And no, an illusion can't think.

"Thinks" is a poor word choice. Better would be, believes, accepts, takes for granted, or assumes.

An analogy would be someone watching a play, who has never seen a play before, and becomes upset at seeing an actor stabbed onstage. They don't "think" the play is real, they just accept that it is ...

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, when it starts and how it works from your own experience. Describe it fully as you see it now.

3) How does it feel to see ...

There is no "experiencer," or "awareness." These are just stories. There is only life living.

To clarify 5., there are only thoughts - no thinker. So there are no "inside" thoughts. Referring to them as "outside" merely underscores that there is no self creating thoughts from the perspective of the body.

Hi Pete



1. Have you been able to find, a ‘self’ that is the ‘experiencer’?

2. Or a self that is the doer, or can control what happens?

3. Or a self that ‘makes’ decisions?

4. Or a self who ‘does the thinking’?

5. Is the "body" just another thought label for sensations (namely tactile ...

Just to clarify - the physical body does not exist except from sensations and outside thoughts, the perceptions of a "dead" body being the latter. The body is analogous to the image of a body on a movie screen; it is a concept, or idea only.

Hi Pete



But, just briefly, and for the sake of clarity, if, as you say, the body exists apart from sensations, i.e. direct experience, and outside thoughts, where is it? Where is there that it could be if not as an idea, a concept, a thought?

Well, when somebody "dies," when the body is no ...

In other words, I see the body as akin to a suit of clothes.

Further to 2., consider how amputees can still "feel" their missing limb.

Hi Pete


1. Does the body experience sensations and thoughts?

2. Is the "body" just another thought label for sensations (namely tactile & kinaesthetic)?

1. No.

2. The body is a thought label. But it exists independently of sensations and a fortiori thoughts.

As I've said, I think your ...

Hi Pete

Thanks for the video link.



Raise your right arm (or don’t). In that process of raising the right arm (or not), a decision is made, or at least something happens (or doesn’t). But can you pinpoint the actual moment of choice and find the actual entity that appears to be making that ...

It's clear that when we breathe, blink, digest food etc. there's no 'I' involved, but how is it for you when walking?

How is it when doing various everyday things like say, brushing your teeth, washing up, that kind of thing?
Try all kinds of stuff.

Is there any 'I' there for any of these ...

Of course, I guess you could say that we're all automatons, reacting to our environment.

Hi Pete


So, if the person seeing the tiger and feeling the resultant adrenalin buzz fires a shot at the tiger but misses, thereby causing the tiger to take flight, does that mean the tiger has an ego too? Or is it that all sentient being have simply evolved that deep-rooted survival response of ...