Sarah,
Is there a separate entity 'self', 'me' 'I', at all, anywhere, in any way, shape or form? Was there ever?
For me now, there is no belief in or pervasive experience of a self. Self only resurfaces momentarily during inquiry as a kind of memory. It’s quickly seen and then it dissolves as simply an illusion. I, in fact, never ever existed. The base of existence is not self. The only base of existence is spirit, or awareness.
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.
Self is a constructed illusion, perpetuated and aided by, the mind. All efforts to awaken to awareness from the dimension of self, are fruitless. Spiritual seeking conducted by a self, once considered and fully understood, sadly equates to an illusion seeking within an illusion supported by thoughts which can not know or find awareness, ever. The opinion here is that direct experience, personal inquiry without thought, looking for and seeing the true nature of existence is the fastest, most direct path to realization.There is no experience here of when the self started, but certainly it must have been a very long time ago.
How does it feel to see this? What is the difference from before you started this dialogue? Please report from the past few days.
In retrospect, the whole guiding process experienced here was as though SELF lived inside a cloud or a closed box with no exit and no view of the true world outside. This self in a box was seeking, grasping, suffering, fearing, angry, and exhausted. It had a full life and couldn’t imagine any world ouside, because self believed it was THE BASE OF EXISTENCE—it’s not. It never was. It didn’t matter that self was a total false construct as is the constructed world it lives in. Nothing about this world was actually real. The mind did everything it could to serve the self and it’s beliefs, to keep the self alive, to keep the self believing in itself. Through much looking inward, inquiry, and direct personal experience, it was clearly seen that there is ONLY ONE TRUE BASE OF EXISTENCE outside, where there is no “I”. True nature or awareness is the only base of existence. From the beginning there was a tremendous amount of not seeing, and not even noticing how many times I, ME, MY, MINE was typed, argued, believed, overlooked, misunderstood, it was finally seen and understood and laughed at.
What was the last bit that pushed you over, made you look?
More of the same—A combination of much inquiry, direct experience, and daily dedication to the guiding process. Inquiry included other sources and methods of direct inquiry, but without LU it’s doubtful liberation would have taken place, or it would have taken much longer. There is boundless gratitude here for LU, Sarah7, and it’s guides and the excellent guidance process.
Do you decide, intend, choose, control events in Life? Do you make anything happen? Give examples from your experience.
There is no do-er here—no intending, no choosing, no controlling.
I do not see—seeing happens
I do not hear—hearing happens
I do not think—thinking happens, and so on . . .
. . . because there is no “I”. Seeing, hearing, thinking happens in awareness ALL BY ITSELF.
How liberating is that!!!
Anything to add?
Thank you so much Sarah for this work you do, for your patience and guidance,
Chris
