What happens eventually is that the one who was imagined to be ATA'ing is seen through, and then it doesn't matter what is happening. It is realized that there is no person behind any activity, even ATA. That's why I said that everyone starts out under the illusion that there is a person who is meditating, ATA'ing, etc, but this illusion utlimately collapses, and all twoness comes to an end. From that point on there is neither oneness nor twoness because there is no longer any imagined separation. There is simply washing dishes, mowing the lawn, having dinner with friends, going to work, etc.
The body/mind will still meditate, ATA, or think, but the previously imagined separation is no longer imagined. The body is intelligent, and it becomes obvious that ordinary everyday life is perfect just the way it is. (If the sage is in the middle of a war zone and is asked, "Is this perfect?" she will respond, "Shut up and pass the ammunition!")
By the time the illusion of selfhood is seen through, imagination has been realized as the culprit that gave rise to the illusion of separation, so imagination plays a much smaller role in the life of the sage than in people who have not seen this. The sage, who is one-with the truth, is content with life however it manifests, acts appropriately, and is no longer jerked around by fantasies and other machinations of mind. Mind is a docile servant providing practical answers to practical questions, and no longer roams around in a world of complex layered abstractions.
There is no longer any need to control thinking (because the imagined controller has vanished), but the body may enjoy sitting and looking at the world in mental silence (ATA) in the same way that a bird watcher may enjoy watching birds. There is no ulterior purpose in that activity; it is simply what the body does. If someone asks a sage, "Why do you sit and look at the world in silence?" the sage will simply smile.
The body/mind will still meditate, ATA, or think, but the previously imagined separation is no longer imagined. The body is intelligent, and it becomes obvious that ordinary everyday life is perfect just the way it is. (If the sage is in the middle of a war zone and is asked, "Is this perfect?" she will respond, "Shut up and pass the ammunition!")
By the time the illusion of selfhood is seen through, imagination has been realized as the culprit that gave rise to the illusion of separation, so imagination plays a much smaller role in the life of the sage than in people who have not seen this. The sage, who is one-with the truth, is content with life however it manifests, acts appropriately, and is no longer jerked around by fantasies and other machinations of mind. Mind is a docile servant providing practical answers to practical questions, and no longer roams around in a world of complex layered abstractions.
There is no longer any need to control thinking (because the imagined controller has vanished), but the body may enjoy sitting and looking at the world in mental silence (ATA) in the same way that a bird watcher may enjoy watching birds. There is no ulterior purpose in that activity; it is simply what the body does. If someone asks a sage, "Why do you sit and look at the world in silence?" the sage will simply smile.
