NEW ESSAY: Are You an Individual?

This is the latest essay I published in my project Me, Looking for Meaning. 

We often call ourselves “individuals.” It’s such a common word that we rarely stop to think about what it actually means. The term comes from the Latin individuus, meaning “indivisible” or “inseparable.” The idea is that each person is a whole—a unified being, distinct from others.
But if we look more closely, the word carries a number of assumptions that don’t quite hold up. We may feel like unified selves, but how accurate is that feeling?

In Buddhism, the idea of an indivisible self is treated as ultimately illusory. According to this tradition, what we call a person is actually made up of five components, or “aggregates”: physical form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. These elements are constantly changing. There is no single, permanent “I” behind them—only the impression of continuity. This may sound strange at first, especially if we’re used to thinking of the self as something solid and enduring. But similar ideas appear in modern science as well...
​
Keep reading here.

[This essay will be included in the Newsletter#20, which will be sent out around mid January.]