Does asking who am I really work?

[Hotaka]

It seems asking the question who am I is simply using the mind to discover more mind. It is like an endless cycle. You ask who am I and then look to the source of that statement and find the mind. Then you look to the source of who is looking and find the mind. It's just an endless cycle of mind seeking mind. Who am I? My mind. Oh but I am not my mind. Okay try again what am I really if I am not my mind (mind asking this)? I am my mind. So then you can conclude that either you are nothing or you are your mind.

[James123]

@Hotaka Separate your body parts from each other, you wont be able to recognize yourself. You are not in the brain or body. You are the consciousness itself that seeing from the eyes. Consciousness (you) is nothing and everything, whatever you are seeing (your mom, body, chair tv) in the moment is you and you are creating it in the moment. You creating yourself. It is you. You are looking at yourself all the time . Lol

Edited May 4, 2020 by James123

[RevoCulture]

@Hotaka

The mind is a piece of hardware that has the ability to interpret signals.  We know how it is used within the biological system to establish a functioning system.  What we are less familiar with is its role in interpreting functions that are outside of this system. 

Mind, body, spirit.  The idea that humanity is tiered or layered in nature, not singular.  We are a composite entity.  The mind does appear to be in the middle and has access and the capability to work with the full spectrum. 

What I am moving towards is the mind does have the ability to serve, open doors, paint pictures, process & analyze. 

If you were placed in a box at birth and never had access to the world what you end up knowing of it?  Not much.  You put 10 billion people in boxes and you might come up with a couple who have the capacity to gain knowledge.  The statistics are not in your favor.  Instead say you get out of the box and you start to explore, see the landscape.  The you start reading books from great thinkers.  Having conversations.  The more you put into your brain the more material it has to establish truth.  This is not a guaranteed success but it greatly improves your odds.  If you continue to drink in mass amounts of high value esoteric thought and compounding hours in contemplation and meditation you will continue to shed layers.  No shortcuts available.  But the mind can assist in transcending its own nature.  What we think of as irony is actuality within the framework we call reality. 

The nature of duality that rules our material existence is a double edged sword.  It creates the framework for this and that which allows us to inhabit 3 dimensional form but it skews our ability to conceive the underlying fabric.  The journey to developing this faculty takes time and effort.  Keep pushing, keep studying.  It takes a warrior spirit to walk the path.  You have to walk through fire.  You have to get chewed up and spit out. 

Your mind can assist you... or it can enslave you...

Journey strong!

 

Edited May 4, 2020 by RevoCulture

[universe]

Instead of asking "Who am I?" ask "Am I the mind?" "Am I the perceptual field?" and so on.

Basically whatever "The Mind" tells you you are when you ask that question. Go Sherlock Holmes on that.

"So you say I am the thought. Ok. Is that really the case? Which thought exactly?"

After you are asking, check how you are feeling on whatever comes back.

[Leo Gura]

It doesn't work without crazy concentration which alters your state of consciousness.

The key is the crazy concentration, not the question. Without concentration the question is worthless.

[Hello from Russia]

@Leo Gura Do semantics matter at all here? Or it is only about the state of consciousness? I've been practicing a bit of self-inquiry lately and it seems to me that words are pretty much useless and it's all about directing the consciousness somewhere (But it's hard to know where)

Would you recommend just ditching the words (To not distract yourself) and just focus on cognizing more subtle and subtle stuff? Could it lead you to awakening? Or after a certain state you need to do some observation and ask some questions such as "What is", "Who am I" etc? Or just staying in the formless will do the trick?

This stuff is so tricky. I"ve been able to train myself at concentration pretty well lately and I am able to access different pretty high states (That are described by your recommended #1 book on meditation in booklist), but I am very confused on what to do next with this hyperawareness

 

Edited May 4, 2020 by Hello from Russia

[Rilles]

8 hours ago, Hotaka said:

It seems asking the question who am I is simply using the mind to discover more mind. It is like an endless cycle. You ask who am I and then look to the source of that statement and find the mind. Then you look to the source of who is looking and find the mind. It's just an endless cycle of mind seeking mind. Who am I? My mind. Oh but I am not my mind. Okay try again what am I really if I am not my mind (mind asking this)? I am my mind. So then you can conclude that either you are nothing or you are your mind.

What happens when you stop thinking? Do you dissappear? 

[mandyjw]

When you're in awe of the beauty of a sunset or something you are that. Mind is the commentary, "look there's pink and orange", "maybe I should take a picture", "wow I've never seen a sunset like that", "a bug is biting me, goddamn it, I want to enjoy the sunset" etc. Just practice dissolving into the moment, by finding things that help shut off the mind, running long distance, meditation, shamanic breathing, whatever and put you into that full blown appreciation mode. After you've gotten good at that, you can invite the mind back in to the party, or it'll crash the party anyway, then you can ask it what you are. You usually have to get it love drunk first before it tells you anything honest. 

[Preetom]

No it doesn't if you have such shallow understanding and way of thinking about self inquiry 

[Nahm]

@Hotaka

“My mind” Is a thought. 

[Hotaka]

Thanks guys for all the wonderful suggestions and insights, I will look back over them and try to apply them all in my experience. Wonderful.

But gotta say Leo you hit the nail on the head with concentration.

Edited May 9, 2020 by Hotaka