What exactly is the "ego"?
in Spirituality ·
casualmaker13 said:Nothing is separate if we're looking at the process as a whole—which is made up of the observer, the observed, and the interaction between them. Try to pull one part away and you don't have a process anymore. But, I suppose that doesn't mean the observer, the observed, and the interaction are all one single thing.
The point is, the observer only exists when there is awareness. When there's no awareness, the observer isn't there (they just become content within the consciousness), so the process effectively ceases to exist.Your body successfully pumps out all sorts of enzymes, neurotransmitters, white blood cells, red blood cells... and you don't exactly claim those things aren't part of you.
If a thought isn't part of you—then what is it? Is it some invisible "cloud" floating around your head while you're thinking, or is it just a cognitive process that's inseparable from the "thinker"?
Where exactly do "you" end and your "thought" begin? If you can, maybe describe that "spot" for me.!?
I am not my thoughts, because I still exist even when I'm not thinking. I can choose to create a specific thought, or I can get myself into a state where there are no thoughts at all. I just can't put an equals sign between myself and a thought.
Thoughts come and go, but I'm always here, whether I'm conscious of it or not.
Thoughts, emotions, the body, energy—those are all just contents of consciousness. They're just the stuff through which consciousness manifests itself.Right... but what's the common thread among all those "ways"?
Does a thought ever actually happen without a "thinker"?
Because if "A" always happens simultaneously with "B"—then "A" and "B" are essentially the same thing... part of the same thing... right?
A thought never happens without a "thinker," but I definitely exist without thoughts. So, I and the thought are not the same thing.
Spot on.
We aren't our emotions either—we can learn to manage and direct them, just like we do with our thoughts.