Awakening | It's Always About No-Self

A viewer requested a video about anatta. Anatta refers to the realization of No-Self. It struck me that every video I make and every talk I give actually is about no-self. In this video I go into the reasons behind this and point to some of the aspects of no-self realization.
This realization typically follows the realization of the non-dual nature of all phenomena, however it is often missed as the shift is a subtle (but important) one.
Background: Space Nebula - bit.ly/2r2rvgc

[@_PL_]

_"There's nowhere to hide, there's no longer an inner world to escape to."_ That's really the crux, isn't it? So many claim to be terrified of not existing after death, but this is a misdirection of the terror of recognizing one already doesn't exist now, and never has. The sense of an inner life is the buffer protecting one from this terror, while simultaneously maintaining it. Such a fascinating charade!

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Indeed, there’s also the bizarre conundrum that the fear of not being is about disappearing out of everything but simultaneously disappearing INTO everything! It sounds odd but on occasion someone will get a full on experiential taste of “there is only one” early on and it can be quite terrifying. “No other” or “I AM alone.” It’s still a subtle misperception but to the intact ego it’s quite unsettling.

[@_PL_]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Yes, so true. When there's still a mediating influence happening, the deeper reality that's glimpsed is refracted through the selfing lens and interpreted as a threat. What's so intriguing is that the "one" who's feeling threatened is the problem. It's hard, if not impossible, to conceive of one's own absence as being an even fuller presence. Your way of talking about this stuff comes probably as close as possible to conveying a hint of it in words.

[@alecsansone8441]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Angelo, I think I have experienced this (What you are describing as I AM alone, and got really scared about Solipsism) on psychedelics before and it left me feeling really afraid for quite some time. Since reading your book and listening to you I have felt a lot of fear fall away, yet I do realize it still exists at times. Though I also consciously want to wake up and follow this "path". I know that what I am looking for is right here, and isn't actually a path. That there is nothing to look for. That is just the seeking tendency. I inquire everyday. May I ask, to you someone who is awake, and experiences no-self, what am I to you? And not just specifically me, but anyone commenting here or finding your work? Are we just all one thing? And I find myself perplexed to see you and identify you as Angelo. Yet you also don't seem to have a self, yet you navigate (at least from my perspective) as if you do. You seem just like anybody else. Is this all just tricks of my mind and thoughts, because I am still so identified with a sense of self and other? I understand that this is all so paradoxical and my explanation (thoughts of course) is that you both have no-self and an embodied self. That you are both Angelo and not. I know this is all just mind stuff, and I know that the more I learn from you the more I find my fear dropping and my passion for this increasing. Thank you Angelo.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

@@alecsansone8441 yes it’s tricky to talk about for sure. No matter what I say, thoughts will put it together in a way that is inaccurate. That’s just the nature of thoughts. So generally I’m disinclined to describe in detail what it is like for “me.” I’d rather point you to your own deepest truth which will ultimately bring you beyond what you take yourself to be and only then will it be exquisitely clear. The ability to function in a conventional sense, speak in terms of I and you etc, remains intact. There’s just nothing behind it. There is only vivid appearance, but no observer. And every “thing” is made out of that. Even the appearances can be experienced as aggregate components and then it gets even harder to talk about. I think you’re in a good place, just keep on with inquiry and this will all clarify more and more. What is self? What is other? Where does self meet other? Where does hearing meet sound? Where does sound meet sensation?

[@ravanti5780]

Yes, and the crux of it there never was a place to hide, its always been just this except i wasn't ready to accept this, it couldn't be at any other place. I now know that all suffering is a resistance to this present moment, not that i can always accept it, much adieu about nothing

[@user-xn1en4mn2n]

I cannot stop watching this video.

[@ejackpete3]

Superb! The absence of any unifying center or central perceiver allows all phenomena to appear sequentially with no phenomena belonging to “anyone”. Even the thought “I am” or “me” are as impersonal as the sounds of a bird’s chirping.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Well said!

[@MikeB-lm6yw]

Hi Angelo, at seven minutes, you say, "You've never seen anything that suggests there is a self." A couple of thoughts come to mind in response to this statement. One is that the experience of someone looking at you - especially when you make eye contact - implies a self that they are looking at and acknowledging the presence of. The other is that the experience of looking around a room or landscape- especially when moving your head - implies a focal point at the center - a perceiver.

[@claudelebel49]

Your volume is a bit on the low side. I am maxed out and would go a little louder.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Ok thanks for letting me know

[@thegoblonoid]

I love the idea of you teaching non duality on youtube, while just casully floating through a multiverse of strange dimensions like it's nothing.

[@Gottfried1983]

The remanence of our identity don't hide in our perception, they literally create our perception.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Indeed

[@cookiemonster9276]

Keep these coming doc!

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

You got it!

[@cooperthecockapoo3242]

Yet there's constant feedback that the body is always there. I have wondered since childhood how "I" ended up in or aligned with "there". I still can't untangle that. I'm having a lot of anxiety at times now and wonder if I should push through or do nothing.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

The attachment to the body drops away with no self and with that suffering ends. (To put it simply). The key is to integrate the sensory experience (not distance awareness from it), while noticing that the body is a set of mental images that are habitually “stuck” to various sensory experiences although they are not actually the same thing.

[@sugarshane619]

Until one reaches the first bhumi, even when one sees there is no self that they can find, there is still the most subtle of mental obscurations. The ‘I am’ obscuration. It’s the last to go.

[@Asura-j7o]

How is no self revealed? This is what awakening is all about I guess and nobody can do it. Can you push me over the edge please?

[@sleepywoodelf]

There's already no self. The idea that there's some change or transformation to make is an illusion. Self doesn't make any sense. Just pay attention. A practice like noting is useful, especially paying attention to impermanence.

[@markgilboy4361]

Hey brother, your videos are superb, I have them on my Iphone and listen in Gym and car. I am a 51 year old male and struggled with a stutter since the age of around 13. It would be amazing if you could do a video on how to accept and possibly dissolve this behaviour. Much love

[@stoicafanel]

Well,,,fine,,,Impersonal Love there îs,. ,,,,,,and I thought that You love Me,,!,,,,

[@Crash-Rest-Yummy]

I like how u made it sound very clear, that's pretty hard to do :) good job.

[@Asura-j7o]

I would love to hear a guided meditation about no self from you.

[@joerocket1977]

Sort of smacks of nihilism to me. If one is look at the universe in a “non dualistic” way then yes there is no “self”. I assume we are speaking of a pantheism . Even so there is still knowing, even if the knower can’t be separated or made indistinguishable from all that is known. The point of my ramble is we are all part of process that is both unimaginably miraculous and perhaps horrifying at the same time. You can throw in any other adjective you like because this reality is all that there is or ever will be. Even if the entire universe is a mental construct, does that diminish it in the least? I don’t mean to go on a rant. I think anyone who watches your channel would agree there is knowing happening. Who or what is doing the knowing is another question. Is there any degree of separation between our personal experience of the self or the entire universe. I don’t know. It certainly feels like I have an I or more correctly am an “I”. As does everyone. Plato was correct in saying that consciousness is the value decider. The knower has always been selecting for perceived value. Humans are absolutely terrible at discovering absolute truths, at least in one human lifetime . But we are discovering truths (maybe not absolute truths but truths that keep the darkness at bay). Things are headed somewhat in the right direction, as long as we can keep finding the value in avoiding nuclear Armageddon or poisoning ourselves with petrochemicals. Sorry, that was a rant. It’s my belief there is nothing nihilistic about Buddhism. Reality might come with a disclaimer “all objects and persons within this universe may not be real, but their perceptions certainly are”

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

I agree that there is nothing nihilistic about Buddhism. Nor is the experience of non-dual realization nihilistic in the least. However a central tenant of tenet of Buddhism is no self :)

[@josephschulz5256]

It does amaze me how you try to listen to the reality of his talks and at the same time he play the non reality of those stupid sounds in the background. It is definitely very distracting.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

The annoyance with sounds is your entry point :)

[@0ldGrowthTree]

My man.

[@mat.se57]

Great comment 🤝

[@chadkline4268]

Good, intriguing. Too bad that we don't have an easily accessed ability to experience what we want, and seem to be glued to a presentation of reality that is not a channel we care to view. Too bad we can't change the channel. We're stuck whether enlightened or not it seems. I think you said that. The only difference is fully immersed or not immersed? Btw, do you have anything to say about a form of tinnitus that is a combination of listening to a sea shell and a ringing that is so high pitched that it is nearly inaudible?

[@breezy8131]

This is close. You're almost there. What you're saying is basically just the ancient philosophy of Advaita Vedanta (i.e. non-dual), though worded differently. There are an abundance of amazing lectures on YT about Advaita Vedanta that can help put together the missing pieces of this. Bless you

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

I think you have that backwards. Advaita Vedanta points very thoroughly and clearly to non-dual realization. Tho it doesn't point to no-self that I've seen. If you have a reference in the Upanishads for it pls post it here I'd love to see it. Or name it in comments. Not saying no Advaitan has ever realized no-self I'm sure many have, but it's not written about in the doctrine that I've seen.

[@SuperManorcat]

This is so right on and open. For sure, no self is always there in your videos - those pauses are ripe and beautifully potent and natural. And the sense that this is the case. It compels confidence. A question about "manufactured" presence. I spoke with Sailor Bob last week and he was very sweet and direct and clear. So ordinary. All my questions were like wooden blocks in my mouth, next to that clarity. Mostly I went for the eyes and let it take that in as itself. Wow. Afterwards, it became clear to me that I had been manufacturing a "state" of expanded attention on and off for years. Stretching attention out somehow by a subtle forcing and dressing it up as presence. Some habitual meditation-doing that I'd rest in. When that became evident to me, when the effort to keep that up dropped, that wide-open-what-is-it?-space inside space thing / not a thing was just waiting there. Like always. Like I'd misplaced it for eons. Stately and nothing. I guess I was doing what the texts warn. Don't Manufacture! Is this common? And now that it's been seen, is there anything much to do with? The entity arises in those spirals of thought you speak of - but it's slipping. It's seen that the entity is nothing but those thoughts, nowhere actually here along with me making comments about my life. But the rapid reconstituting of its form is a force of nature! When the open space is settled and the entity is fully seen through - isn't that where this really begins? Besides this right here, of course. So currently, just resting in longish formless sessions with minimal manipulation of experience. Letting lose the chronic meditation evaluations and years of training in it. My instinct is to slowly and organically bring in an easy relaxed Inquiry to get some clarity on this separate guy that hasn't quite dropped away. The openness is clear. The naturalness and flow is clear as it arises. The not two, subject object closeness is pretty clear. But the one who sees it has deep roots, so says the thought! Anything come to mind that might be appropriate to do, or not do?!! Your on a roll with these videos, sir! Absolutely a great benefit. Mind if I share on FB?

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Nice! This is what I call natural meditation. It’s very hard to describe “doing nothing” until it hits you over the head eh? 😂😂. It’s not a technique and it’s always there. It’s not separate from life. Just this. And yes any subtle inquiry now can arise from that knowing of not manufacturing :). Life is very simple.

[@SuperManorcat]

​@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Yes, and that simplicity is so needed. Would love to see a video of you working with one of your students. It would be very helpful for people to see a dialogue with you, me thinks... Cheers!

[@rulamazigi5839]

[Reality is…] “a statement of what’s not here.” That is beautiful. Question: It’s self evident that I Am by virtue of beingness that is known. I know this can’t be explained, but I’ll ask anyway haha There may not be a separate listener etc…but sound is known. Regardless of having no referent, without the knowing element of experience where is experience? Are you saying that ultimately Being is without knowing?

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

yes, being is not contingent upon knowing at all :)

[@rulamazigi5839]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake I mean Knowing as that which is aware. I don’t mean knowing as a subject of an objective experience. I don’t mean knowing knowing, or awareness of being aware …all sentient beings are experiencing (aware) regardless of the apparent object of awareness or whether they are aware of themselves being aware. In other words, isn’t Knowing (not conceptually) & Being inseparable? Aren’t they one & the same?

[@evglenka1]

Is it ok to say that the ears hear the sounds?

[@shawnosborn8887]

There is nothing you know

[@gloriahallelujah1118]

One into the other into the other.. I’ve been experiencing exactly this lately …

[@stoicafanel]

About my previous comment,,,,I was kidding ,,,Why ?!,,because îs it a huge ,,subiect,,. ,,,which i know Nothing about it ,,,but it îs very familiar,,,,,I just pointing to ,,,Love ---No self,,,. No offens,,,!

[@Ballsmasher69420]

Hey Angelo, I know what you're talking about, it's easy to see and it's scary to live it. There are only perceptions without a perception of a perceiver. It's like a full on movie with someone plugged in into this simulation from an actual world. The one perceiving isn't there and thus what is are only perceptions. That's very clear, tho there's more to it, because seeing it doesn't mean living it.

[@TPot1222]

When one relays a story of suffering or whatever and is invited to go deeper by being asked “who is it that is suffering” is this pointing to no-self realization or maybe something more accessible?

[@SnakeAndTurtleQigong]

Huzzah for life!! 💙😂🌈

[@Mevlinous]

That moment it’s seen no one’s in the driver seat, absolute terror for the body. I never quite understood those videos you had of the spaceman drifting in space, but I get it now.

[@Mevlinous]

The end of me was in a sandwhich…. Fucking hilarious

[@Mevlinous]

I swear my 10 month old could tell, she looked right at me and just couldn’t stop smiling.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

@@Mevlinous that’s awesome, and I know exactly what you mean by that ❤️

[@Mevlinous]

No ghost in the machine, slightly disappointing but it’s just how it is.

[@radaztraci1830]

I listened twice, first time while on yoga mat stretching not recognizing how "in the body" and not present that is..and the second time looking straight into you the whole time. The second time made me realize how much I don't absorb of your pointing (and life) when I'm "in my body". Thank you AD!

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Welcome :))))

[@freeman669]

❤️

[@korneliaheidegger3116]

😍😍😍

[@TheMalaineGabel]

Where is God in all of this? I find relationship with God brings me to a state of peace and grace, my true self perhaps?

[@sumuduwijenayake2353]

The explanations are so clear. Thank you.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

You’re welcome ☺️

[@stoicafanel]

,,,,,,,,,even with No Self,,îs still something missing,,!,,,what îs it?,,that îs all?

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Nothing missing. Tho after no-self the energetics can be quite intense and can take time to settle

[@pignut9361]

Hi there. Do you think it is possible to head straight for this final ‘realisation/seeing’ of no-self without prior ego deconstruction, meditation, self-enquiry or ‘awakening experiences’? I mean, one can either pull a plaster off a wound slowly and prolong the discomfort, or one can just rip it off swiftly and get it over with asap. In this respect, isn’t it best to just pull the rug out from under the ego and shock the bugger into seeing its own non-existence and then deal with the fallout afterwards? I would be interested to hear your thoughts, and Thankyou for all the videos you post, I’ve recently discovered your channel and the way you explain these topics are clear and concise 👍

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

I don't. Well anything is possible sure, but I've never seen it nor have I met anyone for whom it happened all at once.

[@pignut9361]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Cool thanks for the reply, I have ordered your book and look forward to reading it!

[@thepretiso]

I think this is what happened to Ramana Maharishi in his 16 years instantly without any spiritual knowledge (expect Hinduism through his childhood). But he also said that he had his enlightenment journey in previous lives. Anyway you can have this "experience" of no-self with hallucinogen drugs, but it won't last and sometimes it is quite tricky to interpret if it's still the mind or not.

[@stoicafanel]

I have to get use to it,,,,!

[@LDRester]

Excellent

[@TheWizard10008]

FYI: the volume is super low.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Thx!

[@rbc812]

If I manged to get rid of "self" then what will happen to my life?

[@aureliafox2924]

Endlessly. 🫥