We hold certain ideas and concepts that create our
understanding of self and the world. The
way we view many of these things has a large effect on our functioning and
emotions. Those qualities that make up
the usual person’s sense of self can be changed, in pathological states, to
improve mood and understanding by a philosophical approach to psychotherapy.
Self
One of the major players in our minds, and having influence
on our moods and functioning is our understanding of self. Our experience of self is made up of many
things, dependent on our physical make-up and many other factors, but our
conceptualization of self is created by us and our society. Here are some major categories. These can be seen on a spectrum, not as metaphysical
truths or non-truths but as ‘language games’ or ‘conceptual games’ that we have
learned to use and that have an effect on our thinking, functioning, and
moods. Wherever one falls on the
spectrum, if it’s causing distress, one can move in the other direction with
philosophical and physical understanding of the issues involved.
Self
Determinism ß----------------------------------------------------------à
Freewill
|
Negative
Non-responsibility for things which ARE under our control
causing harm.
Guiltless, harmful behavior
Unprincipled harmful laziness
|
Positive
Non-blame – Not blaming oneself for things which are NOT
under your control.
Non-guilt
Acceptance, Effortlessness
|
Positive
Controlled decision making.
Taking responsibility for actions under your control.
Useful attempts to change the world for the better.
|
Negative
Distress over decisions the processes and effects of which
are not under your control.
Taking blame and responsibility for things not under your
control.
Taking on blame for things in the world that are not under
your control or making intolerant and useless attempts to ‘fix’ things.
|
Take the example of the neurotic person. The neurotic person is on the far right end
of the spectrum, believes in freewill and blames him/herself for everything
and/or makes constant ineffective attempts to change things, never feeling
satisfied and never being able to accept things as they are. That person can be made to understand that
she does not control everything and should not expect to and be brought to some
level of acceptance, non-guilt, and non-blame.
The more positive categories on the spectrum are therefore in the middle
of the chart. Moving toward the middle,
knowing what is under your control and what is not may help improve
understanding and hence mood for such a person.
An extreme view may be psychologically helpful for some, it
depends on the person and circumstances and that is for the therapist and
client to work out.
Lastly, one view or other may coincide better with ‘reality’
or rather fit more perfectly with what we observe personally and
scientifically. Scientifically,
biologically, molecularly, and atomically, all matter performs in a
deterministic way and everything made of matter (us) are under those
constraints. Subatomically, there is
less understanding and some possible indeterminacy, which contrary to wishful
thinking, does not support freewill but is just a bad a blow to freewill as
determinism, in other words, if things are simply behaving randomly, you have
even less control of yourself than you imagined. If in fact, determinism is the best supported
by observation on many levels, when one can truly understand what that means,
it can be a transcendent realization. In
the end, we do not know and cannot know for absolute knowledge is not a
function of our brains so we are to use these understandings functionally and
one important way to use them is to understand things in a way that improves
our functioning and mood and not in a way that causes harm to oneself and
others.
In experience, the basic substance of freewill is the ‘sense’
of an intentional thought or physical movement.
That is all it is. Studies have
shown that this sense can be ‘tricked’ in pathological states such as in
split-brained patients, or even ‘tics’, involuntary muscle movements which feel
semi-voluntary to the sufferer who can stop the movement for seconds but feels
compelled to allow it to continue. So
even the sense of intentional action can be understood as produced by physical
processes in the brain, especially the prefrontal cortex and other ‘monitoring’
systems of the brain.
So back to the practical question, which way do you need to
move? Are you too full of anxiety and
blame? You may think you are in control
of things which are out of your control.
Are you constantly stressing over small decisions? Every little decision you make does not
produce predictable outcomes and certainly does not control the universe. Today, I was stuck in traffic and I was awed
by all the activity of all these people I don’t know who were in such a hurry
to get here and there. I was slightly
afraid I could have a car accident with all the random activity going on. But I came to realize, while I can drive to
the best of my ability, I am not going to be able to control the driving of the
thousands of vehicles on the road of which I am a part and just one. Even if I were to have an accident, I could
not blame myself unless I was intentionally, and controllably incapacitated by
drink or intentional medication overdose.
This is not just an example, there are people, injured in car accidents,
who years after are full of self-blame, as if the fate of that entire day or
situation rested with them. It does
not. Think about these things. Resolve the tension between yourself and
reality, you cannot constantly continue to fight and deny the universe, you
will definitely drive yourself insane.
There needs to be acceptance and non-blame.
Thanks for reading.
Subsequently, we will go over other categories that compose or influence
our sense of self and how we can use them to improve mood and functioning. Another category is the connectedness of self
with others and the environment. Do we
feel a part of the world or separate from it and what are the psychological
effects of those perspectives?
DF Seldon MS
Thank you
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