Self inquiry to find the true self

[Raptorsin7]

What are the best techniques to break the identification with the I thought, and collapse the subject-object duality.

I've made this perspective shift on LSD before, and so I know the sensations and area of the body associated with the identification. And there are certain techniques like turning attention from outside back towards the sense of "me" but it hasn't worked so far. A basic self inquiry asking who am I has a similar positive effect, attention gets turned back to me but it doesn't lead to a full collapse of the duality.

Does anyone remember when they were stuck at this point on the path, and what they did to get over the hump and lose the little sense of self for good?

[VeganAwake]

Drop the idea of what 'you' think is going to happen,  just LOOK and notice what makes up this sense of 'self' experience.

 

[The0Self]

If you are interested in self inquiry, just know it's a bit more intense than you might imagine. Look for the I. Every experience you have seems to occur to you; the I. Every single experience. So in the process, you'll maybe feel like you're sort of "catching the I" -- you never are. Once you realize this, it's easier to just rapid fire down the line disregarding literally everything until... Poof... Generally takes 6-24 months of all-day practice, amidst your daily activities, just so you know. And it's not even necessarily the liberation some of us talk about here.

[Raptorsin7]

@The0Self I've had the experience of liberation on LSD a few times so I have a sense of what I'm going for.

If I stay as awareness without getting distracted then the center drops out and the true self is revealed. I'm just having trouble staying as the feeling awareness for long periods without getting pulled out.

That time frame doesn't make sense. You can't put a time table on awakening because it could happen really at any time. It could literally happen tmrw if by happenstance I was very relaxed and able to stay as the feeling awareness.

[The0Self]

2 hours ago, Raptorsin7 said:

I've had the experience of liberation on LSD a few times so I have a sense of what I'm going for.

Liberation is not an experience.

2 hours ago, Raptorsin7 said:

If I stay as awareness without getting distracted then the center drops out and the true self is revealed. I'm just having trouble staying as the feeling awareness for long periods without getting pulled out.

Does it feel like experience sort of turns inside out and you’re looking IN (rather than OUT) at experience from an infinite transcendent god-like nothingness? Nothing can touch you. You’re God. Awesome experience, right? If that’s the case, that’s “The Witness,” or the spacious mind, or the vastness of awareness. It ain’t the true self, because there isn’t one.

2 hours ago, Raptorsin7 said:

That time frame doesn't make sense. You can't put a time table on awakening because it could happen really at any time. It could literally happen tmrw if by happenstance I was very relaxed and able to stay as the feeling awareness.

Yeah total liberation could happen when doing literally anything, but if you’re trying for the goal of self inquiry (Realization) it usually takes 6-24 months for one to realize they’re done. Just trying to give an indication of the diligence required.

[Raptorsin7]

@The0Self I've had the experience of the sense that i'm behind my eyes looking at the world is completely shattered, and it just feels like i'm one thing that encompasses all parts of my experience, instead of feeling like i'm looking at it or separate from it. There's always a sense of this tension at the center of my head just popping and collapsing, and there's a clear perspective shift. Pretty sure that's a realization around no-self, not sure what your definition of liberation is.

With where i'm at i'd be content of with just progressing so my perspective changes to the sort of window or block consciousness, where it doesn't feel like I'm localized to the head. I can get like 80% the way there in meditation, but i'm brute forcing it and i'm pretty sure there's a simpler smoother way to faciliate the transition.

[The0Self]

@Raptorsin7 In meditation, just from the focused attention and associated lack of mental activity in all the “normal“ places can induce incredible samadhi-like states. Basically there’s always “more.” Until there’s nobody there that could get more, at which point it’s realized: there was never anybody there. There’s only what seems to happen. No actual meaning or context to anything.

[VeganAwake]

Notice how culturally conditioned thoughts about who you are sort of makeup the character there.

If you were born and raised in Iran you'd be a completely different character.

Notice how thoughts about who you are cancel each other out.... one person in China that's having a good day might think you're a nice polite fellow; another person in Alaska that's having a bad day may think you're an arrogant jerk; a teenage girl in India might find you very interesting and open-minded.

There is no real truth about who or what you are... it's really all just socially conditioned perspective.

The idea of who you are is not as solid as it seems to be!!