Deschutes Public Library

Losing ourselves, learning to live without a self, Jay L. Garfield

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

index present

non fiction

Losing ourselves

bibliography

1277274588

Jay L. Garfield

learning to live without a self

"Drawing on Indian and East Asian Buddhism, Daoism, Western philosophy, and cognitive neuroscience, Jay Garfield shows why it is perfectly natural to think you have a self-and why it actually makes no sense at all and is even dangerous. Most importantly, he explains why shedding the illusion that you have a self can make you a better person. Examining a wide range of arguments for and against the existence of the self, Losing Ourselves makes the case that there are not only good philosophical and scientific reasons to deny the reality of the self, but that we can lead healthier social and moral lives if we understand that we are selfless persons. The book describes why the Buddhist idea of no-self is so powerful and why it has immense practical benefits, helping us to abandon egoism, act more morally and ethically, be more spontaneous, perform more expertly, and navigate ordinary life more skillfully."--, Provided by publisher

Who do you think you are? What a self is and why you think you have one -- why you have no self: the view from Buddhism, philosophy, and science -- What you really are: recovering and discovering the person -- The self strikes back I: The transcendent self -- The self strikes back II: The minimal self -- Immersion: selfless spontaneity and skillful living -- Ethics: abandon the self to abandon egoism -- Affirmation: becoming and being a person among person -- Being in the world: living as a person -- Getting over yourself: drawing this all together

Learning to live without a self