The Self in our Culture

The Self in our Culture

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3:24 So what does a knowledge-oriented culture such as ours do about our inherent inability to answer a question so important to us as “What is a self?” We invent things, of course. Since we could first form the question, we’ve been devising theories about what it means to be a self, where a self comes from, where it resides in the body, and where it goes when the body expires. All manner of beliefs have been created, but the fact remains that no one actually knows some of the most essential aspects of life and existence.

3:25 In our culture we’ve long assumed that our “being” is somehow related to our “knowing.” From ancient religions to the growth of philosophy, psychology, and cognitive sciences, we’ve launched a multitude of differing campaigns aimed at comprehending our own selfhood. But what if the idea of being and the experience of being are mutually exclusive? What if we simply don’t know what self is? That idea doesn’t sit well in our culture. With a bit of a shrug, we’re willing to call certain matters “ineffable” for now, but we’re certain it’s only a matter of time before someone discovers what our existence is really all about. In the meantime, we tend to embrace some belief or other and live life according to its dictates.

3:26 Although some beliefs can offer helpful guidelines for living, neither religion or psychology—not even philosophy—is appropriate here. Whether or not these embody any truth is beside the point. For us, the ideas behind them will always remain hearsay and so cannot affect the depth of our being. Instead, what we’re after here is a direct no-frills personal experience. Our task is to grasp what something is, not just what we think or feel or hope about it. We could say we need to look “beyond the limits” of our beliefs and knowledge. But “beyond” sounds even further away, and what we want is in a different direction, closer to us somehow. In order to experience what is so, what we need to comprehend is what’s prior to all of our beliefs and knowledge.

3:27 Think about it; what do you get from your knowing, anyway? Is the experience of “being you” made complete by what you know? Perhaps you get answers, a personal history, some cohesive operating parameters, an identity, clear social status, etc., but is any of that deeply satisfying? Is it you? Knowledge, answers, and identity are all external to you. They are “viewed” by you, perceived and received by you, adopted by you, and maintained by you all day long, but they are not you. From these, you get to be something knowable, fathomable. You get to have a structure and be filled with your own unique set of answers and beliefs. In short, you get to live as a conceptual-self. Is that all there is? In our cultural environment it is just about the only possibility. But do you feel complete and whole?

Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 percent of everything you do is for yourself —and there isn’t one.

—Wei Wu Wei

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The Book of Not Knowing, Chapter Three, The Cultural Matrix

Peter Ralston