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1
Patrick
2017 Dec 26, 5:49pm
Patrick
2017 Dec 26, 5:49pm
Bumping this post after many years. It's a good starting point for writing down my philosophy, one small chunk at a time. I'll add links to other chunks as I think of them and write them down, or re-discover them in the archives somewhere.
2
anonymous
2017 Dec 26, 5:59pm
Crazy, i was reading the post thinking I’ve read this before; that Patrick had posted about sense of self before. Thanks for your comment pointing out that you were bumping a twelve year old post. Did you edit it at all? Were there comments to the post first go round?
May 23 2005
Much has changed, much remains the same
Happy New Year, have fun!
May 23 2005
Much has changed, much remains the same
Happy New Year, have fun!
5
Patrick
2017 Dec 26, 6:19pm
Patrick
2017 Dec 26, 6:19pm
errc says
There were 10 or 20 comments, I remember, but strangely they are not present, or perhaps associated with another post somehow.
Were there comments to the post first go round?
There were 10 or 20 comments, I remember, but strangely they are not present, or perhaps associated with another post somehow.
6
Tenpoundbass
2017 Dec 26, 6:37pm
Tenpoundbass
2017 Dec 26, 6:37pm
Self is best appreciated in Private. There are no selves in groups.
Like the whole notion of more than two Genders. That's like saying their's more than two in a Binary pair.
Like the whole notion of more than two Genders. That's like saying their's more than two in a Binary pair.
7
Patrick
2017 Dec 28, 7:09pm
Patrick
2017 Dec 28, 7:09pm
Tenpoundbass says
True in one sense, but in another sense, the group is the self.
Everyone knows their own time is limited, but their group can reproduce itself and potentially exist forever. So the group is a better object of love than the lone self.
There are no selves in groups.
True in one sense, but in another sense, the group is the self.
Everyone knows their own time is limited, but their group can reproduce itself and potentially exist forever. So the group is a better object of love than the lone self.
Pain is another idea: less self. Sensations are not painful unless connected to the idea of self. You may see your body as your self, but that's just another idea you have. It is possible to pour gasoline on your body, light it, and sit quietly as your body is destroyed. Buddhist monks demonstrated this during the war in Vietnam. Buddhists know a lot about the idea of self.
Self can extend beyond your body. We are proud of our clothes, cars, houses, and feel pain when these things are damaged.
Self can include other selves. We feel pain when our team loses. When you see yourself in others, their pain hurts you too. When you don't see yourself in them, you don't care about their pain. Their self is not your self. It becomes easy to steal from them, to kill them, and, in the case of animals, to eat them.
Love is seeing others as self. What you love is what you are. A mother sees her self so much in her child that she would suffer any pain to spare it from her child. Marriage is when two people see self in their union.
It is natural to identify on the basis of common interest and appearance. You like those who are like you. You are kind to your own kind. But who are your kind, really? Your family, your nation, your religion, yes, all are, but there is a more fundamental kind of self. All who can suffer are your kind. In the one way that really counts, they are just like you. They have the idea of self. This includes all animals.
Understanding that self is an idea leads to solutions to life's problems. When you wish everyone well, your own fears fade. You can feel that this body and this mind are just one among many. No less important than any other, and no more important. Not separate in any important way. It becomes easy and natural to be kind to all, and it makes you happy. It becomes difficult to harm others, because you feel their pain yourself. You love your neighbor as your self. You do to others as you would have them do to you. You don't do to them what you would not want done to you.
When you really understand, you can die when your time is up and not worry about it. You see that life goes on, and it's the same life you got to live for a while. And it's all OK.
#philosophy