David Reid: Robert, I'd glossed over this gem in our initial exchange:
"If there were no "I," there might be nothing at all, for all we know."
It encapsulates something I appreciate so much about the way you communicate—no assumptions anywhere. It's one thing to communicate something clearly, and it is another to do so without any platform other than "me, just as I am."
Robert Saltzman: Thank you, David. I agree that this "no assumptions" aspect of my perspective is unusual and potentially helpful to people interested in these matters. A dear and knowledgeable friend urged me to share it, and I have been doing so for the past fifteen years.
All I know are perceptions, feelings, and thoughts, not what lies behind them (if anything), not capital "T" Truth.
Undeniably, I am conscious, but I cannot go on to say anything about consciousness or how it relates to any possible "greater reality." We don't know what any of this truly is. We see what we see, feel what we feel, and think what we think; we cannot extrapolate accurately from that.
A fatal error in so-called spirituality is claiming that our perceptions, feelings, and thoughts allow us to speculate accurately on a "greater reality."
To wit, the so-called "Absolute" (that some people call God and others call Consciousness with a capital "C") is not a fact but a concept and may not exist at all except conceptually.
One can believe in it, but that is religion, not truth.
The seeking continues for some sort of ‘certainty’ whether that be ‘consciousness’ or ‘truth’. The way I see it, these are all concepts and words and nothing to cling to with certainty.
The buddha talked about impermanence and I feel uncertainty is an another side of this coin. When we can embrace the uncertainty of life things are seen from a fresh perspective and new possibilities emerge beyond the limiting thoughts and concepts that have been held on to. Depending on no-thing and embracing the freedom, aliveness, and clarity that comes with that.
Indeed...my current perspective would be: if a given philosophical concept or belief resonates, all that I can say is that it resonates with my view in that moment - I cannot with integrity say that means that it represents any kind of wider truth, and certainly not that it is THE TRUTH. All the best mate.