We think of ourselves as “being in our heads” since this is where the greatest concentration of sensation is for us. The external or outer world has no such sensation. We do not, in other words, sense ourselves being in other people’s heads the way we are in ours.
One of the problems with the “I am in my head” hypothesis is in what it assumes which amounts to the fallacy of begging the question. It assumes that the point of origin of my self is in my head and not otherwise (it could be not fixed or the same, nonlocal). This is similar to listening to a radio, all the time assuming that the original source of the music is in the radio. Such an assumption is unaware of the fact that the radio is just an apparatus that amplifies a radio signal the origin of which could be hundreds of miles away.
If we think of our body as an amplifier and ourselves as primarily aether vibrating at a specific frequency, what would be gained by the effort of searching through the body for the source of our thoughts? We would be on a fool’s errand, to be sure, since aether, like space, is everywhere and nowhere.
From the standpoint of Buddhism, we are fundamentally the source of our thoughts, which is positionless. Our thoughts arise as a result of the carnal body’s amplification process in which unawakened mind seems localized as “I am in my head”. In this respect, the only problem we face is gloaming on to the condition of “I am in my head” which binds us to the finite life of the temporal body which ends in death followed by rebirth.
Those who assume that the condition of in my headness is originary greatly err. Why shouldn’t we assume, otherwise, that this is the effect of the animative power of Mind that is nonlocal and originary? More importantly, why not assume that Mind is energizing my body which is spiritually distinct from the carnal body? The truth of the matter is that being intrinsically pure Mind—not knowing what it is— I have become wrongly transfixed on what I animate—a dependent arising that is empty. I have lost sight of my true position which is undying and positionless! As a result of this blindness, I have locked myself into a samsaric vessel.
Investing in the assumption that I begin in my head is not without major samsaric risk. To help us give up our assumption that we are in our heads is what the Surangama Sutra helps us to master. The aim of this Sutra is to point us towards the non-local Universal Mind (ekacitta). In this Sutra, the Buddha shows Ananda that his grasp of such a Mind is wrong since it is based on his attachment to the illusory body and false thinking. In the same Sutra, the Buddha explains to Ananda 50 false enlightenments based on the wrong understanding of Mind’s intrinsic positionlessness.
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