Self, Not-Self, and Reincarnation

 

There is a kind of understanding in Buddhism that there is no self, per se, and yet there is also the understanding the reincarnation is true.

How can this be (without copping out with the "paradox" explanation)?

The assertion that there is no self is a clumsy mistranslation. There is no PERMANENT, UNCHANGING self. There is a functional self (so-called), which transforms endlessly. Otherwise, to whom would that teaching about no-self have been delivered and for what purpose?

Pragmatically, we consider, "self", that over which we have immediate control and we consider, "not-self" that over which we do not have immediate control. This distinction applies even to the body, in which, when we suffer a malady, we attribute it not to self, but to not-self -- a disease, genetics, micro-organisms, muscle-spasms, pain, etc.

Direct observation and intelligent consideration reveal that there is no sharp delineation, but a "transition zone" in which self and not-self blend and so are indistinguishable. Therefore, self and not-self are artificial distinctions; considered "real" or "absolute", these distinctions are deluding.

So, what is it that gets reincarnated? Everything.

Confronting the Actualities of Aging

Aging calls up various topics -- and all are subject to the same process: recognition of egoicies ("egoic idiocies") in their various forms -- involuntary stress-patterns appearing as our self-condition, triggered, apparently, by the emerging issues of life -- and finding a way to release those stress-patterns -- not by opposing them, but by recognizing that we are bringing and adding them to life unconsciously, reflexively, and habitually -- and relaxing from them, desisting.


This is not, I think, something that many people are able to do -- though I think that most all could learn how to do it because it is an inherent potential of born existence as a human. But, like walking, it is something learned -- and it is a learning opposite to most learning, the relinquishing of what is known, rather than the accumulation of more to know. It is not "forgetting by denial", but "forgetting by dissolution" -- dissolving the grip we have on experience that feels like the grip it has on us.


It is a radical action, an action at-the-root, that relaxes from a stress pattern without anything else in life having changed. That's radical.


The unknown unknown of life continues as we get older, only in different forms than when we were younger. The requirement is the same: to become conscious of and then to relinquish the residual effects of experience, as we move, like a phonograph needle-in-groove, through the changes of life. The accumulated residual impressions of our reactions, in and from living, are what we suffer and what make passages of change grueling.


If a phonograph needle behaved that way, the music would be garbled.


A close "second" might be the sound when a clump of dust accumulates between the needle and the phonograph record. In "third place" might be the repetitive skipping of a scratched CD, and in "fourth" might be buggy software with unpredictable behavior that sometimes makes the operating system crash.


You get the point. Accumulated, residual effects gum up the works.


We may clean up our life on an ongoing basis. There is no escape from circumstance because every circumstance happens before we know it. We can only live it, take care of things, and de-bug ourselves (of our lingering stress-patterns). Conscious clean-up.


The worse things get, the more important it is to release, and thereby stay present to, the Unknown unknown AS the Unknown unknown, the phonograph needle not knowing what is coming next.


#TetraSeedAwakening

On The Global Cooperative Forum

Even though this location is called, "a group", it's not a "group".


A group has an inside and an outside, insiders and outsiders.


This "group" is a nexus -- a meeting place for people who share a common purpose. It's not a chat room or a place for socializing. It's about purpose.


The purpose is to strip control from the stupidity and insanity that has shaped this world to the benefit of ego-trippers -- power hungry IDIOTs and wealth-hungry fools who either fail to realize the large scale detriment they are perpetrating or who don't care.


"They" are closely organized, while those of us of benign intent are loosely associated and scarcely coordinated for concerted action -- or perhaps associated with groups that work independently of other purposed groups, but without large-scale cohesiveness. We are "a herd", while they are "a pack".


We need to be as closely coordinated and purpose-driven as they are -- more so, actually, if we are to remove the controls from their hands against their will. We need to develop higher intelligence so that we go beyond the cliches of "fight" and "protest" and "don't" to proactive action, creative action -- "work for", rather than "fight", "work toward", rather than "fight against".

I have made resources for developing higher intelligence available, here. If you want to know more about what I mean, you may ask me -- at first, in a private Instant Message. This facebook presence, right here, is intended to serve people who want to alter the course of human history in a benign direction -- not be being "nice", but by exercising intelligence and integrity, by organizing and acting creatively, generatively.

We must supercede, replace, the mass movements that are profaning the world -- the movements of money, oppression, and of deluding mass-entertainment. We must organize "bigger" than they. Because "they" are pretty big, we have to coordinate bigger.

One form of integrity is people of shared areas of understanding and competence working together toward focused outcomes. Another form of integrity is coordinating with others who have different areas of interest and competence, coordinating in synergy.

From where you sit, you have a world-view with both commonalities and differences from that of others.

If you have a mission, announce it to attract individuals who share your intent. Form a network of like-interest. Announce that network, here, so that people can find you. Place your link. Describe your project. Organize your means of communication.

Consider how we might alter the underpinnings of civilization to strip control from the hands of malignant others in mass actions. Think "big" -- but start with just "the next step".

Go beyond "putting out fires". There are too many to put out, one by one.

Discover, comprehend, and deal with the large-scale underpinnings that all of the "fires" have in common. That's where higher intelligence comes in; it's a creative matter beyond what we already know.
 
I posted excerpts form The End of Tyranny in service to that comprehension. Be purpose-driven, here. The Global Cooperative Forum is about purpose: pulling the "stave" (staff or stick) out from the spokes of the wheels of civilization so that we of human civilization can righten ourselves, en masse.

View the video excerpts from Not-two IS Peace that I have posted, here, under "media". When your "pilot light" gets lit, ignite. Announce your presence, here, and place your resources on your own page for people to find and use. Coordinate together.

Announce the existence of this nexus on your own pages. Coordinate with this nexus. Allow people to find you and allow people to find this nexus.
Progress reports on your project are welcome, here.
 
Apply your gifts. (I have more to say on that, if you need to hear it.)

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Take just the next step.

Who is It?

 He's so frightened, he can hardly move.


Putting a stop to others' movements makes him feel more secure,

and makes him even more immobile.


He lacks the courage to undertake actions

required by the needs of the times

and speaks, instead,

to deny their truth

in the cover-up voice

of self-importance

and to feather his own nest.


He is chicken.


He produces little of value

and takes from those who abundantly produce

enough for him to preserve his fearful position.


His actions would make his mother cry.


Who is it?


About The Global Cooperative Forum





Time is of the essence. Humanity is at a crossroads -- actually, many crossroads. This isn't just high-falutin' talk. We face a convergence of crises (turning points), cultural and ecological, made worse by the corrupt, self-serving power structures of persons in government, corporations, in private life and in multi-national organizations.


The Global Cooperative Forum was declared and is described by the world-friend, Adi Da (in the books, Not-two IS Peace and Prior Unity). 


He outlined The Global Cooperative Forum as a decentralized "clearing house" or nexus of communication among persons exercising initiative to blunt the influence of, and to remove control from, the dangerous, counter-productive, effectively anti-civilization elements of humanity, so that humanity might navigate our world-civilization from the defunct, factionalistic and fractured order of the twentieth century (and earlier) to cooperative world-patterns of benign relationships, in a natural way.


The strategy he outlined is intelligent non-cooperation with the status quo (i.e., "putting our foot down"), on one hand, and creative, cooperative action, on the other -- to avert the worst consequences of the burgeoning crises that involve us all and to redirect humanity in a benign direction.


He specified the internet as the medium of communication among able individuals exercising focused initiative by which a grass-roots movement of everybody-all-at-once can coordinate together to wrest power from those who are placing us all in danger.


Time is of the essence. This facebook group is part of a network intended to serve the mission of The Global Cooperative Forum.