Is there something I can do?

[Scott1989]

Some say it is helpful to drop the involvement in the story in the head. They say that whenever something seems to be the point of what we are doing, that needs to be dropped as it is a form of craving. When something seems to be the point of what we are doing, then the present moment has become an obstacle to reaching something in the future.

Others say it is helpful to embrace the now and be aware of what is happening now without focussing attention, without letting consciousness stick to any particular thing.

I believe these things are helpful and true but can cause much confusion.

Why?
Who is supposed to shut up? Who is supposed to drop the point? Wouldn't dropping the point be the new point?
Who is supposed to embrace the now? Is there an I in the now? Isn't it always in the now then? Who can focus attention?

What is it we can actually do then? Isn't all doing an obstacle? Do we need realization before we can practice? But if the realization is already there, what are we practicing for?

There is nothing you can do, since there is no you. There are just the forms, feelings, perceptions, mental objects and consciousness.

Then maybe we need to practice giving up completely. What is there to do if there is no I who can do it? What is there to achieve if there is no I to achieve it? What is there to keep if everything is impermanent? What is there to gain if there are no boundaries between things?

What should we give up then? If you ask me, we should practice giving up the following things at all times:
wanting
doing
thinking
watching/looking/listening/perceiving

But we should not forget to give up the following things as well:
non-wanting
non-doing
non-thinking
non-watching

And above all, we should not forget to give up practicing giving up.

Now, what remains is watching without having a goal. What remains is being aware of the now. Watching and being aware of the now can never be manipulated since all forms of 'trying to make it happen' would be obstacles to actually making it happen.

[Hanzze]

There is nothing you can do, since there is no you.

Who says or thinks so?

[daverupa]

Who is supposed to shut up? Who is supposed to drop the point? Wouldn't dropping the point be the new point?
Who is supposed to embrace the now? Is there an I in the now? Isn't it always in the now then? Who can focus attention?

What is it we can actually do then? Isn't all doing an obstacle? Do we need realization before we can practice? But if the realization is already there, what are we practicing for?

There is nothing you can do, since there is no you...

resembles the following, doesn't it?

"This is how he attends inappropriately: 'Was I in the past? Was I not in the past? What was I in the past? How was I in the past? Having been what, what was I in the past? Shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future? What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? Having been what, what shall I be in the future?' Or else he is inwardly perplexed about the immediate present: 'Am I? Am I not? What am I? How am I? Where has this being come from? Where is it bound?'

"As he attends inappropriately in this way, one of six kinds of view arises in him: The view I have a self arises in him as true & established, or the view I have no self... or the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive self... or the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive not-self... or the view It is precisely by means of not-self that I perceive self arises in him as true & established, or else he has a view like this: This very self of mine — the knower that is sensitive here & there to the ripening of good & bad actions — is the self of mine that is constant, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change, and will stay just as it is for eternity. This is called a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. Bound by a fetter of views, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person is not freed from birth, aging, & death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair. He is not freed, I tell you, from suffering & stress.

So, pursuing these lines of inquiry isn't going to help. What does help is the following:

"And what are the ideas fit for attention that he does attend to? Whatever ideas such that, when he attends to them, the unarisen fermentation of sensuality does not arise in him, and the arisen fermentation of sensuality is abandoned; the unarisen fermentation of becoming does not arise in him, and the arisen fermentation of becoming is abandoned; the unarisen fermentation of ignorance does not arise in him, and the arisen fermentation of ignorance is abandoned. These are the ideas fit for attention that he does attend to. Through his not attending to ideas unfit for attention and through his attending to ideas fit for attention, unarisen fermentations do not arise in him, and arisen fermentations are abandoned.

[SDC]

Now, what remains is watching without having a goal. What remains is being aware of the now. Watching and being aware of the now can never be manipulated since all forms of 'trying to make it happen' would be obstacles to actually making it happen.

But you do have a goal – to not have a goal. And why is “not having a goal” your goal? Figure that out and you will know, or at least get closer, to what it is that you are actually trying to achieve. You have at least two unnecessary layers of thought clouding what you actually want to do. Why?