Buddhism and the Self
A significant aspect of Buddhism is that we need to abandon any conventional sense of having a self. This is essential if we are to achieve the state of Nirvana, This is naturally a difficult idea. It came about because the basic idea of Buddhism is that suffering is inevitable. As a consequence the purpose of Buddhism is to find an end to suffering.
Suffering
In Buddhism the fundamental cause of suffering is that the self always identifies with things or feelings. This attachment can be to things (cars, houses, etc) or feelings like anger, resentment, hatred, desire. All things, thoughts and feelings are in a state of constant change. Therefore Buddhism believes that such attachments will eventually cause suffering as they inevitably disappear. So the self will never be permanently without suffering. Hence the idea that we will need to abandon any sense of a conventional self in order to achieve Nirvana.
Unnecessary Suffering
I suggest that we look at Nirvana in a different way. Abandon the idea that it is a state without any suffering whatsoever. Rather we might look upon it as a more achievable state where unnecessary suffering is no longer experienced. Or, in practical terms, is substantially diminished. With regard to life’s inevitable suffering the practices of mindfulness and psychotherapy will offer significant help.
Rather than trying to divest ourselves of all selfhood the project of our life should take the opposite course. We should try to incorporate all aspects of our selfhood into an authentic Self. We find this Self through the arduous process of integrating all those cut-off and repressed aspects of our identity.
We might see the self or ego as the everyday sense of ourselves. What might the higher or authentic Self do? It consciously seeks to integrate the cut-off parts of our self back into a more rounded or individuated Self.
For more on this please see the following notes.
