Removing Self

The world is a constant white noise machine full of distractions and excess information

When you think about “self” what do you imagine it is?! It’s a rhetorical question, of course. We all know what the “self” represents, but do we know what it represents in modern society? (Not rhetorical).

Let’s start from the beginning and see what the ancient philosophy says about the “self”. Well, according to Plato “self” is the reason or the intellect is the soul “self” and can be separate from the body. Whereas Aristotle argued that the body and soul are inseparable and are, in fact, one.

Then we have a much later, more popular, interpretation of “self” by the French philosopher René Descartes who famously coined the phrase “I think, therefore I am” and is often described as the “father of Western philosophy” and “founder of modern philosophy”. Descartes has one big advantage over his ancient colleagues and that is knowledge, progressive knowledge, in particular. The ancients were chained by the constraints of their time period, of course.

But back to Descartes and his views on self.

Descartes believed that understanding the reasoning and thinking process of individuals and groups is the key. He questioned the “knowledge” passed down by the gatekeepers of this information, the religious authority of his time that controlled what “knowledge” was appropriate for the masses. In retrospect, we see one of the first challenges of the status quo and the protection of individual thought.

In his Discourse on Method, he described the differences between imbibing the information that is available and provided by others and consuming that information with self-reasoning and applying individual thought.

I think Descartes's philosophy is profoundly modern. That is to add that I don’t speak for all of his philosophical views but this particular thought — self-reasoning and the consumption of information.

At no other point in time, we had so much information hurled at us. We literally have all the information — the biggest library in the world, at our fingertips. As I’m sitting here, writing these words, one tap at a time on my keyboard, I have access to this library. I can research any topic at any time, at any place, and find what I need in a matter of minutes. It would sound miraculous to our ancestors. They would probably imagine a physical library of unbelievable sizes, spread across the globe or even a magical building floating over the world where Gods have all the records of all our sins and bad behavior.

So, can we be excused for not using this knowledge and applying our own reasoning to every information we consume?!

Today is the day the misinformation is at its highest than it has ever been and it’s growing every day with the growth of information put into the world. Manipulations and twisting of information is common and omnipresent.

According to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, half of US adults use social media as their news source. But because this is not a political monologue on the spread of misinformation on social media and its role as a manipulation tool of the masses…

We’re going to forego the semantics of that issue and move on to the issue of self-reflection and individuality because our modern society is obsessed with individuality but it completely lacks self-awareness in its contradictory feat of the opposite — conformity. We crave to be recognized for our individual reasoning and thought but we don’t want to go against the grain because it might be recognized as many forms of extreme thought. We allude to depressed self-reflection and “self” as the means of conformity because we lack the challenges of a healthy discourse.

The progression of thought and knowledge and technological advances of our generation didn’t assimilate in a way progressive minds of previous generations might have imagined. Instead, we removed “self” altogether. We’re hungry for information and yet we are starved for meaningful knowledge and discussions. We’re constantly bombarded with information, meaningless and abstract, often customized — that desensitizes society to the information that truly matters to us and humanity.

I often hear quotes from media channels or social media posts repeated by acquaintances and friends that take them as facts, unchallenged and true. When I genuinely ask them why they take them at face value, I often hear this reasoning — “why would anyone take the time to make this up”.

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” ― Daniel J. Boorstin

When we start thinking for ourselves in spite of the dogmas and demagogue ideology or trends, that’s when we instill our “self” into society and become an advent part of it.

The progression and transcendence of knowledge/information is inevitable. But what it will look like, we don’t know — we can guess, of course, but ultimately, the change will happen and it can go on with us or without us.

Though René Descartes’s time was simpler and lacked all the complexities and shades of the life of a modern socialite, his ideas on the progression of the mind and knowledge are similar to ours.

We are all flawed — with questionable reasoning. Think of your “weird” neighbor with their dubious habits and quips. I have plenty of people in my life, family, and friends, who invariably surprise me with nonsensical, head-scratching, downright frown-upon ideas and beliefs. My philosophy is “we can agree to disagree”, I intentionally remove myself from conflict and though I try to understand the motivations and the reason behind their beliefs and try and change their mind— I can admit to myself that sometimes it’s out of my control and I accept I won’t change everyone’s mind. Instead, I state my disagreement and move on. We’re all different, with different mindsets, views, and beliefs — and that’s what makes this world beautiful, sometimes cruel and indifferent but I’m an insufferable romantic and an optimist.

I look at this world through the prism of optimism. I see the different colors and tones of life — cultures, languages, art, and cuisine— the experiences that make our mortal lives bearable.

Yes, we have many differences but we have more in common. If can only we concentrate on the common and reject the pollution of the mind together — learn to think freely and fight together the ignorance and injustices facing the world that today are ever-present as they were decades or centuries ago, then we’ve succeeded.

During Descartes’s time, people were mostly miserable. Lack of rights and education, systemic oppression, inequality, and poverty are some of the things humanity largely mitigated. The church preached that people deserved to be miserable because they’re sinful beings who must pray for forgiveness and hope to have a better life in eternity. Descartes denied the original sin and was criticized vehemently for it. He believed in human reason and in humanity’s ability to make sense of the reality of the universe. He forever changed the world of mathematics, science, and philosophy. Once in a century, the world gives birth to these bright stars — progressive thinking people — who change minds around them, if not during their lifetime, their indelible work served as a blueprint for the new generations and the progression of knowledge.

I’d like to think that if Descartes lived during our lifetime, he’d surprise us with outlandish ideas that only the future generations would understand and adapt as their philosophy.