In my efforts to liberate others by getting them to look and see that the self doesn't exist, I've come across a very special kind of liberated person. They say "you don't exist, and neither does anyone else, so what's the point of trying to help anyone? Much better to go off and just enjoy life for what it is."

I spent a while really struggling with this. It seemed like they had a point. There's no me. There's no-one that is choosing to help others, there is only the act of helping taking place. There is no-one being helped by the same token. So why bother, except out of some leftover ego desire to be a saviour?

Today, I finally sat down and looked at the idea with laser focus. And it hit me. These people have made a basic mistake about fiction and reality, and turned infinite freedom into just another kind of cage.

Here's the thing. The self is a fiction. There is no self in reality. But, and this isn't my original idea by a long shot, it's a real fiction. There really is a thought which says "I exist". It's as real as every other thought. The signpost pointing to the self is a real signpost, even though it's pointing at an empty space.

In the same way, the illusion exists. It exists as an illusion. Knowing that I don't exist hasn't made this body vanish in a puff of smoke. It hasn't destroyed this ego. There have been a lot of changes in perspective, sure, and a lot of beliefs have been ditched as inaccurate, but fundamentally, the self never existed, so the realisation in itself hasn't destroyed anything.

So here's the mistake these liberated people make. They say "x is an illusion, so it doesn't exist" and then act as if this has made the illusion of x disappear from existence. As if pointing out that Bilbo Baggins is a fictional character has erased him from every copy of "The Hobbit" in existence.

This is not how reality works. No matter how many insights you have into the truth of this world, it doesn't dispel the illusion. It just lets you see through it. The stage doesn't vanish when Hamlet realises he is actually an actor playing Hamlet. But now the actor is no longer forced to stick to the script.

That's why I prefer the term "liberation" to "enlightenment". Because what it gives you is freedom. Do you play the classic Hamlet? Do you play a different kind of Hamlet? Do you improvise, trusting the other actors to keep up, and play a different character that transforms the play completely?

Liberation is knowing that, no matter what character you play, you are not them. Their experiences are not your experiences, their pain is not your pain. You do not exist.

The people I spoke of do not realise this freedom. They think "the self is an illusion, so I must play the character of an enlightened being that sees through the illusion". They think that in order to enjoy the freedom brought by liberation, they have to think, feel and act according to a limited set of rules which they've generated based upon ultimate truth.

Taking responsibility? Can't do that, there's no-one to take responsibility.
Helping others? Can't do that, there are no others to help.
Taking anything at all seriously? Can't do that, there's no-one to be serious.

But see the staggering hypocrisy it takes to act that way, to pretend that all their choices are the inevitable workings-out of a higher cosmic order. These people have not stepped off the stage. They have not miraculously rid themselves of the need to play a character. They still get up in the morning, and they still tie their shoelaces the way they did before they were liberated. They still prefer one food over another, they still have speech traits and mannerisms, thoughts and feelings. They still experience the illusion of free will after they've seen through it.

On an absolute level, maybe none of this is even happening. But on the level of illusion, they are still making the choice between helping others and leaving them to suffer. They are still choosing to let the world burn because they've made a cage of their liberation and called it wisdom.

Don't let this happen to you.

The self is an illusion, and seeing this will free you in ways you cannot yet imagine. The world we perceive is, in many ways, also an illusion, and seeing this is fun and interesting and vastly deepens one's understanding of reality.

But it's the only illusion we've got, and it's not going anywhere.

Other people's suffering is as real as any part of the illusion is real; as real as your body, as real as the ground beneath your feet. It's as real as the feeling of peace, which is, after all, nothing more than illusionary neurotransmitters being generated by an illusionary brain.

If you're going to be the kind of liberated that gets free of their own suffering and chooses to leave the human race to rot, do it with open eyes. Acknowledge that freeing humanity from suffering is as real an act as anything else you might choose to do with your freedom, and that you are willingly choosing selfishness over compassion.

Or get free if you're still not, and then join me. There are seven billion people out there who are each as real as you and me, and we finally have the tools to free them from their pain. What are you waiting for?