{"id":10499,"date":"2026-09-14T15:04:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T19:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/?p=10499"},"modified":"2026-09-14T15:04:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T19:04:05","slug":"where-are-we","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/where-are-we\/","title":{"rendered":"Where are We?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A teacher asks her students in the zoom room, \u201cwhere are we?\u201d<\/p>\n\n

A student answers, \u201cInside, outside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n

One way to begin with this Koan is to take the \u201cwe\u201d or more specifically, the idea of me, or anyone. Who are we? What makes us us? \u201cWhere are we\u201d can be also asked as \u201cwhere<\/em> am I? Where<\/em> is \u2018i\u2019\u201d?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

So, do that. Look for yourself. Right now. Where is \u201ci\u201d?<\/p>\n\n

This may begin a looking in. Perhaps there is even a feeling of going within to find the core, the central seed or spark that begets the rest of the \u201cI\u201d feeling.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n

Where are<\/em> you? Where are <\/em>we?<\/p>\n\n

Is there really an inside and outside? If we cannot actually find ourselves inside, then what is outside? Where is outside?<\/p>\n\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n\n

Like we\u2019ve heard from Matthew about the historical koans, this exchange didn\u2019t happen exactly as written. The teacher, Kathleen, did in fact ask this question of her students in an online yoga nidra session. The student at the time, me, initially just looked about, stopped by the wondering.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n

Another part of the conversation also included time, \u201cwhat time is<\/em> it,\u201d as this particular group of students spanned 4 continents (Africa, Europe, Australia, and North America) and multiple \u201ctime\u201d zones. So, feel free to begin your inquiry with this question instead – what time is it? Right now, for me, it\u2019s 8:41 am<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n

What time is it?<\/p>\n\n

I think either way the inquiry will surface the same unmistakable reality.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWhere are we?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWhat time is it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n

There is a stopping for each of those questions. Then a looking. Then because there is no seeing the<\/em> answer, there is just opening and just seeing. Inside, outside.\u00a0 Or as Ruth Ozeki says, via her character Jiko, an old Japanese Buddhist nun, \u201cUp, down. What\u2019s the difference?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Keep looking.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n

I am one of the first to say I prefer meeting in person with people. There is an undeniable feeling when I\u2019m with<\/em> my people. I regularly quit online courses. My attendance isn\u2019t regular at either of my teacher\u2019s zoom classes. And yet, when I am asked, or when I ask myself \u201cwhere are we,\u201d the absence of an answer, points to the fallacy of my self-limiting views. If there is no me to be found in here, then why do I think I need to be \u201cin person\u201d with persons in front of me? A little needle to poke a hole in my own assumptions of what \u201cI\u201d need(s), what \u201cI\u201d prefer(s).<\/p>\n\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n

A while back I jotted down a quote from Christian, non-dual mystic, Jim Finley. He says,<\/p>\n\n

\u201cOr like the Japanese poet Basho, we hear an old frog land in the quiet pond with the solitary splash.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Can I hear the old frog land in the quiet pond with a solitary splash because of the beautiful nature of poetry, or can I hear it because it is happening, because I\u2019m there when it\u2019s happening, because then is now and there is here?<\/p>\n\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n

Even if my thread has become quite thin now with all those words, and you\u2019re no longer sure what it is connected to, trace the subtlety…. And come to rest\u2026 here.\u00a0 Letting any remaining walls crumble away. Undefended openness<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Lilian Beck is a student of Kathleen Knipp and Zen master Matthew Juksan Sullivan. This talk was delivered during one of Matthew’s classes.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A teacher asks her students in the zoom room, \u201cwhere are we?\u201d A student answers, \u201cInside, outside.\u201d \u2026\u2026\u2026. One way to begin with this Koan is to take the \u201cwe\u201d or more specifically, the idea of me, or anyone. Who are we? What makes us us? \u201cWhere are we\u201d can be also asked as \u201cwhere […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10499"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10619,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10499\/revisions\/10619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}