Is it my feet that walk? Or am ‘I’ walking? Indeed, how do I know what walking is? Should I ask what walking is or should I ask who is walking? If it is a ‘what’ that is walking, then is all of me walking or perhaps just parts of me? But then am I a collection of parts or am I one whole, unified, One? If it is a ‘who’ that is walking then where is this ‘I’ that walks, exactly? And who is the ‘I’ who is asking all these questions? I walk, or does my body walk, or is it my mind and its ideas of a walking body that talks? (Sandström, Journal entry February, 14th, 2008)
The questioning of one’s sense of ownership never takes place within the actual experience. However, the questions themselves seem to arise naturally as an assumed certainty, regarding ideas of walking, of body and of the ‘I’ of experience, diminishes during training. What I have not questioned quite so easily is if the entity which has experiences and asks questions is the same entity through time. It seems natural to assume an ongoing entity; surely my experiences do indeed correspond to the same self over time.
(Sandström, PhD thesis: page 57-8)