Journaling and the Self: Clarifying a Paradox

I recently posted on Facebook that journaling can enhance self-understanding. A Buddhist friend replied and said that he doesn’t understand what I mean by self-understanding because, according to Buddhist teaching, the self is an illusion that doesn’t exist. This is a semantics issue that I want to clarify.

While Buddhism challenges the idea of an independently existing, permanent self, it does not deny the existence of a conventional self — the composite of our thoughts, feelings, habits, and memories. This essay seeks to clarify how journaling aligns with Buddhist teachings and contributes to personal insight, especially within the framework of the Five Aggregates.

1. The Distinction Between the Conventional Self and Anatta

The Buddha taught that the notion of a permanent, unchanging self is an illusion. Instead, he described human existence as a dynamic interplay of the Five Aggregates: form, sensation, perception, mental formation, and consciousness. These aggregates collectively create the appearance of a self, but none of them, individually or collectively, constitutes an independent, enduring essence. There is no self apart from the Five Aggregates.

Significantly, this teaching does not contradict the everyday understanding of a “self.” When we…