Most religions and philosophies stop at SELF as the ultimate source. A person, soul, spirit, etc., are examples of self, but then, in their turn, they are thought to be created by a more basic self called God. The basic self is considered to be eternal. It has neither beginning nor end. It cannot be described. The idea of looking beyond self is not even entertained.
What is self really?
Self is so intimate to one, yet one wonders what self truly is. Self may only be evaluated if there is something else of comparable magnitude. Let’s look at self as knowable compared to unknowable (beyond consideration). This is what Buddha did and found that self is not fixed. “Self is in flux like anything else.” said Buddha, “And furthermore, self may be completely extinguished.”
So what is the concept of self that Buddha had in mind?
To Buddha, self was a manifestation. Like any manifestation, self appeared, underwent changes, and ultimately disappeared. It belonged to the knowable universe, which is the universe of consideration. But as self seems to underlie all considerations, it might be extending back into the unknowable too.
The Self forms the interface between knowable and unknowable.
Self interfaces with the knowable universe through consideration. Its interface with unknowable has to be by means other than consideration. It may act something like the “squaring function” that converts imaginary into real numbers.
Self may act to convert what is unknowable into knowable considerations.
This conversion alters what is unknowable into knowable. This is where “intuition” seems to lie. Intuition occurs out of the blue. This phenomenon is beyond logic. Logic is essentially the association of existing considerations.
The considerations persist as being knowable. But, recognition of the true nature of consideration might dissolve them back into unknowable. The unknowable may be looked upon as the state of deep understanding remaining after the cessation of all considerations. This state is recognized as NIRVANA in Buddhism.
The unknowable may be looked upon as an indescribable state of “no form, no consideration.”
In the knowable universe, the core of a human being may be considered to be the self. The rest of the being may be looked upon as layers of considerations enveloping the self. Please see Thinking & Thought. These layers filter what is being perceived. They judge what is there and pass it as perception.
A human being is the basic self covered by layers of considerations that filter and modify incoming perceptions.
As the filters interpret perceptions instead of simplifying them, the perceptions gains persistence. The persistence may gradually become so strong that it appears as the solid physical universe. This is also the self being represented as a physical body.
Perception, when continually interpreted, become increasingly persistent to a point of solidity we know as the physical body, and its extension, the physical universe.
Thus, it may be said that the physical universe is being generated by the very nature of these filters that are continually “judging.” These filters constitute the very nature of the being. Thus, as long as the being continues to be “judgmental” knowingly or unknowingly, the problem of the physical universe will remain.
The deeply judgmental nature of the being is generating the physical universe and all its problems and situations.
But, if one wants to dissolve the problems and situations that make up this universe, then all one has to do is to stop being judgmental and start looking at things for what they are. Some forms of judgment are anticipating what is there, or being resistive to what is there. This is covered in the KHTK essays.
One may start dissolving problems and situations by looking at them non-judgmentally for what they are.
Interestingly enough, looking per KHTK brings into view the filters that the self is looking through. As these layers of filters come into view they start to dissolve. The person then starts on a journey toward regaining his or her awareness as the basic self.
The basic self is aware without being judgmental.
Ultimately, the self itself may dissolve leaving behind an indescribably deep understanding that cannot be appreciated otherwise.
The unknowable may be appreciated only after the self is dissolved.
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NOTE (added 7/20/12):
The center of gravity of an object is essentially the resultant of all the force vectors acting on the molecules of that object. Similarly, a center of consciousness may be looked upon as the resultant of all mental forces and energies associated with you through awareness at that moment. This center of such mental forces and energies may be called SELF.
A center of gravity is relatively stable compared to the moving particles of that object. Similarly, SELF may appear relatively stable compared to all the mental forces and energies, which are in a flux.
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