Platt Holden (pholden@worldnet.att.net)
Wed, 18 Mar 1998 21:18:21 +0100
Hugo wrote:
>From an introspective perspective :-) when we look upon our selves,
> wondering what this self is, we are in a kind of trap, like a fishing
trap,
> where the fish can enter easily through a funnel-shaped hole, but finds
> itself seperated from the outside, once it has entered. We find our
selves
> seperated from the world. If you follow the discussion on one of the many
> mailing lists connected with 'the science of consciousness', you will
find
> most people trapped in this trap. Pirsig calls this trap Subject-Object
> Metaphysics (SOM). When you are trapped, you cannot see no way out, you
> cannot find no connection between your self and the outside world. People
> usually end up haunting a self, a homonunculus, somewhere within, a
little
> person who keeps slipping through their fingers; or they simply get rid
of
> the idea of a self, saying, without quite catching the catch: "I find no
> use for the concept of self".
Hi Hugo,
Thanks for your informative response to my question, "Who is the I that
knows me?" As soon as you mentioned "trap" I realized I had fallen into a
trap of my own making, the oh-so-ubiquitous trap of SOM. My intellect has
been so thoroughly programmed to view experience in terms of subject and
objects that I lured myself into believing that "I" and "me" were separate
entities -- a split as ridiculous as trying to divide self from the outside
world, as you pointed out. And I love your catch, "I find no use for the
concept of self." SOM intellect is a tricky little bugger, laying traps for
the unwary all over the place.
I buy your evolutionary account of change from relation to representation
to reflection with each state including buy transcending the previous one.
Thanks for clarifying it for me.
Platt
Catch 50: What is space in?
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