OT: Short review of an unself "paper" Re: D Language Foundation Weekly Planning Session Update

[Ali Çehreli]

On 5/15/23 22:58, WilliamJames wrote:
> On Tuesday, 16 May 2023 at 04:35:51 UTC, Ali Çehreli wrote:
>>
>> ...
>> However, self is the only entity that produces motivation and 
>> motivation gets things done. That's how I related to IVY.
>>
> 
> The motivations of the delusional self can often lead to suffering.
> 
> https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00124/full
> 

I finally read that paper. Was that a joke?

The paper is full of unsubstantiated beliefs of an author with a strong 
self.

The author claims self is a result of western individualism and proposes 
unself. That is false because in fact, self is natural. The seeking of 
unself is unnatural as seen by the extent of "giving up desires, 
displaying compassion, practicing meditation and seeking understanding 
Buddhist wisdom."

(Aside: I resent the implication that people with self don't have 
compassion. We do have.)

As a person who does not have nonself, I am disturbed by the premise of 
this sentence: "Egoism is inclined to increased extent to which the 
individual considers that his or her own condition is more important 
than that of others and takes unquestioned priority." How strong the 
author's self must have been that he puts himself over others and claims 
with certainty that I have "unquestionable priority" over others. 
Popycock! That sentence there is contradiction enough to dismiss this 
non-science paper.

Perhaps unself is an attempt at escape for people who have strong 
selves. They must assume the rest of us have strong selves as well. But 
I don't. For example, I have discovered "I don't exist" on my own when I 
was a teenager. No meditation was involved.

The author assumes "[...] death anxiety and moral conduct." Where does 
that come from? Only children are anxious about death. (Aside: Please 
learn to use the Oxford comma. I don't think the author meant 
eliminating "moral conduct".)

"In Buddhism, as long as we have the self, we will be egoistic." 
Popycock! It is the same thing that some religions attempt to make 
people believe to give what you already have: "kindness, compassion, 
goodness, etc.".

My self rejects that paper.

I strongly recommend for you and others to embrace the scientific method 
and reject non-peer-reviewed works that are presented as such. Such 
"papers" are full of references to similar other papers. In fact, you 
can write one yourunself now.

It also says "The author declares that the research was conducted 
[...]". But the paper conflicts with itunself because actually there was 
no research: "This paper is the first to postulate an academically 
respectable theory". See? No research. It was just thinking.

What a waste of time that was! But at least it was mildly entertaining.

Ali