Hey, thanks for the question.
It seems like a tricky thing to grasp, what can do self-inquiry but a self that doesn’t exist?
So, what is going on?
Who is perceiving this writing?
Who is perceiving this writing?
Who is perceiving this question?
Who is writing this answer?
Who?
Who.
Is repetition working here?
How could it, when there is nothing to help?
So, as the question arose, and it probably needs a serious answer, let’s try it another way.
Cats.
Although I could choose any animal.
So, this morning, the neighbours' cat lay on my driveway behind my car. I don’t know why it chose that place, perhaps the stone floor was warm, or the car, the workshop, and the apple tree protected it from the weather.
The cat was sitting there. And I knew that I had to drive away soon, and it would need to move. So, I opened my door to leave and it said…
“What now? Can’t I sit here for five minutes without you needing to drive away?”
But of course, it didn’t say that. That is what a person would probably say but the cat simply moved and sat in the grass under the tree.
It feels the same warm sunlight, the same breeze, and wet grass that I feel but there’s something different going on… I am evaluating. The cat is experiencing.
It goes to sit under the tree. It just does it. There isn’t a head full of ideas going around - it’s not asking itself am I perceiving the tree right or am I hearing the sound of him starting his car correctly?
It simply hears and reacts.
It is not thinking of the moment, of mindfulness, of future anxieties, of enlightenment or ignorance. It doesn’t know any of this manmade nonsense. It just is. As is the rest of life, which is pootling around doing its thing.
So one must assume that you have been told to perceive sounds so that you can perceive what is perceiving. Or read it somewhere. I don’t know.
There’s no obstacle between the sound and the hearing, right? If I dropped something big and heavy behind you, and you weren’t expecting to hear one hell of a loud bang right then, you’d hear it and probably jump in shock. The sound was heard and the body reacted. Nothing in between the two. Nothing getting in the way. Then you are the same as the cat.
But there is a looking for a self, for a something that is looking, and something that is hearing. Or let me rewrite that:
There is a looking for a Self, for a Something that is looking, and Something that is hearing.
You may think there is a you hearing the sound and then enquiring into what that “you” is. And somehow, if you find it, or find that it isn’t there, you will be Enlightened.
But you are already enlightened. Well, there is no enlightenment. Because there is no you. How could no-you experience that? Ah but like the loud bang that didn’t have a personal you getting in the way, yet the experience of shock happened, Something is experiencing Experience but isn’t a self. Mmmm. But an idea of self? A life lived as a self? A self that evaluates? That is something extra, something the cat doesn’t have. And it seems to get in the way, right? That could be an obstacle. But what is it?
I said to the cat, “Hey cat, did you know…”
And the cat interrupted, “Sorry, what did you say, cat?”
“Yes, cat.”
It blinked.
And I blinked.
And Something that appears as me, and Something that appears as a cat, saw blinking.
And the Something made a sound, and the same Something heard it.
Looking and listening.
And life was like this for quite some time. Then thought appeared and began to get in the way. Then following thought, self appeared and seemed to mess things up. Yet, in all that time, nothing changed. Just shadows. Looking got interested in thought. Thought got interested in self. Self became interested in a whole world of things… until it heard about no-self. Then a thought liked the idea of no-self, and thought what must I do to perceive correctly? And it thought, I must practise lots of stuff.
And one day Thought said to Self, hey I don’t like this Something here, I want more of that Something over there. And the Self began to like that Something and not this Something. And Thought told it to get interested in the Whole World of Things. And the Whole World of Things wondered what this new thing Self was. Then one day Thought heard of no-self. And Thought said to No-Self, show yourself. I want to perceive you properly. And No-self didn’t say anything. And Thought tried harder. It told this No-self to stop hiding, and No-self still didn’t say anything.
And the cat said, “You think I am a cat what is That? Don’t you see I am the same You?”
“You are a cat.”
“Oh, really? I never wondered. Are you sure I am a cat? I never realised that I was something. What if I don’t believe you, what if I am not a cat but want to be a cat?”
“You would need to do some sort of method to eventually become more cat until you are 100% cat and are then awake to the fact.”
“Sounds like a lot of hard work for no-thing.”
“Yes.”
And Thought rather liked A Lot of Hard Work. A Lot of Hard Work loves being Busy. And Busy can’t really see much of Anything because it is too Busy. Then One Day came along and said no-thing. And Self died. Thought fell silent. And the Whole World of Things died. And no-self watched.
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