New Philosopher, Sense of Self, Matthew Beard
I saw that the entity I had taken to be “me” was really a fabrication. My true nature, I realized, was much more real, both uglier and more beautiful than I could have imagined.
Maria Popova • How the Great Zen Master and Peace Activist Thich Nhat Hanh Found Himself and Lost His Self in a Library Epiphany
Stace goes on to observe, a paragraph later, that “to wipe out the pure ego is to wipe out the mystical experience itself” because, once again, we are back to the question of who it is who is having the experience.
Nathaniel Branden • Honoring the Self: The Pyschology of Confidence and Respect
As Joseph Goldstein put it, the self is like the Big Dipper; it’s a pattern that emerges when you look from one perspective, but of course, it’s not really there.17 Labels of identity, gender, group belonging—are any of these you? Take a look for a few minutes (or hours, or weeks). As a reaction, idea, or emotion arises in the mind, try to notice i
... See moreJay Michaelson • Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment
Any time I answer the question “Who am I?” the response must be partial and limited. Even if I am sitting in an open space, feeling united with all life, that too will pass, and soon I will experience myself as a disconnected fragment, evidence of my inevitably flawed human nature. The ever-changing flow of inner experience available to me freezes
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