Dear Nettie,

1)Is there a separate entity 'self', 'me' 'I', at all, anywhere, in any way, shape or form? Was there ever?
There is and never has been a separate self, at no time, not anywhere.

2)Explain in detail what the illusion of separate self is, when it starts and how it works from your own ...

Dear Nettie,

"Would you like to answer the final questions now?"

Yes!

Love,
Ben

Dear Nettie,

“I'm not sure what you are saying.
It kinda sounds like two things here.
Has there ever been awareness without perception or perception without awareness?”
For sure, there is no perception without awareness. When I mentioned the perceptions occur in awareness, I was referring to that ...

Dear Nettie,

"Belief happens or not. No believer."
Yes!

"Yes. The thought of self still appears. The story of you. Yet it is known to be just that. A story."
Yes

"There are perceptions occurring which thought labels hand table etc.
Yes?"
Yes, there is awareness/ perceptions, which are labeled. As ...

Dear Nettie,

“The thought tries?”
Good point. The thoughts are not trying, they just appear and disappear, not driven by any outside entity. And their role is to seemingly separate this from that, the focus being on seemingly.

"Many times, it is only seen AFTER some actions that the story of the ...

Dear Nettie,

Thanks for letting me know that you may reply a bit later. I really appreciate chatting and your usual fast responses!
"Lovely! Thought is composed of learned shared words....and it seems to divide the timeless flow into 'bits' that includes a separate you. And this all happens ...

Dear Nettie,

""Is there a thinker?
A controller?
A do-er?"
There is no thinker - only thoughts.
There is no controller - life just happening. Thoughts appearing, action appearing. If at all, thoughts may give a "command" to the body, but nobody being involved in that.
There is no doer. These ...

Dear Nettie,

"Life can never be captured by any thoughts or objects or words. Life is wide, fluid, seamless, spontaneous, and thoughts try to catch what is untouchable. "
Yes! Cool huh?"
It is super cool :) an amazing playground.

"So notice how the feeling of identifying with the body happens ...

Dear Nettie,

"Notice how the feeling of clarity arises spontaneously and is simultaneously recognized... Equally as the perception of cloudiness...
Effort and effortlessness arise effortlessly.... No do-er...no controller..."
Yes, noticing how everything is arising and being recognized. Everything ...

Dear Nettie,

“Yet memory is part of the seamless unitary flow. Yes?”
Yes, it is part of the flow, but it is there quite frequent and at times relatively strong. In some “moments”, everything is “crystal clear” and light, and in many moments, there is contraction in the head and looking through ...

Dear Nettie,

"It appears stable because thought memory tells us it is. In actuality the flavor of awareness changes with the perception. See if it is like that or not."
Yes, it appears to be stable only due to my memory. It's amazing how i get to know "the world" again without the filter of memory ...

Dear Nettie,

"Yet there is awareness always with perception... Even if it is aliveness.
So it is a seamless timeless unitary flow. We call life.
Is there anything solid or stable or fixed?"
I am not sure i fully understand the question. But let me answer it telling you what i'm observing. There ...

Dear Nettie,

"Is there a separate self?
A 'you' other than a word thought?
Look!"
No, there is no separate self. There is breathing, a body, thoughts, etc. There is looking and if i look for a self the way i look for a table, there is nothing.

"Are you sure? Have you ever experienced awareness ...

Dear Nettie,

"What does the I point to?"
The "I" points to this body and thoughts and words that are perceived by this body. It is a useful name/ label to communicate. So, it seems that the body/ mind structure believes the label, but without any "beliver" being there.

"Ok here is a crucial point ...

Dear Nettie,
“Conditioning is a label also that arises naturally. Isn't it life simply happening? Why believe the label?”
I have been looking at the label today and seen that it is just a pointer, just a label without a depth a truth behind it. When I read and look at “Why believe the label?”, I ...