Most Mondays from 7-9pm
  Quaker Meeting House
65 9th St (between Market & Mission)
San Francisco, CA 94103
map & driving directions
  Upcoming Dates:
April 21, 28
May 12, 19, 26
June 2, 9, 16, 30
  Spring 2008 Retreat: May 1—4
 
 
 
  Satsang
 
Satsang is the experiential sacred space of our shared oneness.
Our evening together begins with 30—40 minutes of silent sitting. The instruction is simply to allow oneself to be present. Observe, listen, feel; gently open to “what is.” Following the sitting, Jon asks what people would like him to discuss. What ensues is a talk and dialogue with further questions and interaction.
 
 
At its root, Jon's teaching is an invitation to allow what is to be as it is, regardless of how the mind perceives the content of this moment. The transmission of the frequency of presence—the cornerstone of the Zen and Advaita traditions—is also the root of Jon's work with individuals and groups.
However, as with any teacher, certain "tones" or ways of expressing non-dual truth emerge to fit the conditions and era the students find themselves living in. In Jon's satsang, there is an emphasis put
 
 
  on sensing—on dropping below the neck and deeply listening to the body and heart. In this teaching, the energy of emotion is often the gateway to the presence and the vastness of the Big Heart.  
 

"We learn how to return to the mystery of not knowing. This is not the same as ignorance; rather, it is wisdom, to surrender to not knowing. And when you find the truth that you are, when you actually know it as being knowing, or knowing through being, that’s the surrendering, the guide, the teacher, the teaching and the path, all in one.

 
 

"Not knowing is really seeing directly what is. It doesn’t mean understanding it or intellectualizing it. It doesn't mean comparing it or analyzing it. It means perception, direct perception of what is. That’s all that’s really required, completely. Whether it’s physical awareness, mental awareness, emotional awareness—that’s all that’s required. Seeing things directly as they are, feeling them directly as they are, hearing them directly as they are. So you could come to satsang and listen and not understand a single word of it, that’s fine. Just hear it, just as it is, and let it be."

 
  —Jon Bernie—