Dear Rumiana,
Awakening seems to play by way of shifts followed by an integrations and embodiment. There is an experience that cannot be explained, followed by an interpretation of that experience and a settling in. I think it's important to have clarity after the shift as it is to have it. One easy trap is to fall into believing thoughts stories again to be real out of an old habit.
All characteristics of the body, height, weight, tall, volume, shape can not be experienced in this empty space of being. No Shape, no form in the actual experience. No in, no out, but there is a sensation
Right! The experience (the sensations, colors, smells, tastes, sounds) are there, but where is the body?
As for a "hard meditation cube" I hope it's a poetic metaphor because that is also not a real experience, it's a concept and a thought story.
Ron:
Is there a boundary between the body and the clothing?
Is there a boundary between the body and the chair?
Is there an inside or an outside?
Rumiana: No, if there is no entity, how you can find any boundaries?
That's an intellectual expiation, "if this, then that". The point here is to experience this and know, not to think about it and conclude. No matter how simple and trivial the question, always choose to have the experience otherwise you stay in story land - see that?
Ron: What is the ACTUAL experience of the body (outside of the thoughts of a body)? Is there a body in experience?
Rumiana: The only experience that I can notice so far is this vastness, openness of beingness, with clarity, Body in experience maybe is just a thought, at least it seems to me that way.
You have different sensations and the mind is labeling -pain, pleasure, etc.
The body is perhaps the most sticky part of the illusion of me. Isn't the body a concept in thoughts? Yes! Trust your experience but question the thought story. There is no real experience of a body! Thought content is NOT a real experience, thought content are pointers to something real, to other thoughts and to concepts, think of the word "sweet" which is a tag for a real experience, or "work" which is a concept.
Please make sure you experience this for yourself.
OK let's take another look at something fascinating - take your time with this.
Sit down for a bit and just watch the breath and let things quiet down a bit.
Identify a sound that is consistently there,
Identify a body sensation like maybe the hands, or the pressure from sitting.
open the eyes and find an object.
For a little while just see if you can drop the labels on each of these
- just feel sensations without tags,
- sound without interpretation ("it's a fridge humming").
- Can you look at the object and only see colors forming shapes without any meaning?
- Can you see how everything you look at becomes beautiful? (why is that?)
Now slowly start switching between these 3 items and notice:
- what happens to the image when you focus on the sound?
- can you focus on all of them at once?
- where does the knowing of the sensation (not the thought explanation - the recognition, the experience) is taking place?
- what about thoughts? Where do they appear?
- is there a location where this knowing appears?
- are there two? A sound and the knowing of the sound? Or is there just one, no gap, no distance between the sound and knowing of the sound? The sensation and knowing the sensation.
Is there anything at all outside of experiencing?
With love,
Ron