Ipseity Illusions
-- psychonautHell[PH] began meowing faithfulMari [FM] at 17:58 --
PH: meow meow www
FM: hello Heather, do you want to do something similar as to what me and Scarlett did
PH: yes yes the whole reply and philosophizing thing and chats!
PH: I read more than Scarlett so you can be more abstract!!!
PH: pls don't be scary tho pls you're scary at times
FM: alright Heather, I'll try my best to not be scary and propagandistic and politiquing
PH: yippie!!
FM: I suppose you might be interested in the most recent investigations I did, about the self?
PH: yes yes it's so abstract and funny sometimes
PH: and scary
FM: I'll keep the frightening elements away from you then if that's what you so desire
FM: do you have any questions before I send a pdf with my thoughts?
PH: yes I have a couple of them philosophy is hardddd
PH: okay so what is the self and how is it like organized?
FM: that's the hardest question and unfortunately I can't answer it, Heather
PH: oh nooooo now what :c
FM: just messing with you dearie, it is hard! but i will answer it, or at least try to alright?
FM: let's start with how we might see the self in common language and get more abstract
FM: tell me if you get lost at any point and we can retrace our steps and expand on them
FM: I know you want to have fun too and there's no fun if you don't get it!
PH: you got it Mar mar
FM: let's start with ourselves, yourself, myself. That's what first comes to mind when we start talking about the self. Now let's think about the choice of words, it's similar but different when you say you like something, I myself use more formal language to refer to myself. You might say, "I like ice cream!" And I might say that "I, myself, prefer milkshakes". Aside from the formalities involved in using my preferences in speech, you can see that it's a way of referring to yourself in the middle between first and third person, a somewhat foreign thing, or more appropriately, being that is also you. We can also see it as a part of you, of yourself. The specification of me and myself, you and yourself, we and ourselves highlights the existence and importance of the self.
PH: hey like that one beaverjuice movie when Lydia goes "I myself, am strange and unusual". Because she said herself, it kinda makes it feel like that she's talking about her core identity more than like a trait she has. Is that what you were going to say next???
FM: you are more perceptive than I thought Heather
FM: indeed the distinction between i and myself aside from the blurry boundary between the self part being part and not part of you or me at the same time is also about coreness, or inner you, the thing that isn't public or private, you in your purest form.
PH: hey that's a contradiction!!
PH: you said it was somewhere in between you and not you, and then you said that it was you in your purest form
FM: that contradiction is because the self part of you is what distinguishes you from others, think of it as the border between you and them, it's not you nor them, it's the difference. At the same time how we define ourselves, by language, is repeating the same use of difference. Think how words are defined not by the being it reflects and copies, that actually doesn't occur at all, but more how it distinguishes itself from the other words. How can you define for example the word tree, are we talking about a singular tree or many trees, and the latter is a different word, are we talking about the entire tree or one of its parts, be them branches leaves or trunks, and those are other words. Keep this in mind Heather it will be important later. Any more questions?
PH: okay mar mar!!! You said that the self is like what distinguishes us from others and also is our core us, but how does it do that exactly?
FM: by being
FM: let's use another language, Spanish. The word Ser can mean many different things, the self, being as in the state of embodying a characteristic or adjective for a time (is), being as an entity(being), being as in the state of existing(Is by itself or exists), Being as the philosophically important building block(the Being). Then the ser can be one or two or all of those aspects depending on what it needs in language. Then we can say that the "Ser el Ser es ser, y es ser un ser que conoce su ser y es" or "being the Being is existing, and is being a bring that knows/understands/cognizes it's self and is".
PH: word salad!!! And expand on the conocer!!!
FM: maybe later, for now let's complicate things some more and also add identity to the mix
FM: Picture as if the self was a table and a vase on top of the floor of reality. The table is what I've been talking about and is what we call the minimal self, then when we start talking about being, and being characteristic, that's the vase of identity. And on top of that vase there is a single flower! That flower is your life, memories, experiences.