This dude is spiritually confused. Seeking help breaking through doubt, and everything else.

[Anastacia42]

Yes, without "I" is more direct and yes, you are missing a couple of things. The next 2 pointers will help.

First, this one:

Here is how to distinguish truth from lies.


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.

You want to be in touch with body Sensations & able to clearly express them in words. This will help.

Lies are usually felt in the heart or solar plexus as a contraction that we may label as tight, heavy or tense.

In contrast, truth is usually expansive. We may call it loose, light or relaxed.

First, can you remember a time when you lied to someone you loved?

Here we count anything, lies we think of as "big" or "small" that "matter" or don't "matter."

How are you? I'm fine. No, your knee hurts, but you don't feel like discussing it with the grocery clerk.

It's a lie. A seemingly "bigger" one will work better for this exercise.

Find the lie. I don't need the whole story, just a few key words to refer to it.

Then scan your body for any Sensation (DE or Direct Experience), particularly in the gut or maybe the heart. Check very closely.

What is found?

If you think 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.

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." (refers to an exercise I gave before this one)

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 the Sensation itself, for example.

Do you see that?

Loving,

[sdesota]

Okay yup I see what you're getting at.

Looking at the the matter of fact statements that I wrote down earlier, I couldn't sense the tension of "I am" because "lie" was so small.

This makes me think of therapy / coaching sessions I've had in the past. The therapist asks me "why are you here today?" and I start to enumerate all my problems. Honestly, I really felt like shit after all those sessions because I felt like I just lied for an hour straight. I got to the end of the session and I'm like... all those "I am" this and "I feel like this"... they felt so empty.

I'm thinking of a time I lied to someone in particulate. A little embarrassing, not ashamed to share but it has to do with a 10 year old me's internet porn addiction so I'll spare you the details.

Ha.... wow. Hahaha. Yo, you're totally right. Lying is so stupid. I see the connection

I can picture the moment in my head.. I'm telling a bold face lie..

Then I picture the same "feeling" when enumerating my problems to a therapist.

With a simple statement like "I'm typing at a computer".. there's no truth to it. There could be some utility to it though.

Also totally feel you when you say there's a "peaceful" sensation with the non-"I am" statements

I can see how truth can be felt. Even if you're not aware you're lying, if you tune into what truth feels like you can notice when you say something that's a lie. That's mindfulness.

[Anastacia42]

Yes! Good! Thank you for those.

Now let's look at labels. Try this:


Label-Reality Correlation

There is a belief that labels have a one-to-one correspondence with ‘reality’. But there isn’t. Just like it is a generally accepted belief that labels like ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are inherent characteristics of ‘things’. But actually, they are not.

When you look at the word label ‘GREEN' , what is the actual experience?

Is the color red ‘experienced’, or is the color green ‘experienced’ as the label suggests?

Does the label ‘GREEN’ have a one-to-one correspondence with ‘reality’? Or does the label suggest something else other than what is here now (red colour)?

Is 'green' associated in any way with the experience of the colour red; or is green just a label that overlays the actual experience of red?

If the label ‘GREEN’ is replaced with the label ‘GOOD’ or ‘BAD’ , is the redness affected in any way as the labels suggests?

Does redness become ‘good’ or ‘bad’, or do the labels have no affect whatsoever on ‘reality’?

Let me know what is SEEN.

Loving

[sdesota]

When I read the word green, there's an image that flashes in my mind's eye very briefly. Kinda like a green smudge, or maybe a few flashes of various shades of green.

But in terms of the experience of seeing the image: "GREEN"

All that's experienced directly in my outward focused visual perception is the color red. Though, this "trick" can confuse my verbal faculties, I've taken a test before where a this type of word vs. color situation was presented and you had to choose the color of the word, not the label. Was surprising difficult not to mess this up.

Overall, yes labels don't have any affect on what reality itself is. A cat is not "a cat", a color is not "a color". We could say there's red-ness & green-ness, & cat-ness & I-ness but even those are just labels.

[Anastacia42]

Please quote each question & and answer underneath.

I'm a volunteer, reading on my phone.


Please answer questions individually, remembering to use the quote function to highlight the question being answered.

Below is a link to the video with instructions on using the Quote Function. Please watch it. Use the PREVIEW button to make sure your text looks right before you hit "SUBMIT."

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=660

What would you like for me to call you? What time zone are you in, please?

Thank you,

[Anastacia42]

I am requesting that you use the Quote function and answer under each single question.

That said, since you have not corrected your reply on the Red/Green pointer, I will say that yes, you have the idea.

On that and the truth/lie, how does it FEEL to see these?

Loving,