Buddhism has bad news for you
I already subscribed to the idea of the self and identity being independent and constructs. A lot of reflection around that and physics in younger years maybe helped.
Some knowledge of physics would help for sure. From memory, there is some mention of psychics it in the book?
Maybe there was some warning in the book, but I was young and keen enough that I would've just heeded that.
Even the author of the books father is a renowned meditation teacher, I'm sure that was helpful.
‘When I believed [that personal identity is what matters], I seemed imprisoned in myself. My life seemed like a glass tunnel, through which I was moving faster every year, and at the end of which there was darkness. When I changed my view, the walls of my glass tunnel disappeared. I now live in the open air. There is still a difference between my life and the lives of other people. But the difference is less. Other people are closer. I am less concerned about the rest of my own life, and more concerned about the lives of others.
When I believed [that personal identity is what matters], I also cared more about my inevitable death. After my death, there will be no one living who will be me. I can now redescribe this fact. Though there will later be many experiences, none of these experiences will be connected to my present experiences by chains of such direct connections as those involved in experience-memory, or in the carrying out of an earlier intention. Some of these future experiences may be related to my present experiences in less direct ways. There will later be some memories about my life. And there may later be thoughts that are influenced by mine, or things done as the result of my advice. My death will break the more direct relations between my present experiences and future experiences, but it will not break various other relations. This is all there is to the fact that there will be no one living who will be me. Now that I have seen this, my death seems to me less bad.’
Hence 'I' is relative.
Should more read the book to get the same powerful benefit you received or stay away from the book?
Sharing more: It shattered my prior beliefs about who "I" thought I was. When I read certain passages from the book, I knew it was true. It hurt my ego because it was undeniable. My old belief system was floored. My ideas about myself and others was insufficient. That shattered "me".
In many ways, it probably just helped me to be more compassionate and accepting of my situation and that of others. You cannot really put a price on wisdom like that and I guess for some people, getting to that point doesn't come without collateral ?