The longest I have experienced this true presence was 10 days it’s funny what you said at the end about suffering I found during that time that I didn’t have to avoid suffering it seemed to run away from me. At the moment I’m back in anxiety and need to practice mindfulness again.
I don't know why, but it is so hard to find any speaker of buddhism, non-duality etc. really go into depth about the illusion of self. They often go off topic and bring in all these other aspects or leave it to one or two sentences. Thanks for going in-depth.
We are individualized consciousness in this world of the relativity and we need to be, otherwise we couldn`t make the choices and experiences we volunteered to come here for. Awareness assists us in understanding the larger picture.
Check the double split experiment again. I think it was misinterpreted. I just heard some physicist talking about. I haven't checked the science of it yet but I could answer it myself going on what I've been through. Hard to explain it with this faulty language of ours. Krishnamurthi was one of the many gurus who didn't know what he was talking about. Or else he couldn't explain it well. Nisargadatta was the real deal. So was Ramana maharshi. People could feel his energy and without saying a word people could sense it. That was how he was discovered@@jimblackstone9522
The best explanation I've seen so far after hearing countless pompous non-dual teachers. My favourite pointer is when you have any emotional tension, ask "what is aware of it?", and then ask how that part that is aware is feeling right now. Is it in discomfort? This both helps you find that there is no monolithic "I" being angry or sad, but just a part, and that there always is another part that is not in that state. Another is when you detect a emotionally charged thought like "that's disgusting" or "that's offesive". Ask "for whom?" where is the one inside me that is disgusted or offended. You'll see that is never "all of you", is just a part of the body-mind that contracts. For someone dealing with many emotional issues I'd suggest to look for a therapist on Internal Family Systems, that had made a therapy using this concept.
Listening to Sam Harris and Jay Garfield discuss this has really impacted me. Jay Garfield's book "Losing Ourselves.." is so spot on. All the same ideas as here just a discussion presented step by step.
I’ve been misunderstanding this whole concept and getting confused about it for so long, but I must say that the way it was explained in this video helped me to totally understand it in a much clearer way I never had, and I’m so grateful!
@@backwardthoughts1022 Have you looked up the definition of nihilism and actually read it? He is explaining that everyone has the ability to remove the illusion of self, which acts as the middle person, or middle layer, separating the body from fully experiencing the world without judgement, a narrative or mental distractions. Just being present. Fully. Very freeing.
the mind blowing thing is even death is just the physical destruction of the brain which ceases to produce awareness but the self disappears every day and when you go to sleep there are moments when the self doesn’t exist for long periods. When you wake up you are not the same self it’s like a different person wakes up, but the present you doesn’t realise because it is created based on what’s in the brain so includes memories, basically previous awareness states recorded
Fabulous Dharma talk!!!! When you spoke about us being in paradise I realized that even when I am staying in the moment (or I think I am) I am able to put away all the stuff you spoke about BUT I just realized that the reason I don't REALLY see it as Paradise is because I am wishing it would last forever and I am sad because it will will end....UMMMMMM DUH, impermanence is a thing LOL. I just never realized that I was still grasping and clinging in those moments until listening to this.
I always appreciated Alan Watts' take on this. You aren't something that is in the universe, you something that the universe is doing. You are a verb, not a noun. As an apple tree 'apples', the universe 'peoples'.
A thought experiment that proves the illusory sense of "me" is to imagine your eyeballs coming out of the skull and looking back at the body, the "me" seems to be behind the eyes looking at the body... but we know that behind the eyes is empty space.
I've come to understand the illusion of self. It answered many questions for me, but it didn't make getting up and going to a soul-crushing job every day any easier. (Heck, maybe I was stupid for thinking it would.)
What brings peace is letting go of mental activity (letting mental activity be as it is without getting involved). That won't make a bad job "enjoyable," necessarily, but it can allow you to drop suffering on demand.
U. G. Krishnamurti talks about this a lot and it's finally making sense. We are an illusion but the human body is not. The knowledge that your organism has gathered throughout life has created you, in order to better function in this world.
You said, " all there is is awareness " yes, I agree, but to realize that is to personally realize it and know it and it is this knowing that you know that gives you selfhood.
@@-Boundless- You said, " awareness " knows " that it is aware simply by being what it is- awareness itself" I agree, to be aware is to know that you are aware and to me that makes awareness to be self-awareness.
the self is an illusion to who? an illusion means something that is not what it seems to be, so if we feel self as self but is not what we think it is then the self doesn’t exist because it’s something else so then who is feeling the illusion? anyway, very interesting
Psychologist Susan Blackmore makes the point that the word ‘illusion’ does not mean that it does not exist - rather, an illusion is not what it seems. We all certainly experience some form of self, but what we experience is a powerful depiction generated by our brains for our own benefit.
@@ellie698 I = Aware Am = Being I Am = Aware Being / Awareness “I Am” is subjective language. “It Is” is objective language. Same referent. Ultimately, what is being spoken of is neither subjectivity nor objectivity. Even to say “I Am” or “It Is” is too much.
Very akin to both Buddhism and Stoicism. I believe contentment is important for mental health, though if detachment is taken to the extreme, it will lead to passivity and poor health. Sometimes it's also auspicious to pay attention!
It is true that self is a illusion but to experience that in every moment one must do practice mindfulness everyday whether u like it or not to get some degree of concentration to recognize thought as thought
Once you catch the thought as thought, you are liberated. You automatically become curious to extrapolate this direct observation. As you directly see memory's response as insult, insecurity, you begin to experience direct liberation. I am getting suddenly expert in this. Then nothing matters like frightening news, death, plans to evade something imagined.
17:00 So it's a vicious cycle, in which we mistake the ego, the alleged choice of our own self, for the solution, even though it's actually the root cause of our problem? In that analogy... When we have pain, we identify with that pain. If we identify with pain then we suffer. If we identify with anything, than we suffer, because we pick our poison. We, by nature, are happy. We are just raised not to be. We are thaught to believe ourselves to be something we're not and react with pain when we discover that those beliefs aren't true. But fail to realize that there was never actually anything in the first place. "We" are actually untouchable. That is; Unless we actively make ourselves vulnerable by installing some sort of belief into our minds and determine how we feel only through that belief and if we achieve it. Often even about *how* we achieve it. Or also by avoiding it, depending on context. Society, Friends, Family and even worse: Ourselves. ...We are pushing all possible things down on us and each other. All sorts of beliefs and opinions. "How it should be." "How we should be" and "who" we should be" Let alone who and how we should not be. We not only live in a world of lies, we ourselves, are those lies. Those Illusions of "self". Usually conglomerates of definitions. We are all just human beings. Just currently living and existing entities, only differing by what we can and can't do, what we do and do not have. We don't really have a self. We just have a body.
Tks Matt for making this message so practical. However it will still take some discipline and practice to arrive at some equilibrium on a daily basis. Lots of reconditioning. I heard you more than 2 years ago. However it is only today June 2024 I seem to get your teaching. Forever grateful 👍👏❤️
Thanks dear. Wonderful wonderful video. It completely changed my view about me. Now I know why I have so much trivial suffering, problem, uneasiness in my everyday life. Are you still working on this? You don't have any more video since 4 years ago.
Spacious Awareness. I have read many books on these topics and while the ideas resonate with me, it never really "clicked" at a visceral guttural level. I want to thank you so much for this talk and how you present these ideas with such ease, simplicity and clarity. For the very first time I actually get it and it has lifted so much weight from my psyche that I actually breathe easier because of it. This talk is amazing.
I was a student of Shinzen Young, an LA mindfulness coach, but made lots more progress once I started having mental suffering through a specific group of roommates. I actually owe them my progress!
Thanks for sharing! The best teacher is definitely the mind / body and its reactions to difficult situations and people (like your roommates). You're very wise to be grateful for those who cause you difficulty. They are gifts in disguise!
Thank you for posting this video. I was listening to Sam Harris trying to explain the illusion of the self and was struggling to understand it and your explanation has helped. I particularly enjoyed the example of the itch - I kept noticing areas on my body get itchy during your talk and had never been able to resist a quick scratch or repositioning of my body before but found the exercise of noticing and acknowledging the desire really useful. I didn’t scratch once :) As I continue to practice meditation and mindfulness I’m still looking to learn more about the illusion of the self and this video has been really encouraging Thanks again :)
While the individual, seemingly separate sensing self might not exist, this doesn't negate the possibility that the subjective experience of being aware might belong to a transcendent Self, an absolute "I" within which each human being's awareness is participating. The experience of intersubjective awareness, the sense of "we" or non-separation from another that we feel in intimate relations points to the possibility of individual awareness participating in a transcendent subjectivity within which all forms of being live and move and have their being.
Who’s to do anything? It goes by many names: the bodymind, organism, avatar, meat suit, etc. The only thing mysterious about it is why we choose to over complicate this and allow reason to go out the window when discussing it.
I came here for the same reason - I just could not grasp the concept Sam tries to illustrate about the illusion of self. I'd be lying if I said I fully understand it now, but the alternative explanation certainly helps. Maybe I'm a few reincarnations away from getting this one.
Fully agree. Theres also an unfortunate irony in that it’s almost like you have to get it first before you can really get it. So after years of Sam Harris, this seems refreshingly simple to understand 😅 Not sure i would’ve gotten it so easily at the start of my journey 🤷🏻♂️
I've never heard this being referred to as "mindfulness." Usually "mindfulness" is just thrown around as a general term of being a bit more present so you can reduce stress and reactivity. It's almost become a marketing term. What this guy is talking about is much deeper, something akin to Zen's kensho, or "first awakening" - a shift in identity on a nonconceptual level. He presents it as something that you can just make happen if you practice "mindfulness" enough, but it's not quite that easy, or there would be millions of people with this realization. People can and do work for decades to "achieve" this realization, but some people happen to have it out of the blue without any practice, or with very little, so it's really random, and from what I've heard "you" aren't in control of it, so all you can do is be open to it and let it happen essentially. Or so I hear. I've been trying to get to this place, but the various methods I've heard that can help (Headless Way, self inquiry, one-pointed approachc) have yet to bare any fruit, at least as far as I can tell. But I did like his talk, just with it was more practical with more suggestions on HOW to get there...
There’s a big difference between temporarily experiencing no self and permanently dropping the residual sense of self. Buddhism’s Ten Fetters model is my favorite path to continually lessen the delusions keeping the residual sense of self in place. The Awakening Curriculum channel has a great series on this.
The statement " I am this body " translates too " I am conscious of this body " therefore whenever we make a statement about identity we invoke consciousness and it is this self-awareness that is the self. The root cause of suffering is our experience of the body and world but if there is no self how can there be a concept of suffering!
@@phoenix-wc5vx In truth, there is no suffering in awareness ( consciousness ) the suffering is experienced via the mind and body connection but not in consciousness itself.
Your speech is so clear. It's an indication of real insights you've had through your practice. I salute you 🙏🙏 Best wishes from India (still trying to let go of the identifications!)
@@themindfulnessedge-withmat2631 Comping Gaurav here, but also to say when you where talking about flow states and musicians or athletes, "i had an immediate identification to that with drumming and darts". Could not hold on to that though, but it led to what is called kundalini rising or experience with it's infinite nuances... I wanted to say also when Buddhist says no-Self and "Brahmins" The Self, they are meaning a same thing, only perhaps from a slightly different point of view or angle to focus on. Wannabe Neuro-Scientist commonly refer to Buddhist focus of no-self, like illusions in general. But what remains is awareness and what is actively refer to as Self among the "Brahmins" and only that is, or when hypothesizing with it and to imagine if there were no awareness at all, which amount to nothing.
How you explained this broke down this wall I've had regarding this concept that was holding me back and falling into these repeated self destructive patterns. The way you conveyed it was like this key unlocking this door. I really feel it was this missing piece preventing me from really being able to break through all this suffering... this dark night of the soul I've been in the past year has led me to this moment and making the choice to watch this video. thanks for all you do! 🙏
Thank you so much for this! There was some fear and desire throughout the day but the more I question the self that is fearful desire full the illusion of me seems to be seen more and more as non existent and then there’s just this openness of being aware that’s it thank you!
That is awesome! Thanks for sharing this Liero. When the "me" isn't there, perfection is. You might want to pay attention to the natural tendency to want to replicate what was experienced. It's very natural for the ego to want that. If you can just notice that happening, allow it be there, and resume simply "being" without trying to do or get anything, I'm confident there will be more and more moments of freedom.
@@themindfulnessedge-withmat2631 hello sir I have thoughts in my mind and whatever comes it feels in the body like I am this or this will be happen with me or I am not gud than this and other like comparisons and all And then I literally feel it in my body like it is real in form of sensations as I have now understood that it is all an illusion what should I do to get rid of it at the time when it comes
Love these kind of discussions. There are so many things that can be revealed as illusions or wishful thinking when properly scrutinised. Typically people will give reasons for why we are ourselves and qualify as a person. The question is what a person really is. Would a machine sometime in the future qualify as a person? I think so actually. Reasons given are typically: I can see the world, I can sense my sourroundings, I'm capable of love, I can make decisions (which we actually can't, our brain makes them for us). All of these are to a certain extent variants of: "Cogito ergo sum". The realisation that they are most likely just another way of fooling ourselves is kind of liberating. This makes it easier to show compassion and foregiveness. Also it might have tremendous political impact if humankind finally abandon the doctrine of "deserving" things, good or bad. Life is good luck, bad luck and coincidences.
The logic makes sense. In the case of feeling of pain and whether it could be mindfully control, it is possible but I think there is another force that will work against it. It’s complicated to explain but to give an rough idea I like to point out the self unfolding power imbued in a zygote that creates a human being from a single cell. The power demonstrated by it may still linger in a human being influencing not only in the decisions we make but in all life affairs. Considering it’s overpowering influence geared to propagate our life species we may not be able to resort to mind control in all painful situation, but to take prompt physical remedies. Ex. take your hand away from a red hot object when touched.
We need to distinguish between bodily pain and psychic pain. Our illusion of self can create psychic pain and can magnify physical pain, but it cannot rid us of pain and physical suffering. Ironically, this magnifies our suffering because it is yet another goal we must reach. The idea of a life without suffering is unrealistic because it is a life without goals, and a life without goals is no life at all.
I understand it totally intellectually (or maybe i dont) but cannott feel it and am still in a 30 year severe depression. Id love your advice. Many thanks...
I liked how clear and simple your articulati9n is but attuning to the true self here and there is different than awakening aka recognition of the true self where it's no longer experiences here and there but fully living with that recognition every moment. That's the awakening as our birthright. The practices are stepping stones not the ultimate goal.
For those who feel pain if someone wack a chair with a stick, just remember: pain doesn’t equal suffering. Suffering is a subjective experience, while pain is a physical reaction, an objective existence. The most difficult part is how we can maintain compassionate while maintaining peaceful.
Yes, pain is a subjective experience of a mind-body connection but their is no pain experienced in awareness itself.so our awareness seems to be aloof from the body-mind.
Very ironic, actually... I though i would have to do the opposite to be happy and to be at peace. I thought i need to find "my true self" in order to be happy, but every human's true self is; That there is no true self. There is just experience and the experience of experiencing it.
I had this realisation sometime ago. I am not saying I am enlightened but i had a glimpse of it for a brief moment in time and since then , my perception of life has changed completely. I highly recommend sam harris's "waking up".
Very scientific and practical approach to what mindfulness really is. Only one detail I learned from Francis Lucille that the expression “resting in awareness” is not so so fortunate because give us the idea that there is and “l” that rest in something different which is “awareness” For me the expression “abide as awareness” express much better the concept of “awareness”
Here's the thing I don’t understand. Why are we here then if not to grow, progress, be uncomfortable, scratch those itches etc? Isn't part of our existence also to experience the fullness of our souls and contribute to the cosmic pool of awareness? That's what confuses me so much. How do we maintain that peace and acceptance of heaven on earth while still pushing ourselves to grow?
Yes we are!!! You are absolutely right about everything!! Yes you are here to exist & to experience & to grow & to evolve!!❤❤❤ The guy with the glasses is crazy & insane & mixing wired things together that doesnt fit & also telling lies & trying to get people to destroy themselves,-he is wrong about everything!🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦 But you are not.😊😊
Matt, Happy Sunday! Last night, after a feeling of experiential dread, I finally realized that my sense of self was merely an elusive and often debilitating social construct. What a relief! Then I searched for a video on the same subject and chose this one without even knowing that "I" was in the room the day you recorded this ; ). Only, "I" didn't fully comprehend your message then. Isn't it funny how our journey leads us full circle? Anyway, thank you for planting the seed of liberation... It feels amazing to be free from the incessant rumination of thought.
Hi Brian. So glad to hear this! It will be normal to identify with the self again (sometimes alot) out of habit. Taking time to just be will allow your insight to become more and more stable in daily life.
I have practiced this long ago, I have been holding onto this itch for 20years. It.has.never.been.scratched!! I am perfectly at peace, though if someone was to come along and offer me a little scratch to relieve me of this itchy burden. That’s so selfish. I would not feel at peace anymore with this. I would keep asking myself why she scratched my itch!!
In following Mooji’s advice in not identifying with anything. I’ve noticing thinking has almost stopped and it doesn’t feel like my sense of self is inside my head. The perception has changed of the world not really feeling outside anymore. Little discombobulated, is this the right track? Don’t no if there’s really a goal in mind lol. But not identifying with anything has helped so much even with this fear of the world not feeling so much outside. Just would like peace/happines
Hi Leiro. It definitely sounds like you're on the right track. The trick now will be to let go of any expectations for anything special to happen. If you can just be content in simply "being", allowing things to be exactly as they are, your body/mind will more and more reflect the perfect peace that is our true nature. Also, it might be helpful to remember that joy / "happiness" is not the immediate fruit of dwelling in our true nature. The immediate fruit is peace and contentment, a deep sense that there is nothing lacking. If you can be okay with that, the joy / "happiness" will, in due time, permeate more and more of life.
Because a neuroscientist can't find a "me" there's no me?... As an artist in deep flow states and conscious of all these theories for over decades I can say: Yes, I do it. We don't disappear. We do it. And I feel sad for people talking like there's no me..
I don't think I've ever had that dichotomy? I've always considered my body as being identical with what I call me. When we say, "my body, or my hand is just a convention of language. I've never thought of myself as being someone inside my body. It doesn't sound very pleasant.
Now, i only made it 6 minutes in. Maybe it stops being absurd at some point. At 3:30 he says, "im not saying you dont exist... But this sensation of being a me is an illusion." To a person with a normal understanding of language, this reads like its deacribing a contradiction. If im being gracious, he could mean a physical husk of a body exists, and the internal sense of self is the illusion. Odd that only people who master a craft or sport are the ones used as examples of acheiving a flow-state. I dont think a person taps into a supernatural selflessness by mastering a craft. These example practitioners, probably, through great repeatition, can passively do things to allow them to focus on other specific tasks or fingering or running or w/e. This means, as we do math equations, or focus on any task, we cease focusing on ourselves, and that proves our self is an illusion? When we are just waking up, and our brains arent fully functional, as they progress towards awareness, and this is a moment we are aware of our lack of self? When people's brains are damaged they gain awareness of a lack of self? This is absurd. It conflates being aware of a lack of self with not being aware of self, and concludes since we can preoccupy our minds and ignore self, "the self is an illusion." Its conceptual nonsense. He said something like, how is our self in our mind, if we say we have a brain or we have a mind. Who is the thing that possesses the mind? Pointless. The english language doesnt care where consciousness occurs. We "possess a mind" because its a artifact of our language to say so. Its colloquial and ancient. Its related to why we treat hearts like they feel. "Put your heart in it." Conflating a colloquial phrase with a statement of truth is a really clumsy/foolish/fruitless thing to do if you're trying to teach about true things. I apprecite how much this all orbits around the "i think theredore i am" rule. "I think therefore i am" is the basis and bedrock of how can know anything. And this guy here, insists that, "i can not think about me, therefore i'm an illusion." Not only is it a non sequitur, it spits on the that golden rule.
Seeing illusory nature of the self does not require finding the self, and seeing it as illusory, because that would be impossible, and I think that most people are stuck here. It is about seeing limitations that comes from assuming the self and its role. In other words, assuming the existence of self is an illusion, not the self itself. Self does not exist, so it's neither true nor illusory.
Self is only a memory/idea that begins forming around 2 years of age.
The longest I have experienced this true presence was 10 days it’s funny what you said at the end about suffering I found during that time that I didn’t have to avoid suffering it seemed to run away from me. At the moment I’m back in anxiety and need to practice mindfulness again.
I don't know why, but it is so hard to find any speaker of buddhism, non-duality etc. really go into depth about the illusion of self. They often go off topic and bring in all these other aspects or leave it to one or two sentences. Thanks for going in-depth.
My pleasure. Thanks for your kind words.
After my experience:
Especially during peak performances in gaming:
When you flow, you're in your body.
When you don't, you're in your head.
The best logical explanation of no-self or Ego death.
We are individualized consciousness in this world of the relativity and we need to be, otherwise we couldn`t make the choices and experiences we volunteered to come here for. Awareness assists us in understanding the larger picture.
J Krishnamurti said the same thing long before..Observer is the observed, experiencer is the experience,thinker is the thought...
Then i guess he is wrong cause an observer changes everything .... remember the quantum double slit experiment
@@jimblackstone9522great word association. You’re practically doing science.
@@eddielopez2373 i m just trying to contruct a bridge using science
@@jimblackstone9522How can you change everything when everything is already changing
Check the double split experiment again. I think it was misinterpreted. I just heard some physicist talking about. I haven't checked the science of it yet but I could answer it myself going on what I've been through. Hard to explain it with this faulty language of ours. Krishnamurthi was one of the many gurus who didn't know what he was talking about. Or else he couldn't explain it well. Nisargadatta was the real deal. So was Ramana maharshi. People could feel his energy and without saying a word people could sense it. That was how he was discovered@@jimblackstone9522
The best explanation I've seen so far after hearing countless pompous non-dual teachers.
My favourite pointer is when you have any emotional tension, ask "what is aware of it?", and then ask how that part that is aware is feeling right now. Is it in discomfort? This both helps you find that there is no monolithic "I" being angry or sad, but just a part, and that there always is another part that is not in that state.
Another is when you detect a emotionally charged thought like "that's disgusting" or "that's offesive". Ask "for whom?" where is the one inside me that is disgusted or offended. You'll see that is never "all of you", is just a part of the body-mind that contracts.
For someone dealing with many emotional issues I'd suggest to look for a therapist on Internal Family Systems, that had made a therapy using this concept.
Who are these pompous non-dual teachers so we can avoid them?
Listening to Sam Harris and Jay Garfield discuss this has really impacted me. Jay Garfield's book "Losing Ourselves.." is so spot on. All the same ideas as here just a discussion presented step by step.
I’ve been misunderstanding this whole concept and getting confused about it for so long, but I must say that the way it was explained in this video helped me to totally understand it in a much clearer way I never had, and I’m so grateful!
So glad to hear this. Thanks for sharing.
the goal is not denial of 'me' of persons. this guy is confused and teaching nihilism, a denial of persons
@@backwardthoughts1022 yeah, because western people think the solution to all their problems is to become a monk adhering to eastern philosophy 🤣🤣
@@themindfulnessedge-withmat2631thanks for the clear explanation. Very glateful to you.
@@backwardthoughts1022
Have you looked up the definition of nihilism and actually read it?
He is explaining that everyone has the ability to remove the illusion of self, which acts as the middle person, or middle layer, separating the body from fully experiencing the world without judgement, a narrative or mental distractions.
Just being present. Fully.
Very freeing.
the mind blowing thing is even death is just the physical destruction of the brain which ceases to produce awareness but the self disappears every day and when you go to sleep there are moments when the self doesn’t exist for long periods. When you wake up you are not the same self it’s like a different person wakes up, but the present you doesn’t realise because it is created based on what’s in the brain so includes memories, basically previous awareness states recorded
Fabulous Dharma talk!!!! When you spoke about us being in paradise I realized that even when I am staying in the moment (or I think I am) I am able to put away all the stuff you spoke about BUT I just realized that the reason I don't REALLY see it as Paradise is because I am wishing it would last forever and I am sad because it will will end....UMMMMMM DUH, impermanence is a thing LOL. I just never realized that I was still grasping and clinging in those moments until listening to this.
Even Mahayana Buddhism today cannot be direct, clear and comprehensible like this, thank you for this teaching
I always appreciated Alan Watts' take on this. You aren't something that is in the universe, you something that the universe is doing. You are a verb, not a noun. As an apple tree 'apples', the universe 'peoples'.
I've been trying to understand nonduality for 2ish years now... This is by far the best I've ever seen it explained. Thanks for this Matt!
May I also suggest you read John Ralston's book, "The Book of Nothing"?
Thanks for sharing that. I'm glad this was helpful.
A thought experiment that proves the illusory sense of "me" is to imagine your eyeballs coming out of the skull and looking back at the body, the "me" seems to be behind the eyes looking at the body... but we know that behind the eyes is empty space.
I've come to understand the illusion of self. It answered many questions for me, but it didn't make getting up and going to a soul-crushing job every day any easier. (Heck, maybe I was stupid for thinking it would.)
What brings peace is letting go of mental activity (letting mental activity be as it is without getting involved). That won't make a bad job "enjoyable," necessarily, but it can allow you to drop suffering on demand.
I’m starting to understand that the self is like a noisy filter between the external world and me as an entity moving through the world.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
U. G. Krishnamurti talks about this a lot and it's finally making sense. We are an illusion but the human body is not. The knowledge that your organism has gathered throughout life has created you, in order to better function in this world.
Glad to hear this is becoming clearer. Taking time to practice being awareness will gradually make this all crystal clear.
You said, " all there is is awareness " yes, I agree, but to realize that is to personally realize it and know it and it is this knowing that you know that gives you selfhood.
@@-Boundless- You said, " awareness " knows " that it is aware simply by being what it is- awareness itself" I agree, to be aware is to know that you are aware and to me that makes awareness to be self-awareness.
the self is an illusion to who?
an illusion means something that is not what it seems to be, so if we feel self as self but is not what we think it is then the self doesn’t exist because it’s something else so then who is feeling the illusion?
anyway, very interesting
Psychologist Susan Blackmore makes the point that the word ‘illusion’ does not mean that it does not exist - rather, an illusion is not what it seems. We all certainly experience some form of self, but what we experience is a powerful depiction generated by our brains for our own benefit.
The only thing I know for sure without a doubt is that I AM. That's the only truth.
Or perhaps even more precisely, "There is this."
define "I"
define "am"
@@ellie698
I = Aware
Am = Being
I Am = Aware Being / Awareness
“I Am” is subjective language.
“It Is” is objective language.
Same referent.
Ultimately, what is being spoken of is neither subjectivity nor objectivity. Even to say “I Am” or “It Is” is too much.
Very akin to both Buddhism and Stoicism. I believe contentment is important for mental health, though if detachment is taken to the extreme, it will lead to passivity and poor health. Sometimes it's also auspicious to pay attention!
It is true that self is a illusion but to experience that in every moment one must do practice mindfulness everyday whether u like it or not to get some degree of concentration to recognize thought as thought
That's true. Consistent practice is very important.
Once you catch the thought as thought, you are liberated. You automatically become curious to extrapolate this direct observation. As you directly see memory's response as insult, insecurity, you begin to experience direct liberation.
I am getting suddenly expert in this. Then nothing matters like frightening news, death, plans to evade something imagined.
For the longest time I have been trying to get out of self as self. Ty for this insight :)
Ahh, yes. That would be tricky.
17:00
So it's a vicious cycle, in which we mistake the ego, the alleged choice of our own self, for the solution, even though it's actually the root cause of our problem?
In that analogy...
When we have pain, we identify with that pain. If we identify with pain then we suffer.
If we identify with anything, than we suffer, because we pick our poison.
We, by nature, are happy.
We are just raised not to be.
We are thaught to believe ourselves to be something we're not and react with pain when we discover that those beliefs aren't true.
But fail to realize that there was never actually anything in the first place.
"We" are actually untouchable.
That is;
Unless we actively make ourselves vulnerable by installing some sort of belief into our minds and determine how we feel only through that belief and if we achieve it.
Often even about *how* we achieve it.
Or also by avoiding it, depending on context.
Society, Friends, Family and even worse:
Ourselves.
...We are pushing all possible things down on us and each other.
All sorts of beliefs and opinions. "How it should be." "How we should be" and "who" we should be"
Let alone who and how we should not be.
We not only live in a world of lies, we ourselves, are those lies. Those Illusions of "self".
Usually conglomerates of definitions.
We are all just human beings. Just currently living and existing entities, only differing by what we can and can't do, what we do and do not have.
We don't really have a self. We just have a body.
Individual self is an illusion. The self is one ❤
Tks Matt for making this message so practical. However it will still take some discipline and practice to arrive at some equilibrium on a daily basis. Lots of reconditioning. I heard you more than 2 years ago. However it is only today June 2024 I seem to get your teaching. Forever grateful 👍👏❤️
Thanks dear. Wonderful wonderful video. It completely changed my view about me. Now I know why I have so much trivial suffering, problem, uneasiness in my everyday life. Are you still working on this? You don't have any more video since 4 years ago.
Spacious Awareness. I have read many books on these topics and while the ideas resonate with me, it never really "clicked" at a visceral guttural level. I want to thank you so much for this talk and how you present these ideas with such ease, simplicity and clarity. For the very first time I actually get it and it has lifted so much weight from my psyche that I actually breathe easier because of it. This talk is amazing.
Thanks so much for sharing that, David. That made my day.
I was a student of Shinzen Young, an LA mindfulness coach, but made lots more progress once I started having mental suffering through a specific group of roommates. I actually owe them my progress!
Thanks for sharing! The best teacher is definitely the mind / body and its reactions to difficult situations and people (like your roommates). You're very wise to be grateful for those who cause you difficulty. They are gifts in disguise!
Thank you for posting this video. I was listening to Sam Harris trying to explain the illusion of the self and was struggling to understand it and your explanation has helped. I particularly enjoyed the example of the itch - I kept noticing areas on my body get itchy during your talk and had never been able to resist a quick scratch or repositioning of my body before but found the exercise of noticing and acknowledging the desire really useful. I didn’t scratch once :)
As I continue to practice meditation and mindfulness I’m still looking to learn more about the illusion of the self and this video has been really encouraging
Thanks again :)
What a beautiful explanation of awareness! It's such a gift you are giving us! Infinite gratitude, Matt 🙏🌻
Exactly, once you see that duality is an illusion then personal identity is an illusion because we're all reflections of the one being
While the individual, seemingly separate sensing self might not exist, this doesn't negate the possibility that the subjective experience of being aware might belong to a transcendent Self, an absolute "I" within which each human being's awareness is participating. The experience of intersubjective awareness, the sense of "we" or non-separation from another that we feel in intimate relations points to the possibility of individual awareness participating in a transcendent subjectivity within which all forms of being live and move and have their being.
So who's there to realise this and who's eventually truly happy??
Doesn't matter
Who’s to do anything? It goes by many names: the bodymind, organism, avatar, meat suit, etc. The only thing mysterious about it is why we choose to over complicate this and allow reason to go out the window when discussing it.
12:35 The itch itself is annoying, but getting a good scratch on the itch feels great.
So Very profound! This really is one of the best explanations of non-self that I've ever heard. Thank you very much, Matt.
You've explained this better than Sam Harris(for me at least)
Thanks Nick. That's very kind of you.
I came here for the same reason - I just could not grasp the concept Sam tries to illustrate about the illusion of self. I'd be lying if I said I fully understand it now, but the alternative explanation certainly helps. Maybe I'm a few reincarnations away from getting this one.
Fully agree.
Theres also an unfortunate irony in that it’s almost like you have to get it first before you can really get it.
So after years of Sam Harris, this seems refreshingly simple to understand 😅
Not sure i would’ve gotten it so easily at the start of my journey 🤷🏻♂️
Sam is gross.
I've never heard this being referred to as "mindfulness." Usually "mindfulness" is just thrown around as a general term of being a bit more present so you can reduce stress and reactivity. It's almost become a marketing term. What this guy is talking about is much deeper, something akin to Zen's kensho, or "first awakening" - a shift in identity on a nonconceptual level. He presents it as something that you can just make happen if you practice "mindfulness" enough, but it's not quite that easy, or there would be millions of people with this realization. People can and do work for decades to "achieve" this realization, but some people happen to have it out of the blue without any practice, or with very little, so it's really random, and from what I've heard "you" aren't in control of it, so all you can do is be open to it and let it happen essentially. Or so I hear. I've been trying to get to this place, but the various methods I've heard that can help (Headless Way, self inquiry, one-pointed approachc) have yet to bare any fruit, at least as far as I can tell. But I did like his talk, just with it was more practical with more suggestions on HOW to get there...
There’s a big difference between temporarily experiencing no self and permanently dropping the residual sense of self. Buddhism’s Ten Fetters model is my favorite path to continually lessen the delusions keeping the residual sense of self in place. The Awakening Curriculum channel has a great series on this.
Your belief system - suggestion
The statement " I am this body " translates too " I am conscious of this body " therefore whenever we make a statement about identity we invoke consciousness and it is this self-awareness that is the self. The root cause of suffering is our experience of the body and world but if there is no self how can there be a concept of suffering!
Agreed... And I wanted to add that anything real cannot be harmed... We are pure awareness in empty space...(body)
@@phoenix-wc5vx In truth, there is no suffering in awareness ( consciousness ) the suffering is experienced via the mind and body connection but not in consciousness itself.
@@williamburts5495 consciousness is a dream. there is just life happening, and nothing in it that is being aware or conscious of it.
@@eyeeye7356 Isn't a dream something we were conscious of having or experiencing once we wake up?
Biology in the body?! There's something beyond the mind and it's the body. 🙏🤯
Your speech is so clear. It's an indication of real insights you've had through your practice. I salute you 🙏🙏 Best wishes from India (still trying to let go of the identifications!)
Thanks Gaurav.
@@themindfulnessedge-withmat2631 Comping Gaurav here, but also to say when you where talking about flow states and musicians or athletes, "i had an immediate identification to that with drumming and darts". Could not hold on to that though, but it led to what is called kundalini rising or experience with it's infinite nuances...
I wanted to say also when Buddhist says no-Self and "Brahmins" The Self, they are meaning a same thing, only perhaps from a slightly different point of view or angle to focus on.
Wannabe Neuro-Scientist commonly refer to Buddhist focus of no-self, like illusions in general. But what remains is awareness and what is actively refer to as Self among the "Brahmins" and only that is, or when hypothesizing with it and to imagine if there were no awareness at all, which amount to nothing.
How you explained this broke down this wall I've had regarding this concept that was holding me back and falling into these repeated self destructive patterns. The way you conveyed it was like this key unlocking this door. I really feel it was this missing piece preventing me from really being able to break through all this suffering... this dark night of the soul I've been in the past year has led me to this moment and making the choice to watch this video. thanks for all you do! 🙏
Thank you absolutely the best explanation on this topic!!
Thank you so much for this! There was some fear and desire throughout the day but the more I question the self that is fearful desire full the illusion of me seems to be seen more and more as non existent and then there’s just this openness of being aware that’s it thank you!
That is awesome! Thanks for sharing this Liero. When the "me" isn't there, perfection is. You might want to pay attention to the natural tendency to want to replicate what was experienced. It's very natural for the ego to want that. If you can just notice that happening, allow it be there, and resume simply "being" without trying to do or get anything, I'm confident there will be more and more moments of freedom.
@@themindfulnessedge-withmat2631 hello sir
I have thoughts in my mind and whatever comes it feels in the body like I am this or this will be happen with me or I am not gud than this and other like comparisons and all
And then I literally feel it in my body like it is real in form of sensations as I have now understood that it is all an illusion what should I do to get rid of it at the time when it comes
Wonderful, you have a lovely relaxed way of getting the message across without unnecessary mysticism or complication. Thank you Matt .
Thanks for your kind words.
Again thank you outstanding delivery sir!!!
Love these kind of discussions.
There are so many things that can be revealed as illusions or wishful thinking when properly scrutinised.
Typically people will give reasons for why we are ourselves and qualify as a person. The question is what a person really is. Would a machine sometime in the future qualify as a person? I think so actually. Reasons given are typically: I can see the world, I can sense my sourroundings, I'm capable of love, I can make decisions (which we actually can't, our brain makes them for us). All of these are to a certain extent variants of: "Cogito ergo sum". The realisation that they are most likely just another way of fooling ourselves is kind of liberating. This makes it easier to show compassion and foregiveness. Also it might have tremendous political impact if humankind finally abandon the doctrine of "deserving" things, good or bad. Life is good luck, bad luck and coincidences.
Thanks for sharing this.
Rightly put very nicely.
Beautiful. Thank you for your clear, concise, no jargon words.
The logic makes sense. In the case of feeling of pain and whether it could be mindfully control, it is possible but I think there is another force that will work against it. It’s complicated to explain but to give an rough idea I like to point out the self unfolding power imbued in a zygote that creates a human being from a single cell. The power demonstrated by it may still linger in a human being influencing not only in the decisions we make but in all life affairs. Considering it’s overpowering influence geared to propagate our life species we may not be able to resort to mind control in all painful situation, but to take prompt physical remedies. Ex. take your hand away from a red hot object when touched.
How you broke this down is amazing!
Yes, it is ME that is feeling it!
We need to distinguish between bodily pain and psychic pain. Our illusion of self can create psychic pain and can magnify physical pain, but it cannot rid us of pain and physical suffering. Ironically, this magnifies our suffering because it is yet another goal we must reach. The idea of a life without suffering is unrealistic because it is a life without goals, and a life without goals is no life at all.
I understand it totally intellectually (or maybe i dont) but cannott feel it and am still in a 30 year severe depression. Id love your advice. Many thanks...
I liked how clear and simple your articulati9n is but attuning to the true self here and there is different than awakening aka recognition of the true self where it's no longer experiences here and there but fully living with that recognition every moment. That's the awakening as our birthright. The practices are stepping stones not the ultimate goal.
Super clear explanation. Nothing mysterious or mystical about it.
24:33 what can you do? In this moment, be aware of what is actually here
You have explained this much better then most. Thank you.
Thanks for your kind words, Jason.
One of the best videos on No I
Thanks for your kind words.
Such a crystal clear communication 🔹, was a beautiful thing to listen to while having a coffee 😊☕
Thanks so much for your kind words Alex.
And God will be closer to you than hands and feet and nearer to you than breathing.
Hey man your teaching is so clear . Thank you!
Thanks so much for your kind words! I makes me very happy to know that this video was helpful.
@@themindfulnessedge-withmat2631 ....Whose the “me” that’s made very happy Matt? 😉
Thank you. It was very helpful.
For those who feel pain if someone wack a chair with a stick, just remember: pain doesn’t equal suffering. Suffering is a subjective experience, while pain is a physical reaction, an objective existence. The most difficult part is how we can maintain compassionate while maintaining peaceful.
Yes, pain is a subjective experience of a mind-body connection but their is no pain experienced in awareness itself.so our awareness seems to be aloof from the body-mind.
Very ironic, actually...
I though i would have to do the opposite to be happy and to be at peace.
I thought i need to find "my true self" in order to be happy, but every human's true self is;
That there is no true self.
There is just experience and the experience of experiencing it.
I had this realisation sometime ago. I am not saying I am enlightened but i had a glimpse of it for a brief moment in time and since then , my perception of life has changed completely. I highly recommend sam harris's "waking up".
Very scientific and practical approach to what mindfulness really is. Only one detail I learned from Francis Lucille that the expression “resting in awareness” is not so so fortunate because give us the idea that there is and “l” that rest in something different which is “awareness” For me the expression “abide as awareness” express much better the concept of “awareness”
Here's the thing I don’t understand. Why are we here then if not to grow, progress, be uncomfortable, scratch those itches etc? Isn't part of our existence also to experience the fullness of our souls and contribute to the cosmic pool of awareness?
That's what confuses me so much. How do we maintain that peace and acceptance of heaven on earth while still pushing ourselves to grow?
Yes we are!!!
You are absolutely right about everything!!
Yes you are here to exist & to experience & to grow & to evolve!!❤❤❤
The guy with the glasses is crazy & insane & mixing wired things together that doesnt fit & also telling lies & trying to get people to destroy themselves,-he is wrong about everything!🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦
But you are not.😊😊
Relax folks.You in fact ARE there!
Matt, Happy Sunday! Last night, after a feeling of experiential dread, I finally realized that my sense of self was merely an elusive and often debilitating social construct. What a relief! Then I searched for a video on the same subject and chose this one without even knowing that "I" was in the room the day you recorded this ; ). Only, "I" didn't fully comprehend your message then. Isn't it funny how our journey leads us full circle? Anyway, thank you for planting the seed of liberation... It feels amazing to be free from the incessant rumination of thought.
Hi Brian. So glad to hear this! It will be normal to identify with the self again (sometimes alot) out of habit. Taking time to just be will allow your insight to become more and more stable in daily life.
Did you achieve any consistency with your lack of identification with the self Brian?
Highlights are blown.
After investigation I realize all of life is one big flow state. The illusion is a self touching it. Its all just going. A continuous flux.
That's it! There are simply things happening.
Hahaha! I was in Hawaii when I listened to this.
This has to be the best explanation for awareness I've heard in a long time. Thank you for bringing this back into my life.
Thanks for your kind words Sam. Glad it was helpful.
I have practiced this long ago, I have been holding onto this itch for 20years. It.has.never.been.scratched!! I am perfectly at peace, though if someone was to come along and offer me a little scratch to relieve me of this itchy burden. That’s so selfish. I would not feel at peace anymore with this. I would keep asking myself why she scratched my itch!!
Thanks...greetings from Morocco...Actually, I find it so hard to apply this. I don't know why
My ADHD brain: Look at the cars in the background 🥸
In following Mooji’s advice in not identifying with anything. I’ve noticing thinking has almost stopped and it doesn’t feel like my sense of self is inside my head. The perception has changed of the world not really feeling outside anymore. Little discombobulated, is this the right track? Don’t no if there’s really a goal in mind lol. But not identifying with anything has helped so much even with this fear of the world not feeling so much outside. Just would like peace/happines
Hi Leiro. It definitely sounds like you're on the right track. The trick now will be to let go of any expectations for anything special to happen. If you can just be content in simply "being", allowing things to be exactly as they are, your body/mind will more and more reflect the perfect peace that is our true nature. Also, it might be helpful to remember that joy / "happiness" is not the immediate fruit of dwelling in our true nature. The immediate fruit is peace and contentment, a deep sense that there is nothing lacking. If you can be okay with that, the joy / "happiness" will, in due time, permeate more and more of life.
@@themindfulnessedge-withmat2631 okay thank you Matt. So just keep not identifying with anything and just not expect anything?
Thank you. Grateful 🙏.
Because a neuroscientist can't find a "me" there's no me?...
As an artist in deep flow states and conscious of all these theories for over decades I can say: Yes, I do it. We don't disappear. We do it.
And I feel sad for people talking like there's no me..
I don't think I've ever had that dichotomy? I've always considered my body as being identical with what I call me. When we say, "my body, or my hand is just a convention of language. I've never thought of myself as being someone inside my body. It doesn't sound very pleasant.
Nice.
Your flow of consciousness really kept me interested, that was a really fun journey!
Thanks for sharing that!
i liked this video as number 777. i hope there will be a few another sevens. some real peace is right
here.
Thanks!
Absolutely Brilliant!!!
You made it so clear!!
Thank YOU so much!
You're very welcome!
Excellent! Straightforward... Natural! 🙏👍🤗
Now, i only made it 6 minutes in. Maybe it stops being absurd at some point.
At 3:30 he says, "im not saying you dont exist... But this sensation of being a me is an illusion."
To a person with a normal understanding of language, this reads like its deacribing a contradiction. If im being gracious, he could mean a physical husk of a body exists, and the internal sense of self is the illusion.
Odd that only people who master a craft or sport are the ones used as examples of acheiving a flow-state. I dont think a person taps into a supernatural selflessness by mastering a craft. These example practitioners, probably, through great repeatition, can passively do things to allow them to focus on other specific tasks or fingering or running or w/e. This means, as we do math equations, or focus on any task, we cease focusing on ourselves, and that proves our self is an illusion?
When we are just waking up, and our brains arent fully functional, as they progress towards awareness, and this is a moment we are aware of our lack of self?
When people's brains are damaged they gain awareness of a lack of self?
This is absurd. It conflates being aware of a lack of self with not being aware of self, and concludes since we can preoccupy our minds and ignore self, "the self is an illusion." Its conceptual nonsense.
He said something like, how is our self in our mind, if we say we have a brain or we have a mind. Who is the thing that possesses the mind? Pointless. The english language doesnt care where consciousness occurs. We "possess a mind" because its a artifact of our language to say so. Its colloquial and ancient. Its related to why we treat hearts like they feel. "Put your heart in it." Conflating a colloquial phrase with a statement of truth is a really clumsy/foolish/fruitless thing to do if you're trying to teach about true things.
I apprecite how much this all orbits around the "i think theredore i am" rule. "I think therefore i am" is the basis and bedrock of how can know anything. And this guy here, insists that, "i can not think about me, therefore i'm an illusion." Not only is it a non sequitur, it spits on the that golden rule.
Thanks for the light man! You’re awesome 😎!
Thanks for your kind words!
Thanks
You're very welcome.
That's a practice which is called as = vipasana
Great video. We miss heaven because we're addicted to identity, and identity is based on conflict and change. 🤦
Thank you!
Happy to help.
Excellent. Many thanks! Greetings from Cancun Mexico
Thanks for your kind words, Carlos.
Vey well described. JK has already said but few understood it.
Thank you for this.❤
Brilliant...thank you :)
Seeing illusory nature of the self does not require finding the self, and seeing it as illusory, because that would be impossible, and I think that most people are stuck here. It is about seeing limitations that comes from assuming the self and its role. In other words, assuming the existence of self is an illusion, not the self itself. Self does not exist, so it's neither true nor illusory.
Amazing explanation.Thank You so much :)
Thank u so much..
So well explained, loved this
Glad it helped!
Thank you for this 🤝🏼
Thank you 🙏