Simply start here.

[Seichi]

Hi, Elizabeth
I have been VERY busy today... - I'll write you tomorrow!!!
Love Leif

[Elizabeth]

Ok, Leif, thanks for checking in!
Love, E

[Seichi]

I ask a question here:
Is it possible, that the mind and the thoughts and conceptual abilities (while beautiful and useful tools evolved to help us orient this organism to a complex social environment), IS IT POSSIBLE...
that the world we have constructed in mind is not the reality? A very small box, constructed around what is important to a 'Me'? Labeling, dividing, all about what it means to a me?
You don't have to believe anything, just look at how that box might be put together around what a 'you' sees. Totally conditioned by the thoughts and patterns of a mental construct through which 'you' see a world.

The world that is in the mind is wrapped up in labels, thoughts, judgements...
This world (in the mind) has not much to do with the ”real” world, the world ”out there”. The world which is empty of labels, empty of words and ideas.

There seems to be ”two worlds”:

1) One made up by labels, thoughts, judgements. This world is made by ”me”, e.i. by patterns determinated by my surroundings including the brain and the rest of the body... Not only things but also persons are ”made” by me:

Mr. A is stupid, bad looking, stinking... - miss B is clever, beautiful and smells like roses :-)
These persons are in reality nothing but fantasies in the brain. (or in the "mind". What is a mind?)

2) And then there is the ”outer” world which is as it is... - and Mr. A and miss B are both as they are without any labelling.

But is it at all possible to look at a chair without labelling it? Can I see a chair without thinking that it is black, soft, dusty and shabby? Or can I look at miss B without thinking that she is gorgeous? Or in other words: Is it possible to perceive this ”real” world?

But just as a test, look at a cup. Take the MY off it. Allow it to exist outside all your expectations of what a cup should be. What is that experience?

Is it possible to perceive this ”real” world?
Yes, that is what this of your questions is about. Isn't it?

There is now a cup in front of me. A cup with a lttle bit of cold coffee in it. I try to see it, as it is before my labelling...
Maybe it gets less attached to ”me” and ”mine”. Maybe it sort of melts more together with the background...? With the other things on ”my” desk...

I don't know... - maybe I am inventing things?!

Love Leif

[Elizabeth]

Dear Leif,
From you:
'Is it possible to perceive this ”real” world?
Yes, that is what this of your questions is about. Isn't it?'

Yes, you nailed it.
Most people wind up here because, one way or another, there is a certain shallowness perceiving a world through the filter of a ME. We suspect that there is another way to see.

That is what this is about. Seeing what is real, rather than our fantasies.
I can feel your mind getting tricky here, and trying to pass it off lightly :-)
Nope. Sorry. You've been at this a long time, I doubt you take it lightly.

So what IS prior to a thought ABOUT it?
Thought claims, and labels, and judges, pretty much everything in YOUR world? You have answered this by looking at experience.
We will move that cup a little closer to home.

Please go make a cup of coffee or tea. We will do this slowly, as a zen action. As the hands make all the beautiful movements. please watch and see how the thoughts come in to own the actions, if they do. Does this mental narrative MAKE the hand move, in reality? Or come in to claim, label, judge, and divide, and tell some stories?
Please walk back to your chair with this cup. Notice whether or not a self is making the decisions as this complex series of movements unfold.

Now. Having done that:
Lift a hand. Wave it to the right. Wave it to the left.
Watch the thoughts as they arise. In reality, is a self doing this? Or is that simply an automated assumption in thought?

Notice what the mental narrative is saying about this! And do it anyway, till what IS there becomes obvious.
This is the most interesting bit. If you write large amounts about this experiment, it will be helpful in unfolding the experience. Thoughts are tricky, so we set them down.
Love, Elizabeth

[Seichi]

Please go make a cup of coffee or tea. We will do this slowly, as a zen action. As the hands make all the beautiful movements. please watch and see how the thoughts come in to own the actions, if they do. Does this mental narrative MAKE the hand move, in reality? Or come in to claim, label, judge, and divide, and tell some stories?
Please walk back to your chair with this cup. Notice whether or not a self is making the decisions as this complex series of movements unfold.

Now. Having done that:
Lift a hand. Wave it to the right. Wave it to the left.
Watch the thoughts as they arise. In reality, is a self doing this? Or is that simply an automated assumption in thought?

Notice what the mental narrative is saying about this! And do it anyway, till what IS there becomes obvious.

Hi, Elizabeth

It is kind of a strange experience to do actions in slow motion.
I feel that the movements are happening almost by themselves. I have no feeling that there is a self DOING this, rather that there is a witness to what is happening.

Doing actions in slow motion made me feel ”animal-like”. The beautiful motions you see in the behaviour of e.g. a cat... - I felt as if I were a cat, a cat drinking coffee ;-)

My mind/brain did not invent labels or thoughts. At least not about the movements in the actions. The whole concentration is upon doing the movement - right now! There is nothing to think about...

OK - there are initially thoughts concerning that you told me to do so and so, but when doing the concrete action in slow motion there seem to be nothing but the action, the movement...

This may be what Tai Chi is about? I know nothing about it...

These slow movements happen, but still there must be some kind of initiating spark... - in this case it may be nothing else but your wriiten words to me.

These words of yours in connection with my motivation make these special movements happen. There is no need for a ”self” to make things done... - but there is still some kind of witness. Though there may be no thoughts I am still conscious about what is happening.

I understand this intellectually, but do I feel it that way? May be I should try some more times to do this ”slow motion thing”!

I had another experience this time. In stead of feeling like an animal, I rather felt as if I was watching a movie. A movie with the special guest star Leif. Things happened in this movie: taking a cup, lifting a hand and so on...
”I” was not doing this... - ”I” watched... - or maybe rather: I was conscious... - or aware...

Very interesting exercise!

Love Leif

[Elizabeth]

Hi Leif,
Yes, when we slow it down and the actions flow, we are beginning to see what is really there. Note that The Witness may be a character, of a refined, more spiritual self ;-) It's hard to see life directly, without habitually creating a character, but it is possible.
This flowing aliveness is a good place to explore further. You need not do actions slowly unless it is just a good way to focus. Simply make it a practice for the day to watch this flow in life, normal life.
Also notice that other things flow. Animals, for sure. Little children. Trees. Wind. Crowds of people have patterns and tendencies. Water!
In fact, when this awareness of flow expands into the world, there is an interesting effect.
So here is a question for this next exercise: if everything is a flow, where are the boundaries from one apparent thing to another? Who draws the lines? Are they really there?

I am glad you are finding this interesting, Leif. It still brings me joy to notice these things.
Much love, Elizabeth

[Seichi]

Hi, Elizabeth

Simply make it a practice for the day to watch this flow in life, normal life.
Also notice that other things flow. Animals, for sure. Little children. Trees. Wind. Crowds of people have patterns and tendencies. Water!

Yes, there is certainly a flow. It is NOT so that one act - say filling a cup with coffee - starts and then stops. And then quite another act is taking place: drinking the coffee. No, these things are closely interelated and can be seen as one act... - or as 1.000 different acts if I take into account all the tensions of the muscles in the hand and the fingers...

It seems artificial to divide this into separate acts, 2 or 1.000... - there is only one flowing happening...
And water: Yes, I do not fill my cup with 700 drops, I fill it with water...

In fact, when this awareness of flow expands into the world, there is an interesting effect.
So here is a question for this next exercise: if everything is a flow, where are the boundaries from one apparent thing to another? Who draws the lines? Are they really there?

Lets stick to the cup for a start ;-)
If I hade a cup made solely by hard frozen lemon ice, and I fill that cup with lemon juice... - then where ends the cup and where starts the juice? There is no fixed limit! In particular not after some minuts!

I have a candle on my desk. It gets smaller and smaller. Where did it go? It is still the same candle, but it has more or less mingled with the air. Is the flame a part of the candle or not? Or is it a part of the air?
There is - I think - no true answer to this. You can answer what you want. There is in reality nothing but the flow of a burning candle...

I hear children shout. Where is this sound? In the garden or in my head? Both here and there, I think. It is a flow of sound...

I look at a book. Is the color of it part of the book? Is the coffee stain on the cover part of the book? Yes and no...

If I had a wooden leg or a plastic heart, would these be parts of me? This is impossible to answer so long as I have not defined ”me”. And the ”me” cannot be defined. Things get mixed up with no certain dividing lines.

These lines between apparently different things or acts are - so it seems - made by me out of pure habits and/or linguistic conventions.

One might say: There is only ONE thing, the Universe :-)
All divisions are linguistic inventions...

To end for today: I try to write as honest as I can trying to avoid too much intellectualization or parrotting what I have read or heard.

Love Leif

[Elizabeth]

Hi Leif,
"And the me cannot be defined". And yet we have believed in it for decades. Ambiguous situation.
Let's stand back and add a few things up.

No ownership except in thought. I is added to thought.
Thoughts are not originated by an I.
Thoughts are not controlled by an I.
No doer except as an addition in thought, to what happens.
An I cannot be located or defined.
An I does not appear to control the body.
Boundaries are present in thought but cannot be applied to reality, as reality appears to be unitary.
Life appears in many forms, not controlled by an I.

So, if the character of Leif is just a fiction, what is running the show? What is this unitary, boundary-less thing, if it is a thing?
Can that be directly experienced?
"Be still and know".

I look forward to hearing how this experience is for you.
Love, Elizabeth

[Seichi]

Hi Elizabeth
I need another day to ponder this...
Also because of a birthday today - my youngest grandson: 3 years :-)
Love Leif

[Elizabeth]

OK, Grandpapa!
In the midst of the silence, noise. And vice versa.
Take care, Elizabeth

[Seichi]

So, if the character of Leif is just a fiction, what is running the show? What is this unitary, boundary-less thing, if it is a thing?
Can that be directly experienced?
"Be still and know".

This is difficult. I really don't know what to write...
You have 3 questions and I cannot answer any of them.

Well, this unitary, boundary-less thing is certainly not a ”thing”. It is prior to things and the outer world in toto.

But then what is ”it”, if anything at all? It is ”no thing”, i.e. ”nothing”, but still not nothing ;-)

Can that be directly experienced?

I hope so... - but I still don't know how.
I might have too many words in my head...?! It might be too difficult to ”be still”?

Sorry, but I cannot write more than this for the moment... - I don't know what to write...

Love Leif

[Elizabeth]

Hi Leif,
Not knowing is excellent news. I means you are at a place that you have never gone before. Of course a 'you' does not know what to do. We are going beyond a you.
In this game, not knowing is great. That's when you open up and allow what IS to inform a you, rather than a you telling you a story ABOUT it.
Keep facing into the questions. Go through a few of the experiments. Don't go away. It's always right here.
Love, Elizabeth

[Seichi]

Hi, Elizabeth

Keep facing into the questions. Go through a few of the experiments. Don't go away. It's always right here.

I face the questions, I go into the experiments, I don't go away... - at least I try to not go away.
It is right here... - what is right here?

I have been extremely sleepy today. I don't know if there might be a connection to this questioning... - it makes ”me” a little bit distant to what is going on on the physical plan.

Have made some movements in slow motion, I wondered where and when does these movements end or stop as if ”I” had nothing to do with the them.

Love Leif

[Elizabeth]

Hi Leif,
You can be sleepy, you can be slow, just stay oriented to this Looking at the experience. It's a matter of that orientation, and willingness to drop the identification with thoughts for just a moment.

So that means simply watching the day unfold, the body moving (controlled by a you?) , the words coming out of mouth (within control of a you?) , the wind moving trees (controlled by a you?). And seeing how the narrative of a Leif character continues. In reality, if the narrative that talks ABOUT a Leif and HIS world stops, what would change?
This open, simple watching helps wear away the BELIEF (which is emotion and thought) that a Leif story is living life.
If narrative-Leif is not living life, what is?

Much love! Elizabeth

[Seichi]

So that means simply watching the day unfold, the body moving (controlled by a you?) , the words coming out of mouth (within control of a you?) , the wind moving trees (controlled by a you?). And seeing how the narrative of a Leif character continues.

Do I control the wind? Not really... ;-)
And neither do I control the body, because who is there to be a controller? Noone... - there is no controller. It is all going on by itself. At least, so it seems to me.

In reality, if the narrative that talks ABOUT a Leif and HIS world stops, what would change?

I think that only one thing to change is the stress coming of the constant trying to control things... - this stress might disappear.
Nothing else would change, I think.
Things are just going on the way they used to go on...
Cause and effects, cause and effects... - and so on.

This open, simple watching helps wear away the BELIEF (which is emotion and thought) that a Leif story is living life.
If narrative-Leif is not living life, what is?

God? In my opinion not God in any normal theistic meaning of the word, but maybe some non-individual SUPER-consciousness...?!
But God in this meaning of the word has nothing to do with this mundane world... - with samsara...
Then maybe just cause and effects (karma?!) and nothing else...

Things happens... - there is nothing more to say.

I write this, and I believe it, but I do not really FEEL it...

Love Leif