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>Why are people seemingly so drawn to identifying themselves as anything at all? IMO, not enough meditation or psychedelic use. On his podcast sometime this y

>Why are people seemingly so drawn to identifying themselves as anything at all? IMO, not enough meditation or psychedelic use. On his podcast sometime this year, Sam Harris said something to the effect of "Why am I so sure that we are capable of moving past these politics of identity? That one does not have to so strongly, or at all, identify with their gender or race or country? Because I know that one does not even have to identify with the face that stares back at them in the mirror." This is a large part of the benefits of meditation and psychedelic use. The dissolution of the ego, the relinquishment of the seemingly strictly intertwined brain and body, the expansion of the consciousness beyond the self. Whether these experiences are actual reality or simply temporary perceptual illusions is somewhat immaterial to the benefits gained - namely a much more zen and less identity fraught mental modus operandi.

hutzlibu 5y ago
I agree on the help of meditation and maybe psychedelics to reflect on yourself and reach some consciousness. "Because I know that one does not even have to identify with the face that stares back at them in the mirror" But in my experience, this would be the point, where psychonauts start loosing the connection to physical reality. Because sure, my face is not my identity. But it reflects very strongly my physical identity/reality. So if your mind does not make a connection with the face it sees in the mirror, then I would start to worry, as then your mind and body is already quite seperated.
harryf 5y ago
From my own experiences with meditation and - strangely - doing stand-up comedy as a hobby, this is very true, although I don't have experience with psychedelics. I have a slightly different view of ego though. For me ego is a tool that no doubt had some evolutionary purpose. When my "ego is pumped" I tend to be highly active, motivated, confident and able to solve problems (or hunt for food in evolutionary terms) but once those problems are solved, the ego can be discarded for a time. From doing stand-up comedy, when you "bomb" (the audience doesn't laugh) it's extremely traumatic for the ego. I look at it now that afterwards I need to "reboot my ego" and in doing so, some ideas or things that I saw as part of my identity get discarded in the process. At this point, having bombed quite a few times, it feels like an accelerated learning process and it becomes less traumatic the less invested I am in my identity. Meanwhile - connected to the article - what's interesting to me is I think most people have a "tell" (poker term) when they are over-invested in some identity or idea, and that's when they say "I believe X" or "I believe Y". In my experience that's an indicator that they have accepted some conclusion or point of view, without having examined all the evidence that makes the conclusion valid. I think we'd do better with encouraging people to say "I don't know" more often than "I believe" e.g. "What happens after we die?" ... "I don't know" seems better than "I believe we go to Heaven"
kortilla 5y ago
It’s easy to pretend your physical characteristics don’t matter when people don’t discriminate against you based on them.
- rjbwork 5y ago
  And yet, here's you doing it to him - discounting the argument based on his physical appearance. A truly brilliant way of disproving your own point.
  - kortilla 5y ago
    I don’t think you comprehended my comment. It had nothing to do with op’s physical appearance. Try rereading that with the lens of “you” not referring to the op but instead a person trying to follow this guidance as a minority in a super oppressive location.
- SyzygistSix 5y ago
  It's about learning to not automatically do that to others.
huachimingo 5y ago
Just replace psychedelics with stoner music (or whatever makes you stay in trance), you dont need to use always substances. Writing helps sometimes, specially at late night when you begin to lose taboos and feel more talk-ative.

hutzlibu 5y ago

I agree on the help of meditation and maybe psychedelics to reflect on yourself and reach some consciousness. "Because I know that one does not even have to identify with the face that stares back at them in the mirror" But in my experience, this would be the point, where psychonauts start loosing the connection to physical reality. Because sure, my face is not my identity. But it reflects very strongly my physical identity/reality. So if your mind does not make a connection with the face it sees in the mirror, then I would start to worry, as then your mind and body is already quite seperated.

harryf 5y ago

From my own experiences with meditation and - strangely - doing stand-up comedy as a hobby, this is very true, although I don't have experience with psychedelics. I have a slightly different view of ego though. For me ego is a tool that no doubt had some evolutionary purpose. When my "ego is pumped" I tend to be highly active, motivated, confident and able to solve problems (or hunt for food in evolutionary terms) but once those problems are solved, the ego can be discarded for a time. From doing stand-up comedy, when you "bomb" (the audience doesn't laugh) it's extremely traumatic for the ego. I look at it now that afterwards I need to "reboot my ego" and in doing so, some ideas or things that I saw as part of my identity get discarded in the process. At this point, having bombed quite a few times, it feels like an accelerated learning process and it becomes less traumatic the less invested I am in my identity. Meanwhile - connected to the article - what's interesting to me is I think most people have a "tell" (poker term) when they are over-invested in some identity or idea, and that's when they say "I believe X" or "I believe Y". In my experience that's an indicator that they have accepted some conclusion or point of view, without having examined all the evidence that makes the conclusion valid. I think we'd do better with encouraging people to say "I don't know" more often than "I believe" e.g. "What happens after we die?" ... "I don't know" seems better than "I believe we go to Heaven"

kortilla 5y ago

It’s easy to pretend your physical characteristics don’t matter when people don’t discriminate against you based on them.

rjbwork 5y ago
And yet, here's you doing it to him - discounting the argument based on his physical appearance. A truly brilliant way of disproving your own point.
- kortilla 5y ago
  I don’t think you comprehended my comment. It had nothing to do with op’s physical appearance. Try rereading that with the lens of “you” not referring to the op but instead a person trying to follow this guidance as a minority in a super oppressive location.
SyzygistSix 5y ago
It's about learning to not automatically do that to others.

huachimingo 5y ago

Just replace psychedelics with stoner music (or whatever makes you stay in trance), you dont need to use always substances. Writing helps sometimes, specially at late night when you begin to lose taboos and feel more talk-ative.