...except when the mind imagines one. "What is," undivided, is all there is. Is there a way of living where the body/mind moves about and does things in the absence of an imagined experiencer? Sure. That "way of living" is the fundamental issue underlying every discussion on this forum.
When selfhood/separateness is seen through clearly, all seeking and grasping ends because it is realized that all past efforting was founded upon a product of imagination, a structure of thought. Life then continues without the imagined self and all of its convoluted stuff. There is nothing to get and nowhere to go. Each body/mind stands at the center of the universe.
If thoughts about selfhood are not re-engaged, the body/mind goes about its business freely and non-reflectively. It does what needs to be done, and then it does the next thing that needs to be done. Life is ordinary and matter of fact, and the mind functions freely without hindrance. If sadness appears, sadness. If happiness appears, happiness, but there is no solid entity to whom anything is happening. There is simply the empty mysterious flow of life that occurs in an everlasting now.
I have compared it to getting lost in an intense game of tennis where time, space, and selfhood vanish into the action. The body/mind intelligently responds to what is happening without any reflective thoughts ABOUT what is happening.
When selfhood/separateness is seen through clearly, all seeking and grasping ends because it is realized that all past efforting was founded upon a product of imagination, a structure of thought. Life then continues without the imagined self and all of its convoluted stuff. There is nothing to get and nowhere to go. Each body/mind stands at the center of the universe.
If thoughts about selfhood are not re-engaged, the body/mind goes about its business freely and non-reflectively. It does what needs to be done, and then it does the next thing that needs to be done. Life is ordinary and matter of fact, and the mind functions freely without hindrance. If sadness appears, sadness. If happiness appears, happiness, but there is no solid entity to whom anything is happening. There is simply the empty mysterious flow of life that occurs in an everlasting now.
I have compared it to getting lost in an intense game of tennis where time, space, and selfhood vanish into the action. The body/mind intelligently responds to what is happening without any reflective thoughts ABOUT what is happening.
