Solipsism: Slaying the Slippery Slope Into Self That Says, “My Universe Is Better Than Your Universe”

We each make our own universe. All of the visible electromagnetic frequencies that strike our retinas, perturbations of air that oscillate our eardrums, temperatures that compare and contrast on our skin to derive a common sense of hot or cold, molecules that trigger our olfactory cranial nerve in a code deciphered higher up as smell--these are all data. The human brain, that majestic evolutionary assembler of such data and collator of it into meaning, is like a graphic user interface--a GUI like Windows or IOS. Others whom we encounter, with their own universes, are like the World Wide Web and have their own GUIs.

We are all individual sites on this web of sorts, and we interact to modulate our actions and those of others such that there is a global intelligence called civilization.

Yet, our inner code assesses each other person while their inner codes assess each of us. Civilization allows for some latitude, but in the end, for it to work, there are mandates--the red lines in the sand of civilization--that cannot be crossed, such as DO NOT KILL, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT LIE, etc.

Where each of us draws a line, of how interactive we choose to be with others and their universes, constitutes a slippery slope that slides us to the notion that we consider ourselves to be the end-all of existence--but for each of us.

Tragically, however, not for the "rest of them."

By nature, we are--to the world--social creatures; we have evolved and survived as such. But we harbor a secret that lies buried in the primitive reptile that is our collection of emotions and sense of self-preservation: it is solipsism, that metaphysical sense that we are the only thing real in the universe. This may actually be true, but only in the universe we construct from all the data we receive; that is, from our personal universe.

While cosmologists argue over multiple universes as theories in the realm of physics and their possible colliding and interacting, there already are multiple universes colliding and interacting in the realm of metaphysics. We all witness these collisions as we navigate the human multiverse from day to day.

It is solipsism that gives each of us independence and autonomy, but it can warp into an isolationist attitude toward others. When this isolationism begins to distort into a sense of "us" and "them," it goes against our evolution as social beings. It is not a stretch to say that disliking others who are unlike us is a type of mental illness, if mental illness is defined as deviating from the way we have evolved to think.

Evolution in thinking has allowed us to recognize others who are dissimilar, and this has had an important survival upshot for us when we recognize those who want to do us harm; but when concluding that all others who are dissimilar are out to do us harm, this can become mental illness. It is especially insidious when we equate "do us harm" with "do us no good," which flies in the face of "live and let live." Such a sneaky sentiment is the seed of resentment which, if nurtured by the emotions of our primitive selves, can grow into a robust scorn, followed by hate, and subsequently followed by a type of genocidal sentiment of the mind. Civilization allows us to police these negative thoughts, but one of the pitfalls of solipsism is that it depends on ourselves to determine how each of us draws a line between self and others and what negative thoughts are policed.

Stepping back from self is difficult, but if you can rise above your solipsism, walk in others' shoes, you can rejoin the human race in a way we have evolved to walk, that is, upright. We have evolved as empaths, and any straying from that is deviancy.

Solipsism is a matter of degrees, intensity, perspective. Rising above it is the step you must take in order to foster kindness, inclusivity, empathy, and fellowship among your brothers and sisters.

Being racist, sexist, jingoistic, gender identity-hostile, or generally non-inclusive (or even selectively inclusive)--that is, if you're thinking "us" and "them," that is really "us-vs-them." This is the ugly stepchild of your natural solipsism that's a dissociation from reality in which you self-appoint yourself as king or queen of your universe, awaiting tribute. While not exactly schizophrenia, it is close: it turns on voices that speak against others and hardwires your brain for paranoia, with solipsism topping it off with the Fool's Golden Rule:

"Do unto others before they can do unto you."

It is genocidal and it begins as a self-deception when you fear the interaction of the universes that come into contact with your own. History has proven that we are all capable of it; just pick any war from history.

It's fine to foster your individual identity, healthy to champion your self-preservation, and even admirable to follow your ambitions for self-betterment and advancement. Those are the rewards of solipsism; but it's a slippery slope, and if you push others away--sometimes forcibly--you may not be qualified to manage it. You can become qualified, however, if you realize the limitations of solipsism and where, unbridled, it becomes a disease. It's a matter of mental health, and civilization relies upon it.