A slightly shifted view of what was written here previously can prove most useful in one’s attempt to understand what it is that drives a few people to want to radically alter the operation of their consciousness, (wake-up, be-enlightened, know-what-is-going-on at a level not normally provided to man, et al). This singular attempt, (called by various names), is the desire to establish in one’s consciousness a “one” to replace the many. “Being asleep” is “being many;” “being awake” would be, “being one.” This would also be so regarding the reality underlying religion, (if it were pursued to the sufficient intensity), which is to say that to actually BE a functioning, not a would-be Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu would require that a person be one solid “self” in their consciousness.
Conversely being a sinner, pagan, nonbeliever, one-of-the-deluded, would be in a person’s consciousness being fragmented into many mental, (or spiritual, as religion prefers it), selves. So long as a man is in such a condition, he cannot sustain any allegiance he may swear. At one moment he affirms his dedication to live by certain religious rules, and the very next moment he betrays this vow. It is almost as though he became, in the blink of an eye, an entirely different person.
This is not a great revelation, in that some men have forever made note thereof, and all sane men, (should they give but brief consideration), recognize its validity. Yet life is not arranged for ordinary men to maintain this awareness, and thus do routine people refer to themselves unhesitatingly as though there is inside of them an intangible self which is just as solid, constant, and permanent as is their physical body. This game of verbal/mental pretend is an inextricable, integral part of collective humanity’s normal existence and demonstratively does no mischief, save to the few.
So, in varying degrees of clarity, you find in psychology, mythology, religion, mysticism, and in ordinary men’s everyday-common-sense, the awareness that, speaking non-physically, everyone seems to be as though there are various people. As if there are different versions of their self, inside of them, who take turns being in control, especially of their tongue. This is tacitly accepted by all, then all promptly pretend to have no specific awareness; just another facet of that unique sport known as being human.
J,