Post Deconstruction: The Death of the Illusion of the “I”-Subject:

Metaphors and Pointers From Science, Philosophy, Buddhism and Yoga which Deconstruct The Deconstruction Process

Post-Modern
Deconstruction
There is a) “There is nothing that
no “I” exists outside the text…
Everything is in the text.”
(Jacques Derrida)
b) The “I” -subject is
a product of language
discourse and exists in
language only.
c) The ”I” is part of
a language game (L.
Wittgenstein)
There is a) There is no logos. “The
no center, history of philosophy is
source or the history of the search
location for a logos.” (J. Derrida)
b) Deconstruction of
meaning, and the logos
as a center or source or
core.
There is no a) Cause and effect are in
cause and language only.
effect
b) Cause and effect are a
language game.
c) Cause and effect are
deferred.
Neuroscience Quantum Physics
Biological /
Chemical
a) The “I” and language a) The “I” occurs through
arise after the action a nuclear exchange.
or event has already
(b) The “I” appears
occurred.
through an interaction
b) The “I”- subject is a of the dimensions and
by-product of chemical forces.
exchange.
a) The concept a) There is no location.
of separation is
b) The “I”-subject is
neurologically produced.
formed through an
b) There is no center, interaction of the forces
or self prior to the and dimensions.
abstraction process.
c) Bell’s Theorem: There
is no locality. There are
no local causes.
(d) “If we are talking
about Quantum Physics
we are talking about
nonlocality”. (Neils Bohr)
a) Cause and effect a) There are no local
are (abstracted) causes. (John Stuart Bell)
representations. (David
Hume)
Buddhism via
Sakyamuni
Buddha
(563-483 B.C.)
and Nagarjuna’s
Madhyamika
(Middle Way)
Buddhism
a) “The mind is devoid of
mind.” (H. H. Dalai Lama)
b) The “I” is an illusion.
c) Give-up all perceptions
of objects, (Diamond
Sutra)
a) “Emptiness is none
other than form, form
is none other than
emptiness.” (Heart Sutra)
b) The “I”-subject has no
separate, independent
self-nature.
c) There is no separate
independent origination
(“dependent arising”).
(Nagarjuna)
d) No self, no soul, no
life, no world. (Diamond
Sutra)
a) Cause and effect are
interchangeable.
Advaita-Vedanta
via Nisargadatta
Maharaj
a) You Are Not.
b) Anything you think you
are, you are not.
c) Question everything;
don’t believe anything.
d) “Fluids” come together
and the “I Am” appears.
e) Brah means words, ma
means beingness.
d) No me, no you, no me,
no you.
a) There is only one
substance.
b) No me, no you, no me,
no you.
c) It’s all an illusion.
d) See it all as a dream
and have done with it.
a) There is no cause and
effect because there is
only one substance.
b) “Cause and effect
are just a way of
thinking about things.”
(Nisargadatta Maharaj)
Tantric Yoga via Hindu Yoga Quantum
Kashmir Shaivism Grammarians Psychology
a) “Everything is made a) The “I” arises from a) All I-dentities are
of consciousness, the word principle called models and taken on,
nothing exists outside of Brahma. (fused) and are not you.
consciousness.” (Yoga
b) Brah means words, b) Who were you prior
Vasistha)
ma means beingness. to taking on these
b) The “I,” the self, the (Nisargadatta Maharaj) I-dentites?
perceiver is made of
consciousness.
c) All bondage is caused
by sound.
a) Seeing everything as a) Neti-Neti a) You are prior to all
energy or consciousness. experiences, therefore
b) The “I”-subject as a
discard all.
b) All meaning, purposes, play of the elements, air,
models, maps, and earth, water, fire, and b) There is no “I” prior to
all logic or logos is ether, therefore there is the word “I”.
consciousness. no center. Source or self.
c) There is no location.
a) Undifferentiated a) The “I”-subject as a a) There is no cause and
consciousness is the play of the elements, air, effect.
cause and effect earth, water, fire, and
b) There is no location.
ether, therefore there is
b) There is no cause and
no center. Source or self.
effect.
b) There is no separate
c) All bondage is caused
“I” which causes anything
by sound.
or does anything.

No a) There is no “I” separate a) The self or “I” occurs a) The self or “I”-subject a) The “I”-subject is a) You are not. a) The “I”-subject is a) The “I”-subject is a a) There is no “I” prior to
separation from language. during a biochemical is a by-product of maya. made of the same play of the elements and the word “I”.
b) Fluids come together
reaction. subatomic particles consciousness as the gunas (forces).
b) There is no separate, and the I Am appears. b) There is no cause,
interacting and object; therefore, no “I”-
b) Neuroscience: The independent self or soul. there is no effect.
exchanging. c) You think you are a subject.
sense of separation is
c) There is no self, no person, so you think
neurological, possibly
soul, no life, no world. Maharaj is a person…
transmitted from the skin
(Diamond Sutra). Maharaj is not a
boundary.
person, an enitiy or a
deity, Maharj is cosmic
consciousness.
There is no a) There is no “I” outside a) The subject-“I” is a a) The “I”- subject is a a) There is no separate a) There is no experiencer a) The cause of all a) The “I”-subject arises a) There is no “I” prior to
doer, you of the word “I.” linguistic abstraction of by-product of subatomic independent self or soul separate from the bondage is sound. (Siva from the word principle the word “I”.
are not the the nervous system. exchange. or identity. experience. Sutras) called Brahma.
b) The “I” is a supplement b) If you feel special or
doer to the text. b) Everything is a by- b) There is no self, soul or b) Fluid comes together b) “All that is heard different then another you
product of subatomic world. (Diamond Sutra) and the “I am” appears. is nonexistent.” (Sri are in an “I”
exchange. (Nisargadatta Maharaj) Shankara)
c) You are not any
Identity or False core or
False self.
The space a) Find the space a) Periodicity is when the a) The strong force a) The space between a) Before your last a) The space between a) Meditation: The space a) The space between
between between the gap or nervous system wipes borrows “energy” two thoughts. thought arose, stay there. two thoughts. The space between two thoughts or two thoughts or breathes
binaries called Khora. (J. the slate clean. from nothing to “hold (Nisargadatta Maharaj) between is called the breaths. is a preliminary step,
b) Bardho means “in
Derrida) together” the nucleus of casual body and it is the prior to that is the
between”
an atom, and then the subtle side of the “I”. consciousness.
b) The space between
strong force disappears.
grafted texts or b) The casual body
discourses. b) An atom is or space between is
99.999999999999% the implicit side of the
empty. “I”, and as such it The
holographic universe.
The illusion a) The “I”-subject is a a) The “I”-subject occurs a) The “I”-subject a) The cause of suffering a) The “I”-subject is not. a) The “I”-subject is a) The subject and a) Life is suffering is
of desires construction of desires. through a biochemical, is a construction of is desire. (Buddha’s First made of consciousness. desires are a play of the what’s so.
b) The “I”-subject arises
(Deluze & Quattro) molecular exchange. subatomic particles Noble Truth) elements and gunas
from fluids. b) Desires are made of b) Stop trying to
exchanging and (forces).
b) The “I”-subject is a Therefore, deconstruct the same consciousness change…change is
interacting. c) Discard the “I”-subject.
construction of the will to the “I”- subject. as the knower or b) There is no desires nor resistance.
power. (Nietzsche) b) The “I”-subject is d) There is no “I”-subject. experiencer of desires. a desirer, there is only
b) The “I”-subject is a play of the forces and
appears through an
condensed emptiness. e) There is no doer. elements.
intensification of the
Quantum Field.
c) “All is clouded by
desire” (Bhagavad Gita)
No personal a) There is no center, a) The I-subject arises as a) The “I”- subject is an a) The subject “I” has no a) There is no “I”-subject. a) The “I” is a) The center is the Self a) The “I”- subject gives
center, no there is no subject. (Levi- a biochemical reaction exchange of subatomic separate independent
b) The I Am is a
consciousness. of all or consciousness. an illusionary source
personal Strauss) after the action, event, particles. origination. or center, as if, it is the
temporary state b) Since everything is
source, no perception, and sense of source or center of its
b) There is no location for b) There is no separate consciousness, there is
doership arise. world, when it is not.
personal the subject “I”. individual self or soul. no source, location, or
self, no b) The “I” is an self.
(Bell’s Theorem) c) The subject “I” occurs
personal abstraction of the brain
through a play of emptiness
“I”, no and nervous system. c) Everything is an
and form and is not.
personal interconnected whole,
experiences therefore there is no d) No self, no soul, no
location. (David Bohm) life, no world. (Diamond
Sutra)

© 2002 by Stephen H. Wolinsky, Ph.D. All rights reserved.