Why is there a non-self when there is a personality.

There is a reason they say that the self is a non-self. Does not exit. Buddhism says this but people misunderstand. In some countries when the word gets around people boast, hey, we do not have a self. They misunderstand the transient nature of the self and no self. With the string of non-stop thinking and opinions, biases and beliefs created in the process of thinking — the self is never consistent, hence there is no permanent self.

Buddhism indeed teaches the concept of anatman, often translated as “no self” or “no soul.” According to Buddhist philosophy, there is no permanent, unchanging, or independent self or soul that exists separately from the aggregates (physical and mental components) that make up an individual.

Instead, Buddhism posits that what we commonly perceive as a self is a temporary construct, a combination of ever-changing factors such as physical sensations, perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and consciousness. This perspective challenges the notion of a fixed, enduring self and encourages practitioners to understand reality in terms of impermanence, interdependence, and non-self.

By recognizing the absence of a permanent self, individuals can develop insight into the true nature of existence and ultimately achieve liberation from suffering.

Self is created by these and it is ever-changing all the time:

So to your question: On average, how long does an average thought linger in your brain?

This is the full spectrum of thinking: lots in mind to no mind.

This is basically your brain-operating frequencies from about 40 hz when awake to below 4Hz when you fall asleep. Notice in sleep below 4Hz your personality disappears and reappears when you wake up. This was one of Buddha’s big discoveries but when in meditation. After days of deep meditation and of no thoughts, then when he came out of his meditation mode he noticed how his mind slowly reappeared and all that thinking started up and the thinking was the cause of suffering.

Others have pointed this out:

If you do not understand the process of thought then you have no control over the thought process. No control over your bran-mind processes. No control over your lifestyle choices. Then what? What do you think suffering is all about? — “ignorant of the general nature of our own processes of thought”, the root cause.

So thought is perpetual. Psychological thinking, silently blah blah blah, verbal thinking, in the brain-mind about nothing. You rightly say Me, one day. I think you are saying there are thoughts in your brain all the time. Well rightly so all of us are the same. No permanent self in us and it is ever-changing with the many thoughts. That is the natural working of the brain-mind of most humans with no control over the thought process.

But you do know that the thought process can be controlled. With meditation, that is what the monks do by using a mantra, concentrating on one thing, on breathing, they can stop/distract themselves from thinking. The train of thought starts to be reduced, and the distance between the thoughts gets longer and finally, all verbal thinking stops and all images rising from memory (samskaras) stop — no mind.

In the brain-mind AWAKE to DYING is one process of the brain-mind. Tibetan monks can get into meditation mode and deliberately die in the process of meditation — TUKDAM,

A Glorious Death

A deliberate dying process. Complete control over the brain-mind and its processes.

I deliberately call myself a walking-talking meditator for this reason to make a point.

I know this is the thinking process:

Your thought processes is made of verbal thinking (silent self-talk thinking) and images created in the mind via seeing and also the past images rising from memory (samskaras). I realised that if I am silently talking to think and hence using my vocal cords — then I can instantly stop this type of thinking. I am using my vocal cords and hence I stop silent self-talk thinking, stop the flutter of the vocal cords and verbal thinking stop instantly. So what I have left, just seeing images from eyes — observations and also samskaras, images of the past rising from memory left in the brain-mind. I hope you see this as it is very easy to reduce thoughts in your brain. The first step to having control over the brain-mind thinking.

I need to point this out to you as it is important that you see it — when I stop verbal thinking what have I done to the brain and mind — in terms of meditation, my mind has gone to the present moment, “now” in you when verbal thinking has stopped. So I am in a wide awake walking-talking meditative mode in the present moment in me. This is another level of control over my brain-mind just by stopping verbal thinking.

I am in what is called in “conscious awareness” mode. A walking-talking meditator. I centre my brain mind in the “now” in me — this is about 8 to 12 Hz brain operating frequency when the Alpha brain waves dominate the brain (do your research and see what happens to the brain when the Alpha waves dominate the brain — it generates an extended brain-mind),

So how am I in the brain as a walking-talking meditator:

Centred in the “now” in me:

With an extended brain-mind:

Full spectrum thinking and not just in the Lower Brain-mind:

Full Potential brain-mind and control over the thinking process.

There are 2 of you in you: some of the fabric of the universe and some of you the personality. They all work as 1-Thing.