Awakening

[jordan00]

yes I can say with 100 percent certainty there is no self. There is only experience, but no self attached to these experiences, what I was having trouble with before was attaching these experiences to the "self" and wondering why It was so hard for me to see past this illusion. But there is no chooser, no thinker, none of the senses come from a self, they simply express themself, and the human body is awareness. There is no self that is aware. Awareness is simply experiencing, without any strings attached.

[Bluejay]

There is no self that is aware. Awareness is simply experiencing, without any strings attached.

And just to be clear: What is awareness in direct experience? Is there awareness and sensations, sounds, thoughts, etc?

Besides that, you sound clear on this. Would you like to wrap up this conversation with some final questions?

[jordan00]

Awareness would be a the sensations, it is direct experience.

Besides that, you sound clear on this. Would you like to wrap up this conversation with some final questions?

Yes

[Bluejay]

Awareness would be a the sensations, it is direct experience.

Okay, that is clear then.

I'll post the final questions in the next post, but if you do use the word awareness, please include clarification on what it is in direct experience, because the answers to the final questions will be read by other guides, so they'll want to know that awareness is not another hiding place for the self.

[Bluejay]

Here you go. Feel free to take your time. Enjoy!

1) Is there a separate entity 'self', 'me' 'I', at all, anywhere, in any way, shape or form? Was there ever?

2) Explain in detail what the illusion of separate self is, when it starts and how it works from your own experience. Describe it fully as you see it now.

3) How does it feel to see this? What is the difference from before you started this dialogue? Please report from the past few days.

4) What was the last bit that pushed you over, made you look?

5) Describe how decisions are made & give examples from experience.

Describe intention & give examples from experience.

Describe free will & give examples from experience.

Describe choice & give examples from experience.

Describe control & give examples from experience.

What makes things happen? How does it work?

What are you responsible for? Give examples from experience.

6) Anything to add?

[jordan00]

Before I answer the questions I would just like to say thank you being patient with me and being my guide.

[Bluejay]

It's been a pleasure being your guide!

I'll share some resources after the final questions, so stay tuned :)

[jordan00]

1) Is there a separate entity 'self', 'me' 'I', at all, anywhere, in any way, shape or form? Was there ever?

There never was, and never will be, there is only experience through the senses or direct experience

2) Explain in detail what the illusion of separate self is, when it starts and how it works from your own experience. Describe it fully as you see it now.

The illusion of the separate self is there there is a self that is living inside of the body and mind, this self has control of experience, thoughts and sensations. It starts when the brain tries to connect two of the senses and believe that they come from the "self".

When I've interpreted my senses together, such as thought and taste it would bring the illusion that these are happening from the self, when they are just experience and there is only emptiness.

here is an example of how it works from my own experience. I told my mom that I was on the final questions in the forum, and she responded, "so are you liberated now" and my response was "there is no self to be liberated".

3) How does it feel to see this? What is the difference from before you started this dialogue? Please report from the past few days.[

/quote]

"My" senses feel more in tune with my environment. There is no control over what happens so the processes in my body appear and there is acceptance in what is. There is only the present, and no control, it's as if I'm riding a wave and the wave takes "me" where it wants to go. The illusion of the self would be as if I'm going against the wave, and no matter what, the wave is what dictates experience.

The dialogue before was always relating this external stimuli to this identity, formed through thoughts and labels. Now there is nothing to relate this experience to as it is only experience and nothing more.

4) What was the last bit that pushed you over, made you look?

The last bit was understand that choosing something, whatever it is, just happens. There is no control of what is chosen and that relates to everything that happens in consciousness.

5) Describe how decisions are made & give examples from experience.

decisions just happen. a thought appears, a feeling appears and as a result a decision is made. If "I" wanted to pick a shirt that was red or blue. The thought blue would appear, the feeling of picking blue and I would pick blue. There is no control in any decision.

Describe intention & give examples from experience.

There is no intention because there is no self to experience intention. An example would be the self having intention for something to happen in a certain way, but there is no self to have control, things happen. There is no self to intend that something will happen a certain way

Describe free will & give examples from experience.

There is no such thing as free will, we are not in control of anything. The processes in our body just happen. An example would be to choose the thought that will appear next. But it is not possible.

Describe choice & give examples from experience.

There is no self to choose anything. It simply happens. You gave me a practice where "I" had to choose between two different drinks. And when experiencing the processes behind the act of choosing I saw through the illusion and it opened the door for everything else. Everything is experience and there is no choice or control of anything.

Describe control & give examples from experience.

Coming back from my last point, there is no self to experience control. Things happen the way they do and believing that there is control involved will just lead to more of this "self".

What makes things happen? How does it work?

There is nothing that makes things happen, they just simply happen.

The second part of the question "How does it work". My best answer is it just does.

What are you responsible for? Give examples from experience.

There is no self to be responsible. "I" am not responsible for anything, this human body may have responsibilities but there is no self behind the experience of life. An example would be having the responsibility to do good in school. Yes it is a responsibility, but is not tied with a self, it is just a responsibility.

6) Anything to add?

Nothing I can think of

[jordan00]

sadly I messed up the quotes

[Bluejay]

Thanks for your answers. I'll now share these with other guides to see if there is any feedback or questions.

sadly I messed up the quotes

No worries!

I told my mom that I was on the final questions in the forum, and she responded, "so are you liberated now" and my response was "there is no self to be liberated".

When we're done, I'll share some resources to help explore deeper, if that resonates. It's good to keep inquiring into everything that comes up and any reactions/selfing as there can be a lot of conditioning.

[Bluejay]

Questions from a guide (in "quotes" are from your answers):

1."It starts when the brain tries to connect two of the senses and believe that they come from the "self"." Further down there is more: "There is no control over what happens so the processes in my body appear and there is acceptance in what is."

Question: What are "brain", "mind" and "body"? Is it "your" body? ;

2. ""My" senses feel more in tune with my environment."

Question: Are there separate senses and environment? Are the senses receiving information from the environment? Is the environment outside of the senses? Are there "inside" and "outside"?

[Bluejay]

Another guide asks: How does it feel to see? (can you say more about this)

[jordan00]

1."It starts when the brain tries to connect two of the senses and believe that they come from the "self"." Further down there is more: "There is no control over what happens so the processes in my body appear and there is acceptance in what is."

Question: What are "brain", "mind" and "body"? Is it "your" body? ;

They are all labels for an aspect of the human experience. No, there is no self attached to this body, it's just a body.

2. ""My" senses feel more in tune with my environment."

Question: Are there separate senses and environment? Are the senses receiving information from the environment? Is the environment outside of the senses? Are there "inside" and "outside"

No, there is no separation. They are all one, working in a flow of experience, no single one is inside or outside the other.

Another guide asks: How does it feel to see? (can you say more about this)

Seeing just happens, A part of me wants to say it feels good, but I don't know if this is a trick question. If I did say it feels good then it would be a thought that appears and results in a feeling, but these are not tied to a self, they are only experience. It's like a stream of water, something like a rock in the stream isn't separate, it is all one flow.

[jordan00]

Also thank you so much for your patience. You've been the perfect guide

[Bluejay]

Thanks Jordan, appreciate it!

No one else had any questions, so we're done here. An admin will contact you with an invite to the LU FB group.

Now, I highly recommend you keep inquiring as old conditioning comes up. This will help deepen this, and eventually reactivity / emotional work may surface.

Below are some resources that may help (Pernille's videos are really good. I recommend you start from her fetter 1 playlist):

Simply Awake app - Free app for your phone that contains dozens of meditations that will help you keep looking deeper.
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... roid.awake
Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simply-awake/id1544382796

https://www.simplytheseen.com/explore-each-fetter.html - Great resource if you want to explore the next layer of selfing--reactivity. In your case it would be fetters 4 & 5.

https://perfectlyokay.org/ - A free community that has an excellent 10 fetters group that meets up almost every week. They also have recordings from previous meetings that are excellent. Instructions on how to join are on the homepage.

Oscillation group - PerfectlyOkay.org also has an oscillation group for if you feel like you are going in and out of seeing. You can find information on it if you go to perfectlyokay.org -> Weekly Meetups -> scroll down half-way to Tuesdays and it should be there. You can also do a search on the page for 'oscillation' in the browser. The time right now says 10am PT on Tuesdays but please confirm this as it may change.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X_Xpd10pV0 - A great video from Angelo Dilullo on this process and how it deepens on its own, if not resisted.

https://www.youtube.com/@TheAwakeningCurriculum/videos - Excellent channel from Pernille. Check out the playlists. These are great to watch here and there to help you see if anything else needs to be inquired into.

Byron Katie's The Work - If you want to look at and untangle beliefs, you can search for byron katie on YouTube or Google and find a lot of resources for free.

And ifyou have any questions, let me know :)