Guest guest Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 People believe they are individuals, because they sense their bodies as separate from the floor, walls, and furniture - and from that perspective they are correct. In the same way, people believe their ideas are personal, because they sense personal enjoyment by the sudden emergence of certain " emotionally-tinged " thoughts - usually, just memories - and irritation by the sudden emergence of other people's thoughts. But, it's all a sham. Look how readily each and every one of them, pepper their speech with the quotation of others, even going so far as correctly attributing those quotations (though usually, they fail to do that). They derive a real sense of enjoyment in that activity - quite mechanical to them - and that enjoyment, from speaking/writing someone else's idea(s), supports their own belief of individuality. People (the mind) are playing dress-up, and the suit of clothes in which they dress themselves up, are those others whose ideas they so freely speak and so-conveniently forget to correctly attribute. Fred " sees " himself as Mr. X., and so he speaks Mr. X's ideas as though they came from his own understanding. Mary " sees " herself as Mr. Y., and so she speaks Mr. Y's ideas as though they came from her own understanding. And Fred and Mary, remain completely in the dark, as to what is really going on. But, don't fret for Fred, don't mope for Mary - hell, they don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 Nisargadatta , " fmraerdy " <mybox234@b...> wrote: > > People believe they are individuals, because they sense their bodies > as separate from the floor, walls, and furniture - and from that > perspective they are correct. > > In the same way, people believe their ideas are personal, because > they sense personal enjoyment by the sudden emergence of certain > " emotionally-tinged " thoughts - usually, just memories - and > irritation by the sudden emergence of other people's thoughts. > > But, it's all a sham. > Look how readily each and every one of them, pepper their speech with > the quotation of others, even going so far as correctly attributing > those quotations (though usually, they fail to do that). They derive > a real sense of enjoyment in that activity - quite mechanical to them > - and that enjoyment, from speaking/writing someone else's idea(s), > supports their own belief of individuality. > > People (the mind) are playing dress-up, and the suit of clothes in > which they dress themselves up, are those others whose ideas they so > freely speak and so-conveniently forget to correctly attribute. Fred > " sees " himself as Mr. X., and so he speaks Mr. X's ideas as though > they came from his own understanding. Mary " sees " herself as Mr. Y., > and so she speaks Mr. Y's ideas as though they came from her own > understanding. And Fred and Mary, remain completely in the dark, as > to what is really going on. > > But, don't fret for Fred, don't mope for Mary - hell, they don't. Fred sees himself as Mr. X, and Mr. X sees himself as Mrs. Z, and Mrs. Z sees herself as Mr. Y and so on... But Fred, being a unique individual has unique ideas that cannot be traced to Mr. X. And Mr X has unique ideas that cannot be traced to Mrs. Z. Isn't the fact that Fred is a unique expression of life enough to make him an individual? /AL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 Nisargadatta , " anders_lindman " <anders_lindman> wrote: > > > Fred sees himself as Mr. X, and Mr. X sees himself as Mrs. Z, > and Mrs. Z sees herself as Mr. Y and so on... And the chain can not be broken... Or, how far back do you want to go? How about, back to Adam? Or, how about back to the voice in Adam's head? > > But Fred, being a unique individual has unique ideas that > cannot be traced to Mr. X. And Mr X has unique ideas that > cannot be traced to Mrs. Z. > Isn't the fact that Fred is a unique expression of life enough > to make him an individual? Nice try, AL. Neither Fred, nor Mary, nor Anders, nor Adam, has unique ideas. Quit trying to prove the otherwise to yourself - you'll give yourself brain aneurysms. Everybody is a plagiarizer!!! And what's worse, they don't realize they are... But, there's nothing wrong with realizing one is not original - it's just a fact of mental life. Everything you've ever thought/written, is just a rewording of something that was already said/written before - or else, you could not have thought it at all - whether or not you realize it. But, WHEN you realize this for yourself, you'll never take personal credit for anything you say/write again. AND, you'll NEVER refer to another human being - living or dead - again, and never again feel " something is amiss " by that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 Nisargadatta , " fmraerdy " <mybox234@b...> wrote: > > Nisargadatta , " anders_lindman " > <anders_lindman> wrote: > > > > > > Fred sees himself as Mr. X, and Mr. X sees himself as Mrs. Z, > > and Mrs. Z sees herself as Mr. Y and so on... > > And the chain can not be broken... > Or, how far back do you want to go? > How about, back to Adam? > Or, how about back to the voice in Adam's head? Back to the Big Bang I would imagine. > > > > > But Fred, being a unique individual has unique ideas that > > cannot be traced to Mr. X. And Mr X has unique ideas that > > cannot be traced to Mrs. Z. > > Isn't the fact that Fred is a unique expression of life enough > > to make him an individual? > > Nice try, AL. > Neither Fred, nor Mary, nor Anders, nor Adam, has unique ideas. > Quit trying to prove the otherwise to yourself - you'll give yourself > brain aneurysms. > > Everybody is a plagiarizer!!! > And what's worse, they don't realize they are... > But, there's nothing wrong with realizing one is not original - it's > just a fact of mental life. Everything you've ever thought/written, > is just a rewording of something that was already said/written before > - or else, you could not have thought it at all - whether or not you > realize it. > > But, WHEN you realize this for yourself, you'll never take personal > credit for anything you say/write again. > > AND, you'll NEVER refer to another human being - living or dead - > again, and never again feel " something is amiss " by that. There is newness happening every second, and each individual is unique and creates unique expressions (although most of what we say is just a rewording). Everything is not rewording. Sometimes new expressions arise, such as troilaps. /AL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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