Genuine self-knowledge is, no doubt, exceptionally difficult to attain, and the truth about what we are may certainly be distressing. In our efforts to conduct our lives successfully, however, a readiness to face disturbing facts about ourselves may be an even more critical asset than a competent understanding merely of what we are up against in the outside world. -Harry G. Frankfurt, “On Truth”
Self-knowledge is not, contrary to how it may at first intuitively follow, simply a matter of paying attention to your thoughts. This is because your thoughts are not under the control of any “you” that sits there in the center of the mind, pulling strings like Loki at the end of the fabulously well-done series of the same name. There is no “you” that is the master of your domain, or any domain for that matter. Instead, you are a perspective on those thoughts, reflecting on them but never choosing them, quite often showing up like uninvited guests at a party you threw together at the last minute.
Pause for a minute and try to choose your next thought. Did it work? Did you select one from a myriad of possibilities? What about the thought that was supposedly thinking about the choosing? Did you select that one? Or have they all just been popped into existence, one by one, never stopping, never ceasing? Even when you’re unconscious, thoughts don’t stop, creating, whether you recollect them or not, fantasy worlds of connections bound by rules you don’t have access to nor choose to adhere.
All of this should result in a level of humility, yet quite often we bring hubris to the experience of our lives. We declare our allegiance either to the belief that the uncontrollable is beyond control or to the egoism that believes every thought is sacred and important.
This presentation seeks to address that hubris and remind us that just because it’s in our heads, it doesn’t mean we have to take it seriously. In fact, it’s likely better if you don’t more often than not.
