I think the essence–and I do this essence thing often, and here is another–of the Buddhist path is the sense that you have been in this tent before, in front of this fire, with this family, eating this food. You have been there many times. An odium sets in, even in congenial circumstances.
And does it not sometimes seem that some people are real, and others merely NPC’s, going through the motions? Is it perhaps possible that some bodies are inhabited by spirits and some are not? I have not seen anyone suggest that that I can recall, but I wonder it myself.
And getting through the keyhole, escaping all this, requires not just renouncing the desire for things and people and comforts and aversion to things and people and difficulties, but to the SELF too.
Looked at in this view, the rejection of self is utterly logically necessary. There must be a clean sweep. Nothing can be left. You cannot cling to this idea of your Self. Therefore No Self must be posited. Consistency demands it.
But this does not mean that no self is being liberated. If this were true, how could the term “liberation” mean anything? Who would be speaking and who listening?
Buddhism is simply an articulation of very high level, very disciplined logic.
I have a lot of ideas stored up. I am not sharing them, because I am not feeling it. I likely will soon.