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?

Back when I was young and innocent, which is to say about a month ago, I followed a random link in a forum post and ended up at Ruthless Truth (yes, the one over there on the blogroll). I read a certain post, and it caused me to see something that changed my life forever.

I then went to a forum called the Ruthless Arena (yes, the one I link to at the top of this blog). It's a place where people who have seen the same thing gather together to help others see it. And this is what I posted:


So I read "Thunder and Sunshine" on Saturday night/Sunday morning. And I turned around and looked figuratively behind my eyes, at the space where I thought "I" was, the one to which all the beliefs and opinions and things are supposed to connect. And there was just an empty space. And I thought "wait, this can't mean what I think it means, right?" Then it hit me. If the space was empty, then there wasn't a need for it in the first place. No need for a space marked "self goes here". And then the space vanished.

So here's how I see it. I used to think that

I = A+B+C+D...

where A, B, C, D etc. are thoughts, beliefs, opinions, the body, mind, awareness etc. And enlightenment was supposed to be the realisation that this is not true, and

I = X

where X is some great mystical spiritual thing which will reveal all the mysteries of the universe to me once I realise that I am it.

Except that was totally missing the point. The reason I =/= A + B + C +D... is that there's no I. There's only A + B +C + D. And because there's nothing to identify with them, there isn't even an = sign. No equation. No equating. Just things that are.

So things just are, and just happen. Obviously, this mind, this body and this awareness (as in thing that observes thoughts and feelings, nothing more complicated than that) are connected. But I'm not the thing connecting them. They don't need a "me" to exist, and this is just as well since "me" doesn't exist, and never has.

That and I was pretty shocked when I realised nothing whatsoever had changed, at least right then. And then it was like "well, duh". The "I" never existed, so of course things would still work the same way as before with it "gone".

Welcome to Laser Focus, a blog about seeing the truth. A blog about seeing the truth with such uncompromising intensity that every lie that stands in your way gets burned into oblivion. Does that sound like your style? Then read on.


The world is full of lies. You hear them every day. Some are little, like being asked "how are you?" and answering "I'm fine" when you're not. Some are bigger, like telling yourself everything is OK when deep down there's a nagging feeling that something is wrong - whether with one situation or with your entire life. And some are staggering, epic lies which cost lives and dictate the fates of entire nations, like "those who do not believe in my god must die".


But there's one lie that's at the root of them all. One lie that gives birth to all other lies. One lie so deep, so powerful and pernicious, that even the most honest people believe it without question. You have lived with this lie for your entire life. This lie has been your entire life. And right here, right now, with a single act of honesty, you can shatter that lie forever.


Here is that lie, pinned down, in its simplest, purest form:


"I exist".


Watch your reaction. Did you just think "that's nonsense, of course I exist"?


Then this is your test, the test of your honesty. The cowards who prefer to live in the cosiness of self-deception will close this page now, and go back to their everyday lives. Good riddance.


But I see you're still reading. You're thinking "of course I exist, but let's see what this guy has to say". Good, that's honesty. That's the ability to question what you believe to be true, the only power that can free you from any lie.


So follow along with me for a little, and let's see what we can see. Look at your body. Yep, the body exists. Look at your thoughts. Yep, they exist. Look at your feelings. Yep, feelings, right there. Now look at YOU.


Ah.


It's not there.


Look, really look at this. Prove to yourself that there's more than just a body, more than just thoughts, more than just feelings. Where is the self which they're all supposed to belong to? Can you see one anywhere? Anywhere at all?


Stop and just look for a couple of minutes. Something as big as the existence of the self is worth being sure of. Stop and look.


"But if there's no self, who's reading this right now?"


Good. An obvious question. Let me answer it with another question, and answer as honestly as you can:


How do you know there's anyone reading this?


How do you know that there isn't just a pair of eyes reading this text, and sending information to the brain, which turns it into an image of the world? How do you know there's something more than just the body doing its thing? Can you see anything other than the body doing its thing?


"But if no-one's reading this, who's thinking about what it means?"


How do you know someone's doing the thinking? How do you know that the brain isn't just generating thoughts, which then trigger other thoughts?


Again, be honest. Look at the process of thinking. Where do thoughts come from? Is there someone or something there, deciding "I'm going to think this thought now"? Or is that just another thought?


Turn on that laser focus. It's a power all human beings are born with, an enormous power to see the truth with crystal clarity no matter how many layers of deception it's been wrapped in. Maybe you didn't know you had it, or maybe you use it every day. Try it on this thing now.


Can you see anything, anywhere in reality, that corresponds to the idea of "I"? When you say "I exist", is there a thing called "I" in reality, or is it just a thought, just an idea in your head through which all your perceptions get filtered?


If you've looked, with perfect honesty, just for ten seconds, you're free. Free from the lie that an "I" exists, and from all the lies it spawns. Free from "I have to try to be a good person." Free from "I am a bad person". Free from "I have to avoid suffering because it'll hurt me." Free from "there is something I need to be happy". 


You are free, even, from "I need to be happy" itself. And free from ever having to lie, because there is no you to get hurt by admitting the truth.


If you haven't looked, do it now. You have nothing to lose. I mean that in every possible sense. If the self exists, then looking at it won't make it go away. If the self doesn't exist, then you can't lose it, and there isn't even a you to lose anything.


Look. There is no you.