The Illusion and What Remains
La ilusión y lo que permanece
A student asks whether the experience we call "resistance" is itself an illusion, or whether only the doer behind it is illusory.
The Illusion and What Remains
A student asks whether the experience we call "resistance" is itself an illusion, or whether only the doer behind it is illusory.
Related to the conversation, I was laughing because yesterday when I was talking to you I said I didn't have any questions. But the moment we get into it, every little subtlety becomes a question because it's so subtle.
As I was listening to you, I wanted to clarify: the illusion you're talking about is the doer. That is the illusion, right? There is no such doer that can accept or surrender or resist. But the experience of something that is resisted, there is an experience we call resistance, and that is real. We've just attached the label "resistance" to it. I wanted to clarify: that is not an illusion. That is actually happening. Would you say so?
A few things. When you say, "Really what this is, is the doer," the doer is just another angle, another perspective word for this. But it's not necessarily interchangeable, because you could say this illusion has several attributes.
The structure of belief
When you're working on doing, not-doing, the doer, that's one of the angles. Think of it as a structure standing on certain foundations. I think of it as a table with several legs. You can take one of the legs out and it's still going to stay upright. These legs are beliefs, a constellation of beliefs that together construct this entity, this structure, and keep it appearing to be real. Doing and not-doing is one of the legs.
What I mean by "the doer" is that there is a someone who can resist, who can accept. That's what I mean. And that's what I wanted to clarify: when you refer to the illusion, that's the illusion. But the experience of something uncomfortable, something we have labeled "resistance," that is not an illusion. That's my question. Is that an illusion too?
Well, describe to me the experience.
I have an example, and it's very subtle actually. Let's use your example: I hit the table with my pinky toe, and then there's an orchestra of sensations. There is the pain, and with it comes the resistance, the "I don't want this pain." They come together, the pain and the "I don't want this pain."
That's not resistance.
Then what is that?
It's a thought.
Okay. Then describe the experience of resistance. That's an interesting question. Hold on.
The subtlety of resistance
There is something. I know what you're getting at. There is, in a sense, an experience of resistance. But you can't resist that either.
Right, you cannot. I understand what you're saying. Whatever appears, that's my whole point. That's what I meant: we have labeled it "resistance," but it's just an experience.
Belief, not feeling
The problem is more subtle. It's a belief. You can have the thought "I don't want this." That thought is completely irrelevant. The problem is believing that by not wanting it, you're going to get somewhere.