This is really interesting Vaj! Thanks for summing up a lot of info in a concise form. I'll need to give it some more thought but here is where I am now:
I'm not sure I feel a need to go beyond "naive compassion". When it comes to ethics, that seems to work pretty well. Ethics seems like almost a given if you have been well brought up to function with integrity in society. For those encounters in life where the lines are less easy to draw, I think we all just wing it as best we can. By watching the results you can do better next time. I don't know if a certain state of mind really improves this human situation. As far as the virtual self goes, I'm not sure I could relate to this concept without your background and training in using it. So it might apply to my experience and I just don't know it. It is not a perspective that I would naturally come across outside some specialized teaching. And that was my point before. You pretty much have to have an ounce of faith that the system has a deeper insight to go through the steps to experience it for yourself. As far as increased mindfulness in our life goes, this concepts does have immediate appeal. I have been spending more time applying this concept to my life and I think there is obvious value. Although I am probably practicing it on a much lower level than a radical "no self" state. It may be semantics, or it may be a real difference in the state of mind. But practically, driving home from a gig in another state this Winter in an ice storm, I did use this perspective to allow the experience instead of resisting it and plunging into debilitating terror. I was able to flow into the shitstorm and relax for the hours it took to get out of it. Of course my version may have nothing to do with what you are talking about! But it was useful even on my level. I'll give what you wrote more thought. This is a very useful discussion for me so thanks for that! I may have to have more exposure over time to some of the concepts you raise to begin to understand them as you do. > > For me the reason one would inquire as to the Nature of Mind is that > it allows one to see the illusion of self built on self-and-other: > the codependent arising of the virtual self. That insight allows our > Ethical Know-How to arise as a direct experience. Once one begins see > self as largely fragmented, transitory--inescapably so--the radical > 'not-doing' of mindfulness fosters a freedom from conditioned states > of mind which further fosters increased mindfulness in more and more > areas of our life. Eventually we realize there is no self in any of > our interactions--an experience which can be quite unnerving at first. > > But once one 'gets used to' this more unified, less self-centered > perspective and the mind relaxes more and more into awareness, a > natural sense of warmth and inclusiveness begins to appear naturally. > Self interest naturally is replaced with interest in others. The full > realization of our innate groundlessness or empty-nature cannot occur > without that sense of warmth. Eventually we understand that the > Nature of Mind, of groundlessness, is compassion. So it's really > about coming into contact with our own Ethical Know-How--our innate > virtue. We had it all along. > > The reason some systems of meditation place an emphasis on ethical > behavior isn't because they want us to be good boys and girls, but > because it's easier to grasp empty nature, our groundlessness, if we > mimic it's natural qualities. The relative Awakened Heart is the > basic starting point for realizing the absolute Awakened Heart. > Absolute Awakened Heart allows Virtue to arise relatively as well: > spontaneous appropriate action beyond naive compassion. >
