Hi Sarah, Continuing from your thread yesterday -
How does it feel to see this? What is the difference from before you started this dialogue? Please report from the past few days.
At this moment, happiness arises - happiness just to look, listen, feel, smell, taste, and sense overall. The recognition that thoughts, stories, and emotions just arise with no ME conducting or directing them, feels just like this train ride happening now.
Before this dialogue, seeing of LU or Gateless Gatecrashers had not yet occurred. Neither had a thorough examination of no-self, thoughts, emotions, "autopilot", or the life-ing of life.
There is less resistance now. There is more acknowledgement now. Acceptance that this is what is being felt. That this is the experience NOW. OK-ness with that. With this recognition of thoughts and stories naturally arising there is less "power" to them. In absence of "self" there is no ME to "buy-in". Buy-in is recognized as yet another story. Another sand castle on the beach of life that gets built but is ultimately washed away.
What was the last bit that pushed you over, made you look?
Like everything the looking was a continuous process. A link in a blog post, some space and time created by a new job, availability of "you" as a guide, and all the unique experiences experienced through this perspective leading up to NOW!
A couple of passages in Gateless Gatecrashers - that life is impersonal but "self/I/me" makes it seem personal; and that no-self does NOT mean no unique perspective - led to a feeling of WOW and a SHIFT in perceptive. Very eye opening. Literally, brows raised :)
Actually LOOKING into these questions and others around how thoughts, stories, and sensations arise, timing, in relation to each other, the "autopiloting" of life, the inseparability of seeing, "seer" and seen, and how conversations happen and noticing their echo-ing nature was critical.
Do you decide, intend, choose, control events in Life? Do you make anything happen? Give examples from your experience.
No - "you/me/I" are all just labels and language, sometimes useful to communicate, and sometimes not. Conditioning, past experiences, life events happening NOW all simply flow forward from moment to moment, "event" to "event".
Anything else to add?
Can't express how much appreciation is felt. For this website for enabling these conversations, for Ilona and Elena for creating this, and for "you" and the time you've spent reading, writing, questioning, and pointing.
Dave
