SAME SELF

(Q&A from a Philosophy Class at College of the Siskiyous)

1. With billions of people on this planet, so many different selves, how could it be possible that they are all one self?

First one has to let go of all apparent "others," including who they think they are.  When that is dissolved, then what remains?  How do you express to one that thinks they exist, that without the personality, there is no one there, that there is actual emptiness there and only emptiness there and yet the word emptiness has to be dissolved also, because emptiness is also a lie, just like the personality is.  If you tell someone that they are no-thing at all, they will still go looking for something, because they think they are something … it is nearly a futile work, to attempt to share with another that there is only one, because even saying one "implies that there are more than one, so it is actually less than Zero.  Zero, no-thing is aware.  It is what is looking out of your eyes.  It is silent and still, it does not move and yet it sees everything.  It has been and is aware of you, it is closer than your own breath and it moves and animates you, you who are reading this, are just a thought that appears in front of the Self.  Who wants to hear that they have misidentified themselves as a thought?  Well apparently you do, or you wouldn't be reading this.

2.  What makes a Self?

Nothing, no-thing, makes a Self.  You are in Self, Self IS, it cannot be made from things in this world.  Self just IS and the mind, you that are reading this, think in terms of time and so you cannot understand something that has no beginning and no end.  Yet that is how it is with Self, no beginning, no end, no time, nothing to attach to.  As you relax and let go of understanding, you will know this, not from understanding but from Knowing.  This is guaranteed but you can not use the mind to verify it, the mind will begin to assist you in not using it, once you realize that you can't in this domain, but this does take quite a bit of willingness to stop trying to figure everything out and sit back, smile and enjoy the ride.  Your help is not needed here that is the good news.  Less help = more Awareness.  :o)  Though if you insist on helping then sit quietly whenever possible, give yourself time to sit without moving, fixing, doing and ask the question, "Who am I?" and sit and wait as the thoughts tell you who you are, and do not accept them as true or false, just let them come and watch them go, that is a good practice/help for the mind.

3. Do the characteristics that distinguish one self from another come from the self, or from beyond the self?

"All is the Self."  There are not two, there is only one thing going on, one movement that appears as if it is many movements, but that is only because you are not aware of the screen that the movement appears on.  Take a digital picture and then zoom in and in, you will see it becomes more and more pixelated until you get to nothing, no-thing at all.  When you can no longer visually see or understand what you are looking at, then draw back out you begin to see all the little squares pull back together to make an image before you that you recognize, but they are not separate they are all one thing in the picture, one picture that appears separated by edges and color that blur as you zoom in, it is not different than the world, universe, body, which will become more apparent with 3-D animation.  This is not said to lessen life or the beauty and the magic of it's creation.  The wise will pay the attention to the "no-thing" that you are, do not waste the time trying to figure out how the world is not real, spend the time investigating who you are.  Spend the time asking the question, "Who am I?" for the real Gift of Seeing.

4. Is the self without restrictions still self, or would it not better be called God? 

Restrictions are for this world there is no restriction that can be placed upon the Self because the self is not in this world; the world is in it.  If there is to be restriction, there will be.  There is no need to worry or concern oneself with how things will be in this world, if you know you are always in the perfect moment, because you are.  So one just begins to see that, beyond what the mind/thoughts say, if you can look around and see that you have everything that you need to be in the moment you are in, then you can stop lying to yourself about how things have to change for you to be happy or whatever it is that you think you want to be different.