This is perhaps obvious, as so much here, but worth mentioning.
We can live from a direct noticing of our nature and what we are. (Capacity for our world, what everything to us happens within and as.)
We can live from our ideas about this.
And we can live from a mix of the two, and one more than the other at different times.
There is nothing wrong with this. It’s natural and innocent. And the images and ideas can be used as a springboard for a more direct noticing.
At the same time, it can be interesting and helpful to examine these mental images and ideas. As we do, they may lose their charge. We learn to recognize them. And we may learn to differentiate between our mental images and the actual direct noticing.
What are some of these mental images and ideas?
It may be awakening, oneness, love, capacity for the world, consciousness, awareness, and so on.
And how can we explore them?
There are many forms of inquiry we can use, either more spontaneous and organic, or more structured. Personally, I find Living Inquiries – a modern version of traditional Buddhist sense field inquiry – very helpful.