Experiencing the becoming of non-avatar things.

There is nothing better than experiencing things with your own body, to make a piece of theory both obsolete and more concrete.

Regarding the post “The "I" beyond the avatar world,” if you believe you haven’t experienced the becoming of non-avatar things before, and would like to experience it, I suggest that you try some of the following.

Experience 1.

Engage in an activity that you intensely enjoy. Enter the flow state. It could be running, it could be writing, it could be watching a movie. Enter the flow state for however long you like or can. Then exit.

While you were in the flow state, where were “you”?

Your avatar body was performing the actions of running, writing, and watching. And when you began those activities, your POV might have been focusing on the fact that you were doing so. But as time passed and you were in the flow state, where were “you”?

You were the act of running itself, instead of an avatar who runs. You were the act of writing itself, instead of an avatar who writes. You were the act of watching the movie itself, instead of an avatar who watches a movie.

Moreover, you were the entirety of the world moving toward you as you ran; you were the writing and every element in it; you were the cinematography and art direction of the movie you were watching.

We do this—entering the flow state, letting go of the avatar aspect of the POV—instinctively, all the time.

Auto-piloting one's vehicle on one's commute can be one example of how this happens automatically. It isn't exactly the most exhilarating of flow states, but it's an example of how our POV goes off somewhere and somewhen–daydreaming– while our body magically knows how to maneuver the vehicle. And our mind is "there" to react to red lights and green lights, to other vehicles changing lanes, and someone honking, even if we likely will not remember such incidents afterward.

We aren’t always “there” in our avatar. We frequently leave it to be elsewhere and elsewhen. It's entirely normal in the statistical sense–it is the norm that happens all the time.

Experience 2.

Find a quiet spacetime and contemplate nature elements. Actually, you could contemplate anything, but I suggest nature elements because they seem fairly neutral—less prone to being subject to value judgments.

For example: water, fire, earth, air.

I suggest 20-40 minutes of sitting. But really, any posture is fine. You could do this indoors or outdoors. You could do this with eyes closed or eyes open.

Remember the post, “The "I" in the body.” If you get dizzy, it might be because energy is too focused on the head. Try to guide it back down to the chest area.

If “contemplate nature elements” doesn’t convey any meaning, consider the following characteristics.

• Water: life-giving, essential, versatile, solid, liquid, gaseous, wild, ocean, storm, flood, calm, gentle, wavy.
• Fire: warm, home, cooking, delicious, nourishing, community, bonfire, deaths, witch hunting.
• Earth: Mother, nature, environment, plants, animals, life on this planet, solid, grounding, safe, earthquake, unpredictability.
• Air: light, feather, flying, airplanes, technology, outer space, breathing, suffocating, connection, shared resources.

The idea is that, again, nature elements seem fairly neutral. They are mundane, they are magnificent; they are powerful, they are negligible; they are beautiful, they are ugly... on and on and on. So, while we contemplate them, it seems that we can allow ourselves to become them without asking, "Is this good or bad?"

And really, oh, do we become them!

Take water, for instance. Let all the images and sounds associated with it fill you and spill out of you. Let the waves sweep over you with their magnificent terror or nurturing embrace.

After 20-40 minutes of thinking of nothing other than water in its various shapes, forms, symbols, etc, examine how you feel. Who were “you” during those 20-40 minutes, if not water?

The worldview tag is best read in this order. The later posts build on the earlier posts.