abrahamism vs buddhism: is abrahamism elitist?, page-27

DDZX,

Thanks again for the reply, in regards to labelling.

"Your mind identifies your existence as being "Australian", for example. If your parents were ship wrecked on a desert island then your sense of identity would be different.

When the mind ceases to label things, including using the label "self", there comes the experience that may appear to be that of non-existence or non-being or selflessness or non-identification."

So if I understand correctly this time there are different kinds of labelling. Labelling can be handy or it can be used to 'separate' things out including 'I' (which causes suffering)? So lets say I want to buy an apple, I have a picture in my mind of what an apple is, red, apple shaped, juicy etc and so does the apple vendor so that when I say 'apple' he knows what I mean and there's no harm done. I don't see how the world could work otherwise, other than telepathy, and anyone who's married knows that that doesn't work so well most of the time. :)

On the other hand I could use labelling in a 'dishonest' way. If I label someone an 'atheist' or a 'Christian' or a 'Muslim' etc (depending on my level of growth) I would then slot them into my mind's idea of what those things are just as I slotted the apple into it's mental pigeon hole. Once we do that, conversation and subsequently communication can get stifled. Why? Well because I already 'know' what an atheist, Christian, Buddhist etc is so why would I want to listen to anyone who might say something that my assumptions don't agree with? So that's the bad kind of labelling I guess.

And then there's the 'I' motivation that you mentioned. I'm convinced that 'I' as a separate entity is probably an illusion, the anti Christ (to use Biblical terminology) that fools the whole world. Let's face it, how many people actually know who 'I' is? AFAICT 'I' am just a product of the events and experiences of my time on planet Earth. We take bits and pieces from that journey, bits of our parents, bits of our favourite stars and comedians and gurus and things that get us a good response while rejecting and avoiding those things which brought us shame and embarrassment. We cobble all that stuff together and label it 'I'. I guess that's why the overriding predicate of the Bible and Christ's message is the need for our death. For while we continue to believe 'we' exist we will always be separate and never be able to fully understand or enter into the real Lord's prayer in John 17: "Holy Father, protect them by the power of[b] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one."

Anyway, hope that makes sense.


"thank you Director

you have given some hope in disproving the title of this thread"

Hey thanks. :) (Hope I didn't just ruin it for you. :) )