JFL = Just F00king L00k!

Hey folks, this is a transcript of an old liberation I did back in the day on Skype. I seem to remember failing on this one but I do not have the original transcript unfortunately, and this guy was a hard case as you will see. I had copied and edited this up and then I moved house and never ended up posting it. I had asked this guy to do the tried and tested typing exercise. He had trouble getting a handle on what I meant by looking. Here is how I demonstrated the difference between looking and thinking to him. I hope this is useful for someone trying to get a handle on what we mean by looking when they are starting out on an investigation. 

ghost virus: Hi mate, hows things?

PW: Been better, but I'm getting there. How bout you?

ghost virus: All good tar, did you get my mail?

PW: I did mate. Just looking at it now actually

ghost virus: OK, do you get what I mean about looking? I want you to try the exercise again, and focus on looking this time. Don't worry everyone seems to want to be trying to work it out logically, there is no problem in doing that but the trouble is you won't get any traction working the angles like a puzzle

PW: To be honest, I find the looking bit hard. Can't stop the mind from jumping in!

ghost virus: The whole illusion rests on logical inference and assumption so if we work in those constraints we won't get anywhere apart from throw up the same conclusion over and over. Its true the mind seems as though its taking over, I know what you mean there but really that is the illusion of it all, the mind is taking over what?

PW: God knows. I'm confused!

ghost virus: No worries!!! That's normal, so lets focus on looking, try and do that typing experiment again and bear in mind what I said

PW: I honestly don't know if I can! I just don't get this stuff at all

ghost virus: That's the thing Paul there is nothing to get! There is no need to work anything out, it is really very simple, so look at the ceiling, you see that?

PW: Yep

ghost virus: Now imagine a unicorn and get a mental image of that do you see it?

PW: Think so

ghost virus: Can you imagine a mental image of a unicorn, or a memory, just something?

PW: Yeah

ghost virus: OK, I'm not patronising you btw, I'm just breaking it down simply

PW: Please do!

ghost virus: So we can establish that these mental phenomena exist, there is a world that we can perceive and an "inner world" that is represented in thoughts, with me?

PW: Yeah

ghost virus: Now how would you test for the existence of something in the room you are sat in... If I asked you is there a unicorn sat behind you, how would you test to see if that was the case?

PW: Turn round and have a look

ghost virus: Exactly right, so this is what looking is, now suppose I asked you to calculate 2+2+2+2=???

Paul Watt: 8

ghost virus: Right, how did you come up with that answer, did you look or think?

PW: Think. But looking without using eyes??? Hmmmm....

ghost virus: OK, lets not get too far ahead, we had to think about the answer, try 17 +58=?

PW: Erm 75

ghost virus: Right OK so we have a difference between looking for a unicorn and working out a mathematical truth.

ghost virus: Now....

ghost virus: What I want you to do is remember today, just watch the thoughts that arise about your day don't judge them or anything just watch them and describe your day to me non judgementally, it does not have to be in the correct order or anything, I just want you to focus on the images that pop in your memory, LOOK at them and just describe the mental pictures you see.

PW: What like eating my cereal, going for a coffee in Starbucks, driving the car, etc?

ghost virus: Yes, but rather than describe your day to me, look at the mental imagery that arises as you recall your day. Don't describe your day as such actually look at the mental sequence of pictures that arises in your awareness and just describe each picture to me non judgementally. Don't force the issue just relax.

ghost virus: LOOK at what arises in your awareness

PW: Sorry, but I'm from way up North mate. Spades a spade and all that. I just don't understand what your asking me to do

ghost virus: When you remember being in starbucks you get mental imagery and you can clearly and distinctly remember being in there?

PW: Yeah nice smells, noisy coffee machine, air conditioning too cold and so on

PW: Oops! That was judgemental wasn't it?

ghost virus: OK lets just stop a sec before we proceed. We don't need to complicate things, I'm not asking you to look in a special way or anything, I just want you to look at the mental imagery that arises in the same way that you looked to see if there was a unicorn in the room. Its just simple looking in that sense, there is nothing magic or anything like that, it is looking at thoughts in the same way that you look at a table, a cup, just looking and describing, really just basic looking of the common all garden variety.

ghost virus: Look around your room and look at the different objects and then turn your attention to the thoughts that arise. That kind of observation is what we are talking about.

ghost virus: So, don't focus on describing your day to me, I want you to watch the mental imagery that you become conscious of, when you recall some of the things you did today and just describe exactly what you see

ghost virus: As it pops in your head, no judgements, no details, just what you see

PW: I'm looking at a bottle of water right now

PW: Curvy shape. See through. Shiny surface

ghost virus: You are looking at the properties of the bottle of the water, these are concepts

PW: Then I'm stumped

ghost virus: What is happening is you are analysing the bottle of water, you are thinking about the properties the bottle of water has. This is automatic, yes we do it all automatically, we cannot stop this as such, but what happens when you turn away and then LOOK at it. It is just an object that you pick up in your visual field, then what happens next??? Then the process of thinking happens, water, Curvy shape. See through. Shiny surface etc... do you see this?

PW: No. I'm just describing what I see. I never said plastic or water or anything conceptual, I think....

ghost virus: Try a few objects and watch what happens, literally LOOK at what happens in real life

PW: OK The room is full of colours and shapes and textures and areas of dark and light

ghost virus: No, that is a concept of what you think I want to hear. You are over thinking this, you were not describing what you see to me before, because what happens when you look at something. Try this. Look at each object in the room and LOOK at what arises. So if you turn your head and then you notice a bottle of water, what happens next? The concept water appears, then the concepts Curvy shape. See through. Shiny surface etc... Start to look at some other objects and then see what happens, can you LOOK at the mental phenomena that arises and describe it to me?

PW: No. I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about mate. Please explain further

ghost virus:

<<< you notice a bottle of water, what happens next? The concept water appears, then the concepts Curvy shape. See through. Shiny surface etc... Is this actually true to what happens in real life? Look at an object in the room, would it be fair to say this happens in your thinking > Look at object > name of object arises > property 1 > property 2 > property 3 > etc... Look at your direct experience of reality, don't think about what is happening observe the thoughts that arise and tell me if what I have said here is true or false.

PW: Why don't you tell me what you see, so I can get a flavour of this?

ghost virus: OK I look on the table > Red object > its a cup> it has a handle> its a large cup> I got it from a rizla promotion back in 01. OK this is basic stuff yeah, there is a process to the way we think about things, I just want you to notice if you can see a similar pattern in your thinking, does your thought follow a similar line upon seeing an object and comprehending it? That is basically all I am asking you, its not complex it is very simple. Does it follow this process: > Look at object > name of object arises > property 1 > property 2 > property 3 > etc...

PW: No, only if asked to describe it. I don't think about objects that deeply. If asked to specifically describe something, then I would say yes

ghost virus: OK, we are just looking at objects and in real life I don't think about objects that deeply either. However, if we stop and comprehend an object, our thoughts start to notice the attributes of that object, and it does it automatically for the most part, would that be a fair description?

PW: Spot on

ghost virus: OK good, notice here that we have investigated the process rather than scrutinised the contents?

PW: OK

ghost virus: We have observed a mechanism at work as such?

PW: Yes automatic

ghost virus: I am going to give you an example of what someone else wrote when I asked the to do the typing example that I asked you to do...

>>>> "I look at this sentence, the thought about what the heck am I supposed to look at come up, closely followed by the idea to write this down.

Thoughts take shape in unspoken words, words are dictated letter by letter as hands type them. I can hear the words pronounced in the tapping of the keys, punctuating every letter. An idea to sum it all up appears. It's all one big process without specific ends or boundaries. Reading it all again, checking if it made sense, triggered from the thing you asked before. Feelings changed in the mean time, from confused-aggressive to something calm-ish.">>>

ghost virus: That was what he wrote, notice how he was looking at the process itself rather than engaging in thinking

PW: Erm kind of

ghost virus: Don't worry about details but notice how he was looking in his direct experience this is what I want you get you to do next. I want you to try and do the same thing but only tell me what you are aware of. Don't try and judge the process with a label, I just want you to watch what happens in your thoughts and I want you to scrutinise and observe the mental process that happens when you type. Just give it a shot.

ghost virus: Don't copy what he wrote either just tell me what you see - only what you can directly observe yourself

PW: Wondering where all this is going. Fingers fumbling out words on iPad keyboard. Pause. What the hell am I doing? Typing continues. Pause. This will have to do. Wonder if he's pissed off with me. Pressing send

ghost virus: Not pissed off with you mate but you seem to think that this is a special kind of looking when we are talking about the simple act of looking at our thoughts.

<<< What the hell am I doing?>>>

OK, this thought arose, good you are telling me that you are noticing the thought arising that is a start! Perhaps you should do this exercise when you get on to a proper computer keyboard though.

PW: Why??

ghost virus: Probably a pain typing on an ipad lol!

PW: You're not wrong like

ghost virus: Anyways, this was a first effort, scrutinise the process again, I want you to look at what actually happens, I want you to focus on the mental phenomena that arise, perhaps you see images hear words?

ghost virus: What happens before you type out a word, do you visualise the word, perhaps hear it?

PW: I formulate a full sentence in my mind before I even begin to type it and then read it out word by word as I type (slowly!)

ghost virus: How do you formulate the sentence, is it represented visually, or perhaps you imagine it being spoken?

PW: Definitely spoken. No visualising at all

ghost virus: Ok excellent!!! Finally, you have looked at the mental processes that happen and described them, this is all I mean by looking. Rather than thinking, you had to look here to answer my question, this is all we mean when we say LOOK, it is literally this kind of looking

ghost virus: literally

ghost virus: So, try this one last time, describe the process of typing out a sentence to me, LOOK at the mental process that are involved in typing the sentence and then describe them to me

PW: Ok I'm thinking out this sentence in my mind and immediately my fingers spell out the words on the keyboard. Read it back to myself a few times, checking it doesn't sound too mental. Thinking, then typing "hope this is OK"

ghost virus: That's OK, lacking a bit in detail but never mind at least you have a vague idea of what we mean by looking now. You didn't have to think about how you did it, you looked at how it happened, do you get that part?

PW: Think so

ghost virus: OK good work, you have made a start at least anyway.

PW: Phew!

ghost virus: Really its not that difficult it is about looking instead of thinking, it really is a simple thing it takes 5 seconds to see but what happens is people get confused about thinking and looking, it is quite difficult to get a handle on it, I just wish there was some way of explaining it clearly!!

PW: Ditto!

ghost virus: I am going to call it a night now mate, but I will be online tomorrow in the day time so you should be able to catch me then. Get some rest or if you still want to hit this some more, LOOK at where the thoughts come from and tell me what you see tomorrow. OK, take it eezy catch yer 2moz :)

PW: See ya mate. Thank you so much for your time!