In Chapter 2 ("What Meditation Is") of Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, a stirring call to self-questioning:

Vipassana meditation is a set of training procedures that gradually open us to this new view of reality as it truly is. Along with this new reality goes a new view of the most central aspect of reality: "me". A close inspection reveals that we have done the same thing to "me" that we have done to all other perceptions. We have taken a flowing vortex of thought, feeling, and sensation and we have solidified that into a mental construct. Then we have stuck a label onto it, "me". Forever after, we treat it as if it were a static and enduring entity. We view it as a thing separate from all other things. We pinch ourselves off from the rest of that process of eternal change that is the universe, and then we grieve over how lonely we feel. We ignore our inherent connectedness to all other beings and decide that "I" have to get more for "me"; then we marvel at how greedy and insensitive human beings are. And on it goes. Every evil deed, every example of heartlessness in the world, stems directly from this false sense of "me" as distinct from everything else.

If you explode the illusion of that one concept, your whole universe changes. ...

(cf. Unselfing (2009-01-14), Unselfing Again (2009-11-01), I Q's (2012-04-28), Mindfulness in Plain English (2015-11-01), I Want Happiness (2015-12-04), ...) - ^z - 2016-01-18