.
“Thoughts, feelings, images, and so on exist as patterns of information represented by patterns of neural structure and activity.
In the same way, the various aspects of the apparent self—and the intimate and powerful experience of being a self—exist as patterns in the mind and brain.
The question is not whether those patterns exist.
The key questions are: What is their nature? And does that which those patterns seem to stand for—an “I” who is the unified, ongoing owner of experiences and agent of actions—truly exist?
.
.
Or is self like a unicorn, a mythical being whose representations exist but who is actually.”
.
.
My two cents: Follow any thought, the concept of “I” back to its source and you will find a mirage.
We create “I” from our childhood, what we think of ourselves combined with how the world treats us, then we roll it all together and call it “Marty” or “I”.
“I” is a creation, a magical being we invent for identity.
.
.
PTSD - A Way Out.com 
Posted by rudid96 on May 3, 2022 at 1:35 pm
My two cents – The “i” truly exists in the sense that this is the only here and now to which I currently belong. But, the work is to hold onto the knowledge that the “I” is always mutable. When I’m not plagued with doubt, anxiety, or other PTSD noise, I know this truth. Perhaps, as we age, we stop believing in the power of the mythical ‘I.’ I believe it’s not because we’re fully defined it’s simply because we’re tired and it’s easier to rest with the stories we tell ourselves.
Posted by Marty on May 3, 2022 at 1:36 pm
Hard to divorce the I
Not many ever have
Posted by Anonymous on May 3, 2022 at 9:52 pm
I agree.
And yet, there’s an entire industry that’s grown around telling people they can.
Do you think people keep trying because it fills their empty time or do you think they truly will find that holy grail?
Posted by Marty on May 3, 2022 at 9:59 pm
Whatever is happening right now is all there is in the world
The ego desires so much more to fulfill him/her
The holy grail looks nothing like what they imagined
Happiness is mostly free of ego, it is filled with a giving spirit in the present moment