The indifference of ‘the empty breath’

Updated July 14, 2023

Everything fabricated, such as this illustration of a yin-yang sign, is supposed to have a special appearance to supply the belief that you experience something. But this is not the purpose of the empty breath. On the contrary, its purpose is to undo the belief in experiencing something. It does this by helping you see that the apparent difference between appearances does not make a difference. Therefore, since there is no separation to establish an experience of something, you are in the bliss of nothing. The graphic is grabbed from the web.

The connectedness with the empty breath – via surfing its yin-yang-shaped waves, or being in its transparent sound, the swing of it, or the non-rhythmic energy behind the rhythm of it (read more about these ways here) – is not something that can be fabricated like, for example, a romantic evening generated by candles, unique clothes, music and red wine. On the contrary, you feel the empty breath when not busy trying to construct a specific feeling but instead going with your frenetic energy into the empty breath.

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You miss it if you expect to get something from the empty breath because it has not anything to give but the bliss of nothing.

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The less you believe in being substantial, the more you feel the non-rhythmic transparent energy of the empty breath.

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Being connected with the empty breath, you may experience that it imprisons you, but that is a projection based on feeling confined.

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Since you depend on continually being acknowledged as someone definitive by somebody perceived outside you in a physical, astral or online world, you feel imprisoned and want to break out.

But the empty breath has no need to be something definitive, so going with its flow – no matter how it is experienced – you go with its indifference. Hence the apparent difference between feeling free or imprisoned is not perceived to make a difference.

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There are several established ways of feeling somebody else when you believe to be someone substantial in a tangible world. But there are no ways to feel the empty breath other than momentarily not feeling what you believe in being.

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Please do not take the comparison of the inner breath to an yin yang sign too literally. An yin yang sign is all too simplified to really illustrate the inner breath.Yet it might give you an idea about the inner breath, which can also be compared to a spiral like the galaxy in this image, that the stylish yin yang sign might a simplified version of.

The comparison of the empty breath with a yin-yang sign should not be taken literally. A yin-yang sign is too simplified to illustrate the empty breath, which rather is to be compared to the galaxy in this image. The graphic is grabbed from the web.

When you are connected with a Fitbit watch, for example, it is not the connection that gives you a fantastic feeling but the data it gives you.

Likewise, you may not feel excited about the connection with the empty breath because its radiance of indifference makes you indifferent to the apparent differences you experience. But since this exposes them as empty, you get the bliss of nothing.

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If the body seems to get better when you connect with the empty breath, it is not due to that – at least not directly – because the empty breath does not know something that needs improvement. Indirectly though, it is due to the empty breath. In its presence, you forget to manipulate your body with non-physical concepts like mindfulness. Thus the body is free to heal itself. Read more about that in Duality Hack #7 Physical & non-physical issues do not mix.

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Since the empty breath has no personality, it has no personal expression. So if its rhythmic flow is experienced to be weaker when you feel sick or about to die, its rhythm constantly adjusts to what you believe in being. Nevertheless, the operator of the empty breath (see the paragraph of the same name in What does the empty breath feel like?), which is the non-rhythmic energy behind the rhythm of the empty breath, remains the same. However, you may choose not to experience the empty breath when the body is troubled because that makes you indifferent to the body, thus questioning your belief in residing there.

That does not mean you should not take care of the body and have it checked by a qualified healthcare professional occasionally. You also bring your car to a garage for a check-up, even though it is not you.

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The energy at the root of the inner breath may be experienced a bit like this, but in less defined forms and colors.

The energy at the root of the empty breath can be experienced like this, but in less defined forms and without any notion of colours. The animation is grabbed from the web.

Even though the empty breath, theoretically speaking, should produce a constant rhythm of expansion and contraction in the body, your experience of it may not be that it is consistent. And you are right. It does not care about consistency – only those who insist on being definitive need coherence.

The empty breath can be compared to the cats in Alexius’ home. They go around as it pleases them. Yet he always counts on them to greet him when he gives a call. Likewise, he always feels the empty breath in one way or another. For example, maybe he surfs a single wave in one of the circles inside the empty breath several times in a row, whereafter he feels the swing of it in his head, and then he surfs both of the yin-yang-looking waves in one of the other circles of the empty breath. In the previous article, What does the empty breath feel like, you can read more about these ways of experiencing the empty breath.

After igniting a take-off into the empty breath, he often lands in its speedy and chaotic flow at the root of it, which feels like freedom compared to the rigid world of the outward-facing senses. Going to bed, the transparency of its sound often comes to him. But first of all, he feels the indifference of the empty breath. However, since the apparent differences in the world do not appear to make a difference, it is hardly a feeling.

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In the flow of Nordic Walking you probably forget to think about something specific, thus igniting a take-off into the empty breath. On the other hand, holding onto something specific may expose the defence mechanisms you have built up in the body against the flow of the empty breath.

That is not to say all these defence mechanisms must come to an end to feel the empty breath. Actually, if you do not suppress their inherent energy, it will ignite a take-off into the empty breath. However, the willingness not to be somebody is sufficient. Read more about that in Willingness not to exclude but include undoes the belief in a world where there seems to be more than one.

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The nature of the empty breath is not to provide happiness but indifference, and since that releases you from the suffering induced by separation, it may feel as if you are in a merry-go-round world.

However, feelings never last, so if you hang onto pleasure instead of being in the flow of indifference, your merry-go-round world will be replaced by a world of sadness. That is because you mistook the empty breath for the giver of pleasure instead of indifference. But if you go with the latter, it makes no difference if you feel happy or sad because you are in the bliss of nothing.

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Not being aware of something, you are not numbed by an experience of yourself as someone definitive but, instead, in the bliss of nothing. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

Feeling the empty breath is like receiving a new gift every moment. However, there is no way to know what it is beforehand, and neither do you know when you get it because the empty breath brings you into a state of not-knowing.

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When connected with the empty breath, what you seem to receive from the world is always the same because you receive what you give and give what you have, namely the indifference of the empty breath.

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Feeling the connectedness with the empty breath, you cannot help but smile because, in its flow, you are indifferent to becoming and getting more.

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Since the empty breath is indifferent to differences, being loved does not make a difference. 

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You may not always have the experience that the empty breath is your best friend because it does not help you regarding what and where you want to be. Instead, it enables you to see everything through its eyes of indifference, so you feel good no matter what and where you appear.

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As you probably have read in Alexius’ Enlightened Non-Teachings many times, it requires more than one to experience something. Therefore, since oneness is formless, thus endless, every experience is fictional. That also includes the experience of the empty breath. It is as unreal as anything else experienced.

Yet this experience, which is deeply rooted in an archetypical image of a never-ending rhythmic flow, slowly but surely undoes the belief that it is possible to be and have more than that which is One. Furthermore, it becomes unproblematic to have this belief because you are not troubled by something but indifferent to it.

If this feels confusing, do not try to figure it out. But go with the chaos until you cannot make ends meet and feel like you are about to explode, thus, having the build-up of tensions igniting a take-off into the empty breath.

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Being connected with the empty breath, you are indifferent to the apparent differences in a world where there seems to be more than one – like you are indifferent to the experienced differences in a computer game because you know they are make-believe. However, if you once were connected with the empty breath, it always remembers you. So when you forget its bliss of nothing, the empty breath syncs the inward and outward-facing senses (read more about that here) to make you indifferent to a specific interpretation of something, thus in the duality flow. See Duality Hack #8 The duality flow goes to non-duality.


NOTE: This article is part of Duality hack #9 In the bliss of nothing with the empty breath.

What does ‘the empty breath’ feel like?

Updated June 21, 2023

The inner breath is not restricted to be felt as a specific form, neither to only be felt inside. The graphic is grabbed from the web.

Since the empty breath is not definitive, it cannot be experienced in a specific way. But it can be felt in undefinable ways anywhere within its non-definitive framework – whether that appears to be inside or outside the body – but never consistently the same, although it is always present.

You can feel the empty breath in many ways within its non-definable frame of a ball-like thingy. Its top passes through the head, and the bottom through the stomach. But the ball may be bigger or smaller. See below. It is not explicitly experienced inside or outside the body, so it is not an out-of-body experience. Besides, such an experience is based on the belief in being someone in a body, and the empty breath undoes that idea, so it is a no-body experience. However, that does not mean you do not take care of the body and the world around it when connected with the empty breath, but that you are indifferent to the outcome.

In the connectedness with the empty breath there is nothing that appears disturbing. But trying to connect with it everything seems disturbing, because the purpose of trying to do something is to delay it.

The inner breath has no definitive center or anything else in a fixed position, so your experience of it may be different from mine. Maybe you primarily experience it in the stomach, in the chest or both inside and outside of your body within the non definitive borders of a ball. It may change from moment to moment, as  – unlike this image – it is not static. This image however illustrates when all its movements are experienced simultaneously, which feels as if the everything stands still.

The empty breath has no definitive centre or border, nor is anything else fixed. Everything is constantly moving, so the experience changes from moment to moment. Maybe it is felt in the stomach or chest or outside the body. Should your experience differ from Alexius’ description, go with the flow as it comes to you.

FEELINGS ARE SUBJECTIVE
If you are future-minded, you might experience the empty breath starting in front of you, whereas it probably is felt to arrive from the back if you are concerned about the past. And if you are into the concepts like living in the now, being centred and balanced, it might feel like it has a centre. In other words, the experience of the empty breath is coloured by your conditioning.

That is not a problem for the empty breath because, contrary to you, it does not need to be acknowledged in a particular way. So whether you experience it in the stomach, the chest, or outside the body, it carries out its purpose: to make you indifferent to your experiences.

The empty breath is indifferent to all the apparent differences of the world, so the more you connect with it, the more you adapt to its indifference and the less you want to be someone who makes a difference.

Since the empty breath is not static, its experience may quickly change and differ from those described below. No worries, connecting with it is not about doing something specific to feel something definitive but going with the flow. You only feel obliged to do ‘the right thing’ when you want to make a difference.

I am not a talented illustrator, so instead of making an illustration of the inner breath, I have manipulated an image found on the internet in order to give you an idea of the simultaneously movements inside it.

Alexius has manipulated this scientific illustration from the internet to give you an idea of the simultaneously circular movements inside the non-definitive ball of the empty breath.

A BASIC INTRO TO THE NON-DEFINITIVE SHAPE OF THE THE EMPTY BREATH
The empty breath is modelled like an egg-shaped ball with oval circles moving inside it. But contrary to what you see in the illustration to the right, it does not have a definitive centre or border. Nor do the circles inside it. They are countless, and there are two yin-yang-shaped waves inside each one. You cannot see the waves inside the circles in the simplified illustration to the right. But in the second image from here, there is a sample of two waves inside one of the circles.

That the empty breath has a non-definitive form does not only mean its edge is blurry but that neither size nor shape is constant. It may get bigger and smaller here and there, so it momentarily feels more pear-shaped than egg-shaped. But it has no up and down, and the apparent centre of each circle inside the non-definitive ball of the empty breath is floating. Hence there are many non-fixed centres.

The innumerable amount of diffused shaped circles inside the non-definitive boundary of the empty breath is located vertically and horizontally, plus in between, with each of them having yin-yang-shaped waves inside them. There is an illustration of the yin-yang-shaped waves inside one of the circles in the below paragraph SURFING THE EMPTY BREATH. But the circles are actually fused into one yin-yang-shaped movement rolling in all directions – a bit like in the animation in the paragraph THE SWING OF THE EMPTY BREATH or the two last animations of this article.

However, since that is very difficult to comprehend in a world where we are conditioned to divide reality into more than one, most do not feel the totality of the empty breath but one of the many circles inside it. No worries. It is not about perfection but going with the flow as it comes to you.

The empty breath has no specific centre, and though it seems to consist of endless circles in various movements, everything is fused into one single move. But since this is hard to comprehend in a world where there seems to be more than one, you may find it easier to deal with one circle at a time.

Maybe the flow is a circle going vertically from the stomach around the back of the body to the top of the head when breathing in, and from there, in a circular movement in front of the body and back to the stomach when breathing out. Or it could also be in the opposite direction. It does not matter. As already said, it is about going with the flow, so follow it where it goes.

Perhaps it goes in a circle, about the same diameter as above, from the abdomen to the throat and back or the rectum to the heart and back. The circle can also expand its diameter, so it goes from the abdomen to a point above the head and back or from the rectum further above the head and back. Since the latter circle metaphorically goes from hell to heaven, you may feel frightened or spaced out if you get stuck in one of those extremes. See Duality Hack #8 The duality flow goes to non-duality.

But the circle may be smaller, from the heart to a point above the head. Or perhaps you do not feel the flow in a vertical circle from the back to the front of you but from the left to the right side or anywhere between these two. You can also feel it horizontally. But no matter where you perceive the empty breath, it is the same emptiness you encounter.

Below is a short introduction to some ways of feeling the empty breath, then a more detailed description. Be aware that feeling the empty breath, as described in this article, is only possible if you do not wish to be or have more because the empty breath has nothing to give but the sheer bliss of emptiness.

A BASIC INTRO TO FOUR WAYS OF FEELING THE EMPTY BREATH
Sensing the operator of the empty breath (see below) feels like you are floating on clouds of bliss. In contrast, going with the rhythmic flow of the empty breath is more like being moved by clouds of bliss.

The rhythmic flow can be heard as a distant sound or felt like a swing (see below). It can also be sensed as if nobody is surfing two yin-yang-like waves in and outside the body (see the next paragraph).

These categories are not meant to limit your experience of the empty breath but to inspire you to follow its flow.

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Each non-definable circle inside the cloudy ball of the empty breath – see the previous illustration – consists of two free-flowing yin-yang-like waves (without holes). It may feel like you are surfing these waves, more or less in sync with the physical breath. The colours in this image only have an illustrative purpose.

SURFING THE EMPTY BREATH
You see a simplified simulation of the empty breath in the illustration with the red circles pictured to the right above. But the circles are not actually red, and there are an endless number of them. And the drawing does not reflect that the empty breath has no definitive border or centre, and each circle inside it contains two non-definitive yin-yang-shaped wave holes (see the above image). They are colourless. The colours in this image and the others in the article only have an illustrative purpose.

When the breath expands the body, you surf the outside of the blue wave vertically from the stomach and behind the body up into the head. From there, you surf the outside of the yellow wave in front of the body down to the stomach while the breath is contracting the body. That is, if you are sensing the waves in a circle going vertically from the back to the front of the body. But, as mentioned above, the direction does not matter, and the circle can be smaller and bigger. Besides surfing the two yin-yang-like waves in a vertical circle, you can surf the waves in a horizontal circle or anywhere between.

No need to be in total sync with the rhythm of the physical expansion and contraction of the body, nor does it matter if part of the empty breath’s circular movement is skipped. What matters is you follow the flow as it comes to you. By doing that, you forget the physical breath. Hence it can take care of itself without you trying to inflict it with ideas of balance and whatnot.

Maybe the ecstatic way to surf the waves is to go the whole way around one of them and then continue by going the entire way around the other, more or less aligned with the breath extracting and contracting the body. However, many other joyous ways are probably revealed when you are in the flow.

Alexius has never been surfing in the world of the outward-facing senses, so when he says going with the flow of the two yin-yang like waves in a circle inside the empty breath feels like surfing, it is something he imagines based on movies.

As already said, you can surf the waves of the empty breath in both directions. Going counterclockwise tends to lessen physical awareness, so you become less interested in returning to the conscious experience of being someone substantial in a tangible world. The same applies if the non-definable edges of the empty breath are not experienced to pass through the head but on top of it and below the abdomen.

That sets the body free, so it can follow its biological system without you trying to integrate it with mental ideas of wellness. It is like trying to blend the material world with the immaterial world of a dream or vice versa. It does not work. Read more about that in Duality Hack #7 Physical & non-physical issues do not mix. However, you can surf the waves of the empty breath to ease pain in the body. See the appendix at the bottom.

Since it takes more than one to feel something, it is only in a world where there seems to be more than one it is possible to do that. Therefore, the more the belief in such a world is undone by the empty breath, the less you feel it.

It is impossible to illustrate the swing of the empty breath because it has no definable form or movement. Nevertheless, this animation may give you an idea. The swing of the empty breath is generated from the blurred curved line in the middle of the picture. But even though going with the swing of it is magnificent, it is often a laid-back experience of expansion and contraction.

THE SWING OF THE EMPTY BREATH
You surf the empty breath on the waves in any of the circles within the non-definitive border of the empty breath. But you feel the swing of the empty breath from the movement of the non-definitive curved line between the two yin-yang-like waves in any of the circles (see the curved line in the illustration to the left). Perhaps due to the definitive size of the body, the curved line in the swing of the empty breath feels less bowed and probably shorter than the rounded line between the two waves described above.

The swing of the empty breath extracts and contracts the body in a steady rhythmic flow of breathing in and out that may seem slower than when you imagined being in charge of the breath. And the break in between expansion and contraction may feel longer. Nevertheless, the swing of the empty breath probably feels more powerful – so much indeed that it feels like the body does not have enough room for it at first, even though it swings nothing but emptiness.

The curved line does not just swing from the back to front concerning the body but also up and down, from side to side and everywhere in between, which you may sense in the illustration to the left. Though you can feel all these directions simultaneously, it probably is so unfamiliar that you may prefer to feel the swing of the empty breath in one vertical circle at a time.

The circles with the swing of the empty breath are more egg-shaped (see the illustration to the left). But you will not notice that because it is only the swing of the curved line inside ‘the egg’ that you feel, probably in a way that does not seem logical. For example, breathing in, you may solely experience the swing of the empty breath at the bottom of ‘the egg’ and breathing out at the top of it – or the other way around, or only in the bottom, or the top. You can also experience the curved line going repeatedly or up and down simultaneously.

Like the other ways of feeling the empty breath, it presupposes you acknowledge you are not in charge. Using the technique for the taste of oneness, you automatically lose control because, whether you taste it, the method is beneficial for defocusing. And without focus, you are out of control. Read about the taste of oneness and defocus in The four aspects of Enlightenment and how to sample them.

If you experience the swing of the empty breath in all the egg-shaped circles simultaneously, their fusion initially feels like everything is spinning. See the speedy animation just below. But it quickly becomes a feeling of everything standing so still that you feel the bliss of being indifferent to what and where you appear to be.

Connecting to the inner breath is fortunately not about perfection, as that requires much control and therefore blocks the inner breath to move on its own accord. The inner breath is always connected to you, but you cannot feel it if your purpose is to be someone definitive. In other words not being anybody the inner breath is not hidden. In fact it is very intense.

The swing of the empty breath is not felt as fast as the movements in this animation but rather like a steady ongoing rhythm with much force that expands and contracts the body. Yet the resulting breath in the body is often very subtle. It probably seems slower than you are used to – unlike the operator of the empty breath, which is a rush of energy within the non-definable ball that constitutes the empty breath. Even though the particles of this force are moving completely unstructured and at any speed, fast or slow – a bit like in this animation – it is such a relief to merge with this apparent chaos because that prevents you from focussing on anything specific. Hence you feel like a fountain of sparkling joy.

THE OPERATOR OF THE EMPTY BREATH
Besides feeling the swing of the empty breath or surfing its yin-yang-like waves more or less in alignment with the extraction and contraction of the physical breath, you can also feel a constant rush of energy within the non-definable border of the empty breath. This chaotic energy is not rhythmic but irregular at the root of the empty breath. Yet, it is the force behind the constant rhythm of the empty breath. The feeling is a subtle sense of being here and everywhere, or as if spinning through a world with no limits, undefined as someone.

There are no rules, but it could very well be that a take-off into the empty breath will take you to the operator of the empty breath – and what a relief it is to float in chaos instead of having to fit into the rigid world of the outward-facing senses.

Unlike the swing of the empty breath, but like surfing its waves, the operator of the empty breath is sensed inside and outside the body – or rather like there is no inside and outside. When you do not try to catch this abstractness, it feels like you are a fountain of sparkling joy. Sometimes it is easier to recognise outside, where the dense bodily feeling is not an obstacle. You will automatically be taken inside from there because the operator does not know one from the other. Next, you may start surfing the empty breath, feel the swing of it or hear its transparent sound (see the next paragraph).

Hearing/feeling the sound of the inner breath, you feel transparent, as if there is nothing to separate you from where you appear to be. The graphic is grabbed from the web.

Hearing or feeling the sound of the empty breath makes you seem transparent as if nothing is separating you from other appearances in the world of the outward-facing senses. The graphic is grabbed from the web.

THE TRANSPARENT SOUND OF THE EMPTY BREATH
Just like the rhythm of bass is heard and felt in the body, so is the sound of the empty breath, which is like ‘so’ when it expands and ‘ham’ when it contracts.

Sometimes it is like this rhythmic sound of ‘so-ham’ comes from the nose, but at other times, it is sensed from an undefined space in the back of the head. And then again, since the sound does not seem to have a definable location, it is neither experienced to be inside nor outside the head. It may even appear to originate from an invisible space outside the body that has nothing to do with it.

In other words, feeling the sound of the empty breath is not a compelling experience because it cancels out the notion of being in a body – as if there is no definable border between the body and its apparent surrounding. For example, a sofa does not seem to differ from a body sitting there when deeply connected with the empty breath. Consequently, since there is no inside and outside, there is nothing to define a world where there seems to be more than one, wherefore it is seen as make-believe.

But like the set-up in a game world is the same whether you know it is fictional, a world where there seems to be more than one remains the same even though you sense it is an illusion. However, your relationship with it changes. Appearing there is pretence, like when you pretend to be someone in the world of a game. See hack #2 Pretending to be in a world of duality, you undo it.

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Do not get attached to the rhythm of the empty breath, because the feeling of the rhythm is related to the body, so it stops when the body does not function anymore.

Since a rhythm has a beginning and an end, it is best not to get attached to the rhythm of the empty breath, because it ends when the body stops to function. At that moment, it is better to merge with the indifference of the empty breath or the non rhythmic and very chaotic energy in its operator, so there is not something specific to stop the Enlightenment of that which is One from absorbing the nothingness of you. See hack #10 The Enlightenment of that which is One.

Via the transparent sound of the empty breath, you naturally float into glimpses of the Enlightenment of that which is One. See hack #11 Enlightenment and its glimpses. The visual-minded will experience them as visions of light, and the auditory-minded as ethereal harmonies. However, if you are more emotional-minded, you may feel the vibration that Aum, Sohang, and The Word of God symbolise or taste its sweetness.

The connection with the empty breath is a state of not-knowing. Therefore, since there is no notion of separation, the apparent difference between past, now and future makes no difference.

It is not possible to illustrate the inner breath in its totality. This yon yang animation (please abstract from the holes) though may give you an idea of the simultaneously movement of the two waves inside the inner breath.

It is not possible to illustrate the empty breath in its totality. But this yin-yang animation (please ignore the holes in the waves and imagine it is completely full of yin-yang-like waves) may give you an idea about the simultaneous movement of the waves inside it.

THE CONNECTEDNESS WITH THE EMPTY BREATH IS A STATE OF NOT-KNOWING
Nobody knows what the connectedness with the empty breath feels like because it is a state of not-knowing. So Alexius had to go back and forth between a state of not-knowing and the conscious experience of being someone to compile his distant memories of how the empty breath feels. Hence, his writing about it may seem patchy and confusing. If so, do not try to correct your disorientation but use it to ignite a take-off into the empty breath. See also Take-offs into the empty breath and How to ignite a take-off into the empty breath..

Please remember that even though the connectedness with the empty breath is impersonal, your memory of it is personal. Therefore, you may not remember it as Alexius.

If you are still confused, you are welcome to mail Alexius, although using your uncertainty to ignite a take-off into the empty breath is preferable because he can help neither you nor himself, as he sees nobody in need of help.

Hence you are better off reading about the empty breath until you can hardly stay awake. Then go to bed, forget what you read, close your eyes, and patiently wait for the empty breath. But your eyes do not have to be closed, and you do not have to go to bed to connect with the empty breath. Besides, you can sit anywhere in any position. You can also walk, run or talk. But you cannot bring about the empty breath by manipulating the physical breath or exercising any other form of control. Instead, it is the other way around. When you are not in control, the empty breath joins you.

A bicycle has nothing to do with the place, it takes you.

That is not to say that techniques cannot help you tone down the experience of being someone definitive so that your apparent existence in a tangible world is exposed as make-believe. But unfortunately, most forget that techniques have nothing to do with their accomplishments. Like the remote control, it has nothing to do with the music it triggers.

The swing of the inner breath may be experienced abruptly – like in this animation but probably a lot slower – in a s body with muscles problems from for example psoas or diafragma. There is no reason though trying to make it swing more smoothly by improving the condition of the body. The inner breath always adjust itself to the current condition of the body, so no matter how it moves it results in the same joy, providing you are not looking to be perfect.In a sick body, the swing of the empty breath might be experienced to come in bursts – a bit like in this animation but probably slower. However, no matter how restricted the swing of it is experienced, connecting with it will always entail indifference. Therefore, sticking to that, how the empty breath is experienced makes no difference.

APPENDIX: SURFING THE EMPTY BREATH TO HEAL YOUR PROBLEMS 
Alexius usually join the flow of the empty breath without thinking about directions and whatnot because, in his case, it primarily results in a sense of indifference. However, it is possible to be pickier. For example, if you worry about a strange pain in the back, you can have it massaged by continuously surfing the whole wave behind you but not the wave in front of you in a vertical circle. It may not make the pain go away but surely the worry. And without that, the pain may be easy to fix. See Duality Hack #7 Physical & non-physical issues do not mix.

Should you want to be grounded, you surf the waves in a horizontal circle, passing through the abdomen or even lower. Suppose you want to enhance being impulsive. In that case, you surf all the way around the wave to the right inside a horizontal circle going around the head. If you want to be more calculated, surf the left wave instead.

In a circle that also is horizontal but around the chest, you can surf all around a wave in front of the chest to ease the restricted feeling caused by imagined emotions there. Surfing both waves in a horizontal circle around the head or stomach is excellent in the case of vertigo.

Sometimes problems like spasms are the body’s way of shaking parts into a position that benefits the whole. In such cases, spasms should be left course. But if that is not the case, you can use the empty breath to calm down the spasms.

Should you have tight hips, a blocked abdomen or spasms in the lower back, you surf the whole wave behind you and then the one in front of you in a horizontal circle in that area. You could also try surfing in a similar circle where the waves are not behind and in front of you but on your sides. The circle size, thus the waves, adjusts to the need for relaxing these areas.

The empty breath is also beneficial for alleviating allergy symptoms or the symptoms of IBS and COPD, for example. However, it may not heal these or the aforementioned physical sicknesses because Alexius’ Duality Hacks aims not to heal the body but the sick belief that someone is in it. Read more about that here. But since that frees the body from your domination, it often heals itself. That said, if this is what you want, it is best not to use the empty breath but instead be used by it and trust that it gives you what is in your best interest.

The look of these sound waves reminds me in some ways of how it feels to be connected with the inner breath.

The look of these sound waves reminds Alexius of how the connectedness with the empty breath often feels and how that makes him indifferent to the apparent differences in the world experienced outside him.


NOTE ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATIONS
Alexius searched the web for animations and still photos to illustrate the movements of the empty breath in how he remembers them. He does not know if the illustrators had the empty breath in mind when they made these images – but probably not. Except for the last three, the animations are grabbed from Electromagnetic Plasma Energy Light.

NOTE ABOUT THE ARTICLE
The above article, part of Duality hack #9 In the bliss of nothing with the empty breath, is to be continued in the next one, The Indifference of the empty breath.

CANCELLEX

Updated February 25, 2023

NOTE: This article is part of hack #4.4 The duality flow goes to non-duality.

The body handles physical issues, not psychological ones

Updated September 19, 2023

There is no grand purpose of appearing to have a self – like there is no purpose in appearing as someone in a computer game except for having fun pretending to be what you are not. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

In most cases, you do not have to read Alexius’ Enlightened Non-Teachings in a particular order. But in the case of this article, you may benefit from reading about the perception ‘it is what it is’ in Duality Hack #6 Happiness is to be in touch with the brain, and the special self in Duality Hack #5 The worry-free life of the basic self.

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It is not only Alexius’ Enlightened Non-Teachings that talk about using the body to hide psychological problems. In Bioenergetics (see Wikipedia about that), it is the theory that the body gets sick because you dump psychological issues in it. Before Freud, it was the other way around. Back then, the cause of psychological problems was considered physical.

However, Alexius’ Enlightened Non-Teachings do not agree on a link between psychological and physical problems. Even though the same organ in the brain processes their experience, they are not combinable – like night and day, also rendered by the same organ, psychological and physical matters exclude each other. In other words, it is not love but food the body needs to survive. And on a psychological level, it is not food but love that makes you want to continue.

Duality Hack #7 Physical & non-physical issues do not mix is about undoing the belief that physical and psychological matters are connected. When their supposed link is undone where it is conceived, namely in the mental zone, the body’s biological system is free to deal with physical issues materially, and you with the psychological ones immaterially.

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You cannot mix a circle with a square. Likewise, the psychological and physical domains do not blend. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

You dissociate yourself from unpleasant psychological feelings by dumping them in the body’s darkness. At least, that is how a psychologist explains it. But immaterial issues cannot be combined with the material. For example, you cannot blend the wind with a wall except in fantasy. Therefore, what happens is that you imagine eliminating a psychological problem, like anger, by combining it with an existing pain in the body.

Since your anger seems disguised by the discomfort of a physical issue in the body, you feel calm. And next time you want to eliminate a psychological feeling, you automatically imagine combining an immaterial problem with a material one.

Although that removes the unpleasantness from your consciousness, it remains in the subconscious as buried in a vulnerable part of your body. So when the suppressed energy surfaces, it feels like that body part hurts. However, the problem is in the psychological sphere, where you have excluded a psychological problem from your awareness by projecting it onto the body. Yet, analysing or understanding your pattern does not set you free.

But if you acknowledge your emotional problem in the psychological zone, you can perceive it asit is what it is.’ That takes the edge off it, so you do not need to eliminate it by combining it with the experience of a physical issue. Hence the body does not feel invaded by a non-physical matter, wherefore it does not need to defend itself. Instead, it uses its energy to fix its physical problems.

Be aware whether you project psychological issues on the body or not, it remains the same because non-material matters do not change the body – only the way you perceive it. That is why the supposed fusion of a psychological and physical problem must be corrected where it is conceived, namely in the psychological sphere.

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Once you have concluded your anxiety is caused by physical pain, you, by reflex, look for the same connection every time you are worried. Hence you automatically search the body for a flaw that can explain your worry. That is until you do not try to explain your anxiety away but perceive it as ‘it is what it is.’

That reveals your misery is constantly interacting with joyfulness to define each other. Therefore, since feeling miserable includes feeling joy and vice versa, there is no need to eliminate your misery to feel good. On the contrary, you need it to feel genuinely joyful.

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If your phone is out of order and seems to make you upset, having the phone fixed may appear to address your anger as well. But the phone can neither make you angry nor stop it. So even though the rage has disappeared from your awareness, it will return when something else triggers it. That is unless you deal with the phone and your fury separately, so both problems are solved on their term. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

Worrying is most often pieced together by thoughts coming from continually saying, “What if…?« In other words, your anxiety is a construction of thoughts you perceive as worrying. Actually, this applies to all your opinions about something you experience. They are not based on your experience but on your thoughts about them. Therefore, if you conclude your stomach hurts, it is not a fact but a make-believe. That is why doctors cannot make a diagnosis based on analysis but make one based on discarding the measurable possibilities, IBS, for example.

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If you decide you are clumsy when continually dropping things, you may, by reflex, hide feeling wrong in the stomach, thus, eventually, be diagnosed with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). However, that sickness is not physically measurable through blood or bodily analysis. Instead, the diagnosis is based on eliminating other measurable issues, indicating IBS is a psychosomatic disorder.

That is why it seldom is healed via physical solutions such as excluding specific food from your diet. The issue must be addressed in the psychological sphere where you see yourself as awkward and look for something to establish it as real.

That is not to say you should avoid an IBS diet like FODMAP. It might be an excellent way to relieve stomach pain so you have the strength to accept your insecurity instead of imagining you have gotten rid of it by hiding it in the stomach. Your clumsiness is not a fact but an opinion of yours. Therefore, if you do not hide it, you can perceive it as ‘it is what it is,’ thus seeing your singular view is twofold. Clumsiness is paired with grace to define each other. Therefore, when you are clumsy, you are also graceful, feeling complete in the interaction of opposites.

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The special self uses much energy to suppress the thoughts and feelings judged incorrect per its belief system so that it appears to be part of something bigger. On the other hand, the basic self follows the brain. And since it creates all experiences, the basic self is part of everything. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

A body and a car need water and food to function. You cannot replace that with spirituality, nor can it change how they work. A body and a car need physical treatment and can only be used materially. Love does not transform them into something else. But unlike a car, the body can heal itself if you do not project non-physical issues onto it. That said, sometimes it needs the assistance of a health care professional.

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The special self always thinks it knows better. Thus it forces the body to do extreme yoga exercises, heavy weight lifting, restricting diets, tantra sex, or other mental concepts of wellness that make the body appear a manifestation of the special self. The price is a body in pain, but since the primary concern of the special self is its appearance, it gladly pays that price.

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The special self preserves its friendly image by imagining all its nasty psychological issues hidden behind physical problems. To prevent them from surfacing and exposing its peaceful image as fake, the special self never relaxes except through structured systems like Tai chi. On the other hand, the basic self has no special image to uphold. Hence relaxing comes naturally.

That does not mean the basic self never explodes with anger. But, contrary to the special self, it does not see it as wrong. Therefore, since it never hides its rage, or any other emotion, from itself but perceives its reaction to them as ‘it is what it is,’ there is nothing to conceal.

However, nobody is perfect, so there may have been times when the basic self forgot to perceive its reaction to something as ‘it is what it is.’ Fortunately, it is never too late to perceive a past response as ‘it is what it is,’ thus revealed not to be definitive but twofold, wherefore there is no specific feeling to avoid.

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The special self does not want to see itself as it is, so it excludes everything from its awareness that does not ratify its image of perfectness. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

Being the basic self, you see every moment as the perfect moment, no matter the body’s condition, because the basic self perceives its reaction to it as ‘it is what it is.’ That is why Alexius feels good even though his physical condition does not contribute to this. Due to Scheuermann’s disease, internal organs have been harmed, so he has chronic GERD plus lung and nose inflammation. Furthermore, he has had three operations on the heart. And one of his eyes hardly works. The list goes on.

He has never smoked and has always eaten healthy and exercised, so it seems he cannot improve his physical issues. Sometimes, though, he becomes the special self to boost his physical well-being. But since this attempt is based on not feeling good enough, it enhances that feeling. Therefore, frustration builds up until he returns to the default perception of the basic self, ‘it is what it is,’ thus feeling good, regardless of appearance.

That is not to say you should not take care of the body. On the contrary, you are bound to follow the brain’s instructions regardless of being basic or special, including caring for the body. However, the special self does not like to follow orders, so it hides that it obeys the brain by making a perception where the special self appears to be in charge or has chosen to go with a unique flow.

Since that perception is out of sync with the brain’s script, the special self does not feel loved but rejected. It disguises its feeling of loneliness by projecting it onto obscure parts of the body. But the body sees your attempt to blend it with something non-physical as an attack on its physical integrity and fights it by shooting off here and there. Thus, your attempt to combine a psychological issue with a physical one turns into a psychosomatic disorder which only can be healed by undoing the combo where it is conceived, namely in the psychological sphere.

Hereafter the body is free to heal itself, and the loneliness becomes transparent, thus revealing it is twofold when viewed in the non-physical sphere. Hence there is no distinct feeling to upset you. In other words, emotions are very light when viewed in the psychological sphere, where they constantly interact with their opposites, so they do not appear as something specific unless imagining combined with the heaviness of the body.

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In a world where there seems to be more than one, you appear to get rid of unwanted psychological issues by hiding them in the body and later free them from imprisonment by bringing them back into the psyche that is so airy that having one look at them makes them transparent, thus revealing they are twofold, so there is nothing specific to bother you.

But since there is no more than that which is One, ultimately, there is nothing to heal other than the belief that you are someone in a world where there seems to be more than one. Fortunately, Alexius’ Duality Hacks automatically do that when you keep reading them.


NOTES:

The thought-up mix of physical and psychological issues

Updated September 19, 2023

Those who think their body should be transformed and become spiritual need to be more physical. The body is solely material. Hence it cannot be mixed with something immaterial. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

In most cases, you do not have to read Alexius’ Enlightened Non-Teachings in a particular order. But in the case of this article, you may benefit from reading about the perception ‘it is what it is’ in Duality Hack #6 The brain’s script and how to perceive it to be happy.

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For years there has been an unhealthy idea about uniting body, mind and soul. However, the body is a physical unit built to deal with material matters, not mental, emotional or metaphysical ones – like the physical world and cyberspace cannot be combined, except in fantasy. In other words, the assumed link between a problem in the psyche and the body, or vice versa, is make-believe. How to undo that is what Duality Hack #7 The fake mix of physical and non-physical issues, explores.

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You will never find anything physical in the digital world. Likewise, you never see something physical in the psychological sphere or vice versa. In other words, the concept of a body-mind connection is a scam.

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Naturally, the body is exhausted after working, jogging or doing something else that requires much energy. If you respond to the body’s condition with anxiety and assume those feelings are connected, it feels like the body is about to collapse. But since the connection between a physical and psychological issue is made up, so is the supposed outcome. Hence it cannot be healed in the body but where it is imagined, namely in the mental zone.

On the other hand, when you deal with the body’s tiredness physically, the problem is probably solved by a good night’s sleep. And if you deal with anxiety where it is, namely in the mental sphere, you see it has nothing to do with feeling tired but old feelings of not making it triggered by feeling exhausted. But you made it. That is why you are tired. And you will feel anew after resting the body.

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Projecting psychological feelings onto the body and expecting them to go away when the body is fixed is like placing feelings in your smartphone and thinking they to go away when the phone is repaired. Psychological feelings remain in the psychological sphere. Hence it is there they must be dealt with.

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Non-physical feelings are fleeting, so to make them last, you must combine them with something more lasting, like physical feelings. However, immateriality and materiality do not mix, so their combination is make-believe Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

The body is made to interact with structures that, like itself, are material. That is why the body interprets your attempts to integrate it with non-physical feelings or ideas of spirituality as an attack on its integrity, which it must defend itself against.

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Since a psychological feeling is fleeting, it only seems lasting when you imagine combining it with something substantial, for example, there is love in the heart. Undoing this fantasy by looking at it where it is conceived, namely, in the psychological sphere, seems frightening if you have based relationships on this idea. If so, it feels like you lose something by undoing the fantasy.

However, if you do not avoid the unpleasantness, it will not remain long because the mental zone is airy, so looking at it is enough to reveal it contains its opposite pleasantness. That happens so fast that you will not remember what you looked at. Read more about this process here. And read about the mental zone here.

Unfortunately, most people do not want to undo the belief in a body-mind connection. On the contrary, they want to uphold their imagined union of immaterial and material issues as authentic to extend specific emotions and thus remain in a fantasy of lasting love. Should their extended feelings be questioned, they refer to the bodily symptoms they claim are caused by psychological issues.

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When you have excluded what you do not like about yourself from your awareness by imagining, it is linked with the feeling of a vulnerable body part, your psychological issues seem hidden inside physical problems. To uphold this fantasy, you probably resist healing the physical matters you imagine are blended with psychological issues.

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When we project the flaws of our personality onto vulnerable parts of the body, such as the stomach, our perceived flaws seem to have been erased from our awareness. That is how we fool ourselves into believing we have been transformed. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

When you experience a specific feeling continuously, it is a thought-up version because feelings are fleeting. You probably have combined it with a physical sensation in the body, making the feeling more substantial and lasting. For example, by imagining the psychological feeling in the stomach, you seem to experience it every time you have an upset stomach.

But if it is an exceptional experience of love you want to hold onto, you may combine it with a pleasant physical notion in the heart. And if it is a hateful memory you want to hold onto, you link it with physical unpleasantness in the chest. Both physical sensations were already there, probably caused by other physical reactions in the body. However, just as you cannot combine a wall with the wind, fusing a body with an abstract feeling is impossible.

Yet, it is possible to mentally blend the experience of physical and psychological issues so that whenever you experience a specific kind of love, you think you feel something nice in the heart. And whenever you feel hatred towards someone, you imagine something weird in the chest. In both cases, it is a mental experience based on the wish to extend a psychological feeling by imagining that it is linked with a physical experience.

You can undo this imagination by perceiving your reaction to the thought-up mix of physical and psychological feelings in the body as ‘it is what it is.’ That renders your response indefinable. Therefore, since the body is set free from your thought-up mixture, it lines up with the biological system to outline the physical part of the combo and heal it in agreement with physical laws.

Most likely, the physical part is the muscles in the chest. They were already tightened when you made the imaginary link, but then they tightened up further to defend the body against your attempt to inflict it with non-physical issues. In that case, you can the body healing it by massaging the tightened area with fasciae tools from Blackroll, for example. But you should also consult a healthcare professional to ensure no hidden heart problem.

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Being in the natural state of happiness does not mean all circumstances are perfect but that they are perceived like that. For example, you might think it is too hot. However, since you perceive your reaction to this experience as ‘it is what it is,’ your response is not singular but twofold. Therefore, since feeling hot is complemented by feeling chill, the moment is perfect regardless of temperature. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

It does not rain because you feel sad, nor does the rain has the power to make you feel bad. That is unless you choose to perceive such a course and effect. Likewise, the body cannot make you sad, nor does feeling unhappy make the body bad unless you imagine such a connection.

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Something that seems very scary in a movie is often experienced as real because it is as if it makes fear builds up in your body. However, the film has no power to do that. The anxiety is not caused by the events in the movie but by how you perceive them.

You perceive the events as scary because you have conditioned yourself to interpret specific scenarios like that. And to make it feel real, you project the fear onto a body part that is already tense and seems tenser when you give it your attention. Thus it feels like the movie affects your body.

Sometimes, it is the other way around. For example, if you have a stomach ache that does not make sense, you explain it by imagining that a psychological issue from your past has caused it. Unfortunately, this thought-up combination results in a psychosomatic disorder which is very hard to disentangle because the psychological part is most likely pieced together.

Fortunately, you do not have to understand what is happening and why. This imaginary combo, like any other, is quickly undone by perceiving your reaction to it as ‘it is what it is.’ That renders your response indefinable, wherefore it has no definable cause. And without a specific cause, there is no particular effect. In other words, the supposed psychosomatic disorder is make-believe.

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As an appendix to the above note, please do not interpret it as you should stop mistaking a movie for real – or refrain from assuming something psychological causes something physical. If you suppress your reactions to appear perfect, you cannot revise your single-minded misconceptions by perceiving them as ‘it is what it is,’ so it becomes dual, thus cancelling your supposed connection.

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When you do not look for anything to make you feel better, your reaction to everything automatically is perceived as ‘it is what it is.’ Consequently, there is not something to upset you. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

Many people turn the body’s signals into mental messages by dematerialising the body. For example, the genital zone is dematerialised via tantra sex. Read more about sex here. Thus it seems you can mentally decide that the signals from the abandoned areas are spiritual. But there is no spirituality in the body. On the contrary, the body is material. That is why it defends itself against the attempts to combine it with non-physical issues by turning it into a weapon against you.

Even though the body’s approach feels distressing, you accept it because it further disrupts the natural flow of communication between the body and the brain, so you, not the brain, seem to be the body’s boss. However, your idea of making it whole by transforming it with mental ideas of wellness is seen as an attack on its physical integrity. Thus the body keeps defending itself against you until you stop inflicting it with your ideas of unity.

Fortunately, it does not matter how abused your body is regarding applying Alexius’ Duality Hacks. They bring you into a state of not-knowing regardless of the body. In this state, the slate is wiped clean, So when you return to the consciousness of being someone, the foolish ideas of a body-mind-soul connection are gone. Thus your body is happy, and so are you.

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Most do not feel and see the body as it is. Instead, they have a vision of what it will feel and look like when they successfully impose their ideas of perfection upon it.

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When your reaction to something is perceived as ‘it is what it is,’ the specific meaning you have assigned to your response opens up and reveals it is not singular but twofold. Therefore, paired with being pure, lust does not make you feel ashamed but joyful. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

Sometimes, the breath is held back to prevent pain in a problematic body area. That is not healthy, nor is pushing the breath through it. Both approaches imply you believe you are in control, even though you would quickly die if you should remember to breathe.

The solution to this is not to let the breath be. This idea also implies you are in charge. The key is to step back so that what you believe in being is out of the way. That is done by perceiving the fear that your problem seems to cause as ‘it is what it is.’ That reveals fear is not alone. It is complemented by confidence, defined by fear that outlines confidence.

In this interplay, called the duality flow, you feel complete, thus free. Therefore, since there is no attempt to interfere with the breath, it runs freely despite physical issues.

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Whatever is perceived in the psyche to affect the body or in the body to affect the psyche is made-up connections. Fortunately, they are undone when you perceive your reaction to the effect as ‘it is what it is.’ However, you may feel empty when the idea of a body-mind connection goes down the drain. No worries. Soon you realise how laid-back life is without this fake unity.

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Clothes feel good when adjusted to your body’s size. And the body feels good when you are adjusted to it, which you are when willing to fall into it. The purpose is not to integrate your awareness with the body but to enjoy the interaction of heaviness and lightness. It feels so good that grievances and desires disappear. Hence every moment is the perfect moment – nothing is wrong or missing. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

Although the clothes and the body wearing them seem closely related, they do not understand each other. The clothes have no love or anything else to give the body and vice versa. Likewise, immateriality and materiality have nothing to give each other. Their reality is different. That is why psychological ideas of attaining physical wellness do not work.

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Since psychological issues seem to impact the body significantly, many conclude they are connected. But that is like assuming clothes are connected with the body because you feel cold without them. They have absolutely nothing in common.

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Applying one or more of Alexius’ Duality Hacks reestablishes the connection between the body and the brain – not by healing the body, though, but by undoing the foolish idea that you are in it. Hence it becomes like a coat you wear. It follows you, but you are not the same.

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When you perceive your response to an experience as ‘I know what it is,’ it is based on a quick look at different points of view to see which one establishes you as in the know. The stress this entails is not solved before you stop insisting, ‘I know what it is,’ and instead perceive your response as ‘it is what it is.’ This perception does not require you to be on top of it. Thus, you are at peace.

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The fastest way to repair a psychosomatic disorder is not to perceive it as ‘I know what it is but ‘it is what it is.’ The first view is definite, whereas the second does not have a monocratic but dualistic approach. Hence the second view aligns you with dualism, and since you are in a world of duality, this is the way to go if you want to feel complete.

In other words, to start healing a psychosomatic disorder, there is nothing you need to change but your perception of your reaction to it. Read more about that here.


NOTE: The article is part of Duality Hack #7 The fake mix of physical and non-physical issues.

The psychological and physical sphere does not blend

Updated September 19, 2023

If you feel rejected, the body has no reason to suffer. Nor is there any reason not to feel good if the body suffers from an illness. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

In most cases, you do not have to read Alexius’ Duality Hacks in a particular order. But in the case of this article, you may benefit from reading Duality Hack #6 Happiness is to be in touch with the brain.

In a world of duality, everything comes in pairs of opposing elements. They depend on each other, like breathing in and out. And also, like breathing does not work if you mix the opposing ingredients, you cannot blend the contrasting parts of a duality pair.

That said, since non-duality is formless, thus endless, duality is an empty vision as airy as a dream. Hence it is only within the context of duality that something seems substantial or unsubstantial. But since you assume to read this on tangible media, you believe in a world of duality.

But you cannot undo that belief unless you have acknowledged it, thus not separating or combining the opposing elements in the duality pairs making up a world of duality but respecting their interdependency. However, most divide or unite the contrasting parts in duality pairs. For example, many believe they can connect physical and non-physical issues. This hack explores how to correct that mistake.

Allhough projections are not real, they appear to be if you hide that their apparent effect is self-made. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

When you denigrate others to make yourself look good, you live in constant fear of retaliation. Hence you turn the body into a weapon of defence or attack by keeping your shoulders deadlocked in a backwards or forward position. But since that makes the muscles inflexible, they eventually ache. Fortunately, this is easily healed by acknowledging, you have chosen to hurt the body because not being blamed for what you feel, the body relaxes.

FULFILLED BY TWOFOLDNESS VS UNFULFILLED BY SINGULARITY
In the mental sphere, you see yourself as someone in a world defined by time and space. But since that which is you is no different from that which is One, and it is formless, thus without beginning and end, it is painful being reduced to someone in a capsule of time and space.

Nevertheless, this pain makes you feel real. For example, you pinch yourself to determine whether you are dreaming. And when you feel pain, you decide you are awake as a substantial being in a tangible world.

In other words, since your sense of existence is bracketed with pain, you must suffer to feel alive. And since being someone in a world defined by time and space is based on separating yourself from the formlessness of oneness, disassociating is also what you resort to in making the pain bearable. In the psychological sphere, you eliminate uncomfortable feelings from your awareness by projecting them onto vulnerable body parts. Hence the disassociated psychological issues seem hidden in physical matters.

However, you sense the physical discomfort experienced in the body is not solely material. But instead of acknowledging that you projected non-physical problems onto the body, you blame the world for your pain. Then, to deal with its expected retaliation, you turn the body into a weapon of defence or attack by keeping the shoulders pushed forward into a defensive position or pushed back into a place of constant readiness to attack.

That makes you feel in control, thus safe, especially when you push one of the shoulders upwards to constrict the energy further. If it is the left shoulder, the brain’s processing of the body’s feelings is delayed, wherefore you have time to step in, giving the body’s signals a clear-cut meaning that confirms you are someone definitive instead of the brain’s interpretation in which you are twofold. However, if it is the right shoulder, the incoming signals are rendered as twofold by the brain but blocked from being expressed like that. This approach is often the woman’s way. 

A way to prevent feelings from being expressed as they are is to hold your mouth closed, even when you smile. Hence it is as if no lousy emotion slips out. However, everything comes in pairs in a world of duality. So if you exclude negativity, you also ban positivity. So since there is no negativity to define positivity, your positivity is thought up. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

In other words, women tend to allow the body’s emotions to be processed by the brain but often override the brain’s dualistic description of feelings from being expressed. Instead, they replace it with a singular interpretation establishing them as unique women knowing the exact meaning of their emotions.

Besides hiding that they do not know who they are, their single-minded insight fends off the brain’s story of twofoldness, thus togetherness. The resulting loneliness is often suppressed by manipulating others into thinking they need the women’s secret superpower to connect with their feelings.

Generally, men also want to feel needed by others as someone definitive, not dual, even though they do not know what they are. So before the brain receives the body’s emotions to process them as twofold, men define them mentally. Hence, since they are out of touch with their genuine feelings, emotions do not disturb them from doing the right thing per mental concepts, thus appearing as superstars. But, unfortunately, this way of suppressing their incoming feelings stiffens the left side of the body, whereas controlling the outgoing emotions, like women often do, hardens the right side.

Since the disruption is caused by the mental vision that you are the master of the body, the problem originates in the mental sphere, where you try to hide feeling inferior by controlling the body’s incoming or outgoing signals.

The brain loves when its experiences make you believe you are something, thus, not discovering you are a fantasy made from nothing. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

However, feeling inferior is a misunderstanding brought about by the perception that you are definitive, not twofold. Fortunately, it is easily corrected. Suppose you perceive your definite response to the present moment as ‘it is what it is.’ That reveals your reaction is not singular but twofold, so feeling lost, for example, is complemented by feeling seen.

When you do that and perceive your reaction to the body as ‘it is what it is,’ thus having your response exposed as twofold, the body’s signals are not seen as singular but dual. Hence the brain recognises them.

When joining the interaction of these opposites or any other, you are in the duality flow. Therefore, since you do not feel anything specific, you cannot use pain to prove your existence as someone definitive. Fortunately, it does not matter because there is no need to be something specific in the constant interaction of opposites. Therefore, since you do not manipulate the body to create a special appearance, its signals flow freely to the brain, which has the body’s blueprint, thus knowing how to deal with them to keep the body sound.

Like you adjust to the concept of a computer game, you adjust to being twofold when playing the game of duality.

Ultimately, you are neither twofold nor singular because reality is non-dual, and it takes more than one to be anything. Since it also requires more than one to leave non-duality, you never left it. Besides, it is formless, thus endless, so there is nowhere to go. However, believing to be in a world of duality, it is easier to undo the belief when not singular but twofold. Since that does not turn you into something specific, you are nobody, hence nothing to give up returning to non-duality.

APPENDIX
The above about receiving and giving the signals picked up by the body is written within the brain’s story of you being someone definitive, which is a lie. You are nobody. so you receive nothing. Consequently, whatever you experience to receive and give or prevent from receiving and giving is thought up by the brain. You being in charge is also a story made up by the brain. You do not have the power to make thoughts yourself, only to highlight or disregard those you believe establish the brain’s story as something, thus, you as someone.

Actually, although Alexius’ Enlightened Non-Teachings are grabbed from without the help of the brain, writing them is done within the context of the brain’s story of being somebody in a world where there seems to be more than one. It is impossible to write them within the context of oneness because it takes more than one to write something. That is also why everything in a world where there seems to be more than one is fake, including the realisation you may have due to Alexius’ Duality Hacks. They do not reveal the truth or improve the world but undo the belief that you are someone in a world where there seems to be more than one.

Nevertheless, the more that belief is undone, the better you feel because the less you believe there is more than One. However, that may not stop your hay from having a fever, for example, but feeling its symptom does not upset you. In other words, the empty breath is like a raincoat. It does not stop the rain, yet you are not bothered by it. Having said that, you may still feel bothered, but since you do not link it with the rain, it is a fleeting feeling.


NOTE: The article is part of Duality Hack #7 Physical & non-physical issues do not mix.

Control is the fear of being wrong

Updated June 12, 2023

Control is the fear of not being good enough to be accepted as someone in a world of something. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

The wish to change ourselves often started in childhood. We quickly learned that when we changed our appearance per the expectations of our parents, they would see us as more lovable. Thus we started controlling our expressions to manipulate others into giving us more attention so that we could feel more loved. Read more about that here.

CONTROL IS THE FEAR OF NOT BEING GOOD ENOUGH
Maybe your parents wanted you to quit diapers before you had completed your toilet training. So to look like you were ready, thus getting your parent’s approval as the perfect child, you controlled your urination by tightening the muscles in the loin. But your manipulation of the body messed up its connection with the biological system. Hence the communication between the body and the brain was disrupted.

Therefore, since your body was left on its own, it tried to fix the blockage in the loin by balancing it with a new issue in the shoulder, neck or jaw. Maybe all of them, or at least the jaw, because reinforced in a forward position, you can easily maintain an appearance you imagine others will like, thus escaping feeling wrong. 

But perhaps the body chose to counteract the blockage in the loin with one in the feet so that many years after, something seems wrong there. Or it might have balanced the problem with stiffness in the hands, showing up later as something you assume is caused by a smartphone or a computer.

Although you can diminish the new problems in the body via massage and acupuncture, for example, the relaxation will not last because the hardened loin needs them to balance out its problem. And the new problems need the loin to remain rigid to balance them out. That is how the body deals with its issues when the natural flow of the biological system seems suspended.

Healing the psychological part of a psychosomatic combo takes no time. All psychological feelings are fleeting, so they pass on when looked at where they are conceived in the mental sphere. You deal with the physical part by stepping back. Thus the body can heal with itself without being forced to do it per your wellness expectations. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

However, since the brain’s script is as fixed as the earth’s motion around the sun, the physical tensions in the loin mentioned above would have occurred regardless of whether you adjusted to your parents’ expectations to feel loved. But if you had not tried to hide your fear of being alone by projecting it onto the body, the tension in the loin would not have seemed to be a mix of psychological and physical issues but solely physical, thus not a mystery.

Fortunately, untangling a psychological and physical mixup is never too late. All you need is to perceive your reaction to the unrest the psychosomatic disorder seems to entail in the present as ‘it is what it is.’ Since that reveals your response is twofold, there is no specific reaction to ratify a blend of psychological and physical issues. Thus thoughts and feelings are not seen manifested in the body but abstractly in the mental sphere. Saying ‘it is what it is’ is not the same as saying, »I do not care.« That is a singular statement, so it does not undo the unfortunate belief that psychological and physical issues can be combined.

Having a satisfied body is not about how you use it but why. For example, if your reason for getting a massage is physical, your body feels revitalised. But if the reason is psychological, your body feels burdened. In other words, when the body is uninterrupted by your mental view of wellness, it feels safe. But if you inflict it with non-physical ideas of perfection, it fights your intrusion – also, if you pump it up to look better.

In Duality Hack #7 Physical & non-physical issues do not mix, you can read about how to undo the belief in a body-mind connection. Hence returning to a happy relationship with the body, similar to the relationship you have with the clothes you wear, not assuming they wrinkle because of something you feel or think but because that is how they are built.

However, there is a shortcut you can use immediately to undo your mental invasion of the body, namely, apologise for misusing it to manifest mental ideas of wholeness.

Everything always goes your way. If it does not seem so, you are not going your way. That does not mean you are going the wrong way. It is not possible. But it is possible to perceive the way so that it is out of sync with your nature. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

YOU CANNOT BE WRONG BECAUSE THAT TAKES MORE THAN ONE
The above explanation of cause and effect is not entirely correct. Nothing adds up in a world where there seems to be more than one because there is no more than that which is one since it is formless, thus endless. That is what the explanations in Alexius’ Enlightened Non-Teachings are meant to illustrate. And that is why they only work when used to expose more than one as fantasy.

This explanation is also fictional because nobody makes or has the fantasy of more than One because it requires more than one. So ultimately speaking, it does not matter if you are in sync with the brain’s script, thus feeling connected, or you perceive it to appear more exceptional than designed, thus not in sync and, therefore, feeling disconnected.

However, in the context of a world where there seems to be more than one, everything seems much more manageable when one’s perception is in sync with the brain’s script, thus being a basic self. That requires no effort. But seeking out specific thoughts to create a particular image of yourself is stressful because it makes the thoughts scamper and fight each other. Hence the special self concludes it is best to get rid of some or all thoughts or at least slow them down via meditation or something else that supports the idea of being in control.

But that enhances the problem: the special self perceives itself as the master and the brain as its servant. It is the other way around. Therefore if the special self honours the brain by perceiving its experiences as they are and not as they should be according to the special self, the few thoughts required for having a perception in sync with the brain are unnoticed.


NOTE: The above article is part of Duality Hack #6 Happiness is to be in touch with the brain.

Happiness is to be in touch with the brain

Updated July 6, 2023

What you believe in being can be compared to a smartphone. Although it can do thousands of things, it depends entirely on its operator – just like you do on the brain. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

ENJOYING THOUGHTS IS ENJOYING YOURSELF
Even though the brain deceives you by making experiences that appear to establish you as someone substantial in a tangible world, it is not your enemy. On the contrary, the brain wants to make you happy. If that is not how you feel, you have most likely disassociated yourself from the brain’s experiences by not perceiving them as they are but how they could be, per a philosophy imagined to make the world better than the brain’s.

But since everything in this perception revolves around you knowing better than the brain, and since you do not know who you are, it is hard work to make it look like you, not the brain, knows what is best. Therefore, you meditate or force your body into strange positions to cut off the brain to free yourself from its perceived tyranny and be connected with your real self.

However, there is nothing but the self that the brain has invented and implemented with consciousness to perceive the experiences the brain fabricates from nothing as something, so the self seems to be somebody in a tangible world. Therefore, since every experience is a fantasy of the brain, there is nothing to experience, neither mundane nor spiritual, when not living by the brain.

Although the basic self feels free to follow the brain and the special self believes it is free from it, none is free. The brain processes all experiences, also those believed to come from the heart, higher consciousness and whatnot, so we are a product of the brain. The special self denies it and opposes the brain. But what you fight, you need. On the other hand, the basic self does not hide its brain dependency but happily counts on it.

You are in the brain’s domain when experiencing something because it produces all experiences. Therefore, since the brain loves you, the thoughts it makes do not trouble but soothe you when in touch with the brain. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

No worries, since not living by the brain is an experience, you still live by it if you think you are free of it. Therefore, since the brain gets what it wants, namely that although its experiences are made from nothing, you ratify them as something, thus making the brain real. This makes it so happy that it wants to share it with you to make you feel alive. But unfortunately, most people do not notice the happiness the brain shares with them because they want to be free from it to do things in their own way and time.

But since that never works as planned, they have to make it look like it does by excluding everything from their awareness that does not support the idea of being in control. However, since exclusion enhances separation, they feel disconnected. Fortunately, the mistake is easily undone. If you acknowledge feeling separated, you can perceive it as ‘it is what it is.’ And since that reveals separation contains union, feeling united is all there is until separation quickly returns to be replaced by united shortly afterwards. In this teamwork of opposites, you stop feeling them specifically and start sensing their interaction: the duality flow.

Therefore, you feel complete since you are in sync with the brain’s script of duality. Read more about the perception it is what it is’ in I know what it is’ vs ‘it is what it is’ vs ‘dunno what it is and the duality flow in Duality Hack #8 The duality flow goes to non-duality.

Watching TV series, you do not have to do anyhing to be engaged other than perceiving it by its plot. It makes you feel so entertained that you forget yourself. Likewise, in daily life when you perceive the brain’s script ‘it is what it is’ and not as it should be.

The brain’s script is neither logical, rational, nor consistent. But when your perception remains in sync with it, you feel as blown out as after binge-watching a TV show, thus feeling free. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

BLOWN OUT BY THE BRAIN
Being in touch with the natural flow of thoughts from the brain can be compared to being in sync with the plot of a movie. It is easy because the film contains hints about how to perceive it.

For example, the director has added emotional music to manipulate you into interpreting the movie per its script. And the bad guys arrive in black, which in the Western world is associated with evil. But suppose you doubt this meaning and try to construct a better one based on concepts unrelated to the film. Then, since you break up the story, you do not feel entertained but bored by the movie.

In other words, nothing feels entertaining if you think you know better than the director and keep imagining how the movie could have been if edited per socialism or another ism you believe in making the world better. In that case, you only feel entertained by the specific parts of the movie perceived as aligned with your ism.

On the other hand, when you do not question the movie’s storyline but jump into the adventure as it is, you feel linked with the whole film – likewise, accepting the brain’s story of duality, you feel connected.

In roleplay, you can become anyone you like. However, everyone is predefined by the gamemaster, so you must act accordingly. Also, in the game of duality. You are never your own but the brain’s, because it is the gamemaster.Fortunately, that does not mean you must like the brain’s script. You can perceive it as you like. However, you do not feel connected if your perception does not align with the script but how it could  be.

No matter what way you go and why you reckon to do it, the reason is that the brain has told you to do it. Therefore, having a perception in sync with the brain’s playbook, obstacles along the way add to the entertainment. But having made a perception where you are in charge, you are out of touch with the brain, so the same obstacles add to the stress you feel from having to do everything yourself. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

TAKING A BREAK FROM THE BRAIN
Should you want to take a break from the brain’s script of duality, all you need is to not be in sync with it. But not like the special self who revolts against it, thus depends upon it.

To be free of the script of duality, you ignore it by not making a statement like the special self who says, ‘I know what it is.’ Nor do you, like the basic self, declare ‘it is what it is,’ but gently say ‘dunno what it is.’ Since the brain’s script of duality is unconfirmed, you enter a state of not-knowing, where the slate is wiped clean. Hence you return to the consciousness of duality as the basic self, feeling happy to be with your best friend, the brain. Read more about that in A state of not-knowing and the after-effect.


NOTE: The above article is part of Duality Hack #6 Happiness is to be in touch with the brain.

Special and important, or basic and humble

Updated July 2, 2023

The special self wants to make selected ones feel unique, so they depend on it to be appreciated. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

The special self is always worried about the future, whereas the basic self lives in joyful ignorance of the next moment.

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It is much cheaper to be the basic self than the revised and more special version because the basic self does not have to buy something extraordinary to feel special.

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The approach of the basic self can be compared to buying an album and listening to it in the way the artist has put it together, whereas the special self prefers to stream the album to exclude the tracks that do not enhance its special image.

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It is always about returning to the way it was for the special self. But not for the basic self. It does not remember how it was. Actually, neither does the special self. It is the story it has composed about the past that it wants to manifest in the present, so it seems everything always has been like it assumes it should be.

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The special self wants to compare everything new with something old so that the present seems conditioned by the past, which it has edited to look like it was caused by itself.

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In the past, the special self made a hateful story as the basis for its perception of the present to confirm its judgment of others as evil. And since the past, therefore, appears to repeat itself, the special self can rest assured in its perception of itself as good and others as bad.

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When a ball comes towards you, it is an automatic reflex to respond to it. Automatically following such reflexes is natural and invokes how easy it is to be the basic self. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

Sometimes a doctor checks the function of a body by knocking on special points to see if the involuntary movements work. However, everything considered voluntary is also an automatic movement governed by the brain. Therefore, if you believe in being in charge of yourself, you have suppressed your reaction to everything that does not fit this belief. Therefore, since that requires much effort and it is effortless serving the brain, being a servant makes you feel free and happy.

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Being the special self is not about what you do but how to perceive it to appear in charge. For example, you see yourself as the master of the remote control, your coffee machine, children or pets. And if your boss puts you down, you still see yourself on top, thinking you could do it much better.

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To escape its self-hatred, the special self manipulates others into admiring it. If not succeeding, the special self considers letting go of something to reestablishes its control.

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Believing you are in control, you are under enormous pressure to constantly compose stories where you, not the brain, are in charge.

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The special self assumes happiness comes from being in control. Therefore, if something does not happen as planned, it upholds the idea of being in control by thinking it changed its mind.

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Extraordinary experiences, such as glimpses of the Enlightenment of that which is One, seem to be at a premium for the special self. Yet, it seldom experiences anything but the ordinary because, to prevent its special image from cracking, it fences off unfamiliar experiences.

If something uncontrollable, like glimpses of Enlightenment, should enter its controlled world, the special self ignores it, wait for it to be over, suppress its memories, and resume life as it used to.

You can read about how to have glimpses of Enlightenment in The four aspects of Enlightenment and how to sample them.

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To prevent the image of the special self from cracking, it is crucial not to feel one’s emotions. Therefore, since the special self suppresses them, it becomes so numb that it cannot feel anything. Instead, it invents stories about feelings that fit its self-perception. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

The special self enjoys talking about feelings speculatively, »like do I really love this person?« But it does not love anybody. It avoids feelings of intimacy by being with people speaking about a higher state of mind, thus being able to uphold its perception of being the master.

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Since feelings tend to mess up the perception that the special self has made of itself as an independent and unique being, it wants to keep them at a distance. But as this collides with its need to show off as an open person, it lays the blame for fencing off its feelings on others, which it criticises for being closed, thus making it impossible for the special self to express its feelings.

Although the real reason for not expressing feelings is that the special self does not know them, it shows off as an emotional expert who can help others open up to themselves. However, what the special self claims to see are its suppressed feelings (read more about that here).

On the other hand, the basic self has no special image to protect, thus, no feelings to hide.

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The special self uses much energy to suppress the thoughts and feelings judged as unfavourable to preserve what it believes in being or becoming when it lives in the now, comes from the heart, or whatnot. On the other hand, the basic self has no desire to appear definitive, thus no need to judge something as wrong.

Besides, it knows negativity is just as crucial as positivity. For example, an electric wire needs the negative pole as much as the positive one to make the energy required to publish this article online.

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Your suppressed thought and feeling are easily found. What you do not like in a dream is what you suppress, as everything in a dream is part of you. Likewise, what you experience with open eyes because the world is in the eye of the beholder.

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The special self preserves its friendly image by imagining all its nasty psychological issues hidden behind physical problems. To prevent them from surfacing and exposing its peaceful image as fake, the special self never relaxes except through structured systems like Tai Chi. On the other hand, the basic self has no special image to uphold. Hence relaxing comes naturally.

That does not mean the basic self never explodes in anger. But, contrary to the special self, it does not see it as wrong. Therefore, since it never hides its rage or any other emotion from itself but perceives its reaction to them as ‘it is what it is,’ it has nothing to conceal.

That said, nobody is perfect, so there may have been times when the basic self forgot to perceive its reaction to something as ‘it is what it is.’ Fortunately, it is never too late to perceive a past response as ‘it is what it is.’ Thus having it revealed not to be definitive but twofold, there is no specific feeling to avoid.

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The special self needs to convince at least one person about how crucial it is, which it achieves by smothering someone with the kind of attention it senses, that is required to make that person feel chosen. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

The more the special self can convince others that it can improve the world, the more powerful it feels, thus hiding feeling inferior.

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If the self-centred purpose of the special self is exposed, it will either deny it or say it is sorry and then go on precisely as before.

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When the special self perceives to fail, it takes on being secondary. Thus the failure does not seem to have been caused by itself but by somebody else.

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If the special self discovers that others have interpreted something it did as wrong, it avoids feeling guilty by shouting, »Look what you made me do.«

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The special self always finds something about others that it judges wrong. Hence they become the imperfect background for its perfection.

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The special self likes to meet new people. However, not to get to know them but to answer their questions. That is a perfect opportunity to re-edit the story it has fabricated about itself to appear exciting.

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The special self needs to be part of something extraordinary, not to feel inferior. Thus it checks all notifications on Facebook and makes sure to like what its friends write so that it will like it and be liked by them, and they are confirmed to be together in a group of extraordinary people. But, of course, it only works if you believe something exists in cyberspace.

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The special self needs constant approval from others to feel alive. To get that, it often establishes a family, which it can manipulate into giving it the confirmation it needs. If that does not work as intended, the special self may pay a psychologist to ratify its uniqueness. But it does not realise how dependent it is on those supporting its perception of being independent.

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When the special self sees the woman in this image, it probably makes a perception that hides what it actually feels, so the experience is perceived to be consistent with the image it has constructed of itself. On the other hand, the basic self has nothing to live up to, thus, nothing to hide. So it relates to the image as it is: a woman without clothes in the middle of a forest. If that is felt disgusting or stimulating does not matter because ‘it is what it is.’ Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

The notion of yourself as special is based on how you perceive to affect others and how you imagine they react. Thus you constantly adjust your perception of their responses, so it seems to confirm they see you as unique.

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The English language suits the special self because it is built upon the ‘I’ as primary and others as secondary. So you do not talk with others but to them. And when you speak about friends and yourself, you always start by mentioning yourself.

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It takes time and effort to invent a spiritual self from which selected elements are eliminated or changed to appear absent of power strivings, selfishness, greed, anger, negative thoughts or whatever you assume is politically incorrect. But being so correct feels restricted, whereas you feel free when not altering or rejecting something in your perception to shape your image into something specific.

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Being on your own makes you feel small, which the special self expects to fix by getting the power it imagines comes from riches, going deeper or realising something higher.

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If one of the special self’s perceptions is exposed as fake, the special self diverts the focus from itself by making up a new perception in which it is unjustly attacked.

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The special self likes to be together with others, but on one condition, namely that others accept its perception of things shapes their relationship.

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For the special self, it is always about becoming better and bigger. So disguised as a do-gooder, it sends love and healing to someone it judges to have less than itself. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen

If you are instructed to go to jail in a game, you must do it if you want to go on. Likewise, in the brain’s game of duality, you get unchangeable instructions from the brain.

If the basic self is asked to go to jail, it does so without asking why because it trusts the brain’s script. But the special think the brain’s ways are unfair, so it insists on a better way. To hide, it is unable to change anything, the special self claims it has been framed and will make the guilty pay for the unjust, thus deceiving itself into believing it is in control.

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For the special self, everything is about itself, so when a relative has been injured in a traffic accident, the typical response is, »How could you do it to me.«

If you are instructed to go to jail in a game, you must do it if you want to go on. Likewise, in the brain’s game of duality, you get unchangeable instructions from the brain.

If the basic self is asked to go to jail, it does so without asking why because it trusts the brain’s script. But the special think the brain’s ways are unfair, so it insists on a better way. To hide, it is unable to change anything, the special self claims it has been framed and will make the guilty pay for the unjust, thus deceiving itself into believing it is in control.

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The special self wants to be free of the brain, but the only one oppressing it is itself.

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The special self splits up its perception of others per its concepts of right and wrong and then expects them to hide or correct what it has labelled as wrong so it does not have to question itself.

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Whether you have convinced yourself to indulge in or refrain from sex, the purpose is to enhance being unique.

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The special self hates being told what to do. So if it seems avoidable, it makes up a story in which it is detached from what happens, wherefore it is not taking orders but going with the flow.

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If one has a personality of a faultfinder, the special self sees it as a mistake that needs to be corrected. Thus, every new mistake it finds disappoints, whereas the basic self is happy because finding errors fulfils its function.

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Undoing the belief in being someone special is like stepping into the unknown. And since life cannot be known, you find it there. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

By stating »we are all one,« the special self thinks it expresses non-duality. But since separation is the foundation of this statement, it upholds duality as real.

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Should you have conditioned yourself to feel relaxed when you hear a specific kind of music, you find yourself in a story where you know you are supposed to feel relaxed every time you hear this music. In other words, what you believe in feeling is a product of your story. And as most of what you believe in feeling rests on stories, you are hardly ever in touch with your emotions but how you have conditioned yourself to respond to something. That suits the special self very well. It does not want to experience genuine feelings but how it is supposed to feel them when being what it imagines.

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Adverse events are unavoidable. However, you can refrain from perceiving them like that, thus preventing them from making you suffer. That naturally occurs for the basic self. Therefore it has no need for special events to make it happy.

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It is not what happens but what you make out of it that makes you sad. In other words, suffering is your choice.

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A cat does not plan to do Pilates at a specific hour but naturally stretches out when its biological system tells it to do so. Nor does it attend special seminars to learn who it is or how to be transformed into something else. There is no desire to be anything but a cat. Likewise, being a basic self is good enough.

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The special self is about survival, whereas the basic self is about serving.

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Since the special self is an imaginary self constructed by subtracting what it does not like in itself, it always feels incomplete, hence looking for something it can add to feel complete.

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You cannot escape the hell of the self-discipline required to uphold the perception of being special if you are afraid of losing something, which you are, as long as you believe to be and have something special.

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The problems you perceive to have, do not come from the world where you appear to be but from the belief that you are there. Therefore, the solution to all problems is the same: to undo that belief.


NOTE: This article is part of Duality Hack #5 The worry-free life of the basic self.

Making a special self

Updated April 7, 2023

The multiplication of thoughts required to construct an image of you as an independent entails stress, thus, a tired body. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

THE ROGUE CONSCIOUSNESS MAKES A SPECIAL SELF
When not suppressing feelings by holding back the breath or altering its natural rhythm via yoga, for example, you are effortlessly synced with the brain’s script, thus being the basic self. And since very few thoughts are required to maintain this synchronisation, they do not seem disturbing but encouraging.

That is, until the consciousness, the brain has installed in the basic self to be aware of itself, decides it knows better than its maker, and plots to change the basic self into a special one. However, shaping and maintaining a special self requires a more complicated construction of thoughts than the simple one accumulated by the brain to create and uphold the basic self.

Hence the rogue consciousness perceives one of the brain’s experiences to be so scary that fear makes you hold your breath long enough for thoughts to be imprisoned in the gap, from where they force their way out by multiplying themselves. Having escaped, they continue their frantic multiplication, which pleases the rogue consciousness because it needs lots of thoughts to make a special self come into being, appearing independent of the brain.

But in a world of duality, all thoughts come in pairs of opposing elements to define each other, for example, right and wrong. Therefore, since you cannot have one without the other, you are never solely right or wrong. However, the rogue consciousness does not want the elements in the duality pairs to collaborate because it wants to set up a self that is solely good without traces of evil, and you can decide only to feel love for someone and hate for another, for example.

To disconnect the opposing sides in the duality pairs into distinct elements, the rogue consciousness first imagines a judge determining which emotions are distinctively good and evil. Then, an executioner punishes the bad feelings by excluding them from the new self. Thus it looks only good, having that feeling of being special.

When not interfering with the few thoughts, the brain keeps circulating for you to have a continuous experience of being a basic self, it feels entertaining. But it feels frustrating if you make a perception of the basic self that twists it into something more special. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

But when good and evil are separated, they cannot define each other, as when collaborating in a duality pair. Hence you do not get a genuine but conceptualised experience of good and evil. Nevertheless, that suits the rogue consciousness because, with emotions cut off, the special self can mentally decide what good and evil feel like, thus being the master.

You cling to a thought-up version of emotions. And since you believe your single-minded notions are real, you clash with the world of duality pairs.

However, it is hard to constantly suppress genuine feelings to experience good and bad in a thought-up way – or twist experiences into a collectively agreed concept of having a good time. Besides, the suppressed emotions mess up the natural flow of the breath, thus the stream of thoughts used to keep the body healthy, wherefore the body seems inflicted with psychosomatic illnesses. So although the special self probably appears as good as planned, it does not genuinely feel good.

What you believe in being is a construction of thoughts compiled by the brain into pairs of contrasting elements. You do not want to separate them when in sync with their ongoing interaction because it makes you feel complete.

On the other hand, the basic self feels fulfilled regardless of appearance because it does not break up the duality pairs but goes with the interaction of their opposing elements. It does not mean the basic self is perfect but feels complete in the duality flow. Read about that in Duality Hack #8 The duality flow goes to non-duality.

You get into the duality flow by perceiving your single-minded idea of, for example, good or evil as ‘it is what it is’. That reveals your rigid view is twofold, wherefore goodness is in evil and vice versa (read more about that in Duality Hack #6 Happiness is to be in touch with the brain). But instead of accepting that, you probably accuse the brain of messing up good things. However, since you are a product of the brain (read more about that here), your disapproval is a condemnation of yourself.

If the brain wants you to run, it uses the biological system to signal it to the body, which starts running regardless you are a basic or special self. The basic self, as always, feels entertained by following the brain’s commands. In contrast, the special self loathes the brain and its simple ideas of entertainment and thinks it knows better, even though it does not know who it is. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

BASIC VS SPECIAL
When the consciousness of the basic self goes rogue, it responds like a spell checker to the calm stream of thoughts coming from the brain, automatically interpreting it to make the self, which initially was made and administered by the brain, appear self-made and independent of the brain.

But since the rogue consciousness interpretations of the stream of thoughts are single-minded, thus out of sync with duality, thoughts run wild. At first, this seems scary to the basic self, but the rogue consciousness convinces it that it is for the best because now it has endless possibilities. Besides, the rogue consciousness promises that by being special, you are independent of the brain, thus able to arrange everything in your special way and pace. That often makes the basic self trust the rogue consciousness’ corrections, not knowing it must spend many years in school learning to label the modifications to act unique in predefined ways.

Both the basic and the special self is a construction of thoughts. But whereas the basic self is simple, the special self is a complicated construction made to sow discord by insisting on being better. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

In other words, appearing independent and special is complicated and exhausting, whereas being basic is uncomplicated and vitalising. Therefore, if you want to have a good time while appearing as someone in a world of duality, use one or more of Alexius’ Duality Hacks to enter a state of not-knowing. It wipes the slate clean of all misperceptions, thus restoring the basic self. Since it is relative to the brain, it is in sync with its experiences as they are and not as they could be if you were a special self following a specific philosophy. See, The basic self is relative, thus without ego.


NOTE: This article is part of Duality Hack #5 The worry-free life of the basic self.

Inclusiveness is the bliss of nothing

Updated May 21, 2023

It is best to acknowledge both the good and evil parts of one’s personality because they cancel out each other when they meet. Hence it is impossible to be someone definitive. You achieve the same by fully including evil because then there is nothing left to define it, Thus no evil to define goodness.  Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

Once upon a time, Alexius assumed that if he justified feeling annoyed with the world, his irritation would be replaced by relaxation. But it was stressful to always look for something outside him to blame for the discomfort inside him. So the result was not relaxation.

Fortunately, he recognised that if he included irritation by being it to such an extent that he was nothing but that, there was not something to contrast it, wherefore, it could not be categorised, thus, not experienced as a specific feeling. And since relaxation is defined by irritation, both feelings turned into nothing. In short, he saw that the meaning of opposing elements is cancelled out when one of them is fully included. So, since he was neither definable as irritable nor relaxed, he forgot to see himself as someone separated from others. Hence he entered a state of not-knowing.

However, let us go back and elaborate on being fully inclusive. It does not mean you laboriously have to ensure every bit of irritation is included, but there is a willingness to be nothing but that. In other words, it is not about perfection but willingness. Should the latter be lukewarm, you are still fully inclusive if you are willing to include reluctance.

Inclusiveness has nothing to do with acceptance or forgiveness because inclusion leaves nothing to accept or forgive. Nor does it have anything to do with embracing or owning your feelings, as that enhances the belief in being someone definitive, thus separated, instead of undoing it. Inclusion is the absence of separation, which is the bliss of nothing.

Thus you enter a state of not-knowing with glimpses of the Enlightenment of that which is One in the form of ethereal light, celestial music, intangible sensibility or taste. Please read more about that in The four aspects of Enlightenment and how to sample them.


The the bliss of nothing is not the same as the Enlightenment of that which is One because it takes more than one to be blissful. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

When the internet is down, the thoughts about what is possible to accomplish in cyberspace fade out – so does the image of what you appear to be there.

It is a bit similar to a state of not-knowing. You fail to notice thoughts that seem to manifest you as separate from others. Therefore, since there is nobody to attribute an experience with a specific meaning, you are in the bliss of nothing.

But there is not someone to know that before a state of not-knowing is over, and you return to the conscious experience of being someone with sweet memories of the bliss that comes from not believing to be someone.

By not excluding but fully including your feeling of worthlessness, you are nothing but that. Therefore, you cannot be defined since there is no contrast to define your worthlessness. Hence you are in a state of not-knowing, which is pure bliss. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

Being in a state of not-knowing does not mean you do not appear to be someone separated from others, but since the belief in being someone momentarily is undone, nobody cares about it. Hence thoughts and feelings are not considered tools for manifesting you as someone definitive but simply for navigating the world. For example, pain may prevent you from walking on a broken leg, and fear stops you from stepping out in front of a car.

In this context, pain does not cause suffering. Neither does fear scare you because when you do not use thoughts and feelings to establish yourself as someone definitive, they are not experienced to result in anything specific. In other words, when not used for something personal, thoughts and feelings do not appear to affect you or the world experienced outside of you, nor do they seem to have been caused by you or anything else.

Trying to understand inclusiveness and categorise when, why or how long you are in a state of not-knowing, before you return to the conscious experience of being someone defined time and space, complicate things. To be inclusive is simply to not be exclusive. Since the result is a state of not-knowing, you will not get there through understanding.

Since the experience of you as someone substantial in a tangible world defined by time and space is a construction of thoughts, it falls apart when inclusion undoes the perceived separation of thoughts into elements with different meanings. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

But as soon as thoughts and feelings are used to achieve something specific, such as unconditional love, you are out of a state of not knowing. Thus no longer in the bliss of nothing but the misery of something specific.

Neither will the bliss of nothing last if you remain in that state for more than 20 minutes, 45 at most, because without the constant acknowledgement of separation, the Enlightenment of that which is One set in. It erases the awareness of something as well as nothing.

Simply put, as long as you want to appear as someone in a world defined by time and space, you cannot stay too long at a time in a state of not-knowing. If you do that, the Enlightenment of that which is One set in, and it erases every memory of being someone in a world defined by time and space. But fortunately, the after-effect of just a split second in a state of not-knowing can last for years. Thus you can enjoy the belief in a world defined by time and space while gently having it undone. That is the purpose of Duality Hack #4 Inclusiveness frees you from duality. So read on if you would like to enjoy your favourite aspects of being someone definitive while slowly but surely including them, thus, again and again, entering a state of not-knowing. Read more about that state in A state of not-knowing and the after-effect.

Multitasking or defocusing facilitates a state of not-knowing. But this state can also arise from being deeply involved in something when it is not carried out per a special philosophy or an attempt to escape the present. Photo © Alexius Jorgensen.

If the boxes in Alexius’ Enlightened Non-Teachings disturb you from being focused and centred, they fulfill the purpose. To be in a state of not-knowing, you must forget about being centred, balanced and focused because those concepts are deeply founded in labelling experiences, thus separating them.

Fortunately multitasking takes care of that. It distracts the brain from focusing so that it becomes difficult to categorise an experience as different from another. Applying The taste of Oneness as desribe in The four aspects of Enlightenment and how to sample them helps you defocus. That said, this is meant to be applied for undoing the belief in being someone definitive, not for driving a car, for example.


NOTE: This article is part of Duality Hack #4 Inclusiveness frees you from duality.