Hi Tom,
When you put it that way, I want to say 'no, of course not': I intend to carry on looking until the moment I realise Tom is not actually hiding somewhere. On the other hand, I can only intellectually conclude that if I have not realised Tom is not hiding somewhere, I must still have reservations.
OK. Looking what Tom is or isn’t, isn’t simply comes from not finding him. Since if you cannot find him, it doesn’t necessarily translate into the realization of there being no real Tom. So it’s not just about not finding him, but it also seeing clearly that HOW he shows up.
So Tom can actually be found, just not in a way you used to think.
So Tom can be found as a narrative, as an add-on on experience.
Realizing what Tom is comes from seeing how he appears. How he appears in any moment.
Since he DOES appear. But not as an autonomous entity living in the body, but as a narrative, as a concept.
Also, just because there is no inherent separate self, me or Tom, it doesn’t mean that you don’t exist.
You just don’t exist in a way you thought you were. But you are.
It was not possible to find the actual experiencable thing that the word my-Self is a label for. Just the changing sensations.
OK. Now we have to look into what can be found.
What is that is always here, always present, always is?
Vivien