The Self Knower

The self-knower has become a hero within many contemporary cultures. This hero goes by various different titles, including the" self-insightful/' the "self-actualized/' the "autonomous and mature/' the "representative of independent thinking/' the "morally virtuous/' and many more. The common denominators of civilization's preoccupation with the self knower are (1) the mundane, popular literature that draws our attention to our "inner being" and (2) the remarkable intensity of therapies and quasitherapies that promise insight into the true core of our inner being. A characteristic example from an extensive, week-or month-long training course would read, "Come because you want to discover your self ... . Through Mr. X [the group leaderl, we can realize our true identities ... . This gives our lives sense and perspective." We have tried to trace the logic underlying the diverse self-knower movements and have found three common themes underlying them. For one, the varieties of theories and treatments associated with self-knowl edge are interested exclusively in the appearance of the self-knower. Each representative of the self-knower school has its own set of criteria for identifying the self-knowing person, and in tum, each member of the self-knower school represents certain convictions about how individuals should be evaluated. For instance, if someone manifests warmth and char ity, that person is likely to be pronounced healthy, adjusted, and self knowing.

Mind and Its World I begins a detailed analysis of the subjective side of experience. It examines mind and how it perceives its world in valid and invalid ways based on the Classifications of Mind, which provides divisions and definitions of the types of mind identified in the epistemological tradition of Dignaga and Dharmakirti. The key point is the discernment of the aspects of mind that validly perceive things the way they are, which are distinguished from those aspects of mind that are mistaken and tainted by fundamental delusion, and thus keep one bound in samsara. It also introduces the two Hinayana philosophical systems, the Vaibhashika and Sautrantika schools, covering the two truths and the process of perception. Selected readings, analytical meditations, study questions, review summaries are included in the sourcebook.

Buddhist philosophy is concerned with defining and overcoming the limitations and errors of perception. To do this is essential to Buddhism's purpose of establishing a method for attaining liberation. Conceptual thought in this view can lead to a liberating understanding, a transformative religious experience. The author discusses the workings of both direct and conceptual cognition, drawing on a variety of Tibetan and Indian texts. The Gelukba interpretation of Dignaga and Dharmakirti is greatly at variance with virtually all other scholarship concerning these seminal Buddhist logicians.

Our experience of a unified sense of the self is underwritten by a multiplicity of self-aspects having very different metaphysical commitments. Our experience of unity is provided by a process-which, under certain clinical conditions, is rendered inoperative-that enables a person to experience mental states as personally owned.

Knowing the Knower guides readers on a journey into the celestial mechanics that underlie Consciousness, Mind and Energy. What is Consciousness? Energy? Life? Mind? Matter? How do they all come together as a human being capable of experiencing what can only be described as the Absolute Truth underlying all existence? The Knower draws on cultural knowledge, ancient wisdom and cutting edge scientific research to lead the curious traveler to a unified model of Integral Relativity that explains these underpinnings of the human experience. In this Information Age, the empirical and experiential proofs of phenomena are at last being allowed to proceed hand in hand, resulting in a grand unification of subjective and objective disciplines. Sri Aurobindo in his Integral Idealism philosophy said that experiential proof elevates mere philosophy to wisdom. Socrates said, "Know your Self," elevating mere science to Science. "To Know" underlies Truth.

For students, this is an invaluable collection of some of the best work on the topic, and for the specialist it will be a handy resource. It is ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on self, identity, and related topics.