Thanks, Paulo!

Dear Paulo,
You asked me: So did this sense of self at the time have any function? Could it again?

These are good questions. All I can think is that the function of self at the time was to create the illusion of something permanent, something solid and unchanging. This then gives one a sense of ...

Dear Paulo,
I've missed corresponding with you! Here are my answers to your questions.

1 Is there a separate entity 'self', 'me' 'I', at all, anywhere, in any way, shape or form? Was there ever?
No, there isn’t and there never has been. The idea that there was no separate self was not new to me ...

Hi Paulo,
I'll probably take several days, maybe even a week with the questions.
Thanks,
Robyn

Hi Paulo,
I have let the question settle: Have you seen through the illusion of a separate self?
Through many moods and emotions and thoughts, absorbed and distracted, tired and uplifted, bored and excited, all I can find is experience. There is no separate self. There is only experience and this ...

Hi Paulo,
No there isn't.
Robyn

Hi Paulo,
When I say 'I', I'm not referring to anything in direct experience. It feels like getting used to a new way of expressing experience. So I said 'I like it. I don't like it.' then added 'It's pleasant. It's unpleasant.' The direct experience is 'pleasant' and 'unpleasant'. The way to label ...

Hi Paulo,
It's been an amazing time!
You asked me to spend time listening, smelling, looking and observing what happens. Is there an 'I' there to hear or smell or is it just hearing and smelling.
I noticed that when something impinged on my senses (hearing, smelling, tasting, looking), at first ...

Hi Paulo,
Well it's been an interesting time. You asked me 'Can you see a separate entity called "I" anywhere in the present?' So, I looked and felt with my senses and noticed that 'things' come and go all the time (bees, butterflies, clouds, rain, thoughts, emotions, wind, people) and in the ...

Hi Paulo,
I might take a day or so to reply. Hope that's OK.
Thanks again, Paulo,
Robyn

Hi Paulo,
Another observation: feeling differently about 'the present moment' links to 'not being the originator' (of myself). The present moment just is, with or without me.
Robyn

Hi Paulo,
'Looking at the moment, right here is front of me', this is the flavour of my day:
Sometimes I was absorbed (in the zone) when I was doing something I enjoyed (gardening, hanging out sheets to dry). I sat for awhile and watched clouds moving across the sky. Thoughts would intrude and take ...

Hi Paulo,
I will consider the statement. It's possible I might not write until tomorrow as I'm busy this evening and I don't want to write a rushed response.
Thanks again and I will try to have fun!
Robyn

Dear Paulo,
I thought about what you wrote: Is there an originator there or just a thought about an originator? I also went back to the article by Neil Jalaldeen and the phrase 'only experience' leapt out at me.
I know there isn't an originator as this is absurd. Robyn came into being but she didn't ...

Hi Paulo,
I really understood what you said about the story of the car - the way a thought comes into our heads and we expand it and give it qualities and it snowballs from there. I do this all the time, particularly with thoughts but also with emotions where I can find myself moving away from the ...