Awareness of Self
Read author notes first, please37 total reviews
Comment from billscott
So as a man thinketh is true to its core.
Interesting account on many levels. You explain well without condescension.
Excellent account for a subject more should read, understand, and embrace.
reply by the author on 05-Apr-2014
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So as a man thinketh is true to its core.
Interesting account on many levels. You explain well without condescension.
Excellent account for a subject more should read, understand, and embrace.
Comment Written 05-Apr-2014
reply by the author on 05-Apr-2014
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I appreciate your review. Thanks...John
Comment from Sanku
Well.you seem to have done a lot of cogitating about the 'self', 'ego', cognitive dissonance etc. We can find that most religions of the world share these kind of views,if studied deeply.Hinduism can boast of 30,000 gods -all created, as you rightly pointed out by those who 'exist' at 'Here and Now' and can perceive only god in anthropomorphic rewarding form. But when I studied a 400 years old Sanskrit Text ,I was surprised to see that it described God as formless. At certain stages it even bordered on atheism!(so much for the umpteen rituals!)And my teacher described the structure of 'soul' as having concentric rings. At the centre is the light from Universal soul(the WIsdom). It has one layer of mind, then another of intelligence and then a third ring of EGO. When your EGo is very thick you do not perceive the "light' at all, which otherwise should guide your mind and intellect. So it is always the ego that reacts to the external stimuli and that is, as you again rightly pointed out, is the root problem for most of the people's unhappiness .Thank you very much for this write up and i hope more people would read and benefit by this.
reply by the author on 05-Apr-2014
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Well.you seem to have done a lot of cogitating about the 'self', 'ego', cognitive dissonance etc. We can find that most religions of the world share these kind of views,if studied deeply.Hinduism can boast of 30,000 gods -all created, as you rightly pointed out by those who 'exist' at 'Here and Now' and can perceive only god in anthropomorphic rewarding form. But when I studied a 400 years old Sanskrit Text ,I was surprised to see that it described God as formless. At certain stages it even bordered on atheism!(so much for the umpteen rituals!)And my teacher described the structure of 'soul' as having concentric rings. At the centre is the light from Universal soul(the WIsdom). It has one layer of mind, then another of intelligence and then a third ring of EGO. When your EGo is very thick you do not perceive the "light' at all, which otherwise should guide your mind and intellect. So it is always the ego that reacts to the external stimuli and that is, as you again rightly pointed out, is the root problem for most of the people's unhappiness .Thank you very much for this write up and i hope more people would read and benefit by this.
Comment Written 05-Apr-2014
reply by the author on 05-Apr-2014
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Your insightful review is very appreciated. Thank you...John
Comment from lancellot
You make some interesting comparisons, and give a lot to think about. I agree that we are created with some knowledge, but not all that we need to know to survive. People are different than all other creations in nature. Again, good essay, and food for thought.
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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You make some interesting comparisons, and give a lot to think about. I agree that we are created with some knowledge, but not all that we need to know to survive. People are different than all other creations in nature. Again, good essay, and food for thought.
Comment Written 04-Apr-2014
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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It is not knowledge we need to seek, but understanding. If we stand on the ledge of what we think we know, we can never see the other side until we stand under that ledge. That is how we can under-stand...Thanks
Comment from JBCaine
Cogitator-
First, a suggestion-
"As we near the Age of Reason, sometime around the seventh year of human life, we have heard the word countless times."-
I wouldn't say it is wrong, exactly, but the tense change here is awkward to me. Were it my piece, I would use "we will have heard" but again, this is just a suggestion.
My take on your piece:
Do you believe what you state here as fact?
"Belief is assumption or opinion and can only be partially true at best." And thus you have begged the question.
There is viable knowledge here, and there are speculation, opinion, and belief, all stated as fact.
In general, the piece is well written, but in the reading, it simply seems to me that you have, in part, debunked your own theory with your own stated "facts."
But that's probably just my ego talking.
JBCaine-
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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Cogitator-
First, a suggestion-
"As we near the Age of Reason, sometime around the seventh year of human life, we have heard the word countless times."-
I wouldn't say it is wrong, exactly, but the tense change here is awkward to me. Were it my piece, I would use "we will have heard" but again, this is just a suggestion.
My take on your piece:
Do you believe what you state here as fact?
"Belief is assumption or opinion and can only be partially true at best." And thus you have begged the question.
There is viable knowledge here, and there are speculation, opinion, and belief, all stated as fact.
In general, the piece is well written, but in the reading, it simply seems to me that you have, in part, debunked your own theory with your own stated "facts."
But that's probably just my ego talking.
JBCaine-
Comment Written 04-Apr-2014
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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Semantics, linguistics and usage define our ability to understand the written and spoken word. Having learned the English language from the dictionary, rather than conversation, I know that my interpretation often differs from native-born English speakers and writers. Belief cannot be fact or it would be fact. Speculation about what I know is OK with me. I have no beliefs. Thank you for your thoughts...John
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Strangely, but well-answered, given the topic and your stated "knowledge."
Comment from NicciFaye
There are so many points I agree with and so many points I disagree with. This is an expectional writing in content, thought and debate. I will bookcase this for another reading, but what you've presnted just confirms for me that believing in Christ Jesus is worth everything. You confirmed this for me, though its been confirmed before because what is presented here. Thank you. This is the second written piece I've read from you and though I don't agree with everything..you have some good information for debate and agreement.
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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There are so many points I agree with and so many points I disagree with. This is an expectional writing in content, thought and debate. I will bookcase this for another reading, but what you've presnted just confirms for me that believing in Christ Jesus is worth everything. You confirmed this for me, though its been confirmed before because what is presented here. Thank you. This is the second written piece I've read from you and though I don't agree with everything..you have some good information for debate and agreement.
Comment Written 04-Apr-2014
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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I do not judge others' struggle for understanding and solace. I simply try to make people think for themselves. I believe nothing. I either understand or not. Thanks...John
Comment from Rainbowsofhappiness
An intensely passionate thought-provoking piece of writing. Having studied and graduated with a degree in Psychology, I always found its elements to be fascinating! The fact that the writer incorporates quotes from philosophical thinkers such as Jung and Descartes adds validity to the writer's statements. While the description of ego is spot on, the absence of mention of the superego and id- which controls all the ingrained needs one has for satisfying personal pleasures, should be included in a writing piece that extols humanity's selfish desires. The ego isn't the soul contributor to how an individual reacts in a situation, the superego and id play leading rules as well. In fact the three form a triad of power that culminate in the way we respond to life events. Freud himself suggested that our personal desires stemming from the pleasure center of the brain or "id" cause us to react in ways that are self-serving.
I did like the analogy of comparing the ego to the inner workings of a computer. That was a solid analogy that you carried throughout the entire writing piece. I did feel that there was so extraneous paragraphs that took away from your main point of explaining the ego to the reader and how it adversely affects our life decisions. At moments this piece tended to sound more like rantings (no negative connotations meant) then would get back on topic again and provide some research based evidence to support your statements. In the seventh paragraph I would suggest using a different word other than feel since it was used repeatedly within in a single paragraph. Varying the word choice will add more dimension to that area of your writing piece. I would lesson the number of analogies used sticking to one main analogy to wrap your story around and create new stories using the remaining unused ones. There is a lot of rich imagery conveyed in this writing piece, but it just needs a little tightening up when it comes to pacing. I do like how the writer wrote in the first point of view and appeared to be speaking directly with the reader. That allows the reader to connect better with the writing subject. This is a well written piece in how the writer chose to make various connections between ever day objects and the ego, but it just inundates the reader with too many analogies and I felt as if the writer used every psychological term they knew in this piece. The every day regular Joe who reads this piece might get bogged down in terminology. I knew the psychology terms discussed, but it seemed like this piece lacked a sense of cohesiveness in areas. I truly hope you aren't offended by my review. It has the potential to make several well written pieces of nonfiction. The imagery created through intensely emotionally charged feelings is truly felt by the reader in this piece as well.
This rating does not count towards story rating or author rank.
The highest and the lowest rating are not included in calculations.
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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An intensely passionate thought-provoking piece of writing. Having studied and graduated with a degree in Psychology, I always found its elements to be fascinating! The fact that the writer incorporates quotes from philosophical thinkers such as Jung and Descartes adds validity to the writer's statements. While the description of ego is spot on, the absence of mention of the superego and id- which controls all the ingrained needs one has for satisfying personal pleasures, should be included in a writing piece that extols humanity's selfish desires. The ego isn't the soul contributor to how an individual reacts in a situation, the superego and id play leading rules as well. In fact the three form a triad of power that culminate in the way we respond to life events. Freud himself suggested that our personal desires stemming from the pleasure center of the brain or "id" cause us to react in ways that are self-serving.
I did like the analogy of comparing the ego to the inner workings of a computer. That was a solid analogy that you carried throughout the entire writing piece. I did feel that there was so extraneous paragraphs that took away from your main point of explaining the ego to the reader and how it adversely affects our life decisions. At moments this piece tended to sound more like rantings (no negative connotations meant) then would get back on topic again and provide some research based evidence to support your statements. In the seventh paragraph I would suggest using a different word other than feel since it was used repeatedly within in a single paragraph. Varying the word choice will add more dimension to that area of your writing piece. I would lesson the number of analogies used sticking to one main analogy to wrap your story around and create new stories using the remaining unused ones. There is a lot of rich imagery conveyed in this writing piece, but it just needs a little tightening up when it comes to pacing. I do like how the writer wrote in the first point of view and appeared to be speaking directly with the reader. That allows the reader to connect better with the writing subject. This is a well written piece in how the writer chose to make various connections between ever day objects and the ego, but it just inundates the reader with too many analogies and I felt as if the writer used every psychological term they knew in this piece. The every day regular Joe who reads this piece might get bogged down in terminology. I knew the psychology terms discussed, but it seemed like this piece lacked a sense of cohesiveness in areas. I truly hope you aren't offended by my review. It has the potential to make several well written pieces of nonfiction. The imagery created through intensely emotionally charged feelings is truly felt by the reader in this piece as well.
This rating does not count towards story rating or author rank.
The highest and the lowest rating are not included in calculations.
Comment Written 04-Apr-2014
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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I thank you very much for your very detailed review. It will improve my work...John
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I felt bad giving it a four because it is very well written and the analogies are well thought out but it just seemed like the essence of the story got lost in all the comparisons. You could easily pull out another two stories from the great point you have buried under the verbosity of this one story resulting in several excellent writing pieces! :-)
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It is my intent to develop this line of thought into a larger piece. I have found that too many words on this site do not play well, so I need input on areas that require development or omission. As for the Id, Ego, Superego and Libido, you may find what may be the source of those concepts in the Heart Sutra. Thanks again...John
Comment from Loren (7)
In other words, childlike acceptance of where we are. I can understand that because I feel even the feeblest of minds are at parity with intellectuals - if not, where is the fairness, where is truth. Yet, as you've pointed out we all have creative ability: "Some insist upon creating hell on earth." I guess here I would ask: is hell a relative state of mind? Also, creativity is an act of free will. To deny free will is to deny individualism and, alas, we all become one. We all cannot be sperm, we all cannot be ovum and the uniting of the two creates distinctiveness ad infinitum.
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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In other words, childlike acceptance of where we are. I can understand that because I feel even the feeblest of minds are at parity with intellectuals - if not, where is the fairness, where is truth. Yet, as you've pointed out we all have creative ability: "Some insist upon creating hell on earth." I guess here I would ask: is hell a relative state of mind? Also, creativity is an act of free will. To deny free will is to deny individualism and, alas, we all become one. We all cannot be sperm, we all cannot be ovum and the uniting of the two creates distinctiveness ad infinitum.
Comment Written 04-Apr-2014
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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The ego is the sole entity that tries to separate itself from the universal thought. Its function is to navigate, not drive. Its desires and clinging to material forms sometimes make it grab the steering wheel. Thanks for the review...John
Comment from Dean Kuch
"Mother Earth provides the material to manufacture our bodies and yet we spit in her face. We must become more aware of our own actions and begin cleaning our home. We do not need oil to survive. We need water. We do not need atomic bombs to protect ourselves. We need love...." -- Cogitator
The human brain contains about 10 billion nerve cells, or neurons. On average, each neuron is connected to other neurons through about 10 000 synapses. The brain's network of neurons forms a massively parallel information processing system. This contrasts with conventional computers, in which a single processor executes a single series of instructions.
Against this, consider the time taken for each elementary operation: neurons typically operate at a maximum rate of about 100 Hz, while a conventional CPU carries out several hundred million machine level operations per second. Despite of being built with very slow hardware, the brain has quite remarkable capabilities. Its performance tends to degrade gracefully under partial damage. In contrast, most programs and engineered systems are brittle -- if you remove some arbitrary parts, very likely the whole will cease to function.
The brain can learn, or, reorganize itself, from experience. This just means that partial recovery from damage is possible if healthy units can learn to take over the functions previously carried out by the damaged areas.
Psychologists often carve thinking into two broad categories. Intuitive thinking, which is fast and effortless -- instantly knowing whether someone is angry or sad from the look on her face, for example -- and analytic thinking, which is slower and more deliberate, used for solving math problems and other tricky tasks. Both kinds of thinking have their strengths and weaknesses, and they often seem to interfere with each another. Religions and their accompanying belief systems are cultural universals. Relying upon cultural evolution alone to explain this ubiquity requires acceptance that the innovation of religion transpired at the dawn of human history and all human societies have perpetuated it separately, which seems highly unlikely. Moreover, we now know that other evolutionary phenomena, such as symbolic language and morality, have solid bases in biology and information processing.
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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"Mother Earth provides the material to manufacture our bodies and yet we spit in her face. We must become more aware of our own actions and begin cleaning our home. We do not need oil to survive. We need water. We do not need atomic bombs to protect ourselves. We need love...." -- Cogitator
The human brain contains about 10 billion nerve cells, or neurons. On average, each neuron is connected to other neurons through about 10 000 synapses. The brain's network of neurons forms a massively parallel information processing system. This contrasts with conventional computers, in which a single processor executes a single series of instructions.
Against this, consider the time taken for each elementary operation: neurons typically operate at a maximum rate of about 100 Hz, while a conventional CPU carries out several hundred million machine level operations per second. Despite of being built with very slow hardware, the brain has quite remarkable capabilities. Its performance tends to degrade gracefully under partial damage. In contrast, most programs and engineered systems are brittle -- if you remove some arbitrary parts, very likely the whole will cease to function.
The brain can learn, or, reorganize itself, from experience. This just means that partial recovery from damage is possible if healthy units can learn to take over the functions previously carried out by the damaged areas.
Psychologists often carve thinking into two broad categories. Intuitive thinking, which is fast and effortless -- instantly knowing whether someone is angry or sad from the look on her face, for example -- and analytic thinking, which is slower and more deliberate, used for solving math problems and other tricky tasks. Both kinds of thinking have their strengths and weaknesses, and they often seem to interfere with each another. Religions and their accompanying belief systems are cultural universals. Relying upon cultural evolution alone to explain this ubiquity requires acceptance that the innovation of religion transpired at the dawn of human history and all human societies have perpetuated it separately, which seems highly unlikely. Moreover, we now know that other evolutionary phenomena, such as symbolic language and morality, have solid bases in biology and information processing.
Comment Written 04-Apr-2014
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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With your permission, I would like to use some of your thoughts in the future. Thanks...John
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Absolutely, my philosophically minded friend. Permission gladly granted. Your piece was certainly thought provoking.
~Dean~
Comment from Jackarrie
I am blown away, to come across your brilliant article. You have stated facts that I am aware of, but I know there are many who are not. I love how you used the computer to explain our development. I also love how you are so spiritual; We don't need to understand, Religion, Philosophy or science to access Spirit. " I have a deep sense of spirituality and of knowing, and an awareness of the beauty of nature, and Mother Earth, We have evolved from natural selection to where we are today. Unfortunately the world is in a state of chaos because of our greed.
"Awareness and imagination are mandatory to transform our lives. Most, if not all of us, can agree that we can always improve. What is it that we try to improve? The answer is quite simple - we all want peace of mind. We all want to be free from worry, from regret, from fear and from judgment. We all want to experience the beauty of creation and the ability to share it with all creation. We all want to love and be loved. Other wants are usually frivolous and useless"
I love how you think, and as we think 50 to 60 thousands thoughts a day, I want to know more of yours.
Congratulations on a well written piece. I give you my last six. Mary
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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I am blown away, to come across your brilliant article. You have stated facts that I am aware of, but I know there are many who are not. I love how you used the computer to explain our development. I also love how you are so spiritual; We don't need to understand, Religion, Philosophy or science to access Spirit. " I have a deep sense of spirituality and of knowing, and an awareness of the beauty of nature, and Mother Earth, We have evolved from natural selection to where we are today. Unfortunately the world is in a state of chaos because of our greed.
"Awareness and imagination are mandatory to transform our lives. Most, if not all of us, can agree that we can always improve. What is it that we try to improve? The answer is quite simple - we all want peace of mind. We all want to be free from worry, from regret, from fear and from judgment. We all want to experience the beauty of creation and the ability to share it with all creation. We all want to love and be loved. Other wants are usually frivolous and useless"
I love how you think, and as we think 50 to 60 thousands thoughts a day, I want to know more of yours.
Congratulations on a well written piece. I give you my last six. Mary
Comment Written 04-Apr-2014
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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Thank you for the kind words and review. I hope to have some people think their way through to another level...John
Comment from mfowler
My head hurts thinking about this, but you make such good sense that I have to rate you as a six. I am in total agreeance with you on the duality of our existence; the real self and the concocted ego self. It's that concoction that screws us up, creates false illusions about who we are and what we should apsire to. It is the distortion that fuels greed, lust, powerseeking, materialism....you name it, and the ego concocts it. The seeking of true self is a mind (mine) field of life long searching. I agree that the search will produce the logical conclusion that all and everything is one and sourced through one creation. While I am Christian, my seeking has me thinking (for now) that I am seeking a knowledge of love through an incarnation that relates to the best of humanity within myself. Heaven/hell polarisations have no interest for me, as I am really wanting to know how to live best right here, right now.
I love your sustained metaphorical comparison of the development of the human in relation to the computer. Such clever imagery as: human beings are quite adept at creating applications to serve other purposes;....... supports and energises your thesis.
Strangely though, I suspect that you aren't looking for praise in this write. It's all false ego anyway!
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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My head hurts thinking about this, but you make such good sense that I have to rate you as a six. I am in total agreeance with you on the duality of our existence; the real self and the concocted ego self. It's that concoction that screws us up, creates false illusions about who we are and what we should apsire to. It is the distortion that fuels greed, lust, powerseeking, materialism....you name it, and the ego concocts it. The seeking of true self is a mind (mine) field of life long searching. I agree that the search will produce the logical conclusion that all and everything is one and sourced through one creation. While I am Christian, my seeking has me thinking (for now) that I am seeking a knowledge of love through an incarnation that relates to the best of humanity within myself. Heaven/hell polarisations have no interest for me, as I am really wanting to know how to live best right here, right now.
I love your sustained metaphorical comparison of the development of the human in relation to the computer. Such clever imagery as: human beings are quite adept at creating applications to serve other purposes;....... supports and energises your thesis.
Strangely though, I suspect that you aren't looking for praise in this write. It's all false ego anyway!
Comment Written 04-Apr-2014
reply by the author on 04-Apr-2014
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Thanks for the review. Jesus was very aware of his self and conveyed that we all contain the Christ Nature...John
