21 levels of Self-Deception: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

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results in a few moments when we are unaware of who we are. These are usually moments of some alarm, as we struggle to find some reference of familiarity in order to ‘ground’ the self once again in the world. Essentially, it calls into question the nature of the self. If I can be fully conscious, yet unaware of who I am, then perhaps consciousness resides outside of myself or at least has levels or facets that can act discretely or independently. This might be described as the noumenal consciousness, or our essence emanating from mystery. Just as I drew back from equating value with ultimate reality, I also want to draw back from equating all aspects of volition — all that might be described as ‘the will’ — with essence. Essence is mystery, and that is all that can be said.

If all is One, then of course, the witness and the self (or indeed essence and personality) are actually not separate. Some authors prefer to say that the self does not really exist, and that therefore all the problems relating to suppression and the sub-conscious are simply delusional. Only the noumenal consciousness is really real. We are however defined by the boundaries in which our lives are lived and to just ignore selves because ultimately they don’t exist is, I think, not the best approach. In later chapters then, the self will be explored within the very deliberate context of the human economy.

It has been noted already that to regard a ‘subject’, an individual thinking person, as a simple and clear concept, is to oversimplify. The process by which a person becomes a subject is fraught with difficulties. The splitting

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