When we are sick, is the body more "me" or "mine?"

"Consider the human body. Do you consider the body to be yours? It’s very easy to say, “The body is not self” when one is young, healthy and fit. The test comes when one is sick, especially when that sickness is very deep and lasting, or can even be life threatening. That’s when one can really see at a deeper level whether one is taking the body to be ‘me’ or ‘mine’.

Why does this fear arise? The fear is always because of attachment. One is afraid that something which one cherishes is being threatened or taken away. If ever a fear of death comes up at any time, that will show with ninety nine percent certainty, that in that moment one is seeing or thinking that this body is ‘me’, or is ‘mine’."

Ajahn Brahmavamso from “Anatta—Not Self”

Goodheart Comment:  And what about when we are having great enjoyment or pleasure in the body? The pleasure or the pain, as such, is not the problem!  The dharma issue is this:  what do "I" self-identify with?

Can we just be with the flow, mindfully, without adding story lines and grasping?  Can we enjoy without clinging?  Can we have pain without clinging?  That's the cutting edge where we prove what we know theoretically and what we have demonstrated for ourselves about not-self.

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