Exploring Ourselves with Jackie McInley, February 15, 2025

Exploring Ourselves
Online dialogue with Jackie McInley
February 15, 2025

Today’s dialogue was about “Choiceless Awareness”. It was pointed out by a participant in the group that choices we make are both conscious and also unconscious. How aware are we of the choices we actually make? Choice also implies a chooser: a “me” that is making decisions. This chooser or observer is separate from the object of its choosing and points to a continuous evaluation of preference. The group then stated that any psychological reaction, such as hurt or offense, often brings up a choosing of what needs to be done to mitigate the pain felt.

The group penetrated further into this question of Choicelessness and reaction. Reactions perpetually trigger the past to life even though the conscious mind is still felt to be operating in the present. The self is felt as an intelligent, protective mechanism that underlines the need for mitigating action. The reaction is in fact a memory and yet appears as immediate: “I am hurt” is seen by the conditioned mind as a fact. However, is hurt actually an idea informed by thought? Can the mind – seeing the reaction as a kind of belief – question the validity or truth of the reaction of hurt?

But hang on, how can one question the pure physical sensation of hurt, one participant pointed out? The sensation is surely real? Perhaps the sensation is real, but is the recognising of that sensation from memory? We call the sensation, pain, because it has become identified and conditioned as pain. Can we question the label, “hurt” yet stay in attention of the immediate sensation that remains unnamed? Here, is the mind in a state of choiceless observation of what is? Is this a new kind of freedom? I am, in effect, happening right now and no longer defined within the movement of a conditioned responding. Can we see this directly in ourselves?

Jackie McInley
open-door-worldwide.com