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Ajahn Amaro talks for just over 4 minutes in this short clip about how to deconstruct self-view. Comments about what was said are welcome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnMjXwEFCwU
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The full talk and other questions can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg2bMp9NRk0
I love how practical Ajahn Amaro makes things, very down to earth and relatable. I initially thought this would be a technical explanation of the five khandhas (aggregates) - more here if anyone's interested ->
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/khandha.html
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Ajahn Amaro is always fun to listen to and cuts through the usual jargon of Buddhist writings to the essence of what is too often masked by the language. Thanks for the link, JadeRabbit, the accesstoinsight stuff is always useful too. When we are working on something like self-view it's important to understand just how difficult it is to work on something like that from the inside. It's always easier to look at someone else and see what it is they need to do, much harder when looking at ourselves. I think it's important to see it in terms of developing a different relationship with this thing we call 'I', one which puts 'right' the imbalance that growing up in our Western society so often develops.
We evolved to live in smallish family groups where we all contributed to the good of the family, which in turn contributed to our good. Not so in larger communities which, eventually become somewhat alienating and unsupportive of the individual, resulting in having to cling on to what is ours in case we lose it and are left alone and mistreated. We have had to develop in unnatural, selfish ways to survive in societies where resources are unequally distributed and which often seem to care little for the individual. The good news is that these ways really are unnatural and that we can work on getting to our true natures, the ones we should have, which we discover through Buddhist practices.
I love the way that Ajahn Amaro handles his subjects, too. He begins his answers in plain speech, using an everyday style of speaking.
Then, when he has made the point, he will relate this to a word or idea in Buddhist teaching. For me, he shows how very relevant the teachings are to our life here in the Western hemisphere.