Ilya : Friendly Stranger

Re: What is "Self"?

Ilya said Aug 7, 2006, 6:43 PM:

 

I agree with DocSavage on this point - especially that our mind, body, and soul are equal. I further believe that peace can be achieved by integrating the three into a single conscious entity which understands the motives and actions of each other.

Psychology likes to claim that these conflicting “selves” are the id, ego, super-ego.
Religion may refer to this as the two-halves, the shadow-self, and so on.
Recently, Animals in Translation brought about the idea that our inner-conflicts arise from literal inner conflicts among three brains that evolved over each other: the reptilean brain, the animal brain, and the human brain.

Aside from these, to me, the self is like a drop in an ocean. It is unknown and irrelevent which drop is named what, or contributed what, to the beautiful wave that breaks the surface and sustains the life below - all that matters is that each drop works together with the others, instead of trying to figure out how it is better than or special from the rest. Every one is necessary, but everyone must also understand and respect the need for everyone else.