bobbyward

so theres no understanding it intellectually, its just the way it is. thats probably why my thoughts have issue with it. i was reading some guy using an analogy of a dream, saying in a dream the dream person isnt real and the dream objects arent real, so there is no subject and object, and the only thing that is real is the dream experience, and the dream experience is aware of itself.

the ones i find good are, am i aware? where am i? when am i? whos aware of a blank state?

my understanding of self inquiry from doing research is there is an initial investigation stage, were you look and contemplate what you could be, then you come to something thats not a concept, a non conceptual sense of being (i am), and the goal then is to rest attention in the i am as long as possible as often as possible. is this what self inquiry is ??

resting as awareness is the goal of self inquiry, fear, anxiety doubt is usually a sign of progress. resting in awareness temporarily gets rid of the mind, maybe the mind is trying to save itself, its hard to tell. stay resting as awareness and the doubts will go away eventually.

@TruthSeeker fundamentally i would say thoughts and conditioning. you are probably going to ask me who is the one suffering?? lol i have asked this thousands of times but decades of conditioning doesnt go away so easy.

TM is easy to learn, a few hours of research and you will be clear on how to do it. it is very good for bringing increased peace and quieting the mind. its not a particularly good practice for enlightenment though.

for me i want out of suffering, fear, shame and guilt. if i hadnt got this intense suffering i dont think i would have the interest or motivation for this seeking. i think suffering is the fuel that fires the search in most cases.

I agree with what you are saying what leo seems to be advocating is more of a looking with awareness process rather than abiding in the I am. I would describe the '' i am '' as a non conceptual sense of being. and the purpose of asking the questions '' who am i '' or whatever is to temporarily get rid of the mind and abide in this non conceptual sense of being. in fact if you can just go to this non conceptual sense of being without the questions, then there is no need to ask the questions, but most people cant do that. the idea is to take attention away from objects ( thoughts, the body and the world) and rest it in its source awareness. ramaji describes it as a '' no thought state, its a state of deep relaxation '', ramana maharshi also said '' you dont need to get rid of anything except for thoughts ''. I have done tons of research on this and this abiding in the I AM state is what most mean by self inquiry. this is a good video on it

there are some people who dont have thoughts like 95 per cent of the time, as a result of long term meditation

@jjer94 is stopping thought not what self inquiry is ?? what do you think is the best method then ??

the thing is as long as you believe and or feel that you are a separate self, EVERYTHING you do is seeking. everything you do is about making yourself happy, its impossible for a separate self to not seek happiness. if you believe and or feel you are a separate self, spiritual seeking doesnt make you any more or less of a seeker.

reading a book now called '' refuting the external world ''. breaking down the nature of reality its very good

self inquiry is about quieting the mind. when you ask the question who am i, and look with awareness, the mind is temporarily still, and this stillness is the answer you are looking for, the goal is to stay there as long as possible as often as possible. you know your making progress if thoughts show up less through out the day. 30mins a day is nothing, you need to do it all day. you can do your formal practice for 30mins a day or whatever, but you need to knock down thoughts through out the day.

I had an awakening 9 weeks ago, were i seen that there is no self, its becoming more clear as the weeks go on, and there is a witnessing of everything that is happening, with nobody doing it. but there is still separation between everything, there is still duality, how does one go from seeing no self/witnessing to seeing no separation or experiencing non duality?? Anybody have any experience with this ?? thanks Alan

we have no experience of the brain, if you are mindful of thoughts arising and falling, they come from no were. but of course thoughts will come up with all sort of explanations for were thoughts come from.

by duality i mean that my body is separate from the objects in the world, and the objects in the world are separate from each other. my conceptual understanding of non duality is that there is no separation between anything, everything in awareness is indivisible.

i was doing self inquiry intensely before i seen no self, after seeing no self i have no interest in doing it anymore. im trying to work on seeing no separation, dissolving conditioning and disidentifying with the body. i have been doing yoga meditations by rupert spira the last 6 weeks and find them very good, they are for after you have an awakening to help you embody your awakening or to disidentify you with the body, theres example of them on youtube and he has lots on his website. he says about 10per cent of being a separate self is in thoughts and about 90per cent is in the body(feelings).

i dont know if i am at the witness stage but i can clearly see that there is nobody here, but it does seem like there is a witnessing of everything thats going on, yes and like you said identifying with the body and conditioning is still there after seeing, but it takes time to fall away so i have been told. that book i read gateless gatecrashers is about getting you to look and see through the self, when i read the book i was thinking there is no way in hell this can work its too simple, and around page 80 i noticed that my experience had changed, and i was experiencing no self, it really is just a seeing that can happen in a flash. do you think seeing no separation can be seen in a flash like seeing no self, or that you need to disidentify with the body and conditioning first ?

I had an awakening 9 weeks ago after reading the book gateless gatecrashers, were i 'seen' that there was no self, and that is my experience since then nobody controlling thoughts or the body. its not enlightenment proper though as even though i experience no self, there is still separation between everything, its not non duality. adam is this seeing you had, seeing no self, seeing no separation or both?? thanks Alan