Hello Fred,
thanks for all your help and care. I've been writing almost daily for the last week and now I've boiled everything down to a few cogent replies.




1) Is there a separate entity ‘self’, ‘me’ ‘I’, at all, anywhere, in any way, shape or form? Was there ever? /
It’s now plain to see there ...

Hi Fred, just wanted to let you know that I haven't fallen off the Earth. I've taken these questions to heart and this 'self ' idea is evaporating in joy. I'm still writing. The process is full on.
-Love, Craig

Hello Fred,
just wanted to let you know that I'm living with these questions and it will probably be at least a day or 2 before I complete my answers.
Love, Craig

Fred,
again, thank you for the guidance. I'll have these questions answered by this weekend.
Love, Craig

Hi Fred,
you ask, With no entity there to claim ownership and doership, how do choice and decisions happen? Can yo look deeply into everyday apparent decisions, like choosing what to wear, what to eat, what to do, etc, and see how the process unfolds. What happens? The answer to this is clear and ...

Greetings Fred,
once again, thank you so much for your guidance so far.
You asked, Which is it with you? Understanding or seeing? Is there a difference with what happened three years ago? [ This is clearly a seeing of obvious facts. I could use the word grokking instead because this is a gestalt ...

3) Who or what believes...claims ownership? only another thought could believe or claim ownership. You ask if there is a problem with believing? I notice now that if there is irritation at work, like with this electronic medical information system that after 7 months still doesn't work, thoughts ...

Hi Fred,
you asked, So, which is more true, what you SEE or what you BELIEVE? What I believe is just thought passing through; relative and temporary. What I see (if by that you mean my understanding) would be true.


2) When you strip away all the assumptions about yourself, what makes that sense ...

Fred,
when I got up from the computer a few minutes ago a thought arose, "what if I'm just in a passing state?" and I could see immediately that the thought and images of "me" that might just be in a "passing state" are just that, thoughts and images. Of course that's not a self. Thought is just ...

Fred,
as I walked away from the computer after completing my last post I walked outside and various thoughts came up like "of course it's so simple etc." "I can't wait to get back and write something to Fred about this" ...
Now it's so obvious that thoughts are arising without a thinker, even very ...

4) You ask me to describe the energetic pull in the chest? and who or what is calling this experience suffering?
Okay Fred, this is ridiculously simple: it's only another though that is labeling this feeling in the chest suffering. Then another thought labels a succession of thoughts as proof that ...

1) HI Fred, thanks for getting back to me. In answer to your first question, can I point to something that believes it is doing the investigation? No! Emphatically No! I could be sitting here lost in thought and suddenly investigation arises just as thought arises, spontaneously with no investigator ...

Hi Fred,

To answer question 1) the difference between the open presence and what I believe myself to be now...I feel like I'm this self who is doing this investigation-I can see that other thoughts are coming and going, but somehow "I" am the one who is investigating them. (sorry for the run-on ...

Hi Fred, again thank you for your reply. I will be stepping away from my computer for at least 24 hours so I will answer the above questions tomorrow. Thanks for everything. Something is on fire here and I know where to look.
-Craig

2) so what is this self seen as now, that is different from that? /
The seeming 'self' that I think is doing the thinking simply evaporates. Not totally sure I understand your question. The approach that "seems to work" is the question, "what is the self behind the thought that is doing the ...