4 ms·

If you think of a person not as an isolated identity, but as a member of a community which is the "self", then becoming a better member is becoming a better sel

If you think of a person not as an isolated identity, but as a member of a community which is the "self", then becoming a better member is becoming a better self - your truer self. But... is a community a "self"? One may say that cells in a multicellular organism are both cells and members; that collective nouns for animals do act as a coherent whole - hills, schools, flocks, herds, pods, troops, tribes.

mercer 10y ago
I'm thinking more and more that the self is a member/outcome of a community to some extent, but kind of a community in 'itself' as well. Perhaps this is more true for some than for others, but personally I feel like a pretty constant activity throughout my life has been trying to maintain, herd, disentangle, integrate, mediate between, etc., various versions of myself. In my late teens and most of my twenties this could mean actually trying on different lifestyles and 'personalities', but starting in my late twenties this kind of quieted down and I started feeling like a more consistent 'self'. Which is nice in many ways; much more peaceful. The thing is, I don't actually feel confident that these different and sometimes incompatible ideas of my 'self' actually disappeared or integrated or whatnot. At least not as much as I think they did. If anything, I sometimes feel like they got tangled together and became a kind of 'rat king' monstrosity, a kind of meta-self that both pretends and kind of manages to be one larger organism at peace with its selves. As I said, it feels more peaceful. It's probably healthy to an extent. But I do feel that in this tangled mess of selves, the weaker and more unusual ones suffered, while the more 'acceptable' and dominant ones have relatively more sway. I became a simpler, agreed-upon version of my selves. More recently I've (or we've?) been trying to let go of the desire to integrate so much and to accept the fluidity and vagueness of it all. I try to have less of a 'narrative' of myself. Any narrative leaves out important things, so perhaps it's something to do sparingly, if at all. Of course, this post in itself is evidence that 'I' still like to to tell a story of myself and how it progressed, but then I suppose one desire all my 'selves' agree on is to have a sense of self. All in moderation, I guess.
- hyperpallium 10y ago
  My comment didn't address what it takes to be a "self". Although a herd behaves as an entity in some ways, is it a "self"? Is it even alive, or is it more like a river or a fire? Or mere phenomena? Is a group of people a "self"? Perhaps your "real" self is the one observing all the others? As a mind can observe its body, reflexes etc. [Or do several of them have that level of awareness?] Fallen twigs were branches overshadowed; part of trees' plan.

mercer 10y ago

I'm thinking more and more that the self is a member/outcome of a community to some extent, but kind of a community in 'itself' as well. Perhaps this is more true for some than for others, but personally I feel like a pretty constant activity throughout my life has been trying to maintain, herd, disentangle, integrate, mediate between, etc., various versions of myself. In my late teens and most of my twenties this could mean actually trying on different lifestyles and 'personalities', but starting in my late twenties this kind of quieted down and I started feeling like a more consistent 'self'. Which is nice in many ways; much more peaceful. The thing is, I don't actually feel confident that these different and sometimes incompatible ideas of my 'self' actually disappeared or integrated or whatnot. At least not as much as I think they did. If anything, I sometimes feel like they got tangled together and became a kind of 'rat king' monstrosity, a kind of meta-self that both pretends and kind of manages to be one larger organism at peace with its selves. As I said, it feels more peaceful. It's probably healthy to an extent. But I do feel that in this tangled mess of selves, the weaker and more unusual ones suffered, while the more 'acceptable' and dominant ones have relatively more sway. I became a simpler, agreed-upon version of my selves. More recently I've (or we've?) been trying to let go of the desire to integrate so much and to accept the fluidity and vagueness of it all. I try to have less of a 'narrative' of myself. Any narrative leaves out important things, so perhaps it's something to do sparingly, if at all. Of course, this post in itself is evidence that 'I' still like to to tell a story of myself and how it progressed, but then I suppose one desire all my 'selves' agree on is to have a sense of self. All in moderation, I guess.

hyperpallium 10y ago
My comment didn't address what it takes to be a "self". Although a herd behaves as an entity in some ways, is it a "self"? Is it even alive, or is it more like a river or a fire? Or mere phenomena? Is a group of people a "self"? Perhaps your "real" self is the one observing all the others? As a mind can observe its body, reflexes etc. [Or do several of them have that level of awareness?] Fallen twigs were branches overshadowed; part of trees' plan.