Dear Pete,
I've opened a facebook account under my name: Roger Farmer. My email address is: roger.farmer2@gmail.com

Thanks again for all your kindness and guidance. I hope I May still contact you if need be.
Metta,
Roger

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



No there is not and never was

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 ...

Hi Pete,
Thanks for your last communication.
It may be tomorrow before I can reply and do justice to your questions, as I'll be out this evening. I hope that is okay.
Regards,
Roger

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

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

Or a self that ‘makes’ decisions?

Or a self who ‘does the thinking’?


No. In direct experience I have been unable to locate a 'self' that is some kind of agent that carries ...

With 'you' revealed as a thought story, what remains?

What experiences?

What thinks?

What does?

What is aware?

Hi Pete,
This is where I'm at:

There is the body-mind bundle, ( in Buddhism, the 5 skandhas), remaining when 'I' is revealed as a thought story. The bundle is dynamic, impermanent ...

Does the body experience sensations and thoughts?

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

Certainly the conventional thinking is that the eyes do the seeing, the ears do the hearing and the skin does the touching etc and that the sense organs: the ...

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 choice? In direct experience, can 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?k
Try all kinds of stuff.

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

Hi Pete,

Thanks for your reply and it does help very much. I have read it several times. I think I may be, at least partly, getting the hang of this. The absence of an 'I' in charge does seem to accord with my direct experience in the moment. I need to surrender to the ebb and flow of life, be open ...

Dear Pete,

I think what I am struggling with is as follows:

I accept there is no 'I', no executive in control. I am unable to locate this. But does this mean this mind-body bundle, that constitutes my conventional self, functions as some kind of automaton. When you say thoughts just arise, that is ...

We'll come to choosing and deciding in more detail soon, but you say When I make a conscious decision to look at say this cup in front of me. Can you find a 'you' making that 'conscious decision' or is that another assumption based on thought?


I think this touches on some of your later questions ...

When you look at something, a book, a tree outside or whatever, can you find an 'I' that is looking or seeing, or is there just seeing?

If there is an 'I', where are the boundaries between what is being seen, the seeing process itself and the seer?

Please do the same with hearing: birdsong ...

[quoteCan you find anything, anything at all, that does?

How do you conceive the 'self' or 'I'/ 'me' that you hold 'yourself' to be?

Now look directly at the flow of experiencing. Where in that flow does the 'self' that you conceive reside? Can it be found, at all?
][/quote]

No I can't find ...

Nothing exists outside the present moment.
I do accept that. My version of the past is my mental construction. People's account of the past varies from person to person and from time to time. Any account of the past will be imperfect, will have inaccuracies - there is probably no such thing as an ...

Dear Pete,
Firstly many thanks for taking me on - I'd like you to be my guide. I live in London, UK. I agree to the ground rules. Having seen the relevant material, I agree to the disclaimer. Please be patient if I struggle with the IT. I will read the material on using the quote function ...