The Search
Responsivity is lost via the search to stabilizing a pattern of selfing
Grammatically, “self” is an indexical (a contextual pointing word, like “here”).
There is no permanent "here". Often, it is irrelevant where "here" is.
In phrases like "pass me the salt", “me” points to a body.
In, "the dress looks teal to me", “me” points to sensation of a body.
The "error" is mistaking a useful pointing function for being a permanent, separate, continuous, and defined entity.
There is no such this as a self. The article "a" implies an entity.
There is merely self, as a possibility to usefully point to.
A state of being is the 'inside' feeling of a pattern of interaction.
"You" and "I" are pointers to such at a particular moment.
Since state of being depends on pattern of interaction, the stability of "I", like the stability of "here", is dependent on a stability of context.
"The Search" could be elaborated to the search for stabilizing a desired pattern of selfing, also known as 'self-contraction', that is, contraction of awareness around a particular pattern of selfing in an attempt to stabilize it.
The root 'problem' with 'the search' is that stabilizing a pattern of selfing entails a loss of responsivity to what is happening.
It is stabilizing the 'inside' of a pattern of interaction as if this would not destroy the responsivity of interaction altogether.
The six realms of Buddhism describe patterns of loss of responsivity, with the two extremes being:
Hell Realm: complete loss of responsivity to a single reactive pattern of interaction.
God Realm: complete loss of responsivity to a single solipsistic pattern of interaction.
"Searchless Responsiveness" could be elaborated as "Responsiveness without distortion by attempts to stabilize a pattern of interaction".
This existential relaxation of trying to stabilize self is a quiet bliss, analogous to the physical feel of moving with no extra tension.
There is no ultimate problem with fixed responsiveness, the condition or the preference of the vast majority of beings, human or non-human.
Searchless responsiveness is like passion for a musical style: fulfilling to those with the passion, of no import to those without.
> "The Search" could be elaborated to the search for stabilizing a desired pattern of selfing
Would you agree that "desired" here is a bit loose? One might actually be searching to stabilize *whatever* pattern of selfing as a way to the familiar (even if not "desired") relief of conceptual contraction as preferred over the experience of open-endedness.
> Searchless responsiveness is like passion for a musical style: fulfilling to those with the passion, of no import to those without.
Love this.