This is the first exercise for Stage 4 of the Odoki Method.
- Bring to mind something that is less than perfect about your life (small, not major)
- Notice what happens in your body, noticing where in your body it is
- Check, is perception happening here? Are these sensations being perceived?
- Now turn your attention the other way: look for who is doing the perceiving?
- If you find a perceiver, check, is that “me”?
- If the answer is “yes”, check for what about it makes it “me”.
- Is it more me than the sensation we first felt?
- How can the sensation be “me” while “me” is perceiving it?
- Now, if there’s a me perceiving me, who is perceiving that second me?
Here, we’re simply checking the natural assumptions we make about ourselves. If we notice something surprising, we can just stay with that, as it is - let it become a new fact within our experience. Here, we’re looking for a definitive, singular me. Can we find one?