From the Circumference to the Center of Bliss

"…The conventional sense of self or ego – I am American. I am a man or woman or Catholic or Hindu – is not something that is inherently joyful. It is a very limited sense of self that appears to be threatened with non-existence. We kind of know it, but we ignore it. Death is all around us… This conventional self is on the circumference of a blissful center, so there is some prospect that we could be happy. And this prospect is what makes the whole thing worth living. But, unfortunately, there is some false advertising there in terms of arriving at the measure of happiness or joy that we would like to arrive at, without an inhibiting factor, in an enduring sense, without end…"