X Factor

Video Blog Transcription:

(00:00):

The Grateful Dead, when describing some of their shows, would talk about this thing called an X-factor.

They talked about it being this kind of intangible element that would happen at some of their shows that would take a normal performance and take it to a higher level. They talked about happening when the band became one with the audience and got in the same state of mind or consciousness.

And yes, I personally did experience the Grateful Dead X-factor, and I also experienced it without drugs, just to note that.

(00:56):

So I also noticed that this would happen when I was working with my teacher back 35 years ago, and ever since. We would do these ceremonies or workshops or even individual sessions, and sometimes there would be this magic or X-factor, and other times there would not. And I also recognized it when I'd go to Adyashanti retreats.

And when I started teaching and doing individual sessions, workshops, retreats, and ceremonies, I noticed that sometimes it would be there, and sometimes it would not.

And there's a real tendency to really attach because when it happens, it's this really expansive, meaningful experience that everyone would say, “Wow, that was so cool.” And, so then there's also a real tendency to think when it's not there that something's off. Do you know?

(02:03):

And so I really started becoming conscious of this last December when I started doing sharing circles. And because it started happening more in some circles, it would have this really cool X-factor or magic, if you will. And it would just be amazing, and everyone would say, “That was such a cool circle.” And then others (circles) were really cool, and we got some great work done, but it didn't have that expansive feeling that went with it, that X-factor.

And so, me being kind of the perfectionist that I am, I figured, “Well, I've got to figure out like how to nail these sharing circles so there's X-factor every time. They're paying me for these experiences, and I really want them to have this amazing experience every time.”

(02:57):

And of course, what I found was that I couldn't make it happen no matter what I did. I would like do ceremony before and get all ready and do all these different things. It just seemed to be that sometimes it happened and sometimes it didn't.

Then I thought back with my teacher, and sometimes it was there, and sometimes it wasn't, and he was like this enlightened guy. And then I'd go to Adyashanti retreats, and again sometimes it was there, and sometimes it wasn't.

Even with the Grateful Dead, it wasn't always there. That's why it came to be known, because sometimes it was there and sometimes it wasn't. There were these great shows, and then other shows were really good, but...

(03:50):

And so I just came to realize is that we can create the conditions for the magic or the X-factor, but we really can't make it happen. It kind of happens when it happens. It's almost like this grace that happens from the other side, from Spirit or some X-factor, which means we can't describe it. The conditions just line up just right and become synchronistic in a way that this magic just seems to happen.

So once you've experienced the X-factor or magic, and I'm assuming that all of you have experienced it in one form or another- either at a concert, out in nature, during a meditation, or during a workshop or a ceremony. And it just feels like this expansive space. Once you've experienced it, there's this tendency to undervalue experiences when you don't experience it.

If you experience it during meditation, and then you have a meditation where it isn't there, you think, “Oh, I must not have been meditating right, because I didn't feel the magic.” And I think this is not necessarily so, but there's this natural thing that we want to experience every time.