Special and important, or basic and humble

Updated July 2, 2023

The special self is always worried about the future, whereas the basic self lives in joyful ignorance of the next moment.

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It is much cheaper to be the basic self than the revised and more special version because the basic self does not have to buy something extraordinary to feel special.

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The approach of the basic self can be compared to buying an album and listening to it in the way the artist has put it together, whereas the special self prefers to stream the album to exclude the tracks that do not enhance its special image.

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It is always about returning to the way it was for the special self. But not for the basic self. It does not remember how it was. Actually, neither does the special self. It is the story it has composed about the past that it wants to manifest in the present, so it seems everything always has been like it assumes it should be.

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The special self wants to compare everything new with something old so that the present seems conditioned by the past, which it has edited to look like it was caused by itself.

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In the past, the special self made a hateful story as the basis for its perception of the present to confirm its judgment of others as evil. And since the past, therefore, appears to repeat itself, the special self can rest assured in its perception of itself as good and others as bad.

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Sometimes a doctor checks the function of a body by knocking on special points to see if the involuntary movements work. However, everything considered voluntary is also an automatic movement governed by the brain. Therefore, if you believe in being in charge of yourself, you have suppressed your reaction to everything that does not fit this belief. Therefore, since that requires much effort and it is effortless serving the brain, being a servant makes you feel free and happy.

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Being the special self is not about what you do but how to perceive it to appear in charge. For example, you see yourself as the master of the remote control, your coffee machine, children or pets. And if your boss puts you down, you still see yourself on top, thinking you could do it much better.

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To escape its self-hatred, the special self manipulates others into admiring it. If not succeeding, the special self considers letting go of something to reestablishes its control.

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Believing you are in control, you are under enormous pressure to constantly compose stories where you, not the brain, are in charge.

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The special self assumes happiness comes from being in control. Therefore, if something does not happen as planned, it upholds the idea of being in control by thinking it changed its mind.

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Extraordinary experiences, such as glimpses of the Enlightenment of that which is One, seem to be at a premium for the special self. Yet, it seldom experiences anything but the ordinary because, to prevent its special image from cracking, it fences off unfamiliar experiences.

If something uncontrollable, like glimpses of Enlightenment, should enter its controlled world, the special self ignores it, wait for it to be over, suppress its memories, and resume life as it used to.

You can read about how to have glimpses of Enlightenment in The four aspects of Enlightenment and how to sample them.

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The special self enjoys talking about feelings speculatively, »like do I really love this person?« But it does not love anybody. It avoids feelings of intimacy by being with people speaking about a higher state of mind, thus being able to uphold its perception of being the master.

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Since feelings tend to mess up the perception that the special self has made of itself as an independent and unique being, it wants to keep them at a distance. But as this collides with its need to show off as an open person, it lays the blame for fencing off its feelings on others, which it criticises for being closed, thus making it impossible for the special self to express its feelings.

Although the real reason for not expressing feelings is that the special self does not know them, it shows off as an emotional expert who can help others open up to themselves. However, what the special self claims to see are its suppressed feelings (read more about that here).

On the other hand, the basic self has no special image to protect, thus, no feelings to hide.

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The special self uses much energy to suppress the thoughts and feelings judged as unfavourable to preserve what it believes in being or becoming when it lives in the now, comes from the heart, or whatnot. On the other hand, the basic self has no desire to appear definitive, thus no need to judge something as wrong.

Besides, it knows negativity is just as crucial as positivity. For example, an electric wire needs the negative pole as much as the positive one to make the energy required to publish this article online.

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Your suppressed thought and feeling are easily found. What you do not like in a dream is what you suppress, as everything in a dream is part of you. Likewise, what you experience with open eyes because the world is in the eye of the beholder.

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The special self preserves its friendly image by imagining all its nasty psychological issues hidden behind physical problems. To prevent them from surfacing and exposing its peaceful image as fake, the special self never relaxes except through structured systems like Tai Chi. On the other hand, the basic self has no special image to uphold. Hence relaxing comes naturally.

That does not mean the basic self never explodes in anger. But, contrary to the special self, it does not see it as wrong. Therefore, since it never hides its rage or any other emotion from itself but perceives its reaction to them as ‘it is what it is,’ it has nothing to conceal.

That said, nobody is perfect, so there may have been times when the basic self forgot to perceive its reaction to something as ‘it is what it is.’ Fortunately, it is never too late to perceive a past response as ‘it is what it is.’ Thus having it revealed not to be definitive but twofold, there is no specific feeling to avoid.

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The more the special self can convince others that it can improve the world, the more powerful it feels, thus hiding feeling inferior.

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If the self-centred purpose of the special self is exposed, it will either deny it or say it is sorry and then go on precisely as before.

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When the special self perceives to fail, it takes on being secondary. Thus the failure does not seem to have been caused by itself but by somebody else.

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If the special self discovers that others have interpreted something it did as wrong, it avoids feeling guilty by shouting, »Look what you made me do.«

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The special self always finds something about others that it judges wrong. Hence they become the imperfect background for its perfection.

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The special self likes to meet new people. However, not to get to know them but to answer their questions. That is a perfect opportunity to re-edit the story it has fabricated about itself to appear exciting.

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The special self needs to be part of something extraordinary, not to feel inferior. Thus it checks all notifications on Facebook and makes sure to like what its friends write so that it will like it and be liked by them, and they are confirmed to be together in a group of extraordinary people. But, of course, it only works if you believe something exists in cyberspace.

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The special self needs constant approval from others to feel alive. To get that, it often establishes a family, which it can manipulate into giving it the confirmation it needs. If that does not work as intended, the special self may pay a psychologist to ratify its uniqueness. But it does not realise how dependent it is on those supporting its perception of being independent.

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The notion of yourself as special is based on how you perceive to affect others and how you imagine they react. Thus you constantly adjust your perception of their responses, so it seems to confirm they see you as unique.

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The English language suits the special self because it is built upon the ‘I’ as primary and others as secondary. So you do not talk with others but to them. And when you speak about friends and yourself, you always start by mentioning yourself.

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It takes time and effort to invent a spiritual self from which selected elements are eliminated or changed to appear absent of power strivings, selfishness, greed, anger, negative thoughts or whatever you assume is politically incorrect. But being so correct feels restricted, whereas you feel free when not altering or rejecting something in your perception to shape your image into something specific.

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Being on your own makes you feel small, which the special self expects to fix by getting the power it imagines comes from riches, going deeper or realising something higher.

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If one of the special self’s perceptions is exposed as fake, the special self diverts the focus from itself by making up a new perception in which it is unjustly attacked.

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The special self likes to be together with others, but on one condition, namely that others accept its perception of things shapes their relationship.

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If you are instructed to go to jail in a game, you must do it if you want to go on. Likewise, in the brain’s game of duality, you get unchangeable instructions from the brain.

If the basic self is asked to go to jail, it does so without asking why because it trusts the brain’s script. But the special think the brain’s ways are unfair, so it insists on a better way. To hide, it is unable to change anything, the special self claims it has been framed and will make the guilty pay for the unjust, thus deceiving itself into believing it is in control.

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For the special self, everything is about itself, so when a relative has been injured in a traffic accident, the typical response is, »How could you do it to me.«

If you are instructed to go to jail in a game, you must do it if you want to go on. Likewise, in the brain’s game of duality, you get unchangeable instructions from the brain.

If the basic self is asked to go to jail, it does so without asking why because it trusts the brain’s script. But the special think the brain’s ways are unfair, so it insists on a better way. To hide, it is unable to change anything, the special self claims it has been framed and will make the guilty pay for the unjust, thus deceiving itself into believing it is in control.

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The special self wants to be free of the brain, but the only one oppressing it is itself.

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The special self splits up its perception of others per its concepts of right and wrong and then expects them to hide or correct what it has labelled as wrong so it does not have to question itself.

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Whether you have convinced yourself to indulge in or refrain from sex, the purpose is to enhance being unique.

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The special self hates being told what to do. So if it seems avoidable, it makes up a story in which it is detached from what happens, wherefore it is not taking orders but going with the flow.

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If one has a personality of a faultfinder, the special self sees it as a mistake that needs to be corrected. Thus, every new mistake it finds disappoints, whereas the basic self is happy because finding errors fulfils its function.

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By stating »we are all one,« the special self thinks it expresses non-duality. But since separation is the foundation of this statement, it upholds duality as real.

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Should you have conditioned yourself to feel relaxed when you hear a specific kind of music, you find yourself in a story where you know you are supposed to feel relaxed every time you hear this music. In other words, what you believe in feeling is a product of your story. And as most of what you believe in feeling rests on stories, you are hardly ever in touch with your emotions but how you have conditioned yourself to respond to something. That suits the special self very well. It does not want to experience genuine feelings but how it is supposed to feel them when being what it imagines.

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Adverse events are unavoidable. However, you can refrain from perceiving them like that, thus preventing them from making you suffer. That naturally occurs for the basic self. Therefore it has no need for special events to make it happy.

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It is not what happens but what you make out of it that makes you sad. In other words, suffering is your choice.

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A cat does not plan to do Pilates at a specific hour but naturally stretches out when its biological system tells it to do so. Nor does it attend special seminars to learn who it is or how to be transformed into something else. There is no desire to be anything but a cat. Likewise, being a basic self is good enough.

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The special self is about survival, whereas the basic self is about serving.

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Since the special self is an imaginary self constructed by subtracting what it does not like in itself, it always feels incomplete, hence looking for something it can add to feel complete.

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You cannot escape the hell of the self-discipline required to uphold the perception of being special if you are afraid of losing something, which you are, as long as you believe to be and have something special.

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The problems you perceive to have, do not come from the world where you appear to be but from the belief that you are there. Therefore, the solution to all problems is the same: to undo that belief.

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NOTE: This article is part of Duality Hack #5 The worry-free life of the basic self.