That Which Cannot Be Removed
Up to this point in our series, the movement has been consistent.
Things are examined. Questioned. Set aside.
What is not stable is not held onto.
A thought appears.
It passes.
So it is not essential.
A feeling arises.
It changes.
So it is not essential.
Identity shifts.
Roles change.
So that too is not essential.
This process can continue.
You can set aside what is seen.
What is known.
What comes and goes.
βΈ»
This has been expressed as neti-neti.
Not this; not this.
Whatever can be pointed to can be set aside.
The body is known.
So it is not what knows.
Thoughts are known.
So they are not what knows.
The sense of identity is known.
So it is not what knows.
This seems clear.
βΈ»
So the movement continues.
What else can be removed?
If a thought disappears, something remains.
If attention shifts, something remains.
If there is a gap between thoughts, something remains.
Even when nothing in particular is being noticed, something remains.
It is still present.
This is difficult to describe:
because it is not something that appears and disappears.
It does not come into view as an object.
And yet, it is not absent.
Everything else can be set aside.
But this does not go.
βΈ»
You can imagine a world without particular things.
Without objects. Without events.
But can you imagine the complete absence of what knows them?
If nothing were known at all, what would that be?
The question does not quite resolve.
Because even the attempt to imagine it is known.
So it does not lead anywhere.
βΈ»
Something remains.
Not as a thing.
Not as an idea.
Simply as the fact that something is known.
This does not need to be established.
It is already the case.
And it does not seem to be removable in the same way as everything else.
So a different kind of observation appears.
Everything else can be set aside.
But this cannot.
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