Hi Paul!

Yes, for me the forum has been entirely down for the last couple of days. I got your “confirmed” message and wrote back to you that same day. In it, I offered (and do so again right now) my deep gratitude for all of your generosity as well as as your skill in giving just the right ...

Welcome back!

Ok, here goes:

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

No. In direct experience, there is no distinct entity that is “me.”
2) Explain in detail what the illusion of separate self is, when it starts and how it ...

I hope you have a wonderful week away from the internet! Thanks for letting me know — thoughts would otherwise certainly have come up with some creative worries about what had happened to you. I’ll take this week as a chance to clarify and deepen as I answer the list of questions.

With so much ...

Thanks so much, Paul. Everything you wrote is much appreciated.
I was going to dig into answering the questions today, but life circumstances seem to have denied my time off request. Good news, though: the X-rays showed my kid didn’t break anything, and she’s thrilled to have crutches in school ...

So sorry for the delay, Paul. Your last message offered so much to respond to, but I’ve become aware that it also evoked a lot of resistance. Something tells me you won’t be surprised by that. I sat with this resistance and what clarified is this: I am committed to the unfolding/unbinding that’s ...

Hi Paul,
…see if a boundary or a separation line can be found in between the body and the seat.
It’s becoming more apparent that imagination is required to connect sensations with images of body parts. So, there’s a sensation that’s labeled “heel.” There’s also an image labeled as a foot on a foot ...

Take your time with the mirror exercise, it is a beautiful pointer and has so many layers.

The first layer somehow makes clear that there are so many layers beyond!
(2) Is there any connection between the felt sensations and the image in the mirror?
There's no actual connection. There's a ...

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the well wishes for my daughter, who is feeling much better and back to regular activities.

I realize the slight doubt I shared with you about no self was because I was looking outside of DE. I don’t have to say I’m 100% sure of its non-existence. But I can say that a separate ...

Hi Paul,

Is there a definite recognition that there is no separate self…
If there is, does any doubt exist?
There is a recognition that a separate self has never been seen or found in all my looking, and that instead there are clear and compelling signs that it doesn’t and couldn’t exist. So I ...

But wait — even the believer is thought.
You are on to something here can you expand on this further please?

Beliefs can't be thoughts that "someone" takes to be true, because there is no someone. Instead, beliefs are thoughts (about how things are / should be) which other thoughts (about who "I ...

Which identity is Jason?
Jason is the name attached to all the thoughts that make up all these identities.
If You Took all of the Jason Identities and put them aside what would there be?
The same thing there is with all these identities here — This. All This.

Thought really wants to convince ...

So, reading that back, I see that I do know who and what “I” am. A flow of thoughts about sensations. And looking around at the environment, there are only sensations, and it’s only thought that says some of them are “me” and some are “other.” When thoughts subside, there’s just the flow of ...

I sat with and did some written investigation of what’s been arising over the last couple of days — thought labels it as a kind of heaviness, a funk of doubt and demoralization. Thought is a real circular ride. It all kept coming back to: I don’t know who or what I am. In direct experience, I cannot ...

Hi Paul, I could use some help with what seems like resistance. Without that label, I’ll just describe DE. Constriction in the midline — chest and throat, very stiff shoulders, neck, and face. Where there had previously been eagerness to use valuable free time to do this work, there have today been ...

Today I got back into the exercise you sent, in which I sit in nature and eventually
Notice that everything is part of one movement.
This was not yet noticed. I suspect I’m getting hung up on a literal interpretation, looking only for some overt connection between all the various movements I see ...