A second lesson in Buddhism

Impermanence, the term Buddhists use to describe our position, moment to moment in life's path from birth to death. Their view is that it is not a journey of years but the journey of the moment, that each moment is a birth as well as a death, Production,abiding,ageing and disintegration occur simultaneously rather than serially.  One would naturally think of our life as a collective experience rather or a collection of moments rather than just the one moment reinventing its self throughout life. 

It reminds me of my analogy with calculus, that an equation represents the total of the points on a curve each of which are a snap shot, a moment in time which can be precise in telling us that, at such a moment the value is such and such, (x and y coordinates) but is no indicator of what happens next. Mathematically the curve full-fills its potential, the stress on the bridge is managed but then along comes an earthquake and the engineers predictions are worthless. So the Buddhist philosophy teaches us that life is impermanent and we are no more of worth than our last moment. 

In the light of this, our sense of Self is also illusory. What then can we say about the "I" which we hold as the foundation of our existence, our sense of being here. Self then become either 1. A mere collection of aggregates.  2.  An inexpressible reality.  3.  The continuum of the aggregates.  4. The mind basis of all.  5. The mental consciousness.  6.  The mere I.  

In the first case we are conflicted by the thought that we are nothing more substantial than a collection of aggregates or moments on a graphical curve so to speak. The second speaks to the self (or I) being neither an aggregate nor separate from them, in other words, inexpressible. The third states that the person is not an aggregate but the sense of self arises from a stream of consciousness and leads to the illusion of an existent self. The fourth holds that the I is a part of the mind within our mental existence. The fifth contends that the I is purely consciousness. Finally the I is nothing more than a label attached to an ever changing condition. 

If we are nothing more than a moment between birth and disintegration, each moment, each birth and disintegration followed by the next it certainly puts paid to the conflict we have about the past and the future since in some ways we have no place in either.