The Reality of No-Self?

[Akanishi Makoto]

There is a reality, this reality, that is most misunderstood. We as a people sit around thinking, running, standing, yelling, eating and arguing on one principle: That we exist. That there is an "I" inside of us that is static and personal and influences all of our behavior.

In this reality, however, that "I" doesn't really exist, at least, not in the sense that we're all accustomed to. We are creatures of time, and creatures of discernment. We look at events as if they are all isolated incidents, bound on each end by a beginning and and end. We look at all things as if they are bound with a beginning and an end. We look at some things, and put them in a category and set them aside from others.

We choose this over that, then over now, and make preferences for ourselves so that we're more comfortable in our minds.

But who's really comfortable? Is it our body that's comfortable?
No, that can't be it, our body doesn't really care if it's comfortable or not, our brain makes that decision.
So, it must be our brain, right? Our brain is trying to make itself comfortable, so it doesn't have to deal with pain from the body or suffering from ther senses, right?
Wait... the mind just listens and associates, feels and smells. It doesn't have any preferences, it just interprets senses.
So, exactly what is trying to make itself comfortable? Our thoughts?

That's right, our thoughts. More accurately, one thought in particular. The thought that masquerades as a living being. The ego, the sense of self.

This thought, this mind-concept, pushing other sense objects into categories, decides which it likes, which it doesn't like, what's comfortable, what isn't. It decides who it is, and decides how it should be.

But is this thought really there? What happens to "us" if we take this thought away? Where do "we" go? What if, perchance, "we" were never here at all, and this fleeting idea that we're acutally different than other things and that we have preferences over other things... doesn't even exist?

[Grayed]

Well, that was fun to read. heart

One's being is in a constant state of struggle in which we strive to attain an equilibrium. Our minds are capable of egocentric thought and so we must indulge in it to define ourselves and our surroundings. One needs his sense of self as it is all he has to live on. I can only thrive on what, where, who, and how I think I am. Why I am is not my concern, because I am, as a given. At least I think I am... I think I am breathing.

It's not our fault that our minds have this capability, so we aren't to blame for our struggle, per se. If you take that internal struggle away, one may lose his sense of self in that he is lost as to where he belongs in the greater scheme of things. Who knows if this might free us?

Maybe if I realize that my being is so insignificant, I'll lose my love of life; my will to strive?
Or, if I realize that my place in the greater scheme of things is already out of my grasp, I have lost nothing?

[/Grayed spouting BS]

[Astenwroth]

My body does wish comfort. This is embodies in instinct. The drive to survive, eat and propagate. My concious mind is the filter through which instinct is met with logic. My mind does attempt to make itself comfortable through understanding the world around me. Then there is the divine spark of essence that makes the machine go. And through it, what has gone before and the permutations of my specific instincts I have what is my nature. My nature is what is natural for me. It is the focal point that everything revolves around. Once you accept your nature you cease doubting yourself.

You are how you are. Your actions are not wrong nor right they just are. As long as you act within your nature you are doing what you should. Now being living, changing, adapting creatures we can deviate and pull away from our inner nature. We can attempt to lie both to ourselves and the world around us. That lie weakens you as you are forced to act in a way that does not fit your nature. It's an uncomfortable mask that makes it hard to breath. Yet you can do it. And others can accept that mask as you. But someday that mask might slip and your true nature might peek out around it. And it might just terrify those you hold dear.

Thus without mask or guile brings to being the I. And through interaction with others it becomes WE. Reinforcing each others I through acknowledgment and by forcing the recognition of existence in the shaping of others worlds and perceptions. (Hmm.. I think I'm rambling) Basicly I am the sum and thus greater than my parts. I am I. I need only to look at my effect on the world to recognise my own existence. And when I am no longer I. Well. I won't notice now will I?

[Boxy]

I AM THAT I AM. Immortal words from an immortal being. Yet what is I?

Is I an illusion of biology, the composite intelligence of billions of neurons networking to produce some spectre of intelligence? The neuron, the core building block of the brain, is in and of itself not intelligent; however, when locked together with hundreds, perhaps thousands of its like brethren, the I is transformed into we.

Then, we should question, is we I, and I we? Do the individual intelligences which comprise our society fit together in such a way that we produce a total intelligence which drives forward, raping the earth of precious resources and corrupt the body of mankind.

Is then the body of mankind, the corporeal self, the very earth we tread upon, the natural "body" of humanity? We see that all animals, all plants, and even the "bones of the earth" form a composite entity, one singular, living planet we call "earth". The intelligent forces throughout planet's surface together regulate and redistribute resources as necessary to ensure the propigation of said intelligence so that mankind may flourish and continue to pillage its body.

Is, then, the eternal I AM the antithesis to the collectivism? Is the illusion sometimes more valuable than the reality? We stand, brethren, as common cells in the terran brain. Our strife, our petty bickerings, our divisions, and our disputations can be in no ways less than a cancer upon the earth.

I is we, and we is most displeased.