no-self, and progress before encountering it

[Saint Jzearuth]

"I" was barely acquainted with the no-self teaching when I had my great breakthrough in 2005.

Backstory:
I had been a lifelong truth seeker, with some religious baggage, and was interested in creative writing. Exploring literature to fulfill a dream to become a published writer, I came across an automatic writing style associated with the Beatniks. It seemed to focus the attention of the writer on spontaneous creativity so that insecurity did not occur (too spontaneous to reflect) when writing. I wrote stories and poetry via this method before finding out enough about consciousness to get the idea to design a system of initiation utilizing this method.

I built the system of initiation (free, if anyone wants a copy you can pm me) by combining Leary/Wilson's 8 circuit model with some Jungian psychoanalysis (in part to inspire a more general interest in psychology in the practitioner) and basic techniques of initiation inspired by Golden Dawn/Thelema.

By about half way through the initiations, I lost most of my pride for a more open heart. The first instance thereafter that I attempted to induce internal silence through meditation, I permanently turned off my impulsive verbal internal dialogue. I can create verbal thoughts inside my head, but I must choose to because of some environmental trigger, and this is very rare. I don't have to meditate to still my mind.

All without having encountered a good overview of the "no-self" teaching.

My understanding is that pride induces a complex of emotions triggered instinctively by the environment, as the sugar of the ego. Most of these triggers are just self reflection. The words inside your head that come whether you like it or not are just self reflection. So if there is no self, there is internal silence, and most of the ego's triggers have been removed.

If pride survives the attainment of the impression of no self, there probably are still egotistical triggers, a sort of ghost ego, that can be reprogrammed to some extent to minimize their impact upon the psyche. They can be perceived as a part of the environment improving, so that there is no self reflection in training them down.

The basics of what I'd do: through meditation and affirmation, internally induce minimal pride, unconditionally secure and unreflective. Identifies: incapable of fear. Large, all embracing heart that expands as a general tendency whether helped along by the imagination and focus of the "environment" or no.

[Maisy]

Nice post I enjoyed reading it.

[Saint Jzearuth]

Thanks a bunch, Maisy!

[thegreatupdraft]

That's a really interesting account. I tend to think that no-self can only come with deconstructive meditation practices, so thanks for opening my perspective.