The Tao of Dark Sages - Chapter 7, Part 7

The Tao of Dark Sages
by Scott Bradley

Grasshopper, what does it feel like to not exist?

Ah, Mark-tzu, good to see you. Don’t you know?

I’m not sure; that’s why I asked.

Tell me what you think it might feel like.

But I’m asking you.

That’s why I think you should answer — it’s your question, Mark-tzu, so it must be your answer.

That was deep, Grasshopper. No, really. I’ll have to spend time on that one.

For the benefit of the rest of you, this is my good friend Mark-tzu. He’s my chief idea-bouncer-offer.

So, Mark-tzu, what do you think it might feel like to not exist — based on your experience?

If you have experienced not existing, you cannot describe it. Those that do not exist do not speak. So let’s say that I have some kind of transitory existence — as you suggest. To experience this as such...in honesty...is to have a self without identity. The most obvious attribute of ego is identity. The roots of identity are in belief in one’s independent existence. The self purged of ego and its identity lives in the world, experiences the world, but does not attach to the world and thus is not of the world.

Deep. I will definitely have to spend time with that. So, to truly realize in our deepest self that our existence is entirely transitory — merely a useful idea — is to be without identity. A self without identity would be an empty self, a transparent self. And because transparent, this self can become imbued with awareness and transcend itself in awareness.

If you're interested in reading more from this series by Scott Bradley, go here.