Thoughts on the Nature of the Self
Photograph by JR Korpa
The nature of the self is quite vague to say the very least. I’m unsure of what the self is, what it constitutes. Is the self mine? Am I responsible for helping the self flourish? Am I to find the self while engaging with the world in some way? Through work or leisure or love?
When I say that I need to be “myself”, is this just my ego’s way of trying to reconcile with an intellectual conception of the self and at the same time try to possess the self?
If I refer to it as the self and not a self, then I contend that the self is an independent entity. Independent of my physicality and my mental capacity, it maybe considered the life force- that which causes me to be. When I am acting authentically I could be said to be revealing the self that resides within me.
And then there is the Buddhist concept of the non-self which corresponds with the modular theory of the mind; one which I gathered, talks about there being multiple voices within the mind that are a result of my psychic activity, and each of these voices expresses a different motivation, line of thought, goal, or opinion. They are not given equal importance, they are not heard out in equal earnest. And so this would mean that there is no single self which I need to realize or actualise. There is no self that is at the heart of authentic decision making. I simply need to have heard out the various voices within me and be cognizant of what they’re attempting to express.
An example of the multiple voices-
I see a Muslim woman in a burqa at the airport. A bunch of voices come up within me. Each of these voices has a certain number of appeal points- which indicates how loud and prominent they are.
Voice 1 (slightly anxious)- “Look! Muslim in a burqa!” (Appeal - 20 points)
Voice 2- “It’s a woman in a burqa. One among millions.” (Appeal- 70 points)
Voice 3- Terrorist! (Appeal- 5 points)
Voice 4- Man, I’d really like a cup of coffee (Appeal- 80 points)
And so I accept each voice as stemming from my psychic activity. I cannot deny the validity of any of these voices because they arise independent of any conscious attempt to stifle them. Or any conscious attempt to only produce voices which are morally good.
And then can I also contend that the self could be an entity that comprises these various voices? That the self is the seat of these various thoughts, aspirations, potentialities and manifests itself differently in every individual as per the individual’s unique personality. The self as a force that causes infinite individual expressions of existence. That which occupies no moral position, that which has no particular motivation, that which cannot be realized by any conscious effort, that which is not the result of specific virtuous action. So is there the self and many non selves at the same time? Are the concepts of self and non-self simply different ways of thinking about what motivates us to be?
