The Do-er and The Shoe

The sense of self (ego) commonly believes that it is the do-er of actions. That belief goes along with the notions of free-will, guilt and self-blame. It's a lot of confusion.

The egoic sense is merely a signal, like our name. In fact, it is closely associated with our name. The egoic sense appears when somebody calls our name, along with whatever response we make to our name being called.

But the ego isn't the do-er of actions; it's merely a signal of the location of "a remembered self". The do-er of action is the action, itself.

Actions always occur spontaneously, even if pre-meditated. We can never predict the precise way we will act; we can predict only approximately. Said another way, "the do-er" doesn't know precisely how it will do what it is about to do or how what it is doing will turn out. It just acts and then experiences the action and the result (after the fact) and owns it as its own (memory).

But action started before the egoic sense noticed it, happened, and then got noticed (remembered), moments afterward. There's always a time lag between doing and noticing; we call that time lag, "reaction time"; a time lag is built into our senses and responses. In a sense, we live as (and in) a time-warp.

So, we're always experiencing the past. The present is forever unknown. Said another way, "Now" is forever unknown.

Efforts to know, "Now", always involve memory -- if only because they start with remembering to stay, "Now". It's all memory-based.

The egoic sense is always behind, using short-term and long-term memory to catch up with an ever-changing sense of, "Now".  "Now" always happens before we know it; we are always behind. "Nowness" is always around the bend, forever unknown, just as, beyond a certain limited point, we are unknown to ourselves.

Only the Signal of a Do-er

The egoic self-sense is not the do-er, but only a signal of the do-er's location and state of readiness. Action starts spontaneously; guidance of action always occurs after the fact as a correction -- and only approximately, as the existence of errors suggests.

Observe any action and notice that there's a moment of incomprehension before there is recognition of it. Then come memory formation and recognition of the action. Try focusing on something and notice that it's out of focus for about half-a second before you can focus. Everything is like that -- even your thoughts.

It's already in your shoe, before your next step.