If we take the teaching of non-self fully to heart, then any notion of an individual doer who can install or shape conditioning is indeed problematic. Even the most subtle sense of a “me” who is practicing is ultimately seen through as itself an expression of conditioning.

And yet, for most people there is a period, often a long period, in which the illusion of control is still deeply engrained. The notion of being the one who is actively directing the path serves as a kind of necessary illusion, a skillful means. To pretend otherwise, to deny the relative reality of the self prematurely, often leads to a sort of spiritual bypass that ironically reinforces the ego.

So when I speak of intentionally instilling beneficial patterns, it is a provisional instruction for those who still feel a degree of agency. The idea is to harness the existing momentum of self in service of its own undoing. We consciously participate in the process while simultaneously investigating the one who seems to be participating.

Over time, this evolves into more of an allowing, a deep trust. The spiritual technologies and practices are engaged without any sense that “I” am doing them. At a certain point, there is a profound letting go in which the psyche is left to unwind and reconstitute itself in its own organic way.

For example, we could say that in the end, compassion, wisdom, and all the other good qualities we might have tried to cultivate, simply become the natural fragrance of a heart that is free. Not something that is painstakingly constructed by a self, but rather the spontaneous expression. The conditioning that is operating is doing so without any center, without any owner or director.

Integration is about holding the relative and absolute perspectives simultaneously. To engage the path with diligence and care, while never forgetting that there is no one doing it, and to celebrate that in this moment, conditioning is manifesting in the form of a willingness to look deeply into the nature of self and reality.