Free Will, Decision making and religion

[JuliaL]

---

In what reference frame is the feeling of having an identity an illusion? Are you a philosophical realist?

---

In reference to the proposed description of reality in the first post on this thread. Assuming reality is truly as the first post describes, then I think it would follow that identity is illusory, even if the apparent experience of identity actually occurs.

OK, got it. Though I have a hard time understanding how the experience of being a self could be deluding itself regarding itself. It is its own, identical to itself, frame of reference. What would it be "actually" in the OP? An emergent property of some other system?

---

Identity is what it is. From there, reality is the illusion (or at least its actual existence is unprovable.)
I'm here. I'm not so sure about everything else.

---

That's fine. I don't think Descartes ever truly got farther than that either. It is interesting in itself that most of us on the planet (maybe not?) probably agree with you and here's why it's interesting: most people go about interacting with their perceived reality, with other people, and even investigate it, but always with the underlying reservation that says "it is possible that none of this is real". Weird.

Problems of solipsism & inference, as far as I know, have no firm solutions.
So we ignore them and act as if there was a reality and that tomorrow will follow on similar to today. We really have no other well defended choice. Only occasionally do we consciously recognize that this is the situation.