Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Is it Time for Another Mainstream No You Book?





Intro:

What would it mean to you to access more peace in any situation? 

What would it mean to you to end disagreements with your spouse or friends? 

What would it mean to you to put that nasty coworker in her place? Or to handle negotiations with ease? 

And what would it mean if you could stop believing you need to fix your flaws before you can really start living?

If I could give you one single takeaway from this book, it would be this:

You don’t need to fix anything because you are not who or what you think. There is no psychological method to fix what's broken in you. There is no higher self to become, no spiritual path to follow, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with you right now, as you are.

Instead, just take a look at who you think you are and you'll discover that it's not at all what you've been taught. Not only that, but you are right now and have always been free to be whomever you wish and who you really want to be. You have the freedom to dream up and be a new self any time you like. Want to change  the patterns in your life? There is absolutely nothing truly holding you back.

Intuitively, you already know this. I’m just here to remind you, and to show you that there's a door. And don't worry, this book is here to hand you the key so you can unlock it for yourself.


Outro:
This is the opening to a "Hey Look! There's No You!" book idea I've been throwing around since 2011. Because I believe that even if you're not a seeker, there are positive effects from understanding a basic truth about the self. That's because it's the very foundation for human behavior and seeing it for what it truly is, and experiencing that truth on a gut level. But even an intellectual understanding can sometimes work wonders to draw attention to the fact that reality is not as it seems. Once that bridge is crossed, (and some would still call that a gateless gate rather than a bridge), options for experiencing the world differently are endless.

There's just one little problem with my "dream".

I've tried to bring this to non-seekers, and most don't like the idea. Some think it's a New Age idea (and it's been appropriated by New Agers), and others think it's just some sort of method of escaping reality. And some believe they understand it and so dismiss it, but have not realized the implications.

How ironic.

The very thing that exposes reality for what it is, is seen as a fantasy and escape.

Of course I'm not the first to try to write about this. A few great reads come to mind The Ego Tunnel by Thomas Metzinger. The Self Illusion by Bruce Hood. Self Comes to Mind by Antonio DaMasio. They are all excellent books that take a scientific approach and explain the concepts thoroughly and extremely well. Maybe too well in that they allow the reader to repeatedly "think the concepts through" when what's really helpful is to give them a tool to separate reality from thought, and to then investigate the problem for themselves. 

The discovery that there is no you isn't life-altering or paradigm-shifting until it's experienced first hand! And then it's like dropping.. well... everything you've carried. It's an unparalleled sense of freedom and equanimity. Sure, it may come and go after the first taste, but if you've got the tool to continue to investigate, the door is always just a step away.

Sometimes it hurts to see humans interact while blinded by their selves. And pointing out that, "hey, there's another way to view this scenario" is dismissed. Emotion and ego rules.

But I'll keep plugging away. Chapter 1 is just about complete. The book most certainly won't be on the bestseller list. But it'll be there just in case someone's looking for that particular message.

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thanks for the thoughts...