Just try to inflict a noun, a separate self, onto this moment—try to be hungry before you actually are, or like that person whom you have visceral distaste for. Try to digest your food. Grow your hair and nails. Or not think that thought. Give it a go, separate self! 

Of course, we try this all the time. We insert a noun into everything. Even my last two sentences imply a noun. (It’s right there in our language, every time).

But where would that noun, that separate self be? Inside your head? Where, exactly? The prefrontal cortex? (the big contender in the world of neurobiology) Ok… how? How is it located there, exactly? And if it’s there inside your brain somewhere, is that spot not connected with the rest of your brain, body, and environment?

We get nowhere, attempting to find the noun, the cut-off.

Because there isn’t one. What there is is verb-ing.

So that’s where we can go with our awareness. To the verbing. The tao. The flow.