The Gate

LU is focused guiding for seeing there is no real, inherent 'self' - what do you understand by this?
That the ‘me’ -the physical body and the character traits - I believe myself to be, is not all that I am, is not the ‘essence’ of what I really am.
When sitting I can feel that the boundaries of the body seem to dissolve, and I see that thoughts can be arbitrary, repetitive, or as Vince says “98% rubbish”. So what am I?

What are you looking for at LU?
I want to know what I am, really, to live in that place and to break through this illusion of a small, limited, conditioned self as being all I am. I am hoping that this realization will help not to take myself so seriously.

What do you expect from a guided conversation?
Insight, pointing, understanding. A conversation which helps me breakthrough my limited experience of what I perceive to be reality. Maybe something with clear examples (and homework?) to help me see clearly.

What is your experience in terms of spiritual practices, seeking and inquiry?
I’ve done meditation on an off for years, but often with mantras or mindfulness practice. There’s a belief that if I did hours and hours of silent practice I would ‘breakthrough’, but not sure if that’s just a belief.
I first started to just sit and listen to silence and do some self inquiry during Covid-19 when I joined an online nondual sangha. I left about a year ago, because I felt got caught up with techniques and was just going through the motions.

On a scale from 1 to 10, how willing are you to question any currently held beliefs about 'self? 10

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Hello Grateful1,

My name is Elad, I am a guide here, and I can start with you now.

Are you ready to start? What may I call you here?

Hey Elad,
Thanks for your reply. I have just moved from London England to a rented flat in Spain. My brother died of pancreas cancer a year ago and I moved to London to help him and to care for my dad who has alzheimer's. I finally put him in a care home and moved to a new town in Spain with my partner. So life has felt quite tumultuous these past 2 years. I feel quite identified at the moment with my 'story', and at the same time there is relief when I say to myself that everything is just turning out the way it is, and that nothing is in my control, that I just have to have complete trust that everything will just play out as it will. Then there's an answer that comes which says that this is spiritual bypassing, because I don't want to take an active roll in my 'life'.
My 'formal' meditation practice has fallen away these past 2 months, since requesting a guide. I see that there's a belief that it is very helpful for me to sit daily because it is where I can zoom out from the pull of mind.

Is this enough?
Thanks,
Tash

Hi Tash,

This is a good start. This process is not about becoming passive in life... Rather it is about seeing that both active and passive are spontaneous manifestations of "the whole". More on this soon, maybe. And good you already have some sense of the relief that comes with not resisting what is, or thinking one should change what is... Again, we will come back to that this does not mean passivity or a free pass from the challenges and duties of life.

Now, for starters, here is a standard message, like a bit of foundation setting:


"The basics of how this works is that I’ll give you questions and exercises to help you investigate whether there is a separate self. Your task is to look directly at your alive experience in the here and now and report on your experience without resorting to belief (yours, mine or anybody elses), analysis and imagination. Try to approach these exercises with “beginner’s mind,” setting aside everything you know about spiritual teachings, science and philosophy. Use all questions and exercises as a door to LOOK AT what is actually there and what is not. Also, it is not about creating any special experience or dissolving any part of normal experience - including "selfing" or "ego". Rather, the questions and exercises will help you to see what is already there in normal experience and what is not, and what is the nature of what is there and what is not. It's all about looking closely at ordinary experience.

Please read through “Liberation Unleashed is not …” in the FAQs of LU.

http://liberationunleashed.com/about/faq/#faq-1041

Importantly, the FAQ points out not to expect this process to be cure for or replacement for ordinary life challenges, mental health issues, everything that has to do with "cleaning up" and "growing up" and healing, beside "waking up", in other words learning to love and function wholesomely in normal life...

When you reply to a questions, please use the quote function to highlight the question being answered. This will make our dialogue easier to follow. Please watch the video below to learn how to use the quote function.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fAToDNh9hQ


The website goes down at times. To avoid losing your work, you may find it helpful to copy and paste questions asked into Word, answer them there, and then copy and paste them to your thread.

Let’s try to post daily, if we can. Of course, life happens, so if you need more time, just let me know. I’ll do so as well. If I don't seem to answer for more then 2 days, write to eladexplore1111@gmail.com - maybe there is some system error.

Let me know if you have any questions, something to share about your reaction, expectation or experience with regards to the FAQ, or anything else coming up wanting attention, in relation to this message and the FAQ!"