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The Two Me’s 247

Changing Both ME’s Simultaneously

It appears that something must at all times hold together at least some
aspect of me. A redefining of my identity can only be done by playing one
aspect of me against the other—I „walk forward‟ by moving part of me
while at the same time keeping the other aspect of me firmly on solid
ground. Therefore, I suggest that the result of trying to alter both
definitions of me at the same time would be total mental annihilation. The
edge of the cliff, on which the childish me stands peering out into the mists
of the threshold of uncertainly, may be rather uncomfortable, but it is at
least solid. If some „God‟ were to wave His magic wand and dissolve this
ground into thin air, what would be left, except for an endless plunging
through the voids of nothingness?
In this sense, there is no difference
between the religious person who hopes
for instant salvation when he reaches
heaven and the Eastern mystic who tries
to escape into Nirvana. The solution of
both involves the destruction of me and
defines salvation as a shadowy world of
eternal existence which has no
connection to life or to this present
world. The only difference is that the
eastern mystic tries to reach heaven now whereas the individual with
religious blind 'faith' 'believes' that his „heaven‟ will be reached in the
future when he dies.

It is impossible to change both me‟s at the same time.

 One me must remain solid while the other me changes.

 Changing both me‟s at the same time would create mental chaos.

By the way, I hope that I am not confusing you by mixing the topic of
personal transformation with that of „life after death.‟ In our minds, we
tend to keep these two subjects quite separate. However, I suggest that they
are intimately related. First, if life after death really does exist, then
learning how to survive in the new world will involve at least some form of
personal transformation. Second, where did our mental image of „life after
death‟ come from in the first place? Some set of Perceiver facts managed
to relink Mercy experiences and thus build an internal picture of a better
world for me—Perceiver strategy had to work with Mercy experiences
which already exist, for it cannot manufacture them out of thin air. The
idea, in various religions, of life after death in heaven, hints therefore at the
mental significance here on this earth of personal transformation and its
vision of a better world—this is evidently the seed from which these higher
concepts developed.