Transitory Self Image

To the mind that is caught in illusion things appear transitory, life seems to be in a constant transition. Because the mind as the self is a transitory entity, we equate that sense with all existence. Thought is movement through time as a spatial existent being. It is a separated and divided entity that is seeking identification through attachment to the self created illusion of the defined. When the mind names it moves away from the reality of the moment into the transitory illusion of the ideal. It is the past as memory, the idyllic, that becomes the projected illusion of a transitory self image.

When one has the realization that the process of thought is the activity of self in transition then something new may happen. It may be seen that ones accumulations (experiences and beliefs) are the root cause of a self in transition. Clearly one sees that transition is the minds way of creating an identified and defined self. When all this is understood in the moment it falls away, what is left is oneness, the yoga of the absolute moment.

From the Yoga Sutra (Patanjali) by Swami Venkatesananda: Chapter 1.4 "At other times, when yoga does not happen and when the mind is busily occupied with movement, there is a cloud of confusion in the undivided, homogeneous intelligence. In the shadow of that cloud, there arises false identification or cognition of the movement of the mind-fragment and hence distorted understanding. The single concept or idea or the single movement of thought is mistaken as the totality."

When there is movement of thought as a separated individuality having definition and so attachment there is the samsara of a transitioning image self that has the appearance of change. But in actuality it is the continuity of repetition that is seeking to further define its conceptual or ideal image. So if one thinks of ones self as a Hindu, Jain, or Buddhist etc. who is "becoming" illuminated, one defines and is therefore caught in the ideal. The result is the illusion of a transitioning self image. To follow and believe in a teaching is to be identified with ideological will that can only lead to self importance and a deluded mind.

One must read, listen, study and meditate in the moment that is free of all identification with appearances. To look with a free, open and vulnerable mind is to find the truth of the absolute moment which is without definition and knowing.