The Consciousness (part 4) - the heart of Buddhism is not reincarnation, nor karma

When people think Buddhism, they think karma and reincarnation. But it is actually a different lesson that is much more at the heart of Buddhist thinking than karma and reincarnation is in my opinion. That’s emptiness.
Emptiness is the true nature of all things, but most of us are deluded with the illusion that things are inherent and exist in and of themselves, independently of causes and conditions. This isn’t true of anything. “A car, for example, is a collection of pieces of steel, glass, plastic, rubber, and engine, etc., put together by people in a factory. We give the name ‘car’ to this collection, but if we look for a real, concrete, independently existing car, it cannot be found” (McDonald, How to Meditate, 57). Not only is this car made up of these parts, but of actions and reactions that led to the creation of it, and that will eventually lead to the ‘death’ of it when it deteriorates and separates. The same goes for people; people exist only “in dependence upon skin, blood, bones, legs, arms, organs and so forth…in dependence upon thoughts, feelings, perceptions, sensations…in turn, each of these exists in dependence upon the previous conscious experiences that gave rise to it” (ibid 57). Imagine taking all these pieces apart and look for the "I". Where is "I"? In the heart? In the brain? In the eyes? "I" does not exist concretely. Think of taking apart a bike...you got wheels, a chain, some nuts and bolts. Where is the bike? Start to put it back together again? At what point does it become a bike? Just think of a person as a product in the moment within the process of actions and reactions that create and disintegrate the body, and the process of actions and reactions that create and disintegrate they mind (because I don’t believe in reincarnation, but if you do, then the mind is not created or disintegrated, but an ever-changing flow).
So? What’s the point? The point is that ignorance breeds unhappiness. When we find a partner to “love” we think we love them because they are this quality and that, and we like those qualities so we like the person. But those qualities are empty…they don’t exist independently and concretely, they’re dependent on actions and reactions, causes and conditions…they will change. Will you still love them when they change? Another lesson to take away from this, if someone hurt us in the past, is there any reason to hold a grudge against them?