OK, we are through, that is us finished here, all done and dusted, it was nice working with you!

But I can see now that these sort of thoughts will continue, fears, doubts, not being good enough or clever enough, etc but I REALLY do not have to identify with any of them any more! It is a huge ...

So I guess I'm just hanging on to a concept

Well do you in fact 'guess' here Hannah? Or do you not?

This is not present in experience, nor can it be. It's just a thought, me trying to make sense of what the skandhas are and how Things actually happen without a self willing it all.

In other ...

You wrote: 'I am thinking about the Metta that gives rise to a long term sort of volitional flow of things'

Mmm, you got a wee bit vague and maybe fudgey here.

Can you tell me if anything can actually be observed, to actually cause anything else, for a definite fact in this respect'?

OK nice observation there but at the same time that reply was a bit conceptual Hannah (my fault really for going off on a conceptual ramble no doubt!)

However I now ask you; in direct experience can you find 'intention'?
Mbx

By cherished notion I mean that despite folk believing that; 'things arise in dependence upon conditions' (Loved that 'deep dance' thing of yours too BTW!) they can still manage to miss that this indicates there is no 'free will'.

Perhaps a reason we still manage to cling onto the notion of 'free ...

now that I know I have no self! It's like 'what's not to like?'

I loved that gag! (chortle chortle!)

AND I will be revisiting it below too!

I think there is still intention, in as much as there is volition, and Metta, but it's like a flow of intention rather than a willed or forced

Mmm, I ...

Hey, Hannah Brown you are looking real good!

We are nearly done here.

I will now just post some closing plenary questions:

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



2) Explain in detail what the illusion of separate self is ...

Maybe it's just the habit of self doubt

But is what you call 'doubt' not just a thought Hannah?
Just be with your breathing again. Just look in Direct Experience and ask that.

Have you ever paused to briefly consider going to a a movie because the poster says something like; 'If you are going ...

Actually good old Suzuki makes abetter job of it than me!:

Shunryu Suzuki from a talk Attachment, Non Attachment in Zen Mind Beginner's Mind.
"Each existence depends on something else. Strictly speaking there are no separate individual existences. There are many names for one existence. Sometimes ...

No, but I still feel separate most of the time. Although today was the first day of this straw bale building course, meeting 25-30 new people. I was amazed at how I felt no need to present or defend an identity so I guess I'm feeling a lot less separate than before.


Yes, you are a heap of atoms ...

Yes I agree! That's why they seem so exciting when they do arrive!


Lovely stuff Hannah! I never thought of that before. Yes, it is like getting a present and just like an ideal present at the right moment too.

OK some recappy stuff now. It looks like a lot but when you read it you will see it's ...

OK, Ideas, even good ideas, and really creative ones at that, just arrive in consciousness (there is no entity which decides 'Mmm, OK, I will just have that good idea right now!')

Yes or no Hannah?
Mbx

That is correct, I can see the truth of this, but feel I am still processing the repercussions, still letting it settle to a deeper level. I feel like I am in a sort of bardo, where it is slowly unfolding, more and more letting go. The Heart sutra resonates more fully each time I recite it, almost ...

HannahBrown wrote:
Feeling good to be back home, feeling RELAXED!! Noticing a difference since leaving 10 days ago.

The 'I' does not do anything it just thinks it does! Bless!

OK, I now just want to ask; have you seen this?

I take it that 'Bless' meant you do but I am just checking that it does ...

Feeling good to be back home, feeling RELAXED!! Noticing a difference since leaving 10 days ago.

The 'I' does not do anything it just thinks it does! Bless!


Yeah! Sounds good.

I apologise for not saying I would be away in London from Monday afternoon till Tuesday afternoon. I thought I had ...