This is an attempt to get my thoughts together about the illusion of the self. I find this stuff comforting - it's the nearest my rationalist ass gets to 'spirituality' - but also very hard to put into words, at least words that don't sound like they're coming from a basement stoner. I won't pretend it's central to, or even part of, Discordianism, but it's part of mine and that's OK. If I ever try to make a holy book I might put it in, between the comic stories about whales that I'm better at.
I'm not sure if it makes any sense at all, to be honest, and I'm a little wary about posting it here. But I think at the very least it's a nice thought experiment, and it's better than arguing.
----
THERE'S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT YOU
AND THAT'S LIBERATING AS HECK
Don’t get me wrong: you’re probably all right. In fact, if you’re reading this, chances are you’re pretty cool. That person rocks. What there’s nothing special about is the fact that it’s you. The fact that this spark of consciousness happens to be reading through these eyes in this moment.
Just as cosmology tells us that every point in the universe has equal claim to being the ‘centre’, every sentient being has equal claim to being me.
I believe this is the meaning of, or at least related to, the tenet in both Buddhism and Taoism that the self is an illusion. It’s also my solution to both the Zen koan ‘This mind is Buddha’ and the story about the man pissing in a phone box in the SJ Games Principia. I don't believe in reincarnation, but I think this has similar or even identical implications.
It has fascinating ramifications for empathy, because nobody’s happiness is less, or more, important than your own. Same with nobody’s sadness, or anger, or misfortune, or education, or virtuousness, or sense of their own success or failure. As far as the universe is concerned, they’re all you, same as you are. They are therefore exactly as deserving of your sympathy and care as the person reading this. Love thy neighbour as thy self, because your neighbour is you. The President is you. That person you can’t stand? You. Sorry.
This doesn’t imply that criminals should go unpunished or even that jerks shouldn’t be sneered at, but it does mean that questions around those things should be considered with a view to increasing the net good for everyone. Whatever that means.
And if the self is an illusion, then so is selfishness. If you screw someone else over to benefit ‘yourself’, all you’ve done is lowered net happiness. Any selfish act is not only unethical, it’s literally pointless. More than that – it’s nonsense.
