SOUL

@Thanatos13 Haha!

Oh, it's just "freed to serve the integral function it is designed to serve" of "Divine individuation" and "without the notion the dream is not a dream".... oh sure, of course. I bet that cleared up it completely for them. Hehe

@MarkusSweden To be able to survive in this world we have evolved a pattern recognition that is comprised of a very sophisticated and complex imaginary system. We wouldn't be able navigate our environment successfully without retaining information about it from our experience and forming habituation that is suitable for it. With our inner life this pattern recognition is called the self which is really just a process of identifying ourselves in this world and yes, it's changes over time as well as in different circumstances. We can try to be authentic and 'true to ourselves' so to speak but every facet of our being isn't suitable for every circumstance we encounter. Expectation is limiting for sure but if we had no basis of understanding the environment we would perpetually be in a state of stress from an instinctual perspective. So our minds make many unconscious assumptions in every moment in every circumstance even if they are false perceptions so we can place our conscious attention on more specific tasks. What does that mean? Sometimes it's ok to have a 'work persona' that is different than one you may have off work and others for other situations but what to be aware of is to not behave in ways that are contradictory to your genuine nature to satisfy the expectations of others. This is what it is to be authentic even though this loosely knit 'self' may evolve over time as life runs it's course. Just be authentic to your genuine nature of being.... the mind snaps selfies a million times a day to compile a gallery of perception, that's what it does, we just don't have to obsess over the gallery of snap shots.

There's nothing(ness) to be afraid of..... be at peace.

this

I guess if you mean being a self suffering misery monger openly whining about life being worthless and meaningless so why prolong it at all is "worked out rather well" then yea..... so be it.

Do we doubt the sense of sight exists because it's constructed using a variety of biological processes in the body? What about smell, taste or hearing? If the sense of self doesn't exist because it's just biological processes then none of the senses exist, right? The self ceases to exist when the processes cease to function in producing it just the same way someone goes deaf or blind when those processes fail to produce the sense. The story the ego creates with that sense of self?..... Well, that's another story altogether. It is what it is.

@Thanatos13 Oxford states that definition, I just posted it here. What is essential? Being alive for a biological creature. What is being? Being a being. So the self pertains to the alive being. As the object of introspection OR reflexive action. Our body reflexively creates the sense of self, we don't decide to construct it, it's reflexive. It has nothing to do with control, behind the mask, pulling strings or any of that "story" being created to build the straw man. If the process that produces a sense of self doesn't exist, why does someone who has amnesia have it altered or damaged? The brain processes exist. What we experience as self conscious exists, maybe not as people believe it does in their straw man or ego story but it exists nonetheless. Although, you are welcome to reply again to tell me it doesn't but only proving it does in doing so.

It's all your self confessed stuff, taking drugs and hours of meditation, what's to assume when you speak openly about it? You also spends hours on camera saying "you you you", should you consider that maybe that is all YOUR stuff and not the audience's? I comprehend your belief paradigm is stuck on dualism otherwise the word Truth wouldn't be uttered as often as it is by you. Don't fall into your own trap of making it about me or any of the viewing audience and forum participants as you so readily do. It is what it is.

Continuing to add attributes to the straw man doesn't change what a "self" is actually defined as. "a person's essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action" That is what the self is so direct your evidence towards what the self is defined as, not in straw 'self' building.

So when were you going to provide actual evidence that the self doesn't exist? Just so you have an understanding what the self is by definition and not the interpretation straw man you think you can defeat. Let's see you prove that self exists again by replying in defense of ........

Ah yes, your true nature comes out, glad to see you show your genuine intentions This is how you started the thread: It exists and you have acknowledged it exists by saying it is a process because, yes, a process exists. Especially so when it is a biological process that is performed involuntarily as a function of the body. You keep proving the self exists with every reply Explain with details about why you and the people you parrot believe this biological process "doesn't actually exist".

So a process doesn't exist? You mean like the scientific method is a process of discovery doesn't exist? Ok, you want to now say it's not a "thing" but a "process" and there are definite characteristics that define what the process of the scientific method of discovery is which make it what it is even if it's not a thing but a process. The same thing... er... process of showing how the self exists as a method of creating identity that successfully sustains itself as a biological being in the world. Wow, you are doing a pretty good job of proving this Tom guy wrong. You should feel proud of your self.

You said it yourself, it's a construct to understand the world around us. That's a thing, it's constructed, it has individual characteristics and is used by us to understand the world. So, therefore, it exists. Don't you feel better about yourself now? You proved Thomas Metzinger wrong.

Why do you believe the self doesn't exist?

That is just your personal belief, you are entitled to believe it and act according to it as you see fit but it doesn't make it fact or truth for everyone. So be it.

@Heart of Space I don't really have any issues with your words or your beliefs since they aren't mine but what is apparent in them is they reflect a limiting beliefs paradigm. There's a lot of that going on with Enlightenment and in spirituality so my apologies for attempting to bring it to your awareness. So be it.

@Thanatos13 You are missing the point that the evidence you seek is something only you can supply. You're making assumptions about the state of my life and what I have been through. This isn't a pissing match about who has it worst or who overcame more. It's about whether you have the will to carry on and find your own well-being in whatever way you can regardless of the circumstances in your life. There isn't anybody that can give that to you, it's something you search within yourself for.

You are the one who has posed the conflicted query in this thread and you are offering contradictory evidence thinking it somehow supports your conclusion.... besides, it really does seem as if you still are looking for a cookie. Trees? Um..... ok

Whether it is likeable or not is of little consequence, what effect on our being present does a belief paradigm have is more significant.

It's very understandable, you have a belief paradigm of what it's not and what it's only so that there is an infinitesimal hoop you believe you need to hop through. Your own beliefs are limiting your own experience and then you are going on to tell others that their experience is like your experience. None of that makes any sense, I don't know why you do it, I encourage you to lose that mindset.

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Atman! Is that not right? Nevermind..... Yea, now it's stuck in your head....

So it took a genius like Newton to "invent" it? Before he 'invented' it people were freely flying around all over the place because gravity didn't exist? Gawd what an ahole! If it contains everything possible in the absolute infinite, then it's all cognition, perception, perspective and potential, not the absence of them because it contains everything possible! Your limiting beliefs are why you need drugs and 1000s of hours of meditation to even get a glimpse, it takes much to overcome your mind's belief paradigm as you have created it. Awakening brings clarity of cognition, perception, perspective and is a so simple state of being that few are attentive to it but the potential of it is absolutely infinite.

@sarapr Oh geez whatheffever, this is giving me a headache... I'm done here So be it.

So you think gravity is just a "function of the human cognition"? It doesn't exist at all outside of our cognition of it? Explain how spirituality isn't also from the human perspective so not subjective.