It’s easy. It’s just a matter of the the level of aggregation or level of organization of matter. Organic life forms are composed of inorganic compounds. In the same way, the personal virtual self (the “I”) dialogue feels alive and real, but when a practitioner watches and listens to it run, the practitioner can see the individual sounds or images in the string of internal selfing are absent of personal characteristics.

The dots on the wall are just dots on the wall until you step back and see the pattern of the painting! Level of organization or level of aggregation matters.

We human beings live at the level of the whole heart, body, and mind, where each part (no matter how it is defined) is a apart of, not apart from, but not the whole of the whole self. So for me it is always important to return to this experience of the whole as the ultimate ‘reality’ for day to day living.

So, at this point in practice, this brain (impersonal voice) understands the impersonality and not-self characteristics of the components of subjective experience, and I (personal voice) also experience ‘being’ and ‘self,’ feeling they are ‘real,’ all the while also knowing that they are very useful constructs of the mind that represent but are not the whole.

Whew! But, what can i say? That’s how it is for me right now. Hard to describe. Easy to live with.