Process Point of View

Process is something that is not permanent and it serves a specific purpose. It is not the end means but just a way to carry out something.

We could be seen as a set of processes. Our physical body changes over time. It creates new cells and destroys the old ones. It is in a continuous process of keeping itself alive—a biological process. More interestingly, our consciousness could be seen as processes as well. Our mind consists of various processes that come and go. Our state of mind is not permanent. It changes all the time. Our moods, feelings, thoughts, and observations keep us busy. These sensations always appear from somewhere, stay for a while, and then disappear. We cannot freeze them or make them stay. Also, our self-image is not permanent. All the time we re-create the concept of ourselves by defining in the now time our past (i.e., memories) and the projected future constituting our current perception and definition of who we are.

After breaking apart in very broad sense our existence into various sets of processes, it is a fair question to ask where we are. Who are we—are we just the total sum of the processes happening in us? Where is the self?

How about if there is no self, only processes that keep going for a certain period of time? Processes do not need self. They just carry on going. They flow in and out. The combination of these processes creates the concept of self. Our mind is the perception of these temporary processes that gives it a point of view and illusion of "being." It exists as long as there are enough processes in motion. Still, it does not control the actions. It cannot create the process or reproduce them. It can only adapt and accept—and realize its own place in the puzzle. And by doing so it disappears as artificial. But the processes continue flowing in and out until their time has come.