Q: The tree over there is separate from me here, right?
/China Camp Park in Marin, California
Clearly the tree over there is in a different location than I am. Why do some teachers suggest it is not separate from me?
While you may believe that the "tree over there" is separate from the "you here", certainly it is not your experience that it is so.
Let's explore this.
When you look at the tree, where do you experience it? Do you experience it "over there"? Do you really experience it over there?
Sure, maybe the mind says "it is over there", but is that really your experience? Isn't it more true to say that you are experiencing the tree here, here within the experience of the "me" that you sense yourself to be?
Pause and really explore this. Don't let these words convince you; let your own knowing be your guide. Is the tree experienced over there or is it experienced here, here in the immediacy of the experience of yourself?
...
If you are following what is being pointed to here, you can see that your experience of the tree “over there” is actually an experience here that labels the experience as a "tree" "over there"?
And isn’t it also true that the knowing of the tree is happening in the same place as the experiencing of the mountain in the distance and that of the grass beneath your feet? Don't they all happen here (wherever here is)?
While one could look at this "scientifically" and recognize that of course the light from the tree over there travels to my eyes and into my brain which is here, that mode of exploration would be dependent upon concepts, dependent upon external frameworks that require knowledge to support their basic thesis's, and is thus entirely of the mind (which is itself a concept).
What is being pointed to here is to use our own experience, void of interpretations. When we do this, it becomes clear that Yes!, yes the tree over there is experienced in exactly the same "place" as the mountain, and the same place as the grass! All is experienced here.
So now let's ask: "Where do I experience 'me'?" Where?
...And lo and behold, we discover the "me" is also experienced here!
Isn't it true? Isn't it true that you experience the tree over there in exactly the same place as your sense of "me" here?
If the tree "over there" and the me "here" are experienced in exactly the same place, then how can we be so certain that they are separate? Sure, we may believe that they are separate, yet after the above discovery can we now maintain with absolute certainty that they are separate? We may conceptually separate them, but our knowing of them makes no such distinction.
How about if we add our other senses to this exploration? Where do we experience the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves of the tree over there? Of the car horn in the distance? Of the breath of the person next to us? Of our feet against the ground?
Aren't they all being experienced here, here in exactly the same location as the tree over there and the “me” here?
How about thoughts? Where are you experiencing them? Where is the current thought happening? Isn't it also happening here?!
So where is the separation that our minds insist on? Where exactly is it? Isn't the "separation" just a thought that is happening here?! Isn't it just a concept, an interpretation/translation, another appearance no different than the tree and the sound of leaves, all happening here, not separate from all else that is happening here?
Don't trust these words on face value; Only your own experience will offer you the clarity you seek. What is your experience?
Do you really experience separation... or is it possible that you simply believe that you experience separation?
What exactly is that belief?
Isn't a belief just another thought and thus also an experience happening here?
Perhaps the teachers are on to something...