We Self Us

An Earthly Obsession

We see, we hear We stance, we love, we hate We ponder, we judge We self

We are busy.

We are very, very busy. Creating a self. Maintaining a self. Convincing ourselves of a self. Shoring up a self by any means we can find. An accurate word would be “selfing”.

No, not selfie (although that’s a sibling, of course). No, it’s selfing. It’s a verb. Almost everything we do has some relation to selfing, has some bearing on self-maintenance. Unless, of course, we’re a saint — which is what we call those who let go of the self and who are so much happier for it.

Saints, though, are few and far between and the rest of us are too busy selfing to notice should we run into one.

Selfing is a very competitive contest; a very much zero-sum contest. There are so many selves out there trying to out-self you, while you are trying to out-self them right back.

A very good friend of mine is a Scientologist. A fundamental tenet of that religion is that the unique and individual self does indeed exist, has always existed, and will always exist. Ascending the Scientology Grade Chart (the ladder of spiritual attainments, aka crossing the Bridge) is all about confirming, boosting, and eternalizing the self — a goal that diametrically opposes the Buddhist view and tenet of non-self.

I once asked my friend what he would do if, arriving at the very top of the Grade Chart, having crossed the entire Bridge and arriving at the very goal of the entire movement, what would he do were he then to discover that we are not individual selves after all, but rather all one, all Brahman, the Atman being no more than an interesting, if persistent illusion.

Without as much as a flicker of hesitation he said, “I’d demand my money back.”

Telling, methinks.

Selfing. It’s the one obsession we Earthlings excel at.

© Wolfstuff