The inquiry into the Cause of Experiencer reveals that the true experiencer (the self) is completely uncaused, unborn, and eternal.

Logical Proof of Causelessness

• Prerequisite of Observation: If there is a cause of the experiencer, that cause must be established. The only way to establish it is through direct experience. If we experience the cause, it means the Experiencer is already present to witness that cause. Thus, the Experiencer must exist prior to its own supposed cause, which is a logical absurdity.

• Mutually Exclusive: A cause is always an experience. An experience, which is an object, cannot produce the Experiencer, which is the subject. There is no causal link between the two.

• Changelessness: A cause implies a process of change or transformation. Since the Experiencer is completely changeless and partless, it cannot be the result of any causal process. It is causeless.

The Illusory "I"

While the true Experiencer is uncaused, the individual sense of being a separate experiencer (the ego or individual identity) does have a cause.

• Product of Ignorance: The individual "I" is a temporary construct created by the mind as a survival mechanism. It arises from the causal body and is shaped by indoctrination and conditioning.

• Dissolution: Once the ignorance of being a separate individual is removed through the path of knowledge, the limited "I" dissolves, and what remains is the one, uncaused, eternal Experiencer.

See also

Experiencer, causality, ego, mind, ignorance, causal body, self realisation.