Appreciate your additions, Larry. You are right that a/o Sarvastivadinis would argue that the self is not necessarily non-existing. But discussing this, would imply discussing Nagarjuna's catushkoti - and the multiple interpretations this teaching has been evoking throughout history.

A similarly difficult idea is the difference between desire and want - a mechanism that would be hard to explain in a Buddhist perspective without going into paticcasamuppada (the system of co-dependent arising). I am sure that Indi wouldn't want to go there, given that Medium is a platform meant for the general public.