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Religion and the Self

Towards the end of Haidt’s Happiness Hypothesis he made an important insight about religion and the self.

Leary’s analysis shows why the self is a problem for all major religions: The self is the main obstacle to spiritual advancement, in three ways. First, the constant stream of trivial concerns and egocentric thoughts keeps people locked in the material and profane world, unable to perceive sacredness and divinity. This is why Eastern religions rely heavily on meditation, an effective means of quieting the chatter of the self. Second, spiritual transformation is essentially the transformation of the self, weakening it, pruning it back—in some sense, killing it—and often the self objects. Give up my possessions and the prestige they bring? No way! Love my enemies, after what they did to me? Forget about it. And third, following a spiritual path is invariably hard work, requiring years of meditation, prayer, self-control, and sometimes self-denial. The self does not like to be denied, and it is adept at finding reasons to bend the rules or cheat. Many religions teach that egoistic attachments to pleasure and reputation are constant temptations to leave the path of virtue. In a sense, the self is Satan, or, at least, Satan’s portal.

Haidt, Jonathan (2006-12-26). The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom (p. 207). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.

Our Culture and the Self

Our culture is doing some funny and contradictory things with respect to the self.

1. In California the interest in Hinduism, Buddhism, and New Age ideas continue to be popular. These religious ideas center around dealing with the self by saying it’s illusory, noting how its excesses are destructive, and offering practices to control, abandon or annihilate it. I note, however, that most who are fascinated with these ideas don’t seem to do much with them practically. They are often wonderful good and moral people but seem as committed to their self and the selves the love as anyone. We see little of the kinds of spiritual athletes abandoning their selves like we might see in the Far East.

2. The New Atheists are in some ways in alignment at least with the practices of skepticism about the self. According to Harris and other materialists  the self is a creation of our brains, stories made up by our large minds in order to give us a sense of meaning. There is no meaning apart from what we experience and the stories themselves are, as in Buddhism illusory.

3. Politically Libertarians are hot. Libertarians are of course people whose political expression elevates the self. The self ought to be free to pursue its desires. This is their definition of “liberty”, their highest value. Selves should be as free as possible unless they harm others selves. (Again see Haidt’s thoughts on moral taste receptors.)

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