Ep. 256 – The Experience of Consciousness: Question About Cultivating Awareness & Focus On the Buddhist Path
Insight Hour with Joseph Goldstein
Be Here Now Network
4.8 • 864 Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2025
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Joseph Goldstein responds to questions on spiritual craving, mental focus, and what it truly means to become aware of awareness.
This time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein mindfully explains:
- Bringing your daily life into your spiritual practice
- Mindfulness of seeing: focusing on the seeing itself rather than on what we are looking at
- Resting in open, non-reactive spaciousness
- The cognizing power of emptiness and realizing that there is nothing to know
- Keeping the mind steady and how concentration deepens insight
- Understanding both relative and ultimate reality
- Defining dukkha as the inevitability of unwanted experiences
- How to not waste suffering: taking an interest in the shadows of our own minds
- Having agency over our own minds during difficult experiences
- Mindfulness of anger and other negative emotions
This episode was originally published on Dharmaseed
“How do I become aware of awareness? Where is it? How can I put my finger on it? When we realize that there’s nothing to find, and yet the knowing is happening, then we relax back into the mystery of consciousness, and you’re very aware of the capacity of the mind to know.” –Joseph Goldstein
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This show is brought to you by BetterHelp. |
| 0:05.3 | Maybe your holiday tradition is baking that legendary sweet potato pie, |
| 0:09.9 | or maybe it's learning a recipe for the first time. |
| 0:13.7 | Alongside the familiar flavors, therapy can be a new ritual that feeds emotional well-being. |
| 0:20.5 | BetterHelp connects people with licensed therapist online, so support is accessible when you need it the most. |
| 0:28.0 | It's a way to make self-care part of the holiday recipe. |
| 0:32.0 | This December, start a new tradition by taking care of you. |
| 0:36.4 | Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com |
| 0:41.0 | slash insight hour. |
| 0:43.1 | That's better. |
| 0:44.2 | H-E-L-P.com slash insight hour. |
| 0:57.0 | Okay, how do I become aware of awareness? Where is it? |
| 0:58.0 | You know, and how can I put my finger on it? |
| 1:01.0 | But when we realize that there's nothing to find, and yet the knowing is happening, then we |
| 1:09.0 | relax back into, I don't know, you could call it the mystery |
| 1:14.8 | of knowing, the mystery of consciousness. |
| 1:17.9 | And you're very aware of its knowing the capacity of the mind to know. |
| 1:42.2 | Welcome to the Joseph Goldstein Inside Hour. |
| 1:46.8 | This podcast is an expression of our shared interest in self-discovery. |
| 1:52.7 | Join Joseph as he shares his deep knowledge of the path of mindfulness. |
| 1:58.0 | If you are interested in supporting this podcast, please go to beherenownetwork.com |
| 2:04.3 | slash Joseph. Joseph asked me to look through the questions and read them out. And so I already, I'm sorry, we're not going to get to everybody's questions. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Be Here Now Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Be Here Now Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.