Self Identity
satcittananda
UK Veteran
Hi NBies
Sorry, I have not really engaged for some time - but there has been a very good reason.
I have been studying SELF-IDENTITY, as most of you are doing in your own way, how it transforms, and how the (interdependent) processes behind it, fashion who we are, and are perceived by the society we find ourselves in. In the process I have literally become someone else but am still the same person.... it does work out if you start from the principles of the 4NT's btw
In fact I have just been awarded another degree for it.... TaDa, but as I now regard universities as institutions, I don't hold it in high regard as many would like me too.
All of you contributed to it btw...
Thanks a lot!
How can I sum what I've discovered:
https://tricycle.org/dharmatalks/the-oxherders-journey/the-enlightened-return/
Enjoy!
Comments
Get this! - Got it?
Got It... Good!
TTFN
Congratulations 🥳💗🙏🏽✅
How can you study self-identity?
Look in a mirror, ask yourself questions, then wait for an answer.
Hmm... Well from what I gather there's more than one way to skin a self ...For example a popular one for many budding non-selfer, is to explore the question of "Who Am I?" which Ramana Maharshi made popular...and if you become bored with trying to find the answer to this question, then ask "Who Wants To Know...the anwser to this question?"...
This is where the fun & mind games really begin
Useful link from @Shoshin
As we might find, we are independent of:
No kidding
Interesting video @lobster... thanks for posting ...It reminds me of two of the books I have on the go at the moment... "Sapiens...A Brief History of Humankind" & "Ten Types of Human"...
Yes...good video that lobster posted...
One answer I often end up with is, I am the watcher and the do-er. Another answer that makes sense to me is that I am a compound being made up out of components that interact, such as a body, brain, mind.
I liked the saying that the self is an illusion, that feels true to me although I couldn’t tell you exactly why, I can’t consciously prove it or say that I had a waking experience that made it clear to me.
What I find interesting is the example of the tree. It emerges from a nut, where it’s reality is that of genetic material which packages a certain expression in the world. It becomes a tree, which breathes, transports sugars and water, digs the soil, and creates leaves and nuts. Now the full tree is a large entity which exhibits certain behaviours like procreating and has some reactions to what happens to it.
In what way are we humans so very different from a tree? We also come from a small embryo, becoming a larger expression in the world.
We are all nuts
:lol
Yes it is truly amazing how plants grow
Cause condition effect....
Exactly! So are we humans just a dependent arising, from an embryo to a fully grown primate. And in a way, instincts arise in us as we mature, changing the way in which we consciously experience the world, from fighting when we are young to an obsession with sex when older.
I just mean to say, is it necessary for there to be a self or a soul, when we grew out of nuts which didn’t even have a brain?
All phenomena are Dependent Arising...and as Thubten Zopa Rinpoche likes to say..."Nothing exist from its own side"...
A permanently abiding self is not necessary, but having this sense of a self can work well in small doses, especially as a convenient communication tool for exchanging information....
I like this quote by Rick Hanson
" It's not so much that we have a self, it's that we do selfing...The self has no inherent, unconditional, absolute existence apart from the network of causes it arises from, in, and as..."
Ummm???? What just happened??
You have just witnessed the 'bucket of cold water' effect....
It's a bit like giving someone a fright when they have hiccups. Doesn't always work, but worth a shot.