| | First of all: What the heck is it? Is it possible to define awareness without using the word awareness? I've investigated it thoroughly on the cushion and in daily life, and all I can really say is that awareness is awareness. Does anyone else have any insights on this?
This sort of leads into me into my second question. Is it a worthwhile practice to try to be aware of awareness, witness the witness, or watch the watcher. I've tried doing this several times when deeply concentrated, but it's thus far been too slippery an object to actually focus on. (I actually had an interesting moment when I feel like my mind played a joke on me: I was trying to turn the watcher toward itself, but couldn't do it. At the time I had lots of random imagery and visions playing in my head, so I asked myself, "if the watcher were to look in a mirror, what would it see?" Well, conveniently, from the visions going on in my mind, a mirror swooped down from the ether and placed itself right in front of "the watcher." The reflection in the mirror was another mirror. And the reflection in that mirror was the first mirror, and on and on and on to infinity. The cleverness of this brought me straight out of my concentration as I opened my eyes and said "whoa".)
Anyway, After reading around on here, it doesn't seem watching the watcher is possible, because "subject and object don't overlap," (to quote something someone said somewhere), but can this type of practice still be of use? In other words, can it lead to insight?
Lastly, I just want to say how damn awesome this site is. I didn't realize how blasé I'd become with meditation until I started reading about other people doing this kind of work. My daily practice has taken on a new focus and rigor to the point that I feel that I'm making actual progress. In fact, I feel like I'm getting close to stream entry (a feeling that I investigate just as much as any other). I have a 10-day Goenka retreat next week and I'm going into it with unparalleled intention and resolve. Did any of you post-stream enterers feel like you were getting close, or did it just come out of the blue?
Hope to hear from you all soon, Teague |