OK so continuing this one here - The "Rift" - #20 by Kub933
Something quite significant has clicked, this difference between alleviating and eliminating. What I am starting to consider is not just that as an identity I am unable to positively benefit others. Because then sure there can always be these excuses like - “well even if I become free it doesn’t mean others will”.
There is something much bigger here! It is the ongoing harm ‘I’ am actively causing merely by ‘being’ an identity. If we consider the potential harm caused by a newly free individual remaining in that ‘social identity sandpit’, the outcome is that ‘humanity’ in whatever form is perpetuated.
But then am ‘I’ not doing something similar but much worse merely by ‘being’ a ‘self’ each moment again? If ‘I’ am ‘humanity’ and ‘humanity’ is ‘me’ then any direction ‘I’ move in, other than self-immolation, is to perpetuate suffering, as Devika wrote - the original cause of suffering (being a self) is vindicated.
Each vibe, emotion, belief that is ‘me/humanity’ gets to live another day, and bounce from one to the other. Anything that reinforces ‘me’ reinforces ‘humanity’ and reinforces suffering. Every interaction ‘I’ have with another identity is another chance for reality to be reaffirmed and so for suffering to continue.