From The Top

1. There is only one Reality.

2. But then that Reality must be “the subject” of Itself.

3. We have a name for the subject. That name is “I.”

4. So, I am the only Reality.

From The Bottom

1. I have (phenomenal) experiences. I experience touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, hearing, thinking, feeling, desiring, etc. Of that there can be no doubt. Key, here, is the fact that I am the one experiencing touching, etc.

2. I (also) know that I am. Immediately, am I aware? Yes. Immediately, do I exist? Yes. Of my immediate awareness and my immediate existence there can be no doubt. 

3. Now, let me be open to the fact that the I is singular (and if singular, then universal). Indeed, when I contemplate “I am experiencing” and “I am,” do I find that there are two I’s or only one I? It’s clear that I only find that there is only one I. In fact, I’ve never had an experience of any other I; I’ve only ever been aware of one I. So, I have reason to accept the postulate that there is, in Reality, only one I. This must be directly understood. Thus the need for Self-inquiry.

Self-inquiry

1. Everything is now “teed up” for Self-inquiry. I am the only Reality, and I am that which is having experiences. I’m also open to the possibility that there is only one I–period. 

2. And if there is only one I, then the only thing that’s happening is that I am “sliding back” from I-experiencing to I-witnessing to I-manifest to I-Unmanifest. Call this relaxation/expansion. And what’s also happening is that I am “sliding forward” from I-Unmanifest to I-manifest (I Am) to I-witnessing to I-experiencing (ego). Call this contraction/condensation.

3. So, my only question from the standpoint of practice (sadhana) is: Who am I when I am All Alone (without qualities or attributes)? What am I in my essential nakedness, in my total unadornment?