Part 4 of 5: I Am A I
Okay, admittedly, if I go up to an atheist-on-the-street and I ask what her core belief is, as an atheist, she will probably say: “I don’t believe God exists”.
She will probably not say: “I believe the Final Fact is only reactive.”
Nor is she likely to say this, if I press her on what it means for God to not-exist.
What she will probably come down to, sooner or later, is: “I don’t believe a Person exists Who made the world or does anything else.”
If I ask her whether she is a person, however, she will probably say: “Yes.”
In fact, she is likely to say: “Of course!”
If she is being especially reflective, she might say: “I don’t know.”
She will probably not say: “I am not a person”–unless she is devotedly following a metaphysic that teaches her she is not a person.
But even philosophers who consider themselves to be nothing in the zero sum, or who consider themselves to be illusions of conscious will, still expect to be paid by their employers. They will insist they have rights. They will prefer not to be plagiarized or libeled.
Even a guru who says to us “I am not a person”, expects us to treat him as a person.
And even if he renounces all material connections (such as followers, for instance) and goes out into the desert alone to starve–he still will find himself fighting the temptation to say “I AM… not a person.”
If he is honest, and understands what he is doing.
Such people would never be reading this book, of course. They would not be where I am. And they would be doing their best not to listen to me if I went to them–for I would be only one more illusion.
I do feel very sorry for them, though.
They would think my pity is an illusion, too.