How would you describe this ... ?
After succesfully guiding someone through a Direct Pointing process and the illusion of separation has been seen through, we often ask people a simple question; "How would you describe this to someone who has never heard of this?".
The answers that are given to this simple question are often powerful pointers in themselves, because they are coming from a very fresh and intense seeing.
Here are some of the best answers we've gotten so far. This page will be updated on a regular basis:
"How would you describe this to someone who has never heard of this?"
"I'd ask them to 'get lost'
Get lost in the light of clarity
Becauss there is only the life / light
there is no one to get lost
in the first place except to see the mistake
of thinking there is someone"
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=320&start=90)
"I might ask the person who she is. And then ask her to look behind that. And behind that. And behind that. And see where it goes.
And then maybe once we've gotten as far beyond the original concept as it's possible to go, then go back to the first answer about who she is. Which is more real, the first answer, or the way beyond answer? What transcends fear? What transcends all change?"
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=493)
"Its kind of like Neo when he sees through the Matrix, but ordinary. No super powers! Just ordinary love, peace, and lightness of being, which is actually pretty super! Instead of seeing code all around, its like noticing the thoughts and beliefs in my head that I thought were me, and experiencing them as not personal. No me, no struggle. Life lives. I don't have to breath, I don't have to think, thoughts happen in perfect unfolding as needed. They always have, the only difference is now there is a shift in noticing. There is such quiet joy and deep peace in this."
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=405&start=15)
"I have many Christian friends that I love. If I were trying to relate this I would use the Book of Genisis as a guide. Starting with the Garden before the Fall. All beings were alive aware and at peace with no separation from creation\creator. Tempted to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil the consiquence was separation from creation\creator. Reminding them that the defintion of Hell is separation from God. The way back is reunion ."
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=308&start=180)
"The believe in a self, a soul, a personal essence is like animistic believes (that the sun is alive, that there are gods in the trees, that a falling stone wants to fall down). A unnecessary hypothesis. "I" am the product of my genes and my upbringing. There is no room, no necessity, no possibility for the existence of a personal essence".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=18)
"Self is a grouping of views about events that have happened, in ones life. One takes life personally and carries the illusion that these memories, coupled with upbringing and social conditioning, are a fixed thing. Maybe one thinks personality goes to heaven or hell or no-where at all (nihilism). Self is I- am-thatness. (Apparent/assumed) subject. Is a barrier/boundary really a barrier/boundary or is just a continuation of all that is? It's as if you draw a circle, and put some things inside it and say theye are inside the circle, and forgetting that you drew the lines, and then believing thats how it has to be. Taking it as the truth. Are you confused? You should be. Its hard to fallow this line of reasoning because it has been created (however poorly by me). In short self is nothing but a word.
No self: all thoughts feeling emotions whatever any way of experiencing reality is impersonal. Absolutely everything that is to be experienced and is conditioned changes. Particularly this mind state that is experienced right now, its changing. Wishing for it to be constant, trying to make it constant is stressful however subtle. Is it fit to regard any as such as self with it being inconstant and stressful? No self is just "this", here and now with no me in between, which is reality just as it is.
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=23)
"Hey little girl, come over here for a minute.
Do you like lollipops?
When i refer to myself, as a self, me or I, i am making a simple word for a collection of things, and describing where it happens. The things that are 'collected' are all that is capable of being experienced; and all that is experienced is connected to everything else, so the place where the naming of a self happens is the place where the universe happens.
As such it's not a thing that exists, it's only a word for the collection of things that are happening in this place.
There is no-one liking lollipops, but the enjoyment of lollipops is happening, the existence of lollipop liking doesn't imply the existence of a liker".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=31&start=20)
"Show them that any thought or emotion that they have does not actully have a self in it. That thoughs don't have an I in them and emotions are just felt. There is no self to them. That all they really have to do is look for the self in them or anywhere else. Even have them take an action and look for the "I" in it".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=56&start=30)
"No self is like Being. Like I AM. Nothing is separate. Everything is joined. Life flows as you. Thoughts, emotions and sensations come and go like clouds in the sky. None of it is taken seriously. Nothing has to appear or disappear. Everything is happening at once without control or obstacles. It is just flowing. Light and Free! Free to BE".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=43&start=40)
"Once upon a time there was a little baby girl, her loving parents named her Lianna, and told her that was her name. They taught her that she was her own separate little being in a big world, just like they were separate bigger beings, mom and dad. All the big people around her told the same story and smiled at her. She was eager to please and quick to learn, and she believed them, so she started to look at herself as a separate little person in a very small body. In there she built and built on her image of herself based on what she had been taught. Thoughts, memories, actions, bodily attributes helped formed what she began to think about as “herself”. And soon enough she was totally convinced that she really was Lena, all alone in the world, and responsible for her own choices in life.
Only, somewhere inside, there was a lingering feeling, that something was wrong, that something had been overlooked. A feeling that she needed to find something she had lost, that she really needed to see the truth, no matter how radical that truth might be.
And then one day, after much searching, she stumbled on a site on the internet, where she could get just the right help to actually look and look again at what was true. And for the first time she saw, that there was really no proof for the existence of this self she had so long believed in. There was only this self-label that had been put on a bunch of things relating to this body and its story. This self was nothing but an imaginary character in a story.How weird and wonderful!"
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=121&start=20)
"You probably have heard about spiritual enlightenment, right? The deal is that there's a few dudes who are awakened, and they have been telling us for centuries that most of humanity is living their lives under the spell of Maya -- that we are living a lie that blinds us from the obvious truth in front of the eyes. There is an assumption we so dearly cherish as the unshakable truth, that just isn't true.
Well, for the past year I have been obsessing over this stuff, reading a lot of materials and practicing various spiritual techniques and going on retreat and stuff like that, chasing one clue after another, trying to get my act together because my head was so filled with conflicting information that I just couldn't go on unless I figure out what is true.
But what kind a lie would it have to be, that billions of people throughout the age would fail to see it after being hinted at by countless spiritual traditions? It would have to be something really unthinkable, right? It would have to be the last thing we would ever question, an assumption we are so certain to be true that very, very few would have the nerve to even consider that it *might* not be true. Yeah?
You wanna know what the lie is? It's you. You are the lie.
You are the hypothesis that does not hold up to direct observation.
Now, if you were like me the first time I heard about this, you're probably like -- whoa, what kind of prank is this guy trying to pull? But wait, look. Look at the actual words that the awakened masters have said:
"You want Enlightenment straight up? YOU don't exist." - Adyashanti
"You are saved by realizing that there is no self to be saved." - Vernon Howard.
“Enlightenment is the recognition that there is no you; that your sense of separation and individuality is an illusion.”
"The mind perceives thoughts. There never was a thinker, just the view that there was one." - Buddha
Does this spark your curiosity at all? Well, thankfully, there is an internet community devoted to help people see the truth of this in real life. All you need is honesty, and the willingness to look, and you can see the truth of this TODAY. To see the lie is to kill it, and I gotta tell you, this is one big ass lie that you wouldn't want to miss. Look, I'm really not the best guy to walk you through this. Sign up at ]liberationunleashed.com and there you will find people who are trained to help you see this. So trust me, spare an hour, do this, and life will never be the same".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=109&start=10)
"To somebody who has never heard of this I would just try to provide hard facts - like, sit down and examine your present experience. See if you can actually find a central entity, this 'me' who is directing the whole show. Check out if you find a specific me who thinks thoughts, has feelings or directs the processes of the body. Watch how you move thru the day, the movements of the body, reactions to happenings and situations etc..One can only explain this by pointing to the others own direct experience of this moment. Everything else will go off into the realms of imagination".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=179&start=10)
"It would be difficult. Someone who has never heard of no self would probably be quite dismissive or give you blank stares if you started to go on about the fact that they don't really exist! They'd maybe even call the men in white coats! So, I'd probably start off by asking them to try to keep an open mind, bear with me and look at their direct experience. Then start pulling at the threads. Ask them how they decided to do 'x'. There would probably be a reply about 'my thoughts', so I'd ask how they chose which thought came into existence and ask where the thought came from. Then start looking at the rest of the illusion of self - emotions, and other sensations in the body and see if they brought them into existence. I'd ask them about the 'story of them' throughout their life and ask if it was real (that seemed to be the clincher for me)".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=183&start=30)
"You ever notice how something doesn´t seem quite right about reality? How, despite the abundance of available advice, we end up creating repeated misery for ourselves and others? How life doesn´t seem to make sense? Maybe that´s why we enjoy movies like The Matrix and The Truman Show, affirming reality isn´t what it pretends to be? Well, it´s because it´s true! Reality isn´t what it pretends to be!
There´s a lie right at the center of life. It´s like those spy thrillers, looking for the mole, the investigation leading closer and closer to the heart of the Secret Service itself. But in your, and my and everybody elses case, the lie resides right at our own center, at the place we call I, or me. Investigate; is the word/thought/sense of I or me pointing to an underlying reality? Just like the word rain points to the wet stuff in your face, or the words fear and joy point to a set of body sensations? Or is it the case that the words I and me are just words, underpinned by nothing more real and solid than the word Santa Claus? I found the latter to be true.
I´m still trying to handle the implications of this. But let me tell you this much. As far as I can see, most of my psychological suffering has been because I believed in an I. And I´ve hung around with Buddhists for almost 25 years! They´re specialised in no I! But the idea is not enough. You need to see this, clearly and directly for yourself. Just like you see there is no Batman in this room now. Once you´ve seen it, no one will be able to convince you otherwise. Of course, we keep using the first person pronoun, it helps us communicate. Me, I´m still new in life without the lie. And I suspect I´ll occasionally fall into delusion again, habits die hard. But then I´ll just look for Batman, and notice he´s still not here! Interested?
There are some good people at http://www.liberationunleashed.com. Do you really want to postpone taking the red pill any longer?"
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=199&start=40)
"The way I have explained it is that I used to wonder why the stories of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are taught to small children. It didn't make sense, because the maturing mind will eventually see through these stories. During this time, most children are being taught religion as well. Didn't it logically follow that, having been fooled before, these stories would ultimately cause children to question the story of their religion as well? It didn't make sense to me, because the cultures wanted children to believe in their religion. So why trick children with stories, and then want them to believe an even bigger story?
However, I had it all wrong. The stories of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy aren't about the existence of God, they are about the existence of self. It is our stories of ourselves, the me, that we should come to question. Does the me really exist? Santa seemed real. In the morning there were presents. The self seems real. I have my own name, I own a car, and everyone treats me as a separate entity with free will. There is collusion to make it seem real. It is exactly like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. There is no Santa, and there is no you".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=198&start=40)
"When you look at your direct experience at this moment, all the stuff that comes in through your senses and add to that all the internal, mental stuff like thoughts and emotions - that covers all that you can perceive.
That's obviously not you, that's what you perceive. And a lot of that internal stuff is very strongly connected to the person you think you are. There's values, character traits, expressions you use, memories, desires, dreams, fears, etc. And when you say "This is who I am" what you mean is "This is what defines me", because you do realize that you're not any of those memories or dreams or all of that and that what they basically do is they paint the image of you, of your person.
But have you ever checked if the person in that image actually exists? The obvious answer is "Of course it exists, that's me." That's an assumption. It seems pretty fucking obvious, of course, but that doesn't make it any less of an assumption. There was a time when it was pretty fucking obvious that the earth was at the center of the universe, until someone dared question that and turned out to be right. The guy was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. You would take no such risk in questioning your assumption. If it's true it will stand the test of anything you might throw at it. But if it's wrong that would have pretty far-reaching consequences. The only thing you have to lose if it's wrong is a belief, an assumption.
To even consider this seriously without brushing it aside as new-age-spiritual-crap (like which, I admit, it can easily sound), you need an open mind, courage and a strong desire for truth, which, I would assume, you think of yourself as having.
What lies behind the answer is mental freedom, plain and simple. You can even look at this economically - there's nothing of value to lose (unless you honestly value the unquestioned assumptions you hold) and there may be a lot to gain.Do you care?"
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=194&start=10)
"I would talk only from my own 'experience' of it, as in : I have found there is no one inside myself who is what I thought of as 'me'. No one who acts, no one who thinks. Only acting, thinking, happening as a flow somehow. No longer is there a concern about what 'could happen' or 'might happen', simply a curiosity about what IS happening and may or may not continue.
I would also say that without that 'me' there is no longer any hooking into the story that the 'me' thought was real, her past is no longer a past that has any current reality; it is seen as what happened then to someone who was never an 'I' but did not know that. I would say that with no 'I', no 'me' there is instead space, which is called FREEDOM".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=236&start=60)
"If you write a name on a piece of paper, will the paper be that name? No... If you get a pet and give it a name, will that pet be that name? No... Or will it just be a pet you named in this way? Yes.... Will the pet have been breathing and eating and drinking already before you gave it that name? Yes.... If you yourself had another name, would you still be breathing and eating and drinking? Yes.... So if you had no name at all, would breathing, eating and drinking still be happening? Yes.... Yes, and that’s how it is. We are all breathing, eating and drinking without a name. Breathing, eating and drinking (and everything else) is happening to no one. It’s just happening.
No, there’s nothing/nobody behind the experiencing".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=263&start=20)
"The mind is playing a great trick that is believed, that the individual is the author of their life and we have never gone directly looking to find this' you' that is a separate entity that is controlling/directing your life, just accepting this is true; But this 'you' cannot be found if we go directly looking for it because it does not exist, life is just happening by itself.You don,t exist separate from life but as life's experiences. There is no loss experienced on seeing this because the belief in a separate 'you' causes all of the suffering that is experienced".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=295&start=20)
"Well... the bad news is that 'there is no you '... and the good news is that 'there is no you'... Why ? And how is it possible that the self is an illusion created by the mind/thoughts ?
First I would shortly explain what is the direct pointing method. Let's get Real !Here we are not focusing on 'who I am' but on 'who I am NOT'.It is like: not me trying to reach or find God (which is impossible, because in reality there's no me)but to humble or erase my-self, so IT can be found. It Happens. Magick happens.
The DP method is about finding out if our beliefs represent truth ?It only requires honestly looking inward, examining our thoughts, sensations, what they are, how they function, what is the relationship between them and the body. We have to look deep and see what is behind the self ? We find Nothing .... What is at the same time Everything.... Freedom.... Salvation... End of suffering.It is about leaving behind false beliefs and recognizing the simple Truth that there is no self. So, at the end we realize by directly seeing that 'me' is nothing but a thought about 'me'. (This was my AHA moment.) And this is it !
From people with christian background I would ask first what is their interpretation of Jesus's teaching ; He said that if we want to follow him, we have to 'loose ourselves'.What is a self and why is it important to 'loose' it ? [it is preventing us from seeing Oneness] And what does it mean 'the Truth will set us free' ? To free from what ? [our misleading mind/thoughts], and how ? [by looking at them and realizing that they create illusion].
In my understanding the "I" thought is what the Bible calls original sin. Realizing no-self means regaining back the (seemingly) lost innocence by falling into duality.And what is a selfless action? It only happens - there's no ego involved in it - there is nobody doing it".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=241&start=40)
"An I is a figment of almost every living human’s imaginataion. It’s the core of what we refer to when we say I, me, mine, myself… At a very young age, you start to know your name and then comes the sure process of identification with this image of yourself as an I. That’s me you tell yourself, this is MY stuff, MY face, body, family, life……….Look in the mirror, that’s me. The stories start and the I is at the very center of every one. I did this, I did that. I know this or that. Everything that comes into contact with the I sticks to it. Good and bad. The I likes it or hates it and every shade inbetween. The I is almost never satisfied. It gets what it thinks it wants, and then something else is wanted. The I is deeply afraid it won’t be someday and is continuously concocting schemes to protect itself and also how to get what it wants or at least what it thinks will ease the underlying suffering of separation it feels. It doesn’t know that it is feeling separation…..Just a deep knowing that something is missing. Not whole. Theres no end to it. Even though you can’t find an I anywhere in reality, this assumption is unquestioned by the world.
What I have learned is that the I is truly only a thought. It is an illusion. A superb illusion. This I can be searched for but not found in the real world. To find it is a very subtle process that can be seen by almost anyone with the right patience and pointers. Its like it was there all the time right out in the open but almost impossible to see. When the seeing happens, clarity starts".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=303&start=20)
"I am not sure it would make any sense to describe this exact thing unless someone has had the first realization -- but to describe the first realization and the deepening of it now: the problem is not the self. The problem is that there is no self. If there were, we'd all be fine and everything would work for us pyschologically. But, because everything we are attempting to become and do and all ways in which we relate to others and the world and ourselves ASSUME that there is a separate self at bottom, we are in great conflict, not because it's selfish or "wrong" or that we should change, but simply because it isn't true. This false assumtption is so deeply unconcious and so central to our interpretation of everything that is happening to us, that we are able to speak about it at great length and still not see that we believe something that is untrue. This assumtion must become concious and be examined in the light of reality in order for the truth to be seen. After it has been clearly seen -- everything makes much more sense. As far as any further "selfing" -- it's important to continue to confirm that something seeming to be there doesn't have any impact on whether it really is or not. It's important to continue to confim to ourselves that thoughts cannot tell us what is true, no matter what they are (or how they smell : )".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=334&start=10)
"If you watch a movie you forget that you are looking at a screen. You become totally involved in the story that is being displayed. In the same way all the thoughts that arise about your self are just like pictures on a screen. In this way you realise they are just that - thoughts passing by. No matter whether they are about the weather or 'me' there's no difference. Just images on a screen. So the thoughts that occurred never referred to 'me' because 'me' is a thought like any other. There never was an entity, person or thing called 'me'. Just a story".
(Source: http://liberationunleashed.com/nation/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=319&start=130)