How Do We Witness Non-Self?
Thoughts that claim 'I am real' cannot prove the ego's existence - we need direct experience of the not-Self, not circumstantial evidence like mental inferences.
How have we witnessed this not-Self? Do we have an experience of it? Or, is it all circumstantial evidence? Oh, I see some footsteps, therefore the abominable snowman must be real — like that? I see some anger, therefore there must have been a ‘me’ to produce that anger — like that? Is there circumstantial evidence or is there some real, actual, tangible experience of it? There was some light in the sky that didn’t look like a plane, so it must be have been an UFO. Is it like that? Is that the circumstantial evidence of the ‘me’? Or is there something like we have come face to face with this ‘me’? Then, how can we validate its existence?
Unless it comes as a thought….
By the arising of the thought? A thought comes, “Yes, yes, but I am very real. You may say I’m not real but I am very real.” A thought comes, like that. So, in the presence of the thought does it fully convey its reality? Suppose in this room you just heard a voice — we were saying the other day that “I want pizza with green olives”. Then, you heard a voice, so there must be somebody, no? Like that? So, the thought is not enough evidence to prove the existence of this Being, this separate Being or the ego.
Key Teachings
- The ego's claim 'I am real' arising as a thought is not sufficient evidence to prove its existence - it's like circumstantial evidence of footprints proving a snowman
- True validation of the non-self requires direct face-to-face experience, not indirect mental inference
- We must distinguish between actual tangible experience of the not-Self versus mere circumstantial evidence like seeing anger and concluding a 'me' must exist
From: I'm Inviting You Home, Where We Are One - 14th August 2020