Reference: Postulate Mechanics (PM)
“Life inherently contains unsatisfactoriness, pain, and instability.” That is from a limited human viewpoint. At the scale of the universe, any unsatisfactoriness, pain, and instability is a departure from the state of harmony. Therefore, it is an anomaly to be resolved.
Life is the effort of universe to resolve anomalies. Life is the problem solver. Life is not the problem. So, anomalies like unsatisfactoriness, pain, and instability are not inherent to life.
Life has always consisted of individual life organisms. But the self-awareness has not been there until the humans have emerged. This use of ‘I’ is primarily a convention. But many religions have promoted the ‘I’ to be something permanent.
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The Soul
The Abrahamic Religions consider that every person has a soul that lives forever. After the person dies, the soul goes to heaven or hell for resurrection and judgment.
Thus, soul is an entity that exists separate from the body. There is a sense of permanency about the soul as it survives death.
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The Thetan
In Scientology, a person views himself as an eternal thetan. The notion of thetan is very similar to the notion of soul, except that the person does not have a thetan; he is the thetan. He is the individual who who handles and lives in the body.
Thus, thetan is also an entity that exists separate from the body. The thetan is explicitly stated to be eternal, and Scientologist believe and feel that way.
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The Atman
“Atman” translates as self. In Eastern religions, Atman is the universal divine essence, or pure consciousness, that acquires individuality by identifying with the physical universe. This identification continues from one body to the next, and so there is reincarnation. Over time, the person becomes aware of the identification and becomes free from it. It returns to pure consciousness.
There is a tendency for a person to think that he is an eternal Atman because consciousness it eternal. But consciousness is always changing. It is not permanent. But this is a widespread misconception of having a permanent consciousness.
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The Primary Misconception
This “I” is the individuality. This individuality is identifying itself with the universe, and thinking that, ultimately, there is something permanent at the core of that identification, which is the ‘I’. That sense of permanence is an illusion.
There is a contemplative process in the East to handle identification. It is called “Neti, neti” meaning “Not this, not that.” By eliminating what I am not, I, ultimately, come to realize what I am.
It is easy to theorize that I must be pure awareness because I am not what I think I am; but, it actually requires going through the process of “neti, neti” to realize that.
As part of this process, I look at something carefully, whether a physical object, or a mental idea, and ask myself,
“Am I this _____?
What is this _____ anyway?
Do I fully understand the nature of this _____?”
Only after understanding fully that, which I am looking at, can I say with certainty that I am not it. I peel off the layers of matter, energy and thought to finally arrive at the underlying postulate, and see if I am that or not.
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