How Do You (as Awareness) Know That You Are Self-aware?

[Barna]

When I ask myself if I am aware, the answer is "yes", because I go to my perceptions and I am aware of the sensory experiences (seeing, hearing, etc.)

But when I ask if I am self-aware, I have nowhere to go... At this question I am stuck in the self-query meditation.

[cetus]

@Barna

34 minutes ago, Barna said:

But when I ask if I am self-aware, I have nowhere to go... At this question I am stuck in the self-query meditation

It sounds like the self query is working nicely for you.

31 minutes ago, Barna said:

When I ask myself if I am aware, the answer is "yes

I think Mooji said it best when he said, You are the perceiver of everything that comes and goes.

 

 

[Barna]

So now, I guess, I can silence my mind with the question regarding the self-awareness.

But what is the next thing I can realize? Has anybody gone through this?

[Leo Gura]

7 hours ago, Barna said:

When I ask myself if I am aware, the answer is "yes", because I go to my perceptions and I am aware of the sensory experiences

Actually, look closer.

Is there an "I" who is aware of sensory experiences? Or is there only sensory experience, without a YOU?

If there is a YOU, point to it. It should be easy to find.

As you carefully investigate all this, don't dismiss the possibility that there may not be a YOU there at all. After all, why would there be?

P.S. The reason you're stuck is because the thing you think exists (YOU), actually doesn't. It's like you're trying to find a needle in a haystack when there never was any needle to begin with. Now... the only question is, how long will it take "you" to realize that?

[WelcometoReality]

Here is a video that explains the process.

 

[Azrael]

9 hours ago, Barna said:

But when I ask if I am self-aware, I have nowhere to go... At this question I am stuck in the self-query meditation.

Oh, that's good because "having nowhere to go" is a give-away. Just stay in this "not knowing"-it for a while. Ask again: Am I self-aware ... hm ... silence. Same silence you have inside when you are deeply in love and nothing to think about. Same silence you have inside when you have to surrender to any big change in life and just give in. Same silence you have inside when you don't know something and just listen fascinated to somebody else explaining it.

Go deeper. Is this silence only in those moments? No, same silence you have inside all of the time but you blank it out with lots of fast thoughts and emotions. It's the same silence you hear in any given moment that provides the space for sound to occur. Just listen. It's the same blankness you see in any given moment that allows sight to appear. It's the same potential you feel in any given moment that allows feeling to appear.

It goes on and on. These are all pointers. You can follow any of them and will end up in an ever-changing flow of things that is located in an ever-still here and now. Both are the same, they are the dual/non-dual nature in its widest sense.

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

If there is a YOU, point to it. It should be easy to find.

@Barna Remember, what Leo said here isn't difficult. Your mind thinks it is because it has all these ideas of what it might by and that it is hidden from your day-to-day world when it really is everything you could ever know in the sense of experiencing it in the first the place. You only have this knowing of things in the first place.

It is easy and natural to recognize enlightenment, it is hard to stay busy all day long so that you don't recognize it. But of course our minds have been trained for decades to stay busy 24 hours a day and feel shitty if we don't. So give up this race, relax and see for yourself. The most amazing things follow.

[Bob84]

@Barna Its is awareness seeing this world true the mind. You can not use the mind to see awareness. Hope that makes sense to you.

[Barna]

Thank you for the answers to each one of you, they really cleared up some things. (Or not, we will see! )

I feel that Rupert Spira's "Am I aware?" question points to the same direction as my "Am I self-aware?" question. @WelcometoReality thank you for the video.
So I'm gonna go with Rupert's question from now on.

Now I think I am stuck in the same place, because when I ask Rupert's "Am I aware?" question, I cannot catch myself stepping out of experiencing before I return with the answer "yes".

I think this "yes" comes from outside of experiencing, but how can I go there? Or which part of me is able to go there?

@Leo Gura what do you think about the origin of this "yes" answer? Is it coming from the Absolute? Besides the 5-Meo, have you found an other way to access the Infinite? I am a university student, so right now this substance is really expensive for me. But I will try it as soon as I start to work.

[30secs]

@Barna you can't , more thinking will not. The answer is STILLNESS, if you are calm and still, the stillness is simply aware of it's stillness. Once again you cannot be aware of yourself by knowing(thought), be Still be the Unknowable Space.

[Leo Gura]

10 hours ago, Barna said:

Besides the 5-Meo, have you found an other way to access the Infinite?

Yes, hundreds of hours of mindfulness meditation does the trick.

So does self-inquiry.

[Naviy]

3 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Yes, hundreds of hours of mindfulness meditation does the trick.

So does self-inquiry.

@Leo Gura , Do you mean here mindfulness meditation from your Mindfulness Meditation video - noticing and keeping attention on objects in awareness? Or no-manipulation kind of meditations?

[Leo Gura]

@Naviy As explained in that video. Basically noting and labeling experience.

[Barna]

5 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Yes, hundreds of hours of mindfulness meditation does the trick.

So does self-inquiry.

@Leo Gura if you can access the infinite with these methods, does it mean that you are enlightened? 

[oysterman]

5 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Yes, hundreds of hours of mindfulness meditation does the trick.

Can this method be effective (reasonably quickly) when practised in daily 1 hour sessions?

Or is it only properly effective with the week long mindfulness retreats you told me about in my thread?

[Bob84]

In a sense its all about attention. You are always aware. You are never not aware. Your attention just goes to your mind, and you are addicted to your mind, its a addiction stronger then heroin.
When you are in the "awareness" state, simply do nothing. You will eventually start looking to the mind again since it tricks you. However, the more you do it, the more you in a sense become aware of its tricks (take this with a grain of salt, as language doesn't allow for a accurate explanation).
 

[Leo Gura]

10 hours ago, Barna said:

@Leo Gura if you can access the infinite with these methods, does it mean that you are enlightened? 

The infinite is always here. There's no method to "access it".

If you're aware of this, you're enlightened.

Strictly-speaking, there is no method for enlightenment. Enlightenment is beyond all methods. There's nothing you can do to reach it because it's already here, right now.

10 hours ago, oysterman said:

Can this method be effective (reasonably quickly) when practised in daily 1 hour sessions?

Or is it only properly effective with the week long mindfulness retreats you told me about in my thread?

It is effective, but if you want to get enlightened, 1 hour per day is generally not nearly enough. You should be doing week-long retreats.

You're not serious about this work unless you've spent at least 100 hours straight doing nothing but meditating, eating, and sleeping.

You should be doing at least 1 or 2 week-long retreats per year.

The daily 1-hour of meditation is basically maintenance work. Although it's still WAY better than having no practice at all.

[Flicker_boy]

@Naviy and note FAST. you need to be able to 'know' 10-15 sensations/second.
also, it doens't matter if you know what the sensations are, but you need to know what they ARE (kkkk im dead serious)

drop to the level of bare sensations and invetigate their unsatisfactoriness, selflessness and impermanence, mind-moment to mind-moment

[cetus]

@Barna  How do you (As awareness) know that you are self aware?   The universe created a way to perceive itself. That's you.

[Barna]

@cetus56 Thank you for your comment. It's a nice belief. I am more interested in how to experience this.

Thank you for the help to all of you. Meanwhile I found a guided meditation which answered my original question:

 

@Leo Gura Thank you for your new video, I really liked this one.

[Vercingetorix]

@Flicker_boy 10-15 per second? why?