Self

In considering the self – from  a western, individualistic perspective – all too frequently we consider ‘our’ self, and we think of our self in isolation rather than, as is actually the case, as members of a community, a culture, a country and ultimately, a cosmos.

The inherent flaw in this mindset has increasingly led – within many western, first world societies – to a misunderstanding of our respective roles within our societies and an imbalance in our assumptions around personal rights versus personal responsibilities.

Counter-intuitively, for an individual to have rights they must first accept a position within a community, for rights can only be conferred upon a person by an external entity. You may have life or your life may cease, but any right to life or its manifold qualities exists only within an external construct or framework – a community who collectively agree to endow its members with such qualities or such rights.

Conversely responsibility, which at first glance would seem to imply a necessity for an ‘other’ – someone for whom you might assume a responsibility for, or toward – is in fact entirely possible in isolation. The brash or assertive statements ‘I can take care of myself’ or ‘I am in search of my true self’, which might suggest a stance of responsibility within a broader community, are in reality announcements of having adopted a position of self gratification or even self aggrandisement – positions that are entirely conceivable in isolation. And therefore, a denial of the reality of our existence within a community.

So how might we better consider our ‘self’? How might we envision a picture of reality wherein the apparent contradictions of personal rights and community responsibilities become void? Is this seeming contradiction actually born of our misperception of our ‘self’ being apart from, rather than a part of, a greater whole?

In truth, the quest for self, in isolation, is the pursuit of a phantom. ‘Self’ exists only as the corollary of ‘other’. As night is to day, hard to soft, high to low – self is to community. The one is only possible in the context, the presence of, the other. And it is only in combination that they become ‘whole’. Unity, though it is linguistically derived from unit, or one, is not a condition of isolation or individuality but is the unity of collectiveness – the warm and strong embrace of community. So a true search for self cannot be a search solely for personal goals and gains but should, or indeed can only, be a search for how we might best contribute to, and become a valued part of, a greater whole – an aggregate of unique and uniquely skilled, experienced, knowledgeable and collaboratively minded contributors to a collectively empowered society.

This is essentially a Daoist perspective and it highlights the principle distinction between traditional notions of Western versus Eastern modes of thought or philosophy and their apparent preferences for, respectively, language versus action as defining realisations of their ‘contrary’ positions. The Western search for self or meaning is famously fond of convoluted language, discourse and argument – whereas Daoist thought, though often recorded in written form, is equally notorious for its mistrust of language and prefers instead an immersion in the moment or ‘being in flow’. Action as a statement of belief and action as an indication, to others, of our individual worth.

Before we can speak of and demand rights, we must therefore first become a valued member of a community by demonstrating our worth through our responsible actions. Through a heartfelt embracing of our communal responsibilities, we become respected as contributors to a greater and better unified whole and thereby deserving recipients of conferred rights. A righteous community is indeed principally comprised of an aggregation of its collective individuals’ assumption of, in the first instance, personal responsibility.

Moreover, this is a notion with ‘scalability’. As an individual gains rights and respect through their responsible contributions to their community or society, so that community likewise gains recognition and respect through their responsible contributions to their state or nation – and nations through their responsible contributions to international or global concerns and needs.

We none of us exist in isolation. Through apparently ‘self’-less assumption of responsibilities to a greater ‘whole’ we in reality benefit immeasurably as individuals via the collective conferring of rights and privileges by the manifold communities we inhabit. Through knowing our value as contributors we gain an understanding of our worth as individuals and truly come to know our ‘self’.