The Self

                                           "Who thinks the Self may kill, who thinks the Self

                                            Itself be killed, has missed the mark of truth.

                                            Self is not born, nor does it ever die:

                                            It does not come to life, not having been,

                                            Nor, having been, does it thereafter cease.

                                            Eternal, ancient, ever-present Self,

                                            Though bodies are cut down, lives on intact."

                                                 (Bhagavad Gita, 11, 19-20)

                                            "For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I

                                             call 'myself', I always stumble on some particular per-

                                             ception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love

                                             or hatred, pain or pleasure.  I never catch 'myself' at

                                             any time without a perception, and never can observe

                                             anything but the perception."

                                                   David Hume "A Treatise of Human Nature" Book 1, iv

                                                         to be continued...