| Answer
from Jesus:
Both of the concepts you
mention were developed after the passing of Gautama Buddha. So it is
not quite correct to say that the Buddha taught the concepts as they
are currently found in many Buddhist teachings. However, the Buddha
did talk about concepts that are similar to the concepts of emptiness
and no self.
As I explain throughout this website, the real problem on planet Earth
is that people have descended into a lower state of consciousness. People
fell into this state of consciousness because they partook of the forbidden
fruit, which is a symbol for a state of consciousness in which everything
seems relative. This is exemplified by the concepts of good and evil,
meaning relative good and evil. The very core of this state of consciousness
is a sense of separation from your source, a sense of separation from
God.
It is this sense of separation from your spiritual source that is the
real cause of all suffering. When the soul began to lose contact with
the spiritual self, or I AM Presence, it had to create a new type of
self, a pseudo self, to fill the void that was created. This false self,
often called the ego or the carnal mind, is the cause of all suffering
experienced by the soul. It is also this self that gives rise to many
conflicting and disturbing thoughts and emotions that lead to the suffering
of the soul.
The goal of the spiritual path is to overcome the false self so that
the soul can be free to unite with the spiritual self. This then is
the true meaning of the concept of no self. When the soul reaches this
state of consciousness, it has overcome and let go of the pseudo self,
which caused it to feel separated from its spiritual source.
In this higher state of consciousness, the soul realizes that it is
made from the basic substance of God, or as the Buddha would say, everything
is the Buddha nature. The soul therefore realizes that it is meaningless
to think that it could possibly have an existence or sense of self as
being separated from the spiritual source.
This then becomes the state of no self in that the soul no longer has
a sense of identity as being separated from its source. However, this
does not mean that the soul loses all sense of individuality and identity.
The soul’s true individuality is anchored in the spiritual self.
This true individuality is not lost by giving up the pseudo self. In
fact, only after the soul overcomes the human ego can it begin to express
its true individuality.
There is also a higher concept of no self in which an individual lifestream
can eventually attain such a degree of union with God that it chooses
to return to the state of consciousness that Buddhist called Nirvana,
and which I call the state of pure Being. An individual lifestream can
then voluntarily give up its individuality in order to return to the
state of pure Being from which it sprang. However, this is a concept
that has little relevance for most of the people embodying on this planet
because they are far away from having the option of uniting with the
state of pure Being.
The concept of emptiness can also be understood at different levels.
Ultimately, emptiness means the state of pure Being, the unmanifest
in which there are no forms or expressions.
At a personal level, emptiness means the state of overcoming the human
ego. By overcoming the ego, the soul experiences that all of the many
disturbing thoughts and emotions that sprang from the ego are silenced.
Therefore, the soul now experiences a state of freedom from this mental
and emotional noise, a state of emptiness from the noise of the ego.
Once again, this does not mean that the soul loses all individuality,
all awareness or even thoughts and emotions. It simply means that the
soul loses the conflicting thoughts and emotions that lead to suffering.
The soul is now free to experience the true thoughts and feelings that
spring from its God-given individuality and therefore lead to the ultimate
happiness of self expression, the expression of the true self
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© 2003 by Kim Michaels |
