# you are alone **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 25, 2018, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477 "2018-10-25T03:07:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/1 "2018-10-25T03:07:18Z")
This is something I have a problem with and it concerns this nonduality bit. It’s a bit off of the “everything is one”, and the aspect of there not being an independent self. How everything that appears seperate is just an expression of the universe. SO if everything is one then that means that there are no friends and no one else. It’s an extension of the “no self” proclaimed truth from buddhism. That what you see before you is merely just an extension of the universe and not something independent with it’s own essence. Therefor, seperateness is just an illusion since everything is connected by being part of the whole. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/2 "2018-10-25T03:21:21Z")
If you lived where I live you’d know what being alone is, I promise. That algae on the pond ain’t much company. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/3 "2018-10-25T03:50:50Z")
---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/4 "2018-10-25T03:52:18Z")
Are you arguing that you are always alone or that you are never alone? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/5 "2018-10-25T05:01:40Z")
I am alert. The world needs more lerts. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/6 "2018-10-25T05:12:01Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > This is something I have a problem with and it concerns this nonduality bit. It’s a bit off of the “everything is one”, and the aspect of there not being an independent self. How everything that appears seperate is just an expression of the universe. SO if everything is one then that means that there are no friends and no one else. > > It’s an extension of the “no self” proclaimed truth from buddhism. That what you see before you is merely just an extension of the universe and not something independent with it’s own essence. Therefor, seperateness is just an illusion since everything is connected by being part of the whole. Grow a pair and get used to it is my advice. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/7 "2018-10-25T05:36:45Z")
Read more Henry Rollins. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/8 "2018-10-25T05:42:06Z")
Not meaning to slag on the OP, but it’s always interesting to see Westerners’ take on Buddhism. I lived in a Buddhist society, Thailand, for most of my adult life. (I’m in my 60s now.) My Thai wife is a Buddhist. It’s a toss-up which is more bizarre – Western Buddhists who have never personally experienced a Buddhist society; or Eastern Christians from Buddhist societies who have never personally experienced a Christian society. The Thai Christians I knew back in Thailand were straight out of left field. (Disclaimer: I am neither a Buddhist nor a Christian.) ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/9 "2018-10-25T10:29:51Z")
Am I likely to be eaten by a grue? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/10 "2018-10-25T11:16:28Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > Therefor, seperateness is just an illusion The word after what should’ve been “Therefore” should’ve been “separateness”. How did I catch that, if you didn’t? Are we somehow viewing stuff differently, with me spotting things and choosing to bring them to your attention — even while I’m aware of yet _other_ things, which I’m choosing _not_ to bring to your attention? Are you and I, like, _separate?_ In some _for-real, no-foolin’_ sense? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/11 "2018-10-25T11:32:57Z")
Your problem is that word “just”. Everything is separate AND everything is connected. Everything is real AND everything is an illusion. See how much more comforting that is? Don’t thank me, I’m just an illusion. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/12 "2018-10-25T13:12:56Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > That what you see before you is merely just an extension of the universe and not something independent with it’s own essence. As long as the universe keeps extending me Bud Lite, I’m cool with it. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/13 "2018-10-25T13:23:40Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Am I likely to be eaten by a grue? Here, it’s today’s internet. You deserve it. ---
**Author:** ![senoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@senoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senoy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/14 "2018-10-25T13:31:08Z")
There is a self. It’s one of the few things we can actually be confident of. I’m a Pyrrhonist skeptic by inclination and even I can’t deny the self. Anyone that does is so far in left field that there is no conversation to be had. By nature of the fact that “I” am conceiving this thought, it proves the “I.” Everything else might be fake, but the I has to be there. “I” might be a brain in a vat or a pink luck dragon dreaming along the beaches of Titan, but ‘I’ must exist or else there would be nothing that is perceiving. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/15 "2018-10-25T13:39:30Z")
Yes I am. And that’s where I want to be. ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/16 "2018-10-25T13:45:28Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Not meaning to slag on the OP, but it’s always interesting to see Westerners’ take on Buddhism. I lived in a Buddhist society, Thailand, for most of my adult life. (I’m in my 60s now.) My Thai wife is a Buddhist. It’s a toss-up which is more bizarre – Western Buddhists who have never personally experienced a Buddhist society; or Eastern Christians from Buddhist societies who have never personally experienced a Christian society. The Thai Christians I knew back in Thailand were straight out of left field. > > (Disclaimer: I am neither a Buddhist nor a Christian.) This is fascinating to me. Can you give an example of how the Thai Christians were “straight out of left field”? ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/17 "2018-10-25T13:47:01Z")
> [@senoy](#): > > There is a self. It’s one of the few things we can actually be confident of. I’m a Pyrrhonist skeptic by inclination and even I can’t deny the self. Anyone that does is so far in left field that there is no conversation to be had. By nature of the fact that “I” am conceiving this thought, it proves the “I.” Everything else might be fake, but the I has to be there. “I” might be a brain in a vat or a pink luck dragon dreaming along the beaches of Titan, but ‘I’ must exist or else there would be nothing that is perceiving. I agree with this. Without acknowledging the reality of “self”, everything becomes unintelligible. Science becomes meaningless and irrational. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-alone/823477/18 "2018-10-25T13:55:39Z")
**Machinaforce** , I instructed you [several months ago](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21065096&postcount=4) to not start a new thread every time you have a philosophical thought. You’re welcome to continue posting in any of your numerous existing threads, and people can keep responding to you as you post in them. But no more of this. If you keep at it, you may start earning warnings. For those other posters participating in the discussion, if this is a topic of particular interest to you, you’re welcome to start your own thread and link back to this one for reference. This particular thread is closed.