Brilliant Synopsis of Buddhist terms

Terry wrote: "Recently, I've been involved in Facebook discussions about the meaning of certain words and concepts involving "emptiness", "egolessness", "selflessness", and "mindlessness" and whether these words mean the same thing. Here is my take on the subject in brief: Emptiness: As long as we are aware, we can never be completely "empty". There is always something going on that we are aware of. It may be thoughts or it may be body sensations. It is possible in advanced states of Samadhi (concentration) to quiet the flow of thoughts to the point where they stop and it is possible (with Vipassana meditation) to become aware of the most subtle physical vibrations, but we are still not completely "empty". Egolessness: This refers to Anata (Pali word), which means recognition of the "not self". The experience of Anata (egolessness) occurs when you explore your identity "I" to such a depth that you recognize "I" does not actually exist. It is merely a thought construct. This raises the question: what is the Ego? We already know the Ego is that which we identify as "I" - the essential thing that is "me" distinct from "you". Buddhist theory tells us that we are nothing more than the accumulation of past Karma (mental habit patterns) manifesting as reactionary Sankaras - which result in physical sensations or feelings in the mind-body phenomena. As such, it is impossible to be completely without Ego so long as we possess a mind/body connection. When we "lose" our Ego, we cease to exist . Selflessness: The word "selflessness" is commonly thought of as the opposite of selfishness; or being "unselfish". Sometimes, selflessness is thought of in the same sense as Egolessness, but I tend to think of selfishness as being a condition or state related to action - whereas Egolessness is more a state of recognition. Mindlessness: I'm not sure what this means! As long as we exist in any state of awareness, we are doing so with the apparatus of mind. The mind has many distinct "mental factors" or "mental states" known as "aggregates" of the mind. For example, anger, ignorance, confusion, happiness, etc are each different aspects of the mind. We could think of them as individual software sub-routines. If the word "mindlessness" means anything, it would be "that which is without mind" and the only way you can be "without mind" is to not exist and the idea of non-existence is impossible for us to conceive - or at least impossible for us to convey in the frame of reference within which we exist and interact. The bottom-line, is we can discuss and dissect definitions for these words from an academic/philosophical perspective as long as we like in the context of language - but ultimately, we can really only know what these concepts mean by direct experience involving the intricacies of our own existence."