Francis
Lucille Satsang Apr 23, 2003, Part I
I just came back from a Satsang with Francis Lucille and just wanted
to share with the fine folks here a few of the things Francis shared
with us.
We are not these egos, small, separate selves, separate identities, but we are in fact, impersonal consciousness, the same one
consciousness that is in everyone, it is not personal. Therefore, there is no fear or suffering when you identify with who you really
are. As long as you continue to identify with the small, fictionalized self then you are subject to fear and suffering. The
biggest fear is your own death. But when you know your true nature, that of impersonal consciousness, then there is no fear of death, for
you were never born and will never die, you are eternal, where is there for you to go, you are beyond space and time, in fact, they
exist within you, not you within them.
He said the ego is like the movie "Gremlins." In the movie, the Gremlins were cute, little fuzzy creatures, until you fed them at
night, then they became huge monsters. He said the ego is like the Gremlins when you feed them, it becomes huge and
monstrous and out
of control.
He said we are causeless joy, happiness, love, peace and freedom. We
do not have to work for joy or love, we are already it.
And as far as practices our concerned, he said meditation, practices,
are based on the erroneous assumption that somebody is there to practice it to get somewhere. If you start with that false assumption
and work to get somewhere, you are wasting your time and it has no value. He did say though that practices can be done if you reverse it
and know and start with the premise that you already are joy, peace,
and love and are not trying to get them or anywhere, but are just enjoying the practices for what they are, then by all means do them
or do anything, for everything is sadhana he said. You cannot differentiate between spiritual practices and say going to work or
playing tennis or waiting in line, everything can be your sadhana.
I really enjoyed his quiet presence and I felt a lot of love from him. I would definitely recommend him as a wondeful, sincere, genuine
teacher who is sharing what he has discovered. Sincerely Steve
Part II
The sad thing about this satsang for me was talking to the seekers
afterwards. Some I know as friends, some are just acquaintances, some
I have seen around, some are new to me. But no one, from my perception walked out of there knowing who they were and living from
that, except for me, and even I will probably revert back to the old
ways by tomorrow, I am on a high right now and seeing pretty clearly
at the moment. I was talking to a husband and wife afterwards and they were saying that Francis must be a old, old soul, who has had
many, many lives, and he is so polished like a gem and they are still
in the polishing stage. I said doesn't that contradict what he was talking about, that you are already it, and they said no, it takes
time and wisdom to get to that point where you know that. I know there is a fine line between belief and knowing, but it seems so
obvious to me that we are already enlightened, it is just our belief
in the separate ego and our belief that we have somewhere to go to, to get to that keeps us in our self-created suffering. It is all our
choice, we can be free this very instant or we can suffer. It is all
a game according to Francis that we are playing, and when we get tired of playing and pretending we are this small, limited,
individual entity, then we will wake up and return to our impersonal
Self we really are and no longer suffer, no longer identify with a misperception. Most are deciding to still play the game as the ego,
after this satsang I am playing as the impersonal consciousness. Hopefully, its as simple as that, as the way he described it. Just be
impersonal consciousness and be free. Steve
Part
III, Apr 24, 2003
Last night was Francis's last satsang in the Chicago area before he
flew out to Ottawa, Canada and conducted a 9 or so day retreat starting tomorrow.
We sat in a circle which was different last night. It was at the Theosophical
Society's main headquarters in the United States. The program coordinator thought it would be nice this way for the
dialogue. I would have preferred normal seating so I could look at him better. There was many of the same people from the previous
nights and a few new faces. Some of the same people who asked questions proceeded to ask more of the same type to him, as to what
to do, how to get there, gurus, etc.
This one lady has a guru already, I think it was Guru Maharaji or something like that, he used to be referred to as the boy wonder or
something like that. Anyways, she has been struggling at his satsangs
and asking a lot of questions. She said she has had many experiences
knowing God, but they don't last and she wants God always. Francis asked her, what is more important, the experience you had, that comes
or goes, or the knowing about God that is always here, always with you. She could not grasp it and wanted the experience instead all of
the time. He told her you have it backwards. He gave an analogy of a
transparent diamond put into a colorful box, a child only sees the colors of the box (the experience) and is not interested in what
really has value in there, the diamond (what is always there). When the child matures, then he notices the diamond as what has value
there and not the colorful box. As we mature, we will let experiences
come and go, we will not cling to them or need them, but cherish what
is underlying all experience, consciousness itself.
A few questions were asked about loneliness, relationships, depression, and he mostly directed the person back into themselves
and told them the answer to your questions is in knowing who you really are. Once you know that, you will see things differently and
will no longer be lonely, depressed, etc. They wanted a guarantee and
he said, trust me, you will not regret it once you know who you really are, then you will really live and enjoy life. It sounds like
he really didn't answer their questions, but he did and you could feel the presence when he said this and how true it was.
Someone asked about the necessity of Gurus. He answered and said that
life is our teacher, there are many ways life wakes us up, the books
and teachers are one helpful way life uses to help in the process, but it is not the only way, there are countless ways. He then
proceeded to tell us about his own journey to his teacher, Jean Klein. He did stress regarding teachers or practices, that it should
resonate to you, he sees so many that are sticking to practices they
don't like or teachers that aren't helping them and he encourages you
to move on in those cases, do what you love, follow what resonates and speaks to you, do not just stick with something you hate and
don't resonate to just because the books or some teacher told you to do
that.
Francis was my favorite big name guru I have seen so far. He has a totally different demeanor and presence about him than Gangaji,
Andrew Cohen, etc. He radiates peace and quietness and gentleness. There is no hype or showmanship about him. He is very genuine and
down to earth. If you ever get a chance to see him in your neck of the woods, I highly recommend going to see him. And one last night
about him, it took me several satsangs before I finally resonated to
him, I did not feel his presence in the beginning. So be patient, and
don't look for the outward displays and showmanship, but just be quiet and really try to go to where he is pointing to. It can be a
most wonderful experience being in his presence. And likewise, I felt
this in Ganga's presence in Seattle. And in Jeff's presence in California. It is the same one
consciousness in all, in all of the different forms called gurus.
* – This
is an expandable set of pages. If you've been to see any of my
listees and would like to offer an "objective" report, ie
from one not already "attached" to the teacher in question
or full of ideas based on attachment to a "competing"
teacher, send it in (Feedback)
and i'll be happy to put it up. Other Reports
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