BryantheNo-Self

“The mind’s goal is not to get at the truth but to fulfill our needs, and like a computer with very specific programming, the mind’s interpretations are based on what’s already known or believed.”
― Peter Ralston, The Book of Not Knowing: Exploring the True Nature of Self, Mind, and Consciousness

“Positive or negative, the beliefs we identify with will result in any number of effects that will dominate and shape our lives. In order to be free of these effects, we must free ourselves from our identification with such beliefs. Still, you might respond: “But these so-called ‘beliefs’ are really just assessments, things I’ve actually witnessed in my self. They’re not something I just made up.” Which illustrates my point. We continue to think and act within these patterns—further reinforcing the conviction that they are genuine aspects of ourselves—because we believe they are us. We see them as natural expressions of the way we are, and will defend our right to act them out. Even if we attempt to get free, we’re likely to fall again into being “stupid,” or “superior,” or what have you, since that is what appears to us as true.”
― Peter Ralston, The Book of Not Knowing: Exploring the True Nature of Self, Mind, and Consciousness

“Perhaps one reason we refrain from questioning our own interpretations is that whenever we start to look into how we hold reality, the terrain can start to feel rather slippery. Approaching these matters through our experience rather than just intellectually can greatly simplify our task, but a new challenge arises. The deeper we go in our questioning, the closer we get to confronting the core assumptions that run our lives. Keep in mind that confusion, upset, and other personal resistance are likely to arise as our questioning threatens the very basis of our self image.”
― Peter Ralston, The Book of Not Knowing: Exploring the True Nature of Self, Mind, and Consciousness

“I might think I’m smarter than everyone else, or a great person. These seem positive and yet, as with believing I’m stupid, I’m likely to feel isolated and separate from others, misunderstood, and underappreciated. I may well become protective of my “status,” which could be the only value I feel I have as a person and the only characteristic through which I can relate to people. I would become less and less willing to look the fool, or risk revealing myself as “normal” or fallible, and so cut myself off from any real and honest interactions or self-expressions. We can see how this will feed upon itself and how the condition could easily become more and more intolerable as it grows.”
― Peter Ralston, The Book of Not Knowing: Exploring the True Nature of Self, Mind, and Consciousness