My Journey

[Yaz]

The best way I can express it is,
When there's no thought, awareness IS.

Have a good evening John.

[s-p-a-c-e]

Hi Yaz,

The best way I can express it is,
When there's no thought, awareness IS.

Have a good evening John.

Had a lovely evening thank you. :) Mostly combing the cat - winter fur.

Yaz, let's continue to explore awareness - it is the most fascinating and mysterious aspect.

Check out awareness and notice whether there is a personal aspect to awareness. Is awareness personal? If it is, explore that personal aspect and the experience of it. And share what you find.

With best wishes,
John

[Yaz]

Thank you John! Will do this. I'm looking forward to this one. Have a great day.

[Yaz]

Hello John,

When I move out of 'I', and observe thoughts arising, there is still a 'personal' quality to awareness. But when I am still for long periods ( I lay still, attempting a 'thought-free' space) the quality of awareness becomes impersonal. I found that it becomes personal if I say the word God, or Spirit. Thought gives awareness a 'personality', so to speak. But the 'stillness of no thought (as best as I could be 'thought-free) or in being still and sensing the space between thought, I experienced a vastness, an impersonal vastness.

Is the cat looking beautiful now?! Hope you're having a pleasant day, John.

[s-p-a-c-e]

Hi Yaz,

Hello John,

When I move out of 'I', and observe thoughts arising, there is still a 'personal' quality to awareness. But when I am still for long periods ( I lay still, attempting a 'thought-free' space) the quality of awareness becomes impersonal. I found that it becomes personal if I say the word God, or Spirit. Thought gives awareness a 'personality', so to speak. But the 'stillness of no thought (as best as I could be 'thought-free) or in being still and sensing the space between thought, I experienced a vastness, an impersonal vastness.

Is the cat looking beautiful now?! Hope you're having a pleasant day, John.

Thank you.

And the cat is looking silky. :) For now.

On a practical level Yaz, as you go around shopping and so on, what is the experience. Are there places where the "I" comes back?

Check out this "personal" quality of awareness - how does this reveal itself in direct experience, without any labels?

With kind thanks,
John

[Yaz]

Thank you so much John!
Will get back to you when the exercises are done.

[Yaz]

Hi John, the 'I' always comes back when I am engaged in absorbing activities. When I am not so absorbed, I am aware of thoughts arising, I can shift my awareness from the 'i' to the 'observer, which is awareness (observer being a label).

Without thought, I find that there is no personal quality to awareness. It is only if I give it a label that the personal qualities appear.

Thanks John!

[s-p-a-c-e]

Hi Yaz,

Hi John, the 'I' always comes back when I am engaged in absorbing activities. When I am not so absorbed, I am aware of thoughts arising, I can shift my awareness from the 'i' to the 'observer, which is awareness (observer being a label).

Without thought, I find that there is no personal quality to awareness. It is only if I give it a label that the personal qualities appear.

Thanks John!

Would you like to explore this aspect of the story called "the 'I' comes back when I am engaged in absorbing activities"?

Like most things, there is the story/description AND THEN what is really happening when looked at without the story/label.

Have a good look at the beliefs and assumptions that lay out the conditions for "coming back into 'I' when engaged".

What is it to be absorbed? How does an "I" get absorbed? Can it?

Best wishes,
John

[Yaz]

Yes John, what you say is right (I am only understanding this intellectually as I write this). I AM laying out conditions. But I still need to experience the truth of that. I will get back to you when that happens. Thank you for pushing me further and further. This is a truly wonderful experience.

Best wishes,
Yaz

[s-p-a-c-e]

Hi Yaz,

Yes John, what you say is right (I am only understanding this intellectually as I write this). I AM laying out conditions. But I still need to experience the truth of that. I will get back to you when that happens. Thank you for pushing me further and further. This is a truly wonderful experience.

Best wishes,
Yaz

Great! Yes, continue to explore any subtle separation from life - we're getting to the finer layers of story here, layers of concepts, description about who we are and what life is etc.

Sometimes, a good question is:

What might be being subtly assumed here such that these actions/thoughts/feelings would flow from that?

With warm wishes,
John

[Yaz]

Hello John, just to let you know, I am still following my minds antics and how the conditions are laid out. It is very fascinating, and I am finding expression difficult. I woke in the night immersed in the question (strange?) and saw the whole play of the mind so clearly but by morning the absolute clarity was gone. But again and again during the day I saw how 'absorption' is just a thought in itself. How 'moving in and out' of awareness, how 'moving in and out of the 'I' ' is a thought. I will write more tomorrow, because I am processing more than this I think.

Thanks for this amazing journey!

[Yaz]

Hello John! Today, everything is so clear. I've been busy helping out my husband with his work overload, it is my daughter's birthday, and I'm slap bang in the middle of an every-day blog month, so things are crazy. Throughout it all was a clear calmness (unusual for me) in which I realized there is no 'I' that does any of it, owns any part of it and if that is the case all the thoughts of worry are just illusions that make up the sense of 'I' too. So I just went about things knowing everything is getting done and that I'm doing nothing and that there was no need to 'move' in and out of consciousness because all of that is just an idea.

I was interested when you mentioned above about getting to the finer layers of story...the part about descriptions about who we are. When I am doing these exercises and I drop certain illusions, I am still trying to fit it all into my 'creation story'. I still am clinging to a story of how we came to be in this state and how we 'undo' it. Can you help me out of my obsession with story-telling? There's a part of me telling myself off for asking you this because I love my stories, but the greater part wants shot of them, but am not sure where to start. Something tells me the stories are a roadmap, but I suspect that is bogus too.

Thanks John! Are you having a pleasant weekend? In Doha, its the last day of the weekend. Weekdays begin on Sunday, so we're almost done! We're coming into winter (summer temps reach 50 degrees) and so we feel deliriously happy! Hope you're well.
Yaz

[s-p-a-c-e]

Hi Yaz,

Hello John! Today, everything is so clear. I've been busy helping out my husband with his work overload, it is my daughter's birthday, and I'm slap bang in the middle of an every-day blog month, so things are crazy. Throughout it all was a clear calmness (unusual for me) in which I realized there is no 'I' that does any of it, owns any part of it and if that is the case all the thoughts of worry are just illusions that make up the sense of 'I' too. So I just went about things knowing everything is getting done and that I'm doing nothing and that there was no need to 'move' in and out of consciousness because all of that is just an idea.

Great! :) Funny how so much gets done with no-one doing anything. :D

I was interested when you mentioned above about getting to the finer layers of story...the part about descriptions about who we are. When I am doing these exercises and I drop certain illusions, I am still trying to fit it all into my 'creation story'. I still am clinging to a story of how we came to be in this state and how we 'undo' it. Can you help me out of my obsession with story-telling? There's a part of me telling myself off for asking you this because I love my stories, but the greater part wants shot of them, but am not sure where to start. Something tells me the stories are a roadmap, but I suspect that is bogus too.

Just to say that nothing is to be excluded, brushed aside, deemed more or less important that anything else.

For the "story-telling", you might address the "story-teller" and say, "Hey, thank you for the stories about who and what and why. They have served me well in the past, though now, "I" am no more." And the "story-teller" may hear that and change may occur or not. :)

Thanks John! Are you having a pleasant weekend? In Doha, its the last day of the weekend. Weekdays begin on Sunday, so we're almost done! We're coming into winter (summer temps reach 50 degrees) and so we feel deliriously happy! Hope you're well.
Yaz

Yes thank you. Getting cold, cold here. Brrrrrrr.

Warm wishes,
John

[Yaz]

Thank you John! Have a relaxing Sunday. I'll await any other questions if you have any.

[s-p-a-c-e]

Hi Yaz,

Thank you John! Have a relaxing Sunday. I'll await any other questions if you have any.

Following on from the previous post...here's a statement:

Thoughts arise to no-one.

Look at this in experience. Look at anything that thoughts might be arising to. They will be a story to see through.

On a good day :), seeing through a story reveals an absence, which is filled in a blink by LIFE.

Best wishes,
John