Meditation induces two interesting forms of self-consciousness that do not arise during the actual sitting itself. They are, rather, ways of regarding the practice of meditation as it meshes with the rest of the meditator’s life. First, the meditator is self-consciously aware of the fact that he is one. The normal, ongoing processes of identityContinue reading “Notes On Meditation Practice – II”
Tag Archives: personal identity
Laurence Olivier on the Indispensability of Personas
In his autobiography, Confessions of an Actor (Penguin, 1982), Laurence Olivier writes of an unforgettable mentor, and reveals a great deal about acting: [Miss Fogerty] gave me one unforgettable, very special word of advice, which has been imprinted forever in my memory. I can’t think of when, if ever, I had heard or known such aContinue reading “Laurence Olivier on the Indispensability of Personas”
Relativity and the Immigrant
As a postscript to an essay explicating the theory of special relativity–written at the request of the The Times (London), Albert Einstein wrote: Here is yet another application of the principle of relativity…today I am described in Germany as a “German savant” and in England as a “Swiss Jew.” Should it ever be my fateContinue reading “Relativity and the Immigrant”
Michael Ondaatje, Divisadero and the ‘Hidden Presence of Others’
Michael Ondaatje‘s Divisadero is a wise book, elliptical and allusive in his distinctive style, one replaying close, attentive reading to its many lovely, lyrical lines, too many to excerpt and note. Here is one that hones in on a truth already known to those who create: Everything is biographical…What we make, why it is made,Continue reading “Michael Ondaatje, Divisadero and the ‘Hidden Presence of Others’”
Paul Valéry on the Indispensability of Avatars
Paul Valéry is quoted in Stephen Dunn‘s Walking Light (New York, Norton 1993) as saying: I believe in all sincerity that if each man were not able to live a number of lives besides his own, he would not be able to live his own life. Valéry’s stress on the sincerity of this claim for theContinue reading “Paul Valéry on the Indispensability of Avatars”
The Child’s Photographic Record and Personal Narratives
Like any doting first-time parents, my wife and I went a little photography-batty in the hours and days following our daughter’s birth. We had three cameras: two in phones, and one little Panasonic digital unit. We clicked away madly, recording every little change in expression, ever bodily movement that seemed significant. Those three cameras allContinue reading “The Child’s Photographic Record and Personal Narratives”
Babies and Personal Identity
As a professor of philosophy I have taught personal identity several times; almost always in introductory classes; mostly via John Locke, David Hume, and the Buddha, and by relying on standard examples in the literature (the Ship of Theseus for instance). Invariably, I begin my class discussions of personal identity by saying something along the linesContinue reading “Babies and Personal Identity”
Personal Identity And Wanting To Be Jim Lovell
Personal identity is a philosophical topic made for thought experiments. The problem of persistence of identity is quite simply posed; as the Stanford Encylopedia for Philosophy entry for personal identity puts it: What determines which past or future being is you? Suppose you point to a child in an old class photograph and say, “That’sContinue reading “Personal Identity And Wanting To Be Jim Lovell”
Samir Chopra 