01-11-2014, 02:33 PM
(01-11-2014, 01:20 PM)rie Wrote: The process of knowing self helps self to figure out what happiness or fulfilling means and how to get there. The closer you get to just being a truer image of your self by working thru what is less true (social and familial expectations,misunderstandings around 'who I am') you might experience life more in synch with your more true nature. (...)
Rie, I agree that "knowing thyself" is a necessary condition for happiness. But do you (or anybody else) think that every human being has a "true nature" in itself without any other conditions being fulfilled? The true nature would then be a kind of an underlying state that doesn't change over time.
My thoughts are that a "true nature" (true self) only exists in the moment. Even if you worked through all "what is less true", you would still get an inflow of new experience. Consider you have two moments t1 and t2. Let's assume that in t1 dies a close friend. This experience will change you, you will look differently on the world, e.g. on death. You might treat people differently because you experienced that life can be suddenly over. You might value the fact that you are still alive more highly. In t2, you are not the same person like in t1.
So my point would be that if you really want to get to the bottom (= to your true self), it is just possible through the experience of the present moment because the true self just exists in this moment.
Or is there a deeper true self/nature that can't be affected through experience?