The self is like a mirage. It seems like there is water there, but it’s just a reflection of the sky. The hot road is real and the sky is real and the seeing is real, but the mirage is just a misunderstanding. Once it’s seen that it’s just a mirage, nothing changes; it’s just seen for what it is: not water, but a reflection.

This is how it is with the self, except that the illusion of self is much less convincing than a mirage. The analogy falls down in that the illusion of self is the same thing as the illusion of separation. What is obvious is that there is only one with no second.

There is no consciousness because there is nothing to be conscious of anything else.

Asserting that “consciousness” and “awareness” and “being” and “self” are somehow real is like asserting that a mirage is wet.

All-there-is-and-isn’t is what appears to be happening.