{"id":1093,"date":"2018-05-06T19:57:35","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T19:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/?p=1093"},"modified":"2019-07-27T16:57:25","modified_gmt":"2019-07-27T16:57:25","slug":"the-story-of-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/cognitive-insights\/the-story-of-i","title":{"rendered":"The Story of \u2018I\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Animals have an \u2018I\u2019 from the moment they know the difference between moving and sensing that something else is moving. In terms of evolution, this \u2018I\u2019 came way before \u2018ego\u2019.<\/h3>\n

Say: some 700 million years before<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

which is according to very subjective criteria of course. One could argue for much longer.<\/p>\n

Weirdness of \u2018I\u2019<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many familiar things appear \u2018familiar\u2019 as long as you don\u2019t think too much about them. From the moment you start thinking quite deeply, familiar things may become quite weird. The more familiar at the start, the weirder is this process itself. In the end, does one know anything?<\/p>\n

The \u2018I\u2019 may appear to be probably the most familiar<\/strong> thing imaginable. So, hold on.<\/p>\n

Even the great philosopher Descartes (1596-1650) thought to have found in this the only certain truth, starting with \u2018I\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, therefore I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Really?<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s precisely this \u2018I\u2019 that now appears to be arguably the weirdest<\/strong> thing on earth. Which, by the way, shouldn\u2019t deter you from enjoying it of course.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019 change 24\/7.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2018I\u2019 normally think of myself as being this thing that keeps existing as such for hopefully another x years. But actually \u2018I\u2019 change continuously in body and mind. As to the latter, \u2018I\u2019 change with every thought: the next thought appears in a mindscape molded by the previous one and which would have been different without it. \u2018I\u2019 am living in a continuous flux.<\/p>\n

So where does the \u2018durable I\u2019 come from?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It may seem like some kind of trick. At least, then it\u2019s a sophisticated one, not to be denigrated. \u2018I\u2019 still deserve a lot of respect, really!<\/p>\n

The brain strives for internal homeostasis (*).<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It uses for this the body, then also the external (out of body) environment, through sensorial and motor communications in many ways. In all this, pure homeostasis is never reached because it is itself in a continuous flux. Nevertheless, the idea of it<\/em><\/span> is what we experience as \u2018durable I\u2019. It is what, like an arrow, flies through life, as an \u2018I-liner\u2019 shaping the construct called \u2018I\u2019. Can you follow?<\/p>\n

The goal is to lead the individual animal towards a ‘durable life’ + procreation.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A problem to us: death is not<\/em> supposed to be a part of this picture. The \u2018durable\u2019 is meant \u2018within the moment itself\u2019. At each moment, the animal strives towards getting into the next moment. The non-conscious \u2018I\u2019 doesn\u2019t care about the afterlife. It doesn\u2019t wring its mind even around tomorrow or the next day. For all it knows, it will live eternally, every day being the next first day of an infinite line.<\/p>\n

But we do know death. Stay tuned\u2026<\/p>\n

As for now and within the present text, the sense of \u2018I\u2019 may be denoted as this point of homeostasis. Keeping this going as well as possible is what the non-conscious animal strives to do. In human parlance: it\u2019s about \u2018me staying alive and kicking, doing well right now\u2019.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n

Then came consciousness, and a different chapter of the story of us\u2026<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[see: The Story of Ego<\/a>]<\/p>\n

(*) homeostasis: tendency to seek and maintain a condition of balance<\/p>\n

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Animals have an \u2018I\u2019 from the moment they know the difference between moving and sensing that something else is moving. In terms of evolution, this \u2018I\u2019 came way before \u2018ego\u2019. Say: some 700 million years before which is according to very subjective criteria of course. One could argue for much longer. Weirdness of \u2018I\u2019 Many Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n

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