How to lose self-awareness?

Question

If innocence lies in a lack of self-awareness. Is it possible to become unaware of one's self. I've read about losing the "self" in buddhism.

So my question is 1. Is it actually possible to lose self-awareness?

and also

2. If you lost self-awareness, what would life be like?

Maus, can you (or anybody else can help me understand as well) explain how if you are not aware of yourself, how you would not be giving up the self in the process? If the buddha becomes unaware of himself, and just exists, then doesn't this imply that he's got no self? If somehow I become unaware of myself as being "William", and looking like this, and talking like this, etc, doesn't this mean I have given up the ego?

Great information Jared G.

Is it possible that one day we will become less beta oriented as humans, and more alpha in our existence? And on a more personal level, have you experienced staying in the alpha for days? weeks? I'd like to get to that point. Thanks for your input.

Answer 1

question 1: yes it is possible
question 2: how would life be, the same as life is when you are self-aware, except, in daily reality, if you are self aware, you accept all that you see before you are the only way it could possibly be, and that you yourself are what you are, if you are not aware of yourself, life is limitless. imagine when you watch a movie, you relate to the character, you are externally sitting down and watching a box, but to your mind, to your feelings, you are vividly living, within that movie. life, without self-awareness, would be equivalent somewhat to being in a constant movie, with no knowledge of who the directors or actors are, and believing that your life is real. thus, in that sense, being self-aware is the same, as not being self-aware. in either way, you have a lack of control, but in one awareness, you believe you do.


The idea of "self" is in itself a lack of full awareness. It is the human being's attempt at control, his fragility, naivity, arrogance, in accepting the insignificance of his own being. The belief that a human somehow surpasses an animal, a toothbrush, a firefly, is the lack of awareness in the connectivity which surrounds everything. Everything, being nothing, nothing, being everything. Physics is literature is music is britney spears is buddha is jesus is a platypus is parallel dimension. The human being attempts to label himself, and all which is around him, so that he may understand and therefore have a solution to the mystery which surrounds him. The cave men refused did not want to accept that they did not know why there was a huge white circle in the night sky, they invented myth and stories to justify its existance. The modern CEO and scientist is the same, continually searching for meaning, searching for control in a place which he does not understand, and in his attempt to control the external forces which he feels are ultimately what control everything for example: jobs, taxes, identity (thus personal self-personality, characteristics, social schema), labels, experiments, stereotypes, statistics, anything which occurs in "daily life". Man fears chaos, fears that he cannot control his death, his birth, but he refuses to accept that he is a messenger, a vessel. He must be, better than the men which surround him, he must have status, must have drive, must have an individual characteristic that makes him better than that which surrounds him. Being aware of the individual self, is separating the self from all which is around it, all underlying energies before its existance, all forms which surround it currently. Buddhism, is another form of man's attempt at justifying lack of control, just as any world religion. Buddism devalidates the self, and seeks harmony, seeks the eternal enlightenment, the "om" to nature and man, a rhythm of pattern in solitude. Yet the buddhist will not drink alcohol, will not attempt to become a millionaire. It is still a one-sided, one-dimensional perspective in its apparant holistic approach to existance. Christianity, in accordance with the gospels believed to be left by Jesus, attempts to live life in a moral, in a loving atmosphere in which evil and good are obvious, and that good enlightens the servant man is to be closer to God. the kingdom of heaven, which is described in many passages, is taken literally by christians as meaning "heaven", as an external place somewhere outside of life. whereas the passage can also have the meaning of the kingdom of god being exactly what is now, in this time, in this present, in the wars, in the suffering, in the beauty, is eternity. Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, all religions, are still preaching a unitary side of a whole picture. One or two slices of a gigantic chocolate cake. Losing the self, is the same as living for the self alone. The lawyer, the model, the artist, the scientist, the monk, the loner, the rebel, the achiever, they are different, yet same. Do you see, how you, me, your computer, are the same? Whatever thoughts you believe to be your thoughts, whatever identity you believe to be yours, is neither an awareness of yourself nor a loss of self. You are a paintbrush of expression. The universe is the painting. The paintbrush will only paint if it believes itself to be a paintbrush that is painting, if it begins to ask, what is the hand that is using me to paint with, is the colour i am painting not my choice?, the paintbrush will cease to exist. Ceasing of existance, is not a bad or a good thing, good and bad are what man invent, extremities in search of control. But the human fears death, and when there is a fear of death, of the unknown, the human, the paintbrush, will paint continually.

note to Jared G- lucid dreaming does not require talent or skill, i have done it, it is applying a perspective that relates to both sleep and life. if you feel that anything is possible in life, literally anything, including flying, astral projection, bla bla, and are conscious to take this perspective into sleep, you can do anything in your dreams. How I did it: 1. before i went to sleep, concentrated on telling myself the thought "i can do anything, be aware i am sleeping", then proceeded to tell myself verbally aloud in recitation to as many organs as possible , e.g., "liver, you can do anything", "heart, you can do anything", etc. this repetitive process drones me to sleep, and when i am in rem, i am consciou i am dreaming because i have planted a signal in my being to be aware of my capability. the brain cannot differentiate between sleep and reality, if you apply the same principles, you can lucid dream, and if you apply this to life, movie example "neo", or recent jumping phenom found in parts of brazil which was recruited for recent casino royale bond film (the jumping guy), it is about harnessing the brain and body to accept that there is no impossibility. that is the technique i have used for lucid dreaming.

Answer 2

Now is no different than any time in history. In fact, in terms of self-awareness, it may be slightly better. What you seem unaware of are various perception related cognitive biases. People ask questions like "Why don't they make good movies the way they used to?" There is a faulty premise here. They are comparing the best of the movies of the past, the ones that have withstood the test of time, to the entirety of current movie production. If we compare our best films, to the old best films, and our garbage films to the past's garbage films, there's not a whole lot of quantitative difference. Just so, when you compare everyone you meet in your daily life today to the few people who left behind writings or made some other kind of lasting impression upon you, you are not generating an accurate comparison.

Answer 3

How do you know your mind isnt loseing itself all the time? I guess something like what happens in Stephen Kings book Cell Might happen who knows. Depends on what part of the brain gets free and what part stays. I think maybe more self awareness could bring about less self awareness at the same time???

Answer 4

If the other answers are correct, then looking at the milky way for a good long time on a moonless night is one way to lose self-awareness. It's amazing how insignificant things become when you consider how infintessimally small this planet (let alone I) am.

Peace

Answer 5

No, innocence lies in the lack of self. Not in the lack of self-awareness. Buddha is not self-unaware. Yet he's innocent. That's cause he's got no self. So if you want to be innocent, lose the self.
As a matter of fact, even now, you're about 90% self-unaware right now. 90% of the things you do, you're doing them subconsciously.

Answer 6

Meditation is a wonderful mode for this if practiced every day.
Combine that with:
1. The Golden Rule
2. Being in the Moment for every event
3. Being Authentic
4. Follow your Heart (underline heart)
You'll be amazed where it all takes you.

Answer 7

Losing the self is letting go of all your thoughts allowing your mind to be totally free, as a collective it creates miracles for us all

Answer 8

It's all about feeling the world all around you and how small and insignificant you really are in comparison with the world.

I think innocence cannot be regained; you would have to forget too many things in order to do so.

Answer 9

Meditation.

Answer 10

taking a "brain wave frequency approach", self awareness, along with a "busy brain, and the least muscular relaxation, seems to be greatest in beta, and begins to "fade" a bit in alpha, as you become more meditative. in theta it is yet more attenuated, and in delta one becomes submerged in the "collective unconscious" it is felt by some researchers in the area. of course, one begins to fall asleep in low alpha, and certainly in theta, unless very talented in the lucid dreaming area. i presume only the most advanced masters are "awake" in delta. from my experience, you can be quite happy, content, calm/balanced, etc. in alpha once you have a degree of control over your mind, so that you can quiet it "at will", or, in the alternative, stand apart from it and witness its "busyness" without being caught up in the "drama". the innocence comes, i think, from having "practiced" adequately so that your negative ego behaviors, fear, selfishness, unkindness, etc. have been noticeably overcome. meditation and "energy work" : chi gong, yoga, etc. usually help with this. this practice helps one to stay more in alpha while carrying out even ordinary daily activities. this culture is very "busy", greedy and beta oriented. as noted, in beta one's mind is at least somewhat stressed, and the muscles tenser than in the other frequency ranges. not fun! ;-)