The mind always wants to make something of what is observed. The I claims that it knows.
But the I is not real. It is a cluster of feelings and thoughts. It does not exist, it is only an electrical current in your body.
It claims things and rejects things.
Everyone looks at and examines the observed "reality". But no one looks at what that I actually is.
And so we remain trapped in an identity, with all its consequences.

I'm not saying that feelings don't exist, I'm saying that they're not real.
Of course you have thoughts and feelings, I'm saying that you are not your thoughts and feelings.


When someone becomes aware of that, it's a very subtle shift from being identified with feelings and thoughts to witnessing consciousness.
And it's not difficult at all.

Being identified is difficult. Because then you're right or left and you have conflicts, you have an opinion about everything, etc. etc. etc. etc.

They are not yours, they are largely collective and come from your upbringing and previous experiences and they are also culturally determined.

But you experience them and you are responsible for them. You can never blame the other for your feelings.

They are certainly not a good foundation to build something on. I am curious what you mean by that exactly.


The difficult thing about witness consciousness is that when you go into it, the consciousness sees everything that is in your system. So that all the feelings that you have put away, frozen energies that they wake up. And that is very uncomfortable in the beginning.

But then you no longer feed them, and they extinguish.
Now we live a life of consuming and numbing. Thinking is also numbing because you then produce all kinds of substances such as endorphins, gamma-aminobutyric acid and anandamide.

A nice movie to watch is The Shawshank Redemption. He is imprisoned with fellow prisoners. The others are used to prison and are someone there. An older man is released but he had become accustomed to prison. When he is released he cannot settle and commits suicide.
The main character however, does everything to get free when he notices that they want to keep him there forever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLl99DlL6b4

I compare crawling through the sewer pipe with becoming aware of all the suppressed and frozen feelings when you stop the wheel of thinking and feelings. It takes a lot of spirit (soul power) to crawl through such an enormously long, stinking sewer pipe full of nuts.
But then you are free!

Nice an American expression I had to google that.

Question... what is more grounded, being in your head and letting yourself be carried away by your feelings, or being centered and focused on being?

And who sees this thoughts and feelings?
If you can see it, it's not you.

There is only one.