The Recursive Self Inquiry thought experiment involves repeatedly asking oneself, “Who am I?” and tracing identity back through various life stages such student, child, infant, and even to the moment of conception. This iterative process reveals two potential insights: either the self is an illusion, as no fixed or adequate description ever fully captures it (e.g. I am a worker for company x right now, but what about before that, and before that, and…), or the self is an ever-changing function of the universe, continually shaped by time and context. In either realization, the experiment challenges the notion of the identity we prescribe ourselves with, which brings humility and the recognition of infinite potential of the Self.
The goal of The Recursive Self Inquiry is to specifically facilitate the divorce of identity that is tied to opinions. That is, the Self is not bound to notions carried by the mind’s subjective state. The Self is fluid and infinite, it is not bound by what we have been conditioned by. We should not be married to our opinions or state of mind, as it is an illusion to believe this is what makes us who we are and how we should carry ourselves. This thought experiment is one way to achieve that mind state.
Base case:
if (N = birth)
return;