In teaching, I’m always making this crucial distinction:
“...cognitive science doesn’t show that the self is an illusion, despite what a few cognitive scientists say. Rather, it indicates that the self is a construction.”
— Why I Am Not a Buddhist by Evan Thompson
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I always interpreted those terms as meaning the same thing; in what way do you mean them differently?
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The components of the sense of self exist (in the conventional sense that anything else exists) i.e. the sensory experiences that make up a sense of self are not an illusion. But the idea that they add up to an actual entity is another matter.
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a house isn't illusory just because it was constructed.
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I think folks give such caveats because many take the meaning of Illusion as “doesn’t exist” instead of it’s actual meaning “not what it appears to be”.
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Replying to @ccschreiner
I never had to stop being an individual to see directly that ultimately, I’m the changeless awareness carrying the idea of being an individual. I think too many waste too much time trying not to be a person when that is the most natural thing about our cognition.
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