"Who you
mean
when you
say
'I' / 'me' is not you. It's just something that
shows up
for you."
...
"All through the day: 'I', 'me', 'mine', 'I', 'me', 'mine', 'I', 'me',
'mine'. All through the night: 'I', 'me', 'mine', 'I', 'me', 'mine',
'I', 'me', 'mine'. Now they're
frightened
of leaving it, everyone's weaving it, coming on strong all the time."
... George Harrison
"They are
foreverfree
who renounce all selfish desires and
break
away from the
ego-cage
of 'I', 'me', and 'mine' to be united with
the Lord."
... Bhagavad Gita
I am indebted to Travis Tremayne who inspired this conversation.
For some, it's an age-old
"spiritual"
quest, a
mystical
quest if you like - or at least until
now
it's been
considered
to be a
mystical
quest. But it's just
possible
it
really
doesn't have to be either. And it may in fact prove to be more profane
than
spiritual.
It may not even qualify as
mystical,
and moreover its resolution may not require a quest. I'm referring to
our
time-honored
preoccupation with denying and / or trying to
get
rid of "I" / "me", as if doing so is a
path
to
enlightenment
or something.
Personally
I'm wary of it - or, to tell
the whole truth
about it, I've become wary of it, having entertained it
myself on its
face
value at an earlier
time
in
my life.
By "become wary" I
mean
I've come to realize after scrutiny, it may not even be
useful,
not to mention our concept of it may be flawed from the
get-go.
How so? One of the components of
being human,
is "I" / "me", in much the same
way
as limbs are components of
being human.
We
know
it would be inane to embark on a quest to deny and try to
get
rid of perfectly good limbs. Yet we unabashedly
deem a quest to deny and try to
get
rid of a perfectly good "I" / "me", to be
useful
in some
way.
Consider
this: what it's
really
prudent to do with "I" / "me" is twofold: firstly, to
getclear
about what it
really
is (as well as what it
really
isn't). When we're
clear
about what something
really
is and what it
really
isn't, we can have a
workablerelationship
with it. When we're not
clear
about what something is and what it isn't, having a
workablerelationship
with it, is complicated. And
being
unclear about what "I" / "me"
really
is, is the underlying condition of our unworkable
relationship
with "I" / "me". Secondly, what it's prudent to do with "I" / "me" is
to take responsibility for it, rather than denying it and
trying to
get
rid of it (it
works
a lot better when you take responsibility for your
perfectly good limbs, than it does when you deny them and try to
get
rid of them, yes?).
So what is this "I" / "me" exactly? Even more
pointedly,
is "I" / "me" even
real?
By that I
mean
can you describe your "I" / "me" for me, in the same
way
as you can describe your limbs for me? (and if you can't, that's a red
flag alert). Try this on for size: at worst (ie as a misconception) "I"
/ "me" is the entity you
consider
yourself to be. And at best (ie as an observation) "I" / me" is merely
a transient sensation that
shows up
for you from
time
to
time.
And maybe that's all it is.
Really.
How so?
