Right! Like, I don't actually know how I'm typing this. Thoughts arise, then intention, then impulse, and then my fingers just move. It's utterly mysterious.
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Replying to @Failed_Buddhist @iwelsh
Concentrating on volition is the most powerful way to go, imo. When you see that everything you thought *you* were doing is actually happening on its own, it shakes you to your core.
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Replying to @Failed_Buddhist @iwelsh
Though, if I were a teacher, I wouldn't recommend it to a beginner. If one doesn't already have good emotional self-regulation, it can be destabilizing. I suspect that shattering the sense of agency is even scarier than getting no-self, because it makes you feel totally helpless.
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Replying to @Failed_Buddhist @iwelsh
Also, apparently there are people who have allegedly gotten no-self that still somehow believe they have free of will. Which I just find completely bizarre. Who has free will, exactly? If you think you're choosing your thoughts, intentions, and actions, you're still confused.
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Replying to @Failed_Buddhist
it sometimes seems like one can "choose between". Even that is an illusion (on what basis do you choose?), but there can be this increased sense of freedom/choice because of the increased awareness.
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Replying to @iwelsh
If you're deliberating between a number of options, you may spend a lot of time going back and forth, reasoning this way and that. This makes the illusion more vivid. Of course, at the moment of action, it's all the same. People just don't pay attention to the actual process.
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Replying to @Failed_Buddhist @iwelsh
Philosophical arguments against free will don't often convince people either, because of the felt sense of freedom. "But why do I *feel* free?" Well... same reason you feel tired, or cold, or itchy, or anything else. It's just a feeling.
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Replying to @Failed_Buddhist
The realization that everything is just a sense object is both scary and freeing. And the chapter is finished - concentration, mental power and equanimity: then loving kindness and insight -- doing/is it me.
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Replying to @iwelsh
It's really hard to describe it to people. You wanna just be like "dude, just look!", but that's unhelpful. We need techniques that are both powerful and easy for secular or otherwise non-woo people to digest and understand the logic of. Looking forward to reading it.
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Replying to @Failed_Buddhist
I can send you the two chapters in question if you like. I could use a check from someone with some realization/practice.
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