Guest A/D Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easterlingman Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest maus Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest A/D Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 SUP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest A/D Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpenprol Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 toasting in a prune thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAXIMUS MISCHIEF Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 i thought it was "selves - the shelf" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest the anonymous forumite Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAXIMUS MISCHIEF Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 can someone photoshop some hipster glasses onto this guy for me? like this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest A/D Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAXIMUS MISCHIEF Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 thanks =p but it needs to be those exact art hipster ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easterlingman Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
encey Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keltoi Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 thanks =p but it needs to be those exact art hipster ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squee Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 thanks =p but it needs to be those exact art hipster ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mafted Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Metaphysics? LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root5 Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Metaphysics? LOL It's quite silly, isn't it old bean! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patternoverlap Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Posting in an ET thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest theSun Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 wat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rambo Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 the self is an extremely convincing illusion, the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest A/D Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 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. Posting in an ET thread. shhhh you're ruining his surprise party Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easterlingman Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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