Dying before you die
What you call “I” or “me” is a live simulation of a self that the brain mistakes for a real entity.
To “die before dying” is to see through the simulation as it’s still happening.
It's like realizing the storm on your screen isn’t wet.
The self is recognized as nothing more than a mental model when carefully inspected.
No one dies.
The death of the self is the recognition of the simulation AS a simulation.
But the simulation resists being found out. Anxiety about annihilation is the last attempt to preserve the illusion.
But when the simulation is seen through, that existential fear is seen to be absurd: How can a character in a story worry about its plotline?
What dies in “dying before you die” is only the illusion of the I-simulation. The rest, the sensations, perceptions, and “the world” never belonged to anyone.
Dying before you die is the moment the simulation is no longer transparent, no longer mistaken for the truth.
“How can a character in a story worry about its plotline?” And how can a ripple in a wave die, when the sea persists?
Excellent Kat, thank you. So basically, it all seems to be about association. At the moment I 100% associate my”self” with the brain generated simulation instead of the background, ever present presence/awareness. Is this the “witness” people talk about? Then of course, ultimately, it goes beyond the “witness” too. Am I in the right ball park here? The problem for me is that I can’t even begin to imagine what not associating with the simulation feels like, or how on earth that could ever come about. Extremely frustrating…😢