A comment of mine triggered a thread on AN, so here is some clarifications on AN and identity
https://www.reddit.com/r/antinatalism/comments/1tis24u/found_this_reply_in_natalism_subreddit_what_do/?sort=new this comment of mine triggered a whole thread on r/antinatalism , and I even got dmd by a few antinatalists willing to argue.
There seems to be a tendency on antinatalism to resist any self transcendence (in the sense of them being unable to identify with more than their most immediate "self" and their emotional states, in an almost religious like belief in a really existing soul/ego). A father or a mother for example, extends their own identity to their children and thus lives in them, as their sense of individual self is no longer limited to their own body, a good parent would thus be willing to sacrifice their own individual life for their children. The same can be said about a patriot who identifies with their nation and can die for it, knowing that the nation lives on.
Identity is not an inherent, independently existing thing, nor is there a magical soul floating around and inhabiting bodies, nor do people possess independently existing souls or are magically created upon birth, all of these are processes which exist relatively, conditionally. The difference in identity is a matter of degree, the more limited it is the more limited your life is and the more prone to suffering you will be as you will experience more anxiety. Those who identify with their body only will of course be extremely resistant to physical death and fear it, as they will believe that they truly are this body and thus will be gone upon the body decomposing, when truly, they never had any independent existence in the first place but were mere appearances in a process. Those who extend their identity to their children will live fear less and have more life, those who extend it to their nation will have an even more stable identity, those who push it further and identify with life or nature itself (or God if you want to put it that way and go all Jesus-like) or indeed recognize the emptiness of their identity (like the buddhists do) will attain freedom from death and fear as well as suffering, as they will not be limited to any particular thing at any given moment and thus will not be subject to death at all.
So depending on what your identity is and what you live for, some things will come more or less naturally to you. If your identity is limited to your most immediate desires and pleasures and does not look ahead at all, your behavior will be that of an average addict and will result in only so much life and existence, as the things you will produce, your so called fruits will be extremely limited. If your identity is extended to your family, you will love and care for it, working for it and providing for it, if it goes further than that and concerns your country for example, you will be able to take responsibilities and make sacrifices in the name of this country. If you identity with life itself, your choices will make sure that life in all places is taken care of, is allowed to grow and be nourished and is protected, as you will take offense when a living being is hurt the same way you would take offense when someone would hurt you, because you will truly consider them to be parts of yourself.
The more selfish a person, the more limited an identity, the less life and being they will produce. Unfortunately, antinatalists are mostly people who have been hurt by life, never provided the love they needed to flourish and develop healthy identities, so of course, all they perceive is misery and death, as that is all they have seen and in consequence that is all they can produce. They are mostly right about most of the diagnoses about the world, it is true that it is full of suffering, war and hate, but it does not need more of that, what it needs more of is nourishment, care and love. Antinatalism will only die off when the conditions which give rise to trauma and pain and anguish, and unhealthy and damaged identities like those of the antinatalists are no longer present, when there are no longer children who are conditioned to live in fear and avoidance but are raised with the love they deserve to grow into persons who will be loving themselves and to produce more of this love and life, because love is that which gives and creates, do not then blame them for being miserable, that is the only world they know. Simply having more children will not be enough to fix the problem, the world needs healing and the healing of the world begins by healing our own damaged, limited and selfish selves.
Light begets light and darkness begets darkness, do not expect to gather grapes from thorns nor figs from thistles.