I really don't think there's a way of doing away with the self. Nor, do I see any apparent reason to do away with the self.

Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa... didn't they all have selves?

Read some of these and try to come up with some intelligent questions. — Galuchat

Here's one for you...

Under what circumstances is empathy rational?

I would like to expand on the theme of exploitation. It baffles me that so much money is spent on advertising. Google, has made its fortune on the simple exploitation of people, manifest in the ad's you block with NoScript or AdBlock. Marx would have been horrified to wake up to a world where psychology was utilized to milk money from people.

Isn't this evil to exploit human psychology to further one's utility function? Why or how in God's name has this become a normal practice?

While, I understand the point of advertising in promoting better products than what one already has, I do not understand the pointless promotion of toothpaste or pizza that give rise to waste?

Thinking a bit further about this issue, I want to bring up empathy.

How much does empathy factor into treating one's self in a good manner? What is it about empathy that would lead one to conclude that they ought to be empathetic towards themselves?

Just because the probability isn’t high, doesn’t mean the potential isn’t there. — Possibility

Does it require willpower to entertain self-love?

I don't mean to rain on your parade; but, the history of humankind indicates that there are exceedingly few people who are philanthropic. As much as I hate my own negativity, it seems like even after Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins, that we continue on perpetuating this theme of self-enrichment, even manifest in this thread!

Self-love?

I tend to think, that self-love, is manifest in the common psychologist parting statement until one's next visit, being "Be gentle/kind to yourself". I have felt this sentiment in many sessions with psychologists.

Another important question in my view would be:

Why don't people feel self-love?
What is preventing people from feeling self-love?

Happiness has two aspects viz.

1. Pleasure and our desire to seek it

2. Pain and our desire to avoid it

*Relatively speaking, pleasure is a want and avoidance of pain is a need — TheMadFool

This seems like an oversimplification in my view. Surely, there's more than one way to overcome an obstacle, or not?

"Sefl love" is a very ambiguous term which can mean whatever one wants it to. — IvoryBlackBishop

How do you characterize it?

If psychopaths love themselves, how do they implement the Golden Rule? — Galuchat

They do it in their own way. I don't think being a psychopath automatically means one is evil, although they do seem to have a propensity for doing very selfish acts. Psychopaths worry me; but, they lead a burdensome life of acting out their intentions in a manner consistent with what non-psychopaths would find as "normal".

Likewise, to love ourselves as an exclusive entity with all our limitations, we limit our love for the world. — Possibility

Yes, well, this seems like a common theme of yours, about inter-connectivity. Yet, most people feel very lonely and sad being themselves.

How do you explain this feature of the world, that leaves us feeling desolated with our own thoughts?

I don't believe it's as thus a dichotomy.

What makes you think it's an avoidance of pain?

Yes, Neuralink, my apologies...

https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=hydroxychloroquin

https://my.indiamart.com/

What prevents self-haters from treating others as themselves? — Galuchat

Well, if we reduce the self as the common denominator here, then it seems that the feeling must originate from one's self rather than another.

Hence, it almost seems imperative, that we learn to love ourselves with all our defects and vices, and work from there.

Yes, without self-love you don't hold yourself to account. One way to look at it: when you don't love someone, you're indifferent to their actions--you don't care if they do bad shit. — jamalrob

This seems to be the gist of the issue. I believe that we need to love ourselves first, rather than being in love. Many people mix this up, for some reason.

PLEASE make it stop!

Please make that cat stop crying.

Self-love is a spectrum that can be hard to nail down and quantify. — christian2017

No need to quantify a qualifier.

Think of it as like a very good and sold plinth upon which a highest good will be built. — tim wood

And, what is that?

@csalisbury What do you think?

It seems like folks with issues have a deficit of self-love. How does one account for that?

Narcissus was not in love with his self, but with his image — ChatteringMonkey

True; but, what else is there apart from one's image of one's self?

Someone said authoritarianism would make a comeback. I highly doubt that.

If anything we out to become more science oriented and focused on issues that can be dealt with by science.

Universal Basic Income will be taken much more seriously in the future, I hypothesize ...

The French have come to the same conclusion, and if I'm not mistaken the Canadians are going to test it on 1,500 subjects (not humans)...

Or, is it like Trump's age old malaria drug hunch, where we don't need additional proof of what the evidence will be, we already just know? — Hanover

You must be high. The age old malaria drug, which is chloroquine or Hydroxychloroquine are effective, per reports of South Korea and China...

Just be kind to yourself. :fire: :heart:

I just read an article on The Atlantic about, correct me if wrong, a stimulus package for Danish to continue work in the private sector for 75 percent in original salary pay for 13 weeks, which would cost quite a lot.

It's a shoddy article, but inspiration is due for such a plan.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/608533/

Man, am I tired of pharma. I want something that can be called a absolute relief from psychiatric issues. Apart from solving that I don't care to communicate in memes or enhance xyz.

I hope we focus more money on preventing such calamities in the future.

For example;
....
Disease prevention
Nuclear war
War
Potential asteroids hitting earth
Yellowstone supervolcano
....
Etc.

Oh yeah...
CLIMATE CHANGE 2!$+#8&

Pretty much. I kinda weighed the risks, and think that it would be good for schizophrenia, depression, and such.

But! The underlying rationale is downright idiotic. Who cares if AI is faster than us or that we must adapt to it? I'm fine with my bandwidth as it is.

I bought some Hydroxychloroquine yesterday. It's touted as safe and one of the reasons it's been halting the spread of Coronovirus in South Korea and China.

Well. I believe that there is some kind of hidden hand operating in the background for deterministic games, such as chess, which would narrow down the correlation and causation aspect of white winning on average, rather than black.

It would be indeed strange to psychologize the issue and say that playing white brings in a false positive in terms of bias or some such reason.

If you have membership with Ralph's, it comes out to be something like 14 USD for 90 tablets @ 200mg.

Use a coupon code website like goodRx.com if you want it cheap.

Nah. Man. The Chinese have higher ethical standards than US, and the online labs retailing on Alibaba with a trade assurance policy all have a solid and sound reputation.

The psychopathic chiefs would want it to cost 5 million; but, it's an old drug also known as Plaquenil, available at CVS, Costco, and elsewhere.

It's available via prescription also. But, Alibaba is the go to place for your anticorona infection treatments in bulk.

What's 49 USD for some peace of mind?

I bought some Hydroxychloroquine from Alibaba. Intend to do the French protocol of 600mg a day for 7 days.

All in all it costed me with shipping from China via DHL, 49 USD for 10g.