The Boundaries of Self

November 4th, 2006 Fred McVittie Posted in Boundary, Embodiment, Self, Space |

The boundaries of the self are not given and may be placed at any possible location within a continuum stretching from a point of focus to an entirety of space. Within this continuum there are a number of ‘natural’ configurations which serve as default boundaries, the most significant of these probably being the body. We feel ourselves located within, or co-extensive with the body, and it is the body we point to when we indicate ourselves (interestingly, we usually point to the chest when indicating ourselves, rather than the head). The body acts as a liminal zone, rather like the tide-line on a beach, that the self routinely expands and contracts across according to the different states of mind we occupy and the different situations we find ourselves in.

Reduced ability to mobilise the extension/contraction of the self across the tide-line of the body may indicate less than optimal functioning, possibly even pathology. For example, we routinely extend our sense of self to include members of our immediate family, our local community, our country (patriotism), even the land itself; an inability to perform this extension is indicative, at the very least, of self-centredness or self-absorption.

Administration of the boundaries of the self may come from the conscious control of such extension by the mechanisms of mind, as when we consciously undertake procedures to expand our minds, or it may come from outside, in response to circumstance and context. Unwanted attention may cause our sense of self to contract, to retreat behind the barrier of the defensible body. Welcome attention may cause our sense of self to expand such as to include those around us.