Who are "you"? Not just in this moment, but across the entirety of your life? Julian Baggini's "The Ego Trick" it's an intimate exploration of exactly that thing. How do we remain "ourselves" but also change?Baggini isn't interested in abstract pseudo-philosophy. He's tracking something visceral and real: how we experience ourselves through time. When we look back at our teenage writings or childhood memories, we often feel a strange disconnect. We recognize the actions as our own, yet can't fully...
Self Is Not a Pearl
When we think about who we are, we might imagine a solid, unchanging core – something like a precious pearl nestled deep within our being. We believe this "pearl" represents our true, permanent self. But... Suzanne Segal’s experience challenges everything we think we know about personal identity.In 1982, while waiting for a bus in Paris, Segal underwent a profound transformation. Suddenly, her sense of personal self vanished. She didn't feel afraid or distressed; instead, she experienced a curious state where...
The Mystery of Consciousness
Our journey into understanding human identity continues, peeling back layers of complexity like an intricate psychological onion. If our previous exploration revealed the brain as a dynamic symphony of experiences, now we delve deeper into the most persistent philosophical question: Are we more than our physical machinery?Enter the soul - that ethereal concept humans have clutched onto for millennia. Our precious, immaterial essence floating independent of our bodily existence, a magical kernel of "you-ness" that transcends flesh and blood. The...
The Shifting Self
So, we're not a single, consistent "me." That means we're a weird vessel of random "minds"? Not quite! But before we get to that, here's another destabilizing story.Robert B. Oxnam was a respected academic who discovered he wasn't just one person, but a collection of personalities living within the same body. His story is a medical curiosity AND a window into human identity. Oxnam's experience with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) reveals that our minds might work more like sophisticated computer...
How We Become "Self"
We rarely pause to consider how we become who we are. In one sense, our "self" is like water, constantly shifting, shaped by the containers of social interaction and cultural context. Dru Marland, a transgender woman, discovered that identity isn't just an internal feeling, but a complex negotiation with the world around her. When Marland transitioned, she realized how profoundly social perception impacts self-perception. "If you are perceived as being male, then people will treat you as a male," she...
The Ego Trick!
Are you the collection of memories stored in your brain? The physical body that moves through space? The consciousness that seems to float somewhere between thoughts and sensations? Baggini says your sense of self is an "Ego Trick" - a remarkable cognitive performance, a sophisticated trick orchestrated by your brain. Just as a skilled magician creates an illusion that seems completely real, our brain constructs a unified sense of identity from a chaotic, fragmented collection of experiences, memories, and neural...
Is Self an Illusion?
Baggini refers to the Buddhist philosophical concept of anattā. Anattā is often translated as "not-self" or "no-self." But it's far more nuanced than simply saying "self doesn't exist." Stephen Batchelor, a scholar deeply versed in Buddhist philosophy, provides the origins of the concept. In fourth-century BCE India, the prevailing brahmanic tradition believed in ātman - an immutable, transcendent inner essence connected to ultimate divine reality. A depersonalized spiritual spark believed to be ultimately indistinguishable from the divine. Then came Buddha!...
Technology Might Remake Human Identity
We've long told stories about humans transforming - in myths, novels, and science fiction. But pause a moment and consider: those radical personal transformations could become a real possibility!What have we understood so far? That we're not fixed structures, but constantly changing networks of connections. Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield suggests we're not one stable "self," but a dynamic system capable of multiple modes of experience. Greenfield describes three fascinating ways we already experience ourselves. First, the "Someone" mode - our typical...
The Dissolving Self
This concluding lesson represents the culmination of our journey - a final reflection on how the "bundle theory of self", understanding ourselves as dynamic, interconnected processes, can profoundly reshape our future experience of living.Derek Parfit, a brilliant philosopher, once described his life as a "glass tunnel" - moving faster each year, heading toward an inevitable darkness. But then he discovered something remarkable: when you change how you view yourself, those constraining glass walls can simply... disappear.This is a practical lens...
Summary
Dare to deconstruct the illusion of your fixed self! Your identity is not a constraint, but a canvas—waiting for you to paint beyond its current borders. Embrace the magnificent uncertainty of becoming and watch as life takes on a new meaning!
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About the Author
Julian Baggini is an English philosopher, journalist and the author of over 20 books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is co-founder of The Philosophers' Magazine, and has written for numerous international newspapers and magazines.
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