Nothing is ever really yours, not even the body(and its pains) and the mind(and its thought loops), just life, nothing more. This blog is not really mine, course it seems to be, typed by this body/mind in this room on this computer.
I mean look, are you doing that reading or are it just the eyes going over the letters and the brain interpreting it? No separate controlling entity Stephen Wingate says, there is the thought here ''and he is right'' is he? Did I control that thought coming right at this particular moment? Just after I decided to turn this latest thing the mind came up with around this topic into a blogpost, just a coincidence.
Still need to think about where I want to go with this as now words are popping up in the mind and being typed by the hand without any control, as with all the words typed on this blog and anyone elses and anything ever typed, conscious of this or not.
From very little on you are constantly taught that you are a separate individual, responsible for your actions and reactions, are we? Well how many times in life have you said or done something where immediately after or later you think ''Did I say that (out loud)?'' or ''Did I do that?''. That talking and that action happen totally involuntarily and without intention right? Then could it not be so always?
That after everything thought, said, done, sensed, felt or experienced, thought comes in and labels it as my thought, my words, my action, my sensation, my fear/sadness/happiness or my experience?
Is all the stuff around you yours or just stuff? You might have bought it or created it still it is just matterial, protons, neutrons, strings, quarks all that jazz. Just like the body is built up out of stuff, mostly elements. Are you the elements? Are you the separate body parts? The limbs? Torso? Head? Intestins? Lungs? Heart? How are you then all of this together?
Maybe this little exercise will help see what I mean:
''Step 1
Take a look in front of you right now. Choose an object in the field of view and describe it in your mind. Note color, size, shape, texture. Try to describe everything about what you see.
Write out the description for me here, please.
Part 2
While still looking at that object, think about the last movie you really enjoyed watching. See a scene in your mind, and describe it. Don't tell me the title yet ;) But keep looking at the object.
Write out a very brief description here.
Part 3
Try describing the object and the movie at the same time, and watch the thoughts. Do they happen simultaneously, or one at a time? Are you able to think about both at once or is there a sequence?
Try to think two thoughts at the same time.
Write out a very brief description of what happened when you did this exercise.
Take the time, really do this as thoroughly as possible, or don't do it at all. Go for it ;)
Do the exercise with the body. Look at the hands without the thought, "my hands". For a second or two, let the "my" thoughts fall away. Then, look at the legs without the thought, "my legs". Just gaze at them. See how they exist even without the "me" or "my" thoughts, and how nothing about reality changes one bit without those thoughts.
Bring yourself back to thoughts of "my hands", then repeat the exercise a few times. Look at them without thought, then bring the thought back in.
What happens to the body without the thoughts? Can you say what the object even is? Does it "belong" to anything? Does it continue to exist in physical reality?''
If you want to, send me your answer and we can look into this.
One more thing to say: It has been said by Ramana Maharshi and others that the observer, observing and the observed are one. And although I neither agree nor disagree I would like to ask you if there really is an observer? And if so how you are it? And if so how you are doing it? Do you snap your fingers and stop observing/noticing?
There is only the Self/That/Life/Awareness/Consciousness are ways of putting it, but why add ''and you are that''? Isn't that redundant and just another way of holding on to having an identity? Nothing ever really yours...
13:44 | 
Posted by
Xavier |
Labels:
Posts
2 comments:
re: It has been said by Ramana Maharshi and others that the observer, observing and the observed are one. And although I neither agree nor disagree I would like to ask you if there really is an observer? And if so how you are it? And if so how you are doing it? Do you snap your fingers and stop observing/noticing?
jim: IMO, and current experience, it's all about semantics - how words and phrases are interpreted or intended. When I walk down a street, observing my body, the cement, trees, fences, houses, other pedestrians, etc. I am an Observer who is observing observed objects BUT I am also life living or Experience experiencing (itself). I suppose it could be said (depending on what semantics I use) that there is only Life lifing or Experiencing or whatever special LU terminology is currently fashionable but the point is that I do experience an Observer/Observing/Observed event - at least for now.
re: There is only the Self/That/Life/Awareness/Consciousness are ways of putting it, but why add ''and you are that''? Isn't that redundant and just another way of holding on to having an identity? Nothing ever really yours..
jim: Again, I see this as just another game of semantics. If there is only That and then someone tells me I am that, the obvious conclusion would be that there is no separate me/self and all there is is That, etc. Even the teachings of LU are fraught with semantic issues, IMO so, it's up to me to figure out how to make use of various words and phrases to find the Truth.
Well eventually it is neither about the words nor about a me who can find anything at all. LU is absolutely not about semantics, words are used to help people look totally without any words/thoughts of the labeling mind. To look for the thing you think is I to find out if it really exists. So yes the saying you are That hasn't got a thing to do with what you think you are so the saying should be just That.
Een reactie posten