Know Thyself

[Norsemaiden]

How much do you want to know about yourself? How much do you wish others to know about themselves? This question applies to mental processes, ancestry, physical health, everything. Do you want to understand yourself completely? Do you want to understand everyone you know?
Is it boring to have a friend or partner who is entirely predictable or is unpredictability exciting?

My brief answer is: I would like to know about my ethnic origins, recent ancestors, health, and a little about my own psychology (so that I can try and improve myself) BUT I like to surprise myself (in a pleasant/neutral way) also and I would neither like to be fully understood by myself nor by someone else. I would say that it is reasuring to know that someone isn't psychotic, but other than that I like some unpredictability. Some people only feel happy when they are stuck in a routine life with maximum stability, and others hate that.

It would be interesting to hear what others think. Most people never actually look deep enough into themselves to ever even contemplate this issue, which is somewhat ironic. What would I like other people to know about themselves? Again, ethnicity, ancestry, and what they should do to improve themselves, as far as this makes life better for me and others I care about. So that would include such things as: the impact of their lifestyle on their health, how socially responsible their behaviour is.

 

[Seditious]

why ethnic origins and recent ancestors? (for yourself, and for others to know)

I've only ever observed people employ this as a way to separate themselves from others, and I just don't see any value in it besides for such a task.

but that aside, how does one go about finding that sorta shit out? my mother was adopted so I don't know much besides 'we all look white'

 

[JColtrane]

γνwθι σεαυτόν!

For me, knowming myself is basically the pursuit of knowing why I do certain actions, or why I hold certain beliefs. Essentially, it's reflecting on what lies underneath my everday experience.

I'm motivated to do this in part because I think what "Socrates" taught was correct, that knowing yourself well is important in knowing anything or anyone else. If an individual loses this ground, it becomes difficult for him or her to comprehend or connect with anything else.

 

[speed]

γνwθι σεαυτόν!

For me, knowming myself is basically the pursuit of knowing why I do certain actions, or why I hold certain beliefs. Essentially, it's reflecting on what lies underneath my everday experience.

I'm motivated to do this in part because I think what "Socrates" taught was correct, that knowing yourself well is important in knowing anything or anyone else. If an individual loses this ground, it becomes difficult for him or her to comprehend or connect with anything else.

It is still, after 2,500 years of thought and philosophy, the most important thing. Not only does it give one the ability to live a happy and productive life, and in turn, to treat others with respect (Surely, one cannot have the golden rule if one doesnt know and love thyself), but it conditions ones relation not only to everyday experience, but ones thought and beliefs as well. I think of Montaigne. There's a man who knew himself, and in his essays, we see how his philosophical beliefs and his very being, were so closely intertwined. I suppose this is the great problem with modern philosophy, which seperated the thought from the man--where know thyself wasnt as important as some abstract form of thinking. This was the case until Nietszche/Heidegger/Sartre etc, and even Kierkegaard, and still seems to be the case for most of academic philosophy. The direct correlation between Being and knowledge of being, and thought itself, were lost.

 

[Blowtus]

I want to know myself entirely - I want to know what drives every action I make, giving me power over myself and (through inference) those around me.

 

[Norsemaiden]

why ethnic origins and recent ancestors? (for yourself, and for others to know)

I've only ever observed people employ this as a way to separate themselves from others, and I just don't see any value in it besides for such a task.

but that aside, how does one go about finding that sorta shit out? my mother was adopted so I don't know much besides 'we all look white'

Well its just that if I didn't know anything about myself, including my ancestry I would feel that I want to know this just to get a sense of identity. I do know these things well enough, but it is something one can take for granted. It makes people easy to enslave if they lack group identity and loyalty to the group. This is how things are going. The Black slaves in America were purposefully bred with others from different tribes so that they would lose their identity in this way and not feel the strength that comes from tribal unity.

Just the way that extended families now are dispersed and are disintegrating due to the low birth rate and marriage breakdown has a disempowering effect on the individual.

Blowtus: how successful have you been in getting to know yourself?
How do you think it would give you power over others?

 

[Seditious]

Blowtus: how successful have you been in getting to know yourself?
How do you think it would give you power over others?

knowing things about how people tick which people themselves don't know is an amazing weapon. think of the reciprocity principle, or the use of guilt for manipulation, hell even overpricing things and then bringing them to a reasonable level of profit and calling it 'a bargin' or 'a sale' makes fools rush in to throw away their money. If people aren't aware what things influence their decision-making they're easy prey. knowing yourself you can defend yourself against such things from others, or gain insights about such things to use yourself.

 

[Blowtus]

Blowtus: how successful have you been in getting to know yourself?
How do you think it would give you power over others?

I honestly don't know how to gauge it, but I believe I know myself reasonably well, given time for reflection. I still have to question much, and while I may intuitively 'know', I do not truly 'understand' unless I think on it, or more usually, discuss it.

Seditious answered the latter question pretty well, I'd have thought it was pretty obvious myself The only way we really understand others is by comparing them to ourselves I think - if we compare on a simplistic, external level, the others often appear as alien and not understandable. If we understand our own drives on a much deeper level, we can see how external circumstances combine with those drives to result in our actions. Many people have a mild level of this understanding, and can predict consequences (and thus apply the relevant actions) a short way in to the future. I see this, I see it's failings, and I realise it is merely a failing of understanding, not of the method itself. People I am close to sometimes find me inconsiderate in the short term, but this will (sometimes) manifest itself in a more positive manner in the long term. The better I understand myself, the further in to the future I can control / influence for myself and others.

 

[JColtrane]

The only way we really understand others is by comparing them to ourselves

That's a great point

 

[Norsemaiden]

That's a great point

Yes it is the way that people do try to understand others - but there seems to be an in-built tendency to assume that others are very much like oneself. The reality is often far from that. It can be shocking how different another person's thought process is from your own. I wish people would realise this more. Genetics are very relevant to this, and if all people who think in a particular way become extinct because their consequential behaviour leads in this direction, their mode of thinking will die out with them, perhaps for ever.

 

[Blowtus]

Yes it is the way that people do try to understand others - but there seems to be an in-built tendency to assume that others are very much like oneself. The reality is often far from that. It can be shocking how different another person's thought process is from your own. I wish people would realise this more. Genetics are very relevant to this, and if all people who think in a particular way become extinct because their consequential behaviour leads in this direction, their mode of thinking will die out with them, perhaps for ever.

I don't think so. I get along with animals (ones with some brain mass, obviously) much better than many simply because of the processes described. Understanding the motivations of a creature, realising how they filter / percieve the situation, and extrapolating an estimate of their action, is all made much easier with an understanding of how I myself function, down to the more base levels.

 

[Norsemaiden]

I don't think so. I get along with animals (ones with some brain mass, obviously) much better than many simply because of the processes described. Understanding the motivations of a creature, realising how they filter / percieve the situation, and extrapolating an estimate of their action, is all made much easier with an understanding of how I myself function, down to the more base levels.

I don't disagree that knowing yourself helps you to understand others, but this tends to result in assuming they are much the same as yourself. If you could understand yourself as being very different from them, that would usually be more helpful.
Humans even anthropomorphise the way they assume animals to think.

 

[MURAI]

Yes it is the way that people do try to understand others - but there seems to be an in-built tendency to assume that others are very much like oneself. The reality is often far from that. It can be shocking how different another person's thought process is from your own. I wish people would realise this more. Genetics are very relevant to this, and if all people who think in a particular way become extinct because their consequential behaviour leads in this direction, their mode of thinking will die out with them, perhaps for ever.

Most average people can not see beyond their own world. Usually, when people talk about "getting" someone it is when they have bonded with somebody similar to themselves.

Knowing oneself is difficult. It is easy to fall into the hole where you get obsessed about your self-image than getting any actual insight. You realise something about your self when someone gives you an honest opinion about you out of the blue.

 

[Norsemaiden]

Most average people can not see beyond their own world. Usually, when people talk about "getting" someone it is when they have bonded with somebody similar to themselves.

Knowing oneself is difficult. It is easy to fall into the hole where you get obsessed about your self-image than getting any actual insight. You realise something about your self when someone gives you an honest opinion about you out of the blue.

That's a good point.
An irony is when someone gets so introspective, trying to know themselves, that they become a different person as a result of that!

 

[JoeVice]

That's a good point.
An irony is when someone gets so introspective, trying to know themselves, that they become a different person as a result of that!

there isn't anything wrong with that. if one dies via introspection, its nature's way of saying, "you're lost, RIP." besides, "becoming a different person" is a silly ego concept. but i'm assuming you meant, "lose themselves, or become depressed."

 

[infoterror]

why ethnic origins and recent ancestors?

In my life, and in the experiences of friends, it predicts quite a bit. And allows you to accept certain things as improvements upon the past while still not ideal.

Genetic marker tests are cheap and often fascinating. If you want to find your origins, it also helps to find an ethnographer and do some genealogy research... adoptees are recorded by the state.

 

[Norsemaiden]

there isn't anything wrong with that. if one dies via introspection, its nature's way of saying, "you're lost, RIP." besides, "becoming a different person" is a silly ego concept. but i'm assuming you meant, "lose themselves, or become depressed."

A person can change - and in that sense the person has become different from how they were before. It is a petty semantic argument.
I didn't mean get depressed, but they may have formerly been someone who never really analysed their own motives and when they started to do this they ceased to behave in the way they used to, perhaps changing from being very loud and extrovert, rude and impulsive into being quiet and thoughtful.

 

[Seditious]

In my life, and in the experiences of friends, it predicts quite a bit. And allows you to accept certain things as improvements upon the past while still not ideal.

Genetic marker tests are cheap and often fascinating. If you want to find your origins, it also helps to find an ethnographer and do some genealogy research... adoptees are recorded by the state.

cool thanks man, I've been wondering how people find out what their racial/blood makeup actually is, and no one ever actually answered me.

I guess I never much considered the former point since I'm mr top of the bell curve (tall white male brown hair and eyes), not much insight to be had as far as food alergies and disease propensities and hormonal/behavioral biases for me to be aware of I don't think (as there seems to be a lot of for islanders/blacks/asians/etc.)

 

[infoterror]

I never much considered the former point since I'm mr top of the bell curve (tall white male brown hair and eyes), not much insight to be had as far as food alergies and disease propensities and hormonal/behavioral biases for me to be aware of I don't think (as there seems to be a lot of for islanders/blacks/asians/etc.)

Those can be unreliable methods. I would look to facial traits, then family history, and finally, a genetic test if you'd really like to know. But it's probably not worth spending too much time on, since there's too many forward-thinking things to do.

I would even be happy to forget all ethnic issues in exchange for general eugenics. Smart people of good character are the most important, and nationalism is somewhat parallel to that.