Before acid, I thought people were comprised of a body (which included a brain) and that said body generated a cool phenomenon called Consciousness. I also scoffed at words like "soul" which I just saw as a misnomer or misinterpretation for Consciousness . . . which is nothing more than something from your brain. During acid I realized how utterly distinct "I" am from my body. My body really is just a carbon husk that somehow, for some reason, is currently housing the entity (of what origin or nature I know not) called "me". I realized how distant "I" can be from my body. So I thought "Wow goodness there is such a distinction between the Mind and the Brain" and I re-embraced the old dichotomy that philosophers have been struggling with so long. Now after months of reflection and learning and practice and experience I realize that it's actually a trifecta: Body Mind Self Each is distinct. Each is necessary but not sufficient to make you your current "You". Imagine yourself without a body, that's the easiest. Clearly you're something else now. Imagine yourself just without a mind; well, you'd be in a body, but it would be a vegetable, and you wouldn't be able to communicate. And the hardest is to imagine your current image of "you" without your Self; just some strange automaton of carbon and water and low level electrical activity. The hierarchy is also interesting; I saw it earlier as Mind -> Body. That is, Mind depends on Body to exist, but is "higher" than it in being able to affect high level changes in the body (by making decisions etc). Now I see it as Self -> Mind -> Body And what this has done is absolutely turn upsidedown my view of MIND. I see it now as malleable as body and with just as much ease. Just make the choice. Just as you can look at your arm, say "I wish I had more muscle", exercise for a few weeks, and generate that muscle (through mind) so to can you look at Mind and say "I would like to stop being so depressed" or anything else, and change it. I didn't think you could do that . . . it wasn't an option for me because I thought Mind was as high as it went . . . What's higher than Self? Well, what affects Self? I suppose only the rest of the entire universe right? I mean, everything is what your Self is interested in, and that's what's in the plane it exists. It's a feeback loop: Everything -> Self -> Mind -> Body -> Everything And in that context you can collapse that middle series and just leave with Everything, which also means you're perfect whether you know it or not :cheers2:
The Trimurti! Brahma, Vishnu (Krishna), and Shiva. Creation, Sustainment, Destruction. Body, Mind, Self. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Man, Woman, Child. Assalam alaikum
i think there are three things. the oversoul, our souls, and our bodies. im not sure exactly what you mean by self.
I grin with childlike glee edit: names are just names, whatever sound comes out of our lips to refer to something real. What I call "Self" is probably exactly what you're calling Oversoul, or what others call Atman, or what have you. The ineffable feeling is of three levels however . . . the physical, the mental, the supra-mental
Mr Writer, it sounds like you used to believe that everything was the product of a physical body (nothing spiritual). Is this line of thinking taking you towards some different set of beliefs? Or are you separating the body, mind, universe and soul for abstraction purposes?
The introduction of a third part to what I consider "me" does not warrant any belief systems It is merely a fact that I live and experience every day. Why build castles in the sky
