Re: What is this thing called SELF?


Joseph H wrote:
What is this thing called self?

Self is who I am when I am not what I am.

Is it.......

A collection of personality-traits?

No!
or..
Some special gift or skill?

No!
or..
Some unique personality?

On some level.
or..
A particular compendium of the beliefs and attitudes available locally?

Not really!
or..
An I one pampers and indulges as much as possible?

What?
or..
Some metaphysical and/or legal entity?

Conditionally.
or..
All of the above - i.e. a vague identity to be called upon as and how
the occasion demands?

No, a specific identity also known as "me", "myself" and "I".

And if it so happens that a person has no unique gifts, or none that he
knows, and is unable to submit to the conventions of the moment and has
no interest in pampering himself...does that mean that this person has
no self?

Only I possess self. What others may or may not possess can never be
known to me as self. All others making claims to self are anomolous to
me and thereby cannot be me and therefore I cannot know them as only
self knows self.

Or if a person has some physiological or psychological condition -
autism, say - that prevents him joining in the great swig of the moment
does that mean this person too is devoid of self?

Only I possess self. What others may or may not possess can never be
known to me as self. All others making claims to self are anomolous to
me and thereby cannot be me and therefore I cannot know them as only
self knows self.

And might we not say that human history is an ongoing theatre of self,
a never-ending frieze of error and insistence and assertion and favour?
And where stands the no-man, the man with no self, in this frieze? Does
he have any useful role to play? Might he - because of his inability to
join in the jolly lie - be driven to find an underlying truth? Might
not the vast spectaculars of our capacity to sustain self - the ability
to create, to believe, to submit to form, to beauty - push us along a
path of error and illusion? And might the no-man, in this scenario,
have something to offer....?

No, I wouldn't think so!

Ah, shure, I'm only wishful-thinking...

If, that!

Joseph H

<snip>


JTG 2/28/06

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Relevant Pages

  • Re: What is this thing called SELF?
    ... Some special gift or skill? ... Some unique personality? ... Only I possess self. ... on the anonymity of the net and cannot resist the passing opportunity? ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: What is this thing called SELF?
    ... Joseph H wrote: ... A collection of personality-traits? ... Some special gift or skill? ... Some unique personality? ...
    (talk.origins)