The idea of the mirror is really important, not just someone else holding one up but being aware of how our own projections on others can tell us things about ourselves
Really enjoyed this (again) - and I love the term, "meformer". I know quite a few of those.
One thing I would like to chuck into the mix is that the "self" that we are aware (or not) of, is a pretty complex beast... Philosophers (particularly my dear friends the existentialists), psychologists and psychoanalysts have been arguing for well over a century that we don't have a simple, unitary, consistent self - and neuroscience is catching up (see for example "The Self Delusion" by Gregory Berns). Which suggests we need to be alive to this complexity, and hold our (hopefully self-aware) beliefs about who we are with a certain lightness.
For many philosophers (particularly Nietzsche), there are even more significant implications. Development as human beings is not just "self awareness" in the sense of discovering what is already there, but actually at a very deep level _creating_ our identity. He writes that we should be "poets of our lives" which I think brilliantly encapsulates this sense of creativity.
James, I've really enjoyed your contribution to this (again) - I've been mulling over the ideas with interest. Is the argument you refer to based around an idea that we have many versions of self which exist in parallel at a given time, or more that the self is wholly impermenant and changes as we think we come to know it, thus making it impossible to ever pin down? I think I could buy into both ideas. The Buddhist teachings on impermenance resonate with me, and I'm intrigued now by the idea that a moment of self-enlightenment necessitates a change within us which means we are immediately a slightly different self to explore and understand.
Thank you for the book suggestion, it sounds like I would enjoy that.
There is absolutely a resonance with Buddhist teachings here too - the idea of impermanence of self (I have heard it described as "anatta"), and that seeking a permanent real self is a cause of suffering.
But that said, we are all different - so I am sure people experience this to different extents and in different ways.
The idea of the mirror is really important, not just someone else holding one up but being aware of how our own projections on others can tell us things about ourselves
"If you spot it, you've got it"
Really enjoyed this (again) - and I love the term, "meformer". I know quite a few of those.
One thing I would like to chuck into the mix is that the "self" that we are aware (or not) of, is a pretty complex beast... Philosophers (particularly my dear friends the existentialists), psychologists and psychoanalysts have been arguing for well over a century that we don't have a simple, unitary, consistent self - and neuroscience is catching up (see for example "The Self Delusion" by Gregory Berns). Which suggests we need to be alive to this complexity, and hold our (hopefully self-aware) beliefs about who we are with a certain lightness.
For many philosophers (particularly Nietzsche), there are even more significant implications. Development as human beings is not just "self awareness" in the sense of discovering what is already there, but actually at a very deep level _creating_ our identity. He writes that we should be "poets of our lives" which I think brilliantly encapsulates this sense of creativity.
James, I've really enjoyed your contribution to this (again) - I've been mulling over the ideas with interest. Is the argument you refer to based around an idea that we have many versions of self which exist in parallel at a given time, or more that the self is wholly impermenant and changes as we think we come to know it, thus making it impossible to ever pin down? I think I could buy into both ideas. The Buddhist teachings on impermenance resonate with me, and I'm intrigued now by the idea that a moment of self-enlightenment necessitates a change within us which means we are immediately a slightly different self to explore and understand.
Thank you for the book suggestion, it sounds like I would enjoy that.
I would argue both: we have different versions of ourselves (think, for example, around the Jungian or other "archetypes"); and we also change over time (this article has a fascinating discussion of the research around this: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/10/are-you-the-same-person-you-used-to-be-life-is-hard-the-origins-of-you.)
There is absolutely a resonance with Buddhist teachings here too - the idea of impermanence of self (I have heard it described as "anatta"), and that seeking a permanent real self is a cause of suffering.
But that said, we are all different - so I am sure people experience this to different extents and in different ways.