Saturday, August 21, 2010
Peering Out from the Vortex
Reflection, that is, explicit Self-Consciousness, is arrived at when one internalizes an image of how one appears to others in general, that is, one self-objectifies, or, as Sartre puts it, one 'assumes' one's 'Being-for-Others'. In the Evolvemental scheme, this is the achievement of the awareness of one's particularity qua particularity, namely the emergence of one's Individuality.
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This sounds like a good thing, although I've never seen it that way.
ReplyDeleteBut how can it be avoided?
I've heard it said that it's not my business what others think of me. In other words, stay out of peoples' heads, let them make up their own minds, draw their own conclusions, and let it go.
The statement in the post doesn't quite capture the whole progression of one's "evolvement", and in that sense, it's both good and bad. I borrowed it from an analytic philosopher's blog that I read... and he's heavily into "comparative" philosophy and he doesn't always acknowledge all the "systemic" interactions within individual philosophies. Ontologically speaking, Sartre's inludes "Being in Itself" and "Being FOR One's-self" in ADDITION to "Being for others" in the development of one's "individuality."
ReplyDeleteAnd I think it likely impossible to "not worry" about what others think of you. We're "hard-wired" to imprint upon and imitate others.
As you can see, I've gotten pretty wrapped up in this "vortex" metaphor lately... it's supplanting my rather 2-dimensional "Ixion's Wheel" metaphor. So in those terms, I don't think you can just "ignore" the whirlwind you are being swept away in. But I suspect you can put it in a box and see how it plays with all your "other" boxes when trying to consider when you attempt to distill the "essence" of your own individuality.
Completely ignoring others would like attempting to be like the guy in the video posted, laying in the middle of the street... or at the top of the escalator... you'll get run over and stepped upon.
ReplyDeleteA more "Greek" metaphor would be like attempting to "seek the golden fleece" and achieve complete "self-reliance"... and we all know how that's worked out for those who have attempted juche (like North Korea) in the past.
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