Quote:
|
Originally Posted by MikeS80
Well, that is one mighty fine convenient way to not answer the question, so you can continue to dismiss everyone else's individuality and mind/ego, except your own.
From who's point of view are you consciousness/conscious of one? Is it not your individual Atman?
|
I approach my mind-body just like any other, a finite and temporary appearance of Maya. I don't dismiss any of it but just realize it for what it is, and it's not my true nature. That would be Atman. In other words this 180 lb animated lump of flesh and bone is the self, one among many, and all are but a mere reflection of Atman's existence, consciousness and bliss. It's not to be confused with Self and for me that's perfectly clear. That's the discernment I keep mentioning. The desuperimposition of the superimposition of the self and Self. Superimpositon is the trick, delusion or ignorance of Ahamkara (ego, I-maker, however one wishes to label it), confusing Self for the self and vice versa.
Individuality is of the self and not Self. Self is Atman, there's only one, it's Brahman and all the little selfs are, as is everything else in objective reality, appearances of Self as name, form and function and within Self. Self is both immanent as the self's "feeling" of existing, being conscious and subject to joy and sorrow, and transcendent as that deep inner silence of unchanging and unwavering Existence, Consciousness and Bliss (more appropriately deep serenity). The here and now is important to the self because it's a creature of and within time, space and matter whereas Self is not limited by any of it. It is beyond time, space and matter, unborn and undying.
As iamthat asked in the other thread:
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by iamthat
And are you speaking as someone resting in the Self/Atman who knows these things to be true, or are you speaking as someone still identified with the self who has a set of philosophical beliefs?
|
Untangling of the self and Self and with clarity and conviction is in fact Self-realization and yes, it's possible to rest in Self. Doing so 24x7 and irreversibly so is the challenge and as far as I can determine would be considered Enlightenment. Liberation and an end to all suffering. That's the goal of all the Eastern philosophies and their practices, whether dualist, qualified monoism or non-dualist, and that's detachment of identification with the self.