The sense of a seaparate self is not, by itself, any ...

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In a message dated 5/23/2008 9:48:39 AM Pacific Daylight Time, adamson writes:

 

HI Souldreamone,

 

You wrote, "The sense of a separate self is not, by itself, any sort of problem". Perhaps not....unless and until it is identified with....then all hell breaks loose!

 

Also, an "awakened being" (to use your words) might not have a "separate self" at all. Instead, perhaps their *sense of self* is limited to the "meat body", which is the psychophysical organism "awakeness" happens to, or is associated with, or is the vehicle for, as being "distinct" from *its* environment. But being distinct doesn't equate to being separate. Just like the color "red" in the in a rainbow is distinct from "green" but not *separate* (nor are "they" joined for that matter either).

 

It seems to me that the "psychophysicial human body" is programmed to survive, to continue, much like a "habit" or "intertia". As for "projecting one's fate into the future and contemplate such" (whomever or whatever that "one" is who/that is doing the projecting) ...that appears to me to be simply imagination motivated by the intentional attempt to strategically assure desired continuity in one form or another. This "imaginary conceptual journey" can be based on fear of dying...or perhaps on simple curiosity. One is "deathly serious" and the other is "lively play". Meanwhile, while all this "busyness of imagining" is going on there is a stillness that neither goes nor stays anywhere that is totally unmoved and unaltered by all the moving shennanigans of thought and thinking...not matter how subtle or intense they appear to be.

 

In regards to whether or not squirrels and birds don't experience suffering, I really don't know for sure. But my sense is that they do. When their mate dies, it appears to me they tend not to be as lively, as if they're moping. This interpretation might be incorrect. At the same time, in my experience a definite change in behavior is noticeable. Pets, for example, appear to despondingly search around the home for quite some time as if looking for their lost mate, companion, or buddy. At any rate, I don't think that animals, birds, etc (whether pets or not) are innately "indifferent to" (i.e., don't feel the impact of loss and a degree of grief) when a mate or one of their pack, herd, etc disappears. Ever watch the shows on penguins who hunt for their lost baby in the midst of hundreds and hundreds of them on a cold remote patch of ground where they go to give birth while issuing wailing cries. Deeply moving experience!

 

Michael

 

 

***Howdy, Michael.

Negative feelings don't actually equate to suffering. We go to sad movies and cry, and scare ourselves half to death on amusement park rides, and pay for the pleasure. If you're perceptive, you'll notice that the first time your heart was broken in your teens, you honored that hurt like a sacred gift from heaven and swore that you would never forget, and I suspect you haven't forgotten.

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