Wow. Those are very clear answers!
what does the thought "I" point to? If you look around right now, is it possible to find an "I" that isn't just a thought?
I think this might be my sticking point. I identify the I with my internal dialogue. If i'm meditating and just notice random thoughts I can clearly see that I didn't create them. They just appeared from nowhere and I didn't do anything to create them. However if I start commentating or judging these thoughts this really seems like there is a me whose doing that. These thoughts don't seem random, they feel like I chose these particular thoughts.
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 realize they are just that: thoughts passing by. No matter whether they are about the weather or “me,” there is no difference. Just images on a screen. “Me” is a thought like any other. There never was an entity, person, or thing called “me.” There has only ever been a story.
Thoughts are particularly interesting because, while nobody is experiencing or having a thought, the content of the thought is what carries the “I”. Believing that this thought-content has an actual existence is the illusion. Similarly, the illusion of a separate self arises when you take ownership of a particular experience through the thought “my” or “mine.”
You can test if those "selfing" (about a self) thoughts prove the existence of a real self. If this self exists:
- you can experience this self while that experience is happening;
- that self has control over the thoughts (this implies choosing the content of thoughts - and I suppose that if you are like most people - including me - you would choose to think only pleasant thoughts?);
- that self can control which sensations are felt when "selfing" is happening (I suppose that if you are like most people - including me - you would choose to only feel pleasant sensations?).
Can you experience any of these things ^ ?
Can you find a self or any evidence that a self can control and choose thoughts and sensations while "selfing" is happening? Can you stop having this thoughts about a you? Are those thoughts pointing to a real thing?
So, when you notice that you are involved in the story of me:
- look for the character of the story. Here and now, can this you be found?
- see if it is possible to control the thinking process: can you control the story (shut it down, for example)? Can you choose the content of the story (wouldn't you choose only amazing stories if you could :) ?
- is the story what you are?
