Core Assumption

Many have come to the conclusion that the separate entity that is often referred to as the self is an illusion. Denial of the self is the key doctrine of Buddhism, yet it’s one of those theories that can’t be put into practice in real life, because when applied, it comes close to a paradoxical feedback loop: I believe there is no self; it follows that there is no ‘I’; and it follows that there is nobody that believes that there is no ‘I’; who is to see this?

Why then, does this view, which runs contrary to all of our experience, have appeal? Why, on some deep level, does it resonate?

By labeling the self as an illusion, of course, people do not necessarily mean to suggest that it has no existence at all. They mean that it exists as something other, better stated lesser, than what it appears to be.

What is meant is that we are not the real source of our decisions or behavior; we just prefer to believe that we are. We are a by-product of the decisions, an epiphenomenon.

Such a view is often reinforced by the observation that our conscious thoughts seem to come from nowhere and then dissolve: you can’t catch yourself deciding to think something, however adroit you may be. There is no control over whatever comes, the content merely appears.

This has huge ramifications.

One would suppose that if a decision is conscious there must be immediate consciousness of the decision. But the two are actually distinct.

Unlikely as it seems, contrary to our own impressions yet verified by neuroscience, decisions are actually made slightly before we become aware of them. The length of the delay involved is about a half a second, an observable period of time.

This raises some serious questions:

· Disregarding the way things seem, are we really only passive spectators of the world, simply watching the way we might watch an engaging film?

· Do we attribute actions to ourselves that, in fact, are not ours?

· If so, who, or more accurately what, is driving this “bus”?

· Are we reduced to drones of We Know Not What that is doing we know not what?

· Where is the place for morality and responsibility with in this framework?

These are the BIG questions. However, in order tackle these, we have to have the answers to other questions:

· Do you need to think to notice that you are and that you are aware that you are?

· Does this sense of presence-awareness come and go, or is it something that is permanent and unmoving?

· Whatever appears: thoughts, sensations, feelings, objects…………….are you not the awareness of them?

· How mechanical is this entity you; how much of what constitutes this you was installed through genetics and through experience? How much of it has been told to you by family, friends, etc.?

Through this line of investigation and inquiry, one gets the answer to the Ultimate Question: What Are You Really?

Comments are closed.