BREAKING THE SHELL
What you are about to read is a modification of the actual correspondence which took place a year ago Namely, I read an online paper which assessed the idea of immortality from religious and philosophical points of view and then left a short comment: “A lot of information, but no real knowledge – truly philosophical.” To my surprise, the author of the paper responded: “What is real knowledge? Do you know?”
I “took up the glove” and, at the end of a polite note, wrote: “…As for real knowledge, if you really want to know, let's start from this: tell me something about you – Who are YOU?”
And, this is roughly how the dialogue went on, until it was stopped by my interlocutor. (Of course, the names and other details have been changed.)
Who are you? What is your name?
- My name is Salman Keser. What do those two words represent?
- Me…, I am Salman Keser.
OK, what or who else are you? Tell me more about yourself.
- Well, what do you mean: physically, metaphysically, or sociologically? Sociologically, I'm an assistant professor at Istanbul University and I live in Turkey. I am a Turk, a Muslim… a Trabzonspor football team fan… Physically, I'm a man consisting of body, blood, and some feeling. I feel pain when I am hurt, joy when everything is fine… Lastly, metaphysically, I am a man who is free, responsible, created by God from the spirit of God and protected by God, endowed with mind. I think, believe…
Good. All this is you, your Self or I?
- Yes. This is what makes me “man”. This individual, personal consciousness is the most important thing in our lives. And, since I (and most other people) believe in life after death, in death as well.
So, to sum up: Your “I” or “Self” consists of personal consciousness (identity, self-awareness), body, and that which is alive or conscious in “You”? Is it the “thing” called “the soul”?
- Yes, but the soul is bodiless by nature, immaterial, without any specific location. It is our personal being, which encompasses knowledge of our personality and its unity (which does not leave us from childhood to maturity).
OK, now think about this: Would that which is alive or conscious “in you”, which listens and hears, watches and sees
– the “thing” you call “I”, or the soul – alter in any way if one day you, by your own will, changed your name and stopped being Salman Keser and became Vito Pavolini?
- No, it would not.
So, it seems that your name and surname do not represent/ describe/define… that which is alive or conscious in you?
- Apparently.
Would that which is alive/conscious in you change in any way if you resigned from your position at the University and started working as a carpenter?
- No.
So, that which is alive or conscious in you has nothing to do with your title of Professor?
- Apparently.
And it will remain the same if you stopped being a Turk and a Muslim and became an Italian and a catholic?
- Hm. It will never happen. I do not like where this is going.
Interesting, “You” do not like it. Would that which is alive or conscious in you change in any way if “You” liked it?
- Let’s stop this “experiment”. I have much better things to do in my life.
* The result of the “experiment”:
In not more than five minutes the way of thinking (or “mental world”) of an average, normal person cracked and some alarming aspects appeared. All those high-sounding, “big” words from the beginning of this conversation became just useless groups of letters which did not serve their purpose.
It is unfortunate that Salman withdrew from the dialogue before the end. If he had continued with it, he would have found out many other things. For instance, that that which is alive or conscious in him really does not change if he stops being a Turk and a Muslim and becomes an Italian and a catholic, or even an atheist.
He would have realized that “I” stays the same even if a person starts supporting Galatasaray instead of Trabzonspor…
…That you can change opinions, beliefs, moods, convictions … and “the essence of your being” always remains the same. You cannot measure it, define, or pin it down – whatever you think you are, you are not!
Salman would also have discovered that he is not free, exactly because “he” is a Muslim who has to obey the rules, traditions ..., to defend his religion if necessary. …Because “he” is a Turk – probably willing to die for his country or some other “higher” cause. …Because “he” is responsible (i.e. tied to his family, party, community...) and, therefore, a slave – it makes no difference if it is by choice, voluntarily, or by force, in- voluntarily.
Simply put, you do not control religion – it controls you. You do not control national interests, or “your” family, they control you…
And, these are all indisputable, unbeatable facts. And, yes I know how odd (even insane) this must sound to somebody who has never thought about these things in this way. Or, to be precise, who has never thought about these things at all.
It is all different from, if not completely opposite to what you have heard, learned... in all these years since you were born. You do not like it, and you choose not to accept the reality (as most people have done over the ages), but it does not/cannot diminish the value or importance of the discovery. It does not make it incorrect. On the contrary, this discovery makes everything we know about ourselves incorrect.
It turned out that Salman, the same as 99…% of other human beings, has a lot of information about his “Self” but no real knowledge. Therefore, every man who is talking about himself is just a fiction storyteller. You may try arguing, or denying this, but it will only show that you are a stubborn, insincere person. It does not matter how good you are with words and how much you “know”, because here is another fact:
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WHEN THE BASIS OF YOUR “KNOWLEDGE” IS WRONG, you can add as much information on it as you like, and develop your ideas and beliefs indefinitely, thinking that you know something, but ALL YOUR SUBSEQUENT LEARNING IS WRONG AS WELL. It is the sad, but irrefutable truth. |
Can you see, or rather, imagine the implications of this sentence?
In any case, by now, you should be able to acknowledge the following:
“I” is not Salman – Salman is just a label for the body.
“I” is not a Turk – the word Turk is just another label on the package.
“I” is not a professor – it is only a title which tells you what Salman does for living.
“I” is not angry – the body feels anger.
…