Hi Peter,
Thank you for your answers
Just for curiosity: How many people got through the Gateless Gate and “LU” helped them with that?
I have no idea! I never thought about it, didn't seem important. Impossible to know how many people have gone through the gate. As for LU, I seem to remember reading somewhere around 300. But I could be completely wrong. and it doesn't really matter to me.
It's important to realise that LU is nothing special. It didn't invent DE. Direct pointing has been used through the ages. It's just an invitation to look and examine experience. Nothing else. You don't even need a guide. The guide just helps keeping the focus on the search, that's all. It's all very mundane and ordinary really :-)
Do not be afraid, I will not go away.
I'm not worried you'll go away :-). A lot of people go away and there is always a good reason for it. Many come back later on when they feel more ready. It's a mystery how awakening happens. There is no one guiding and no one to guide.
I have tried therapists, read several books and nothing “helped”. Direct Experience seems to me to be a direct way the goes to the root cause and it is practical, not about theory, new knowledge or teaching.
Seeing through the illusion of self doesn't fix anything. Right now there is no self, no you, no I. So what changes when you realise that? nothing really! Stuff goes on as it always has. Because the perspective changes it opens up experience; sadness, pain depression are not happening to a separate "me" and therefore they are not a "problem" that needs to be fixed, but they still happen! Just like rain, and thunder and sunny days still happen. The same goes for happiness and the "positive" emotions. There is no need to grasp or hold on to them. And there can be a lot of joy in being no matter what the weather seems to be. Over time it seems like a lot of habits and beliefs fall away but there is not guarantee that this will happen, and in most cases it doesn't happen immediately. Everyone is different, so it's impossible to predict what will fall away and what will stay.
That's why I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to
leave expectations behind. Only a desire for the truth will take you all the way there. It has to be like an itch at the back of your mind that you cannot scratch until you SEE.
How do you feel about this?
Yes, I believe that there is no separate personal self. Somehow it resonates what I have read in general or seen on YouTube. In the past I used to believe that “enlightenment” is something that were achieved by gurus such as Osho but they died. Thanks to the Internet and YouTube I found out that there are living “enlightened” people in the world like Mooji, Eckhart Tolle. …but they seemed to me not reachable. Finally I found out that there are very ordinary people and reachable in the world who report the same as Mooji, Eckhart Tolle… All of that somehow proves to me that "no-self" is not a fantasy or something like that.
Good! And you know what? once you see it for yourself, you won't believe how very simple, ordinary and obvious it is! :-) Yes, it can be liberating and awesome and brilliant to see the truth, but mostly is incredibly ordinary and the only mystery is how is it possible that you didn't realise it before!
Self = the witness who experiences and its voice is heard in the head. This witness is not tangible, it watches world around, comments it or have a chat with itself. It feels to be someone separate (I am here, everything else is over there). It acts and the body and mind are its key tools. It also feels that things happen to “me” and that “me” is protected. It is driven by fear (wants to survive) and pleasure (wants to feel good).
Ok, good. So let's examine the voice first.
What is this voice? Is it a real separate entity or is thought?
Watch how there is almost always a running commentary in your head. Experience happens, seeing, hearing, moving, and then there is this seemingly ongoing thought process classifying, labeling, and even owning what happens. It's like watching a tennis match, where the commentator keeps talking all the way through. Something gets done or there is an immediate thought "I did that". It happens so quickly is seemless. But is it true?
Does this commentary have a separate existence? is there anyone in control of it? Is it anything more than thought?
What happens in those moments when that running commentary stops? Does experience stop with it?
If you were this thought process then it's safe to assume that you'd disappear when the thoughts stop too, isn't that right? If it were you, wouldn't you have some control over what is said in your head?
Also if the commentary was "you" could "you" watch it happening?
Let me know what this brings up.
Much love
Silvia xxx
