This interview was conducted by Sabina with Jeff Foster at Berlin in March 2012.

 Watch the video part 1

The deeper meaning of acceptance; in reality we are acceptance; all humans, all experiences and perceptions, all: waves in the ocean, in permanent movement; what we are does not come and go: consciousness, awareness, passion, presence – the ocean; no “No” of the ocean to a wave; all phenomena and perceptions do have the permission to appear already, otherwise they would not be here – this means acceptance; the present moment – allowed already on the deepest level; the reaction to all suffering – being cool with it; pain and sadness as invitation; each wave says: ”I am allowed to be here.” True healing does not intend to avoid or get rid of anything; the discovery of the ocean in the wave; conditioning, what are “bad” waves, which should not be here; to discover the place right now where all is profoundly okay; the permission to be here, seeing of everything which appears; no guilt because we do not have any control over the waves and the ocean; all are just humans, even the so called “enlightened”; running away from “enlightened persons”; separation and pain created by the claim of “being enlightened”; enlightenment is impossible – the ocean has awakened already; discovering that we are the ocean already; who is interested in yesterday’s enlightenment? Living moment for moment; enlightenment not relevant; enlightenment how exhausting; only THIS; total humbleness – all and everything just waves in the ocean; the urge of wanting to be special.

 Watch the video part 2

From Jeff’s story of depressions and self hatred; if one tries to escape pain and fear; the attempt to accept the unwanted; the image of the perfect guru and comparisons with it; the imaginations of the perfect life of the guru; the attempt to come up to an image; conditioning by the parents, who did their best; Jeff’s past obsession for enlightenment, because pain was so big; exhausted by the search; confusion through wisdom from books; simple recognizing, this is it, this is the chair in the bedroom; too simple to speak about it; radical all included; the insight: “I am not Jeff” – but I am the space, consciousness, not to be expressed by words; words do not have to be understood; when the waves are seen as what they are, just waves – already allowed to be in the ocean; the crazy ideas about enlightenment; the fundamental understanding, that all waves are allowed; the lie that all is about escaping the waves; the desire for a story about ourselves; when the statement: “There is no I” is used as a mental belief and thus creates separation; Jeff’s favorite metaphor of the ocean and the waves with god as the ocean; only one consciousness, which expresses itself as different waves; the same essence, everywhere – what makes humble; the not understandable ocean in unconditional love; the wrong understanding of non-duality; the invitations of everyday life; the teacher game: I understood but not you; not being identified with being a teacher or with enlightenment; the beautiful permission of just being.

MP3 audio files

Jeff attempts to articulate the timeless message of nonduality (non-separation, Oneness, wholeness) - something that is ultimately impossible to put into words - in a simple, human and down-to-earth way, avoiding as much as possible the arcane, heavy, outdated and often self-righteous spiritual language of the past. 

Jeff is not affiliated with any spiritual path, teacher, tradition or lineage. He believes that the truth - that which is present and alive - is absolutely free and cannot be captured by any religion, ideology, philosophy, belief system, or individual. However, perhaps it can be shared, in friendship and openness, with those who are open to going beyond what they know.