In examining meditation practices derived from Eastern religions, Western philosophers often choose to focus on the Buddhist concept of the “no-self”.
They write about the importance of understanding that at a biological level, there is no “I” that exists. That there is no “I” that lives inside of our heads nor our bodies. We exist on a basic level only as consciousness, and by accepting this truth, we can free ourselves from so much suffering that is the ultimate result of feeling like life is happening to some “I”.
This “I” can maybe be best recognized as the voice inside of our heads. The voice that incessantly tells us things such as “I am angry”, “I am annoyed”, “I am depressed”, “I am scared”, or perhaps… “I am happy”.
But the Buddhist would argue, “Who is it that is angry? Who is it that is annoyed?” The Buddhist’s answer? “Nobody”. We are nothing more than an endless stream of consciousness. There is no permanent “I” for which life is happening, and so we shouldn’t attach ourselves to emotions and objects, crave pleasure, nor resist pain; the root causes of so much of our suffering.
Devout Buddhists dedicate their lives seeking enlightenment, the permanent eradication of this illusion of the “I”, or self, a state of living in perpetual self-transcendence. By achieving enlightenment, they are able to free themselves from all of this suffering that the rest of us “I-believers” go through day in and day out.
To live in a happy state of effortless flow may sound wonderful, but the catch is that enlightenment usually takes years and years of intense work to achieve. Those who choose to follow a spiritual path towards enlightenment often spend long periods of time in isolation and silence, give up many personal relationships, abstain from sex, eat simple diets, follow gurus, and adopt other practices that most of us are not readily willing to agree to full-time.
If enlightenment is then out of reach for most of us, what are we left to do if we wish to free ourselves from suffering? There are two options:
First, we could seek to experience moments of self-transcendence through practices such as deep meditation, or psychedelics, sapping out of them all that we can for as long as they last. States of self-transcendence through meditation and drug use are well-documented and in comparison to a traditional path to enlightenment, fairly easy to achieve. We will unquestionably feel a sort of high while in the midst of such experiences, and we will almost certainly have increased clarity, focus, tranquility, etc. for hours, days, weeks, or possibly longer after such experiences have passed. The problem with this option, however, is that no matter how intense, important, or knowledge imparting these experiences may be, they are impermanent. The chasing of fleeting states of self-transcendence is in itself a form of craving. An aversion against the natural human condition, and craving towards a temporary higher state of being.
The chasing of fleeting states of self-transcendence is in itself a form of craving.
Therefore, I believe that we should instead embrace the illusion of the self. In place of attempting to vanquish “I”, we should take the stance of studying it. Learn all of its powers, and work continuously to train and maintain better versions of them.
On an intellectual level, with some effort, we can clearly understand that nothing exists in ourselves but for consciousness. Yet experientially, we unenlightened people do feel that an “I” exists, and for us, this “I” is quite powerful.
“I” is what we label our minds’ capacity to assign emotions to the otherwise valueless sensations and experiences that our consciousness continuously perceives. “I” is what determines whether we see a glass as half empty or half full, as opposed to just water in a glass. It is what shapes our realities.
By ignoring the “I” in hopes of transcendence, no matter how illusionary the “I” may in fact be, we are chasing a future that we will probably never reach while simultaneously discounting our tremendous ability to manage the illusionary “I” that influences so much of our well-being.
We can coach our “I” to be less anxious, and more present; less feeble, and more resilient; less intolerant, and more patient; less critical, and more accepting.
Like all else that exists in nature, “I” is always changing, and we are able to decide how it does. So unless you are amongst the few that have chosen to devote your entire life to a spiritual pursuit of enlightenment, embrace your “I”, harness its potential, and in doing so — discover yours.
