Egoism
Egoism as scarcity: there’s only enough for me If I take from you. A history of accumulation of power and resources in the hands of a few. We are made to believe we need to play the game to survive, provided we sacrifice our ability to feel, to empathize, to hurt in the face of injustice when needed.
Without those things, are we still human?
Contradiction/ Yuxtaposition
The clash between the scale of the own body and the bigger scale of structural forces hurts. E.g.: the recognition of my own privilege in the colonial system and at the same time my rejection of that system.
How do you inhabit a specific body with a bond to violence, oppression and inequality?
There are lines that bind us together, accept yuxtaposition.
Self-determination
Egoism can also be: I claim my agency. I know where I stand, the contradictions I exist in, I refuse to be a repetition of history. Friction might happen when we allow difference to exist, when we accept our contradictory relations. A claim for self-affirmation opens up space for agency and urges us to create the conditions for everyone to live according to their truths.