Me, Myself, and I (Part I)

A discussion in Ms. Shulman's AP English class yesterday has motivated me to write about something that, in a way, I've been putting off. Namely, the topic of the illusion of the self. This is a topic that will probably span a few entries. I know it will span more than one. This one is just a starter, to put my foot in the door, to put the flame under my ass. Once the snowball starts, it's hard to get it to stop rolling.

Now to the topic at hand. What do I mean by "the illusion of the self." Let me give you a little background about yesterday's "Philosopy 101" seminar with Mr. Passyn. Mr. Passyn gave the 11th grade class a whirlwind tour of Philosophy from Plato to 20th century existentialists. He discussed the fighting between rationalists (ie scientists, mathmeticians, etc) and existentialists (ie writers, artists, spiritualists, etc). One of the points of existentialists is that reality is completely subjective. This means its embedded in the way you see things. There may be a physical world, but you only see YOUR version of the physical world. As Mr. Passyn put it, "How do you know which reality is true? The one your'e seeing now, or the one when you're on LSD?" Both are true to YOU.

Then Mr. Passyn brought up an existentialist quote (I wish I knew who said it. I'm thinking it was either Sartre or Heidegger) which said something to the effect of "Science is a useful illusion." This quote means that yes, science is handy, but there's absolutely nothing absolute about it (hehe). A whole lot of it's embedded in social, cultural, and subjective web that makes it completely NOT absolute.

And now to the reason I'm writing this post. The statement that "science is an useful illusion" made me think of something else. Namely, that "'I' am a useful illusion." Or to put the idea in broader terms, the self, , is a useful illusion.

I'll give you some time to think that I'm crazy / to come up with your criticisms / to gnaw on the idea. I don't have time / don't really want to post anymore on this idea right now. Just trust me that I'm not some sort of psychopath that came up with this idea: plenty of other psychopaths have had it before me. Just check out Buddhism (for the spiritual side) or Meme Theory (for the scientific side).

And now "I" will see you all later. :)

PS - The Self is a useful illusion. Therefore, this self will be fully present and accounted for throughout the remainder of his lifetime. Just give the idea some thought. Have an open mind. And if you still think I'm a complete idiot, feel free to punch me or something.

PPS - This argument is a LOT more complicated than I made it out to be, and a lot more complicated than I could ever hope to explain. Therefore, any hole in the debate is mine, not the former of the ideas. Forgive me, as I hope they will.