There is no thinker of thoughts, only an observer
The biggest illusion is the subject object delusion. The self and the experience. There is just the experience.
Saccadic masking is a phenomenon that occurs when the brain blocks out visual information during rapid eye movements, in order to prevent motion blur.
Flow activities make us temporarily blind to the delusion of self. Meditation can also help us do this with more consistency.
The best moments are when there are no distance between us and the experience. Thought creates distance.
The default mode network is responsible for thoughts about the self. It upregulates when thinking about matters of self and identity.
Meditation and psychedelics suppress the default mode network.
When we’re watching a pretty sunset, we often are not truly present with the experience. We have layers of commentary. “I wonder how much real estate costs here.” “This sunset is great.”
There is a paradox where our thoughts say things to / ask things of ourself. We tell our self things as though there were two of us. We already know these things.
When we are able to quiet our thoughts we get access to more mind.
The thing many people are searching for is right beneath the surface. It’s not a trek like learning how to play piano or speak Chinese. It is available to us now if we’re able to see it.
If you investigate the illusion of the subject object duality in the right way, you can find what you’re looking for.
You are not the experiencer of the experience. You are the experience. Your mind tries to abstract you away from that.
Meditation is the practice of understanding the mechanics of attention that denies ourselves the unity of experience absent of the subject object duality.
Evolution is the womb we came out of.
Thoughts are emergent objects of consciousness. They are not “us.”
The suffering associated with a lot of pain he actually just the resistance to feeling it.
Learning how to feel sensations without layering storylines on top of them can vastly reduce the otherwise negative psychological impact of them. Recognizing anxiety as energy in your body rather than the idea of something that is wrong with you is a powerful reframe.