Anatta (Non-Self)

Think of yourself like a beautiful river. The water is always moving and changing, but it is still the same river. You are changing too! You are not the same person you were when you were a baby, and you will be different when you are a grown-up. This means you are not stuck being one way. You can always grow, learn, and flow into someone even more wonderful.

You are not stuck being one way — you can always flow into someone more wonderful. The Buddhist word is anatta. No-self. Not that you do not exist. But that you are not fixed. You are not a photograph. You are a river. The person who hurt someone five years ago does not have to be the person sitting here today. The person who failed yesterday does not have to be the person who tries tomorrow. You are not your worst moment because moments are water and water moves. The river that flooded the town in March is the same river that irrigates the farm in July. Same river. Different verb. You are not a noun. You are a verb. And verbs do not stay still.

Anatta: no permanent unchanging essence. The self is a process of shifting thoughts, feelings, and physical states. You are not a noun. You are a verb. And verbs do not stay still.

SOUND: A rushing waterfall or a bubbling brook: the sound of something that has no fixed address but is always home.

SMELL: Petrichor — rain on dry pavement: the scent of something arriving to change everything.

TASTE: A piece of melting ice: solid becoming liquid on your tongue — identity changing state.

TOUCH: Dipping your hand into a moving stream: the hand is still but the water is always new.

SIGHT: A sunset changing colors: the sky proving that beauty and impermanence are the same thing.

BODY: Feeling the way your body changes as you grow taller: the skeleton rewriting itself while the mind watches.

Music: Pushit by Tool

Part of Identity & The Self — CONSCIOUSNESS — Education Revelation