"Your Illusory Self." A talk by Dr Ian Ellis-Jones. Copyright © 2024 Ian Ellis-Jones. All rights reserved.

Dr Ian Ellis-Jones (born 1955) is an Australian academic, lawyer and published author. He has also worked for many years as a minister and teacher of New Thought, mindfulness and meditation. He regularly gives talks and lectures to community groups and other organisations on philosophy, practical psychology, religion and spirituality.

Ian is a member of the International New Thought Alliance (INTA) and the Theosophical Society of Australia, has been president of a Unity centre in Sydney, and was formerly president of both the Humanist Society of New South Wales and the Council of Australian Humanist Societies (CAHS). His most recent book is Making Australia Positive (2023).

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YOUR ILLUSORY SELF
by Dr Ian Ellis-Jones
[A precis of the talk]

Self is an illusion in a very special sense. When you truly understand what this means, you will be free from the bondage of self in all its myriad manifestations.

The basic idea behind “self illusion therapy,” a form of psychotherapy and self-help, is that “self cannot change self,” because “self,” which in any event is simply a mental idea or image in our mind of the person we supposedly are, is the problem and no effort of the self can remove the self from the centre of its own endeavour.

There is no one “self” within our mind. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of “selves” in our mind. They wax and wane from one moment to the next, although some are quite persistent over time, forming part of our personality. However, all these selves are “illusory.” Now, that does not mean that these “selves” don’t exist. They do exist, but only as images in our mind. They have no separate, independent, permanent existence apart from the person each one of us is. These selves have absolutely no substance or power in and of themselves. They are, as I’ve said, only images—not visual ones by the way—that we feel. Yes, they are felt images.

The idea that there is no actual "self" at the centre of our conscious (or even unconscious) awareness comes as a great shock to many (except to Buddhists, who rightly assert not a doctrine of "no-self" but the fact of "not-self", and to various metaphysicians), but it is the view held by most, but not all, neuropsychiatrists, neuroscientists and other like professionals.

The Scottish philosopher David Hume wrote that we tend to believe that the "self" is real and one because of what we perceive to be the "felt smoothness of the transition which imagination effects between point and point", but all that we are dealing with, he said (as have many others over the years such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Bertrand Russell), is a bundle of experiences which have the illusion of continuity about them. Buddhist psychology also teaches the doctrine that “self is illusion,” and that belief in the existence of some supposedly permanent and substantial “self” is a delusion.

When you come to understand that self is illusion, you can begin the process known as “letting go of self.” The result? Freedom from bondage. Happiness. Peace of mind. Serenity. Improved relationships. And much, much more.

Most of our problems, at least those of a mental or emotional character, as well as problems in our relationships, arise because we fail to recognise the “illusory” nature of our “self.” We constantly talk about our “self,” we identify with "self," we obsess about "self," we are told all the time that we must love our “self,” and we react badly when we feel that someone is attacking our “self” or sense of self. If only we could grasp the simple truth that self is illusion, more than half of our problems would die from attrition.

You are not a “self.” You are a person among persons. Be confident, but forget all about self-confidence. Be a person of esteem—for that you are—but forget all about self-esteem. Seek the truth (that is, the “real” and “actual”) in all things, but forget about self-seeking. Practise letting go of self on a daily basis. Refuse to identify with all those “little selves,” those “false selves,” in your mind that cause you so much trouble. Those selves are not you. They are not the person that you are.

Find a power-not-oneself to overcome your bondage to self—and all power to you!