Conversation

Sep 9, 2019

RE Lovecraft and his critique of Kegan, etc., do you believe it is possible for a mind to see its impulses, desires, etc?

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To some degree, yes. Totally, no. A good example of "to some degree" are mindfulness techniques to improve impulse control. E.g., to observe "there is anger manifested as sensations in the body" instead of "I am angry and that person shouldn't have done that to me and and..."

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But to his point, obtaining some degree of impulse awareness and control may cause someone to overestimate their understanding of impulses more deeply, causing them to become even more enslaved by them while masquerading as an enlightened being

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I used to believe that mindfulness and introspection were gates to self-understanding. I now consider such a stance presumptuous and naïve. I can double-check the weight of a steak. How do I double-check my introspections?

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I would say it’s more useful to look at yourself as a behavioral system rather than ignore what seems to make you tick.

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Correct me if I misinterpreted, but if you mean "what you do is more informative than what you think", I agree.

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I agree with that, but still believe that to observe yourself as a complete behavioral system, both what you do and what you think about what you do, as well as what you think about in general, is generally useful, and often, very much so.