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Originally Posted by debdodd  I guess I just don't understand what you are talking about when it comes to "illusion" .... if self is an illusion then are you saying we do not exist? that existing is an illusion .... that we/me/you don't exist that existence is an illusion .... eek such convoluted thought is making my head spin .... I don't understand what you are saying at all .... philosophy class had my head spinning the same way at times ...
I believe I exist .... I believe when life is over I die and no longer exist ... in my dimension in the here and now I am here ... I can't wrap my head around extrapolated thoughts of that I am only a figment of my imagination .... if you could "dummy down" for me I'd appreciate it ... pretend I'm one of those "no child left behind" kind of kids ... use little words please 
Thanks, Deb |
Let me rephrase. The notion of an absolute boundary that contains YOU where you can say "inside this is my self and outside this is the rest of the world" is an illusion.
It's like I was conveying in my "interbeing" thread (you can search it). A table or flower has no intrinsic identity. It is constructed entirely of parts that are NOT it. There is nothing intrinsically table or flower about them. Just as this is the case with the flower, there is no intrinsic identity (ultimate soul) to yourself. You are, just as the flower, a blossom of the world and the community you live in. If your community is crap, you are crap. If your community is beautiful, you are beautiful. If your community is beautiful on the surface but rotten on the inside, then that is what you reflect. And conversely, your environment is a reflection of you.
You are not some poor soul trapped in a robot. You are a bloom of the universe and identical with the universe. Just as my little avatar illustrates a tornado as a complex confluence of meteorological events, you are a complex confluence of biochemical and social events!
The notion that your fundamental self has an end is just plain wrong. Of course your senses will stop working and your current body will no longer retain the memories it built up over its life. But how can something with no intrinsic identity come to an end? It doesn't have a beginning in the first place!