Thread: Critical Self-Consciousness
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Old 11-11-2007, 10:28 PM   #4 (permalink)
Katczinsky
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Quote:
Originally Posted by forester814 View Post
I agree with you, Coberst.

Boil it all down to "Look before you leap" if you like.

Consider your actions, your thoughts, your motivations, and then consider the impact that what you plan to do and say next will have on others.

Weigh options. Consider critically. THEN act.
I do this as much as I can.

For common, everyday decisions, it really only adds a moment of extra time to do so, a moment that I find is generally very well-spent.

Of course, one can take this to extremes, and be paralyzed into inaction.

To sum up, the unexamined life is not worth living, but too much processing makes Velveeta.
I think you can think before you do an everyday experience without truly being conscious. Many people make calculated decisions which end up being externally rewarding though without ever practicing critical self-consciousness which in itself is internally rewarding. In this sense I think there is a distinction to be made between what you were talking about and what coberst was talking about.

An unexamined life isn't one who does not examine one's everyday actions, but one who does not examine their self; their beliefs, their nature, and even the validity of their 'ego' (i.e. must be critical of their own lives).

Anyway, that's how I see it.
"If you want to achieve peace of mind and happiness, then have faith; if you want to be a disciple of truth, then search" -- Friedrich Nietzsche

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