ify as "I" "is only a combination of ever-changing physical and mental forces or energies"(Rahula, p. 20), also known as the Five Aggregates. In other words, we are nothing more than the sum of our five senses and the world that they perceive.
             "The Noble Truth Of Suffering" identifies three types of suffering: dukkha-dukkha which is ordinary suffering, viparinanama-dukkha which is suffering caused by change, and samkhara-dukkha which is caused by conditioned states. These three types of suffering can all be traced back to the false belief that we all have an Atman, or self. If we claim that there is a permanent self, yet do not recognize that in it's(Atman) existence it is never the same thing and always changing, it can "produce harmful thoughts of 'me' and 'mine', selfish desire, craving, attachment, hatred, ill-will, conceit, pride, egoism, and other, defilements, impurities and problems"(Rahula, p. 51).
             Belief in the self has consequences beyond just a bad or unhappy attitude. Volitional activities and thoughts which involve your personal will are defined as karma. Though karma can be either good or bad, the effects will continue indefinitely, throughout the cycle of samsara. The source or motivation for these activities is tanha, which is also referred to as thirst. Thirst can exist as a desire for sense pleasures, existence and becoming, and non-existence. To remove this thirst you have to look at its source, which is the self. If you believe that there is Atman, then all of your action, no matter how well-intentioned, will be selfish because they are all related to and produced by Atman. As Rahula stated "an arhant, though he acts, does not accumulate karma, because he is free from the false idea of the self."(Rahula, p. 32)
             Belief in the self can also hinder our ability to perform actions. "Social conditioning fosters the id...