ground wrote:But it is not about ideas but experiences. If you postulate self you should know what it is you are talking about. If you postulate no-self you should know what you are talking about. You should know your experience and how can you know by means of arguments instead of observation?
How can one observe anything without arguments?
Can one observe a quark? Yes, one can, if one first educates oneself about quarks and how they are to be perceived. When it comes to the things that science deals with, we tend to readily acknowledge that in order to see something, we have to operate out of a particular theoretical and practical framework. But we generally don't seem to have that tendency when it comes to seeing things about ourselves. Those we tend to take for granted.
Can you recognize the sense of self being the basis of this sadness? This sense of "I" and "mine"? it is not always there and not always full-flegded but the moment it makes itself felt it feels like permanent, doesn't it? But there is no permanent entity, it comes and goes depending on conditions.
Not necessarily. The sense of permanence, surety can be connected to sadness, or anger, for example. It's typical to feel very confident, very sure, very rational when angry. Sadness also carries with it a sense of surety, of finality, a sense of "things just have to be this way. " When the anger or sadness pass, so does the sense of surety.
ground wrote:What am I? What does it take for the sense of "I" to appear in my mind? Does this sense feel permanent? Can I rightly postulate that "I am impermanent"? To perceive "I am ..." it takes to perceive an "I" that "is" but in order that an "I" can "be" {this or that} the I has to be permanent because what does not endure cannot "be". But if the I is permanent, does it really feel the same way continuously, does it never disappear the way it feels in one concrete moment? When it appears it feels like permanent in this concrete moment however actually it changes all the time ... from moment to moment, sometimes it fells like this and sometimes like that. How can something be permanent and impermanent at the same time?
What is it? Is it "it" or is it the perception of some "it" ("I"). Since "perception of X" is "perception of {indeterminate phenomenon} as {name, e.g. 'I' or 'mine')" is a consciousness (i.e. cognition) to what extent are consciousness and my determination "I" different? Are they different?
When I will die what will die? The child which is my memory as having been "me" in the past or what?
I don't think it is possible to perceive the self. One cannot see what it is that one is seeing with.
However, views about the self are relevant inasmuch as they can be related to how a person acts, ie. for a person's justifications for their actions.
E.g.
"I am an ugly, lowly person, therefore, it doesn't really matter how I spend my time."
"I am a child of God, and therefore, other people owe me special respect."
etc. etc.