Notes

Where is the self and what is it? It seems to be one of the main question all world religions and some scientists too are trying to answer to.  It looks like a thing for religious investigation and we think we can't define  the self experimentally.  However I believe that the world is bigger and much more complex that we can measure and touch with current tools and we just don't completely realize the intricateness of it and borders of cognition. What can ants know about nuclear reactions or jazz for example? So I as an ant can't dare to be sure about any own definition of the self I can give. But I think it does not lie within "the five aggregates" limits and in this sense does not really exist.
And what does Buddhism tell us about the self? According the lectures the Buddha denied that the five aggregates which we are used to associate with the self and where are looking for it contain and are the self. And this idea that these alterable essences are not the field where we should looking for the self I understand and can accept. It makes sense. But the Buddha didn't deny the very existence of the self beyond these aggregates. Because he said that when you are get free from all the five you would be liberated. So I interpret this kind of paradox in the way that we should searching for the "true" self farther and maybe in other direction.
I strongly believe that everyone should looking for the answer independently and by oneself. Maybe it's not the task for the mind. Apparently this question is a part of big question about meaning of life. Why do I think that the searching is worthy? Because something must be outside the five aggregates. Maybe this aspiration for liberation is the main evidence. Something must remain.
So I agree with the claim about the self as "five-aggregates-fixed-something" does not exist. Firstly reason is that person is very pliable substance. Historians, psychologists and simple tricksters prove this all the time. Secondly: we are looking for the answer about the self in different ways but these ways and methods operate and are based in limits and lie at the plane of our experience and five aggregates again. That is why we meet with failure. We are inside the closed system. In order to understand the meaning of the self we should escape the system and see what is outside (hello, "The Matrix" and other escapists).
And the last thing in this flow of words will be a little piece of my own guesses. I observe and believe that when you are doing something good the summary of world's goodness level is rising. And at that very moment when when you are doing some proper things which add kindness and joy to the world you are hanging on the end of the thread which can lead you out to the "big answer" about the self passing by all five aggregates, finally.