More a verb than a noun (4 min)

Image source: Instagram - More a verb than a noun

More a happening than an end,
More a flux than a static,
More a verb than a noun,
I am,
So are you,
So is everyone else,
So is everything else,
So is life.

We like to think of our 'selves' as fixed entities who either do things or to whom things happen. This is our usual everyday experience - we experience our 'self' as some sort of a fixed controller in our heads, somewhere behind the eyes and between the ears; as a rider who's been given this body to carry through it's life; as a thinker behind the thoughts; as an experiencer behind the experiences. 

This idea is actually an illusion. More than this fixed entity, we are a process, a happening that is not independent of it's surrounding environment. Think about it for yourself, there are times when you are feeling joyful, other times when you are sad, some times when you are moody, some times when you are angry, still other times when you are irritated, happy, morose, ecstatic, down, up, etc. You say that that's just your mood, but if you look closely, this is just a manner of speaking. Your mood is not something that exists apart from you. In all these moments, you are your mood. There is no fixed entity that is feeling these moods separately, but we do like to think in that manner, and that is the illusion we're talking about. The thought that there is a thinker behind all the thoughts one has, is just another member of the family of thoughts. It does not have any other existence apart from being any other thought.

We like to use sentences such as 'I did this' or 'She does this'; and in all such sentences there's always a noun doing the verb being referred to. This is a grammatical syntax, but is not real in the deepest sense of the term. In reality, the noun doesn't exist outside of the verb - the two go together. And it simplifies things if you take the division as reality too, but there's a price you pay for that simplicity - you forget that it's limited, that it's not the complete picture, and what follows is that you'd keep running about your life trying to protect and hold on to what is 'you' and 'your', and also trying to get one up on everything that is not 'you' or 'your'. You might be thinking that this is in a way the life story of almost every human being on this planet, and you are right. And that should tell you the grandness of the illusion we're living in.

What we perceive as a separate 'I' - away not only from our surroundings, but also away from the body itself as if it has a separate existence over and above the body, is actually an image we have in our head. It's another thought, like the myriad other thoughts floating about in our heads at all times. It has a special utility though - it helps us limit our awareness to enhance our survival as an individual. But that's it, apart from this, you needn't go about your entire life identifying with this thought in your head. It's limited, it's incomplete, and in that sense, it's an illusion. 

And in finishing, let me also float the idea that this is true for everyone else, every single one. The idea you have about someone else being so and so and such and such is also just another mental image, another thought in the plethora of thoughts in your head. It's an illusion.

Trip on this for a while...

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