The Self

[Emanyalpsid]

From the interpretation of whether an observation is pleasant or not, the self grows, through which you like to strive for the pleasant and avoid the unpleasant. The self grows because your interpretation of observations develops into a conviction, as a result, this conviction becomes mentally separate from the observation itself, because you define it. ‘Something’ is pleasant or unpleasant. The conviction from which you pursue the pleasant and avoid the unpleasant is therefore based upon previous observations, which you have interpreted as pleasant or unpleasant. So you seek continuous confirmation, of earlier interpretations, of observations, from your conviction, which is based on these earlier, own, interpretations, of observations, which form yourself. As a result, a person can seem to be boundlessly convinced of him- or herself, if the person gets enough confirmation, based upon his or her own interpretations, by pursuing his or her own convictions.

The above shows how difficult it is to see through the self. It is like trying to explain someone that what he or she believes in, only exists so because he or she believes in it him- or herself, and that this self consists of his or her own interpretations. That person consists completely out of his or her convictions in what he or she believes, and pursues this belief throughout his or her whole life, and will continually strive for confirmation of him- or herself on the basis of his or her own convictions.

The self will always have a tendency to avoid the unpleasant and to pursue the pleasant. He or she will want to condition him or herself in a state where he or she only experiences pleasant things and no unpleasant things. This makes the person inflexible to deal with situations that are unpleasant, or which gets him or her out of their conditioned state. The person is therefore stressed more quickly if unpleasant situations occur, and will have more trouble dealing with them. In life, unpleasant things will always happen, so it is more convenient to accept this and learn how to deal with them, than to try to create a conditioned state where you do not hope to experience them by avoiding them. A contradiction in, or doubt of, his or her conviction will be experienced as something unpleasant and will be avoided. This ensures that seeing through the self is made even more difficult by itself. The self is the conviction of itself. Letting go of this conviction ensures that the self dissolves itself.