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- Newsgroups: misc.education
- Path: sparky!uunet!boulder!ucsu!spot.Colorado.EDU!radinsky
- From: radinsky@spot.Colorado.EDU (Wayne Radinsky)
- Subject: Re: education & a philosophical tangent
- Message-ID: <1992Dec22.144912.1394@ucsu.Colorado.EDU>
- Sender: news@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (USENET News System)
- Nntp-Posting-Host: spot.colorado.edu
- Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
- References: <1749@rwja.umdnj.edu>
- Distribution: usa
- Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 14:49:12 GMT
- Lines: 43
-
- jpark@rwja.umdnj.edu (John Park) writes:
- > How do people identify with oneself? I'm refering to one of three
- > broad possibilities/catagories in my makeshift system.
- > 1. with one's mind, ie., thoughts equate with self
- > "I think, therefore I am." "My thoughts make me the
- > person I am." "My perception of myself, is based on
- > the character of my thoughts" "My mind is the only
- > enduring thing", etc...
- > 2. with one's body, ie., physical body equates with self
- > "Who I see in the mirror is who I am" "I am pretty/ugly
- > and therefore [am really] a good/bad person"
- > "appearance is everything or most important"
- > "I judge other people based on their appearances," etc...
- > 3. with a roughly equal administration of both extremes of thought.
- >
- > It would follow that people who are mostly type 1, will think of self
- > improvement, through intellectual pursuits & efforts to improve one's
- > intelligence or mind (or soul) ie. learning a new language,
- > reading a book, getting an advanced degree, etc.
- >
- > It would seem that people who are mostly type2, will not have same
- > level of motivation for intellectual pursuits. Self improvement will
- > be seen in improving one's body and appearance. -- note a potential
- > imprisioning effect that this mode of self identification can have on
- > women, if carried to an extreme. (for example, the psychology of
- > anorexia)
-
- Both of your "types" have a potential imprisioning effect.
-
- Using your thoughts for self-identity is not a good idea -- your thoughts
- are controlled by others, more than you would like to believe. You go
- through school and get indoctrinated. You watch TV and get indoctrinated.
- You worry about your job, you worry about crime, you worry about survival.
- And you get imprisioned in the process.
-
- Besides, you cannot even predict what you will be doing or what you will be
- thinking about 24 hours from now.
-
- You have identified how people get imprisioned. But for everyone to become
- "type 1"'s will not free us.
-
- My $0.02.
- --Wayne, the anxious puppy
-