The Whirlwind "Us"

If you have watched the shows on cable where people “chase” tornadoes, you might have noticed that the chasers will be pointing out a tornado in the distance that initially does not appear to be anything. Then, as the rotating but invisible air either sucks down clouds or begins to pick up dirt and debris, it seems to take form right before your eyes. 

This invisible-force-to-visible-vortex is a useful model for getting a handle on the self. Just think of consciousness as the unseen energy that moves about waiting to (inevitably) pick up what it encounters in the environment that will reveal its existence and provide it with form. 

In itself it is invisible. It is no-thing. But, once filled with what is there to be taken in and carried along, no one would say that it did not exist. If you want to say it is an illusion, fine; just don’t stand in its path.

There are two points to be made here. One is that the self is made up of the energy of consciousness and the identity elements and other cultural cues that “we” are born into. It might be a revelation to a conservative Christian that if he or she had been born in Saudi Arabia, the conservative nature would be the same, but the religious beliefs would be quite different. We have an innate potential to take on an existence, but we need our environment to provide the material that defines that existence.

The second is that, in a sense, the self is illusory, just as the Buddhists have claimed. It is just this mass of “stuff” swirling around again and again that promotes a sense of solidity. However, this cycling motion is in fact the basis of creation and everything in it. We may want to doubt the self because it is relative (born here, one self; born there, a different self). What we do not want to dismiss is the swirl. This is who or what we basically are. But, like the tornado, we could not know of its existence without the debris. This “knowing” is awareness, which is what creation was all about in the first place.

So, doubt the self if that is your inclination, but perhaps consider giving it its due as the the only means by which we can know of consciousness.