u/Anima_Monday

If you are having trouble focussing on experience as it is, because there seems to be something in the way, like the self or your own concept or idea of what you are focussing on seems to be in the way of your attention to something (especially the attention to the experience of something as it is occurring in the moment):

You make an exact mental copy of what you are focussing on / being mindful of.

You make this exact copy have the exact same details as what you are focussing on, same shape, same size, same colours/sensations/sound, same location in the field of experience, changing in the same way, arising when it arises, changing when it changes, passing when it passes, everything the same.

This exact copy then becomes indistinguishable from the actual experience, it dissolves into it, and you are left with direct experience, with nothing in the way, and with a focussed attention on the target experience.

Once you get used to how it is done, you can do it in a more flowing way with whatever experience takes the attention at the time and moving from one sense object/experience to another freely in this way. It is a way of accessing and staying on direct experience as it simply is. I guess what it is doing is making the concept of something exactly match the actual experience of it, then the concept turns transparent/dissolves and is just bare attention at that point, pure receptivity.

I came across this through my own experimentation, though I would imagine it must have been discovered before and must be part of some system already as there is not much that is truly new in meditation and mindfulness given that they are thousands of years old with many different ways of doing things, so has anyone heard of anything similar and if so, which practice, tradition and or teacher?

If you are having trouble focussing on experience as it is, because there seems to be something in the way, like the self or your own concept or idea of what you are focussing on seems to be in the way of your attention to something (especially the attention to the experience of something as it is occurring in the moment):

You make an exact mental copy of what you are focussing on / being mindful of.

You make this exact copy have the exact same details as what you are focussing on, same shape, same size, same colours/sensations/sound, same location in the field of experience, changing in the same way, arising when it arises, changing when it changes, passing when it passes, everything the same.

This exact copy then becomes indistinguishable from the actual experience, it dissolves into it, and you are left with direct experience, with nothing in the way, and with a focussed attention on the target experience.

Once you get used to how it is done, you can do it in a more flowing way with whatever experience takes the attention at the time and moving from one sense object/experience to another freely in this way. It is a way of accessing and staying on direct experience as it simply is. I guess what it is doing is making the concept of something exactly match the actual experience of it, then the concept turns transparent/dissolves and is just bare attention at that point, pure receptivity.

I came across this through my own experimentation, though I would imagine it must have been discovered before and must be part of some system already as there is not much that is truly new in meditation and mindfulness given that they are thousands of years old with many different ways of doing things, so has anyone heard of anything similar and if so, which practice, tradition and or teacher?

The four common mistakes and their fixes demonstrated here with pressure testing, in this case against a larger partner/opponent, are the following:

1. Raising the elbows vs dropping the elbows
2. Locking the joints vs keeping at least a little bend
3. Twisting the shoulders further than the hips vs keeping shoulders aligned to hips/kua
4. Kua (hip joint crease) pushed forwards vs kua relaxed down and back

Partner pressure testing demonstration starts around 2 minutes in, before that it might look a bit hit and miss with the dog moving around in front trying to get her attention, but give it a chance (or skip to two minutes directly) and it is a good video to demonstrate the how and why of some essential points of structure and movement. Yes, this is the teacher who did some random no touch video which I posted about recently wondering why she did that, and the reason I was surprised about that particular video is because her instruction quality is usually very high and in alignment with the principles and classics, as can be seen here.

There is definitely a practice but there is also a point where there is no practice, both of these are true, and this can alternate like a cycle over periods of time, from practice being necessary to practice being effortless so basically no practice.

It has to do with how correct practice shifts the sense of center from ego self to awareness, at which point, effort is not necessary, at least for a while as it may shift back to ego self, at which point some type of effort, albeit often a subtle sort, is needed again.

The practice is really simple. You consciously do (or at least try to do) what awareness already does. You do this by unconditionally being aware of what is. Like the present experience in the senses and mind, just being aware of this without condition. In other words, you experience what simply is, and do so without condition. If there are conditions on awareness, then you unconditionally be aware of them. Conditions on awareness are basically what the ego self and its habits are. If ego self resists just being aware of what is without condition, then you be aware of the patterns of this resistance and do so without condition. This sets the 'conditions' for awareness of awareness, and you realise awareness is already occurring and effortlessly so, and that you are not separate from it and in fact it is your essential self nature. In trying to be aware, and doing so unconditionally, you realise that you are already doing it, so you don't really be more or less aware, but you bring it into focus and realise you are it, in the most essential way. This is the point when you naturally let go into it and effort to practice becomes redundant.

If the sense of center ever shifts back to the ego self, which it can do for various reasons, then you restart the process of consciously doing (or more accurately 'trying to do') what awareness already does, and eventually the sense of center shifts back to awareness. Over time of earnest practice, there is less time spent with the ego self as center and more time spent with awareness as center, so less and less effort, even subtle effort, is needed. There can indeed be sudden awakenings, but there is also a definite gradual 'progression' that happens alongside them.

So the essence of the practice can be seen as a shift of the sense of center, from ego self to awareness.

Maybe a no AI, and no self-promotion (no posting links to products and services oneself has made to advertise them) and also a no scams rule. So that is 3 rules which would help this sub especially given some of the recent posts of this nature, unless the rules are there and I cannot see them for some reason in which case maybe make them more visible.

It is suggested in the course I just did to use a separate email address for testing purposes. It is one of the first courses in the academy.

Do I use this email address as my Utest email address, or do I use my own personal one for Utest and the separate email is for if I need to create an account during a testing assignment?

In the course I just completed it is unclear to me if it is one or the other or both.

A koan is a reflection which has no proper answer in words, which is designed as a tool to go beyond dependence on concepts at least for a while, and experience 'what is' directly.

The quadruple negative is basically the following formula:

not A + not B + not both + not neither

This can be applied to many different things and can assist in the experience of a state of non-dual awareness, i.e. a 'doing nothing' or 'just being', 'practice of no practice' type of meditation.

An example of a koan like this would be asking the following to oneself, no need to ask aloud, just in the mind:

'What doesn't exist, doesn't not exist, and not both, and not neither?'

...

I am considering signing up as a tester but have not done so yet.

The questions that are currently on my mind after reading the terms and conditions are as follows.

There is a clause about not having any special setup regarding network connections and there is another part or perhaps a separate clause about only using industry standard security software.

On my Windows 10 computer which I intend to use for Utest if I sign up, I have the following network setup: Normal ISP IP (no VPN), DNS is set to Quad 9 for the main reason that it has DNS security block-list and is proven to provide a good level of protection in this regard. I have it set both device level and browser level as browser level offers another layer of security with DoH.

Regarding security that does not relate to network settings, I have Windows Defender on that device as I see it to be just as good as most other industry standard security software, Windows is receiving ESU and is up to date, though I am running 0patch on the machine as that is what I intend to use when Windows 10 ESU period ends, though maybe by then I will be able to afford a windows 11 machine but I do not have one at the moment. The 0patch thing I expect might not be considered industry standard but it defends against 0 days and in my understanding complements Windows Defender as it patches some things that Defender and Windows updates do not and sometimes other things more quickly.

So my question is will they allow this (non ISP dns for security enhancement, no vpn, running windows defender and 0patch), because the clause in the terms and conditions document does not give a detailed list of what is allowed and what is not, as far as I have understood with a thorough as possible read through.

Also a question if I can have Firefox security set to strict or do I need to keep it on standard.

I ask because I wish to meet the terms and conditions while also keeping the device as safe as possible and testing is one of those things which could be risky for the testers apps, OS and device, so what is the highest level of security I am allowed to have?

The self that exists relatively, of course exists, but only relatively. This means it exists relative to other things. If there was nothing for it to be relative to, it would not exist, but of course there is plenty for it to be relative to, such as situation, things, people, perspective, perception and so on. This allows for practical interaction and communication. It has its purpose and it is not a problem as long as we understand it to be a relative construct and nothing more.

...

But what is self ultimately?

Many might say that ultimately there is no self, as the self is a thought construct. That is as helpful as it is unhelpful, as both self existing ultimately and self not existing ultimately are thought constructs, therefore relative.

Perhaps the closest way to put ultimate reality into words regarding the self is the following:

There is not self. There is not no-self. Nor is there both. Nor is there neither.

...

So, it could be said that ultimate reality is the seeing as relative of anything that is posited by cognition. Cognition has its practical purpose relatively, but it can only ever reflect relative truth, truth up to a point and relative to other things. Of course, the above reflection applies not only to self, but to any person, being or thing, physical or non-physical, common or uncommon, 'outer' or 'inner', from the senses or the mind.

I am looking for side gigs that have promise of making more than 20 dollars/pounds/euros a week. Something that is possible to bring in a 100 or more per week on average is ideal.

I have been considering digital, remote QA crowdtesting websites/companies, though I have not signed up for any yet as I read the terms and conditions and then realize that they appear to have datamining and monetizing of the workers' data as a large part of their business model, or that they state multiple reasons in the terms and conditions or a link within the terms and conditions where they can actually take/request/demand money from the worker and the amount they can take and specific examples are not properly disclosed. Or that they have too many negative ratings on trust pilot with too many disgruntled ex workers saying they got banned and did not get paid and a lot of the time they don't find out why.

So I was wondering if anyone has had any positive experiences with these types of companies and if you have any that you would recommend to a new starter in this line of work. I am willing to do training on a company's own website if it is available to level up before doing paid work.

A lot of nondual-ish meditation teachers and practices teach awareness is the witness and that everything else is not it.

This is dualistic. Not only that, it is, in my experience at least, untrue. I can only speak for myself here of course, so feel free to share your experience and thoughts on the matter.

Having given a very good run to abiding as witnessing awareness practices, they never felt completely natural and there was always a level of contrived effort to them.

I happened by my own exploration of experience in meditation and otherwise to realise that awareness and experience are in fact the same 'thing'. I use 'thing' here because words fail at this point.

The point is that experience is awareness, and awareness is experience, not conventionally of course but ultimately. Not 'esoteric', 'far away' ultimately, but ultimately as in what is as it is in this immediate moment. I can honestly say that I have never had one without the other. Even if there is an experience of a degree of lack of experience it is still an experience of some type. A more subtle type of experience like that which happens in meditation and deep relaxation sometimes.

But one does not need to do anything special to have a direct experience of awareness because it is literally each and every thing that one is and is experiencing in every moment in the five senses and mind, aka the field of awareness.

The issue arises when you take anything in that field of awareness as it simply is in this moment, and believe, in a way that is more than a practical and relative one, that 'this is me', 'this is mine', 'this is who/what I am'. That is because it is dependent on conditions being a certain way, conditions which are bound to change.

Relative, aka conventional self is of course necessary to function properly and relate to others, so it is not a problem in itself, but it is relative, subject to change due to conditions, including the conditions of perception, perceptive and situation.

Ultimate self is not separate from that but what is known as the other side of the same coin. It is experience-awareness, or awareness-experience. Not one or the other as they are not actually separate things. Also not a specific type of awareness nor a specific type of experience.

Anyway, that is what I have to say here but feel free to provide your feedback on the matter.

This is not for a study and I have posted in this sub before. I think that people are likely to have their own take on this so that is why I am asking. I know what I would say but I am looking for your answers here.