Self-Knowledge (Essay Books)

Denigration We tell ourselves that we simply don’t care about something – love or politics, career success or intellectual life, that beautiful student or the house we can’t afford. And we are very emphatic about our lack of interest and disdain. We go to great lengths to make it clear to others and ourselves how absolutely unconcerned we are. Ther

Or we may feel lost in our career, but be unable to say more than that we wish to ‘do something creative’ or ‘help to make the world a better place’ – plans so vague that they leave us vulnerable to the more robust plans of others.

Our overall nervousness declines when our anxieties are systematically laid out and examined.

If we have sizeable reserves of self-love, we might feel we can afford to admit mistakes and still believe in our basic decency. Yet if our self-love is very fragile, no admission of guilt or error is ever possible; it would sap the last of our limited self-regard.

How might we still be OK, even if it all fell apart? Entertaining the most extreme consequences can be the best way to finally neuter an otherwise nagging concern. One by one, we should confront the worst, and see that it is, for the most part, very survivable.

I am wise not because I know, but because I know I don’t know.

Philosophical Meditation, a practice with the premise that a decisive share of the trouble in our minds comes from thoughts and feelings that have not been untangled, examined and confronted with sufficient attention.

Distraction or addiction We identify something that can very effectively keep our thoughts away from troubling inner confrontations. Online pornography is a favourite, the news another, alcohol a third, work a fourth. We don’t so much like these elements in and of themselves; we like them for their ability to keep us away from what we fear.

– What am I presently anxious about? – What am I presently upset about? – What am I presently excited about?

Feeling offended takes up all our attention. It muddies the waters. We no longer have to pay attention to information that is correct but challenging.