The sense of being an I feels real – yet it is only a misunderstanding. This article shows, through direct exercises, how experience unfolds without an experiencer.
First Fetter
What happens after seeing there is no self?
What remains when it’s clearly seen: there never was a self? A deeply quiet phase begins – not as a search, but as integration. A personal glimpse into this unfolding.
Unique Experience – Without a Self?
You alone see what you see. You alone feel what you feel. But does that mean there’s someone at the center? This article explores what happens when experience unfolds without a self.
Where does the sense of self arise?
If the sense of self is still there, but cannot be localized when you look for it, you have already come a long way.
Now it’s a matter of looking again and again to see where the sense of self arises.
Is there a moment when you notice that no self can be found?
Focus your attention on the sense of self. Where does it appear to be perceived?
The self is the object of inquiry, and you are looking at it directly. Is there really a self to be found there?
- Can you perceive a self right now?
- If so, where can you find it?
Focus your attention on the self.
If the search is frustrating because you can’t find anything, you know you’re really looking.
There is no self, I do not exist!
Continuation of What is the self?
What happens in the shift?
To see through the self illusion we go into direct experience. Here we separate the sensual experience from mental interpretations.
In direct experience there is no self (and no other illusions or assumptions).
In seeing through the self illusion, the following happens: The no self that we experience in direct experience becomes our everyday experience. It is then no longer necessary to go into direct experience. The ego-lessness is then always experienceable. Omnipresent. Whereas, of course, in this way there is neither self nor egolessness.
So if we have to go into direct experience to experience selflessness (no self), the shift has not yet occurred.
Experiencing this shift is important, because otherwise the self illusion is not seen through and we cannot loosen the next fetters. We no longer investigate the next fetters in direct experience, but in our then everyday experience – without the self filter.
So if you notice that you are not getting anywhere in the next fetters, it may be because the self illusion has not been fully seen through.
What can you do? Just keep looking. Do all the exercises for recognizing the self illusion again and again and check: There is no self – is that true?
Seeing through the self illusion
Seeing through the self illusion: This blog is about spiritual awakening using the concept of the 10 fetters as described by Buddha. The first step is to see through the self illusion – the streamentry.
Self-illusion inquiry
How is the self illusion studied?
Seeing through the self illusion is not only an experience in meditation but also in everyday life.
In the inquiry of the self illusion you don’t go “inward”. You search for the self in direct experience. With the five senses.
It is important to relate to direct experience. Not to thoughts, meditative insights, conclusions or assumptions. You want to see the truth directly!