Extra ordinary

[Anastacia42]

Excellent. Yes.

There is a follow up exercise that brings it kind of closer to home. I'm sure it will be equally easy & obvious, but let's just do it and then move on.

Friend/Stranger

Bring up a thought about a character labeled "friend."

Then bring up a thought about a character labeled "stranger."

Compare these thoughts.

Is there a difference in these thoughts?

Is there a true difference or is it just different content?

Now, bring up a thought about a character labeled "friend."

After that, look at a thought about the character labelled "me.”

Is there a difference?

Is there anything special about thoughts with the content "me-character?"

Let me know what is found.

Labeling the day, the Sensations, etc. does nothing to reduce their beauty or joy, but can hide them from our awareness.

Loving,
~ Stacy

[Anisha]

Hey Stacy,

Labeling the day, the Sensations, etc. does nothing to reduce their beauty or joy, but can hide them from our awareness.

I like these casually dropped nuggets! Thank you :)

Is there a difference in these thoughts?

The only difference I can find is one in ‘feeling tone’ – the ‘friend’ thought has a mildly ‘positive’ flavour of familiarity, whereas the ‘stranger’ thought feels more neutral and possibly a little farther away.

Is there a true difference or is it just different content?

No, there’s no true difference – different content, random associations not based in reality, and ultimately meaningless labels.

Now, bring up a thought about a character labeled "friend."
After that, look at a thought about the character labelled "me.”
Is there a difference?

Actually (somewhat surprisingly), the two don’t feel substantially different – there’s more of an ‘identification pull’ coming from the ‘me’ thought. Or is it? It might just as well only be the habit of expecting the 'me' thought to have more gravity, I can't tell. Mildly confusing!

Is there anything special about thoughts with the content "me-character?"

I was expecting the ‘me’ thoughts to feel emotionally closer or more ‘personal’ in an energetic sense, but right now I can’t really feel any of that. I know that the ‘me’ thought is supposed to refer to this ‘Jana’ puppet and that, for some reason, ‘I’ (ugh... this feels weird all of a sudden!) am stuck to her (or stuck with her, ha!), but... sorry, whatever the train of thought was, it’s gone. I feel a little dizzy - think I’m going to have to sit with this for a bit, not sure what’s going on.


I'll come back later if I have anything substantial to add. Thanks for asking disorienting questions! :D

Love,
Jana

[Anastacia42]

Hi Jana,

feel a little dizzy - think I’m going to have to sit with this for a bit, not sure what’s going on.

SEEING a big truth of no self can feel like this. Stay with it. Relax into it. This could be it!

You're welcome for all "casually dropped nuggets." You seem very close to SEEING.

How did that go?
How did it feel?
Did vision shift in any way?

Loving,
Stacy

[Anisha]

Good morning, nugget-dropper!

How did that go?
How did it feel?
Did vision shift in any way?

When the dizziness came up – literally mid-sentence –, it did feel as if something was shifting, mainly energetically (I can’t be more precise, I’m afraid) and possibly also in the visual field. I say ‘possibly’, because as I was looking out of the window, the visual field seemed a little shaky, as if vibrating, but then again it was dusk and contrasts were weak, so I’m not sure.

After posting, I went straight to the cushion to sit with it – nothing extraordinary, everything felt extremely neutral and empty of attributes, thoughts were scarce and meaningless, unrelated to and independent from Jana. This has been the dominant feeling tone since. Not markedly different from how it was before (or is it? I can't tell anymore) – if anything, the sense of ‘me’ feels somewhat more hollow, insubstantial, but that’s about it. ‘Jana’ doesn’t feel any closer than the resident blackbird I feed every morning. I think I feel a little robotic. :D It’s going to be interesting to see how interaction with people will go during the day. I’ll report back if anything noteworthy comes up.

Thank you for your excellent company!!
Jana

[Anastacia42]

Oh, thank you. Happy to help. This is how I work for world peace, one mind at a time.

So, let's bring this together a bit & then we'll move to another aspect of seeing no self.


Actual/Direct Experience - Apple

Have a look at an apple (or any fruit you like.) If you have a ‘real’ apple, you can use it for this exercise. Google for a picture of an apple.



When looking at an apple, there's color; a thought saying ‘apple’; and maybe a thought saying, "I'm looking at an apple."

What is known for sure? Color is known and thoughts are known.

What about the content of thoughts, what they describe?

Actual experience does not refer to thoughts ABOUT something…because that is only just more thought.

Actual experience is sound, thought, color, smell, taste, sensation and the fact of thought arising, but not its content.

Is there really an ‘apple’ here, or only color and a thought ABOUT ‘apple’?

Can ‘apple’ be found in actual experience?

While these thoughts are known, what they talk ABOUT can't be found in actual experience.

This is what is meant by "looking in actual experience." What you know for sure, and, is always here.

Taste labeled ‘apple’ is known
Color labeled ‘apple’ is known
Sensation labeled ‘apple’ is known (when apple is touched)
Smell labeled ‘apple’ is known
Thought about/of an ‘apple’ is known

However, is an apple actually known?

Have fun, stay relaxed and let me know what you find out.

Loving,
Stacy

[Anisha]

One mind at a time is a very good peace-keeping strategy, Stacy. :)

Everything back to faily ‘normal’ here btw, apart from oscillating between feeling like a) nothing has anything to do with me, and b) everything being a display of inevitability exclusively arranged for me. Which probably doesn’t make much sense.

But now: colour patches called apples!

Is there really an ‘apple’ here, or only color and a thought ABOUT ‘apple’?
Can ‘apple’ be found in actual experience?

Actual experience doesn’t know anything about ‘apples’. As you said: the only things that can be found are colours and thoughts that are more or less closely related to the idea of ‘apple’ and to the idea of (someone) looking at something which is known as 'apple'.

However, is an apple actually known?

No. What even is an apple?!

[Anastacia42]

Love it!

Color patches called "apples." Exactly!

Okay, here's more fun:

We often lie every day & don't realize it.

For example, the grocery clerk asks, "How are you?" You reply, "I'm fine." While, yes. there is a sense in which we are always fine, even in the middle of suffering, at that moment, you were grieving the death of your dog, you had a slight sore throat & you had a headache, but you didn't feel like sharing all of that with the grocery clerk, so you lied, "I'm fine."

Also, it matters none at all how "distant" the remembered lie is. Besides the fact that time itself is fictional, a kind if lie, as we recall the lie it becomes present in this moment, as if it were happening now. This brings the body Sensation that accompanies lying.

Lies can be intentional or unintentional, conscious or unconscious, even so automatic that we ourselves are fooled.

The story of a separate "self" is a lie.

This is the lie you came here to see through. Therefore, it is helpful to notice the body Sensation of lying as one of the tools for finding the truth of no self.

So far, you've shown that you're in touch with body Sensations & can clearly express them in words. This will help.

Now, if the memory you used wasn't clear enough, find another one or lie to yourself right now, make something up.

1 + 1 = 14 is a lie.

The Sun rises in the West is a lie.

I love eating worms is (probably) a lie.

Or call up a video of a lying politician & notice what Sensations arise as you listen.

I will give you a clue: it is not that peaceful Sensation you felt before when you omitted "I."

Please report back with what body Sensations (not interpretations) you feel. Bodies can feel hot or cold, heavy or light, contraction or expansion, etc.

"Peaceful" is an interpretation of a body Sensation, not a name for the Sensation itself, for example. Do you see that?

Pretty sure you will, so here's the next thing I want go share. It's I'm my Dropbox so please PM me an email address, top right here.

Meanwhile, you can have fun with this:

u]Palm Flipping Exercise[/u]

1. Hold a hand in front of you; palm turned down.

2. Now turn the palm up. And down...and up and so on.

Watch like a hawk.

Don't go to thoughts – examine your direct experience.

Do this as many times as you like, and each time inquire:

How is the movement controlled?

Does a thought control it?

Can a ‘controller’ of any description be located?

How is the decision made to turn the hand over? Track any decision point when a thought MADE THE DECISION to turn the hand over and the hand turns over immediately.

Who or what chose which hand - the left or right hand for the exercise?

Can you find a separate individual or anything that is choosing when to turn the palm up or down?

Loving,

~ Stacy

[Anastacia42]

Sorry. Typos everywhere, but I think you'll get the meaning.

[Anisha]

To me, the physical sensations that accompany lying feel hot, tight, agitated (which, I know, is an interpretation, not a sensation), as if the normal energetic flow were blocked in places or reversed altogether. There is also a sensation of pressure and restriction. Okay, I'm not stating the obvious here... point taken!!

How is the movement controlled?

That is surprisingly difficult to answer! It feels as if, once the initial suggestion of ‘turning’ was... uhm, not ‘given’, not ‘received’... once the suggestion was there and not actively resisted, the hand would just turn. At first I thought that I should be able to find some kind of ‘cue’ akin to a command that says ‘turn the hand over’, but on closer inspection, I’m not sure I can even detect a slight mental movement to that effect – the hand just keeps flipping. Oddly, there seems to be more deliberate mental activity involved in making it stop. But I could be making this up as well.

Does a thought control it?

I can’t find any, no.

Can a ‘controller’ of any description be located?

No. The mind is gravitating toward the habitual illusion of a controller (which would be the Jana entity) to explain the movement, but that feels contrived. Intellectually it doesn’t seem to make sense that I shouldn’t be able to locate a controller (and I can feel that there is some resistance to accepting it) – but I can’t find this elusive controller.

How is the decision made to turn the hand over? Track any decision point when a thought MADE THE DECISION to turn the hand over and the hand turns over immediately.

Ugh – I can’t find a ‘decision point’! When I look for it (because common sense would suggest that there must be an instant in which the command is given, received, and then acted upon), all I can find is an assumption made in retrospect, after the hand has turned over. Sobering.

Who or what chose which hand - the left or right hand for the exercise?

Habit (as it was my dominant hand)? Ultimately, my carefully considered answer to this question – as to all the previous questions – would have to be: I have no clue whatsoever. :D

[Anastacia42]

Hi Jana,

Ayup! (I'm from Texas) No. Clue. Whatsoever.

Correct! We don't know & we will never know. It's a Mystery! Enjoy the mystery.

You're a joy to work with.

Okay. So...

Lies are contractions, heavy, tight (and, in your case, perhaps hot).

Truth is expansive, light, relaxed. (and may make you a little dizzy with the ... "energy" of it.)



Good.

I just sent the DropBox link.

Loving,
Stacy

[Anisha]

Thank you for the files, Stacy! _/|\_
So, for now, you want me to listen to the introduction only?

Love,
Jana

[Anastacia42]

Ag. no. Just be to listen to it first then the first pointer & let me know what happens.

And you're quite welcome!

Loving,
Stacy

[Anisha]

Hey Stacy,
ok, I listened to the first pointer. Here’s what showed up (in random order):

The illusion of a separate ‘me’ requires the opposition of something perceived as ‘not me’ – which is a really unoriginal statement, I’m aware, but the sneaky tactic of introducing the ‘god’ catch-all nicely levels the playing field, equalising and unifying all phenomena by making them emanations of the same single source. Psychologically very clever of him to use this ‘god’ concept! It clearly facilitates acceptance and surrender.

This has been interesting especially today, as I’m dealing with a flare-up of an old injury, and it’s revealing to observe how much more readily the mind contracts back into identifying as a separate entity when physical pain is present. And even though it feels as if I weren’t struggling with acceptance/surrender, there must be resistance to it on some level or else the sense of self wouldn’t impose itself with such persuasiveness (or certainly in a more persistent manner than when no major physical pain is present).

That's all I have for now. :)

[Anastacia42]

Okay... While that is somewhat interesting, you have moved away from replying with Direct Experience only. Please check the list and reply with what your senses got from it.

That is a lot of stories and content of thought.

Sorry.

Loving,
Stacy

[Anisha]

Okay, fair point! I'll have another go and will let you know how it goes.