Good morning ☀️
I had a thought about Rumi’s line: “What you seek is seeking you.”
For a long time I took that pretty literally — that what I need will come to me at the right time.
But this morning it landed differently.
It feels like the deepest truth is that there is no separate seeker.
The one who is seeking and what is being sought are not two.
Maybe the point isn’t to “get somewhere higher”…
Maybe it’s simply to notice that what we’re looking for is already here, as awareness itself.
Reflecting more, maybe the gift here is simple: a small rest from seeking. Not an answer, but a recognition that what we’re looking for may already be here.
Has anyone else experienced that kind of quiet shift?
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Paul, thank you again—your words have stayed with me. I’m noticing something in my own experience and wonder how it lands with you.
Moving into presence isn’t just recognizing that ‘everything is included’ or that ‘seeking is unnecessary.’ Thought itself takes energy. When it truly lets go, that energy doesn’t vanish—it can become clarity, aliveness, even bliss.
Staying present with all that life throws at us seems to require the single-pointed focus of a man on fire searching for the pond to jump into—a devotion, a core desire.
I’m curious if this sense of the lived middle—the energetic shift between contraction and release—resonates with you now, or how you would describe it from your perspective.”
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Wow, both of your reflections really resonate.
Janet, I love the idea of silence as a constant backdrop, with words and action erupting only when needed—like a mystic repeating a prayer while moving through life.
Rani, your point about action arising without a doer fits beautifully here. Thought can slow it, but life moves seamlessly when we step out of the way.
I’m wondering: what if silence is actually holding everything—thought, action, experience—not empty, but sustaining and allowing it all to arise?
Rumi said it perfectly: “Silence speaks.” Thought and action are like ripples on the surface of this deep, holding presence—moving, appearing, interacting, yet never separate from the depth beneath.
Do others sense this holding presence beneath all activity, or does it feel fleeting?
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On Feb 1, 2026, at 10:34 AM, Paul Rezendes <pho...@paulrezendes.com> wrote:
Janet and everyone,
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On Feb 1, 2026, at 9:10 AM, Janet Asiain <janet...@gmail.com> wrote:
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Yes — and perhaps the paradox only arises when thought enters.”
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Paul, I hear your concern and appreciate how much you care about the dialogue and the group — that care itself is meaningful. Perhaps this is the natural rhythm of inquiry: sometimes words arise, sometimes they rest. The quiet in between is part of the dialogue, not outside it, and your presence — even in stillness — contributes. I’m curious how others are experiencing this pause; what does it feel like for you in the silence?
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Thank you, Jim, for sharing your reflections.
In this thread, I notice thoughts, silences, and different ways of being showing up. Perhaps each of these is part of the same unfolding inquiry, appearing differently for each of us.
I wonder how everyone is experiencing this pause — in words, in quiet, in the space between — without needing to resolve or agree.
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Dan and everyone
Hi Dan,
Thanks for this—it resonates a lot. I’ve noticed that too: the sense of separation only shows up within experience, and even that experience is not separate from the whole. Sometimes in meditation, or when I’m walking fully absorbed in nature, there’s literally no skin barrier between “inside” and “outside.” In those moments, it feels like the field itself is all there is, and the usual sense of “I” simply drops away.
I think what I’m experiencing in those moments is exactly what you point to: the absence of separation, which can’t really be grasped as an object or known conceptually—it just is, as experience itself. And yet the mind so easily tries to turn it into “something to know,” even when it’s really just the natural flow of awareness.
Your reflections are helpful in giving words to what feels ungraspable.
—Jeff
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At times it feels very clear that there isn’t a separate ‘me’ inside looking out.
It’s more like presence is simply being everything at once — no real boundary between inside and outside.
I’m not claiming to understand the totality of the universe.
Just noticing that the sense of separation is thinning, and what remains feels like wholeness or Oneness.
Does that resonate with what you mean by “nowhere else to go”?
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Paul, Dan —
Yes… I really love where both of you are pointing.
Paul, I don’t know if it’s accurate to say we “experience being the whole universe” in some grand or total way. The mind can turn that into a concept very quickly.
But experientially… there are moments where the sense of being a separate person inside a body, looking out, begins to soften.
The body is still here.
The world is still here.But the feeling of a hard boundary —
“me in here, life out there” — thins.And what remains feels very simple…just this.
One field of happening.
Not two.
So maybe wholeness isn’t somewhere else.
Maybe it isn’t an escape from form, or from being a body.
Maybe even the experience of being this body — with its sensations, limits, location — is already an expression of the whole, already in relationship with everything.
And Dan, what you add feels like the quiet heart of it.
That subtle sense of incompleteness…
the feeling that something is missing…
can operate almost invisibly in the background.
And the movement is so quick:incompleteness → therefore something else is neededsome other experience some arrival.
But what if the invitation is simply to pause…
and look directly at the sense of incompleteness itself…
without immediately believing its story.
In that noticing, the question becomes very immediate:0Right now… before the next thought about what should be different..
is anything actually missing?
Maybe this moment, even with its boundaries, even with its humanness…is already whole.
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The search is over.
There’s nothing more.
All is here.
I am
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What if the story is just believing moving, showing itself, taking us along without asking anything of us? Words follow, not leading, just reflecting.
And incompleteness… maybe it’s not really incomplete at all—maybe it only seems that way. If we let it be fully, without rushing, we see more clearly. If something does call for completion, fine—if not, fine too. Either way, it’s just the showing itself, alive.
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Life is deeply relational. Trillions of cells in our bodies communicate constantly—chemically, electrically, mechanically—listening and responding to one another. The body itself is in continuous exchange with the environment: sensing, adapting, breathing, metabolizing.
This interbeing extends outward: billions of people, each thought, each word, each action, continually shapes the living field. Every communication matters. Every moment, the field updates, shifts, responds. Nothing exists in isolation; the Whole is alive, always changing, always participating.
Perhaps this is what the wisdom traditions gesture toward—Akasha, Brahman, God, Christ Consciousness, Logos, Tao, Ein Sof… Not separate from life, but the living depth expressing, receiving, and becoming—right here, right now.
The One appearing as the many, and the many participating in the ongoing life of the One.
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Rani, yes… and even more beautifully:each cell carries the DNA of the whole person within it.
So in a way, the entire human is present in every cell — even if the cell isn’t aware of the full being it belongs to.And perhaps we are like that too:
each of us a local expression of the Universe, carrying the imprint of the Whole within us, whether or not we recognize it.
Love, peace, and joy 🙏
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On Feb 2, 2026, at 2:22 PM, Jeffrey Angelson <jeff.a...@gmail.com> wrote:
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Have you ever noticed that the boundary of your body isn’t as solid as it feels? I’d like to offer a small bridge from what we often talk about.
The body is not an isolated object. The heart, brain, and nervous system generate measurable electromagnetic fields that extend beyond the skin, and the body is continuously exchanging energy and signals with the environment—through heat, sensory input, subtle vibrations, chemical molecules, and more. Even biologically, the body functions more like an open, flowing process embedded in a larger field of interaction than a sealed unit. You might notice the warmth of the air, the gentle pressure of clothes or the floor, the movement of blood and heartbeat—all reminders that the “inside” and “outside” are intertwined.
This makes me wonder: how much of the sense of “inside” versus “outside” is really fixed, and how much is just the way we normally perceive ourselves? When I sit quietly and attend to the skin, I can feel these subtle flows—my heartbeat, my pulse, the air on my skin, the warmth or vibration of the environment—reminding me that the “inside” and the “outside” are not truly separate.
Even though this is a small reflection in words, its implications are huge experientially. It opens a doorway to sensing the continuity we often discuss more abstractly, and invites a subtle shift in how we normally experience separation.
I offer this as an invitation for reflection and discussion.
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Think of the forest: a bat, a butterfly, and we ourselves each experience it differently, yet none of these experiences exist apart from the forest itself. Everything we perceive — sights, sounds, thoughts, feelings — arises in awareness, like reflections in a mirror. And like overlapping fields in a system, each action, thought, or perception subtly changes the whole. Oneness is this living, dynamic field in which everything affects everything else, yet nothing is truly separate. It’s not something “out there” or “inside you” — it is the inseparable, ever-present space in which all experience arises.
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Dan — I see it this way: consciousness is the space where everything appears, including our bodies and even the sense of boundaries. Boundaries aren’t separate; they arise within consciousness itself. Our body isn’t outside of consciousness — it’s consciousness sensing and expressing itself through the body.
As Rob said, it’s like trying to know infinity — which is why we have the infinity symbol. Consciousness holds everything, vast and ungraspable, yet intimately present in each experience. Feeling this directly shifts how we live: conflicts, separations, and fears are no longer outside enemies but phenomena arising within the same field, allowing us to respond freely, inhabit our bodies fully, and rest in presence rather than reaction.
Sitting in silence, not doing, I notice that everything — body, mind, boundaries — is held within this stillness. It feels as if silence itself is the medium of reality. Why did Rumi say “Silence speaks”?
Just sharing my sense — curious to hear how it lands for you.
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Wrote this after sitting quietly with some early morning stillness…
Early Morning Thoughts
Reality is already moving
before I name it.
A thought rises — and is gone.
A feeling comes — and softens.
Even this sense of “me”
is not something solid,
just a current in the stream.
Nothing stays long enough
to become certain.
And maybe freedom isn’t
figuring it all out…
but relaxing
and letting life flow.
The river doesn’t get stuck.
Only the hand
that tries to hold it.
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On Feb 4, 2026, at 5:19 AM, Jeffrey Angelson <jeff.a...@gmail.com> wrote:
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Dan, I appreciate how you framed this. What you say about “thinging” resonates — it works as an approximation, until it doesn’t.
Your question about whether there are distinct fields feels key. For me, when the inquiry goes far enough, the question itself drops away — what appears as many fields is experienced as one continuous reality, with distinctions arising only in description.
That’s all I mean by “One Field” — not a physics claim, just a pointer to what’s present prior to segmentation. Models help, but they arrive after the fact.
I also appreciate you noting the AI-generated nature of the video. I’m holding it lightly, as a provocation rather than authority. Looking forward to the Feynman clip.
What’s been clarifying for me lately isn’t a new idea, but a quiet noticing:
function continues, ownership is assumed.
The body–mind orients, responds, remembers, speaks —
not as something separate, but as activity arising with the field itself.
Each movement, each perception, each thought
is an excitation — and the field keeps changing.
Nothing is fixed.
Function arises with the field as it changes,
which means this — whatever we call “life” — is always new.
When the sense of ownership softens, nothing disappears.
Experience doesn’t collapse.
What remains is pattern and flow — intelligent, responsive, unowned —
the field expressing itself as form, moment by moment.
I’m reminded that the Buddha cautioned monks against teaching “no-self” as a doctrine — not because it was false, but because turning it into a belief misses the point. It was never meant to be something to hold, only something that loosens what we cling to.
Seen this way, One Field doesn’t feel like a metaphysical claim.
It feels like continuity without an owner, movement without an agent,
differentiation without separation.
When nothing needs to be defended or carried forward,
each day can be met as it is — unfamiliar, alive.
Not knowing becomes a feature, not a problem.
Beginner’s mind isn’t naïve — it’s responsive.
This is what keeps it exciting.
Stay curious.
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