The Gate

When I touch a table it is one sensation and no feeler.
Hearing is just hearing with no hearer, however. I am paying attention when doing the tasks.

Good. Have a look at the other senses too. Is there a seer, a taster, someone who smells. Just AE.

But what is the best approach in everyday life? How do you reduce thinking so that life can be experienced directly most or all of the time. What sort of effort, if any, should be made at this stage?

Is there a someone who wanst to reduce thinking, who wants to make an effort? Really?

There seems to be a seeking, a wish to reach a certain point. Who is the seeker? Who is the one wishing?

Please, have a close look at expectations of what life will be after gating.
What does change? What might not change? How would life change? How would you change?

Love,
Jadzia

Hi Jadzia,
I've just re read the expectations, and of course you're absolutely right. Who is having these expectations? There is no me to have them, and never was.

The mind seems to slip back into this illusionary self state as though it's the default position and expectations are part of this.

Thank you,

Love M

Margaret, thoughts are thoughts, they just are. There is no one to mind them, no one to wish them away. They are in the acceptance as everything else.

I guess one of the expectations found in the Margaret story is that the story stops or gets out of the way for the real thing. Yes?
Having a kind look at the story is so revealing. We find expectations and identifications - all this ready to be looked at, to be acknowledged and to be loved like a mother loves all her children, even the verrry naughty ones. Slowly they will fade away, after being seen and apreciated.

So have a close look at the story and what it shows.
Do new expectations show?
What does "How do you reduce thinking so that life can be experienced directly most or all of the time. What sort of effort, if any, should be made at this stage?" show as identification, as what Margaret is supposed to be, how she should act, not act, not be, what her aims are and so on. Spend some time following the story line.

This is a good and kind way to work with the story of Margaret, like any film or book character she can be apreciated. She most certainly has an intersting story and it will be fun to see how the story goes unfolding.

Ponder all this and share what comes up.

Love,
Jadzia

Hello Jadzia,

I hope you are well.
I have been having a look at the story of Margaret and it was difficult at first to identify the meaning but as I continued it became a little easier. This is what I found:
She thinks the grass is always greener but doesn't know what she wants, she wants people to like her but doesn't particularly like herself, is judgmental but thinks she isn't, thinks she's special but has low self esteem, is caring, she worries about money, exhibitionist one minute introvert the next, think she has the insight to help people, wants to stop being tormented by thoughts. In fact if Margaret did exist she would be bordering on insanity!

Love M

She thinks the grass is always greener but doesn't know what she wants, she wants people to like her but doesn't particularly like herself, is judgmental but thinks she isn't, thinks she's special but has low self esteem, is caring, she worries about money, exhibitionist one minute introvert the next, think she has the insight to help people, wants to stop being tormented by thoughts. In fact if Margaret did exist she would be bordering on insanity!

Thank you for your honesty!

Hm, have a look: where does the way of looking at Margaret come from?
Where does judging come from? The parting of experiences, habits, ways of acting and so on into good or bad? Helpful not helpful? Insane and healthy?
There is no separation. So do these dualities really exist?
Or is there only experience? Undivided, not judged just noticed?

It is time now to look at these beliefs and identifications with kindness and even lovingly.
Is there anyone anywhere who believes and identifies with them?
Do these thoughts have any power?
Are they true? Thoughts would say so, right? But are they?

Love,
Jadzia

Hi Jadzia,

Hm, have a look: where does the way of looking at Margaret come from?

I suppose I was looking at her from the basis of thought. Have I done this all wrong?
Was I thinking about it too much?

Where does judging come from?

It is memory/thought based.

The parting of experiences, habits, ways of acting and so on into good or bad? Helpful not helpful? Insane and healthy?
There is no separation. So do these dualities really exist?
Or is there only experience? Undivided, not judged just noticed?

These dualities exist in my thought processes though and isn't that what I was looking at? how could I interpret the thoughts in a non dualistic way?

It is time now to look at these beliefs and identifications with kindness and even lovingly.
Is there anyone anywhere who believes and identifies with them?

I suppose I must still believe in them as I have interpreted my thoughts this way, rather than just noticing them.
So, I should have just noticed them, and loved them. whereas I have put meaning to them as though the mind/ thoughts could have some depth to them. I think I understand this better now.
These thoughts have no power, and they are not true, why would anyone want to interpret them.
As you said, I should just follow them lovingly with amusement.

Love M

These dualities exist in my thought processes though and isn't that what I was looking at? how could I interpret the thoughts in a non dualistic way?

All thoughts are what they are, nothing wrong with them, still: If for a moment you would drop judgement, sorting everything into drawers with labels "nice", "doesn't feel good", "urks", "sweet", "ugly"and so on - what would M be?

So, I should have just noticed them, and loved them. whereas I have put meaning to them as though the mind/ thoughts could have some depth to them. I think I understand this better now.

Margaret, Dear, this is what it is about.
We look at content of thoughts as if it would be carved in stone, especially thoughts about ourselves. Now it is time to apply the new overview to the content of thougths you notice.
It is good to notice what exactly is there, how challenging Ms story is seemingly made by thougths, how they seemingly inhibit the actions of the character and how they seemingly play M down.

These thougths are wonderful to look at from the new overview of there only being the I in the story, no I as real entity.
How much of the thougths noticed about M are appearing again and again?
Can a real connection between what happens and a reappearing thought be found? Only AE.
It might look as if a thought or feeling is a reaction to something, but is it really so?

Go on observing thoughts in the most gentle way.
How many thought's content isn't true, irrelevant, habitual?

Just ponder this for a while and share what you find.

Love,
Jadzia

Hi Jadzia,

I'm really trying to understand this, thank you for your patience.

All thoughts are what they are, nothing wrong with them, still: If for a moment you would drop judgement, sorting everything into drawers with labels "nice", "doesn't feel good", "urks", "sweet", "ugly"and so on - what would M be?

This confused me, how do I drop judgement, isn't that just my automatic thoughts.

Now it is time to apply the new overview to the content of thoughts you notice.

So when a thought is noticed, I view it with kindness and appreciation and consider the impact it has on the illusionary character M and this thought is then also part of the story?

These thoughts are wonderful to look at from the new overview of there only being the I in the story, no I as real entity.
How much of the thoughts noticed about M are appearing again and again?

There is a lot of repetition. When I described the illusionary M, it was based on a lot of repeated thoughts of a similar nature, and this is why I categorised them.

Can a real connection between what happens and a reappearing thought be found? Only AE.
It might look as if a thought or feeling is a reaction to something, but is it really so?]

No, in AE, there is no connection with the thought, although it may seem like it because of memory associations.

When I read your email this morning, these thoughts appeared. 'I got it all wrong, I'm never going to get it'.
It was difficult not to believe them and ignore the personal aspect, but It is just associations being made, but it is this 'personal' aspect that makes it so easy to fall back into believing.

Thank you again for your patience.

Love M

This confused me, how do I drop judgment, isn't that just my automatic thoughts.

I might have taken you a step too far for the moment.
The confusing bit might that we have a look at thought with using thoughts. So we explore something with itself, right? Explore the story from within the story.
Logical thinking and mind don’t really get it, but still what we look for can be known.
So if you look behind all judgment, there is still Margaret, living, breathing, but without the old glasses who show her in a certain light. It is like taking a fresh look at oneself.

There is a lot of repetition. When I described the illusionary M, it was based on a lot of repeated thoughts of a similar nature, and this is why I categorised them.

Right now stick to AE, that is there what can be taken in by the senses.
The old belief was that this Margaret is an isolated entity, apart and separate from everything else, from what is, who is the doer, thinker, chooser. But even with this being a mere belief and illusion, there is still your life happening and to be experienced. There is a life unfolding.

And yes, most certainly, there are a lot of “repeated thougths of a similar nature”, habitual thoughts. There is the chance now to have a fresh look at yourself/Margaret with seeing through this. Thoughts will babble, there is no need to believe each word.

When I read your email this morning, these thoughts appeared. 'I got it all wrong, I'm never going to get it'.
It was difficult not to believe them and ignore the personal aspect, but It is just associations being made, but it is this 'personal' aspect that makes it so easy to fall back into believing.

Yes, these thoughts appear and they are catching, aren’t they? It takes a while to get out of the old habit.
What makes it easier is not to fight/ignore them, but to notice them, letting them be and go on.

Love,
Jadzia

Hi Jadzia,
I am away at the moment and wifi is hit and miss so I may not be able to communicate much. I will ponder on your last email and reply as soon as I can. I am back on Friday.
Love M

Thank you, Margaret, for telling me.

Love,
Jadzia

Hi Jadzia,
I hope you are well. I am back at home now.

I had a very good week, everything worked out really well, it just seem to all happen with such ease.
I had a few problems at work which normally I would stress over, but when I left work for the day, I just forgot about them and the following day they resolved themselves. Also, I arranged to meet someone who I had not seen for some years. Normally I would be thinking about it a lot before going but again I gave it little thought before or after and it was all really good.

Regarding your last email:

I might have taken you a step too far for the moment.
The confusing bit might that we have a look at thought with using thoughts. So we explore something with itself, right? Explore the story from within the story.

I didn't really understand this, is this something I should be doing? Isn't this just more thought?

Love M

I had a very good week, everything worked out really well, it just seem to all happen with such ease.

This sounds good.

I didn't really understand this, is this something I should be doing? Isn't this just more thought?

What is the way you look at thoughts right now?

What about having a look together at our questions for checking if we covered everything? Or are there any questions you have right now?

Love,
Jadzia

Hi Jadzia,

What is the way you look at thoughts right now?

I suppose I look at thoughts with thoughts, but see it all as just automatic thoughts.

[quoteWhat about having a look together at our questions for checking if we covered everything? Or are there any questions you have right now?][/quote]

Yes that sounds really good, no questions.

Love M

I suppose I look at thoughts with thoughts, but see it all as just automatic thoughts.

There are automatic thought responses, yes. Sometimes there are some which don't come from the replay system. They are more direct and without story attached.

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 you started this dialogue? Please report from the past few days.
4) What was the last bit that pushed you over, made you look?
5) Describe decision, intention, free will, choice and control. What makes things happen? How does it work? What are you responsible for? Give examples from experience.
6) Anything to add?

Take your time.

Love,
Jadzia