In my case, I felt no 'self' for many years... from trauma /abuse. I still sometimes feel I dont' have a right to 'me'. To be. To feel. To just be who I AM in front of others. When I was younger and even into adult years, I'd be chastised and belittled for even saying my opinion on something as trivial as what meat you enjoyed for dinner.. nevermind if you defended yourself from awful words like dumb, curse words, etc. I began to feel I didn't have a right to be me, or that to be me was not good, and it was weak or less. How can one feel a right to a 'self'? What would that 'self' need to know? Many philosophers say we should shy AWAY from a self... or mainly from ego. That we are one, and the self leads to suffering, comparison, etc. However I often don't even feel connected to others sometimes .... any similar experience welcome
I know what you mean. Something you hear a lot in child custody cases is "Does that mean I'm real now?"
A subtle variation of online rejection is a demand for "sources" in a casual discussion. It's as if you have no right to express any opinion at all unless you can show that you got it from some authority.
A not -so-subtle variation is the upvote/downvote option used by many forums. If your downvotes exceed some number, your posting privileges are cut. In that case a downvote is equivalent to murder.
