The Illusive Self

What is the self? Is it real, or a construct? Does it have an essential nature? In this video, A. H. Almaas illuminates the question of the self, identity, a sense of boundaries, and individuality. Scroll down to view the video and summary of highlights.

Summary

For the Diamond Approach, the answer is two-fold. There is the individual human being who operates in the world that is perceived by others and that recognizes itself. But there is also the mystery that embodies a mystery, because it is everything and nothing at all.  

It's important to understand, first, that there is such a thing as an individual consciousness. If it was all universal consciousness, there would be just white noise and emptiness because there is no individual consciousness to experience it. We are all this individual consciousness—through which universal consciousness experiences itself. This does not mean an individual consciousness has a sense of itself as a self. Experience happens through individual consciousness. 

To say that the individual consciousness is the owner of experience is to make a jump, one made by psychologists who claim the individual consciousness is something that develops and constructs itself into something that is more reflective, self-knowing, has memory and so on. But the idea of “possession” and “ownership” is a historical development that happens from childhood on. It is disproven merely by the fact that we can experience individual consciousness without any of those constructions. We can experience it as a pure consciousness with no remembering or knowing.  

Spiritual work basically means exploring that sense of self. Vedanta asks, “Who am I?” And Buddhism goes further, to question whether there even is a self.