Hi Steve,
I then started to welcome in more and more of my direct experience, it’s a wonderful and peaceful feeling - thank you for all your help Paul.
I am so happy to hear, and it is an absolute pleasure, Thank you for presenting the opportunity for me to guide you.
This is not the end, just the beginning, we still have a ways to go, but it is a wonderful perception shift.
The welcoming of sensation is a beautiful thing, it shifts the perception from bad/suppressing to gratitude, grateful for the opportunity to sit with the sensations and welcome them, acknowledging them, letting them flow through the body.
There are many seeming sensations but they all fall into 2 types - Contraction and Expansion. Contraction is where all the 'fear' thoughts come from and often there is a constant contraction or tension in the lower abdomen or chest or neck, that is so constant we don't notice, but when you do, meeting it and sitting with it, acknowledging it, lets the tension (contraction) flow through the body and with repetition the body see its safety and no longer keeps that sensation on high alert.
The expansion is received as relaxed states, no threats, feeling good. Now we can Look and take every opportunity to sit with sensation, even the small dull sensations present as an opportunity to acknowledge and let them flow through the body.
I see, hear, smell etc the input from my senses that my awareness allows me to experience, therefore awareness is a constant and real. The input coming in via the senses isn’t real because it is just a mental representation of the world outside of my body.
If Awareness is constant and real, is it constant and real in deep sleep?
Lets address 'Awareness', it can happen that awareness (noun) becomes another belief by the self. The self discovers this new thing, the awareness, and it becomes like a shiny toy and says look I'm not the Self, I'm awareness, and then awareness is the new black. That analogy sounds good in my head but not sure if it delivers the pointing, let me know if you need me to clarify it.
There is BEING Aware, the experiencing, that is constant.
It is what is always there, presence.
The input coming in via the senses isn’t real because it is just a mental representation of the world outside of my body.
Is It?
If you drink a glass of water, the labeling of a glass and water with thought doesn't mean that they don't exist. If you take the label away from the glass you still see something, and if you take the label away from water you still have the sensation of a liquid sliding down your throat as you drink it.
We will do some more exercises and the pointing will make it clearer.
Lets get back on track with the following exercise.
Cup Exercise
Here is an exercise which points out the difference between direct experience and content of thought.
There are two types of thoughts:
(1) Thoughts with words “Here is cup”
(2) Visual mental images of a ‘cup’
So I invite you to do this exercise:
Think of a cup. Get a very clear picture in your mind. See clearly the size, shape, colour and volume of the cup. Notice whether it is decorated or plain. Notice whether it has a handle. Notice whether it is heavy or fragile. Do you have a clear picture in mind?
Now, can you physically grasp that image of a cup? Can you pour tea into it?
Can you drink from it?
Is there a ‘real’ cup or just an image of a cup?
Is there an appearing mental image?
Is the content of the mental image (the cup) ‘real’?
The thoughts and mental images are real only as arising thoughts and mental images, their ‘presence’ cannot be denied. However their contents, what are they about are not ‘real’, they are just fantasies. Can you see this?
Over the course of the next day or so, I'd like you to notice the content of thoughts. Whenever there is an arising thought or mental image, check whether its content (what it’s about) is really happening, or the content is just pure imagination. Let me know how it goes.
