How does it feel to see this?

It feels sobering. I've experienced and overcome drug and alcohol problems, in the not too distant past, and it's like suddenly looking at your glass of wine, your bag of cocaine, or your needle of heroin, and in a sudden logical realization thinking: why on earth ...

Hi Bill
Explain in detail what the illusion of separate self is, when it starts and how it works.

The separate self is an idea in the mind that there is a separate I, that this I is responsible for perceiving, and that either it is what it perceives, or it is not what it perceives.

The I claims ...

Is there a 'me', at all, anywhere, in any way, shape or form? Was there ever?

No, and no.

There is simply a series of thoughts, sensations and perceptions with no discernible I or me, except in the form of a mental label that arises in thought. This thought applies the label of me to a series of ...

hi bill, so please read the two posts above first, as I keep coming back to this. Sorry to completely spam the post before you get a chance to reply ;-)

So this is becoming clearer and clearer to me, each time I go into meditation, or listen to a good spiritual teacher like adyashanti.

These are ...

I feel this more than an understanding, but less than a realization. and I'm still uncertain.

Hi Bill,

The insight has recurred with a certain clarity again today.

In meditation today, I asked myself: Who is perceiving this? The question is unanswerable, because it contains a false inference: that a perception must have a perceiver, and that the two are separate, subject and object.

This ...

Hi Bill. I'm back.

The inquiry was going on continually in the background whilst I was away. And I was looking for the I. I was lying in bed last night, as I couldn't sleep, and all this was running through my mind.

Then suddenly there was a moment of clarity. There are just feelings, thoughts ...

Hi Bill,

I've now got internet at home, so am good to go. Yes, I think I need to pace myself a bit, thanks for noticing.

It's now wednesday evening. I think what I need to do is spending a couple of days just looking, inside and outside of meditation.

When I ask myself, is there a self?

There's ...

Hi Bill

I'm not sure about fears, but whenever I approach this, I quickly start to feel defeated. I feel unable to see the truth, and my fear, if anything is that I just won't ever see this, that I'm not ready, that I'll remain stuck.

What I'm asking is you Josh, were born many years ago. You had ...

this is really starting to help me Bill. I read these quoted words from the Buddha on the LU website articles: "Then, Bahiya, you should train yourself thus: In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen. In reference to the heard, only the heard. In reference to the sensed, only the sensed ...

Suffering seems to take place to "me". There's strong identification with suffering here. I can't seem to separate perceiving suffering, and suffering.

Can you explain/tell me how your "I" has been put together?
What is its construct?

My "I" mainly comes from the fact that I seem to be a ...

Is there a self living your life?

I just can't say Bill. I'm watching very closely, and will continue to so, and I'm really not sure.

Simply keep checking if there is something real, besides a thought, that owns and directs the body.

I'll keep doing so. A lot of stuff is coming up as I start ...

Thanks Bill. I've been reading and re-reading your post several times over the past 2 days.

Who or what is moving the attention around? Is it really your mind? Who really owns it? Do you see how literaly all thoughts are stories? Every thought is essentially past tense in its nature.

I have a ...

Thanks for your ongoing help Bill, it means a lot.

I tried the attention technique. I want to know: who or what is moving the attention around? Right now my mind believes it is me. And my mind believes that me is a person called Josh.

The technique produces a light ecstasy and inner silence. I ...

Hi Bill.

So I spent yesterday looking intently at my thoughts. Your question first shocked me, and then took me to a place of very deep silence for the entire day. I think it's rare to have experienced a silence as deep as that. But it was a passing experience. However, I did realize that my ...