This is very helpful. Thank you.
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I do TRE every day for 15 minutes. Someone suggested a weighted blanket that I might get, and I have a ‘happy light’ plus incense.
That's great. TRE is excellent. The key really is to fully feel and welcome everything, even the resistance and not wanting to feel a certain way.
Is it possible at all to come to an intellectual understanding at all?
Can understanding how the self was made in the first place help in realisation that it is made up, that there is no such thing?
Does fetter work require thinking?
No, understanding in the mind only adds to knowledge. It does nothing to break the illusion.
There's no need to even consider fetter work at this stage, since we are simply looking into the separate self. But to answer your question, thinking is not required in the sense that we are trying to get answer through thinking.
Thinking can only reflect the senses are thought. Now, thinking can be used in an analytical way to inquire, but that's just asking questions and then looking in direct experience.
The mind is much calmer today. All feelings are allowed to be. There is an attempt to avoid reactivity, judgements, and labelling - those are not allowed to be - is that the right path?
If you are suppressing those then that is not helpful, because they are still there. Instead of not allowing, look for who or what is reacting, judging, and labeling. Is there someone in there doing it?
There may be a feeling like there's someone judging, so then you look. What makes up that feeling?
Here is the separate the senses inquiry again for your convenience:
When there is a sense of self, separate it into the senses that are involved, and inquire into each sense.
For example, let's say I feel a sense of self behind the eyes, and there's a thought 'this is me'. I would inquire:
Sense of self behind the eyes = sensation = are these sensations the self?
Thought 'this is me' = thought = is this thought the self?
Image of self behind the eyes = thought = is this image the self?
Objections will likely rise up. If so, keep inquiring into those, such as 'Of course there is a self, I'm right here'.
Thought 'Of course there is a self, I'm right here' = thought = is that thought the self?
Then maybe there's a feeling/contraction in the chest, so you inquire into that. Are those sensations the self? Where is it?
If you end up in a quiet place, rest there. Remember, no answer is the answer. There is no answer possible from thought. This needs to be felt into and repeated over and over.
To place attention on the here and now. On direct experience, rather than thinking, although thoughts are allowed. But who is doing all this?
Yes, who is it? Can it happening by itself, like a flower growing or wind blowing? Does there have to be a doer?
Do you think it is necessary to realise that I have been wrongly identifying with the objects of experience (body, mind, thoughts, feelings, speech and actions)? Is it important to keep asking the questions ‘Is there a self that is experiencing or is there only experiencing?’, ‘Is there a self that is thinking, doing, or there is just thinking and doing?’
If there is the sense that you are in control, deciding, intending, and so on, then you keep looking until it clicks. Does that answer your question?
