The Gate

I see through what it is.

Antony, you can see it, yet you are still identified with it ?
i don't understand.
Then why identify with this story and not another (better) one ?

Antony, you can see it, yet you are still identified with it ?

No. It was the context in which i wrote. Sounded like i was still identifying. I was pointing out the fact that i observe this old belief arising. I see through it but it still comes up from time to time. And that's ok. No problem.

Phew ! you had me worried there for a minute.

So Antony, how's it going. This whole 'no self' thing ?
What's the overall feeling for you ?

To be clear. The 'no self' experience is only gleaming in moments of total cessation, where thought comes to an end. Then experience is utterly empty of an 'I' thought. There is just experiencing itself. The cessation is becoming more regular but the 'I' thought is the most common. As present as it is and as often as the 'I' thought gets played out there is a hollowness to it. It's ok for it to play out and even be believed in for a moment. At any instant it can be seen for what it is. The realisation is that it never really changed anything as it never was what it appeared. It's a funny joke and a play.
The feeling/sensation experience is interesting. Things are not so quick to reveal as illusion. This, i am understanding, is part of this next chapter.
In a nutshell all is well. If it appears not then it is not for that moment of appearance. It always dis-appears back into nothing without a trace of it ever having existing. Amazing!

That's beautiful man.

As present as it is and as often as the 'I' thought gets played out

It will get less and less frequent and weaker and weaker each time it is Seen.
It's also ok to let it be there and just ignore it like the sound of the refrigerator. It gets so you only notice it when you put your attention on it.

only gleaming in moments of total cessation

You may start to notice a background equanimity, regardless of what is happening in the foreground.

Would you think that you might want to help other seekers to see the obvious ?
Try this (again); how would you communicate this 'no self' thing to a sixteen year old.

Thanks Vince. It's great communicating with you. Really enjoying myself :)

I'll answer your question later today. I've got some work to be getting on with for now.
Will drop you a line later.

Enjoy the sleep.

Antony

Hi Vince,

The background equanimity is becoming more of the foreground is one way of putting it. Very beautiful to see the natural state of peace.

In answer to your first question i don't really feel competent to point others in the right direction just yet. The experience it still dawning. My mind is playing catch up it seems. It's not all completely understood by mind yet. So conceptualising for the purposes of explanation are still challenging. It was particularly lucid when i spoke to you yesterday but this is not always the case. I guess also there is some recurring doubt about how to go about it because there is still doubt that i know what's going on. Seems to be the result of so much conditioning. Still much to be seen through.

How to explain to a 16 year old -
If you watch a movie you forget that you are looking at a screen. You become totally involved in the story that is being displayed. In the same way all the thoughts that arise about your self are just like pictures on a screen. In this way you realise they are just that - thoughts passing by. No matter whether they are about the weather or 'me' there's no difference. Just images on a screen. So the thoughts that occurred never referred to 'me' because 'me' is a thought like any other. There never was an entity, person or thing called 'me'. Just a story.