Understanding That There Is No Self

“Enlightenment is first of all coming to understand that there is no self in the conventional sense.

People tend to think of the self as, “Well, I’m the guy who went to this high school and had these parents, and I’m the guy who’s got an accounting degree, and I worked my way through it all and achieved these things.”

Now that’s purely an illusory self that we’re talking about. Enlightenment is coming to understand or experience that there is no objective self-there is a being, but there’s no objective self-and it’s in the process of letting go of that notion that one experiences what one truly is in the universal sense. That’s when enlightenment comes-when you realize that you are not in control. And because of that, you are very much in control.”      

–Vernon Kitabu Turner (African American Poet, Martial Artist and Writer, 1948-)