sense of self

Asking readers whether they have any ideas what the man might mean, Ann Althouse links a perplexing tidbit from former presidential hopeful Mark Sanford:

I’m here because if you were to look at God’s laws, they’re in every instance designed to protect people from themselves. I think that that is the bottom line of God’s law, that it’s not a moral, rigid list of do’s and don’ts just for the heck of do’s and don’ts. It is indeed to protect us from ourselves. And the biggest self of self is, indeed, self; that sin is, in fact, grounded in this notion of what is it that I want as opposed to somebody else?

I think that depends on what the is in self of self is. In my selfest self of selfist selves, there is no is, and thus there are no ises to self around with.
Now, you might say that makes no sense, just as many are saying that Mark Sanford’s remarks made no sense. But since when has not making sense stopped anyone from not making sense?
There are some things worse than not making sense, though. It’s when the stuff that does not make sense is invoked as justification for telling people what to do. I found someone who makes even less sense than Governor Sanford, but who invokes her senselessness in precisely that way. The president of PETA believes that just as purebred dogs should not have purebred dogs, purebred humans should not have purebred babies:

“I am opposed to having children. Having a purebred human baby is like having a purebred dog; it’s nothing but vanity, human vanity.”

No more selves!
Does that mean man was vainly created in the image of a purebred god?


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2 responses to “sense of self”

  1. Donna B. Avatar

    Wouldn’t the earth be a beautiful place if humans would only disappear?

  2. Eric Scheie Avatar

    That seems to the goal of a lot of people. Build a better world for everyone with no one in it!