Gratitude

[JonathanR]

Hello Siobhan,

How is it going?

love

Jon

[Maluhia]

Good evening Jon,

I wish I had interesting news for you, however, there has been no change. I seem to be in limbo between experiencing there is no 'me' but not yet experiencing unity consciousness. At one point I realized that I was trying really hard to feel 'at one.' That's when I just stopped focusing on it. Clearly I cannot make this happen, and I don't know how to focus on it without trying to make it happen.

Love,

Siobhán

[Maluhia]

One more thing..... in response to your previous question, I have not been able to find an entity anywhere.

Love

[JonathanR]

Hello Siobhán,

I seem to be in limbo between experiencing there is no 'me' but not yet experiencing unity consciousness.

Hmm.

Now, what we can do is take a look at all aspects of experience. It is possible to notice hearing, for example, seeing, touch, taste and smell. And thoughts. These appear too.

What we can do is notice sensations and the appearing of thoughts. No self can be found in any of this but can this not finding be described as an experience? If it were an experience surely there would have to be a someone to 'have it'?

Many people find it easy enough to look a little bit and notice that a self cannot be found. But for a while it can seem that this is an experience of some sort that can falter or be lost, that it is somehow dependent on effort, by a 'me'. But at some point a penny drops that there really never was nor ever will be a 'self' that 'has experiences'. That there simply is no line behind which a 'me' is 'in here' and everything else is 'out there'.

Could a 'me' 'experience unity consciousness'?

What is unity consciousness?

We can speak in terms of non-duality. No separate self and no separate everything else, simply what is, right now, here. forever now, so to speak.

Please let me know how you see things?


love

Jon

[Maluhia]

Good morning Jon,

Thank you for your deeply thoughtful reply : ) Perhaps the word 'experienced' was not the best choice of words for me to have used......nor was the term 'Unity Consciousness.' There is no experiencer at all, so no one exists that could possibly have an experience of anything. What I meant by 'Unity Consciousness' is simply no entity..... 'all.' The opposite of the illusion of separateness. It is difficult to express all of this in words, isn't it? I see and understand that there is no separate self or entity anywhere. There is just what arises in this moment, yet, at the same time, 'my' personality is still at the forefront. I'm not sure how else to put it. Does this help?

Love,

Siobhán

[JonathanR]

Hi Siobhan,

Thank you for your deeply thoughtful reply : ) Perhaps the word 'experienced' was not the best choice of words for me to have used......nor was the term 'Unity Consciousness.' There is no experiencer at all, so no one exists that could possibly have an experience of anything.

Ah. Langauge! Yes. I see now that your understanding was good. Sometimes in these conversations there is a process of gradually agreeing about what is being said and understood. Thank you. You have clarified a lot.

What I meant by 'Unity Consciousness' is simply no entity..... 'all.' The opposite of the illusion of separateness.

Yes. Did I ask you to go for a walk in nature before? This can be a very good thing to do at this stage.

When possible, go for a walk in nature, by the sea or in the countryside. A park will do. Somewhere where life is happening and everything is alive, sky, sun, clouds, grass, trees, animals, birds, insects, people. Notice all the sensations, smells, sights, sounds, colours, textures. Notice how aliveness is happening everywhere, even in breathing and walking or sitting.

Now, see if it is possible to find a line in the experience of all this whee 'you' end and 'everything else' begins. is such a line or perimeter found at all, anywhere in this?


Let me know how you get on?

Thanks,

Jon

[Maluhia]

Dear Jon,

Thank you. You know, your recommendation for me to spend time in nature is so interesting. Just this morning I was thinking this is exactly what I need to do! When I was a child I spent quite a lot of time walking in the woods.
I would sit down on a tree stump and have the most wonderful 'blending with the cosmos' experiences.
My days off are Wednesdays and Thursdays, so I will make it a point to do this this week.

Tonight while driving home from work, my mind was very quiet. Most of the way home I was noticing the sound of the wind against the windows of the car. It was a wonderful sound and very soothing.

Thank you so much for being there!

Love,

Siobhán

[JonathanR]

Hello Siobhán,

Thank you so much for being there!

My pleasure :-) Thank you for working with me.

Thank you. You know, your recommendation for me to spend time in nature is so interesting. Just this morning I was thinking this is exactly what I need to do! When I was a child I spent quite a lot of time walking in the woods.
I would sit down on a tree stump and have the most wonderful 'blending with the cosmos' experiences.

Very interesting. It must be in the air! Yesterday I found myself walking in some woods with my little dog. The wood had been left alone and quite a few trees had fallen over. It was quite untouched, leafy, silent. One could forget 'self' and civilization and just be in this mysterious alive place. And it occurred to me that "this is infinite, that if every leaf and twig and branch of the wood were made of diamonds filled with light it could not be more perfect than it already is. Even the mud on my shoes is perfect".

Have a lovely time.

love

Jon

[JonathanR]

Dear Siobhan,

Having written that to you about my experience in the woods this is, of course, my own nice experience with inspirational thoughts and interpretations about being there.

When you go for your walk it will be entirely your own experience. Please don't think I am suggesting that you should be looking for a particular kind of experience. However it is experienced simply look at it the way I suggested, to see if an edge or line can be found anywhere.

love

Jon

[Maluhia]

Hello Jon,

Thank you for sharing your 'experience ' in the woods while you were walking with your little dog. So beautiful, sublime, really. Please don't worry that I will use this as a template for my own experience. I experience life like this regularly, and have for as long as I can remember.
I suppose that is why I feel so content most of the time.
Very very sweet.
Love,

Siobhán

[JonathanR]

Hello Siobhán

I will wait to hear from you.

Best wishes,

Jon

[JonathanR]

Hello Siobhan,

I need to let you know that I may not be able to post to you tomorrow. Please go ahead and post to me if you were going to, and I will reply on Sunday.

love

Jon.

[Maluhia]

Hello Jon,

Well, it's been a few days since I have posted to you.
Life seems mostly the same. This past Wednesday I went for a walk in a small wood where I worked my way very close to the edge of a small lake and sat on the ground for a while in deep peace. Not any deeper than usual, yet so very nourishing. Driving home from work this evening, at one point I noticed a sort of humming sound which at first seemed to be inside each of my ears. I was compelled to focus on this 'humming', then realized that it wasn't contained inside 'my' ears after all and it expanded. I tried to follow it then found that again it seemed to be coming from inside each ear, in stereo.
Then I realized that it didn't have to have a location. I think I was trying to figure out where the sound was really coming from or where it was located. Then I realized that I didn't have to do any of that, there was just sound.

Love,

Siobhán

[JonathanR]

Hi Siobhan,

Please forgive me. I have been very busy with unavoidable work this week-end and am currently tired. thank you for your lovely post. I will write to you tomorrow.

love,

Jon

[JonathanR]

Hello Siobhán,

Life seems mostly the same. This past Wednesday I went for a walk in a small wood where I worked my way very close to the edge of a small lake and sat on the ground for a while in deep peace. Not any deeper than usual, yet so very nourishing.

Deep peace sounds very good. Is there a need for this to be deeper than usual?

When you say 'life seems mostly the same', Is that good, bad or just the way it seems?

If you look at how things happen, what could be different?

Driving home from work this evening, at one point I noticed a sort of humming sound which at first seemed to be inside each of my ears. I was compelled to focus on this 'humming', then realized that it wasn't contained inside 'my' ears after all and it expanded. I tried to follow it then found that again it seemed to be coming from inside each ear, in stereo.
Then I realized that it didn't have to have a location. I think I was trying to figure out where the sound was really coming from or where it was located. Then I realized that I didn't have to do any of that, there was just sound.

Very good. And interesting too. Yes, the mind likes to analyze and label but if we look at experience without saying 'it's this' or 'that' or 'because of'...but just as it is, is there anything other than this Just Happening quality?

Your experience in the car with the humming noise overlaps with the aim of the walk in nature exercise, which was to look for an edge or line in experience of sensations, behind which there is usually assumed to be a 'me' and the other side of which there is supposed to lie 'the world'.

When there is just sound, is there either a 'me' or an objective, separate thing, 'sound'?

love

Jon