One of the most radical ideas I came across in Ending Unnecessary Suffering was in the section on loneliness. Ralston says one ideation is that we live in an existentially isolated inner world, which leads to a sense of disconnect and therefore we need others to complete the experience. I do see a possibility of feeling that your isolated inner world is complete as it is, so that you don’t need another to view it to feel as such. However, the idea that the private inner world itself is a concept is so radical to me. I don’t know how to wrap my mind around it. It is incredibly obvious to me that I have thoughts, beliefs, self-judgements, etc. that are simply not observable by other people. Only I can witness them unless I share them. Does anyone have any insight into investigating this?

I’m currently reading Ending Unnecessary Suffering. In the first chapter Ralston says that we need to grasp that a significant portion of our experience is muddied with concepts. When I’m reading the book and consciously trying to do this, I don’t find it difficult. If for example, I am feeling grief towards a person no longer in my life, I can investigate the mental image of that person and realize it is not the same as them. It’s a distorted, inaccurate representation, and it’s literally NOT them. I can also play some games where I imagine them wearing a giraffe hat. When I put the book down and go back to normal life, I go back to my default of being affected by my internal mental images as if they are accurate representations. I don’t know how to access this state of continuous realization. Is it done through practice? Should I spend some time every day doing this exercise and then eventually, the deeper insight will come?