Lecture 9�The Body as an Instrument of the Self

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Co-existence

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Self Body

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Self Body

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Self Body

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Self Body

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I am the Seer

“Seer” means the one that sees / understands

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e.g. If you are given something in your hand and you conclude that it is a pen, it is not your eyes that concluded this. It is you that concluded this. The Self sees via the eyes – the eyes don’t see themselves

Like that all the 5 senses are just the instrument that enable the Self to see something outside

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Just like you see outside, you can also see ‘within’, without using the body for sensation

e.g. You can ‘see’ that you are feeling happy, getting angry...

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Thus, the Self ‘sees’ or understands, sometimes with the help of the body, sometimes without the help of body

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The Body is used as an instrument

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I am the Doer

“Doer” means the one that does, who takes decision to do

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I am the one who decides. I decide what to do, what not to do...

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I may or may not use the body to do – what I think of is my decision. I do that thinking within myself (there is no role of the body in this)

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If required, the body is used to express my decision

The Body is used as an instrument

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I am the Enjoyer (Experiencer)

“Enjoyer” means the one that experiences happiness / unhappiness

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I am the one that feels enthused or depressed. I am the one that feels angry or delighted...

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I am the enjoyer, the experiencer

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The Body is used as an instrument

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Self Body

The Body is

an instrument of the Self

The Self is

central to human existence

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Sum Up

Human Being is co-existence of Self and Body

The Self is the seer, doer and enjoyer – it is central to human existence

The need of the Self is continuous happiness

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For this, the program of the Self is:

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To understand harmony &

To live in harmony

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Production, protection and right utilization of physical facility is a part of my program (<1/4^th)

The Body is an instrument of the Self

The transaction between Self and Body is only in the form of information

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Self Reflection�����

Key Points

The Body as an Instrument of the Self

Co-existence

lgvfLrRo

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Self Body

The Body is

an instrument of the Self

The Self is

central to human existence

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I am the Seer

“Seer” means the one that sees / understands

​

e.g. If you are given something in your hand and you conclude that it is a pen, it is not your eyes that concluded this. It is you that concluded this. The Self sees via the eyes – the eyes don’t see themselves

Like that all the 5 senses are just the instrument that enable the Self to see something outside

​

Just like you see outside, you can also see ‘within’, without using the body for sensation

e.g. You can ‘see’ that you are feeling happy, getting angry...

​

Thus, the Self ‘sees’ or understands, sometimes with the help of the body, sometimes without the help of body

​

The Body is used as an instrument

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I am the Doer

“Doer” means the one that does, who takes decision to do

​

I am the one who decides. I decide what to do, what not to do...

​

I may or may not use the body to do – what I think of is my decision. I do that thinking within myself (there is no role of the body in this)

​

If required, the body is used to express my decision

The Body is used as an instrument

​

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I am the Enjoyer (Experiencer)

“Enjoyer” means the one that experiences happiness / unhappiness

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I am the one that feels enthused or depressed. I am the one that feels angry or delighted...

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I am the enjoyer, the experiencer

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The Body is used as an instrument

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1. Instructions from self to body + reading sensations from body (not hard wired)

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• Body as an instrument of Self

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• Seer = ? Doer = ? Enjoyer = ?

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FAQs for Lecture 9

The Body as an Instrument of the Self

Question(s): Response

• If there is a pain in the body, the Self has to read that sensation, but it seems automatic in case of extreme pain. Please elaborate.

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• When we are not aware of the self, then even the ordinary sensations are read by the self while we are unconscious of it, therefore, it seems automatic. When we become aware, atleast we can see that these ordinary sensations are read by the self by choice. Then, comes this question about case of extreme pain. We will have to develop our capacity of being aware of the self in the case of extreme pain as well, then we will be able to see that self is reading the extreme pain by choice only, and that it can respond to the pain and not react, i.e. it will think of what to do for relieving this pain, rather than start crying.

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Question(s): Response

• Please elaborate on Self as the seer, doer and enjoyer

• What is being said is that self is central in most of the human activities. When we are seeing something, it is the self who is seeing, in the process if necessary, it uses the 5 senses of the body to get the necessary information, for example, so many things are passing in front of our eyes but, we do not take note of them, we take note of only those things which self considers important. So, self is the seer. Similarly, when we want to do something, it is the self who is deciding what to do; once decided by the self, then if necessary, it takes help of the body for execution of that activity. Hence, self is the doer. It is certainly the self who experiences happiness or unhappiness. In that sense self is the enjoyer.

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Question(s): Response

• People take drugs like “ecstasy” for mood enhancement. Similarly medicines are used to take people out of depression. Does this not show that the body has an effect on the Self? (why go to drugs etc. – even unfavorable temperature, too hot or too cold, may be enough to put people in a foul mood)

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• Body certainly has an effect on the self, if the self is reading some sensation from the body and is influenced by it. Presently, we are so identified with the body that we almost think that what is happening to the body is happening to us, the self and therefore we react to any input that comes from body, we are not able to respond to it. For example, as we discussed in case of extreme pain, do we respond in terms of doing something to relieve the pain or we start crying. When a medicine is given to person in depression, he may seem to be out of it for sometime, but, does he really get cured, is it just a temporary diversion? Experiment being conducted by BIW, under the supervision of Dasho Pema Thinley is a good example of it and we would like to listen from him about it.

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Question(s): Response

• Mental retardation is a problem with the body or the self?

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• Feelings are in the heart. When a person gets a heart transplant, do the feelings also get transplanted?

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• Retardation in a person can be there for two reasons- either there is some problem at the level of body or at the level of self. So, this we have to find out first. For example, as body grows older, certain capacity of the body gets retarded, and we see its impact on the old people. On the other hand, we see many mad persons who seem very healthy at the level of body, this is a case of the problem of the self (mental).

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• What do you think? It will be interesting to check with a person who got a heart transplanted.

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Question(s): Response

• In one slide, it is written that production of physical facility is less than 1/4^th of my program. Please explain why.

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• To ensure the fulfillment of the need of self i.e. continuous happiness, the program is to understand the harmony and live in harmony at all levels of our being. We identified the 4 levels as individual human being, family, society, nature/existence. Out of these 4, harmony in human being is 1 (1/4). Now, to ensure harmony in human being, we need to ensure harmony in the self and harmony with the body. To ensure harmony woth the body, we need physical facility, so production of physical facility is part of my program of ensuring harmony in human being, which itself is ¼ of my total program. Therefore, it is said that production of physical facility is less than 1/4^th of my program.

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Question(s): Response

• We have been using the words self and body here. we also have these words like brain and mind. How do they relate to self and body? Can you explain them and their interrelationship?

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• Self is a conscious unit and body is a material unit (with their specific needs, activities and response) as we discussed in last three lectures.

Mind is a part of the self. In essence, it is the imagination part which includes the activities of desire, thought and expectation, this we will discuss in the next lecture.

Brain is a part of the body. Its role to coordinate the activities of different parts of the body. Information from different part of the body is collected in the brain and is available for the self to read. Similarly, instruction from the self is received in the brain and distributed to different parts of body. So, the brain does the work of coordination of the activities of different parts of the body.

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Question(s): Response

• As per science, thought, memory etc. are complex functions of the brain. Is that not true?

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• When we assume that human being is just the body, then every activity of human being has to be placed in the body. Now, when we look at human being as co-existence of the self and the the body (along with mind and brain as explained), we can understand the define the activities of the human being much better. But, this we have to work through and see it for ourselves. Probably, by the end of the course, we will be able to say this with much more affirmation than now.

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Question(s): Response

• How do I make out if the activity is taking place in the Self or the Brain?

• One possible way could be to see the activities of these. If the activity performed is continuous, it is the activity of the self, if the continuity can not be maintained, it is the activity of the body which includes the brain. Thinking, for example, can go on continuously, therefore it is activity of the self. On the other hand if I instruct the body through brain to keep working according to my thinking continuously, it cannot; it will get tired after sometime, so, it is the activity of the body, coordinated through brain.

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Question(s): Response

• People lose their memory in accidents. In some cases the memory comes back after some time. How does this happen?

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• Memory is stored in the self, and it keeps updating it as per the importance it gives to the information. For example, if you have visited some place a year back, do you remember everything that you saw there? No, you remember those things which you consider important.

Further, to recall these memory, you may need some input from outside or from the body. If this is the case, then there is role of the body or brain in recalling the memory. Therefore if there is some degeneration in the brain, it may be difficult to recall these information.

...continued

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Question(s): Response

• People lose their memory in accidents. In some cases the memory comes back after some time. How does this happen?

...continued

In case of accident, it may be self does not want to recall that information because it is painful; so, till it comes to term with it, it does not want to recall. On the other hand, may be it requires some input from outside or from the body, in that case, self will require the involvement of the brain; now, if there is some temporary problem with brain, then self will have to wait till the. brain gets recovered. So, when brain gets recovered, self will be able to recall that particular information.

I thing that it is good to take this response as a conjecture and work on its details, then it will give us finer description of this process.

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Question(s): Response

• What is coma?

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• When someone is brain dead what happens to the Self?

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• Coma seems to be state when the self is not able to transact the information with body for all practical purposes. It therefore can not regulate the body, and somebody from outside has to help keep even the minimal functioning of the body.

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