Q. Sometimes when I manage to still the mind whilst meditating, I may notice or remark a thought arising in my awareness and then in this same awareness, perhaps a sound arises and is remarked upon or noticed (say a dog barking). These both simply appear as phenomena arising in my awareness, yet upon reflection I associate, or “own” the thought, yet not the sound of the dog. I treat thoughts as being mine and can get all hot and bothered about them. But the phenomena that I ‘experience’ as sound, I can simply let go and not treat as belonging to me, as being outside of me. However, more and more I am coming to regard both so-called thoughts and so-called sounds as being one and the same. Justexperience registering on the radar of awareness. Is this an experience of non-self, I wonder, or am I fundamentally mistaken about what is meant by self and non-self ?

A. It is non-self if mental objects and experiences are allowed to rise and pass away, and self if you grasp at them and make them ‘mine’. If you see outside experiences and inner experiences as just things on the ‘radar of awareness’, then the sooner you bring that understanding into your life the sooner you will go beyond suffering, but can you do that? If not, then it is to there you need to shift your “radar of awareness” throw yourself into the practice, so that you can fulfil that hint of insight. Thinking about it more won’t do you much good at all.