A perspective
OK, try this as a perspective from which to view experiencing.
Let’s call our current experiencing. THIS.
Remember that everything here is from the relative perspective of the organism.
Let’s also say that the only thing that is actual/real is THIS.)
Besides THIS, there is THAT. (not really, but for the sake of communicating..)
THAT might be seen as everything that is not THIS.
We’ll call it the absolute.
If you and i and a dog and an insect all look at (what we call) a tree, there will be 4 unique experiences of it.
Those experiences are the relative and what we call a tree can be considered part of an absolute.
If we introduce science to examine the tree, we might get closer to what it actually is, but we consider it unknowable and therefore are not interested in it for the purpose of this examination.
Everything that we are investigating is from the perspective of current experiencing.
Most of the people view the world at a level of concept.
This is useful for certain things, but not only is it not useful when looking for what is actual, but it obscures it. That is unless we are aware that this is how it works.
Beneath the level of concept, we can ascertain what is actual for us. THIS. Our current experiencing.
Because conceptual viewing is so prevalent, we have to be alert that we don’t get carried away into story land by the concepts that arrive to describe/explain THIS.
Because self is a concept, just as no-self is, there is no point in searching for either as something actual.
Just as a hole is defined by what encloses it, both self and no-self are defined by the story that encloses them. Without the walls and bottom, the hole can’t exist. Without the stories, the concept of self can’t exist.
Below the level of the self-concept, there is sensation. Nothing more!
We have to come up to the level of concept to add anything. Full stop. Period.
We don’t need complexity (as much as the mind loves it).
Just as the mind abhors silence and is compelled to fill it, the simplicity of what is, can be disturbing. It engenders an uncomfortable sensation.
The ‘self’ – the stories of self have the job of moving us away from those uncomfortable sensations. (more on this later)
Oh, and while i think of it (& more on this later too) How and Why questions are also an attempt to move away from those sensations.
DO NOT ENGAGE HOW OR WHY QUESTIONS. They are a waste of time.
To be satisfied with the not knowing. With the mystery of how and why things happen is conducive with waking up.
Much is revealed with the wider perspective that comes from the acceptance of what life offers (THIS)
This is not a journey.
Here is Matheus with a take on perspective at a practical level…
Matheus
Okay, so let’s also give you one example. Like you’re waiting for a bus, but the bus got delayed or it doesn’t even arrive.
So if you’re thinking from the self point of view, you’re going to say, the bus was late. had to be at work at 9pm.
Oh my God, what am I going to do? I just hate that bus driver. You know all of this things.
This is the self and you’re going to get angry. It’s a bad way to. frame things. Now, if you see for the self-perspective, okay, I’m not a being, I am just part of the world, of the system, and all the things that must be in place for the bus drive, all the workers of the company that must be in time, everything that must be in time for this to happen, okay, you know, this is a low self-perspective, so to say.
So it’s a supervisor to see things in this manner. Maybe you’re attached to, you like maybe, you like to build things around yourself, so you could actually quite try to work with these skillful and unskewful things.
Then gradually, you’re going to not exactly like too much of framing things around yourself. The same goes, for example, like a relationship.
We always tend to, that person did this and that to me, oh, I’m so angry, I’m jealous, if you think from a no self-perspective, you to see that everyone else has their problems, there’s a lot of things involved. And then gradually, you begin to prefer things to see things through this no-self or whole world ecosystem view, rather than the I, me, who does this or do that.
And gradually, this is going to weaken and it’s going to regenerate less and less until you just shift. You know, I think this happened a little with me also.
James
Thank you. It’s a perspective I will keep in mind.
vince
That was brilliant, Matthew, so I thought that was really good. Can I cut that out and put it on the web site?
Matheus
Sure, of course, I would love that.
vince
Yeah, that was good. That was really worthy of listening again to it. That was great. Yeah.
