Selves

Most of us think of ourselves as a unit - one self - and yet, every day, we seem to be of several.

One self wants us to look a different way, and a second self does not want to make the effort to satisfy the first. One wants to act a different way, and it takes a second self to decide whether that changes what we're doing. One self regrets or treasures the past, the second self rejoices in the present, and another cringes at the future.

How to unify these disparate needs and wishes? It is up to the "second self" - actually your true self, and the gatekeeper of all you do - to encourage the changes you want in every situation. To be is to move towards. This is the solution I choose (though with mixed success, of course!).

I do not know where the other selves come from, or indeed where the true self comes from (though its efficacy and power I cannot deny).

#tl;dr:

/enjamb

Advaitic philosophy has disposed of the selves and instead describes consciousness as a series of states so as to avoid the confusion of the illusory division of entities.

There's the waking dreaming and deep sleep states out of which we distinguish our selves, and the fourth state which perceives the three former.

Awakening the awareness that all states are one causes any "self" to simultaneously disappear and appear ubiquitously as the vital nature of all manifestation.

But don't take my word for it, read the book.

  On 2/23/2010 at 8:36 AM, maus said:

SUP

  On 2/23/2010 at 8:32 AM, æsterlingman said:

Awakening the awareness that all states are one causes any "self" to simultaneously disappear and appear ubiquitously as the vital nature of all manifestation.

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Yeah, I think I was getting there, kind of. It sounds about right to me. At least when I chop off "ubiquitously as the vital nature of all manifestation". That just seems unnecessary.

toasting in a prune thread

i thought it was "selves - the shelf"

What if this multiple selves concept was just a way to get along with our lack of consistency and a paradoxical nature...I believe 'multiple parts' would be more accurate, metaphysically speaking.

can someone photoshop some hipster glasses onto this guy for me?

like this

thanks =p but it needs to be those exact art hipster ones

  On 2/23/2010 at 9:43 AM, A/D said:

  On 2/23/2010 at 8:32 AM, æsterlingman said:

Awakening the awareness that all states are one causes any "self" to simultaneously disappear and appear ubiquitously as the vital nature of all manifestation.

[/url].

 

Yeah, I think I was getting there, kind of. It sounds about right to me. At least when I chop off "ubiquitously as the vital nature of all manifestation". That just seems unnecessary.

That was my weak attempt to refer to the "true nature" of the appearance that surrounds us. But I don't know whether there could be anything true about it, or even known. What we know of the present moment is a negative image the positive of which has no existence except as that same negative image conceptualized and played back as memory. By abandoning that image we may approach ourselves, not as we have seemed to be, but as we have neither always nor never been.

The whole idea that you are a radically large number of selves defeats itself as soon as you talk to someone about it. If you really are a different self at every moment, you wouldn't come back to re-post in this thread, for instance. You wouldn't be able to follow through on a single chain of practical reasoning (say, deciding to pull up your pants after you poopie), because all your 'other selves' would be clamoring for food, or masturbating, or thinking about math, or noticing your toe has fungus under the nail -- you would never get anything done! You wouldn't even be able to recognize your memories as your own!

We clearly have something to unify our various experiences and mental states. What do I think it is? Something like our commitments -- to what we aim to do in life, or what kind of person we take ourselves to be (as in our character, or our social role, or our religious and political beliefs). Then, if we do have conflicting beliefs or desires, it's up to us to figure out how to fit them into those overarching commitments or else to give them up.

  On 2/23/2010 at 11:46 AM, MAXIMUS MISCHIEF said:

thanks =p but it needs to be those exact art hipster ones

  On 2/23/2010 at 3:14 PM, keltoi said:

  On 2/23/2010 at 11:46 AM, MAXIMUS MISCHIEF said:

thanks =p but it needs to be those exact art hipster ones

 

Metaphysics? LOL

  On 2/23/2010 at 3:28 PM, mafted said:

Metaphysics? LOL

It's quite silly, isn't it old bean!

Posting in an ET thread.

wat

the self is an extremely convincing illusion, the end.

  On 2/23/2010 at 2:46 PM, encey said:

The whole idea that you are a radically large number of selves defeats itself as soon as you talk to someone about it. If you really are a different self at every moment, you wouldn't come back to re-post in this thread, for instance. You wouldn't be able to follow through on a single chain of practical reasoning (say, deciding to pull up your pants after you poopie), because all your 'other selves' would be clamoring for food, or masturbating, or thinking about math, or noticing your toe has fungus under the nail -- you would never get anything done! You wouldn't even be able to recognize your memories as your own!

 

We clearly have something to unify our various experiences and mental states. What do I think it is? Something like our commitments -- to what we aim to do in life, or what kind of person we take ourselves to be (as in our character, or our social role, or our religious and political beliefs). Then, if we do have conflicting beliefs or desires, it's up to us to figure out how to fit them into those overarching commitments or else to give them up.

I agree except I don't believe it "defeats itself". One only has to look into an ET thread (or my own past experience) to see that those 'other selves' do indeed clamor, and if your purpose isn't strong, you can be lost in a tug of war between them.

I totally agree w/ the commitments idea. I use the shorthand "highest self" - the "if I were going to die tomorrow, what would I want to be doing when I did it" guy. Stuff I want to do for that self is the stuff I enjoy the most.

  On 2/23/2010 at 3:50 PM, patternoverlap said:

Posting in an ET thread.

shhhh you're ruining his surprise party

Who clamours? For whom do you speak other than your true self? Why else would you be here?

You're an egg within an egg:

Intentions are heavily suggested against by the masters and associated with violence.

Just to be clear: phenomenally there are any number of selves. Noumenally self is simply absent.