This Visceral Feeling of Self
Wisdom traditions say that our belief in our independent selfhood is ignorance, but is that all it is?
👈 || UNSAYING | CONTEMPLATION | TRADITION | MEDITATION | DISCUSSIONS | BACK MATTER || 👉
We all have a visceral feeling that leads us — universally — to believe that we are independent beings. Yet, spiritual traditions tell us that this is ignorance, that we are not truly separate, independent beings.
And there is a meditative experience that we can all have during which there is no separation at all — no self, no other. And yet, after the glow fades away, we all still — universally — viscerally feel that we are separate. Why is that? And why doesn’t the proclamation of our ignorance change anything at all? Isn’t it just a misunderstanding in our heads?