[MD] Ever redefining self

[Heather Perella]

Hello Gene,


     [Gene]
> For a while now I've defined the Self not as what a
> person is at any given
> time, but as the sum of the changes they have
> undergone and are undergoing.
> 
> Self doesn't endure changs. Self is defined by those
> changes.
> 
> I think it's an interesting definition.

     I see what you are driving at here.  I agree with
you and I find Self to have this enduring aspect, too.
 The pointing out that a Self changes and does not
endure, sure, I see this.  This self is ever being
redefined and what a self was can change and a
completely new self with a completely new definition
not of the same category as the old self can happen. 
Also, I notice a self that endures.  We point out our
self, and we change and may not see ourselves as we
once were.  Yet, we continually settle with a
definition of who we are now.  Yes, this can change,
but we do settle, even if momentarily, with a 'this is
how and what it is now', even if the answer is only
our opinion of it.  The flexibility and the not
hardening of any definition of self is a open-minded
approach to how we connect with the world and how we
are able to allow static patterns to form, even in our
own minds, that when I take that next step in my walk,
my foot will hit earth and I will not fall off a cliff
and kill myself.  Probability exists in which I may
not be seeing correctly that a drop off is in front of
me, something is in my eye blocking my view, or I may
have a heart attack and not be able to  notice that I
hit the earth when my foot does come down on the step.
 Therefore I will take that next step and with high
probability, land on the earth and know it with all my
heart.
     We are grounded by static patterns.  We have come
to value, and rely upon them.  The static pattern that
the earth will next change in the next second where my
foot will be able to land on the earth is reliable. 
Now, in the next million years, well, there may very
well be a hole I will fall into and not a place where
I merely have my foot land without a hole.  We also,
can change how we experience the world, and this
dynamic aspect of reality goes step in step with
quality all tied together - SQ/DQ is quality.  
     The self is ever redefining and something called
the self can endure, but even here I understand that
maybe the universe will disappear and what we have
called the self now and have been able to call the
self is nothing other than Nothing.  And yet, this
Nothing could be the self, and the definitions can
become endless... oh, this ever redefining self on and
on and on....  A filling of an empty basket that has
no bottom and thus never becomes full.  Careful of
desire, that monster, once it starts to eat its'
stomach may never become full and satisfied.  That
monster we can even draw, write stories about, and
come up with all kinds of myths of something so real -
do you know it has ten eyes, a green tongue, and one
million stomachs that poop/crap constantly out of one
million buttholes.  

Thanks,
SA

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