Sometimes I write “noticing our nature” and sometimes, “our nature notices itself”.
The difference may seem small but it’s crucial and significant.
So what’s the difference?
NOTICING OUR NATURE
When I write about “noticing my nature” I am intentionally using a language closer to conventional ways of talking about it. It’s a language that assumes a separate self noticing something.
The upside of this is that the language is more familiar to most people. And the downside is that it’s not all that accurate.
OUR NATURE NOTICES ITSELF
When I write “our nature notices itself”, it may sound less familiar and it’s also more accurate.
This is what’s happening. Our nature notices itself. Our nature notices itself as all there is. It notices the world as itself. Our nature notices the world as happening within and as what it is. Our nature notices this human self happening within and as itself, like anything else.
We can also say that love notices itself as all there is. Truth notices itself. Oneness notices itself as all there is.
CAN SEEM LIKE ONE, THEN THE OTHER
Initially, it may seem to us as if we notice our nature. There is still an idea here of a separate self noticing its nature. In reality, it’s our nature noticing itself and assuming there is a separate self here doing the noticing.
After a while, and especially if we keep exploring, there may be a shift. Here, it’s clear that it’s our nature noticing itself. Our nature is noticing itself as all there is, even if there is still (what a thought may call) a human self here in our sense fields. Any idea of a separate self is recognized as an idea, as something happening as a mental representation.
If there is still a sense of a separate self doing the noticing, how can we explore it?
We can notice that our nature is capacity for it as it is capacity for anything else. Our more fundamental nature is capacity. It’s what allows any experience, including of this human self and any sense of someone doing or observing.
We can notice that any content of experience happens within and as what we are, including this human self and any sense of someone who is a doer or observer. Our more fundamental nature is what it’s all happening within and as.
We can also explore how the sense of someone doing the noticing is created in our sense fields. We can notice how certain sensations and mental representations combine to create ths experience. We can rest in noticing the physical sensations making up the experience. We can then rest in noticing the mental representations. And this, in itself, tends to soften the mental “glue” holding the two together. It allows us to see through the illusion, even as it may still partially be here.
INITIAL OUTLINE
- Notice our nature vs our nature noticing itself
- truth, love, oneness etc
- Notices itself as all there is
- Notices the world as itself
- Notices the world as happening within and as what it is
- Notices this human self as happening within and as itself
- First – closer to conventional view, makes it seem as if this human self notices
- Then – notice it is our nature noticing itself, is simpler, even more obvious
Initially, it may seem to us as if we notice our nature. There is still an idea here of a separate self noticing its nature. In reality, it’s our nature noticing itself and assuming there is a separate self here doing the noticing.
After a while, and especially if we keep exploring, there may be a shift. Here, it’s clear that it’s our nature noticing itself. Our nature is noticing itself as all there is, even if there is still (what a thought may call) a human self here in our sense fields. Any idea of a separate self is recognized as an idea, as something happening as a mental representation.
If there is still a sense of a separate self doing the noticing, how can we explore it?
We can notice that our nature is capacity for it as it is capacity for anything else. Our more fundamental nature is capacity. It’s what allows any experience, including of this human self and any sense of someone doing or observing.
We can notice that any content of experience happens within and as what we are, including this human self and any sense of someone who is a doer or observer. Our more fundamental nature is what it’s all happening within and as.
We can also explore how the sense of someone doing the noticing is created in our sense fields. We can notice how certain sensations and mental representations combine to create ths experience.