The Gate

how does it FEEL to see this

Ps to my previous message. Perhaps this is too much interpretation. If I describe the sensation possibly it could be a kind of lightness... not muchness, if that makes sense

Yes. Remember the truth senation?? Seeing no self should feel light and expansive. Is that what you feel?

Can you find any separate self?



Loving,

Are you still here?

The site was having trouble for a couple of days but I warned you that would happen. Just come back. It always will.

Loving,

Hi Stacy,
thanks for checking in on me.
I had noticed the site being temperamental (I think there was a warning about that in the initial instructions?) but it was more a personal precarious situation these last days.
Also, I cannot sign into the site on my phone for some reason which somewhat hampers my speed of response. Quite bizarre. I can sign in on my laptop ...
But I hadn't been able to check out in my experience your last question. Partly I think that is because the exercise and the associated response were quite fleeting ... Would you be able to suggest another or additional exercise?
Ruth

Okay.

We're looking for a shift in perception.

lightness... not muchness, if that makes sense

Like that. That could be a shift in perception.

Can you find a separate "self?"


I can give you 100 pointers. You really only need one. The answer is not more pointers. The answer is LOOKING.

Here is a pointer that may force you to look, not think:

ButtChair

Please LOOK for any place where your butt ends & the chair begins.

Is there any clear dividing line between them? Or only the Sensation with no clear division?


It is simple direct & nonverbal. Just LOOK.

Then write what is true.

I did only this and nothing else for 3 months and then saw. It crept up on me while I was sitting at a stoplight. Seeing often happens when we are simply relaxed and looking. I should say, it ONLY happens when we are relaxed and LOOKING.

Loving,

-:) -:):-)

Please LOOK for any place where your butt ends & the chair begins.
Is there any clear dividing line between them? Or only the Sensation with no clear division?

No there isn't a clear dividing line

I did only this and nothing else for 3 months and then saw. It crept up on me while I was sitting at a stoplight. Seeing often happens when we are simply relaxed and looking. I should say, it ONLY happens when we are relaxed and LOOKING.

Okay! That sounds very helpful. I'll do that. I mean the LOOKING.

Good.

Simply staying in a space where you can see there is no dividing line will create the conditions for you to see that there is no separate self, either.

Loving,

Thank you, Stacy!
Sounds good :-)

You're wekcome. Report here.

The *idea* of "self" is a lie feeling of contraction plus the lie thought of a "self." That's it.

There is what we call, "awareness," but only because we want to call it something. Some people call it "consciousness, " but that word gets used a lot. I live in a place where even a brand of coffee is called "Conscious Coffee" So I prefer "awareness. "

Awareness is not a "self."

"Enlightenment is an accident. Meditation makes us accident prone."

Sunryu Suzuki

We cannot predict it and we cannot make it happen. We can only practice the conditions in which it is more likely.

This frustrates the mind because it wants everything to be linear and logical and step-by-step, but this is not. It is non linear and unpredictable.

Just LOOK

Much love,

Thank you. Will do. The looking.

Hello Stacy,
I’ve been doing the suggested ‘exercise’ as much as I can in different situations. It’s interesting how easily imagination creeps in i.e. thinking/knowing that my bottom/bum/butt is lying or sitting on the chair or bed etc BUT if I manage to focus on the sensation only it is clear that there isn’t a clear dividing line …
I’ll keep at it, as suggested!
As ever, thanks for your guidance.

You're welcome. You're doing great.


From an email from Ilona

Nothing dramatic happened.

There were no fireworks.
No permanent bliss states.
No sudden personality changes.

And yet, something shifted.


Here are a few things people said afterwards:

“I’m not fighting my experience anymore. There’s more space around everything.”

“I expected something big to happen. Instead, life feels simpler and I trust myself more.”

“There’s less urgency. The seeking has softened.”


This is the kind of shift this work supports.

Ilona Cuinate

Loving

Thanks, Stacy. Good to know.
Over the course of the years one learns a lot of different stories and that everyone's shift is different (and that it is of course only a 'beginning' ... or something that doesn't occur once and for all but ongoing ...), so it's helpful to have no expectations, especially no inflated ones :-)
I'm keeping up the LOOKING,
Ruth

That's great, Ruth.

Keep me posted.

Loving,