Enquirer

May have been cats.

I feel more reassured by that.

Thanks for so many replies. If I'm going to boil them down to their essence then I think most of you are saying that I should just find out for myself if possible. I agree actually. Still I have another question regarding this and that is will I lose awareness as a no self? ie just be a mindless automaton. I ask this because I associate self with awareness primarily rather than the ongoing contents of consciousness. I certainly can't see self anywhere else. In this regard would an artificial intelligence be a perfect or a flawed noself entity?

I'm quite serious in asking this question and it isn't just to be cheeky. I've listened to many people online who claim to be enlightened and to have achieved the goal of no-self. From an objective viewpoint it doesn't seem to have much of an effect on personality or behaviour, though I accept that their subjective perceptions may be vastly different. Then again people on drugs or with brain injury can have a vastly different perception of the world and themselves. Having practised hypnosis I am also aware that the mind is very powerful and able to create absolutely convincing illusions. So a person can be induced to, for example, be no-armed. Would their absolute conviction of no-arm be real? Is it a delusion? So likewise could a devoted seeker after enlightenment also simply enter a state of self induced delusion of no self? The question is important for several reasons. The current understanding of no-self as an absolute rather than a relative state of mind puts it on a ladder of goodness that puts it right near the top. So it automatically takes a sort of moral high ground. It also, by doing so, may exclude other states of mind that may in fact be of greater benefit to people and humanity.