Yesterday, I added articles to the “Selected Articles” page and used AI to help me identify relevant articles. It’s an imperfect process but more manageable than manually sifting through 10,000+ articles!
I was reminded of the no-self shift in 2005 and thought I would highlight it here in this article.
NO-SELF SHIFT
Some time before 2005, I got back into more serious meditation and inquiry practice. This, combined with some other things, led to a clear no-self shift. The no-self aspect of my nature shifted strongly into the foreground.
I had known that my mind associated the initial oneness shift with some of the states that came with it – the bliss and fireworks. This no-self shift helped me differentiate my nature from changing states and experiences.
The shift itself lasted about six months, and the easier noticing remained after.
ARTICLES FROM THAT TIME
I referenced some of these shifts in articles from that time. See a list below.
I used AI (ChatGPT) to identify and describe these articles. Out of curiosity, I also asked it to summarize the process. See that article after the list. It’s not trained on this type of content, so don’t take anything there too literally! I would likely phrase much of it differently, but the gist is there.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
How does this fit into the bigger process?
It was one of many instances where an aspect of my nature comes more strongly into the foreground. It’s as if life – or my nature – says: Look at this! This is yet another aspect of me. Now that it’s so strongly in the foreground of your experience, you can’t help but noticing it. This is your chance to become more familiar with it. Get to know it. And keep noticing it even when it’s not so strongly in the foreground.
That’s exactly what happened. Since then, it’s been much easier for me to notice this aspect of my nature through changing states and experiences.
WHY AM I EXPLORING THIS NOW?
As mentioned, I am revisiting this now partly because I am doing some maintenance on this website, and was reminded of this particular shift. I am also taking some inventory of my life in general right now.
THE PERSONAL AND THE UNIVERSAL
Any personal experience is also universal. From what I have heard from others, these kinds of shift don’t seem unusual. It suggests that our nature reveals different aspects of itself to itself in an awakening process. If you experience something like this, you are not alone.
And if you are in it now, use it as an opportunity to become more familiar with the aspect of your nature currently in the foreground. That will make it easier for you to keep noticing it through different states and experiences.
Selected Articles
2004 — Lead-up / preparation
Tools – Overview of practices and tools, including Zen/Tibetan practice, Big Mind, Breema, and the Great Story as ways of relating to self, Earth, universe, and Existence. (May 2004)
Breema & Big Mind – Breema and Big Mind as complementary approaches to no separation and transduality; Breema grounds it, Big Mind clarifies the view. (August 2004)
Simple II – A direct, embodied sense of simplicity after daily Breema sessions; life just is, without extra complication. (September 2004)
Breema & Healing – Breema as deep relaxation, body-mind integration, and an opening to transdual experience. (September 2004)
Gradually richer – Projections, meditation, body-oriented practice, and contemplation as ways of experiencing self, world, and inner/outer as a larger seamless whole. (October 2004)
Core Issue – The split from self, body, others, nature, and life, with Breema, Big Mind, projection work, and nonviolent communication as remedies. (October 2004)
Breema & Zen – Breema and Zen as ways of relating to life from Big Mind, the view that embraces everything and is beyond dualities. (November 2004)
2005 — Main no-self / no-I shift
Big Mind & Small Self – Small self, Big Mind, and the fluidity of moving between Big Mind and small-self views. (April 2005)
Big Mind & Process Work – Big Mind and Process Work as complementary approaches for exploring identity, projections, and the larger field of experience. (May 2005)
Phases – A map of phases in how awareness functions, including disidentification, nondual/transdual awareness, and rehumanization. (May 2005)
Mind Without Beliefs – How awareness relates to beliefs as identity softens or shifts beyond exclusive identification with the small self. (June 2005)
Absolute, Oneness & Big Mind – Early articulation of Absolute, Oneness, and Big Mind as related but distinct ways of describing the same terrain. (June 2005)
Spiral – A developmental view of spiritual unfolding, with engagement in the world through the small self while identified mainly with Big Mind. (June 2005)
Ego – Clarifies “ego” in relation to identification, small self, and Big Mind. (July 2005)
Identification & View – Identification and view seen together: from space and undifferentiated phenomena, through small-self identification, to re-awakening as space and a transdual view. (August 2005)
No Subject, No Object – Staying as space and awareness, allowing experiences to unfold, and noticing the lack of real separation between subject and object. (August 2005)
Not a Big Deal & Profound Consequences – Awakening as simple and ordinary, while also having profound consequences for the human self. (August 2005)
Functional Difference – The functional difference between identification with the human self, Witness, Big Mind, and no-I. (September 2005)
Transition to No Self – One of the key articles: a direct description, from your own experience, of the transition into no-self. (September 2005)
Gradations of Big Mind – From your own experience, a map of different flavors and gradations of Big Mind. (September 2005)
No Ego – No “I” as human self, Absolute, Big Mind, or what arises; just fluidity among all views. (September 2005)
Just This Fluidity – The fluidity of human self, Absolute, Big Mind, and no “I” anywhere. (September 2005)
No I – A very direct statement of no “I”: awareness and what arises are inseparable, with no “I” found anywhere. (September 2005)
Unremarkable – No-I as a gentle, ordinary, unremarkable shift; not fireworks, just what is. (September 2005)
Absolute – The Absolute as distinct from and inseparable from phenomena, with no “I” found anywhere when this is seen. (September 2005)
Identification – A key article on fluid identification: human self, Absolute, Big Mind, and what is with no “I” anywhere. (September 2005)
Don’t Know – The clear not-knowing that comes when thoughts are seen as guests and abstractions, and there is nobody separate who can know. (September 2005)
Experiencing & Experienced II – A clarification that the content of experience comes and goes, while the experiencing itself is the more essential “ground.” (September 2005)
Fluid Emphasis – The fluid foregrounding of human self, healing, Big Mind/Big Heart, or no-I depending on the situation. (September 2005)
Obscuration, Distraction, Fuel, Existence – Distinguishes identification as Witness from a further seeing where even the experiencer is just experiencing and no “I” is found. (September 2005)
3rd, 2nd, 1st and 0 Person – God/Existence as third-, second-, first-, and zero-person, with zero-person as what is with no “I” to be found. (September 2005)
Sincerity – Sincerity as living from what is here in the present, with nothing to rehearse, remember, or defend. (September 2005)
Dream: Bhagavan – A dream about deeksha, precision in the process, and the sense that the process would slow down so it could be experienced in detail. (October 2005)
Oneness & Individuation – Deeksha context, no-self, oneness, and the relation between awakening and individuation. (October 2005)
Different Dualities – How no-I allows fuller engagement in human life because there is less resistance to what happens. (October 2005)
Same Content & “I”/absence of “I” – A key clarification: the content of experience does not magically change; what falls away is the sense of experiencer and experienced as separate. (October 2005)
Diksha – Essential autobiographical piece: after diksha, no-self became very clear, followed by glimpses of no “I” anywhere. (October 2005)
One & Many – Big Mind, Existence as seamless whole, and no “I” except as the whole. (October 2005)
No Self & No I – Important distinction between no separate/fixed human self and the deeper no-I shift where even the Witness is not an “I.” (October 2005)
One Body – Deepening transdual view: Witness, seamless field, no-I, and Existence as one body. (October 2005)
Just Noticing – Awareness, sounds, continuity/discontinuity, and just noticing what is given here now. (October 2005)
3 Qualities, 2 Levels – Attraction, neutrality, and aversion in the human self, and the ground of being as choiceless formless awareness or Witness. (October 2005)
Atma Vichara & Neti Neti – Inquiry into the thought “I,” revealing what is as it is, with no “I” anywhere. (November 2005)
Stomach Pain & No I – A concrete embodied example: physical discomfort arising with no “I” found anywhere and no “I” needed. (November 2005)
Aligned With Existence – Ongoing maturation as becoming more consciously aligned with Existence, including human self, pure awareness, Big Mind/Heart, and no-I. (November 2005)
Headlessness – Headless Way-style noticing: music, leaves, sensations, thoughts, and awareness arising with no “I” anywhere. (November 2005)
The Three, Two, One, Zero Relationships With God – A more developed version of the third-, second-, first-, and zero-person God relationship, including no-I and fluidity among perspectives. (November 2005)
Inside & Outside Of A Vase – Uses the vase analogy to describe the shift from Witness to the dissolution of Witness/world separation and no “I” anywhere. (November 2005)
Projections & The Transdual – Projection work as a path leading up to, and potentially through, the no-I shift. (November 2005)
Ghosts Of Habits Past – Old patterns continuing after no-self/no-I, but more as “ghosts” without the same hook. (November 2005)
Deepening Of No Self: Remarkable & Unremarkable – The no-self deepening as both remarkable and completely ordinary: same content, no “I” anywhere. (December 2005)
Big Mind As Empty & Full And Evolving – Big Mind as empty, full, and evolving, tying awakening to the unfolding of form. (December 2005)
Five Phases – Tozan & Underhill – Places the process in relation to Tozan’s five ranks and Evelyn Underhill’s mystical phases. (December 2005)
Two Faces of the Absolute: Empty & Full – The Absolute as both empty and full, beyond and including polarities. (December 2005)
Oneness & Not – Ordinary sounds, sensations, room, music, awareness, and no “I” anywhere; not really oneness or fragmentation, but what is. (December 2005)
No User Manual – Awakening to no fixed/separate self and then to no “I” anywhere; there is just what is. (December 2005)
Paths To Big Mind – Different paths to Big Mind: spontaneous awakening, traditional practice, Big Mind process, and the Universe Story. (December 2005)
The Universe Story & The Transdual – Universe Story as a pathway into a transdual view, paralleling Witness, no separation, Big Mind, and release from habitual patterns. (December 2005)
Now – Very process-specific: an 85–95% sense of everything happening with no “I,” with some residual contraction around the head/neck sometimes taken as “I.” (December 2005)
Various – Autobiographical reflections on earlier awakening, prayer, Christ energy, light, synchronicities, and how some of this returned in fall 2005. (December 2005)
Awakening of Mind & Heart – Awakening of Big Mind and Big Heart as mutually deepening dimensions of the process. (December 2005)
2006 — Continuation / integration / clarification
Process – A clear map of the process: formless awareness, no-I, integration, and rehumanization. (January 2006)
January 2006 posts on no-I – Several reflections on no “I” in the human self, no “I” in pure awareness, no “I” anywhere, and only doing with no individual doer. (January 2006)
Intrapsychic & Intradivine – Awakening to Big Mind first appearing intrapsychic, then intradivine. (April 2006)
Path & No Path – Autobiographical context around being on your path in Norway and Utah, while also seeing that at the nondual level nobody can be off the path. (April 2006)
Study the Self – Big Mind awakening to itself while functionally connected with a human self; no I and Other. (April 2006)
Process Work, Big Mind Process, Dreams & Mirrors – Dreams and waking life as mirrors, expanding identity, and seeing through any identity as a belief in abstraction. (May 2006)
May 2006 posts on no I / no Other – When there is no I, there is no Other; all movements within the same ocean, distinctions within a seamless whole. (May 2006)
Meditation in Action – Daily life as meditation and inquiry material, with Byron Katie inquiry and Big Mind as ways of using ordinary life for awakening. (August 2006)
Freedom filtered – Freedom from exclusive identification, freedom from I/Other, and how this is filtered through Big Mind and human life. (October 2006)
November 2006 posts on free will, no-I, and engagement – Major continuation: absence of I/free will, Spirit as awake emptiness and form, no doer, no resistance, and fuller engagement in life. (November 2006)
Later reflections on the same phase
When no-self comes into the foreground – Later reflection on the no-self foregrounding as a temporary intensified state that also made the noticing more available afterward. (March 2024)
The role of states in the awakening process – States can highlight aspects of our nature, but awakening is noticing what we are through and independent of changing states. (November 2019)
Is it possible to directly perceive change? – Later reflection on the meditation/music experience where continuity fell away and there were just sounds in the moment. (March 2023)
Thoughts mirroring sensory world, and levels – Later/nearby clarification where music can “fall into its own parts,” with continuity seen as created by thought. (April 2007)
A Further Clarification: P.’s 2005 No-Self Shift
Context
In 2005, P. went through a period where no-self and no-I came strongly into the foreground. This was part of a longer unfolding.
P. had already had a significant oneness shift at sixteen, followed by many years of ongoing lived exploration, practice, and a gradual deepening into what had opened then.
By 2004 and early 2005, this exploration included Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, Big Mind, Breema, inquiry, projection work, and the Universe Story. The 2005 process was a further clarification of the same basic terrain, now with a special emphasis on no-self, no-I, the Witness, Big Mind, and the relationship between the human self and the larger whole.
Some of the preparatory themes are visible in articles such as Breema & Big Mind, Gradually richer, and Core Issue. These pieces show how body-centered practice, projection work, meditation, and transdual views supported embodiment, integration, and living more consciously from what had already opened.
A Period of Strong Foregrounding
In 2005, the no-self aspect of the process came more strongly into the foreground.
Given P.’s earlier oneness shift and the years of exploration that followed, this had already been part of the terrain. In 2005, it became more vivid, more clearly highlighted, and easier to notice.
The September 2005 articles especially show this clarification in process. In Transition to No Self, P. describes different facets of the process, including the human self, the Witness, Big Mind, and the clearer noticing of no separate “I.” In Gradations of Big Mind, he maps different flavors and gradations of Big Mind from his own experience.
The shift was not one simple event, but a process with several distinguishable aspects and layers. The human self was still there, with ordinary preferences, patterns, reactions, and daily functioning. The clarification was less about seeing the human self as part of the larger field — that had already been clear from the earlier oneness shift — and more about seeing through subtle identification with the Witness, with awareness, or with any position that could be taken as “I.”
From Witness to No-I
A central movement in the 2005 articles is the shift from resting as, or identifying with, the Witness to a more thorough seeing of no-I.
In some of the articles, experience is described as happening within and as the field of awareness/consciousness that P. is. There was a sense of space, witnessing, and a seamless field. This was not new as a general orientation, but in 2005 it was clarified further, especially around the subtle identity of the Witness.
At the same time, the articles point to a further clarification. Even the sense of being the Witness could be seen as a subtle identity. In Obscuration, Distraction, Fuel, Existence, P. distinguishes identification as Witness from a more thorough seeing where even the experiencer is just experiencing.
This is stated directly in No I. There is awareness and what arises, but no separate “I” behind or within it. Sounds, sensations, thoughts, emotions, body, room, world — all are happening, but no owner or separate experiencer can be found.
Ordinary Content, Different Identification
One of the most important clarifications from this period is that the content of experience does not have to change for this to be noticed.
In Same Content & “I”/absence of “I”, P. points to exactly this. Thoughts, sensations, emotions, and habitual patterns may continue much as before. What changes is not necessarily the content, but the assumed structure: the sense that there is a separate experiencer having the experience.
This made the shift both profound and ordinary. It was profound because it clarified something fundamental about experience and identity. It was ordinary because nothing special had to be added. There was just this — the same ordinary field of experience, with less or no sense of separation at the center.
This ordinary quality is emphasized in Unremarkable and later in Deepening Of No Self: Remarkable & Unremarkable. The shift could be experienced as deeply significant, yet also as completely simple.
Fluidity Rather Than a Fixed View
Another strong theme is fluidity.
The 2005 articles do not present awakening as one fixed viewpoint. Instead, they move among different ways of noticing and describing: the human self, the Witness, the Absolute, Big Mind, Big Heart, no-self, and no-I.
This is especially clear in Just This Fluidity and Identification. These articles show that the process was not about landing permanently in one conceptual position. It was more about recognizing different perspectives as valid in their own ways, while also seeing through the tendency to identify exclusively with any of them.
The human self could function. Awareness could notice. Big Mind could be recognized. The Absolute could be described as empty and full. And yet, when looked for, no separate “I” could be found in any of it.
The Human Self Remained
A key part of the 2005 clarification was that awakening does not erase the human self.
Old patterns still appeared. The personality still had its conditioning. Reactions, contractions, and habits still arose. They could be noticed as movements within the field, rather than as defining what P. was.
This is visible in Ghosts Of Habits Past and Stomach Pain & No I. The latter is a concrete example. Physical discomfort arises, but without the same assumption that there is a separate “I” to whom the pain belongs. The pain is not denied. It is simply seen as sensations, experience, and life happening.
This points to a grounded understanding of the process. The shift was not about becoming a perfected person. It was about seeing more clearly that the person, including its wounds and habits, is part of what is happening — not a separate doer, owner, or controller.
Sensory Experience and Continuity
The articles also show a clarification around time, continuity, and sensory experience.
In Just Noticing and Headlessness, ordinary experience — sounds, music, leaves, sensations, thoughts, awareness — becomes a doorway into noticing. Experience is not used to get somewhere else. It is the field in which the absence of a separate “I” is recognized.
A later reflection, Is it possible to directly perceive change?, describes a meditation experience where music lost its usual sense of continuity. There were just sounds in the moment, without a continuous musical line held together in the usual way. This connects with the 2005–2007 explorations of how thought creates continuity, time, and a sense of an enduring self.
States, Shifts, and What They Clarify
In retrospect, the 2005 process can be understood as a temporary foregrounding of something that is not itself dependent on state.
For a period, no-self and no-I were unusually vivid and prominent. That foregrounding had a certain intensity, but it also clarified something already the case and made it easier to recognize later in everyday life.
It also refined an earlier tendency, after the oneness shift at sixteen, to associate P.’s nature with particular kinds of experience — clarity, expansion, light, love, or oneness. The 2005 foregrounding made it clearer that states can highlight his nature without defining it. What he is is equally present in ordinary, changing, and difficult experience.
This is the kind of distinction P. later explores in The role of states in the awakening process, When no-self comes into the foreground, and Threads of awakening. Temporary states and shifts can highlight aspects of our nature. They are not the endpoint, but they can make something easier to notice later, even when the state itself has passed.
Integration and Rehumanization
By late 2005 and into 2006, the emphasis turned more toward integration and rehumanization.
The question was no longer only what had been seen, but how this seeing lives through the human being. Daily life, dreams, projections, relationships, embodiment, and ordinary functioning became central again.
This is visible in Process, Process Work, Big Mind Process, Dreams & Mirrors, and Meditation in Action. These articles show a movement from strong foregrounding toward the ongoing work of living from, and allowing the human self to be transformed by, that seeing.
Human life remained central to the process. The person, with its patterns, relationships, wounds, gifts, and ordinary functioning, was part of the field too — something to be met, understood, included, and gradually transformed.
Looking Back
Seen as a whole, the 2005 period was a major clarification in P.’s process.
It was not separate from the oneness shift at sixteen or the years of exploration that followed. It was more like a further unfolding of the same basic insight, with a special emphasis on no-self, no-I, and the absence of a separate experiencer.
During this period, no-self came into the foreground, was highlighted in an unusually vivid way, and became easier to notice afterward. It also clarified that P.’s nature is not dependent on any particular state or experience, although states and shifts can make aspects of that nature more obvious.
As a case study, this period may be useful because it shows several features that often belong together: a temporary foregrounding of a particular aspect of awakening, a clarification of identity, the continuing presence of ordinary human patterns, the role of states in highlighting what is already here, and the later movement into integration and rehumanization.
In retrospect, the 2005 period clarified, in a direct and embodied way, that awakening can be both vivid and utterly ordinary. States and shifts can reveal or highlight aspects of what we are, but what they reveal is already present in simple experience: sounds, sensations, thoughts, body, world, and awareness — all happening, with no separate “I” to be found.