Everyone, I'm convinced, is a solipsist. It's synonymous with human nature. We simply cannot know anything or anyone, including ourselves, outside of a subjective point of view. The scary part is that most people are unconsciously solipsistic. They don't recognize their solipsism. Worst of all, they are so solipsistic and so unconscious of their solipsism that they fail to acknowledge that others have the same right to solipsism as they do. So they are forever blaming others for not satisfying their needs. Or justifying and rationalizing their selfishness. Or accusing others of being self-absorbed. Which is another way of saying, "Why don't you acknowledge my superior reality? Why don't you sacrifice yourself to me?"
There is such a thing as ethical solipsism. And it consists primarily in this insight: that everyone is equally the center of his or her own universe just as you are the center of yours. Everyone, ultimately, is alone. We are born alone and die alone. Our world has it genesis and apocalypse with our birth and death. Everyone is their own star, shining alone, in the midst of infinite space.
* * *
One positive thing (and there are several) about being not only solipsistic and self-absorbed, but perhaps also falling somewhere on the Aspergers Spectrum, is that I haven't a hypocritical bone in my body. There is no separation between my public and private personas. I'm totally asocial, outside of society and societal norms of thought and behavior. As a result, when push comes to shove, it's irrelevant to me what other people think of me. Not subject to the pressures most people feel to "belong" or to find approval, I can make radical choices and changes in my life in accordance with my desires. Changes and choices that others would be hesitant to make, or find impossible to make, for fear of meeting with disapproval or dreading that they might be socially ostracized.
Having never felt a sense of belonging in the first place, I have no fear of not belonging. I know upfront that I'll never belong. I have no position or stake in society. In fact, I feel more comfortable on the outside of everything than on the inside of anything. Nothing makes me feel so trapped as to be "welcomed" into a group. Being welcome, to me, feels like a compromise of my honesty and integrity, an invasion of the borders of my individuality, a diminution and dilution of self. It feels like being swallowed whole.
There is such a thing as ethical solipsism. And it consists primarily in this insight: that everyone is equally the center of his or her own universe just as you are the center of yours. Everyone, ultimately, is alone. We are born alone and die alone. Our world has it genesis and apocalypse with our birth and death. Everyone is their own star, shining alone, in the midst of infinite space.
* * *
One positive thing (and there are several) about being not only solipsistic and self-absorbed, but perhaps also falling somewhere on the Aspergers Spectrum, is that I haven't a hypocritical bone in my body. There is no separation between my public and private personas. I'm totally asocial, outside of society and societal norms of thought and behavior. As a result, when push comes to shove, it's irrelevant to me what other people think of me. Not subject to the pressures most people feel to "belong" or to find approval, I can make radical choices and changes in my life in accordance with my desires. Changes and choices that others would be hesitant to make, or find impossible to make, for fear of meeting with disapproval or dreading that they might be socially ostracized.
Having never felt a sense of belonging in the first place, I have no fear of not belonging. I know upfront that I'll never belong. I have no position or stake in society. In fact, I feel more comfortable on the outside of everything than on the inside of anything. Nothing makes me feel so trapped as to be "welcomed" into a group. Being welcome, to me, feels like a compromise of my honesty and integrity, an invasion of the borders of my individuality, a diminution and dilution of self. It feels like being swallowed whole.
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