In the case of this body/mind, reading "Collision With the Infinite" for the seventh time generated a certain kind of intellectual realization. I realized that whatever I was looking for had to be right in front of me--in the here and now. Until that realization, there was a subtle sense that what I was looking for was in the future somewhere. That realization, which was intellectual, was important because it focused attention more strongly on what exists in the present moment.
That is the state of mind I stayed in for several months, and during that time I spent as much of that time as possible looking at the world in a state of quiet alertness. When the sense of selfhood collapsed, it wasn't immediately apparent. I felt light and buoyant that day, and there was the vague sense that something was missing, but that missingness had not risen to the level of consciousness. Then, about two hours later it was suddenly realized that the missing something was the old sense of selfhood. It was simply gone, and it was simultaneously seen that the entire sense of selfhood had been nothing more than a silly idea. The body/mind looked around, and it was then obvious that THIS is all there is, and that THIS is the only reality, whole, complete, and alive.
That is the state of mind I stayed in for several months, and during that time I spent as much of that time as possible looking at the world in a state of quiet alertness. When the sense of selfhood collapsed, it wasn't immediately apparent. I felt light and buoyant that day, and there was the vague sense that something was missing, but that missingness had not risen to the level of consciousness. Then, about two hours later it was suddenly realized that the missing something was the old sense of selfhood. It was simply gone, and it was simultaneously seen that the entire sense of selfhood had been nothing more than a silly idea. The body/mind looked around, and it was then obvious that THIS is all there is, and that THIS is the only reality, whole, complete, and alive.
