If We Have the Right to Self-defense, Where is the Self that Needs Defending?
“This case has nothing to do with race,” Rittenhouse told Tucker Carlson. “It never had anything to do with race. It had to do with the right to self-defense.”
If we have the right to self-defense, can you point to the self that needs defending?
Most of us never question the validity of the current experience of self, we and everyone is having. Our senses and society tell us that we must possess a self with its own essence that is different from everyone else. Following this assumption, we feel we have a right to defend ourselves against so many other selves. The experience of self is based on our sensory perception that shapes our experience, knowledge, ideas, and beliefs about everything. Our senses are what tell us that we are separate and different from everything else but are they telling us the truth? When was the last time you checked?
What do you see in the photo below?
What do you see?
Most people answered "6 people". If this were correct, there should be 6 persons needing defending, right?
Everybody agrees that each self must be 1 entity that is full of its own essence and not the essence of something else. So, let's see if each person in the photo is a single self full of their own essence.
There are only 4 ways that a self could exist, it must:
1. match the physical aspect (body)
2. match the nonphysical aspect (mind)
3. match only certain parts of the body & mind
4. differ from the body & mind, or their parts
Let's examine point 1: Does the self match the body?
The closer we look at the physical form, we discover that there is no such thing as one body. Instead, there are parts like the head, torso, arms, and legs made of countless parts like cells and atoms. So, the self is not the same as the body, as the body is not a singular entity. Furthermore, the body does not possess its own essence as it is a product of previous bodies, which were nothing more than a food product of the Earth, water, sun, etc.
Let's examine point 2: Does the self match the mind?
Upon closer inspection of the mind, we see that since the mind is space-like, it is also made up of space-like parts. Moreover, the mind is a consciousness that perceives, feels, and can think, this generates the perpetual effect of moment-to-moment of existence. The present moment is the result of the past moment that will generate the future moment, and so on. No matter how short the moment, it is made up of an infinite number of shorter moments. Since the mind is space-like, and space is made up of infinite smaller spaces and there is no singular moment that is not a product of a previous moment, the self is not the same as the mind.
Let's examine point 3: Does the single self match certain parts of the body & mind?
Since every part of the body and mind is made of ever smaller parts, nothing is truly singular or possesses its own essence, and thus no part of the body or mind can be a single self.
Let's examine point 4: Is the single self different than the body and mind, or its parts?
Obviously not, since no one can claim to have seen a person (self) that was different from the countless parts of physical and non-physical aspects of a person (body & mind). Also, no one has tried to uphold their right to self-defense that referred to anything other than the many parts of the body and mind we call a person.
To conclude, most people's senses tell them there are 6 people in the photo, but that is 100% incorrect. As we discovered in the above investigation a person is not a singular entity and a product of everything else, thus not different from anything else including me. As it turns out the facts tell us that all persons exist without a self, proving that our perceptions and beliefs are contradictory to them. The reason we are experiencing 6 people in the photo and ourselves as the 7th person is because we are unaware of how everything exists and the belief in labels we project on them. First, when we see anything, we wrongly believe they possess a self with an essence different from everything else. Second, we project a label such as "me", he", "she" "2nd", etc, and believe in them. There is nothing wrong with labeling things for convenience's sake, but to believe that what is being labeled possesses a self with its own essence different than mine or anybody else's is very incorrect. So it is our unawareness of how everything exists + a label that creates this illusion of 6 people in the photo and me as the 7th when in reality we all are selfless and only differ in labels/names.
To say that one has the right to self-defend is simply without merit as no person possesses a self with an essence of their own. My self's essence is identical to the essence of everything else that produced me, and the essence of everybody else's self is the same as mine. We are all in the essence of everything else, we are selfless.
To see this fact beyond the ideas in our minds is to recognize the deception created by our senses/minds. This deception was created by our ignorance and it has caused us such suffering. If everyone was informed about this deception there would never be a single shot fired anywhere in the world, as there would be no need to have guns. Why have a gun if everyone is selfless like you, and the only true difference is the name/label we invent for convenience's sake. There would never be any fear, anger, prejudice, racism, hatred, dissatisfaction, etc. There would never be a person needing to defend themselves. Life without this inborn ignorance would be always in perfect harmony and happiness with all living beings, aren’t we ready for this happiness yet?
The Truth is
All Humans are Universally Selfless.
Big thanks to Alexandra Sullivan and Raeven Barnes..