Related Discussions Richard | 2 | Peter Vineeto Others ______________ Related Links Instinctual Passions Identity ‘I’ and Being ‘Self’-Immolation ______________ Related Questions & Objections What is the Identity? What Is Life Like without Identity? ‘I’ Cannot Get Rid of ‘Me’ ‘I’ Does Not Really Exist Can I Disappear the ‘I’ and the ‘Me’?

The Instinctual and Psychological Self Any of various conflicting personalities conceived of as coexisting within a single person. A person’s or thing’s individuality or essence at a particular time or in a particular aspect or relation; a person’s nature, character, physical constitution or appearance, considered as different at different times. A person loved as oneself. Personal identity, ego; a person as the object of introspection or reflexive action. Oxford Dictionary This Schematic illustrates the fact that the self has its roots firmly in both brains – primitive and modern. What is a feeling-fed ‘self’? A ‘self’ is not something ‘you’ have ... being an identity in whatever way, shape or form is what ‘you’ are and is an inevitable result of being born. Thus any blame is pointless – and worse – it creates resentment. Being an identity is because the only way into this world of people, things and events is via the human spermatozoa fertilizing the human ova ... thus every human being is endowed, by blind nature, with the basic instinctual passions of fear and aggression and nurture and desire. These passions are the very energy source of the rudimentary animal self ... the base consciousness of ‘self’ and ‘other’ that all sentient beings have. The human animal – with its unique ability to think and reflect upon its own death – transforms this ‘reptilian brain’ rudimentary ‘self’ into being a feeling ‘me’ (as soul in the heart) and from this core of ‘being’ the ‘feeler’ then infiltrates into thought to become the ‘thinker’ ... a thinking ‘I’ (as ego in the head). No other animal can do this. This process is aided and abetted by the human beings who were already on this planet when one was born ... which is conditioning and programming. It is part and parcel of the socializing process. Thus ‘dissolving the ego’ is not sufficient ... there is a ‘me’ lurking in the heart to take over the wheel. We are each instilled with an instinctual animal ‘self’ that is the very core of the self-survival program.

Although this instinctual survival program is genetically-encoded to ensure the survival of the species and not the individual, in humans it is ‘self’-centred, as it is in apes, our nearest genetic cousins. Our instinctual-rudimentary ‘self’ is based firmly on the surge of chemicals arising from the instinctual programming in the primitive brain. This ‘self’ is our instinctual ‘being’ at our very animal core – thoughtless and instinctual-emotional.

Further, this primitive ‘self’ is made more complex in human beings by our ability to think and reflect and, as such, we have a more elaborated ‘self’ consisting of ‘who’ we think ourselves to be and ‘who’ we feel ourselves to be. ‘Who’ we think and feel ourselves to be is a psychological and psychic ‘self’ – both a mental and an emotional construct – that develops in the neo-cortex as a discordant and alien identity that appears to be located in the head and felt in the heart and gut.

Given the human elaboration of the instinctual animal ‘self’ into a sophisticated and cunning psychological and psychic identity that appears to live within the flesh and blood body, the instinctual passions – mainly fear, aggression, nurture and desire – can only be eradicated by eliminating both the psychological ‘self’ and the instinctual ‘self’.

The bad news is that the elimination of one’s ‘self’ needs to be total – both ‘who’ society has taught you to be and ‘who’ blind nature has programmed you to instinctively feel you are ... or in spiritual terms, both the ego and the soul.

The good news is that what you are will emerge – a flesh and blood human being, free of malice and sorrow and free of any metaphysical delusions whatsoever.

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Freedom from the Human Condition – Happy and Harmless

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