Being Self-centered

The foundation of Inclusive Egocentricity is admitting to being self-centered and embracing it. As mentioned in the introduction, everything in life is experienced from the inside out. We internally process information provided by sensory organs. In order to maximize efficiency and positive results in our choices, we must align our decision making with the biological limitations we have. Each of us is the center of his own personal universe.

Being self-centered in this way does not immediately assign positive or negative values to actions, but gives a reference point for decision making. Where other systems may say, "How does this affect others?" first, Inclusive Egocentricity asks, "How does this affect me?"

Due to the way in which we experience life, we must then prioritize our decision making primarily with our own physical health, especially sensory health. This is not to maximize the stimulation of the pleasure center of the brain as a hedonist may do, but to ensure the successful processing of future data. Along with this idea, life itself is defined not by the beating of a heart, or the electromagnetism of brainwaves, but by  the continuation of experience. Experience being the internal processing of sensory data. In order to function properly in a self-centered fashion, we must protect and maintain our hardware (sensory gathering equipment) first. Only after this is satisfied, do we begin to worry about the software, our mental health and intangible needs.

All of this may seem "selfish" but that is not the case. A selfish individual disregards the needs of others for the sake of personal well-being, pleasure, or growth. A self-centered individual begins by satisfying his own needs, and then moves on to others with the intent of growing the whole. For example, airline safety demonstrations tell parents to put on their own oxygen masks before helping their children. In Inclusive Egocentricity, we are self-centered but not selfish. We work to expand our concept of self to include others. The sense of self then radiates from the individual to create levels of Us.

(quick personal anecdote)
When I had been dating my wife for a while, before we got married, I noticed that I had been making decisions that not long ago would have only taken into account myself with her in mind. We were bound, and I was choosing actions based on how they would affect us, not just me. Long story short, that's when I realized she was the one I wanted to marry, but the idea carries on into the next paragraph.
(end anecdote)

Those of us who are not hermits spend our lives surrounded by others. We interact with other humans in person, over the phone, via the internet. Throughout these interactions, we develop circles, groups of people to whom we are connected. These circles fit into a system I call the levels of Us. When I use the "we" or "us" in general conversation, the most likely group of people I am speaking for is the husband-wife pair that I am a part of. For me this is the level closest to the center. Moving out from there, my kids join in. After that, I have other family and close friends. The ultimate goal is to expand the inclusion into "us" to include everyone. For decision making purposes, and for logistical reasons, our choices should be made tackling one level at a time. This list will be different for everyone, and could be very complicated. For explanation, I'll use a simple system. Radiating out from myself are only 5 levels, Wife & I, Immediate Family, Extended Family and Friends, People I know, People I don't know. Each level includes all who are in the earlier levels, so the final level is humanity as a whole. I'm not going to expand to "all life" and "the universe."

In an earlier paragraph I mentioned that decisions for taking care of the self start with physiological needs that I refer to as hardware, and then mental, emotional, social needs that I refer to as software. When we add in the levels of Us, the decision making system for Inclusive Egocentricity starts with the question, "How does this affect?" We then move outward from ourselves through the rings determining first the potential effect to hardware, then software and make a decision.

Throughout history, people have found many ways to be in conflict with each other, breaking down the effectiveness of this system, and I'll address that in the next post.