Postby fnazaldon » Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:28 pm
Hi Jorge!
Here are my answers:
1) Is there a 'me', at all, anywhere, in any way, shape or form? Was there ever?
‘I’ is definitely just a thought. And that’s only what it is. No thing as an ‘I’. And when you realize that, you understand that it has been a thought from the beginning of ‘your’ life.
In a way, I feel that thoughts are perceived as colours are, as sounds are etc. And without any perceiver. The perceiver is also a concept, i.e. an idea, i.e. a thought.
2) Explain in detail what the illusion of separate self is, when it starts and how it works.
The illusion is a mechanism : it is a coordination of all perceptions, including mind. But it is JUST a mechanism, a process. It starts at about 3 years old (I have a son, and I can see it appear!) I find it wonderful in a way. Seeing how it works in ‘me’ and in ‘my son’ and ‘others’ is baffling. How marvelous! Life is so clever so innovative. Evolution has selected the thought ‘me’ and the illusion of ‘me’ as a successful trick for organisms to survive better. But, again, it is just a mechanism. There is no self. How ‘I’ react is just the result of the history of this body-mind, history meanining genes and education.
I would say that the basis of this mechanism is the labeling me/not me or my/not my. The very idea of owning (a body, a feeling, an idea, an object, and so on) is at root of the illusion. As soon as the idea of 'my body' comes, the separation appears.
3) How does it feel to see this? describe in detail.
It is weird:) Opposite feelings come at the same time: being angry and at the same time laughing because seeing the angriness appearing and realizing that it is just energy coming and going resulting from a ‘mechanical’ reaction.
No 'me' means also freedom, freedom from the concepts of the mind you have been taught, freedom from polarities (good/bad, beautiful/ugly, and so on). There is just life. Let's breathe, let's smile, let's see the beauty of life!
No ‘me’ means also no ambition (I can't believe in 'me'!!). Difficult at work when your collegues believe in ‘themselves’. ‘I’ feel as an actor on a stage. No more judgement, no more 'he/she should have done that' : it could not be different from what it was.
Sometimes of course I feel so sad to see the ‘me‘ idea causing so much suffering and pain!
There is also the feeling of being free. Feeling of living intensely. Future: a thought. Past : a thought. Present is the only experience. In fact, there is only presence.
4) How would you describe it to somebody who has never heard about this illusion but is curious about it.
I would start with a discussion about thoughts, and especially the ‘me’ thought. Is it real? What is ‘free will’? Does anybody decide, make a choice or is it only a mechanism? Who looks ? Who hears ? Is there a little man in the head controlling everything ?
I had a discussion some weeks ago with a neighbour interested in buddhism. He wanted to be better. I started to reply : better according to what ? Who judges ? What is good and what is bad ? He seemed a bit shocked and I stopped. Maybe it was too much in a single conversation.
5) When you say "I", what are you referring to?
When I say 'I', I am just referring to a conventional aggregate : a body and a mind which are functioning in the world. Thoughts come, reactions come, questions are answered as if there was somebody.
6) Is there an experiencer experiencing, or is there only experience?
there is clearly definitely only experience. Thoughts come after and take possession of experience: 'I' see, 'I' hear, and above all 'I' think (my favorite).
7) Actually look. Does experience belong to the body, or does the body belong to experience?
The sensations belonging to the body appear. The 'body' is just a collection of sensations. 'Body' is an experience, as seeing or hearing is an experience. If I close my eyes, and touch something, what is happening: there is only a sensation that the mind identifies with 'my finger touches the table'. But there is no finger (inside 'me) and there is no table (outside 'me')! There is only a sensation.
8) Are you see, without any doubt, what the illusion of separate self is?outside/inside
When I open my eyes, I can see no inside. When I close my eyes, I can only feel a collection of sensations but where is the boundary? Outside what? Inside what?
Kind regards,
Paul
