Crazy Statements?

An infant is born conscious, aware and experiencing, but without a Sense of Self. It takes a few months before the Sense of Self starts to develop. So I definitely wasn't born - I wasn't there.

This is not a trivial insight. Consciousness is primarily a function of the body, it certainly doesn't need the Sense of Self to exist. The Sense of Self, however, can only exist in consciousness. This is the origin of the saying "you are not your body". The body comes first and provides a conscious host for the Sense of Self.

When the Sense of Self begins to develop it quickly floods consciousness and claims both it and the body as its own. Most adults will then never knowingly experience pure consciousness again.

The spiritual enquiry exercise described in this Brief Guide enables us to easily pause the Sense of Self and experience pure consciousness. The regular experience of pure consciousness leads directly to the development of inner peace and happiness.

Pure consciousness has been considered to be a significant spiritual experience for millennia. Patanjali wrote about it 2000 years ago and called it the essence of spirituality.

Using normal everyday speech of course I'd say I'm conscious, but spirituality requires a far more careful use of language if we are not to misinform ourselves and others.

Consciousness is present at an infants birth, but the Sense of Self isn't. The infant experiences pure consciousness for the first few months of its life.

When the Sense of Self begins to develop it floods consciousness to such an extent that we can normally never experience pure consciousness again. 

Consciousness is a function of the human organism that's already present at birth, The Sense of Self develops in consciousness but is not itself conscious.

This is not a trivial distinction. It's one of the reasons that in spirituality the Sense of Self is called an "illusion". See Self Illusion for more information.

Spiritual enquiry is the art of experiencing pure consciousness by pausing the Sense of Self. So I have never been present during spiritual enquiry - the party starts when I leave! It's the human organism that practices spiritual enquiry when "I" am absent.

The Sense of Self is not a metaphysical or philosophical property. The Sense of Self is what I mean when I say "me" or "I". This Sense of Self is typing this!

I don't have a Sense of Self, I am the Sense of Self! The "I" in this sentence is the Sense of Self. 

This is a good example of how normal common-sense language can mislead ourselves and others when spirituality is the subject. 

The Sense of Self is the sum total of my experiences, thoughts, insights, instincts, knowledge, beliefs, experiences and personality. It's the function that wasn't there when the infant was born. It's the feeling of individuality that started to develop a few months after the infant was born to make the it into this human being called Tom.

You might have heard the Sense of Self described as an "illusion", but this is a misunderstanding caused by using common sense language to describe spirituality. See Self Illusion for a fuller explanation.

Spiritual enquiry, the subject of this Brief Guide, is the art of experiencing pure consciousness by pausing the Sense of Self. When the Sense of Self pauses I am literally not present. Without my presence the human organism is free to re-experience its original nature, which is pure consciousness.

The regular experience of pure consciousness leads directly to the development of inner peace and happiness. It's the human organism that develops this inner peace and happiness, not me!