The ‘There is no self’ idea is one also put forward by psychologists who study the brain and cannot pinpoint exactly where the sense of ‘I’, is, although they have a vague idea it’s closest to the top of the head.…But they ‘know’ it’s in the brain somewhere because when the body dies so does the ‘I’, or so they believe.….But essentially it’s a mental construction and often referred to as the ego, and it allows us to be cognisant as individuals in bodies and separate entities, but if we get too attached to it, it prevents us from allowing our loving souls to shine through, the part which allows us to connect with others and experience their love also, and then to experience oneness with all in some form or nuance.

All spiritual teachers try to get us to focus on the same thing, which is this ‘higher self’, ‘greater self’, or egoless state, because it’s who we really are, essentially, especially apparent when you can quieten the analytical side of the mind down for a while. I prefer to call it the ‘natural self’. This self is non judgemental, it accepts self, others, warts and all and comes from the heart. The key is just to open up, open the heart and centre your being from there. That’s all there is to it. Live from the heart, laugh and be spontaneous. Love is at the core of all of us. The rest is just decoration, masks and escapism from the truth, one way or another, because the truth of who we really are as beings of love, can demand we often have to change our lives or move on, forgive, and start taking responsibility for who we are, also, and that can be scary for people, especially living in a world in which love between people, or agape, is essentially a taboo except recognisably as something which has been reduced to an activity between the sheets. Bizarre, isn’t it? But these are just my own intepretations. Others are available… :-)

All I can add here is — would the Dalai Lama kick up such a fuss about Jamie’s work? Would Ram Dass? Would any other person who’d dropped into an awakened heart consciousness? I don’t think so. At the end of the day “All Perception is Projection”.

With Love

X

The ignorant speak, the wise listen.

We all know that in theory, in absolute terms, there’s no ‘I’, but what I like about this train of thought and work, is that it embraces what’s here experientially, in the manifestation — not theoretically, in the invisible. I like the truth of that, coz there’s visible and invisible — and I like the independence from concepts and teachings. We’ve all heard the teachings, but here’s the problem — who was giving the teachings?

Someone’s ‘I’!

And it’s just your ‘I’ writing above, trying to persuade us all that you’re not an ‘I’.

What me and my ‘I’ is saying, is that we all have an ‘I’. Even if it just lives in our heads and the heads of others. We use it to speak, we use it to make a living, we use it to make each other laugh and to share our feelings with others. We use our ‘I”s for so many things that without it — if we really did manage to give our ‘I’ up — we’d only be left with one option, and that’s to sit still all the time, in silence. Maybe that’s what you should be doing, and leaving others to explore their soul at their own pace, without trying to eradicate it for them.

What I’m experiencing in my own gentle unfoldment, as I meander merrily (mostly merrily) down this stream of life, is that our ‘I”s can work for us not against, when we come together, share with each other, and let our ‘I’s heal together.

On a subtle level, our ‘I’ can write poetry. Our ‘I’ can paint. Our ‘I’ can tell stories of legends and masters, by a fire under the moonlight.

If we can just see that ‘I’ is fundamentally trying to help, we can embrace the madness of the I. If we can just see that, and develop a compassion for that, that’s where things get really interesting. That’s where things are created.

I have a respect for the eastern teachings you are sharing here — but east in isolation, it don’t work. And neither alone does west. When these things come together, ever so gently together, they make love. They create. Eventually the ‘I’ meets being, life force, God, true nature — and something totally unique comes through. Something never seen or heard before.

It’s been so lovely for me to see this clearly and to leave the struggle of trying to nullify my ‘I’… My ‘I’ has a job, a purpose — and so does yours. It’s to become healthier, more real — and then, it’s to bring God into experience. To create something original, helpful, harmless. Something wonderful and original. No more broken records. No more stuck patterns.

That’s the seed I see here.

Seán, editor

I understand what Lobma said is a higher level of argument, the highest if you like. You just cannot argue with that, because the very idea or any action of arguing immediately backfires. If there’s no self, no projects, nothing to defend, there is also no society, which may be possible or even desirable, but seemingly is in contradiction with our basic human need, interaction. If you wish to stop ‘feeding’ yourself, your desires, you have to deny, terminate one part of yourself. And to me this is where Jamie’s ideas (perfectly) come into the picture/reality. I have never (yet) attended one of his workshops, but to me his thoughts are about how to be more honest, and how to live with a lower number of lies per day. Humans lie, even to themselves. We play these roles (Eric Berne) every day and very often we become tired of them. Kudos and energy for Jamie to continue, it seems a really interesting path!

Lobma, I read somewhere that language, English or any vocal manifestation of thoughts are misleading when dismantling our egos. Mathematics seem more appropriate and the ultimate way could, should be telepathy, or silence
:)

What I’m writing now is perfect, just as what each of your wrote, what each of you does for a living, and what you each believe.

There is no right, there is no wrong.

Lobma’s feelings are perfect…we need to feel what hot is before we know what its counterpart of cold is. Life is a complex set of thoughts that allow us to form our own patterns and since we are all from one source and everything is just a game, anything and everything that is said or done is perfect.

From all the worlds labelled “atrocities” to “wonders” and “miracles”, they are all there for a reason…to make the game of Life interesting.

So to close, what I’ve written is perfect even if you think it is not…because if you think it is not perfect, that thought in and of itself is perfect.

One Love,
Dan

The thing is there are jewels in all these so called ‘negative’ traits which is why we dont let them go. Assertiveness is an amazing quality which is really the same thing but without the investing in the outcome of changing anyone’s opinions. If we just keep shining attention on these parts of us we can acknowledge and integrate what we want into our behaviours and let go of the negative stuff.

d

I’ve been working with my need for others to ‘see they’re wrong’ and my several leaky kinds of aggression and confrontation. I couldn’t have manifested a better mirror to give me a tour of that neighbourhood if I’d tried.

And going even deeper, I’m good looking like a fool, and the more these onlookers see that I’m a fool, and that we’re all vainly disguising our shameful insanities, the better.

To me enlightenment (or better ‘non-deluded self-confidence’ ) is not a finish-line after a lifetime of ‘spiritual work’, but a constantly available place that we dip in and out of, but it’s always there, humming and omming away.

Jamie

“Never argue with a fool, on lookers may not be able to tell the difference.”

all the best.

danny

I’m glad you have found your path. I’d be quite surprised if you did not receive help along the way. Once you came to realization everything seems very obvious but how did you come to that point? Little nudges and hints that you accumulated over your life pushed you to a point where you became ripe for the ‘penny to drop’. I have not attended Jamie’s workshop but from reading it it sounds like quite a good nudge designed just for the people who need that exact nudge. Everyone is on a different path. We can never explain ‘it’ to anyone, we can only offer signposts that point in a vague general direction.

Perhaps you’d like to consider the aggression of your stance and how that reflects upon your own path. It seems like you have reached a point in your realization that has left you somewhat frustrated. Perhaps you’re trying to convince yourself of oneness and transcend duality, that there is ‘nothing to achieve’.

An internal ‘softening’ is required before we can allow ourselves to receive all that life has to offer and when that softening comes, we no longer get irritated by much at all, let alone beautiful people world over who, acting purely out of empathy, attempting to help their fellow people along the path.

Breath. Smile.
danny