Excerpt from the teaching "1/2 Dependent arising. [EN-DE] Todtmoos 10.2024": https://youtu.be/5ipIBAmnTc0
So, this is the basis of meditation: not that you vanish, but that we move from identity to presence. "I am" — this is the formulation of my identity. We could all begin a sentence with "I am," and add many, many qualifications, but if we start the sentence, "I…" — very open — "I am…"
If you get the feeling tone of that, it might give you a sense: "I" is that presence. "I… I…" — if you like — it supports presence without content. But as soon as I say, "I am," I’m pulling in the content: "I am Scottish; I am somebody who comes to Germany from time to time." So many, many storylines can come into "I am." "I" doesn’t react to the gain and loss of desire and diversion; it’s just a simplicity of presence. But "I am," as a constructed identity, is condemned to the task of self-maintenance and self-development.
~ James Low
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Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0titPJrQGo