Jim's comment (below) is as well said as anything I've heard or read. It would seem that the self never truly experiences or identifies, but rather the ego, being the reflection of That in prakiti does the identifying (and the suffering) as its proxy. The ego (jiva) can be happy or blissful it enlightenment because of its transparency and consequent 'clean' transmission or radiance of the self. The ego is kind of a mirage of the self; not of the same 'substance' (for lack of a better word) as prakriti but an 'effect' that results from a certain arrangement of circumstances -- a certain angle of light in conjunction with a modification that creates the appearance of the thing -- like a prism and sunlight 'creating' a rainbow.
[Just some rambling.] (And I agree with Edg or New Morning [as I write this I can't quite rememember who made the comment] who wrote that the discourse today has been sweet.) ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "jim_flanegin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: So learning to not suffer is just that, a > learning process. Not a solution in a bottle, or a mantra by itself, > or just thinking different thoughts, but an entirely new, integrated > approach, where we transform ourselves in order to in effect live in > a different world. One just as challenging and comprehensive as that > in which we would suffer, but through our hard won skill, > perspective and capacity, the suffering is no longer present. >
