X-Message-Number: 17103
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 21:25:06 -0500 (CDT)
From: Eivind Berge <>
Subject: self-worth

George Smith wrote:

> It is possible to imagine a life without self judgement first.
> Just imagine what it would be like to skip that part and get on
> to doing what you wanted to do. The first step in planning is
> knowing where you want to end up.

I agree.
 
It seems to me that assigning an infinite value to yourself would
also work just as well as skipping the self-estimation. Both of
these would also be equivalent to embracing egoism, which I did
long ago.

John Grigg wrote:

> I feel to be a sentient being is more then enough reason to feel
> justified in one's existance. I do also feel that a person does
> need to have respect for others(not murdering, raping, robbing,
> or torturing them) as a basic component of worth. And also,
> trying to develop one's personal potential, along with helping
> other's where it is possible, adds to one's value.

Then you have not really liberated yourself from the notion of
externally justified self-worth. In order to do this, you have
to stop telling people how they must act before they can feel
they are worth something. *We* may not think much of the
murderer, but that is irrelevant to him if he follows the advice
of George Smith.

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17103