Hi Vivien,

1) Is there a separate entity 'self', 'me' 'I', at all, anywhere, in any way, shape or form?

In my experience there only ever "seems" to be a separate self. With a little bit of investigation there is no separate self happening in reality. No being that is living its separate life ...

Hi Vivien,

Sure, ready for these questions and any feedback I might get on the answers.

Love,

Philip

Hi Vivien,

But any time when this identification is not seen to be for what it is, the sense of self seems to be something solid, something enduring, and real.

Yes, it does " seem " to be solid. I guess the key is to notice whenever it seems solid and inquire into that. Or just notice that as ...

Hi Vivien,

Yes. But the self / me doesn’t just manifest as a story. As well as the idea of Philip, there is also a visceral experience, which you have come to associate with Philip.
A real sense, that you recognised, and identify as, being Philip.
A visceral sense which is very familiar, the ...

Hi Vivien,

Be careful not to chase a past experience. Experience is always anew, always afresh.

Thank you for the reminder.

Does Philip / self / me exist as a REAL autonomous, long-lasting, independent entity?

It seems clear that Philip only exists as thoughts. These thoughts certainly ...

Hi Vivien,

Not much to comment on. The pointer I find most helpful is "Is this me or am I aware of this" referring to whatever seems like a me in the moment. As soon as the question is asked it becomes clear that since there is awareness of the thought/feeling/image/etc, it cannot be me. At this ...

Hi Vivien,

Things have felt quite clear since that moment when looking at my air purifier a couple days ago. Nothing has really changed but in that moment the fact that there was no self was so clear that to some extent it just clicked that I'm not looking for a higher self or awareness or any ...

Hi Vivien,

Not much time to reply today but a lot of looking is happening.

Will reply in full tomorrow.

Thank you :)

Philip

Hi Vivien,

I really appreciate your thorough reply.

Last week when I was really noticing that focus shifting from thinking to reality the self seemed a lot more illusory. However the Philip character was not included in that reality. This week we instead looked at the Philip character, or at least ...

Hi Vivien,

just have something to add to this paragraph that slipped away when I wrote it.

Well on one hand I definitely realize that this is about seeing what is always here, and not about reaching a "special" or altered state. And most of the time it feels extremely regular just with a shift in ...

Hi Vivien,

How do you want to experience that the self is just an illusion?

More thoroughly

Isn’t the absence of a sense of self is the seeing that there is no independent entity doing things and making things happen?

That's just it, it's never quite seemed like there was no independent ...

Hi Vivien,

More of the same today, just deeper. Whenever the separate self appears I ask if it is ME or if I am aware of the me.

This is getting more and more before I would notice reality but it would seem like there was still a self happening outside of reality that just wasn't real. Now I see ...

Hi Vivien,

Lot's of good noticing today. Throughout the day the question was constantly asked "am I listening to music or aware of music being listened to" "am I driving or aware of driving happening" "am I seeing or aware of seeing happening"

Are you walking the dog? Or you are aware of the body ...

Hi Vivien,

I asked these questions about every image and seeming self that arose, at least the ones that were noticed.

There was a lot of identification with the physical body, just the idea floating loosely as I went through my day that I am the body. As I walked my dog and noticed the body ...

Hi Vivien,

OK. I also don’t want to imply that the illusion of the self will be gone when it’s seen through. Not at all. It’s just can be seen for what it is, a fictional character and not something that exists in reality.

Ok understood.

So are you saying that within this mental image, it can ...