Introduction

As we ponder the best way to get Aaron's teachings out to those of you who live far away and have come to value them, it's clear that a 'book' which is carefully edited takes too much time and work for our limited resources. These unedited transcripts of the weekly classes from September, 1993 to mid-January, 1994 offer the weekly sessions just as they were channeled. They have not been fully checked by Aaron for accuracy. There may be occasional errors in the transcribing. The overall sense is correct. Please bring inconsistencies and typographical errors to our attention so they can be clarified. Thank you.

In the summer of 1994, the continuation, through June, 1994 will be available.

It is our hope that this entire work will eventually be professionally published and nationally distributed. Meanwhile, we are glad to be able to offer it in this form.

The book No Chain at All, the edited transcripts of January to June, 1993, will provide useful foundation for those of you who wish deeper understanding of the conditioned nature of all phenomena. That book is not necessary, however, to understanding of this one.

Many of you have asked us to include all of the transcript, discussion as well as Aaron's talks, so we haven't cut anything. We've also included several private sessions (Aaron, Barbara and Karen, with Karen transcribing as it was channeled) where Aaron spoke in more detail about these teachings.

There is wide variety offered here. Aaron does have a 'teaching plan' for the year, which becomes apparent if you read through the book from the start, but you can dip in anywhere. Many people come regularly every week; some come occasionally. New people frequently appear, and some stay and join our weekly sessions. We've found Aaron speaks clearly to us all.

His focus this year has been teaching the balance of relative and ultimate reality. Thus, some of his talks are about working lovingly and skillfully with the catalysts of our daily lives. Some are about choosing the space and perspective which allow us not to get caught in these issues. We don't 'get rid of' the issues that cause us discomfort, but see it all more clearly as manifestation of pure awareness. Duality falls away. Our lives become more spacious.

There are talks about working with the heavy emotions on the relative plane, about fear, relationships, grief, forgiveness, and more. There are also talks about the 'Light Body' which is always perfect. He asked us to look at a perfect white sheet of paper; crumple it; unfold it. Can we see the perfect piece of paper which still exists in the wrinkled sheet? Where do we fix our gaze, on the wrinkles or the natural perfection of the paper?

In just the same way, when we fix our focus on our fear, anger, greed, and other heavy emotions, we practice those. We see in a dual way, distorted/undistorted. We try to hold this, get rid of that. When we first find equanimity with what has arisen in us, and then literally fix our gaze on the innate perfection of all arising, we release old distortion. Just let it go, no aversion, only release of that which no longer serves a purpose, and which was never 'real' in the first place. Where do we fix our gaze? There are many practices introduced here for this work. Please take whatever is of value to you.