Guru Fat Bastard

The Love of God (i.e.Grace) can and does show "Joe", that he doesn't exist , and that "I, (God alone), Am" the sole reality". "Joe" is an imagination,thinking he is an individual person, capable of becoming something beyond himself. 'Joe' doesn't know he doesn't exist,and thoroughly believes,(and persists) in the imagination/dreaming of himself as being real. "Joe" revolves around in his own, compartmentalized little world of delusion,thinking he is the creator,the doer,and the chooser of his own will. If 'Joe" wakes up one day to the suffering he is causing himself, through his own self-deluded desires,choices and actions,he will seek another way, beyond his current "self." But "Joe's" idea of becoming something "better" or "other than" himself,still involves himself. "Joe", will still be Joe's idea (i.e.,imagination) of himself. "Joe" just becomes (to himself) a "more improved" ,yet again, imagined, version of himself. "Joe" can never get out of "Joe" because "Joe" will always be looking for what he thinks is good for himself. "Joe", doesn't know he isn't this person called "Joe". If Grace or the Love of God "shows up","Joe" will be shown to have always been an imagination. A dream,that never truly existed. The dissolution of 'Joe", is the "new beginning" or "re-birth", to what has always been.To ones "original face" in Zen. Or, as Jesus said: "Even before Abraham.."I Am"

Go here , (excellent PDF by Sri Sadhu Om), and read what self inquiry is really meant to be in accordance with Ramana's teaching. It does away with many mis-conceptions regarding self inquiry and it's practice. Real self inquiry is Self-Attention,which means keeping the attention on the already inherent,unlearned,natural knowledge/knowing "I AM". It's to Be aware of Being i.e.,Be aware of your own primordial existence (amness). Minus objective thoughts (i.e.,mind), body,breath and the 5 senses(tasting,feeling,smelling,hearing,seeing). The already abiding knowledge "I AM" ,that is prior to any words,thoughts or feeling.The silent,empty background of awareness. This silent, thoughtless "I Am", is pure consciousness,Pure Being,devoid of objectness or self- individual identification. Attending to this "awareness of pure existence" is what Nisargdatta Maharaj referred to as "abiding in the knowledge/knowing (i.e.,the awareness) "I Am" , to the exclusion of all else. This is proper self inquiry or Self-attention. Who or What am I?,is a question to bring one directly to the 'emptiness" of "self" or the "small I-ego" also known as the "I-thought". Abiding in that "emptiness" of "no individual self" or "I"-thought, is an effortless relaxing of attention,and a resting (i.e.,abiding),in Pure Being. "Emptiness" or "empty" means,free of the conditioned attachment to a conflicting, dualistic and presupposed concept of a non-existent, personal identity (ego). The link above should clear up a lot of questions regarding Ramana's self inquiry. The guide also clears up the differences in his more direct teaching vs. Vedantic self inquiry. Both approaches are valid,but Raman's is more direct in avoiding a lot of the "neti,neti(not this,not this)" process involved in traditional Vedantic inquiry. Note that for self inquiry, or any contemplative technique or exercise,a quiet-silent mind is conducive and the majority opinion of those experienced with such. An agitated,busy mind is highly counterproductive to self inquiry. This is where meditation and/or pranayama as a means to quiet the inner workings/activity of the mind are invaluable. The gate-less gate to God, is in our own inner silence and stillness.

A reference on the Buddha's ascetic practices http://www.buddhanet.net/bud_lt05.htm

The Buddha already tried self mortification through extreme ascetic disciplines to no avail. The problem is, what is not 'you" is believing itself to be a physical (body-mind) "thing" as an identity. This "me" or "I" body-mind that "I" thought, or assumed as being myself,may not be what I am. So, if I'm not body,mind,thought,belief or identity, what am I? Thus,the inward search or seeking for the truth begins. Have the humility to know,that you alone,of your own volition,cannot awaken to truth. How can you awaken to what you don't yet know? Any pre-concieved beliefs or ideas (yours or others), of what "I am" or truth is, will unnecessarily hinder it's possibility of happening. Not knowing, opens the door for the possibility of it revealing itself. This "Grace" is a very real "thing",and not some lofty religious concept. Grace is the movement of the divine's Love in the revealing of itself, and not something "you" do of your own volition. Humility is vulnerability,and that vulnerability allows space for that movement to happen. Ego thinks it has something to do with all or any of this,when it has no control whatsoever. It also assumes it awakens. Ego doesn't die or awaken. It's transcended and shown to be a false illusion that never was.

Do you have any practices going? You've given up outer attachments,but truth is found nowhere else but within.

Feeling normal is the desired effect one wants. It's helping to manage a neurotransmitter imbalance that was out of balance. Feeling like you don't need them anymore is the result of feeling normal,and going off of them,especially "cold turkey" is a bad idea. I would seek legit advice from the physician or prescriber before going off of them. You will need to taper off of them over at least few weeks. The likelihood of returning symptoms, for which you were prescribed the medication are most likely to return without other means of management. The med manages the symptoms, but isn't a cure. They work only while you take them. So don't rush into the decision of quitting on your own, And do not listen to "armchair experts" about what is good or bad for you. They likely need a little help themselves.

Have you ever experienced anything outside or other than yourself?

A lot of truth in this one. Enjoy

Future is a projection of the past in thought-time. Time is thought,thought is time. So any thought of past or future,which is time,is a superimposed, imaginary boundary and/or limit, on the timeless "isness" or being of what always is, and always has been,the case. So any movement of thought towards what is not, is away from the truth of the always and abiding timeless presence of "what is" being in and of it's own emptiness or no-thingness. Moving away from this emptiness of no-self or selfless Self, one enters the mental construct of "me",time,past, and future. All of which, is "what is not". What they call the illusion of Maya,what is 'not real" or not reality.

@winterknight ?? To that which has awakened, it awakens to the always and already, inherent divine love of it'Self. It's this always and already inherent divine love, that allows everything to be "as it is". It's why "everything, as it is" or "This"(the only 'this" that is), as it is, is perfect 'as it is". The "I am that I am",the "everything and nothing" the indescribable whole, is already perfect. Love shines in, and as, this wholeness. No one , has a personal claim to it as something "I' have known, "I" have awakened to or achieved, over another. It's what is and has always been so. And is readily available to all. See "what is not",and" what is" shines , as always having been the case. And who's the one to say or presume as to who,or who hasn't, awakened to what "I" have. It is pure assumption based on a duality of "me" and 'them" of which there is no such thing.

The three are one.The inherent bliss (peace), of pure consciousness-being, is the absence of an illusory separation and/or the mistaken sense of being a temporary,separate,finite individual. The individual "I" or "me", is only an idea, giving the false impression of being real. The individual looking for bliss is the cause of the absence of bliss. The individual,taking itself to be a thing (a person,a body), will only find bliss in another thing, or object. It looks to maintain it's sense of "realness" by seeking and obtaining the object while still keeping its sense of being an individual self.. Being consciousness bliss, is the one,unchanging reality,absent of an illusory,separate self seeking it as an object. Being consciousness bliss is, what is,when the sense of false,illusory self, falls away. But nothing really "falls away",as it was never real,or existed in the first place.

Think for yourself, question authority. Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening Terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in This ocean of chaos. It has been the authorities, the political, the Religious, the educational authorities who attempted to comfort us by Giving us order, rules, regulations, informing, forming in our minds their View of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and Learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable, open-mindedness; Chaotic, confused, vulnerability to inform yourself Think for yourself. Question authority. Timothy Leary

Thoughts,sensations,perceptions are subjective experiences to a subjective,believed idea and/or conception called "me". In reality, there is no "me" to be the subject of experience. There's only "what is", not happening to... no one.

A few expanded questions to help add variety and keep inquiry fresh. Asking the same two or three inquiry questions all the time can make the "practice" somewhat redundant after a while. Pick one or two that seem to resonate,and play with just those one or two for some time before attempting more. The idea is not to memorize a whole bunch of inquiries, but to pick the one or two that resonates (brings you to the placeless, place of empty aware Being) Borrowed from here https://endless-satsang.com/the-practice-and-purpose-of-self-inquiry.htm if you want to check it out. • Who am I? What am I? Where am I? When am I? If I am are more than that, then who or what am I? Who or what am I right now, in this moment? If I am more than that, who or what am I? Keep repeating. • Who or what is experiencing that thought, feeling, sensation, spaciousness etc.? Who or what is experiencing that feeling? Who or what is experiencing that sensation? Who or what is seeing? Who or what is hearing? Who or what is noticing that? • Who or what is this I? (If the answer is “I” am experiencing the sensation). • What am I aware of right now? You may answer with an “I” statement, stating something you are aware of: “I’m aware of x. I’m aware of y.” Who or what is the “I” that is aware? (pause) Is there an I that is aware? • Experiment with replacing “I” with “Awareness" in your answers as described here. Example: “Awareness is hearing the bird singing.” “Awareness is noticing the plant.” “Awareness is sitting in the chair.” • Notice what is noticing (What is aware? What is experiencing?). What is that? What is that like? • Are you aware right now? What’s that like? • Who or what is aware? Can you find what is aware? Where is it located? Who or what is experiencing Awareness? (Answer: me, your name) Where is (your name)? Is Awareness in you or are you in Awareness? Can you find yourself in Awareness? • Can you find a boundary between you and Awareness? Where does (your name) leave off and Awareness begin? • What is the source of Awareness? To discover the source of Awareness: Notice the plant or something else in your environment. Now notice where you noticed that from. Where do you notice the source of noticing from? Then where did you notice that noticing from? • What else is here right now besides a thought, feeling, sensation, space, etc.? What is prior to that? • What is speaking these words in this moment? • What is listening? What is seeing? What is sensing, What is thinking? • What knows that? • What else are you experiencing now? • Where’s the boundary between x and y? For example, between a thought and the space it’s occurring in, or between words and the space they’re appearing in, or between the sense of yourself and the Silence?

Silence (deep inner silence), and object-less awareness are one and the same. So, sitting in inner silence is synonymous with sitting, or being in your own true nature of pure awareness. Set your body aside. Sit in your own awareness. You will at once be happy, Forever still, Forever free. Ashtavakra Gita (1.4)

The illusion of ‘I’ is that you think you are ‘I’ while you are only ‘am’; and that ‘am’ is the first person singular of the verb ‘to be’. Since, for ‘to be’ you don’t need to say ‘I’, but for to say ‘I’ you need ‘to be’, thus you are prior to ‘I’ as ‘am’, and that ‘am’ is ‘to be’; therefore, to that note, on the ocean of ‘am’ alone, ‘I’ is only a wave.” Sw. Chidananda Tirtha

"The third thing about witnessing, the most important part and the thing that most people don't seem to understand. is that you have to take it further than just one step back. You have to keep going with it. Its not a passive thing. like you just sit back and observe. You don't just observe your character, you deconstruct it. You have to be aggressive about it. This is a way or simulating the enlightened perspective, which would be useful to anyone who wants to wake themselves up from the dreamstate instead of just in it.” ― Jed McKenna, Spiritual Warfare I can't say I'm wholly familiar with autolosys other than it being a process of challenging what "I" believe to be true". And you are right about it not being what is commonly referred to as self inquiry. I stated it as "self inquiry" in the sense of it being a process of "self investigation",so thanks for helping me clarify that.

Yeah he dismisses it,but if he hadn't spent a significant amount of his own time (years), exploring at least a few of those systems,he would not have the depth of knowledge,nor the personal experience with which he uses to dismiss them. This is the funny thing about the anti-spiritual,anti-practice non-guru, guru's. They all did their time on the spiritual path. They were all seeker's themselves at one time, just as much as the next guy, and also did all the things seekers do. Find a teacher (if possible, but also not necessary),do the work or practices,read or listen to the wisdom of those who know and have attained the Truth (then contemplate what was said to gain clarity), and be unerringly devoted to finding the Truth for oneself. Out of all these, doing the work, and, being unerringly devoted to finding the Truth for one's self , are the most important. No one, and that only means absolutely no one, can give it to you. At a certain point along the path,Jed no doubt got fed up with all the ritualistic,unnecessary dogma surrounding the spiritual path, and decided to make his own way. His "way" ,spiritual autolysis and being the witnessing, is nothing but self inquiry and, well, witnessing (separately observing ones own thoughts and actions), Both of which are ancient,time tested spirituality based methods or practices. Using these, he discovered the Truth and thats's what he suggests others do. Which is what I stated above.That whatever got them to the Truth, or rather, what seemingly got them to the Truth, is what they will teach or suggest others to do. To understand what is meant by seemingly,you'll have to discover the Truth for yourself. What is not obvious now,is absolutely obvious in the end.

They all have their way of getting to the goal, which is the way they got to it themselves. This will naturally lead to having differing opinions on the best way to reach that goal. But regardless of the differing opinions,the goal always remains the same. A jnani yogi will say his way is the best,a kriya yogi will say his is the best, a Buddhist will say his way is the way. A true seeker will be open to all ways if he's serious. It's Truth at all costs,whatever it takes. The best "practice" is to separate the bullshit from what works,and use what works. Everybody's headed for the grave and time doesn't give a rats ass about one's little existential search for truth,lol. So if realizing Truth is on the "bucket list", better get on that shit before it's too late. If you want some more anti-guru, anti-sprituality enlightenment check out UG Krishnamurti. His rants can get pretty brutal,and funny,but when he get's down to brass tax about the truth of the non-dual reality he's got some wisdom to share.

Jed's cool. He's well aware many people just adopt a spiritual persona and aren't really interested in Truth. So,he does away with all the crap that usually draws those people. Certainly nothing wrong with true, divine Love,Bliss,Peace etc., but acting or faking a delusional,egoic, bastardized version of the true, for the sake of indulging in a bullshit personal identity is nothing short of cringgusting.. (cringy+disgusting) .

What do you think about, when you're not thinking?

@Mikael89