Deepening

I am glad you brought up the business about "deepening". I've never been comfortable with the statement that the first time you see it you see it perfectly. The awareness of Who I really am is nothing, and so nothing can be done to it. It can't be perfected. But the view can: it can become less distorted, truer, clearer, wider, or deeper. At least that has been my experience.

I would like to ask R., and those who agree with the statement that you can't see it wrong, what would you call it when somebody sees she is empty for the chair in front of her, but can't see she is empty for thoughts, too? Or she may see she is empty for thoughts, but not empty for body feelings? The latter may be "seen" as central, despite her having experienced them otherwise in the past. Or sometimes there is more or less identification, or more or less clarity. At different stages and days I have experienced all of the above. And there must be other examples. If I may say, C. gave an example of a perfectible seeing experience when he talked about his initial "headless" experience. So, what would you call these examples? If you won't say it is imperfect, incomplete or shallow seeing, then would you say it is not seeing? To me it is seeing that can be deepened, made clearer, etc. Regards, E.C. USA.

Dear E., It's my experience too that the view out can be deepened, become less distorted. This deepening is certainly important for me. It makes a difference in my life. As for someone who can't see they are capacity for their thoughts, or their body sensations - I'm not quite sure what "can't" means. I could understand them "not understanding" that their thoughts are not central, or describing it differently from the way I do, or overlooking the emptiness at that moment. Does it mean that they actually see their thoughts or sensations at centre? I don't understand that, can't imagine that. I think I need to know more from you about what you mean there.

I see in some situations and not in others, but I don't think I see better in some than in others, or deeper. Obviously I'm talking about the view in here. I also identify more with my body or my thoughts or whatever on some occasions than on others. I don't think this means I am not seeing necessarily. The view out is different, but not the view in.

I think deepening my understanding, letting the Seeing seep in and through my whole being, is vital to me. Thereby it comes to mean something in my life.

To say that the first time you see this, it is perfect, means a lot to me personally. It means that there is fundamentally no hierarchy of seers, no gradations of emptiness. It does not mean that there is not a lifetime of working it out in my life ahead, of applying it. To me it is the difference between the experience and the meaning. The experience of the essence is always the same, but its meaning in my life is always changing, always developing. The view in and the view out. The best of both worlds! Regards, R.L. UK.

When I first came into contact with headlessness and did the experiments it hit me like a rocket... bang... the stuff I had been searching for so long just at the end of my fingertips. Incredible yet true beyond belief. I practiced headlessnes as my second nature day in day out just because it was there.

Gradually I sensed that it was only part of the story. I couldn’t figure out what I missed but headlesness seemed to float at the surface inviting you in, but not being the inside thing itself (something like that). I kept using it because it gives you the right direction straight away, you just can’t go wrong. Actually it gives you the shift from “normal” bodily presence to a less or non-bodily awareness.

I now have found out that it’s not only our head that we are missing, in actual fact we even have not a single part of our body at our disposal in our lives. Everything that we consider our body is actually absent in the presence of awareness. This makes it far more easy to remain in this natural condition. Please give me your thoughts on this matter. I don’t wish to underrate any of your work, it helped me tremendously, but I do feel having no body at all is nearer the truth than only having no head. H.V.

I originally read Head Off Stress this April and did the experiments for a few months afterwards, but coming back to them I feel like I am going much deeper. Last night, watching television, I seemed to be disappearing altogether. It was just the television being watched. Chris.

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