metis
aged ecumenical anthropologist
To love one another and do the best I can to help.
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What more important to you
- Thread starter We Never Know
- Start date
Starlight
Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
What do you mean?
Humans don't have individual selves, it's just an illusion created by our thought processes. If anything we have many selves, but no uniform coherent self that brings all these things together.
Eastern philosophy says there is no "self." Science agrees
“Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself — and there isn’t one.”
bigthink.com
I get what you're saying but I'm a bit sceptical about it........
I feel as though I have a consistent and enduring self so surely this is a case of "I think therefore I am"?
Starlight
Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
i agree. We are not our minds. We are not the thoughts in our heads, We are conciousness . The conciousness behind the mindHumans don't have individual selves, it's just an illusion created by our thought processes. If anything we have many selves, but no uniform coherent self that brings all these things together.
Eastern philosophy says there is no "self." Science agrees
“Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself — and there isn’t one.”
Perhaps you are wrong about yourself and never met the real you....
Soandso
ᛋᛏᚨᚾᛞ ᛋᚢᚱᛖ
Uh oh... Now the conversation is going metaHumans don't have individual selves, it's just an illusion created by our thought processes. If anything we have many selves, but no uniform coherent self that brings all these things together.
Eastern philosophy says there is no "self." Science agrees
“Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself — and there isn’t one.”
I would agree that the sense of self is misleading and is an easy trap for people to fall in - especially when it comes to over inflation and over reliance on the ego. This is one reason the idea of paradise style afterlives don't sit well with me. When it boils down to it, the idea of the "soul" in this case is just a want for the ego to persist beyond death, seems to me
vulcanlogician
Well-Known Member
That's an interesting question. I don't really know.
They're both important to me. I guess, objectively, it easy to see that how one views oneself is most important. But subjectively speaking, at an instinctual level, I might be more inclined to concern myself with how the world sees me.
We Never Know
No Slack
Who I am means more to me than what other think I am.
We Never Know
No Slack
However what others think of you doesn't define who you are.
We Never Know
No Slack
Reminds me of this...Humans don't have individual selves, it's just an illusion created by our thought processes. If anything we have many selves, but no uniform coherent self that brings all these things together.
Eastern philosophy says there is no "self." Science agrees
“Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself — and there isn’t one.”
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
It's why I sometimes say there is an "Old Me" that is dead and gone and no more. That is someone who would not like me, at all, as I am now. Even who I was in Indiana became a new person when I moved to California.
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I recall my son as a teenager. He was all liberal and also a Springsteen fan......when Springsteen was only doing onstage gigs. When Springsteen cut his first album or record, my son felt he was a trader to the cause, meaning Springsteen was trying to make money.
That was the old son....Now he's in business and has an office in NYC......What people think of you can mean you make a good living or not....
I know the real me.
I know my soul and it's a beautiful place made up of love.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
Yeah, that is unfortunate. Skills and abilities just arent the end-all, be-all in how far you'll go that they're hyped up to be.
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vulcanlogician
Well-Known Member
Well sure. I think, at an intellectual level, we are all inclined to judge the inner worth of our being to a higher standard. But that's not the whole story. Once you acknowledge THAT you have to ask yourself how close you reach that mark. That can be a difficult question. Ideally, we all value inner qualities over outer perceptions. But the way we act socially can tell a different story.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
I think that one scares people a bit, especially Westerners, especially Americans, because it's a blow to their hypothesis of free will. Some people call them masks, but fitting in with others is something we've evolved to do. We just do it, especially if we aren't aware we're doing it.
But ultimately "who we are," especially to others, massively depends on where we are amd who we're around. Often the changes and differences are mininal and cosmetic, but certain people and situations can draw out someone you've never actually seen before despite the familiar face.
