Self-loss / LOSS of Self

The much-vaunted Loss of Self experience associated with several Eastern religions, but also some shamanic beliefs, can be conceived as the undergoing of a “merging” of the Second Self with the First. It is frequently described as an ecstatic experience wherein the person’s Sense of Self becomes diminished from the Second Self’s point of view—possibly including its body and surroundings—to give way to a more comprehensive sense or awareness of the so-called Higher Self. It’s essentially a tradeoff, where the more one feels united with the First Self, the more the sense of the Second Self as a separate entity disappears. The concept of “Sinbyeong” or “self-loss” in Korean Shamanism is relevant here, denoting the experience of being possessed by a god that a person, chosen to become a Mu or shaman, undergoes. In Sufism, the term fana—“to die before one dies”—similarly refers to a merger with the Highest Self, which in this case is perceived as the all-pervasive Oneness of Allah. Relevant, too, are the considerations and observations of Christian Mysticism—see, for instance, Marguerite Porete. Compare also Teresa of Ávila’s “Devotion of Union” and “Devotion of Ecstasy” meditation stages for one’s ascendance to God. By contrast, the “forgetting one’s sense of self” notion popularly attributed to Zen Buddhism is a modern, westernized invention, dealing primarily with accepting or coming to terms with the reality of physical death, which has in fact little to do with Zen Buddhism. As Buddha himself emphasized, the Self is not an aggregate.