A clay mug is surrounded by space on all sides. Let it be granted that space is “outside of” the clay mug. And when it’s asked, “What is inside of the mug?,” we can say: “Mug-space.”

And so, there is outside-space and mug-space. Of course, when we take a sample of outside-space and mug-space, we find that the substance is the same. This is especially clear when the mug shatters. Then the space within–formerly “mug-space”–and the space without are seen as one and the same substance for sure.

In the same way, see that this is true of your essential nature. What, exactly?

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Accept, to begin with, the inside/outside duality. The “space without,” in this case, will be temporarily named Brahman. The “space within”–that is, the space inside of the skin boundaries–will be temporarily named Atman.

So, there is Brahman without as well as Atman within.

Go further. Concerning Atman (or the Self), ask: “Do I find, in my direct experience, any ego-I?” Look everywhere. See that you don’t. Then try to really feel that the very one that’s “looking through these eyes” is the Self. When one says “I,” what is meant is that this I within is the Self.

The Self, then, is experiencing seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling, sensing, thinking, and feeling. There’s not an ego-self plus another Self “over there.” No, the only Self is this Self–the very Self that is reading these words right now.

Really feel that no experience–no perception, no sensation, no thought–changes (insofar as it is an appearance) when this experiential understanding (“I, inside, am the Self”) is clear. Experiencing goes on as it had gone on when there was confusion or ignorance (“I am Andrew, or Tom, or Janet.”) The only thing that’s different is that there’s a gestalt shift: the apparent self within (like “two faces”) is revealed to have always been the Self within (“the vase”).

Now “look out” as the Self. It’s rather like knowing that you have no head:

Go one step further: Is there actually an “outside” or an “inside” in direct experience? Try to find the difference between Atman (“I,” the Self) and Brahman (“Absolute Reality,” Presence, or sat). Try to find the exact place where the Self meets Brahman. Where is that? And, for that matter, where is this space in which Atman and Brahman were initially believed to reside?

There is no meeting place and there is no such space because Atman is identical with Brahman: the Self is none other than Reality.

Whether the clay mug is broken or intact makes no difference: the same space is within and without, and there is, really, no within or without. Likewise, whether there is or is not “name and form” makes no difference: there is only the Self-Reality, or pure experiencing.