Fantastic! I really appreciate all your time, patience, and help.

Will

Hi Mark,

A) The "true Self" is just a description I am using. Is there a self? Not in my experience. But at the same time, there is SOMETHING which I can't describe. I've heard it called Presence, Awareness, and Being, but none of those descriptors really do it justice. It isn't a person, at all ...

1) I keep looking, but I just can't find a separate "self" outside of my mind telling me that there must be a self. I know experience, not logic, are what counts here, and I'm just not experiencing a separate self. Was there ever one? Now that I look with this new way of seeing, no. It was all just ...

Mark,

When I try to find an autonomous Will who makes any decisions, I have a real hard time finding one. For example, I'm deciding what to eat. It SEEMS like I'm making a decision, whether to have tuna and a salad or a nice unhealthy sandwich, and it SEEMS like there is a debate between which one ...

I think the breakthrough had been coming for a very long time. I've read A LOT on non-duality over the past few years, hence the "technical terms" I've picked up, and I began to notice gaps appearing between me and my thoughts. I noticed that my thoughts just happened, that I couldn't control them ...

Hey Mark,

Nice to be back! A lot has changed!

I can't find ANY sense of a separate self! These thoughts that are happening suggest otherwise, but in "my" experience I don't see anything, just events occurring in Awareness!

If Life could be any different than it is now, it would be! But the ...

Hi, I'm Will.

I believe I've already crashed the gate, but would like another's opinion to make sure.

Will is just story. Thoughts just happen, emotions just happen. Will is not a separate entity. There is Awareness of everything that's happening, and that Awareness is my true "self." That is the ...

Dear Mark,

I'm getting a feeling that this isn't right for me, at least not for now. Thanks for your time.

Peace,
Will

As I noticed the thoughts/feelings arise, I noticed that when I really looked, every one was attached to a story about "me." If they were thoughts/feelings of fear, I would feel a tightening of my stomach. If they were thoughts/feelings of anger, I would feel a rushing sensation in my chest. Instead ...

I'm finished. I completed all the steps with the arrival and falling away of each thought.

This is exactly what I do when a thought or emotion arises during meditation. I note everything around the thought, the feeling in my stomach, the pattern of my breath, not pushing them away, but allowing them to stay or go as they will.

So, yeah, fear is like any other thought. Nothing of real ...

I expect that upon liberation, I'll feel the flow of things, God, the Universe, whatever you want to call it. I'll feel my fears fall away as the shadows that they are, and come to realize that everything is functioning as perfectly as it should. I will let go of the "little self" of illusion and ...

Hi Mark,

I'll do my best. Ready when you are.

Will

Hi, I'm Will. After years of meditation, reading countless books, and feeling more and more lost, I think I'm starting to see that this "self" is not real. Things are happening, there is an awareness of things happening, but the ultimate there is nothing we can point to and say "that's it, that's me ...