Otherness: The Disease of the Self

When we opine the word "Self" what do we mean? Are we really aware of who we are? We have opinions, but do they really get to the heart of the actual reality of self knowing? It is very difficult to truly "know" the self.  Because to "know" in the context of a conditioned mind is to live in illusion. The illusion of our incessant need to cling to the past.  The memory of a selective and highly modified reality.  Basically the self is a made up entity.  It does not exist in the absolute reality of the moment. Only as a psychological inference of memorialized and self serving delusion does it thrive. It is this delusion of the self that drives us to do all sorts of psychologically and physically inhumane things to the "Other".  The perception of the "Other" is the scapegoat of a mind that is tortured by its own inadequacy and self loathing. But isn't this the essence of a "religious mind"?  To find a way to excuse our "sins" by superficial forgiveness and the commutation of our failures as human beings. That it is acceptable to continue the mind that longs for self aggrandizement at what ever cost...even our own extinction.

As a human being we are trapped in a mind that is naturally dualistic.  Because we are consciously aware of our own existence and have the ability to react as the one who knows on what it knows we are a divided entity.  On the one hand we have what we know and on the other hand we have the person who knows. But is the person who knows psychologically separate from what he knows. Or are they one in the same entity.  If we "are" what we know then "we" as the self must be the essence of our bigotry and hatred. And we are all bigots that are endlessly suspicious of our fellow man. We cannot escape the reality of the moment when it comes to understanding that is without excuse or justification.  As long as you separate the thinker from the thought you cannot possibly understand the significance of your delusion and its accompanying fear and isolationism. It is the well spring of all that destroys.

So one must simply be aware of how the mind has been programmed to be what it is. A person is not born a bigot or a racist, a Christian, Muslim or Jew you are taught through fear and self aggrandizement.  But the realization is that you cannot change as long as that change is born of the self that knows.  DO YOU UNDERSTAND? DO YOU SEE THIS NOT AS A KNOWING BUT AS A REALITY OF THE MOMENT?