Hello!-JoshO

[Elad]

Dear Joshua,

Your letter carries a warmth and sincerity that makes it a joy to read. There’s a genuine shift happening—your ability to see through the habitual identification with Joshua, the recognition that thoughts arise and claim ownership, and your grounding in the simple, ever-present joy of being are all clear signs of a genuine shift unfolding. This is not small.

Now, let’s look deeper.

You say, “Joshua is becoming translucent.” Beautiful imagery, but what is that “Joshua” made of? Is he actually there in any way, or is translucency itself still a concept being held? If you stop and look right now, does “Joshua” have any reality apart from a thought claiming him to exist?

You write: “I both don’t buy these thoughts and simultaneously feel a sense of relief and satisfaction.” Who is there to feel relief? Who is relieved? And what is the belief underneath that suggests there was something that needed to be achieved in the first place?

Here’s something to play with during the day:

When a thought arises that refers to “Joshua” in any way—whether it’s a judgment, a rise or sink in self esteem, a claim of progress, a subtle sense of ownership—look: What is causing these movements? Is there anyone doing that, owning that, which it refers to, or is it just habitual thought patterns being believed in that moment?

Let’s keep peeling the layers. I look forward to our conversation. I'll get back about live meeting...

[JoshuaO]

Dear Elad -

I began my day's writing practice as I do, highlight and then responding to the text of a daily message from a New Mexico-based organization known as "The Center for Action and Contemplation"... and the day's practice turned into my response to you. I will include the whole thing below and hope it will not be too much to do for now. I look forward to (re)connecting soon!

Best wishes from

Josh(ua)

==

Week Nine: Rhineland Mystics 

Meister Eckhart: A Mystic Preacher

Theologian Matthew Fox introduces the life and teachings of German mystic Meister Eckhart:  

Of all the mystics of the West, it is difficult to find anyone who more profoundly articulates the journey we make into the divine and out in the world again than Meister Eckhart. His is a spirituality of passion and compassion. Eckhart, a Dominican friar and preacher, lived from 1260 to 1329…. He teaches that spiritual awakening is to lead to justice-making and compassion in the world. He practiced what he preached…. Two examples of this are his support of the Beguine movement which was the women’s movement of the fourteenth century. And another is his support of the peasants. Indeed, half his sermons were preached in the peasant dialect of his day, and at his trial he was accused of “confusing the simple people” by telling them that they were all “aristocrats,” or “royal persons.”  

But this is precisely the heart of Eckhart’s teaching and the heart of the biblical tradition of creation spirituality: That humans are blessed with divine powers and beauty but also with responsibilities of justice-making and compassion that characterize all royal personhood. How do we get to such deep self-esteem and to such deep acceptance of our responsibility?…. Our awareness is everything; our waking up is everything. We need to move from the superficial or “outer self” to the true self or “inner self.” Who is this inner self? Eckhart answers this question in his treatise “On the Aristocrat,” or “On the Royal Person.”  

Fox presents Eckhart’s teaching: 

The inner person is the soil in which God has sown the divine likeness and image and in which God sows the good seed, the roots of all wisdom, all skills, all virtues, all goodness—the seed of the divine nature…. This is the good tree of which our Lord says that it always bears good fruit and never evil fruit. For it desires goodness and is inclined toward goodness…. 

[[[The seed of God is in us.]!!!]] If the seed had a good, wise, and industrious cultivator, it would thrive all the more and grow up to God whose seed it is, and the fruit would be equal to the nature of God. Now, the seed of a pear tree grows into a pear tree, a hazel seed into a hazel tree, the seed of God into God…. While this seed may be crowded, hidden away, and never cultivated, it will still never be obliterated. It glows and shines, gives off light, burns, and is unceasingly inclined toward God. 

Fox concludes: 

It is our task to cultivate this seed and give it nourishment so that the divine image in us can grow and thrive and prosper. This is what the spiritual journey is all about. Our spiritual journey consists in nourishing and watering and caring for this God-seed that is in all of us. 

--

This is such a beautiful gift today, to read all of this... my goodness, it is the basis. I'm almost, I would love to be able to allow myself to dissolve in the tears of joy that this inspires, but I also will not right now, should not, and kind of cannot (I'm at my office desk, with folks all around me!)... but the gift of this today! The right track has been followed... and maybe even found! I am so thankful, so grateful for the gift of what has been given, and it is given to all of us. This is a miraculous situation, and we are all in it!

I can't stop smiling now, and I don't want to keep my eyes closed the whole time, but I also do. I want to write this story, with Mirabai's help -- I will want to meet her yes, and I do want all of this, all of it. I want to write back to Elad today, maybe even keeping some of this Eckhart business in there, but also... I'm migrating over to Elad, to writing to you Elad, right here...

Hello Elad. I began writing you last night, when I was tired, and I want to swap over and re-join your questions and try to answer them from the truthful place and perspective from which such questions might be answered today.

What did you ask me, what did you ask me again?

Here's what I began writing to you last night:

"Dear Elad –

 I hardly know how to respond to your questions and promptings. I’m delighted to read your words that confirm/support the feeling here of and the ​hope for “a genuine shift unfolding.” At the same moment, it’s both a wonderful confirmation to hear you say that and it immediately brings a feeling of destabilization to follow where you immediately whisk me off to with your immediate next questions and suggestions. It feels simultaneously (and thoughts reflect the feeling, maybe even arise in response to the feeling) – it feels simultaneously like “Wow, I am/things are as far along in this process as I/things have ever been” and also “eek, what’s left of the 'old rug' is immediately being yanked out from under the illusory-yet-still-a-bit-comforting “sense of self” that has both been seen through (to a greater extent than ever) and yet is also still relied upon in some way, for its familiarity and safety.

Perhaps I’ll try to answer your other specific questions in order and then see about that “thing to play with” you suggested.

You wrote:

“You say, “Joshua is becoming translucent.” Beautiful imagery, but what is that “Joshua” made of? Is he actually there in any way, or is translucency itself still a concept being held? If you stop and look right now, does “Joshua” have any reality apart from a thought claiming him to exist?"

I suppose I would say that my experience of the “Joshua,” at this point, is something like that of the colored glass I referred to in my last letter. It’s not immediately clear to me what “Joshua” is made of, if it’s any (apparently) separate thing at all; I could liken it to mist, or a vapor, evanescing even as we stand here looking at “him/it” as he/it evaporates in the sunlight. The words you used (“If you stop and look right now, does “Joshua” have any reality apart from a thought claiming him to exist?”) simultaneously ring true to me, and yet I don't want to look! It induces a vertiginous feeling in the pit of this body’s stomach.

You then continued:

“You write: “I both don’t buy these thoughts and simultaneously feel a sense of relief and satisfaction.” Who is there to feel relief? Who is relieved? And what is the belief underneath that suggests there was something that needed to be achieved in the first place?”

I don’t know that anyone is actually there to feel relief -- I already kind of know that I'm headed toward finding out more and more deeply and clearly that there isn't at all... but the feeling of it is felt. Who is there to feel it? Ultimately, no one is there. But the ancient contraction patterns of this body/mind conglomerate are quite deep-seated. They want to have it both ways, or stop things “where they are” and not look further... but of course that's not going to dissuade "me" or "this" for long, especially if the skillful (if immediately destabilizing, slightly nauseating) help you bring is right here at this table."

The last thing I wrote to you last night was as follows:

"Dear Elad, it is late, and I am falling asleep as I write this to you. I will pick it up tomorrow and apologize for not getting the whole note back to you written so as to send it off pronto!"

And so - it's the next day, and let's do this. I want to respond to every prompting you brought in your last note, and so... let's go (back to your note)!

You then wrote:

"Here’s something to play with during the day:

When a thought arises that refers to “Joshua” in any way—whether it’s a judgment, a rise or sink in self esteem, a claim of progress, a subtle sense of ownership—look: What is causing these movements? Is there anyone doing that, owning that, which it refers to, or is it just habitual thought patterns being believed in that moment?

Let’s keep peeling the layers. I look forward to our conversation. I'll get back about live meeting..."

I already expect that it will become increasingly clear that anytime a thought arises that refers to "Joshua," that in reality no one is doing any of those movements, that they are the deeply conditioned patterns of living that began getting entrained early, beginning with when a newborn human being received that name. Those patterns were, have been, continually reinforced throughout the days and years that "Joshua" grew up and into and through an apparently-individuated life on Earth.

At the moment, that understanding, that seeing is held at a little bit of distance, mostly intellectually. The "feeling of Joshua," in all the ways it happens, including the ways you mention, recurs.

I am a little scared but also very eager to peel those layers, Elad -- thank you for everything, past and future. I look forward to finding time to meet via video and wish you every good thing meanwhile.

With gratitude and very best wishes from

Josh(ua)

[Elad]

Joshua,

I read through your response with a focus on what is clear and what is not in terms of seeing through self. Here's what stands out:


You say, “The words you used (“If you stop and look right now, does “Joshua” have any reality apart from a thought claiming him to exist?”) simultaneously ring true to me, and yet I don't want to look! It induces a vertiginous feeling in the pit of this body’s stomach"

—that’s a key moment. What exactly is being resisted? What happens right there when the vertigo appears? What is it happening to, what is choosing that?

You acknowledge “no one is actually there” and describe that the feeling of self is very much there for a lot of the time. What is this feeling of self? What exactly is it, what does it consist of and what controls it??

Don't think about it, observe it. And don't try to make it go away, it doesn't need to go away, it will not, it will be seen for what it is, and no need for it to go away.

You see that “Joshua” is a pattern, with shifting degrees of clarity and conviction. What gives that feeling any weight? What makes it seem to persist? What makes it feel more real versus more like just a habit pattern of thought/feeling? Again, don't think, look at it.

Let’s keep this razor-sharp on direct experience. If you keep the focus strictly on seeing through self, it will help us identify where the clarity is landing and where unconscious holding and confusion remains.

Looking forward to hear from you again,

[JoshuaO]

Dear Elad -

I just went back to find what you last wrote me, and to my amazement your note arrived on Tuesday Feb 25, already ten days ago. I hope it doesn't create any poor impression to respond as and when I have done so -- I surely don't mean to be rude and hope you have had not the slightest such impression.

In any case -- I have been meaning to and want to respond directly to your very nicely-focused questions. Thank you for them, and thank you as well for your ability to pose them in the first place, your ability and willingness to share yourself and your insight with me. I truly appreciate it.

You wrote:

"Joshua,

I read through your response with a focus on what is clear and what is not in terms of seeing through self. Here's what stands out:

You say, “The words you used (“If you stop and look right now, does “Joshua” have any reality apart from a thought claiming him to exist?”) simultaneously ring true to me, and yet I don't want to look! It induces a vertiginous feeling in the pit of this body’s stomach"

—that’s a key moment. What exactly is being resisted? What happens right there when the vertigo appears? What is it happening to, what is choosing that?"

Hello again Elad. To try to answer your question: I am not immediately sure. There's that contraction, that feeling -- which I'm not in the middle of right now, but am describing partly from re-conjuring that feeling-memory at this moment -- of vertigo, almost of looking over the side of a cliff. The brain immediately suggests (OK, thinking, sorry, but keeping this part for a moment) that it is a deeper location of muscularized contraction-identification, somehow deeper, a more deeply, almost secretly-held "identity-location" lockbox, a deeper inner vault where somehow the anciently-constructed individual identity-conglomerate is hidden away from any possible harm - and maybe also from closer examination. I'm somehow perhaps mischievously drawn to use the following phrase for that "lockbox": "The Holy of Holies," the deep center of the ancient temple.

You again:
"You acknowledge “no one is actually there” and describe that the feeling of self is very much there for a lot of the time. What is this feeling of self? What exactly is it, what does it consist of and what controls it??"

More wonderful and wonderfully-pointed questions. I'm again not immediately sure, possibly because avoiding such direct examination may be an ancient habit, part of the unspoken/unconscious rulebook that keeps the "nonentity" on its throne. It is a conglomerate of familiar feelings that are the deep basis, maybe the foundation, of a feeling-structure that developed over the course of the childhood and upbringing, the unarticulated but deeply felt "nub" or root of the whole "tree" that grew up into the apparently individuated adult-identity tree named Joshua. That nub or root is dimly perceived, maybe only "felt-in-the-dark," (because you only feel it, it can't be heard, seen, smelled, touched or tasted) an impression-of-a-form that is also like the cellar under much more visible structures that one also comes to base individual identity on -- the body and the mind.

Yes, a lot of thinking, sorry. Trying hard, I promise.

You again:
"Don't think about it, observe it. And don't try to make it go away, it doesn't need to go away, it will not, it will be seen for what it is, and no need for it to go away."

Doing my best here, and redoubling the effort to shut up and just look. It's helpful (if not my easy/immediate first reaction) just to observe, as opposed to allowing thought to explode all around it. I also find helpful and appreciate your point that it need not (and can't anyway) be made to go away.

You again:
"You see that “Joshua” is a pattern, with shifting degrees of clarity and conviction. What gives that feeling any weight? What makes it seem to persist? What makes it feel more real versus more like just a habit pattern of thought/feeling? Again, don't think, look at it."

OK, looking rather than thinking as best I can... The "Joshua" pattern is ancient, and for almost all of this life on earth has been the basis of how life has been approached and lived.

It seems to me that giving that feeling any weight is a long-ingrained habit. One gets used to having that "nub of sensation" in the cellar of lived experience. And very preliminarily, it seems that the looking at it directly itself begins to weaken the persistence/power/seeming reality of that "knot" or "nub." The following is a thought, not a certainty, but the impression arises that the looking itself immediately contributes to the loosening or maybe the beginning of the dissolution of that knot, which only is able to persist by being left in the darkness.

You:
"Let’s keep this razor-sharp on direct experience. If you keep the focus strictly on seeing through self, it will help us identify where the clarity is landing and where unconscious holding and confusion remains."

I'm not sure I've done the very best possible job of looking-not-thinking here, Elad, but I'd rather fail to some degree but reconnect with you and continue the conversation than hold back any longer.

I hope this finds you very well and do very much look forward to hearing about when might work for a next video meeting.

With best wishes from your own

Josh(ua)

[Elad]

Dear Joshua,

First, let me assure you—there are no negative thoughts about you here. There is appreciation for your willingness to engage
deeply and honestly. The depth of your engagement is clear, but so is the gravitational pull of intellectualization. Let’s sharpen the focus.

You speak of a “lockbox,” a “Holy of Holies,” where the ancient identity-conglomerate hides. Good—let’s not theorize about it. Let’s open it.

Right now, without using thought, where exactly is this felt center of Joshua? Locate it. Describe its raw, direct experience—without adding any interpretation.

If you don’t refer to Joshua in any way—not even as a pattern, a knot, or a habit—what remains? What is actually here before any story touches it?

What is meant here is not to make the thoughts about Joshua go away, but when thoughts are seen as thoughts, when there is trans-verbal interest in just what is there, what is there?

You say looking begins to loosen the knot. What is trying to “loosen” the knot? Is there a you doing something to the experience, or is the unraveling simply happening exactly this including the experience of you, is seen for what it is?

Drop all theories. Don’t answer with ideas. Look.

I look forward to your reply.

[Elad]

Dear guidees,

I will be taking a month of vacation, including from guiding, from May 26th to June 27th. You might want to use the time until May 26th to inquire with great wholeheartedness and beginners mind, maybe "the Gateless Gate will be passed". You might also want to update both of us on where you are in the process, and what is experienced as your wishes and needs now, if any - happy to hear from you before I leave. If during my vacation you feel a need to be supported by an LU guide, two of my trusted fellow guides will be available. During that period, contacting them might also be an opportunity to the get a different input - we never know what input, what energy, will suddenly make what is clear clear.

Fellow guides:

Alan: alan.home.mailbox@gmail.com
Becca: becca@supportedawakening.com

🙏

[JoshuaO]

Dear Elad -

It has been another year, I'm somewhat amazed to see, since we were last in touch... even as I have kept at the work of this process every single day. I returned to our LU page here during this past week and was amazed to find that my doing so had taken place, completely without aiming for it, exactly one year since last time. And each last checking-in-to-look took place on... October 7th. 

I do hope you and your family and friends and as many people in Israel as can be have been experiencing some portion of relief in these last days and are moving, however haltingly, in the direction of healing, however that may become possible. I'm sure I have no real idea of what life is like there now, nor could I know very much at all, really, how it has been in these last two years. I very much hope though you are as well as can possibly be, and I cannot help wondering how life on that level has been for you in these last days. I hope you won't mind sharing perhaps a little bit about that when there is an appropriate moment to do so.

But separately from the flow of the world-historical -- I have been thinking of you and meaning to write and to reconnect with you for quite a long time now. My daily practice as it is today could perhaps be described very much the way I did to you when we were last in touch -- and yet it also feels as if it has "solidified," evolved, formed, quite a bit since then. I sit every morning and try never to miss a morning, for at least an hour, if possible for longer. Life through the rest of the day doesn't feel as if it fits right if I haven't done so; it allows the chance for joy, clarity, and flow to emerge. When sitting has happened, whatever "Joshua" may previously have been up to or grabbing at, and even what Joshua may seem to keep trying to grab at even as practice happens, his (apparent) grip loosens in the course of the practice. After some time, maybe 30 minutes or so, emptiness/flow/freedom somehow spills  open, and a smile opens up on the face of the body as it sits. Something then wonders at how the apparent grip of an illusory entity loosened and that it becomes possible, again, that the emergence of joyous flow opens up, which somehow that practice frees up/allows/makes possible.

Do I "see through" Joshua? Do I know that the thinking activity has no real Self in it? Yes. Even as the life that is lived here contains a great deal of oscillating, between habitually living as the personality, and then when practice somehow allows living as joyous, intensified flow, which cannot be "done," but which can be allowed by means of relaxation/spirtual practice. Practice calms that amazing construct, that intimately-known fiction which is the personality, enough for that elaborately conditioned construct to calm down enough that the Joy, the Actual Self, can emerge into direct experience.

Those were a few words to try to share where things have come to at this point, of course. 

Could we be in touch again sometime soon please? I'm not at all sure how best to proceed, but I would be very grateful to reconnect and to be able to ask your wise advice about how best to do so at this point. 

Thank you for your kind attention when you any extra to share. I look forward to hearing from you soon or soonish.

With very best wishes from
Me
(Joshua)

[Elad]

Dear Joshua,

Good to hear from you. Your morning practice sounds wonderful. A couple of suggestions come up, if you feel inspired to continue the process here:

1) When you have that sense of Actual Self in meditation, look during meditation: Is there actually any Actual Self there? Or is it just "what is" and not a Self. If it feels right to call it Actual Self, what is that based on? Like, in direct experience, what is it based on?

2) During the day when "in the personality", look:

a) What is this personality in direct experience? Is there an actual thing that is the personality? Direct experience...

b) When seemingly you are "in the personality", what is it that is "in the personality"? Is there anything?

-----------

On the conventional level, yes a cautious hope here in Israel, more than for a long time. And relief to have the hostages back, and that, for now, the war in Gaza is in cease fire.

[JoshuaO]

Dear Elad -

First to allow me to say, just simply: thank you - thank you - thank you - thank you for being there/here. And please accept my apology for the strange delay/lapse of time since you last wrote, back on 10/17. This work goes on every day, every day of this life – and it can be strange to not find my way back to our "touch point" within it… over what can turn into days, weeks, on end. I certainly hope and have the feeling you’ll understand, but in any case just thank you for your patience and kindness throughout the entire chapter since we connected. Now, to your questions:

"1) When you have that sense of Actual Self in meditation, look during meditation: Is there actually any Actual Self there? Or is it just "what is" and not a Self? If it feels right to call it Actual Self, what is that based on? Like, in direct experience, what is it based on?"

Short answer: it’s just “what is.” There is life, and a broad smile, and the body breathing.

Now, words words words: I am right now sitting at the end of over an hour of sitting meditation. I don’t normally know how (nor do I normally try) to put words to what this experience has been or is, but as I sit here, it’s … it doesn’t exactly feel like a self. It feels like flow is happening, and it feels like there is only one flow happening. It feels like a flow is there when the limited sense of self ebbs, disintegrates, washes away. What remains is shining, smiling, quiet.

—
"2) During the day when "in the personality", look:

a) What is this personality in direct experience? Is there an actual thing that is the personality? Direct experience...

b) When seemingly you are "in the personality", what is it that is "in the personality"? Is there anything?"

---

The personality is that immaterial construction that has formed and that one has gotten used to over a lifetime, in this case the “Joshua” that is named by and that bears/wears that label. It doesn’t have a solid existence, but somehow, out of something, habitual actions manifest. And a “personality” emerges from “within” somewhere/nowhere, and that personality has quirks and does funny things. And it appears that when this apparent tangle of existing happens on planet Earth, and this apparently individual entity has a conversation with (for instance) its wife or one of its daughters during or after meditating, there’s definitely behavior that comes out, and it’s not clear what that is or how it functions, although that apparently individual entity can certainly tell you that the people who interact with it don’t always find it to be a perfect pleasure!

But is it a self? To speak as accurately as possible about the sensation(s) of this here … there is life happening here, for sure. But it’s not, finally, a separated entity with its own separate existence … except that talking is happening. Dictation of words into this very helpful iPhone is happening right now. Who or what is doing that? Don’t know.

--

Hello again. Now, it's many hours later, and in those intervening hours I simply went about the business of being this human being on this day -- as it happens a U.S. holiday and so not a workday for me.

Through the course of this day, the more "normal" experience of being "in the personality" returned, and it mostly stays here in experience when meditation is not actively being practiced.

Perhaps it will be useful/relevant to mention that I have taken to alternating between periods of "regular living/working" with short periods of active meditation practice, all day long, daily.

Quite often during today, when not meditating (and right now too, BTW), the experience here is of being "in the personality." So what is that, in direct experience? It feels like a matrix of habits, an elaborate, non-physical construction that seems to have taken its habituated form over the course of many years. Is it a "real thing"? Both "No" and "Sort of".

Maybe it would be helpful to consider it in comparison to, say, an item of clothing. It's not a real thing the way that my favorite red fleece jacket, which I'm wearing right now, is an actual thing that has a physical existence. This “self” cannot be touched, it's insubstantial, it's a habituated construction. But it is similar to this red fleece jacket in that somehow it is donned a great deal of the time. It's a deeply familiar "garment" that, when worn, feels like wearing how it feels to live as "Joshua" on Planet Earth, deeply familiar. It's a deeply conditioned matrix of habits, of ways of living. Very familiar as mentioned, much of it deeply ingrained (not sure where), all of the different habits and quirks and contracted-nesses that together comprise the unique, elaborate construction that years ago was given and still bears the name of "Joshua."

So perhaps my response here is: no, there is no "real thing." I am tempted to call it “A Coat of Many Colors.”

--

Hello Elad! I hope that you are very well! And I look forward to hearing from you when you have a moment to respond.

Sent with gratitude and appreciation from/by

“Josh(ua)”

-----------

P.S. The following words tumbled out during meditation on a recent morning, and I wanted to share them with you as well:

"The entire path of your life is a walking back to God. The sooner you get there (or in other words, the sooner you realize you are already there and have never been anywhere else) the more joyous your life on earth becomes. And you also find out that you were never anywhere else, never separate from Him-Her even for a moment - from It - from THIS, not even for a moment– you just thought you were. Be here now, fully.”

[Elad]

Hey Joshua, you are very welcome, and always free to do this in your natural pace.

Now in terms of seeing through the self illusion it is simpler than you make it. No need for complex thought. And it is not about being in meditative states or not. It is also not about getting rid of a "normal sense of self" (having subjective perspective, personality and so forth). It is just seeing clearly that in fact there is no self, that self is a word that never refers to something real and concrete. Like the word "here". It is practical in context of communication and thinking, but there is no real "here" as imagined. Same for "I" or "mine". Just see that the word "I" does not really refer to anything. Just see that all what comes up when you say the word "I" is patterns of thoughts, images, sensations, none of which are truly the imagined I. Just see the word is a pragmatic placeholder like "here". And it never connects to something that is truly what it is. And this label and whatever fantasies are attached to it, is never in control over things, never responsible for things, it is just a label.

[JoshuaO]

Dear Elad -

Wow.

Thank you.

Phhhhhhhhhhhhhwwww.

Breathing.

Thank you.

Thank you for that, and for being connected as we are, and for your kindness about pace, etc. Thank you.

Please keep very well, dear Elad. I am grateful to have connected with you whenever that was and that connection endures.

With warmest good wishes from
Josh(ua)

[Elad]

:)

So is what I wrote clear to you? How clear on a scale from 0-10 ?

Is it also clear that this realization has nothing to do with sense of devinity or special non-dual states? I.e. one person can realize the illusion of self, who have no sense of devinity or advanced meditative states, might be a person who mostly experience distraction, avoidance and pain for example. Another person might have profound and regular access to states of non-duality and a sense of devine union, and still absolutely not have realized that self is an illusion?

[JoshuaO]

Dear Elad -

First of all, just Hello. It has been quite a long time since we have reconnected, and I hope this note finds you very very well. I'm not quite sure about an answer to the very last question(s) you posed, but at this moment I'm not most concerned about that. I will find my way back to that exact point – which I did find a little bit confusing – eventually, perhaps, or perhaps we'll just see.

For the moment, I just wanted to reach out, and greet you, and thank you very much for all of your kind attention in the past and continuingly – since there isn't really a past I guess! This chunk of time since we were last in contact has been full of good work, every day, all in this vitally important, continuing project. I don't really know where to begin at the moment with telling you about the work that has happened, and the ways that things now or experienced or anything like that. It's just been so full and rich... and yet
even as I write that, I don't want to assert almost anything about what has been taking place, or has taken place, or anything like that.
But it was amazing in a little shocking to read through the last few entries before our very final, most recent one, and see for how long this daily meditation practice has been going on and how it has evolved since then.

I would love to reconnect when it works for you, and to tell you a bit more about where things are, if it makes sense to do so and you have time for it. But meanwhile, I just wanted relayed to say hello, and thank you again, and to express my gratitude for your help and participation in this longer-term project. I hope all is very well with you, and I look forward to hearing some little bit from you, just to reestablish our connectedness, when you have a spare moment.

With best wishes from
Josh(ua)

[Elad]

Dear Joshua,

You are welcome! I am glad life and meditation/contemplation feels alive and rich for you.

Lets stop corresponding on this thread for now until a time comes - if it comes - where you feel a need or wish to work with my pointers and questions again, responding to all of them directly one by one.

If you want open-ended sessions-meetings with me, to share or explore something, you are welcome to write me and book one to the email address.

You are also welcome to write from time to time how things are evolving, to my private email address.