> We could call them pre-rational, rational, and meta-rational. These stages are distinctive, internally consistent, relatively-well-functioning modes for organ

> We could call them pre-rational, rational, and meta-rational. These stages are distinctive, internally consistent, relatively-well-functioning modes for organizing one’s thinking, one’s self, and one’s relationships. They might be described as “islands of psychological stability.” To progress from one island to the next, you must cross a heaving sea of psychological confusion, in which the previous mode no longer seems functional, but you cannot yet operate in the next mode reliably. These stage transitions are emotionally and cognitively difficult, and typically take several years, during which one may think, feel, and act inconsistently. I might be an outlier, but that doesn't resonate with me at all? I'm pretty sure I've been at something that looked like those stages at multiple points in my life, but AFAICT I've never had any "oh god, everything I thought I knew is a lie, reality is subjective, I need to reinvent logic from the ground up" phase. More like, I've had different philosophies in life, and when I've been confronted with bits of these philosophies being wrong (usually by arguing on the internet) or with other people with similar beliefs to mine being wrong (usually by arguing on the internet), I just... changed my mind? There's doesn't need to be anything mind-shattering about any of this. You can systematize the way you think without reinventing thinking from first principles.