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Re: Only this
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2026 2:31 pm
by Elad
Also, moments where a thought with content you call doubt emerges, where does it come from? what does it refer to? does it come from a self? does it refer to a self? or is it as much spontaneous selfless nature as sounds and sights?
Re: Only this
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2026 11:43 am
by Elad
Hey Kathy, how are things moving?
Re: Only this
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:29 pm
by Baremind255
Dear Elad,
I am sorry for not replying for a very long time.
I didn't log in here and I didn't get an email when you checked on me.
I recently moved and there was a lot to do in connection with that, but aside from that, I have a feeling of stuckness.
I haven't had any new insights and as I am writing this I realize that this is just a thought.
Do I need to have an insight?
Can anything be different than this here and now?!
No, but thoughts seem to apply that it can.
The issue is, that when I am communicating with you, focusing on this, the clarity comes as I am writing, and then here we go again a thought that says, but what about...xyz?
There are no ifs and buts...
The more I write the more paradoxical it becomes, because I get into these contradictions.
Here we go again confusion is happening...
Re: Only this
Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2026 6:12 pm
by Elad
Kathy hi! I have been on retreat, just returned. Sounds to me like it would help to return to be in touch with me daily. As often as possible both during other activity, and sitting down quietly without distraction particularly for that, look:
Whatever is going on, is there a self that makes it, is it a self or the activity of a self that is found? Or is EVERYTHING that is taken as self clearly just activity habits and sensations, happening without a self?
I would recommend getting into this with a renewed commitment to engagement during the day and in messages here daily. You are close...
Re: Only this
Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2026 2:16 pm
by Baremind255
Hi Elad,
Nice to hear back from you. I agree with your suggestion.
The issue is that I get very easily distracted, caught in thought loops.
For some reason, there is always an evaluation going on.
I feel like I am constantly in this labeling business, like this is a sensation, this is a thought.... etc.
Isn't perceiving itself also a thought?
If I don't label a tingling sensation in my feet, would I even perceive that?
I know, that this is not the point. The point is that there is no "I" in it.
Re: Only this
Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2026 7:11 pm
by Elad
Hi again Kathy,
Habits are as habits are. As for the story about the you it refers to, does that exist?
What is this imagined you?
Return to the matter of self or no self every time you remember. Don't let yourself be distracted by other questions. Don't let yourself be distracted by if's and but's. If a sense of absolute clarity is not there return to looking.
Write me again tomorrow.
Re: Only this
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 3:56 pm
by Baremind255
Hi Elad,
A few days have already passed since our last conversation.
I haven't had anything new to report.
What I have been asking most of the time during the day is: " To whom do these thoughts occur?"
I haven't found any answer outside of thought with this.
Do you have any other suggestions for questions or inquiries I could look into during the day?
I have found that just sitting for a period of time and then going about my business is not enough.
The mind constantly reaffies this non-existent self.
There needs to be an inquiry into each happening/ event throughout the day.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much!🙏
Re: Only this
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 6:33 pm
by Elad
No no. This is not about "not having thoughts of self". It is about seeing clear beyond doubt that these thoughts are only thoughts.....
A little like this:
"When "inquiring" (paying attention) the difference is seen between dreaming in the night and being awake, but when dreaming happens at night, this is often not the case"
"When lost in the action of a movie, there is a not being aware that the movie is a movie, but when there is "inquiring" (paying attention) to the nature of the movie, it is seen that this is a movie".
This is how it is here.
Would that make it honest and clrear to say "it is not realized here that movie and dreams is not awake reality, I truly still believe that movies and nightly dreams are awake reality"?
Or, would it be more honest and clear to say: "lostness in movies happen, recognition that movies are movies happen, both are not mine, not me, not a separate self"?
--------
Please watch the following video with one of LU's founders interacting with this person...
Notice how he has these endless elaborate descriptions of what is going on with him. Notice how these endless "describing" and "telling what he knows" and "telling how it is" come instead of PAYING ATTENTION NOW to what is and what isn't NOW, and being clear about it. Notice how all that also just happens like a weather system of frustration, resistance and intellectualization (with no separate self in it or owning it or it referring to).
Realization will never happen in the story you tell about yourself. Realization is seeing clearly that whatever story it is, it is no more then a story, without any real self in it.
Watch:
https://youtu.be/P30P5X3RrmA?si=o5UlbAEvohEcuX2Z
Re: Only this
Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2026 9:38 am
by Elad
Kathy, what responses came up to the message below? What response come as you look at it now? And how is this process effecting life?
No no. This is not about "not having thoughts of self". It is about seeing clear beyond doubt that these thoughts are only thoughts.....
A little like this:
"When "inquiring" (paying attention) the difference is seen between dreaming in the night and being awake, but when dreaming happens at night, this is often not the case"
"When lost in the action of a movie, there is a not being aware that the movie is a movie, but when there is "inquiring" (paying attention) to the nature of the movie, it is seen that this is a movie".
This is how it is here.
Would that make it honest and clrear to say "it is not realized here that movie and dreams is not awake reality, I truly still believe that movies and nightly dreams are awake reality"?
Or, would it be more honest and clear to say: "lostness in movies happen, recognition that movies are movies happen, both are not mine, not me, not a separate self"?
--------
Please watch the following video with one of LU's founders interacting with this person...
Notice how he has these endless elaborate descriptions of what is going on with him. Notice how these endless "describing" and "telling what he knows" and "telling how it is" come instead of PAYING ATTENTION NOW to what is and what isn't NOW, and being clear about it. Notice how all that also just happens like a weather system of frustration, resistance and intellectualization (with no separate self in it or owning it or it referring to).
Realization will never happen in the story you tell about yourself. Realization is seeing clearly that whatever story it is, it is no more then a story, without any real self in it.
Watch:
https://youtu.be/P30P5X3RrmA?si=o5UlbAEvohEcuX2Z
Re: Only this
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2026 7:54 am
by Baremind255
Dear Elad,
It's been a long time again. Since our last exchange, I have come to Europe for several major oral surgeries, one of which is already done and I have two more to go.
I have become tired over evaluating, where I am on the path.
It's become more and more clear that as the title of these entire conversations says, there is truly "only this".
I still act as if there is a separate self, but I also have come to see that phenomena, such as feelings and thoughts arise in each moment and only a thought can reference a "me" and call it my feeling or I am seeing.
In the act of seeing or hearing themselves, where is the me?
I also can see that thoughts just arise always here and now and that they are an experience themselves regardless of what they say.
Believing in them causes extreme discomfort .
I could have also said, when I identify with my thoughts, I feel extremely uncomfortable, but then again who or where is the " I" that feels uncomfortable???!!!
Here we go again.
Re: Only this
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2026 1:36 pm
by Elad
Kathy, good to hear from you!
It's been a long time again. Since our last exchange, I have come to Europe for several major oral surgeries, one of which is already done and I have two more to go.
Uh sounds rough! Hope it will go smooth.
I have become tired over evaluating, where I am on the path.
Good. What is this I that can be somewhere on a path anyways.
It's become more and more clear that as the title of these entire conversations says, there is truly "only this".
Yes
I still act as if there is a separate self,
You would not be a functional human if you didn't.
Belief in a real separate self gets seen through. A functional and relational sense of self of course continues. It's just seen it is not in control, not truly separate, a spontaneous expression of the mysterious "just this".
but I also have come to see that phenomena, such as feelings and thoughts arise in each moment and only a thought can reference a "me" and call it my feeling or I am seeing.
Yes.
In the act of seeing or hearing themselves, where is the me?
Nothing to be found right?
I also can see that thoughts just arise always here and now and that they are an experience themselves regardless of what they say.
Yes
Believing in them causes extreme discomfort .
Often so.
I could have also said, when I identify with my thoughts, I feel extremely uncomfortable, but then again who or where is the " I" that feels uncomfortable???!!!
Right, you see it, this is just a label, a perspective, not a real I found.
Here we go again.
Only if you think that you are supposed to get rid of the "I-thought" or the sense of self. You are not. Sense of self is part of normal human life. "Here and there" are part of life without ultimate true separate fixed nature - so is "you and me". It will stay like this as long as we are humans. You might call it functional illusions. They truly serve a function for thinking, planning and communication. And we can relax when we have access to see and feel that all that happens by itself, unchosen - the selfing does...
Is that clear?
How does it feel to aknowledge it?
Re: Only this
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2026 8:33 am
by Baremind255
Hi Elad,
Good. What is this I that can be somewhere on a path anyways
Yes, more and more statements like this become nonsensical.
I would like to share something with you that will indirectly also answer your last question to me.
Yesterday, a thought arose that said:"I am a thought happening to no one."
At first I thought what a stupid statement or thought, but then it felt like a veil lifted. For the first time it seemed, a thought was pointing to truth.
This "I" that was saying it is just a thought happening to no one, was truly always just referring to a thought itself.
There is no other "I" to be found besides the thought of an "I".
Yes, in nonduality circles they speak of the "I am sense", but I could never relate to that.
What became absolutely clear that even if a thought doesn't explicitly say " I am a thought ", the I in the thought is not something outside of it. It is and only always was a thought. Wow!!!
I know that I have had clarity around this notion before, but for some reason this sentence that arose: I am a thought happening to no one, landed differently somehow, eventhough it still was just a fleeting thought arising from nowhere to no one.
What an irony !
Re: Only this
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2026 9:51 am
by Elad
That's it! 🤍🍃
How beautiful the way it landed - it can never be known what will make it land.
At this point I think it could make sense to send you a set of check-up questions, designed to support and test the seeing that already happened. Do you feel up for this now, or do you feel there is something else we should talk about before?
Re: Only this
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2026 2:39 pm
by Baremind255
Hi Elad,
I am ready to answer the questions, which may also help you to see where the so called "I" is still lacking clarity.
I know that we have explored a set of questions before, but at that time I wasn't comfortable yet to answer them yet. I am okay to explore them now.
Re: Only this
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2026 4:34 pm
by Elad
Okay!
Please answer all of the following questions in one message and make sure that you copy each question before the answer so it is easy to connect Q's & A's. Look freshly at each one and answer as simple and clear as possible from direct experience. Be 100% true to what is directly experienced and feels true, LOOKING FRESHLY NOW (not the story about a thought-I that sees or doesn't see this or that). Once you have answered them we will talk about how to continue. Discovery, refinement and integration in conventional life continues forever, and we will talk about how to move in the most supportive way with that.
1) Is there a separate entity 'self', 'me' 'I', at all, anywhere, in any way, shape or form? Was there ever?
2) Explain in detail what the illusion of separate self is, when it starts and how it works from your own experience. Describe it fully as you see it now.
3) How does it feel to see this? What is the difference from before we started this dialogue?
4) What was the moment(s) where clarity clicked; describe what happened.
5) Describe decision, intention, free will, choice and control (separately).
6) What makes things happen? How does it work?
7) What are you responsible for? Give examples from experience.
8) Anything to add?