Guide

[Robertdjemil]

I don't believe I can change what's happening now, not in this moment, I think i'm clear on this point. This is the only moment that exists & everything that is showing up in this moment IS what it IS. Although in my current state of mind i'm very open to the idea of being wrong.

[Canfora]

You keep talking about what you believe, Robert.
How do you know a belief is true or only a belief?
Maybe when you were a child you believed in Santa Claus.
What made you see that Santa Claus was only a belief?
Maybe you believe that you are Robert.
Can you find a Robert anywhere - other than in thoughts about Robert? A proof that this entity Robert is real?
What do you see when you look for Robert?

[Robertdjemil]

In essence I can't absolutely know whether a belief is true or just a belief. Beliefs are so ingrained it becomes the norm to not question. How do I discern between whats belief is true & what's not? I am trying my best to look with direct experience, through sight, hearing, taste, touch & smell but i'm not sure I know what that really means or looks like, can you help?

I stopped believing in Santa when my parents told me Santa was a fictional character

I can only find a Robert as a thought and an identification with the body but I cant prove that entity called Robert is actually real. What I see when I look at Robert with my understanding of direct experience i.e. beyond thought is a sense of Robert. I Can feel, taste, touch Robert but that's still identification with the body. The only real proof I have to go on is that this body is Robert and Robert appears to be real. I feel like I'm going around in circles and missing a key point.

I want to dive into this work and do whatever I need to do but at the moment and whilst I'm not able to look in the right place, I think I would be sitting there aimlessly

[Canfora]

I want to dive into this work and do whatever I need to do but at the moment and whilst I'm not able to look in the right place, I think I would be sitting there aimlessly

You're doing fine, Robert. Seriously. We are going a step at a time, that's all :)

In essence I can't absolutely know whether a belief is true or just a belief. Beliefs are so ingrained it becomes the norm to not question. How do I discern between whats belief is true & what's not? I am trying my best to look with direct experience, through sight, hearing, taste, touch & smell but i'm not sure I know what that really means or looks like, can you help?

Let's do some exercises so that you can see the difference between thinking about something and your direct experience, so that you can see that which is real can be sensed in one or more ways. That which is imagined exists only in the mind.

Close your eyes and imagine you are holding a watermelon in your hands. Imagine it so vividly that you can feel its weight, the shape and texture of the skin. Hold it there, sensing it, and open your eyes. What happened to a melon? How about the sensation that was so believable?

[Robertdjemil]

This is where I have difficulties. I've never been able to visualize, at best I could imagine it as a thought but it wouldn't be vivid by any stretch of the imagination. I will try anyway and let you know what happens :)

[Canfora]

That's curious. Isn't a belief the "visualizing", the experience of a thought that you take to be true? You're visualizing your beliefs without a problem, Robert! You are aware of your thoughts!

If you have trouble visualizing a watermelon, look to reality instead, to what surrounds you right now. Can you see a watermelon when you look?

No? Then how do you know watermelon's are real? You can experience them and that's why you know they exist.

If there is an "I", it must be there now, available to be experienced. Can you see (instead of vizualizing thoughts about what this "I" is) an "I"?

Have a look. Can you see an "I"? If you can't, don't you need to "visualize" your believes about an "I" to make it seem true?

I hope these pointers above don't sound too weird and will help you LOOK :)

[Robertdjemil]

Sorry for the delay, I've been in deep thought reading your questions & my answers, I got very little sleep last night for thinking & when I did sleep I was dreaming about the same stuff. Can I share with you where I am? I will pencil my thoughts today & send them over

[Canfora]

Please share.

[Robertdjemil]

The perspective of reality is changing, what was previously thought as real appears to be a belief in what was felt to be real and what is real is something different and yet to be seen. There are flashes of clarity which can’t be held onto for any period of time. It’s understood that the ‘I’ thought is not Robert, the body or its component parts. Anything that can be visualised including objects and awareness cannot be the ‘I’ because it’s being perceived and if it’s being perceived it cannot be ‘I’ the self, as the ‘I’ is not available to be experienced, there cannot be an ‘I’

Everything seems to be happening naturally, grass grows, wind blows, sun shines, body breaths, heart beats, thoughts & feelings arise and there doesn't appear to be an ‘I’ controlling them which suggests that everything is just happening including the object called the body, there’s no separate self.

Objects are real, everything can be perceived accept the ‘I’ is absent. Seeing/looking is experiencing and the ‘I’ cannot be seen and therefore not in experience and life is experience. Direct experience in the here and now, in this moment of the only thing that IS which is everything, life…….

What is difficult is to see is that which is seeing, that which is being perceived. The seeing seems to be happening without a doer. It’s just happening but how is not yet clear.

There is something that is so obvious in what’s being said here but it’s still unknown

[Canfora]

What is difficult is to see is that which is seeing, that which is being perceived. The seeing seems to be happening without a doer. It’s just happening but how is not yet clear.

Seeing is happening. Can you see what is doing the seeing?

I'm guessing that you will read the above question and try to see this person or this awareness or this some-thing that is supposed to be doing the seeing and answer 'no'.

What's there to know then?

What stays unknown?

There is something that is so obvious in what’s being said here but it’s still unknown

Isn't the 'no' the most obvious answer?

[Robertdjemil]

Either my eyes is doing the seeing or everything being experienced is seeing

Correct Other than the answer above I don't know what is doing the seeing

"What's there to know then" everything until I can see through the illusion

I don't know what stays unknown

How is the 'No' the most obvious answer. Maybe I've missed the context of the question

[Canfora]

I can see from your answers that I went into koan questions mode again. Sorry Robert!

Either my eyes is doing the seeing or everything being experienced is seeing

Can you explain what you mean with "everything being experienced is seeing", please?

[Robertdjemil]

I may have misled by posting my intelectual understanding of realty opposed to talking from a point of direct experience which is what you initially instructed

[Robertdjemil]

What I mean is that the 'I' cannot be experienced & therefore it is not real but everything else in life can be seen & experienced & is real, Seeing that which is present in this moment is all there is to see. Does that make any sense? Sorry I'm not expressing myself very well tonight :)

[Canfora]

That makes total sense. And I think we both need to sleep. I'm also tired. See you tomorrow:)