Tuesday, 05 January 2010 16:07
Written by Nirmala
Our dialogue about choosing continued when my friend wrote me the following:
Because the "I" is just a thought, how could a thought make a decision or take an action? "Choices" appear to happen and action happens. That it happens without the ego doesn't mean nothing happens, it means the "I" doesn't choose or do it. It just happens.
Making a philosophy out of "there is no doer" could lead to a belief there is no one to choose or do anything, therefore, forming a mental idea, that there is nothing "I" can do. This is not freedom from the "I" or realizing there is no doership. It is a belief that could have confusing consequences for a person drawing this conclusion. No conclusions need be drawn from the seeing that happens when the inquiry into doership is done. When it is seen there is no one, no conclusions need be formed, no philosophy developed, no mental perspectives crystalized to try to be lived by.
Here is my reply:
I agree with everything you say, and I also find it helpful or "enlightening" to explore the mechanisms of identification and action as if there is a self to act. I find both perspectives to be useful, although I also appreciate what you said about having no belief or concept about what is happening. But just so that I do not even form a belief in not having any beliefs, I also play with holding beliefs very lightly, picking them up and letting them go as seems useful.
One quick question for you. You point out that the "I thought" is just a thought and therefore cannot do anything, but what about that which thinks the "I thought"? What is that? Can it act?
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