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Are you referring to the difference between the subjective experience of feeling like a "self" vs your knowledge of being a "self" (or the illusion of being a s

by jm__87 9y ago

Are you referring to the difference between the subjective experience of feeling like a "self" vs your knowledge of being a "self" (or the illusion of being a self)? If that is the case, I actually disagree that the experience of being a self would remain unchanged indefinitely if you change your belief of what you are as a self. If you are mindful of your new concept of self, the character of your daily experience will be changed as you reframe your experiences in to your new concept of self. To take this to an extreme, you could practice mindfulness meditation to the point where you lose the experience of a sense of self.

unclebucknasty 9y ago
Well, the first I referenced is just the physical notion of self, more attuned to the article. If I realize that I am x % bacteria, then it may change my perception of that physical self. But, I don't believe that it would, per se, cause me to question my very existence as a self. However, I agree that if I were inclined, then it could certainly be one of any number of factors (including mindfulness meditation or any serious conscious consideration) that prompts me to start thinking about or questioning my "self" as a sentient entity beyond just my physical being. I just don't believe that such an outcome is inevitable or that those two experiences of self necessarily converge. That is, one can certainly question the former without ever considering the latter. In fact, I would wager that most who encounter an article such as this would fall into that category.
- jm__87 9y ago
  Gotcha. I was a bit confused by your "physical self" terminology as the relevance of the term "physical self" depends on whether you believe in some non-physical self or if you believe that consciousness and thus the self is just some emergent property of a particular configuration in your "physical self" (and thus there is no such thing as a non-physical self). There is a lot of evidence that if you change some configuration of your physical self that your experience of self will change.

by jm__87 9y ago

unclebucknasty 9y ago

Well, the first I referenced is just the physical notion of self, more attuned to the article. If I realize that I am x % bacteria, then it may change my perception of that physical self. But, I don't believe that it would, per se, cause me to question my very existence as a self. However, I agree that if I were inclined, then it could certainly be one of any number of factors (including mindfulness meditation or any serious conscious consideration) that prompts me to start thinking about or questioning my "self" as a sentient entity beyond just my physical being. I just don't believe that such an outcome is inevitable or that those two experiences of self necessarily converge. That is, one can certainly question the former without ever considering the latter. In fact, I would wager that most who encounter an article such as this would fall into that category.

jm__87 9y ago
Gotcha. I was a bit confused by your "physical self" terminology as the relevance of the term "physical self" depends on whether you believe in some non-physical self or if you believe that consciousness and thus the self is just some emergent property of a particular configuration in your "physical self" (and thus there is no such thing as a non-physical self). There is a lot of evidence that if you change some configuration of your physical self that your experience of self will change.