Real Man’s State

Usually a person thinks that when he says “I” it is the same “I”, that in all situations it is still the same “I”. When he promises something, when he does not fulfill a promise, when he says that he loves, when he is angry, when he is happy, when he is unhappy or unpleased, when he has passion about something or ceases that passion, etc. He is always sure that possesses a permanent self.

This confidence in possessing the constant “I” arises from identification with the body and mind, with your name and self-image. In reality, everything is different. What a person usually imagines about himself can be represented as a large circle in the figure above, what a person actually represents is rather a set of “I-thoughts” or, more precisely, a group of “I-thoughts” (depicted as small circles in the figure ), which arise depending on the situation in which certain reactions should be performed. These reactions depend on innate inclinations and tendencies, upbringing accumulated experience and knowledge. All these reactions are not realized in the moment when happening. Usually nobody notices this. In order to notice this you must have the skill of deliberate observation of yourself. This skill can only be acquired with the help of certain techniques and it is desirable that there is still outside help, otherwise a person very quickly falls into self-deception and it will seem to him that he is practicing observation, although he has long been in imagination, and not in real observation. Without such intentional observation, real changes are impossible, only by starting observation practice you’ll be able to discover the real state of a man.

Thus, the presence of a real and permanent “I” is only a potential possibility, and not given by nature. This real “I” still needs to be acquired or, in other words, discovered, throwing away all unnecessary layers and self-ideas.