{"id":2864,"date":"2025-07-28T14:47:50","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.govertvanginkel.nl\/?p=2864"},"modified":"2025-07-28T15:24:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T15:24:41","slug":"the-dream-and-the-dreamer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.govertvanginkel.nl\/en\/inspiration\/the-dream-and-the-dreamer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dream and The Dreamer"},"content":{"rendered":"

*The dream does not prove a dreamer\u2014only that dreaming is.*
\nWhat we call the “dreamer” may itself be part of the dream.
\nOnly awareness itself\u2014timeless, changeless, observing all states\u2014remains un-dreamed.<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nAnd perhaps, as the sages say:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAll phenomena are like a dream, a phantom, a shadow\u2014
\nlike dew or a flash of lightning; thus should you view them.\u201d
\n\u2014 *The Diamond Sutra*<\/p>\n

What You Are Not, But What Is<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019re not your story.<\/p>\n

Not your gender.<\/p>\n

Not your thoughts or feelings.<\/p>\n

Not even \u201cawareness\u201d as a thing you possess.<\/p>\n

Yet something **is**. Something **remains**.
\nIt\u2019s not personal.
\nIt\u2019s not impersonal.<\/p>\n

It just **is**.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Power of the \u201cWithout\u201d Approach<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWithout thoughts, memories, emotions, associations, perceptions, or even awareness… how would you know you are a man? A woman? A self?\u201d<\/p>\n

This form of inquiry is not about negation for its own sake\u2014it\u2019s **deconstructive self-inquiry**. Each \u201cwithout\u201d strips away a veil, a scaffold the ego uses to stabilize itself. Eventually, the mind is forced into silence\u2014not because it has found the truth, but because it can no longer cling to its **usual strategies of knowing.**<\/p>\n

And what remains?<\/p>\n

Not nothing.
\nNot an answer.
\nBut a presence, a stillness that cannot be spoken\u2014but **is undeniable**.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the paradox <\/strong>Stephen <\/strong>Wolinsky helps us touch:<\/strong><\/p>\n

* We start by trying to *know what we are*.
\n* But the **only thing that can be known** is what we are **not**\u2014thoughts, roles, feelings, stories.
\n* As more is removed, a sense of *being* remains\u2014yet even that cannot be captured.<\/p>\n

This leads to what Wolinsky called:<\/strong> **\u201cThe I Without an I.\u201d**
\nThe sense of self **dismantled**\u2014not destroyed, but revealed to be **empty of form, full of presence.**<\/p>\n

A Practice Inspired by Wolinsky<\/strong><\/p>\n

Try this line of inquiry right now:<\/p>\n

Ask:<\/p>\n

– Without memory, how do I know who I am?**<\/p>\n

– Without thoughts, am I still a man? A woman?**<\/p>\n

– Without emotion, who is feeling?**<\/p>\n

– Without sensation, do I still exist?**<\/p>\n

– Without perception, what is left?**<\/p>\n

– Without awareness\u2014even that\u2014what remains?**<\/p>\n

Sit in silence after each one. Don\u2019t answer. **Let the absence deepen.**<\/p>\n

The mind may try to fill the silence\u2014just return to the **”without”**.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the mind cannot proceed. It yields.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s left isn\u2019t \u201cknown\u201d in the traditional sense.
\nIt\u2019s **presence without center. Awareness without form.**<\/p>\n

R<\/strong>emember the **no-space space**, empty and full, where there was no I, and only the I that was not there remembers now.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

*The dream does not prove a dreamer\u2014only that dreaming is.* What we call the “dreamer” may itself be part of the dream. Only awareness itself\u2014timeless, changeless, observing all states\u2014remains un-dreamed. And perhaps, as the sages say: \u201cAll phenomena are like a dream, a phantom, a shadow\u2014 like dew or a flash of lightning; thus should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[356,360,353,359,352,355,358,354,357],"class_list":["post-2864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","tag-consciousness","tag-diamondsutra","tag-dreamanddreamer","tag-innersilence","tag-nonduality","tag-personalgrowth","tag-presence","tag-selfinquiry","tag-themind"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Dream and The Dreamer - Govert van Ginkel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How do you know who you are? Are you your stories, feelings, actions? 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