ardacigin

Nurturing the No 'I' Awareness with Eyes Open & Eyes Closed

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In this spiritual journey, you'll have to develop a 'no self' or 'no-I' palate for integrating spirituality in daily life.

In simpler terms, this is the first time you can consciously reduce the sense of I, separation and craving levels to a noticeable degree where your state of consciousness changes.

Once you feel the inklings of this transformation in your formal sessions (or daily life), I encourage you to go after it and replicate this insight experience over and over again. This is not the time to distract yourself with entertainment.

Re-create the same circumstances - causes and conditions - which enabled you to reduce the sense of I looking at the world.

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How to Nurture This No-I Awareness:

To reduce the shortcomings of open eyes and effectively practice, do the following: 

1- Visual field strongly increases the illusion of duality and separateness. A self looking at the world. In daily life, whenever you are interacting with anything, looking at anything, allow the no-I perception to show its colors through reminding yourself the insight. You'll instantly recognize the same perception rearing its head by reducing craving, self perception and overall ease pervading your conscious experience. That is how you know you are doing it right.

You'll also experience puny self-centered thoughts (planning, worrying etc) losing a lot of their pull over you. Do this each moment in daily life.

Warning: This will feel quite disorienting. You might find it very challenging to walk straight or speak with people. This is the initial shock. It will get easier as the insight matures. Don't be too hard on yourself. Keep your energy levels high. Smile often to create a sense of ease. Then continue to maintain this no-I awareness each time you look at the world.

This form of nurturing as a practice is absolutely essential for spiritual development. 

To reduce the shortcomings of closed eyes and effectively practice, do the following: 

2- Make sure your body doesnt feel like a burden. Since closed eyes facilitate greater awareness of body sensations, thoughts and emotions, it is important to have enough equanimity, joy and tranquility to reduce the illusion of a self.

Otherwise, closing your eyes and meditating will be more challenging than open-eye meditation. You need to nurture this awareness of no-I in both ways to experience insights. If you feel like there is not enough lubricating elements of samatha, then it is time to do more samatha prior to this insight process with closed eyes.

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Once you do this practice, slowly integrate your favorite hobbies and activities with open eyes.

Be patient and do this every morning.

I hope I don't have to say that you need to start your day with a strong formal session to enhance this awareness for the rest of the day :)

If dullness or drowsiness sets in throughout the day, open your eyes and continue maintaining no-I awareness the best you can. If you are extremely fatigued, then take a nap and continue the practice. No need to force the mind to energize itself if it is too sleep-deprived.

Much love,

 

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@ardacigin  Just be careful with this type of thing, it kind of reminds me of some kind of spiritual brainwashing.

Non-dual awareness isn't about metaphorically smashing everything together into some kind of non-dual soup reality.

It's a simple recognition that this needy "I" character within the body that feels separate and lacking, is an illusion of self.

No real separate individual = no real separation!

❤ 


“Everything is honoured, but nothing matters.” — Eckhart Tolle.

"I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door. It opens. I've been knocking from the inside." -- Rumi

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