More on our non-existence.

Further to my last post in which I quoted Pir Vilayat Khan (1916 - 2004) as saying that "The assumption of being an individual is our greatest limitation," here is some amplification of this statement, from writing by David Carse:

 "There is physical functioning and there is mental functioning. Physical functioning is experienced as bodily activity of various kinds. Mental functioning is experienced as thoughts and mental activity. And it is because of these activities, what the Buddhist tradition calls the skandhas, the thought processes, sensory perceptions, and so on, the functioning of the body/mind organism, that there is an assumption made that there is something, someone, here doing these things. But that’s an unfounded assumption. To perceive that the skandhas are empty of an individual self doing them, is to awaken. All there is, is Consciousness."

 Pir Vilayat Khan was a Sufi (Islam), David Carse is expounding the ancient Indian teachings of Advaita (meaning "Not two") and quoting Buddhist teachings as well.

No-one has actually yet shown that an individuality exists.  It's assumed, that's all.  It seems obvious; but questioning what seems obvious is the way to find out something new, to make a discovery.  At one time, it was obvious to most people that the Earth was flat and the centre around which Sun, Moon and planets revolved (although I have to admit this was not what much older civilisations, such as the Sumerians, thought).  It took Copernicus to dislodge this erroneous view.