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I think it's worth asking yourself, "What is the consequence of being unable to answer this question?" In most of your examples, the answer is likely: none. Th
by tvanantwerp 9y ago
I think it's worth asking yourself, "What is the consequence of being unable to answer this question?" In most of your examples, the answer is likely: none.
These questions are mostly some form of arbitrary categorization--the sort of thing humans love to do to make sense of the world. But these are just mental shortcuts, and best used for trying to understand others for whom you have little insight into their deepest thoughts and feelings. If your wife rises at 6am everyday, you don't need to deeply feel what she feels about rising early--just call her a morning person and move on to thinking about breakfast.
For yourself, you are free to appreciate the nuance of experience because you have unfiltered access to all of it. Don't feel the need to categorize yourself, which can just constrain your thoughts and actions to those stereotypically within that category. (I've associated with enough -ism's over the years to realize that I don't ever want to describe myself with any -ism label again.) Really examine the thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations of your experience apart from labels created by society.
- WingH 9y agoReminds me very much of what Eckhart Tolle says. “You are not your personal history. You are not your story.”
- untangle 9y ago> Reminds me very much of what Eckhart Tolle says. “You are not your personal history. You are not your story.” If not that, then what? Your aspirations? Your beliefs? Your intentions?
- thegabez 9y agoHow can you say that not knowing yourself has more utility than knowing yourself?
- GavinMcG 9y agoI think it's more that confidently moving forward without self-knowledge has more value than ineffectually trying to know yourself. If there were an answer, it might be worth finding, but as that project hasn't found anything promising, there's not much value to keeping on with it.
- p-funk 9y agoI think tvanantwerp's point wasn't that you shouldn't attempt to know yourself, but that you should try to do so in a way that doesn't ascribe labels arbitrarily, such as "morning person" or "evening person". Not all aspects of identity can fit into such boxes. Otherwise, there's quite a risk of reifying the label and thinking that everything the label describes must describe you too.