Subtler Levels of a False “Me”

Review

We have been discussing the qualities of the false “me,” which are quite specific. The level of false “me” that we’ve been dealing with is the one that derives from the concept of the “me,” or the atman, the soul, that is held by the classical non-Buddhist Indian schools of philosophy. There are three qualities here, but we have to realize that these are three qualities of one object, this false “me.” Although we are trying to understand them one by one, we need to understand that this false “me” has all three qualities. We shouldn’t think that there might be something with only the first quality, but not the second. I think this is why there is a little bit of confusion in trying to completely isolate what each term is referring to.

We spoke about this false “me” as being “static,” which is its first quality. Being static means that it doesn’t change; it is not affected by anything; and it doesn’t affect anything else. It’s a “me” that can be isolated, in a sense, from participating in any cause and effect relation. “One,” the second quality, means “monolithic,” a unitary type of thing with no parts and always identical to itself. The third aspect of this false “me” is that it is separate from the aggregates.

We don’t have a lot of time to spend on this third point, but this is obviously something that we could spend a lot of time thinking about and trying to recognize in ourselves. Do we think that there is a “me,” separate from the aggregates, that flies out of a body and mind after death and then flies into another body and mind, or flies off to heaven or hell? Do we think that there is a separate “me” that leaves the body and mind when we die and becomes just nothing? Have you ever wished that you could be someone else, like that movie star or that athlete – as if you could leave your body and mind and become someone else, or had their build or good looks?

When we work with voidness, the lack of a true identity or true self, we try to see that our misconceptions about ourselves do not refer to anything real, despite the fact that we believe they are true and they feel as if they are true. We’re always trying to protect this special “me” inside, but it is not referring to anything real: there is nothing to protect. Or, we’re trying to prove ourselves, we’re trying to get ourselves accepted by everybody; but there’s nothing to prove. We’re just here; we don’t have to prove ourselves. Many consequences follow from understanding this, not just intellectually but also in terms of really making it a part of the way that we interact in the world.

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