Just to ask - what name you prefer to call you, because I've notice you are using these two - Jon/Douglass..?
Douglas is my first name and Jon is my middle name but either is fine. Sorry for the confusion. :)
Can you pay close attention to that sensation inside the body and try to localise it first. Spot a light there and than look with curiosity
Something very interesting happened when I tried this. I started looking for the location of the "self" and it seemed to be in my head but when I focused really closely, all I could find was a feeling of tension on my scalp, and of course, that tension is not "me", and I also realized that there were images quickly flashing in my mind of my head and face. Once I noticed this, the entire feeling of having a head or being in head started to fade away. It seems that the idea that I'm in my head is just a belief, not an actual experience, but it seems to be a very deeply rooted belief. I feel like I might need to repeat this exercise many times to fully get rid of the belief, since the sense of being in the head came back after I stopped paying close attention.
Does the sensation itself knows anything?
No.
For example that it is someone being in the body?
No.
What brings that information here?
I'm not sure I understand the question, but it seems to be a belief combined with mental imagery that creates this feeling.
When there is a thought about a red ball - this is a fact, undeniable. There is a thought with the content "red ball:
But what about the content of that thought? Is there a red ball really here in reality?
YES or NO?
No.
Was it REAL? Or it was imagined to be real, illusionary=content of a thought?
It was illusory.
Notice that there was no boom and no bright flashes of light when the imaginary spoon was no longer imagined. Remember this, the shift to seeing through the illusion of a separate self is not going to be any more than this, it is just a dropping of a belief – the belief is the glue that holds the illusion together.
Okay I will try to remember this, but it seemed before that dropping the self illusion was a bit more dramatic than dropping the illusory spoon. I guess I need to drop preconceived ideas that I have about what a "shift" is.
Now go and get a spoon from the kitchen and hold it in the same way that you imagined it. Do that literally Feel the spoon’s form, its size, its weight, its temperature. Close your eyes and feel the spoon for a while.
Now open your eyes ... is there a spoon here, in real life?
yes
Are the image of the spoon and the experience of the spoon the same?
No.
How does imagining and experiencing the same thing differ?
It seems that holding the real spoon creates similar sensations to the imaginary spoon, but with the real spoon, the sensations are much stronger and "solid". With the imaginary spoon, the sensations will get stronger or weaker depending on how hard I'm concentrating on imagining the spoon. With the real spoon, feeling the sensations requires no effort.
Now close your eyes again and bring your attention to the image of “me”, the separate individual entity.
Spend some time exploring this, and than Speak the word “I” silently; be aware of any sensations or responses to this word.
Are any of these sensations YOU?
I tried this several times and each time, there was an image of body, either from first-person or third-person perspective that appeared. It became clear that these were just mental images and so couldn't be me. After that happened, the attention shifted to the feelings in the body, which come and go, and so also are not me.
Is the I an image or is it an actual entity?
An image, or more accurately, many images and feelings. It's not an actual entity. However, it seems that the "I" concept is so strong that even when it is seen through, the identification with "I" quickly returns. Perhaps its just a matter of repeating these exercises many times until the identification gradually goes away?
I really enjoyed these latest exercises! Thanks!
Best,
Jon
