Posted by Lindenblüte on November 4, 2006, at 9:02:57
In reply to Re: Theres too many me » Lindenblüte, posted by LJRen on November 4, 2006, at 0:19:19
> > You may experience that odd sense of OMG that I did, when I realize that all my "self" concepts are created mostly from "not-self-ing activities"
>
> Can you explain "not-self-ing activities"? And how our self concepts are created from them? I read that and found interesting and yet puzzling, wanting more clarification.I want more clarification too, LJ! At the risk of getting too Buddhist for the Social board, I guess I could give you a bit more explanation.
Do you engage in comparative thinking? Constantly defining yourself as compared to how you USED to be or how you WANT to be? Comparing to some social ideal? Comparing to some personal ideal? Comparing to you neighbor or peer or boss? This comparative thinking is the source of much misery. Engaging in such behavior is a not-self-ing activity. Creating a sense of "here I am, right here, no better no worse that what I am, right now" That's how you can start to get a sense of who you really are.
One consequence of this type of definition of "Self" is that the right here-right now living in the present moment makes it difficult to maintain an illusion that our consciousness is continuous. Sometimes the Self that you experience "right here right now" is very different from the self that you experienced a moment ago. Take 2 moments- the moment before you realized that you won the lottery, and the moment after you realized you won the lottery. You may experience Self as very different from one moment to the next.
I guess another behavior a lot of people do is to treat the body as if it were the self. The body is the container of the self. It serves the self, it is related to the self, but it is NOT the self. Beating your SELF up because you body fails to conform to your ideals, your inner concept of who you are, who you want to be, etc... These are all not-self-ing activities.
Omentum- some new word for a tissue that binds fat and hormones inside the abdominal cavity. I'm not sure exactly, but I think that the omentum holds onto the visceral fat that is so toxic to our organs.
Oprah is okay. I find her annoying a lot of times, but I think that she is a positive voice, generally.
I don't like how she can forgive rapists but not rappers, though. I think she denies a lot of her own hypocrisy.
i wish I could be more like her too, though...
-Li
>
> >Oh well, at least I'm learning about my omentum.
>
> And what's an omentum? What's it have to do with Oprah? I like her. Wish I could be more like her.
>
> Thanks,
> Ren
>
> p.s.
> "verne" wrote:
> >I feel such a lack of identity and such emptiness, I don't enjoy anything or even have an opinion about anything - except, perhaps, that no one is home, that I have no self, I don't enjoy anything, and I have no opinion about anything.
>
> Ditto! (Except, I do have opinions... too many of them.)
poster:Lindenblüte
thread:700044
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20061018/msgs/700250.html