—like the power of the universe, or whatever you want to call it.

One person who comes to mind is Anandamayima, the Indian saint. I felt she was really connected with the power of God—it would just flow through her, and all of her activities were in accordance with that.

Adam Wes: Flow.

Kira: So she was, in a sense, dissolved. You kind of dissolve your personal power.

Adam Wes: She was enormously detached. Yes, you…

Kira: So there is a dissolving of your personal power, which is pretty…

Adam Wes: I would like to orient that language very carefully for a moment. So…

When agency lifts away, the personal attachments, agendas, and the machinations of self—

The thoughts, ideas, and plans can give way to the spontaneous effortlessness of going beyond agency. It is not that you give away your personal power—it is that the whole universe is powerful, and you are a part of it.

You become part and parcel of the concurrence of the moments, the concurrence of the universe transmuting and transforming. You are meant to be something. Your purpose, your dignity, your life is a part of all of our lives and all of the universe.

When you are aligned with your true self, when you are one with Dharma, the power that flows through you is the honor. The dignity and honor is to be oriented toward caring about more than yourself. But you live your Dharma, your purpose.

So you are not gaining personal power—it is not about that. That is almost a misunderstanding if you look at it this way. There is personal power, and then there is something beyond personal—there is simply the power of Dharma.

The power of Dharma is what we seek to find and live in that spontaneous authenticity and integrity. Then there is power, and you may become wealthy, but it will not be for you in quite the same way that a selfish person might pursue it.

You will do it in service. You will do it as a part of a greater heart. You will do it as a part of your nature. That is the key. What is your nature? Live your nature with complete acceptance of it, complete self-transcendence in it. So…

Kira: Beautiful. Yes, it feels like there is a current moving through me, and I am moving with the curve.

Adam Wes: Yes.

Kira: Yes!

Adam Wes: But do not abandon yourself. That is why I am being very clear—your art is a part of that. Your dreams for—

Hyperbloom is a part of that. It is not your power. That is the power.

Kira: Yes, it is so interesting. For a large portion of today, I was just moving with what was meant to happen, and what that was, was actually a deep cleaning, clearing, and organizing of my home space. So it is kind of…

On that same note, it was an act of what was right to do, and right now.

Adam Wes: That was earlier today?

Kira: Yes.

Adam Wes: Oh, nice, nice.

Kira: And then also, the act of doing it, as you were suggesting, cultivates power as well. You know, power in the home.

Adam Wes: And outside of the home, when you draw power from your home, it is very important. Your menatman is your extended self, when it is in order.

The menatman, which is your… your things.

Kira: What is the word you are saying?

Adam Wes: Menatman. M-A-N-A-T-M-A-N. Menatman? Yes, it is a Sanskrit word.

Kira: Atman, as in soul, and then men…

Adam Wes: Menatman is your… what does "man" mean? I think it means, like, creation… created. It is like the creation of your soul.

Kira: Oh.

Adam Wes: Yes, you have to double check. I am not 100% sure that is correct, but that prefix, or that etymological component, "man," comes up in a lot of places.

Kira: Oh, thank you so much, that is an amazing word to know.

Adam Wes: Maybe I will add that. Well, namaste, Kira, I wonder…

Kira: Dustin!

Adam Wes: Thank you for sharing.

Kira: To Robert, also.

Adam Wes: Yes, so for the assignments this week, I want to make sure to give you an optional thing to do. Look at the ways you can generate power, and look at the ways that you dissipate power, and consider them.

Sometimes it is people. Or the food you eat, or a habit you are involved in. What are the ways you are dissipating power, and how can you start to build your daily routine and your inner habituality—your way of speaking, thinking, and acting?

You know, if you walk around annoyed with everyone, you dissipate power. Sometimes I do that, because I wish everyone was a little more conscious. And I think I actually end up dissipating a little bit of power right there. I am like, just accept people as they are. Find your tribe—it is a better orientation.

So, what are some shifts in orientation? What are some ways you can change? And then go and practice them. See if you can add one thing each week.

Wonderful. So, Ariella, I would like to hear from you. Ariella always shares—she has for the last four years. Okay, yes?

Ariella: Yes. I was in a very deep place. I do not remember anything about it, but… All I remember is when you called me to pay attention to this app. But that is… so, I do not know what was going on, but it felt good.

Adam Wes: Wonderful. Well, you may have been simply absorbed in the unknown, which is actually the goal, so there is a lot of power in that. And it feels good. If it feels good, you are probably doing something right—profoundly good, not just, you know, nap-time good.

Wonderful, Ariella. Namaste. Thank you. And welcome back, Rachna. I am glad you are feeling better. Would you like to share briefly? Sorry, Praveen, you will be last.

Rachna: Yes, even for me, I did not know where I was.

Adam Wes: At one point, I felt that I was actually swaying left and right, forward and backward, but… Beautiful.

Rachna: Yes, I think that is what I remember. Otherwise, it was all just music, and I was kind of nowhere, actually. I do not know.

Adam Wes: When thought is in abeyance, that is meditation. Good job, wonderful.

If we ever have a themed meditation and you go into Nirvana and forget the theme, it is okay. Because you went into Nirvana, and that is—

That is where we are… you know, I am not sure if either of you did go into Nirvana, but perhaps you did, or perhaps you will, or maybe you are on your way to Nirvana. So… wonderful.

Well, namaste, Rachna, thanks for being here. And Praveen, would you like to share something briefly?

Praveen: It was just an amazing talk, Salman on power, Adam, as usual. I think many of the points that you made, I am hearing for the first time. So, I really appreciate the work you have done to gather all this wisdom together and share it with us.

I will try to be more mindful of the things you taught us today, and the ways, as we mentioned, to generate power. I think I will be more consciously attuned to the various aspects of my life.

Adam Wes: Get your power up, Praveen. Get your power up! No, really, when you get your power up, then you gain command of your life.

Your relationships will change, your career, your work might change—everything changes, because you have that capacity. To be true to yourself, essentially.

Praveen: Yes. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Adam Wes: Wonderful, Praveen. I love it. Well…

Thank you, everybody, for being here. This was the New Moon Open House, but I have been quite busy, so…

I did not promote it, so it is just us today. But next New Moon, perhaps we will invite some more people, and we will plan for it.

I was working diligently on the transcript page. So, take a look at the transcript page—you will probably be very impressed. There will be a beautiful website transcript, quite polished, probably within a couple of hours, and that is thanks to the editorial pipeline that I generated, so…

Thank you, everybody. Namaste. I will see you next week. Thank you.

Kira: Thank you, Namaste.

Praveen: Thank you.

Harrison: So…

Adam Wes: Namaste. Thanks, Harrison.