The no self

[ThatMan]

Originally Posted by pixiedust

Sounds awesome thanks for sharing

I don't know how this happens, can't really explain it but it keeps on happening, today it happened again and I observed even more. I find it a bit difficult to move from trying to find who or what I am.

[Still_Waters]

QUOTE 10 EXCERPT:

Originally Posted by ThatMan

... it's a completely different thing to be it even though we are it but consciously we are not aware of this.
Like you I too had NDE like experiences when I was really sick and religion does not even come close to what is really beyond the veil of mind.

I was just talking to my teacher's successor and she told me something that I had not heard before. My teacher had privately said that NDEs, like yours and mine, are generally involved in sudden unexpected awakenings. It is also said that various traumas can also lead to unexpected awakenings.

I recently listrned to a talk by Steve Taylor on "Unexpected Awakenings" in which he spoke about documented NDEs and traumatic events leading to unexpected awakenings. Here's a link to his website with stories similar to ours.

https://www.stevenmtaylor.com/

As you pointed out, "religion does not even come close to what is really beyond the veil of mind".

I'm glad that you are sharing on this site.

P.S. Today, I am getting together with a college fellow who's a lifeguard at Coney Island. We met "by chance" ( ) on the street and we talked about experiences that he could not explain --- not NDEs but nonetheless mind-boggling. We will delve into that today as he is intensely committed to understanding the Reality.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by ThatMan

I don't know how this happens, can't really explain it but it keeps on happening, today it happened again and I observed even more. I find it a bit difficult to move from trying to find who or what I am.

I think at some stage we connect with something that we understand is the real nature of ourselves, like the indestructible outpouring which is not, but even so, we don't know what we are and it's meta-abstract something like I am not the not. It's unexpected and sudden like a noticing, and we can't find it because it's behind us. Once contact you know it's there, but there's a deepening process or something, and purification in the lifeform still has to unwind. Not that I have the cool spiritual experiences you are having, so nothing in comparison, and it's really interesting to hear your journey.

[pixiedust]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

P.S. I love your posts as well and read them with great interest.

Thanks but I don't really have much to offer, you are always very polite and sweet though. I've often enjoyed your yarns and experiences. It is good to have people with that vantage on this forum so thanks for being thus.

[pixiedust]

Originally Posted by ThatMan

I don't know how this happens, can't really explain it but it keeps on happening, today it happened again and I observed even more. I find it a bit difficult to move from trying to find who or what I am.

I wonder if it's possible to learn more and more from this deepening. I presume this is what's happening. It's very good/interesting. How does memory operate though in this context? In the context of no-self, and operating in this world, how does memory operate I wonder i.e. do you need it.

[ThatMan]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

I was just talking to my teacher's successor and she told me something that I had not heard before. My teacher had privately said that NDEs, like yours and mine, are generally involved in sudden unexpected awakenings.

From my own perspectives, all of these inner realizations have been totally unexpected and sudden, like from nowhere and having little to no idea of the background of this. I've read thing but they made no sense to me for I lacked the inner realization. I actually had to search a lot to see if my experiences are actually common and they are.

It's the truth about religion, at least from our perspectives while looking from that higher perspective, that was a very profound revelation to me that I got from my experiences.

You are really lucky, there's no one to whom I can relate with this, I actually feel odd trying to tell the day to day people about this, it's like am totally out of the flow of the normal day to day life. I hope you really had some amazing and quality time!!

[ThatMan]

Originally Posted by Gem

Excerpt: I think at some stage we connect with something that we understand is the real nature of ourselves, like the indestructible outpouring which is not...... but there's a deepening process or something, and purification in the lifeform still has to unwind.

That is really straight to the core of my experience, you nailed it. It's true about the deepening process for I noticed that every new experience brings more clarity into the experience of no self, it makes it more tangible, like it is slowly unwinding and expanding and changing the sense of self that I perceive into the no self. From I am this, this is my memory, my identity, my way of being, the way my body reacts on its own, the subconscious, the conscious, the me, the self, to pure presence.

I hope my experiences serve as inspiration for all of those out there!!

[Still_Waters]

QUOTE 16 EXCERPT:

Originally Posted by ThatMan

From my own perspectives, all of these inner realizations have been totally unexpected and sudden, like from nowhere and having little to no idea of the background of this.

You are really lucky, there's no one to whom I can relate with this, I actually feel odd trying to tell the day to day people about this, it's like am totally out of the flow of the normal day to day life. I hope you really had some amazing and quality time!!

Your post brought back memories of my own mind-boggling, life-transforming NDE since, like yourself, "these inner realizations have been totally unexpected and sudden, like from nowhere and having little to no idea of the background of this". Since I had been raised Roman Catholic, there was nothing that I had heard at church or in Catholic school or among my Catholic friends that could explain what was happening. Also like yourself, I could not discuss this with day-to-day people in my inner circle. However, none could deny that something extraordinary had happened since there was a "miraculous" spontaneous healing (symptom-free despite a 3-day "irreversible" coma) as well as verifiable remote viewing beyond the five senses. In addition, it should be noted that my NDE was over 50 years ago and NDEs were NOT a topic of conversation at that time so there was very little available literature on that subject.

The experience turned me eastward into yoga/meditation as I searched for answers and explanations.

Shortly after my NDE, I was very "lucky" to meet a "homeless" black man in NYC who actually turned out to be what I call a "hidden master". I will share that story with you at some point if you are interested. He didn't reveal himself for about two years but, when he did, the remaining years of our 9-year mysterious connection were awesome. He would just appear spontaneously at various times and our meetings were unforgettable. He was telepathic and I didn't have to tell him what was on my mind when we met; he KNEW without words. Therefore, I didn't have to give him background info so we just proceeded right to the core of whatever I was contemplating. After 9 years, he told me that I wouldn't be seeing him any more as "my work with you is done" and "another teacher will come to take my place". I could not let him go so I followed him closely as he left me for the last time. I hoped that he would change his mind. As he turned the corner, I was right behind him ... yet, as I turned the corner immediately after him, there was no one there.

Since then, I have met many extraordinary beings, including the teacher whom the "homeless" black sage had foretold and with whom I practiced for over 30 years. It's awesome to connect with people who fully understand ... through direct experience and not just intellectual theorizing ... what was actually happening with me.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I met my new college friend on the boardwalk yesterday and we walked/talked for hours about his "unexpected, sudden" experiences. Like ourselves, he had some experiences and no one with whom to discuss them or make sense of them. He shared his dreams and his writings (poetry/narratives). It was truly quality time and we will get together again whenever he wants to do so --- intense, committed. Such are the people with whom it is a pleasure to connect.

[pixiedust]

Originally Posted by ThatMan

I hope my experiences serve as inspiration for all of those out there!!

They certainly do.

In Zen I think there is a saying where there is enlightenment, then there is embodiment and that manifestation of the inner ways into our physical dimensionality takes focus, perseverance, commitment and time. There in is the treasure, thanks so much for sharing what you do - it's nice to see such friends in this Universe.

[ThatMan]

Originally Posted by pixiedust

I wonder if it's possible to learn more and more from this deepening. I presume this is what's happening. It's very good/interesting. How does memory operate though in this context? In the context of no-self, and operating in this world, how does memory operate I wonder i.e. do you need it.

It is for every experience brought a more clearer picture but I still have to move beyond the attempts to figure out who or what I am. I do not even understand this, this way of being, so to say, can't be really described in words that actually convey how it really is. Being aware of being aware is only a glimpse of what it means to experience the no self..

Talking about memory, I had no memory about my identity, the world or anything else, and so I can't tell much about it and what comes next for I find it difficult to move from my attempt to figure who or what I am. The only expression I can think of is "pure presence" and this by itself for me speaks without words the whole experience of no self but I find it hard to convey it to the world.