Describing how perceptions and constructs shape our experiences, Joseph Goldstein teaches on the concept of self.
“We create a concept about ourselves, about who we are. We present ourselves to ourselves in that way, and we present ourselves to the world in that way. As soon as we have a self-concept, a self-image of any kind, it is already a limitation. It is already a contraction. It is as if we poured ourselves into a mold and then wonder why we feel constricted.” – Joseph Goldstein
In this episode, Joseph describes:
- The liberating jewel of the Buddha’s teachings
- The Self as the fabrication of our minds
- The relief of selflessness
- Abandoning unwholesome qualities
- Using Buddhist psychology to understand how The Self is created
- Recognizing, naming, and remembering
- Perception in the service of mindfulness
- Seeing the frame instead of the picture
- How concepts can limit our understanding
- Division and the concept of space
- Past, present, future, and the concept of time
- The constriction within self-image
- Projection and self-assessment
- Age, culture, race, and other created constructs
- When concepts can be useful
“Our perceptions are concepts about what we are experiencing. This overlay on experience very often conditions how we feel about that experience. And, one of the startling things about all this, is that often our perceptions are inaccurate and yet they are conditioning the experience we are having.”– Joseph Goldstein