Requesting a guide.

[IainB]

So you are after this idea you've conceptualized from all those videos and books...you are after your idealized image as you imagine it to be

Perhaps I should have written more. My answers were not based upon a regurgitation of books or videos but upon now. Not about a set of ideas I want for the future but about what is had now. Yes there were books and videos and teachers, but there is little point in simply parroting someone else.

A few years ago I was walking along Hove seafront following the sun going down. Each time I looked to the light on the horizon I was struck by how the moment was whole and complete and 'only'. The idea that there must have been a preceeding moment to allow for the current one, and there would be future one other than what was, fell away.

Then later, sat in a pub one morning, it was vividly known that I am not obliged to believe the content of thought. This was known instinctively, a gut feeling, while appearing in thought content (ironically) as "I don't have to believe in thought". This resonated throughout my day and while there was flip-flopping, the relationship with thought changed.

The later, laid on my bed one evening, I knew vividly that I was the knowing of everything I had ever known. And indeed there was nothing that could exist outwith my knowing (how could it - it would be unknown). This changed what I knew myself to be.

Did you see my preceeding post to the last (my answer was split)? As I have never encountered an enduring special state of bliss, happiness, peace and constant ease I have no reason to believe this may be waiting for me somewhere in the future. Life is ordinary and cannot be otherwise. What I'm after is to see clearly about the beliefs in I/me/my/mine. I hope this can be simple, I have nothing to use other than what is now.

You might say it's not imagination, but rather how it is. But what if it's not...just let this inquiry flow without any comparison, analysis? Without the intellect

Agreed. I enjoy the work we've done where I looked many times in the moment over a day for what I have control of, where thought is coming from, where is the thinker, looking at the me/my/mine each time it appears. This work is the antithesis of being bogged down in intellect, a stream of thoughts explaining what is going on.

It really sounds that you are after a new identity.

I love this. This is a great slap in the face to get me looking. You're correct, a new identity could be nice, and of course accompanied by better thoughts.

I'm free today so will work intently with the two questions you've given me. I'm going to show you I can do this after my hammering around expectations.

Much love.

[IainB]

Can you be open to let go off your intellect and all your understanding of it, and just let this inquiry flow without any comparison, analysis? Without the intellect?

Sure, otherwise why be here? This question feels familiar. Over the last three years my life changed as time switched from being absorbed in thought content, fully believing it, to more and more time absent/away from thought content, simply now. Not resisting thought as it comes, but more and more recognising/remembering "oh this is thought narrative" and switching out of it many times each day. If course, recently this has evolved somewhat as I return many times to your guided points each day.

I love how life simply flows by itself. One moment I'm staring intently at the screen looking at your guide points, writing notes in response, then suddenly I find myself off in an activity, involved in something, or deep in thought, then remembering I have this work to do and coming back to it. I don't seem to have any control around this.

Can you have an open mind of NOT-KNOWING anything about this topic?

If by not knowing, you mean a letting go of anything in thought then I would say yes, and that this takes place each time I look based upon your guide questions. I feel decisively clear that any answer/outcome/knowing isn't contained in thought. I'm long since turned off to thought neing / holding the answer. As I look around my room, I see colour of my hands typing, I hear the tap of the keys, I taste the taste of coffee in my mouth, feel the skin sensation of my body. Those are what is, and are the tools I have for this exploration. I can't un-know those.

I do relish this opportunity to set absolutely everything aside. I want to prove you wrong that I am going after an idea.

But what do you need an identity for?

I'm at a loss how to answer this. I simply don't know. I can't even say what identiy is without regurgitating a stream of thoughts.

At one point, I cought myself adopting a new personality trait (closing conversations in the same way as a colleague). I recognise my identity is in flux and evolving outwith my control.

And more importantly, what is it that needs a new identity?

This is more juicy. I have no grip on my personality or identity whatsoever. It is out of control, up/down etc, in an ongoing psychodrama.

You see I just cannot get behind or look under the bits of identity (the thoughts / the feelings) to see whats there. Nothing is findable.

I cant grasp at this identity never mind what might be going on behind it.

This has been good, it's shaken things up. I tell myself as a I write, maybe I am still trapped and constrained by expectation.

With love,

[Vivien]

A few years ago I was walking along Hove seafront following the sun going down. Each time I looked to the light on the horizon I was struck by how the moment was whole and complete and 'only'. The idea that there must have been a preceeding moment to allow for the current one, and there would be future one other than what was, fell away.

Then later, sat in a pub one morning, it was vividly known that I am not obliged to believe the content of thought. This was known instinctively, a gut feeling, while appearing in thought content (ironically) as "I don't have to believe in thought". This resonated throughout my day and while there was flip-flopping, the relationship with thought changed.

The later, laid on my bed one evening, I knew vividly that I was the knowing of everything I had ever known. And indeed there was nothing that could exist outwith my knowing (how could it - it would be unknown). This changed what I knew myself to be.

Well, this is much more 'further along the way'. What I mean that simply seeing that there is no separate self is not a guaranty of a constant seeing "I am not obliged to believe the content of thought". Also, it's not as a constant state of seeing that this moment is whole, complete and only. Also, it's not necessarily about seeing constantly that "I am the knowing of everything I could ever know".

Seeing that there is no separate self is just the beginning and not the end. You were lucky and had a nice glimpse of what can come after lots of further inquiry AFTER the self is seen through. But it's highly unlikely that this will be a temporary state right after. Why? Since all the conditionings, traumas, unprocessed emotional pain.

I'm not sure if you expect this kind of permanent state, but i'm just mentioning that seeing no self is really just a beginning. Like when a child makes his/her first steps.

I do relish this opportunity to set absolutely everything aside. I want to prove you wrong that I am going after an idea.

Great :) but please do it just for yourself, you don't need to prove anything to me. :)

I tell myself as a I write, maybe I am still trapped and constrained by expectation.

I would be surprised if not. It's so normal. we all have expectations. as long as there is even just a slightest sense of self there will be expectations. And just to mention, the sense of self doesn't have to go away in order to see that there is no actual self.

As I look around my room,

Where is this I that is looking around the room?
The body is looking around (we can say that), but is there someone inside the head governing and moving the body to look around?
Is there someone inside the head registering what is looked at?

I see colour of my hands typing,

What is it that is seeing colours?
What is it that has hands [my hands]?
is there someone making the hands type? Or the hands just moving on their own, just as rain is happening on its own?

I hear the tap of the keys,

Where is the hearer?
is there someone inside the head hearing what is registered through the ears?
If not in the head, then anywhere else?

Or hearing is just happening on its own without anyone or anything hearing it?

I taste the taste of coffee in my mouth,

feel the skin sensation of my body.

What is it that has a body [my body]?

What is it that is feeling the body?
Where is the feeler?

Is there something / anything separate from (or other than) the felt sensations?

Those are what is, and are the tools I have for this exploration.

I can't un-know those.

What is it that knows these tools?

Where is the knower?

Is there a knower separate from the known?

I have no grip on my personality or identity whatsoever.

What is it that HAS a personality/identity?
What owns it?
What does this identity belong TO?
I tell myself as a I write,

What is it that is talking to itself?

Is there someone there actually talking to itself?

Is there actually someone there, or there is only what is said/thought?

Please spend considerable amount of time looking at these. You don't need to reply tomorrow, you can stay with these for 2-3 day, provided that you are looking each day.

Have fun,
Vivien

[IainB]

I was a 'dormant' seeker for a decade or so after buddhism until LU. This fueled hardcore seeking for a couple of years, and the need to attain something (state/experience/change/shift) was pushed to the forefront. Then through work with one particular teacher seeking fell away bit by bit over the course of a couple of years. Certainly that "it's got be to be got, and that's priority number one", that urge that something was missing, was extinguished. Even if a state or experience (or glimpse) is sought and got, and thought rings out "this is it" it is almost immediately over and consigned to memory, with suggestions appearing in thought as to how it might be got again. This is how seeking and belief that something is missing can only be a let-down.

all the conditionings, traumas, unprocessed emotional pain

I'm not clear on the link between seeing no self and undertaking this further work. This remains an open book for me what this might be like. I like that this has been a powerful route for you. I think naivety that seeing no self was something to be got that would lead to less of the bad and more of the good dissipated. Perhaps I need to get more fired up about this to fuel looking.

as long as there is even just a slightest sense of self there will be expectations. And just to mention, the sense of self doesn't have to go away in order to see that there is no actual self.

I don't want to go on a mission to extinguish the sense of self. That sounds like I'm seeking a new version of whatever I am but with a disadvantage removed. Do you mean sense of self appearing that is believed in and cosseted and taken as real and separate?

It would seem that thought's 'job' (it's rather taken advantage of the situation to take over) is to suggest again again again things that might happen in the future, some good, some bad, or how things could have gone better in the past. Thought doesn't seem to get that there's only now, with nothing that could be done to influence how things are shaping up. The Ian narrative will still play out in thought, right? But with clarity it is only a narrative in thought.

In response to all the guide points.

Thank you for these. I did look lots over the last three days. Reflecting upon this now I don't have much to respond with. The three days have passed. I was at work, at home, I've now traveled with a friend. I have all the points written out and will continue to work with them a lot.

I love the immediacy of this work. It is always the right time to do it.

I did lots of:

That sensation right now. What is the separate entity feeling it? Look, look, look.

That sound right now. What is the separate entity hearing it? Look, look, look.

What I love about this work is no matter what thought says about seeing or gating or failing to, it doesn't matter because thought content doesn't have a say here.

I'll continue.

With love,

[Vivien]

I'm not clear on the link between seeing no self and undertaking this further work.

With every single trigger, every single trauma and emotional wound, when they come up, the self is believed again. Often fully. Even after seeing that there is no separate self. It's temporary, so the seeing cannot be lost for a long time, but as long as the trigger is there, there is a high chance that it is seemingly lost.

I think naivety that seeing no self was something to be got that would lead to less of the bad and more of the good dissipated.

To a certain extend, yes. But not with emotional wounds, traumas, repressed stuff that we all carry. Those will be unchanged, highly likely.

Do you mean sense of self appearing that is believed in and cosseted and taken as real and separate?
The Ian narrative will still play out in thought, right? But with clarity it is only a narrative in thought.

Not as a continuous, unbroken clarity. With every emotional trigger, the self will be believed again, and felt to be real. So there will be no clarity, until those emotional wounds are worked through.

Look into this: do you expect a 24/7 seeing/clarity?
Never ever mistake the illusory self for real? Not even for a minute, or 5 minutes, or 10, or maybe even an hour, or half a day?

Let me know how your inquiry goes.

Love, Vivien

[IainB]

Hey V,

I love waking up and straight away looking: 'this colour/black...is there a me behind it...is there a me observing/knowing black' likewise 'the sensations of laying on the bed...is there a me behind these...is there a separate me observing/knowing'. This is instinctive and visceral, and fun. I try to resist (not possible) getting up and moving around as this feels like quality looking.

I looked at identity intently yesterday:

What is it that HAS a personality/identity?
What owns it?
What does this identity belong TO?

What is it that is talking to itself?
Is there someone there actually talking to itself?
Is there actually someone there, or there is only what is said/thought?

The parts of the personality are apparent.
The various neurosis, the typical responses, the familiar traits
Sometimes serious, sometimes silly, sometimes light, sometimes beleaguered.
It all repeats and repeats.

I'm here with two friends. I don't know how I got here...this location...these associates.

At times I look in a relaxed way.
At times very casually, as if just checking.
At times with extreme determination, demanding this owner or what it is be seen.

I don't know!
The answer isn't going to come as a set of thought words
I can't see it.

Responses just come.
I can't see from where.
Is this not seeing, seeing?

That's from yesterday. I'll look at your additional points about expectations.

[IainB]

when they come up, the self is believed again. Often fully [...] with emotional wounds, traumas, repressed stuff that we all carry. Those will be unchanged, highly likely. [...] there will be no clarity, until those emotional wounds are worked through

This is interesting. So post gate the same thoughts appear (why wouldn't they), latch onto sensations as before, same physiological reactions takes place (pulse/blood pressure/respiration/perspiration change) further thoughts may announce 'I, me, is really trapped in this thought-sensation swirl'. Full sway all pervasive separate I/me/mine identify occurs. Then perhaps or perhaps not, sooner or later perhaps, there is remembering that the identity component is fallacious. Maybe the swirl settles down sooner than before...

When I find myself overcome by strong emotion, it can be a surprise or shock. It does feel like I'm fully stuck in there. There is an intellectual reasoning 'this will pass' but of course the experience is 'I, Ian, is stuck in this fully believed 'bad' sensation / 'bad' thoughts swirl that really is a valid contemporaneous experience validly documenting all about Me'.

I used to enjoy doing re-evaluation co-counselling. We would share the most painful events from first memories to 5/6/7 years. We would cry/shout/strike furniture, to release the trauma that was until then trapped while with others we trusted. Already I feel less attached to 'my' hurts...there is a knowing they are arbitrary and it's arbitrary and uncontrolled when they come up to be seen and heard now. I also rather fell in love with my vulnerabilities through shamanic medicine. It was empowering to consider the stories of the past while in medicine. This allowed some hurts to be explored and turned into 'strengths' as they were stripped of their volatility and power.

Look into this: do you expect a 24/7 seeing/clarity?
Never ever mistake the illusory self for real? Not even for a minute, or 5 minutes, or 10, or maybe even an hour, or half a day?

Already the illusory self is not known for periods of the day. When I listen to music, or walk in nature, or respond automatically to communications, or sleep/daydream, there may be an absence of thoughts referencing I/me/mine for periods. Of course these do return, and there can be many hours of recurring believed in narrative about my problems, my needs, things I must do.

So the Ian mirage does come and go.

I can't grasp what 24/7 seeing/clarity would look like. I try and it's like imagining some cartoon character fluffy and absent of thought. I can't pin down what I want without referencing some thoughts, and they may not be true. I'll keep looking.

I'll look at this more today. With love,

[Vivien]

I can't grasp what 24/7 seeing/clarity would look like.

But it will NOT be 24/7. That's why I asked to investigate if you expect that. If you do, then prepare yourself for some disappointment :)

You say that you are investigating as soon as you wake up, but you don't really answer to my questions/pointers. Have you noticed?

So here are the questions again, and this time please try to answer from your experience to these questions, one-by-one. Try to not go other topics, but stick with the particular question. You ask the question, pause for some time, you look and see, and then you formulate a reply that describe what you've just seen as precisely as you can without adding anything extra. Just the pure facts.

Please look and reply one-by-one.

What is it that HAS a personality/identity?
What owns it?
What does this identity belong TO?

What is it that is talking to itself?
Is there someone there actually talking to itself?
Is there actually someone there, or there is only what is said/thought?

Have a nice day,
V

[IainB]

Hi V,

Where is this I that is looking around the room?

Only colour can be found. You could add 'movement' but this is a concept, an idea added to colour.

The body is looking around (we can say that), but is there someone inside the head governing and moving the body to look around?

There is the colour of 'edge of glasses/spectacles', there is colour of end of nose. There is colour of body. Anything 'going on in the head' as a story.

Is there someone inside the head registering what is looked at?

This is juicy. Thought demands 'yes - there is knowing, yes - there is alive-ness'. However, there is only colour, no someone and no registering.

What is it that is seeing colours?

Only colour is found.

What is it that has hands [my hands]?

Only colour [labelled hand or my hand] and sensation [labelled sensation of hand] is found.

is there someone making the hands type? Or the hands just moving on their own, just as rain is happening on its own?

I like this. It punches through the illusion. There is just an organism moving and functioning.

Where is the hearer?

There is no hearer separate from sound.

is there someone inside the head hearing what is registered through the ears?

Again, thought demands - there is an 'understander' and 'interpreter' of sound. No understander or interpreter can be found.

If not in the head, then anywhere else?

Sound is known. There is no location to this knowing separate from the sound.

Or hearing is just happening on its own without anyone or anything hearing it?

Yes. This goes against convention.

What is it that has a body [my body]?

Colour labelled body is found. Sensations and body smells and tastes. These are experienced. Other than these an owner cannot be found.

What is it that is feeling the body?

Thought shouts out 'there is an alive being here'. It's not possible to see the feeler.

Where is the feeler?

Sensations are known. They are sensed. There isn't a separate feeler.

Is there something / anything separate from (or other than) the felt sensations?

When looking at sensation alone, only sensation may be found.

What is it that knows these tools [colour/sound/taste/sensation]?

Something believed in the separate self. The illusion gripped itself. However in colour sound taste sensation there is only colour sound taste sensation.

Where is the knower?

Though suggests 'it pervades everything' however the DE of knower is a thought about something called knowing, located in the head.

Is there a knower separate from the known?

There cannot be, but it is believed there is more than just the known, otherwise the illusion will collapse.

What is it that HAS a personality/identity?

Only a story character that is known. He appears in thought.

What owns it?

It is known. There is an alive-thing. Or is there? To know the absence of even this alive-thing feels like a cold silent wind following a nuclear blast. Nothing owns the psychodrama-identity-story, yet it is known.

What does this identity belong TO?

Nothing would want to own my identity, trust me.

What is it that is talking to itself?

It is a shock to see that the knowing of thought content begin and ends with the knowing of the thought. Likewise with every experience.

Is there someone there actually talking to itself?

It's tempting to somehow say yes (but futile). What is the point of there being a body, the separation of colour/sound/sensation/thought? Others. Memory/story. A viewpoint. These exist. But the someone is an illusion? Why would an illusion want to see through itself?

Is there actually someone there, or there is only what is said/thought?

The separation of thought/colour/sensation would seem to have triggered somehow an additional belief in a separate identity. How can there be uniqueness, known, shared... This someone can't be found when the light is shone.

Thanks, Ian

[Vivien]

Is there someone inside the head registering what is looked at?

This is juicy. Thought demands 'yes - there is knowing, yes - there is alive-ness'. However, there is only colour, no someone and no registering.

Well, looking at direct experience and noticing that the body shows up only as colours is ok, but interestingly, it can be an intellectual trap. since it's easy to grasp that all there is to experience are the 5 senses, and from that on, there it's just a small leap to conclude that there is nothing else but colours, sounds, tastes. smells.... etc... so it can lead to the denial of the relative world.

When we look if there is someone inside the head registering what is being looked at... it's not just simply a thought + the colors labelled body. There are lots of sensations in/of the head that is mistaken for a me! But it's not seen, since they are not perceived only as sensations, but me! you see?

So I'm going to ask you to identify / localize the sensation that seems to be me, the looker / seer / perceiver / knower.
Where is the location of this sensation exactly?

Though suggests 'it pervades everything' however the DE of knower is a thought about something called knowing, located in the head.

So go along with that thought, take it seriously. It suggest there is someone in the head. So you need to search INSIDE the head, not by imagining / visualizing, but by FEELING.

We are looking for the 'sense of me' which is a felt experience.
There IS such thing as 'sense of me'. Something is actually experienced there. It's not just imagination.
But it is not what it seems to be... not a me.
But something is there.
Something is FELT there.
Find it.
Where is it?
What is being felt there exactly?

There cannot be, but it is believed there is more than just the known, otherwise the illusion will collapse.

We need to look at your expectations here. How do you know that the illusion itself need or should collapse when it's seen to be an illusion? Does the mirage in the desert collapse when it's seen to be a play of light and not actual water? Or the mirage persist, and sometimes even mistaken for water, but sooner or later, it's seen again that there is no actual water there?

V

[IainB]

How do you know that the illusion itself need or should collapse when it's seen to be an illusion?

So I'm going to ask you to identify / localize the sensation that seems to be me, the looker / seer / perceiver / knower.
Where is the location of this sensation exactly?

There is a hesitation to go into the location as that seems to be a thought image or words (about a head/chest etc) in addition to the me-sensation. The most truthfull location I can give is simply 'here'.

But to expand...it starts behind the forehead, but radiates out a little to cover the front of the forehead, nose and cheeks. It radiates into the upper chest. To some extent it runs further into the body as can show up in the hands when busy.

Where is it?

This sense of me is felt clearly. It's known, not as an additional sense, or as a me, but is the most obvious filling sensation. It's nice to rest in it.

It is 'here'.
To add to this description I might say 'up-here'.
To add further 'in the core of the body radiating outwards'...or 'very/most apparent in the head'.
It is the most obvious thing.

What is being felt there exactly?

The only way to really share this would be to invite you inside to know this alive sensation.
To resort to words - 'squidgy alert poised energy radiant shining'.

How do you know that the illusion itself need or should collapse when it's seen to be an illusion?

When the mirage is known as water, it becomes fun to look for the mirage and it's exciting when it shows up. Like an exotic trick brightening up the day. It still shows up, but is seen to be like a special feature that appears from time to time. It no longer serves to dupe/confuse...but is instead seen as an addition that naturally shows up from time to time.

With love, Ian

[Vivien]

It's highly unlikely that the illusion of the self will collapse. Seeing that there is no inherent self is not an end point, where I can say "I am done"> Quite far from it. It's a beginning, a first step. Lots of other beliefs are there, keeping the illusion in place. Whenever an emotional wound is triggered, the self will not just be there as an illusion, but it will feel to be very real. Further inquiry is needed to undo the conditionings.

Really look into your expectations.

Do you expect to see that there is no self 24/7?

Is there a problem if the illusion is there?
Is there a problem if the self is believed sometimes?

If yes, it's a problem for who?
Who doesn't like it?
Who wants it to be gone?
Who/what is bothered by it?

V

[IainB]

Do you expect to see that there is no self 24/7?

I look now and it is known that the character Ian is not here. There is the world/environment, that core inner sensation, but unless Ian is re-imagined, he is not brought to life.

This is seen when it is looked towards, then swiftly forgotten as the busyness of life unfolds with its free-flow impermanence, so of course this would be an unreasonable expectation and likely clouds how fleetingly simple it is that the believed character is absent.

You really do have to de-aggrandise how simple this is. As you say, child step. As soon as a new thought stream flows in it's missed again. We're all in the same boat. A simple absence. Wafer thin simplicity. So easily overlooked.

Interesting that emotion-wound fuels the illusion, and can be explored once the baby step is taken.

Is there a problem if the illusion is there?

It is either there or absent. It's refreshing to look and see its absence. If the illusion is present then any problem is part and parcel of the illusion, and cannot be an issue elsewhere.

Is there a problem if the self is believed sometimes?

It is like being absorbed into a drama. Problems, bad feelings, suffering will show up as part of the drama. Any problem is part of the drama. It can be looked and it is seen the protagonist is absent.

If yes, it's a problem for who?

Sensation and unfolding environment are immune to problems.

Who doesn't like it?

The character Ian has likes and dislikes but he cannot step into reality outwith the story drama.

Who wants it to be gone?

Who/what is bothered by it?

Wanting it to be gone may appear as part of the story, but alive knowing/looking has no such preferences.

With love, Ian

[Vivien]

Hi Ian,

Just notice that with most questions you didn't directly answered the question. so I'm going to give the same ones again. Please make sure that you really look at what the question is about.

These first 3 questions are not really looking questions, but rather some everyday contemplation, so your answers can be intellectual, on behalf of the person.


Do you expect to see that there is no self 24/7?

Is there a problem if the illusion is there?
Is there a problem if the self is believed sometimes?

These last 4 are the ones that you really need to look at.

If yes, it's a problem for who?
Who doesn't like it?
Who wants it to be gone?
Who/what is bothered by it?

V

[IainB]

Hi V.

I'm not always sure how to answer questions : from DE while disregarding the words and images in thought; the 'ask...pause...look and see...then...formulate as precisely as you can without adding anything extra...pure facts' way you guided; by answering with the first thoughts that offer a response or a later series of thoughts from contemplation (as if talking and exchanging ideas with a friend as they pop up); or by using a question to look at the immediate experience of me / now (whatever is here) while noting and writing if there is any shift/changes/new perspectives.

So always happy to answer again or further and I certainly notice any contrast between the questions and answers.

first three...everyday contemplation, so your answers can be intellectual, on behalf of the person

Do you expect to see that there is no self 24/7?

I have no idea. For as long as I can remember my life has been a forever changing cycle of similar routine and experiences. Nothing is ever fixed, always in flux. There seems little point to imagining an alternative version of this that might somehow be 'got' as any previous 'getting' only took place in a thought story of character, past and future that while known, didn't seem to determine how things are in the moment. I'm more curious about what may unforld rather than waiting for a fixed outcome imagined in advance.

You've been expansive in establishing that future emotion-trauma work is essential as otherwise any insight from looking will be lost or not develop further. There are thoughts about this. I feel an openenss towards this, similar to the curious not knowing above.

Everything seems to pass and then perhaps show up in memory. I no longer 'trust' or invest in thoughts about experiences or states in the future that could be 'got' as even when nice or exciting things take place, they are soon over and consigned to something called the past.

Is there a problem if the illusion is there?

This is interesting. The psycho-drama-Ian can feel overwhelming and 'problematic' at times. It is believed in, can be dominant and consuming, can seem to bring a focus to and prolong sensations labelled unpleasant. This fits the definition of a problem.

Is there a problem if the self is believed sometimes?

Surely not if it is possible to look and see it is an illusion. Looking seems quite instinctive and takes place each day so this shouldn't be a problem.

These last 4 are the ones that you really need to look at.

If yes, it's a problem for who?

I look and I can't find an entity for who it would be a problem.

Who doesn't like it?

I can't seem to grasp an answer to this. This can't be seen.

Who wants it to be gone?

Wantimg it gone is a wish appearing in thought. So a thought suggests things may be better with Ian gone. This thought isn't a who, a separate person.

Who/what is bothered by it?

Thought may say 'I am bothered' or 'this is a problem' but this is in thought. Someone bothered can't be found,

Thanks, Iain