This is a good reflection that is attempting to restore balance to a topic that is moslty based upon a belief system, one that has not been directly realized by the person practicing, thereby creating an internal fallacy where thoughts and actions are in conflict.
Though the author is pointing out another perspective I see that there is a balance in terms of understanding what we are actually able to work with. Who and what we are, here and now, vs. conforming to any real ideology.
I agree that the concept of non-self has become dogmatic and misintrepreted but I also think there is more depth than the author is able to realize or communicate. There is a self (created or not who cares?) that we firmly identify with yet there is also a place where we are able to simply observe this collection of body, mind, and personality as an entity that is void of any real substance. Just a flowing mass of expressions and manifiestations. It is our identification, or lack there of, that may effect our peace of mind and understanding. And I personally shift from observation to identification with frequency wishing I could maintain observation as it provides much more understandind and persepctive then being caught in identification.
Still, identification has to be accepted and worked with in order to increase our skill in life. Knowing we are caught is a key part to an awareness that can lead to freedom and allow us to work with where and who we are in any given state.
Self or not, if we just begin to understand what we are observing, feeling, being, expressing. This balanced observation will lead to deeper understandind and happiness. If we just believe without further investigation we are lost from the start.
On Sep 5, 2018 Paul Hunter wrote :
This is a good reflection that is attempting to restore balance to a topic that is moslty based upon a belief system, one that has not been directly realized by the person practicing, thereby creating an internal fallacy where thoughts and actions are in conflict.
Though the author is pointing out another perspective I see that there is a balance in terms of understanding what we are actually able to work with. Who and what we are, here and now, vs. conforming to any real ideology.
I agree that the concept of non-self has become dogmatic and misintrepreted but I also think there is more depth than the author is able to realize or communicate. There is a self (created or not who cares?) that we firmly identify with yet there is also a place where we are able to simply observe this collection of body, mind, and personality as an entity that is void of any real substance. Just a flowing mass of expressions and manifiestations. It is our identification, or lack there of, that may effect our peace of mind and understanding. And I personally shift from observation to identification with frequency wishing I could maintain observation as it provides much more understandind and persepctive then being caught in identification.
Still, identification has to be accepted and worked with in order to increase our skill in life. Knowing we are caught is a key part to an awareness that can lead to freedom and allow us to work with where and who we are in any given state.
Self or not, if we just begin to understand what we are observing, feeling, being, expressing. This balanced observation will lead to deeper understandind and happiness. If we just believe without further investigation we are lost from the start.