X-Message-Number: 17143
From: "George Smith" <>
References: <>
Subject: My other cat's opinion on survival and self image.
Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 13:53:49 -0700

Mike Perry wrote in part in Message #17138:

"Another place that I think self-image plays a role is in the
mindset I have as an immortalist.  If 'you' are to survive then it is (or
will be) necessary to come to grips with what "you" really are (and are
becoming, and want to approach in the limit of time)."

I asked my other cat and professional associate, Dr. Spot, regarding the
importance of coming to grips with "what" he really is (or becoming, etc.)
in terms of his actions to ensure his survival.  As I was completing my
question, however, a dog barked and he ran for higher ground into another
room.

What is that, Dr. Spot?  You say that there is a hard wired instinct for
survival and you don't need to use "monkey noises" (words) to make your
survival decisions?

And what else did you say?  A little louder, please.  (He is in the other
room, far away from the open window where he heard the dog).  Ah!  I hear
you now.

He just explained to me that this whole issue of "self image" and all its
cousins and twins like self esteem, self worth, etc., are only language
based descriptive words and their associational memories.

He further suggested that wanting to stay alive only requires an honest
effort to act in accordance with his current pre verbal neurological hard
wiring, or what I choose to call "instincts".

I think he means that inventing something we call a "self" and then
assigning it attributes and values removes us from the obvious.

What is the obvious?

The obvious is the nature of the body and mind is to seek pleasure and avoid
pain.

We don't have to ask our opinion about these issues.  We don't have to
invent a "little person" positioned inside our head and looking out of our
eyes to decide that breathing beats suffocation.  It is the given.  The
obvious.

Sometimes the obvious is invisible to us.  The misdirection of the magician
causes us to overlook the obvious and see "the impossible" when he makes a
coin vanish in thin air.

The supposed need for the invention and evaluation of a "self" is
misdirection at its most subtle level.

If you simply stop assigning "worth" to your existence, your instincts will
win over your cultural programming (which commonly seeks your sacrifice for
the "common good") and you will choose to survive.

Then you can think about, plan and evaluate the best ways to hopefully
accomplish that goal of survival.

Cryonics is just such a choice.

If you first have to mentally invent an internal homunculus which can never
be experienced (the "self") and then decide if it measures up (self worth)
in order to FINALLY decide it's okay to choose breathing, then you may find
the train already hit you.

(As Arthur Godfrey once put it, "Even if you're on the right track you might
get hit by the train!").

The incredible amount of energy and time which humanity puts into the
creation and maintenance of this unnecessary hallucination not only is
wasteful but (pardon the word) self defeating.

It is not merely an issue of physical and mental decline which causes one to
sooner or later fail to "measure up" (self worth).  It is the underlying
AWARENESS that this is the case.  THIS is the most accurate explanation of
the Buddha's "dhukka" which is commonly mistranslated as "suffering" but is
more properly is defined as "frustration".

Deep down inside, the game of self invention and self evaluation results in
the awareness that (at least until now) everyone loses the game.  That's
frustration!

Recognizing the game as a game and not a reality allows one to not play the
game.  That is liberating.

This can be done situation by situation rather than as a once and forever
super insight.

The outcome is greater flexability and determination for survival.  You no
longer have the need to obey the cultural conditioning which asks that you
"step down" when it is "your time".  "Join the Marines and be a man!"  "Come
home with your shield or on it!"

When you no longer have to "earn" the right to survive, you just do it.

Ask my cat.

Just my opinion.

George Smith
CI member

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