The Gate

Ah, i see. Because i am feeding these questions to you one at at time the context is missing.
The thing i'm asking you to describe is the illusion. (though i loved your description of experiencing).
So an imagined niece or nephew says "Uncle Dan, tell me about this no-self/illusion thing. How does it work ?"
..and you say, "well sit down and i'll tell you how i experienced it." ...[/quote

Ah, i see. Because i am feeding these questions to you one at at time the context is missing.
The thing i'm asking you to describe is the illusion. (though i loved your description of experiencing).
So an imagined niece or nephew says "Uncle Dan, tell me about this no-self/illusion thing. How does it work ?"
..and you say, "well sit down and i'll tell you how i experienced it." ...[/quote

As a newborn, there is only life happening around us until the day we are taught by our parents, siblings etc. that we are a separate entity, an individual person with free will and the power to choose. Our mind takes over and convinces itself that it is separate from everything--a stand-alone soul in the universe with a past and a future. From then on it's only mission is to stay convinced so everything that is seen, heard or felt is met with a sense of "that's mine" or "that happened TO me or FOR me". But what's really going on is life. Just life. It's everywhere, it's everything. Anything we try to add to that is a label--nothing more. This Uncle Daniel idea was made up by other ideas like your Grandma Mary. She's an idea too. A mind game to create a sense of separatness, a sense of "me" and a sense of "you". It's super convincing--it has to be or it would never work. Where do your thoughts come from? Do you choose them from some internal list you came up with before you share them with your friends? Or, do they simply arrive and you claim them as your creation? TBContinued...

Ok, here's the rest of the questions in one hit.
5) What was the last bit that pushed you over, made you look? was there a specific moment when seeing happened or was it gradual? what exactly happened?Ultimately, pain was the pusher. A sense of hopelessness led the way to truth, busted open the dream. What “I” thought life was, was no longer working, no longer acceptable until there was nowhere else to look. My marriage, my job, my entire life were not matching up to the mental pictures I'd been counting on. That part was a gradual, miserable smear of lies masquerading as “my” ideas. Finally,“I” was feeling as though it would be better if “I” wasn't here at all. And then “I” wasn't.

6) When you say "I", what are you referring to?Something the mind made up. An idea of a separate stand-alone entity that makes decisions for “itself”.

7) Is there an experiencer experiencing an experience, or is there only experiencing ?There's no experiencer. That would point right back at the idea of a self. Life is experience. There's no one to see it.

Actually look. Does experience belong to the body, or does the body belong to experience? [bThe body belongs to the experience. The body, this coffee mug, that tree, all experience—all equal in it.][/b]

8) What did you experience at the moment you awoke?(That was the hands at the sink moment described before). Everything began to simply happen. There was no one owning. No one looking to get. An experience of hands about their business, a feeling of soapy water on sink and skin. Hummm inside the body. Walking happened, doors opened and the dog wanted to play. A Frisbee got thrown and caught, returned wet and thrown again. The sounds of the wind, so beautiful and varied. No one threw the Frisbee and no one caught it over and over.

9) Describe your experience in the hours and days following awakening