The Psychological Structure of The Self

There’s a lot out there about dissolving the separate self, ego dissolution, non duality and all that. But I think it’s important to truly understand what the self is, if we ever want to truly go beyond it.

Okay so what’s the self? First of all, it’s not you, yourself, me, my life, myself, lower self and higher self, godly self, supreme self, any of that. It’s The Self. Sure, the content is always different, but the structure is always the same. Because in reality we are all the same. It helps to abandon the illusion of individuality and look at humanity as all one thing. It’s a good backdrop for what’s about to be said.

So, what is the self? The self is thought. Not thought(s). We instinctively want to fracture thought into a million notions and directions, and it’s true there are a million and one different thoughts one can have about all sorts of things. But this is a mistake. It’s all one thing. Its that constant activity, that movement, that mental process of working and figuring. Literally that thing we are all doing in our minds right now. Thought is all one thing. One movement.

So, what is that movement? When we break it down it’s basically three things: words, concepts, and images. A thought arises “I need to go to the grocery store”. That’s words. “I” is a concept. Needing to go somewhere is a concept. The grocery store is a concept. You actually going to the grocery store is an image (thought creates the image first, and then you take steps to bring that image into actuality).

Going further now - where do these words, concepts and images come from? They come from the past of course. You were taught words. You were taught concepts. The images in your mind are the past. “I need to go to the grocery store” - you were taught those words, you’ve heard people say that. The concept of the grocery store is something you know from memory, because you’ve been there before. And the image of you actually going to the grocery store is a prediction based on previous times you’ve went, but it’s *still* the past, just projected out into an imaginary future.

So “I need to go to the grocery store” is a movement of thought as time psychologically, from the past as memory, filtered through the present as a thought form, and projected out into the psychological future as an image. This goes for all thoughts. Thought is time. It’s all one thing. When thought ceases, when all words, concepts and images stop. There are only visual, perceptual changes, there is no time. I call this whole movement of words concepts and images thought/time for short.

Now, is there a “you” that exists outside the confinement of thought/time? Or, you *Are* thought/time and thought/time is you? It’s the latter of course. Without that movement of thought/time (words, concepts and images moving from the psychological past to the psychological future as thought) there can’t be a static identity. You are that. And that is you.

So: thought = time = you. It’s all one thing. Seeing this whole movement absolutely clearly is the end of confusion, and the beginning of something beautiful.

Please let me know if you have any questions or want to discuss any aspect of this. Happy to do so 🙂