Mr. Dowman has done a great job and service by bringing Dzogchen into these times in a way that is more universal.
Oh, we are all there, right now. What's that they say, everyone is a buddha, but some are just sleeping, hence the term Awakened Mind.
Yes, my encounters with emptiness were similar. You can use any object to illustrate it and what I think the main point is that the object is a conceptual fiction. I like the exploded diagram of an automobile as another example, though the classic analogy was a chariot. The same questions can be applied to that since none of the parts is car or has a car in them.
We believe that the compounded objects are things in themselves and that's functionally useful, but useful and the reality of it are what is at question here.
There is a prominent Dzogchen teacher who is of Western origin, (and with a scientific background) Alan Wallace who was giving teachings on that same idea of emptiness using eyeglasses as the subject. The question is, when are the glasses and when are they not. The answer? When we say it it is. That's so simple and it was always right there like when you look for your glasses and they were on your forehead all the time. It IS right here. This is it. It is merely recognition that is pointed out.
So, consider what is a conceptual fiction that is believed to actually "exist", (keeping in mind that the word "exist" comes from the Latin, exsistere, which is to come into being, and standing out). In that sense, things appear to "stand out" and "exist" to us.
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