robdl

hey @cetus56, that image of the metal gate you've posted in the past, where did you get that from? That exact image has come up in meditation before.

Indeed. The false “I” and accumulated experience/psychological time are a single, unitary movement. Any distinction made between them is made by ego/thought.

Communication on here is impossible without some common ground on words. If I use seeker to mean false self and you use seeker to mean unconditioned awareness, we’re going to confuse each other’s intent and other people reading will be confused.

I use "I"/"seeker" in the sense of ego, the false sense of self. So I'm saying that the Observer (this false sense of self) is the Observed (memory, knowledge, experience). "I" (the illusory I) is accumulated memory, knowledge, experience.

Time = thoughts = thinker. All one unitary movement. The perpetuation of time is a stumbling block because it is a perpetuation of the so-called "thinker."

The "I"/"seeker" --- made out of accumulated experience, memory, knowledge (the past) and volition, desire, ambition, striving (projected future, based on the past) --- not only depends upon time (recollected past, projected future) but IS time.

The seeker loves the prospect of time, because time perpetuates the seeker. And thought-self/the seeker, after all, is only interested in seeking security/permanence in its own movement. Dissolve time, and you dissolve the seeker. Or more precisely, when whole, undivided observation dissolves the movement-momentum of time-thought, so too is dissolved the movement of seeker, concurrently.

Indeed. The prospect of time (psychological time/time-thought) is the "seeker." Time-thought nourishes the operation of the "seeker" and the "seeker" nourishes the operation of time-thought, but it's all a unitary movement of thought-self. Seeker and time-thought are one. When you say hinder the seeker, you're pointing to the reinforcement/validation of the seeker/I/ego.

The common thread to your examples is the act of wanting/chasing/escaping to/searching for/looking for/seeking refuge in. All acts of movement away from what-is. This is the inherent nature of ego mind and how it self-sustains. Thought-self (ego) is constantly seeking security in its own movement through this seeking-escaping action. No seeking-escaping, no ego

See how thought habitually moves away from what-is, to the past (regrets, mistakes)? Isn't the mind always either moving away to the past or projecting ahead into the future? The ego/mind loves regret because the mind therefore gets to compulsively invoke memory/the past, which sustains the movement of ego/thought-self. Ego mind feeds on memory/the past. Ego mind feeds on resistance (condemnation of mistakes/self-judgment). As resistance too is a movement/escape away from what-is. The mind is always denying what-is/the now, and will use resistance/memory/regret to do so.

@SoonHei the issue of sharing with others can often be a problem-distraction kicked up by mind — just be mindful of that factor.

The ego is cunning. It will use even the seeking-will-effort you mentioned to sustain/perpetuate its own movement-survival; to perpetuate the "striver-seeker." The ego mind "thinks" that it can set out to kill thought, but sneakily ego's sole interest is to perpetuate it. Gurus are well-aware of this cunning nature of ego-mind, and therefore don't intend to nourish it by feeding the "seeker-striver."

Thought-self is a fire that wants fuel added to it (active, directed/willed, conditioned, choiceful attention - which propagates its movement). Passive, whole, choiceless awareness is like offering fire some water. We can see how thought-self is biased in the quality of awareness it depends upon. When faced with the latter, thought-self will invoke time-abstraction-fear-confusion-distraction — self-perpetuation.

Thought is unable-unwilling to hear-understand the fact that thought is in the way and there’s nothing for thought-self to do. Thought isn’t having any of this empty, unconditioned awareness business. Thought needs to remain self-reactive, self-perpetuating, self-referencing, as its inherent nature to seek security in its own movement.

Paramount

Or as you put it, thought fornicating with itself to keep itself alive haha.

Even when sitting alone, we can see the movement of all these projected images of others — thinking of others. Thought will use these false relationship-images to nourish itself/fragmentation/division even when alone with nobody around.

Thought-self projecting onto others being in more concrete terms: memory/impressions/fear invoking another fragment of memory/impressions/fear, all within the same movement of thought-self.

Lol I don’t blame you somewhat. I’m conveying it in the most direct, precise way I can, based on how it’s been directly expressed/insighted. @Faceless would probably say the same thing.

This is immensely significant. And goes back to your point about learning through relationship, and seeing the fact of thought-self feeding itself through projection onto others.

Awesome - you nailed it.

Indeed. One fragment of dead images, as self-image, invoking-projecting another fragment of dead images. A false division-relationship between one fragment and another.

No argument here

Yeah, psychological freedom meaning to not try to understand fear from the vantage point of self (which is fear itself), but holistic understanding of it, which comes from unconditioned observation, free of the driving influence of memory-experience-knowledge, which is what constitutes the “me.”

Exactly. To not seek-escape but to bring passive awareness to the entire nature of this quality of thinking.