In Atmananda’s teaching, we can pull out two basic areas of focus: the independent existence of things and the independent existence of separate selves. Both areas of focus are amenable to the same style of analysis.

Pick any purportedly independently existing thing–for instance, dense, solid sensations in the chest that seem to indicate that there’s a physical thing here. Look closely at the sensations. Do you ever discover a thing–or do you only discern pulsing vibrations? Take some time to adjust your vision, so to speak.

You don’t discover any such thing: you don’t find a substance nor a substratum. You only find the sensations.

Now consider: in or “beneath” these sensations, can you find a particular separate self? For instance, beneath sensations normally labeled “pain,” do you find a separate experiencer?

You don’t discover any separate self and, in particular, an experiencer. You don’t see any substance or any substratum named “the experiencer.”

In both cases, you only find Openness.

Don’t stop here. Consider every single conceivable case of thinghood and of egoity until it’s clear that neither exists and that only Openness is.