NO "I" NO PROBLEM

What if ALL suffering simply came down to being identified with a concept.  A concept called...

"I"

And what if this concept called "I" was just a combination of pictures, sounds and sensations produced by the brain and nervous system, giving this concept called "I" the illusion of having real substance?

Think of the word water.  Can you drink the word water?  Obviously not.

Can the word "I" be anything, do anything or have anything? 

Many people often describe spirituality as when "I" attain liberation or "I" reach nirvana.

How can a concept called "I", which has no more substance than the concept called water, attain, reach or realize anything? 

When asked who he was, the great Indian sage Nisargadatta Maharaj replied...

"Nothing perceiveable or conceivable."

His answer implied that anything and everything you can perceive or conceive can't be you.  

Including the "I" that's doing the perceiving and conceiving!

Why? 

Because the "I" is just a concept.

And what you "really" are is no-concept. 

Zen points to this no-conceptness by asking, "What was your original face before your mother was born?" 

The challenge in re-cognizing your true nature is that the mind (which is a concept), can never get no-mind (which is no-concept).  

The seeming paradox is when you don't know, you know.  

It is this false and non-existent reference point of an "I" that is the root of our suffering.

And...

it is this mirage of an "I" that has to be seen through.

For a moment focus all your attention behind your EYES.  In other words, reverse the normal movement of attention from going outward to going inward.  For a few moments allow yourself to continue focusing WAY behind your EYES.

What's there?

No "I" no problem.