George Saunders

When I say, I want,

There's a lot of errors in that already.

What's the I?

If you look deeply into it from any of the great traditions, the self is a temporary illusion that appears maybe at birth or maybe a little after birth, some people think.

And so from the very beginning, if you define I the way we conventionally do from the minute we open our eyes in the world, there's a problem because my wanting is,

means at some level I'm taking from you.

Or it could mean we're cooperating.

But mostly it means I'm protecting that perimeter that makes I, makes me.

There's a great error in that from the very beginning.

That, of course, is Darwinian and we can't get around it.

But when you start from that point of view, all the problems...

Wait, but hold on.

I want to know what the error was.

The error is that, in fact, you know, when you go looking for what that I consists of, there's nothing there.

It's an illusion that we create with, I think, philosophers and Buddhists would say with thought.

You reify Ezra by thinking, I got to put a sweater on, you know, and I like this one and whatever.

I'm going to do my show.

You think that.

So it's totally natural and, you know, you can't...

get around it.