We work very hard to stay true to who we think we are. We consciously act in accordance with our identities always. If there is no actual self however, what does identity represent?
Does it matter? What matters in my mind is that it does not represent you. It's a set of beliefs about an erroneous non existent self informed by experience. The limitations of your character do not define the scope of your potential experiences. You are not your self.
There is no You so your Self is redundant. It's limitations are redundant. They do not apply, as there is no self for them to apply to. Human potential is defined by the limitations of each individual human body & mind complex.
In your identity society and the individual overlap. It is socially and personally limiting. We need some limitation of course. We are creatures of extraordinary potential both creatively and destructively, without some form of limitation this world would be even more of chaos. Should that limitation be imposed by self deception however? Surely compassion is enough of a limiting factor for human potential?
In (mis)taking ourselves (to be selves), we miss out on the wealth of our human potential.
We do only the things our identity allows us to do. We think only in ways our identity allows us to think.
We limit what we allow ourselves to do, to dream and to become based on these false notions.
Identity is the limiting factor in our pursuit of anything we may want. All self limitation is incorrect. In choosing to uphold an identity we choose to incorrectly limit ourselves. The limits that go along with the individual human body& psychosocial complex are the only limitations of that individual.
Identity is the shadow of a ghost and there's no such thing as ghosts.
We like to pretend there is though. Our society is founded on the notion that there are ghosts in the machine. Selves.
On this assumption we build and empower social contracts. In deferring authority to social contract is what holds this network of selves, this league of shadows, in place. This dynamic is at play across the social spectrum, from your relationships to family and friends to your relationship with your government.
There are two social contracts. The contract you enter into with your own self-image, and the one that self-image/identity holds with the wider world.
Self-image/identity consists of a set of rules by which we live our lives. Judging what we can and cannot, should and should not do. We defer our authority to this self image. We relinquish our sovereignty and self expression to self image. We live in accordance with that image at the cost of our authentic desires/intents/agencies.
Where you defer to self image, self image is dictated to by the wider world. By broader social convention. It is given meaning and value in the context of a wider network of identities. Society. Your own self-image exists only in your head. Other people project their image of you onto you in their heads. The self-image people attribute to you is judged based on social convention. Conventions like rich, adventurous, athletic, humorous, intelligent, confident, are given certain values within a society. Your self image is valued based on its conformity to these conventions. That value is foisted upon your self image and you are expected to accept that as your own inherent value.
That is the dynamic that holds society in place. That is how the game is played.
In order to step outside of it you have to break the social contract.
Easier said than done.
The contract between the wider society and your identity/self-image cannot be broken. Not initially at least. This contract is enforced upon self-image form the outside. It is what adds inter-subjective (socially agreed) value to an identity. It is how others value your identity. There is no changing and no breaking free from that, save creating a counter-culture to usurp the original or act as a safe haven. Of course that has been tried numerous times in recent history with Hippies and Goths respectively. There was a much simpler more elegant solution available which both seem to have missed.
Break the social contract you hold with your identity and you are free to operate outside convention.
Resign the belief that your identity represents your "self" and you are free to exercise your own sovereignty and self expression. You no longer have to play by the rules defined by your identity or accept the values forced upon your identity by the wider world. Freedom from convention. Not inherent freedom from convention, but the choice to act within convention or without it.
Still it's not easy. You cannot just decide to "stop believing your identity". You've been acting in accordance with it for your entire life quashing authentic human agencies, your desires and intellectual drives, in order to conform to it. You can't just turn that off of your own volition, not without some groundwork. You need leverage, something concrete. You need to prove to yourself that self-image is in fact limiting.
The method of freeing yourself from the employ of your self-image is simple.
You apply the scientific method to your own self image, you test it to see if it represents an actual self. First person empirical inquiry into the nature of self. That is the key and the cure. The fact that there is no actual inherent self. The lack of an experiencer experiencing your life, the lack of a single essential entity driving your life, provides the leverage for you to wrench life from the clutches of limiting self-image. Don't take my word for it. Take your "self" as the hypothesis and find the first hand evidence to support or deny it's existence beyond a reasonable doubt. That's liberation, that is how you get free. The application of the scientific method to philosophical questions is an earth shatteringly powerful tool.
What does an honest person to do when she discovers that they have no self?
Live accordingly.
If there is no self then what is free? The body and mind that thought you existed and that they belonged to you. Their drives, ambitions, goals, intentions, joys and passions free from the spectre of a false and a limiting identity. They're free to authentic expression regardless of convention.
There's no amazing shift in perspective on liberation from identity. Just a small re-adjustment. Life goes on, no self needed. You now have the ability to step outside of your identity. You can stop pretending to be your self-image with ease. To act in whatever way you feel driven to act without the need to consciously project and uphold your self-image/identity. You no longer have to pretend to be of less value than others based on some social convention. Nor do you need to pretend that you are of higher value in order to go about your life.
There is no obligation to act in any certain way. You just act without needing accordance with an identity. You are not your identity. Social agreements may define the value of your identity, but your identity doesn't represent you. There is no you. Pretending to be your identity and allowing the value of that identity to be defined by outside sources is dehumanizing. Moreover, it is self deception. Unspoken social agreements can be revoked. You do that by denying the legitimacy of your identity/self-image through methodical empirical investigation of all those things you thought to be your "self".
Does it matter? What matters in my mind is that it does not represent you. It's a set of beliefs about an erroneous non existent self informed by experience. The limitations of your character do not define the scope of your potential experiences. You are not your self.
There is no You so your Self is redundant. It's limitations are redundant. They do not apply, as there is no self for them to apply to. Human potential is defined by the limitations of each individual human body & mind complex.
In your identity society and the individual overlap. It is socially and personally limiting. We need some limitation of course. We are creatures of extraordinary potential both creatively and destructively, without some form of limitation this world would be even more of chaos. Should that limitation be imposed by self deception however? Surely compassion is enough of a limiting factor for human potential?
In (mis)taking ourselves (to be selves), we miss out on the wealth of our human potential.
We do only the things our identity allows us to do. We think only in ways our identity allows us to think.
We limit what we allow ourselves to do, to dream and to become based on these false notions.
Identity is the limiting factor in our pursuit of anything we may want. All self limitation is incorrect. In choosing to uphold an identity we choose to incorrectly limit ourselves. The limits that go along with the individual human body& psychosocial complex are the only limitations of that individual.
Identity is the shadow of a ghost and there's no such thing as ghosts.
We like to pretend there is though. Our society is founded on the notion that there are ghosts in the machine. Selves.
On this assumption we build and empower social contracts. In deferring authority to social contract is what holds this network of selves, this league of shadows, in place. This dynamic is at play across the social spectrum, from your relationships to family and friends to your relationship with your government.
There are two social contracts. The contract you enter into with your own self-image, and the one that self-image/identity holds with the wider world.
Self-image/identity consists of a set of rules by which we live our lives. Judging what we can and cannot, should and should not do. We defer our authority to this self image. We relinquish our sovereignty and self expression to self image. We live in accordance with that image at the cost of our authentic desires/intents/agencies.
Where you defer to self image, self image is dictated to by the wider world. By broader social convention. It is given meaning and value in the context of a wider network of identities. Society. Your own self-image exists only in your head. Other people project their image of you onto you in their heads. The self-image people attribute to you is judged based on social convention. Conventions like rich, adventurous, athletic, humorous, intelligent, confident, are given certain values within a society. Your self image is valued based on its conformity to these conventions. That value is foisted upon your self image and you are expected to accept that as your own inherent value.
That is the dynamic that holds society in place. That is how the game is played.
In order to step outside of it you have to break the social contract.
Easier said than done.
The contract between the wider society and your identity/self-image cannot be broken. Not initially at least. This contract is enforced upon self-image form the outside. It is what adds inter-subjective (socially agreed) value to an identity. It is how others value your identity. There is no changing and no breaking free from that, save creating a counter-culture to usurp the original or act as a safe haven. Of course that has been tried numerous times in recent history with Hippies and Goths respectively. There was a much simpler more elegant solution available which both seem to have missed.
Break the social contract you hold with your identity and you are free to operate outside convention.
Resign the belief that your identity represents your "self" and you are free to exercise your own sovereignty and self expression. You no longer have to play by the rules defined by your identity or accept the values forced upon your identity by the wider world. Freedom from convention. Not inherent freedom from convention, but the choice to act within convention or without it.
Still it's not easy. You cannot just decide to "stop believing your identity". You've been acting in accordance with it for your entire life quashing authentic human agencies, your desires and intellectual drives, in order to conform to it. You can't just turn that off of your own volition, not without some groundwork. You need leverage, something concrete. You need to prove to yourself that self-image is in fact limiting.
“The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.”
― Nikola Tesla
The method of freeing yourself from the employ of your self-image is simple.
You apply the scientific method to your own self image, you test it to see if it represents an actual self. First person empirical inquiry into the nature of self. That is the key and the cure. The fact that there is no actual inherent self. The lack of an experiencer experiencing your life, the lack of a single essential entity driving your life, provides the leverage for you to wrench life from the clutches of limiting self-image. Don't take my word for it. Take your "self" as the hypothesis and find the first hand evidence to support or deny it's existence beyond a reasonable doubt. That's liberation, that is how you get free. The application of the scientific method to philosophical questions is an earth shatteringly powerful tool.
What does an honest person to do when she discovers that they have no self?
Live accordingly.
If there is no self then what is free? The body and mind that thought you existed and that they belonged to you. Their drives, ambitions, goals, intentions, joys and passions free from the spectre of a false and a limiting identity. They're free to authentic expression regardless of convention.
There's no amazing shift in perspective on liberation from identity. Just a small re-adjustment. Life goes on, no self needed. You now have the ability to step outside of your identity. You can stop pretending to be your self-image with ease. To act in whatever way you feel driven to act without the need to consciously project and uphold your self-image/identity. You no longer have to pretend to be of less value than others based on some social convention. Nor do you need to pretend that you are of higher value in order to go about your life.
There is no obligation to act in any certain way. You just act without needing accordance with an identity. You are not your identity. Social agreements may define the value of your identity, but your identity doesn't represent you. There is no you. Pretending to be your identity and allowing the value of that identity to be defined by outside sources is dehumanizing. Moreover, it is self deception. Unspoken social agreements can be revoked. You do that by denying the legitimacy of your identity/self-image through methodical empirical investigation of all those things you thought to be your "self".
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