In fact, altruism may even be more reasonable, on grounds of symmetry and the fact that ‘the self’ is an illusion.
I think Richard Dawkins is on the right track with his idea of “memes”. If the Buddha were alive today, I suspect he would call the self, and self-centered thinking a particularly prevalent and virulent meme infesting our cognitive facilities. And amazing but true, it is quite possible to visualize the operation of the “self” in its meme-hood and cease to identify with it, as even materialistic atheists like Susan Blackmore and Sam Harris can attest.
I look at it from the perspective that I enjoy (apparently) existing as a subjective conscious entity, and I want to persist existing as a subjective conscious entity -forever, and in a real time sort of way.
A persistent inquiry into the nature of the “I” apparently making those statements will start the Ourobouros eating its own tail and lead to the end of the “optical delusion of consciousness”, as Einstein put it. In the end, reality trumps illusion. . .
In fact, altruism may even be more reasonable, on grounds of symmetry and the fact that ‘the self’ is an illusion.
I think Richard Dawkins is on the right track with his idea of “memes”. If the Buddha were alive today, I suspect he would call the self, and self-centered thinking a particularly prevalent and virulent meme infesting our cognitive facilities. And amazing but true, it is quite possible to visualize the operation of the “self” in its meme-hood and cease to identify with it, as even materialistic atheists like Susan Blackmore and Sam Harris can attest.
I look at it from the perspective that I enjoy (apparently) existing as a subjective conscious entity, and I want to persist existing as a subjective conscious entity -forever, and in a real time sort of way.
A persistent inquiry into the nature of the “I” apparently making those statements will start the Ourobouros eating its own tail and lead to the end of the “optical delusion of consciousness”, as Einstein put it. In the end, reality trumps illusion. . .