Sit and Do Nothing
Siéntate y No Hagas Nada
A gentle inquiry into the sense of "I," inviting you to rest as the effortless awareness that knows all experience.
Sit and Do Nothing
Just sit comfortably,
in a comfortable position where sitting comfortably does not require a lot of effort.
If possible, avoid any advanced yoga postures.
Noticing expectation
Notice any expectation, the sense.
Once we sit, once there's this decision to meditate,
the context of meditation,
notice the expectation of a certain kind of doing,
that now something needs to be done.
That is different.
And also if something needs to change or happen,
just from calling this meditation.
We could easily call this just sit and do nothing time.
It's not special.
One would not expect anything to happen by sitting and doing nothing.
Just noticing
And while we're sitting and doing nothing,
we can just notice, look at what is happening.
Noticing not with the objective of something happening once we notice.
Noticing just out of curiosity.
Just to see out of curiosity what is really happening,
to notice in every detail.
So if we hear a sound, the sound of a bird or sound of my voice,
instantly you notice there's a sound.
There isn't a lot of confusion.
It's clearly a sound.
It's clearly a bird or a voice.
Same with the sensation,
the sensation of the breath, the skin, the body,
there's a lot of clarity in the noticing of sensation.
The colors and shapes we notice in seeing,
especially with eyes open,
it's very clear that we are perceiving colors and shapes from sight.
Watching thought
But if we observe the thinking mind,
it often might not be so clear and obvious that you are thinking.
This is where sitting and doing nothing can be quite entertaining,
noticing our mind and thoughts.
Thoughts constantly appear to be reality, truth, what is really happening.
A thought about the conversation yesterday,
or a thought about the rest of the day or tomorrow,
will be experienced as the reality of life right now,
as opposed to noticing clearly.
This is a thought based on memory of yesterday.
Here's another thought about the day or tomorrow.
The thought I
And the heart of that confusion, where thoughts appear to be reality,
is the thought I.
I feel this or that way.
I think that later such and such will happen.
Tomorrow I need to...
So let these thoughts show up, let them appear naturally.
Notice that the center of all the narratives is the I thought.
You can even explore it explicitly,
just invoking the thought I,
engaging with that familiar reality of thinking I.
Notice what is this I thought referring to outside of the thought itself.
Is it referring to a sensation?
Is it referring to other thoughts?
What is it pointing to?
The thought of the hand: when I say hand, right hand,
right thumb, is referring to a specific sensation,
but the thought I, what is it referring to in your experience?
And so the question, who am I?
What am I?
Where am I?
What is I referring to?
Looking closely
You might find this inquiry a bit uncomfortable,
as if you were trying to look at something and simultaneously not wanting to see.
Directing attention towards an illusion, a confusion,
while trying to hide this illusion, preserve this illusion.
You look closely, you might notice I might be referring to a sensation.
There's also a sense of subjectivity here,
not there,
inside, not outside.
Hearing the sound, not the sound.
Hearing the voice, not the voice.
Feeling the chair, not the chair.
But localized here, not there.
The sounds clearly outside,
the sensations of feet inside but not totally, not fully I.
I hear sensation of feet there, inside but over there.
Where is I located?
They'll come closer to that location of I,
sitting in the chest, the head behind the eyes.
If some location, some sensation feels more like I,
the head, face, chest,
notice other sensations, for example your feet.
To understand how they are different,
why is one location, one sensation more I than the other?
What makes a sound outside and the feet inside?
How are they different?
Sensations in our feet.
Isn't it possibly, in a sense, all inside or all outside?
Keep noticing, stay curious, the nature of what you're calling I.
Where is this?
What is this?
Knowing itself
And notice that throughout, there's always exploration happening,
inquiry, observing, noticing.
There's an effortless happening.
Sounds are known.
Color, shape, sight is known.
Sensations are known.
The experience of thinking is known.
And in a sense it is one knowing.
There isn't a separate knowing that knows sounds, a separate knowing that knows thoughts.
There is just knowing.
It is effortless.
It is not done by I.
It is just reality.
It can be better named knowingness or beingness.
The thought I, the sensation, the thought I refers to, all of it.
No matter what is happening, this knowingness is here.
No effort is needed to recognize this.
It is what knows effort.
Nowhere and everywhere
And it is nowhere and it is everywhere.
It is not located.
Its knowingness is not here or there.
It is not before or after,
it does not come and go.
It is that to which experience comes and goes,
but knowingness does not come, does not go.
Letting I refer to knowing
The I thought habitually refers to the body,
the sensations and the thoughts of the person,
the narrative, past and future.
Instead, let this I thought refer to that absolute knowingness,
which is always here.
We have been calling a table a chair, and the chair called a table.
Confusion, calling the body and the illusions and imaginations of thought,
calling this I.
Let I be this:
absolute knowingness, the effortless knowing of all experience.
Storms come and go
And the body and the mind come and go,
but knowingness knows storms coming and going.
This knowingness is unbothered, unaffected.
If you can taste this, if you can resonate with what I'm pointing to,
you might notice the vastness.
Notice it is always accessible, always here,
more true and real than anything experienced,
more true and real than any state of the mind or the body,
any experience of pleasure or pain.
This knowingness has no needs.
It is what knows the sense of need.
It is not ever in pain.
It is what knows the sense of pain.
It is what knows the movement of thought,
the movement of pleasure and pain,
the movement of color, shapes and sounds and sensations,
always here, knowing what is.
It is what knows you,
what knows your mind,
what knows your past,
thoughts about the past, memories.
The same in you.