I am sorry you think I am trying to mislead you. If I am misleading you, it is not on purpose, I promise! I am eager to hear if you still believe this.
I never implied you are misleading me. I'm just asking questions. That's all...
Consider the following:
The YOU is the misleading. The idea that there is a YOU is the misleading.
It is the illusion of a separate self that IS the misleading itself.
You see?
However you are the guide and so I will continue to answer your questions as best I can. I remain very happy with the space I'm in right now and the result so far. If there are more questions to go, that's great, I'm ready and I will continue to do my best.
That's great. Yes, I'll keep asking questions. The self-story has this interesting habit, so to speak, of hiding out in ever subtler places. "Awareness" is a notorious one.
With the passing of each day in which I live in this relaxed way, my doubt subsides. Each day I wake up in a relaxed state of mind rather than anxiety adds to my my confidence that "I" has disappeared. Remember I was the expert in anxiety, depression and panic attack. None of this stuff is much fun I can assure you. But I promise that if any of these things return you will be the first to hear about it. Before my interaction with you it would be rare for me to go a week without anxiety and some poor sleep patterns. So I am looking to see if these changes will continue into weeks and months.
That is great! Really nice. Yet, we're not *there* yet. There is further to go.
It's clear that you've now seen through the story of Alan-as-a-person. That's powerful and an important step in this process. Yet the idea of self has subtler varieties, as I mentioned earlier.
One of the most common views and experiences is that of I-as-observer; not acting, not deciding, but watching it all from a distance. This is what you describe here. The emphasis in your text is mine:
So what I have been seeing is life, as always, happening but I am watching it happen, rather than feeling that I am making it happen and have to effort and struggle for survival at an acceptable level. It also appears most of the fear of the future has disappeared and I now feel that what ever happens will be ok. Another feeling I am getting is that there is a level playing field. The feeling of; not enough what ever, money, competence, education, success etc has gone.
So to the question; what is me? I have to say I can only talk about this in a historical way. I have an awareness centered around the body referred to as Alan. However this body is forever changing and is part of a huge process that is in constant change. As a separate constant being, "me" does not exist. While I have been familiar with this as a theory for many years, I am now experiencing it for the first time.
It's absolutely wonderful to read that something is shifting here- you seem to be experiencing the reality of interdependence and non-separation. Amazing.
Yet the observer is still subtly separated from what's being observed, isn't it?
Well, it seems that way, but is it true?
So the next step is for us to closely observe the observer ;-)
To deeply examine what we call experience, experiencing itself.
Is there a separation between experience, experiencing and experiencer?
My suggestion is that these three apparent elements are in fact ONE SEAMLESS WHOLE:
all there is, is experiencing: this experiencing.
The observer, the watcher is only ever a thought. An idea.
This can be seen to be true. To have always been true.
Check it out.
What's your experience- are YOU experiencing this?