The false self
 

Peace xx

I heard the definition that the false self is a set of thoughts and feelings and that it has no real existence. Still, I cannot fully understand it :confused: . Is every thought and feeling a part of the false self? If we re enlightened, will thoughts and feelings disappear? Any clarifications of this topic?

Thank you :smile: :smile:

Dear Mary.

I like to elaborate, from a state of non-dual consciousness. This will be a first hand explanation, and not from some book.

It is true, that after one reach the non-dual state, also called unity, and later on athman, feelings and thoughts fall away. It is not to say that, feeling do not still occur, such as compassion and desires, but they are recognised, as separate from the pure self, that is silent, and empty.

On the note of the thoughts, they are the cause of our suffering, soo we can not bring the mind in to this game. Me need also to rid our self of thoughts, on order to go beyond suffering and pain. Soo called ignorence.

How is this done, well, in the state of “samadhi”, that is also referred to as “concentration”, we loose all sense of self, as we surrender in to profound states of love and divine bliss. This erases our sense of self, and loosen our concepts of worldly belonging. We realise that there is something higher, than the ego, and that is the start of then end, of our dual state.

Thank you for explaining :smile:

Nice explanation Rishi,

Mary, here is another image for you.

With thoughts it is as if you look at the world with sun glasses, you do not see the world as it is but your own thoughts of it.

When you take out the sun glasses, your thoughts, to look at the world, everything is new, like for a new born baby. Nothing as a Name tag on it.

Antoine

After enlightenment, thoughts and feelings do not disappear...although there may be substantially less thought.

Thoughts and feelings are not part of the false self...they just substantiate the idea that "I" think and "I" feel...and that "I" is the false self.

The false self / illusion of "me" is created and maintained by self-reflexive and self-referential thought...and identifying with feelings including tension or contraction in the body.

That "me" does not really exist. There are feelings, thoughts, contraction, tension, etc....but no "me".

False self is disorder or chaos and thinks or believes that it is separate from oneness/wholeness/the cosmos (The original ancient greek meaning of cosmos is order, as in an orderly or harmonious universe and reality). Therefore, the false self, and the thoughts that create the false self are not aligned with oneness/wholeness/the cosmos. Oneness/wholeness/the cosmos is order, that is why some people call them ultimate or absolute reality. Thoughts that are inorder are aligned with and come from oneness/wholeness/the cosmos, while one pays attention to oneness/wholeness/the cosmos/order without any force or effort.

The natural deep human instinct to survive (which includes reproducing), all the societies on earth, which includes our education, knowledge and etc creates the thoughts that create the false self. The false self can also be called programming and conditioning.

What is the nature of a human being? One approach (in very simple terms) is that we are pure Being expressing through individualised consciousness, which in the worlds of form expresses through a mental body, an emotional body, an etheric (energy) body and a dense physical body.

Enlightenment can be considered as consciousness identifying with and resting in the pure Being of our true nature.

The physical body (dense and etheric) remains unchanged by this realisation. It continues to do what it does, with all its limitations. Some may call the physical body an illusion, but for a brief period it is our vehicle of expression on the physical plane and it seems all too real.

In the same way, our mental and emotional bodies remain unchanged by the realisation of the Self. Thoughts continue to arise within the mental body, emotional responses continue to arise within the astral (emotional) body. Again, from a higher perspective, these are illusory, but while incarnate in these bodies they seem very real.

What does change with the realisation of the Self is that the separate personal identity vanishes. We still have to work with our vehicles of expression, but we no longer identify as being the small personal self.

Peace

Woow, I like this sunglasses metaphor. It makes things clear for me, thanks Antoine :smile:

OK, I see it clear now, this makes so much sense, thanks Eputkonen :smile:

Thank you so much MikeS80. If I understand correctly, there are two types of thoughts: thoughts coming from oneness and thoughts coming from conditioning. Did I understand correctly? Having two types of thoughts is a little confusing to me. So, the separate self is unreal, but the thoughts making it are real, is that correct? Sorry, still new to this teaching, could you explain more? :smile: :smile: