Looking for guidance

[King Nothing]

Hi. :)

I've been seeking liberation for about 3 years now. I really want to be free of the delusion of self, and this method seems to work faster than years of meditation.

I've made progress in the last three years, but I haven't had any permanent shifts. If someone could help me destroy my sense of self, I'd be very grateful!

[Pallavi]

Hi!

I'd be happy to help. My name is Pallavi. What can I call you?

Please read the disclaimer in the board index.

A few ground rules from my side:

Try as much to reply at least once a day to keep the momentum going.
Keep away all philosophies and practices that you have been engaging with, just for the process- it's best to come in with an open mind.
If you meditate you may continue with that. Try to keep your answers concise, but don't sacrifice clarity for brevity.
I will ask you questions or give you exercises to do. I ask you to answer with full honesty. If you can't answer it's ok to say you don't know.
If you're ok with these we can continue :)

[King Nothing]

You can call me Alex.

I'll follow those rules. Let's go! :D

[Pallavi]

Alright Alex :)

Tell me a bit about your journey so far.

What brought you to LU?

What are your expectations from this process?

[King Nothing]

Tell me a bit about your journey so far.

Three years ago I developed a strong desire for truth after an OBE, so I deconstructed all my beliefs and started from the ground up.

I wound up going from atheism to ideas like Buddhism and Taoism, started a daily meditation/yoga practice, and of course part of my journey has been an understanding of no-self.

Now, I want to turn that understanding into actual realisation. I've had points where I seemed close to *something* but no break through. I once had a realisation about something, but that wasn't no-self and quickly faded.

What brought you to LU?

I'd heard about this site a while ago, and yesterday I thought I'd try it since many people seem to have got good results from Direct Pointing.

What are your expectations from this process?

I expect to be challenged to question deep assumptions I didn't realise I had, until it becomes obvious that the idea of self was just an idea with no basis in reality.

I think it will be exciting, but part of me will probably fear giving up the idea of self, and I'll have to work through a lot of habitual resistance and beliefs.

Realising no-self will lead to a very different perspective and way of relating to others and the world, with much less identification with problems and the way I'm seen by others. I'll treat my thoughts as thoughts, rather than facts. I'll feel more free because with no idea of self, there's no self to defend.

[Pallavi]

Alright. Let's get to it :) I will help you as much as I can- if you're willing and ready, you will look.

What is the self for you? What understanding do you have from your experiences?

[King Nothing]

What is the self for you?

The self seems to be the thing that perceives, and that makes decisions.

When I look closer there's only consciousness happening and thoughts/emotions happening, but still I have the idea of a watcher and thinker because of the idea 'if watching is happening, there must be a watcher'.

What understanding do you have from your experiences?

That the self is just an idea which the mind creates, really there's just a bunch of processes going on, none of them 'I' or 'mine', the mind labels things to make sense of them and mistakenly creates a sense of 'I' based on perceived separation between observer, observed and observation.

[Pallavi]

Take a look. What do you see. Do you just see or do you see 'something'?

Look at a chair. It's a chunk of matter like everything around us. We give it a name and function. The chair is socially constructed. What do you see before thought comes in to label what you're seeing?

[King Nothing]

I see, and my mind constructs an image, which is then labelled as a 'thing', then labelled as a 'chair'.

[Pallavi]

What tells you your mind is saying this. Is this in your direct experience?

[King Nothing]

Yes. I look, the images are mental, I only experience the images but labels get placed on top of them.

[King Nothing]

I'm not saying stuff isn't out there, I look at them and the images form in the mind.

[Pallavi]

No look at the idea of it being 'mental'. How do you know this. Is this in your direct experience?

[Pallavi]

No look at the idea of it being 'mental'. How do you know this. Is this in your direct experience?

[Pallavi]

Is it a thought that its in your mind? Or do you see this?